Heading West

In the last blog we were postulating about where we would go next from Venus Bay. Once on the road we developed a plan to head straight to Ceduna, where we would fill up the water tanks, wash some clothes and bedding, fix a broken step for the caravan and pick up some food.

We went back to the same caravan park that we had stayed at at the start of our Eyre peninsula discovery tour, the Ceduna Foreshore Caravan Park. On this occasion we were lucky enough to pick up one of the sites that has absolute views over the bay. We booked for three nights.

It didn't take us long to get set up and soon we were chipping away at the list of things that we wanted (or needed) to get done. While doing these things we had some nice chats with our recently retired neighbours, Arnie and Vicky. They are from the Yorke Peninsula and were only 10 days into their trip of a lifetime. They too, were heading west. We exchanged info on lots of stuff that caravaners have in common.

Doing it tough at Ceduna

On the morning of the second day we went for a 6 kilometre walk that took in the jetty and the path along the beachfront to Thevenard (a suburb of Ceduna). The morning was totally calm, continuing a most welcome trend that had started about a week beforehand. The walk was very enjoyable and whilst doing it we worked on the plan for the remainder of the trip.

A tranquil morning at the Ceduna Jetty

We decided to go to Fowlers Bay on the way back. We missed it on the way over because they didn't have a free site that was large enough to fit our caravan. Now that the school holidays are well and truly over, it wasn't a problem to get a site allocated to us. We booked in advance, but for only one night as we were confident of arriving at Fowlers Bay early enough to have the entire afternoon to look around and take some photographs.

From Fowlers Bay we will call in at the "Head of the Bight" for a look and photo opportunity, before making our way to Eucla. We bypassed Eucla on the way to South Australia as we arrived there fairly early in the morning (after camping near Mundrabilla the previous night) and the weather was extremely hot. We just wanted to stay in the car (in the relative cool of the air conditioning) and get to Ceduna. On the return journey we have a visit to the Old Telegraph Station at Eucla planned. I guess everyone who has ever travelled the Eyre Highway has taken a photograph of this reminder of the past, and we aren't any different.

From Eucla we will probably put in a pretty long day and camp the night at Fraser Range or a free camp near there. This will put us within striking distance of Norseman, where we will obtain fuel and continue on our way to Esperance. Depending on what time we get to Esperance we may stay there the night or head west nad camp somewhere along the way, when we've had enough of driving.

The aim is to head in a general westerly direction and bump into the west Coast somewhere close to Busselton or Dunsborough. We have family and friends there that we will catch up with. Along the way we plan to take the "route less travelled". In other words we aren't going to follow the south coast, preferring  to visit some of the inland towns that we have never been to.

Finally, we would make for Perth, calling into to my parent's house at Madora Bay for just a few minutes to say hello (we would be seeing more of them later) and finally making for my Cousin's house at Forrestfield , where we will park the van for a few days.

So, with plans all set in place while on our Ceduna beachside walk, it was just a matter of finishing the little tasks that we had set ourselves and doing a few last things that we missed last time we were here. Dining at the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel/Motel was right up there on the list of things to do and we made plans to have lunch there on Saturday.

The Ceduna Foreshore Hotel/Motel is right next to the caravan park. It is less than two minute's walk from our site. We sat inside in the expansive dining room, preferring it to sitting outside with the alfresco smokers. The dining room has been constructed with very large picture windows to take advantage of the views but we were unfortunate in having to peer through a forest of scaffolding that had been erected whilst the upstairs part of the hotel was being remodelled. Never mind, what we could make of the views was still very pleasant.

The food, that so many fellow travellers had given glowing reviews, was fairly typical "pub fare". It wasn't bad, but it didn't set itself apart from anything else we had eaten on our trip so far. Having said that, I would go back for another meal. The meal prices were reasonable and the portions were sized such that I didn't walk out feeling hungry. If I have one complaint it was that they had television sets located throughout the dining room and the background noise from them was annoying.

We also took many more photographs (this time actually including ourselves in some of them) and went online and ordered yet more photography equipment. Instead of trading the car in on another Land Rover we may have to think about buying a truck to carry all of the gear we have!

Later that afternoon we packed our campsite up, ready for an early departure in the morning. We only had to cover 160 Kilometres to Fowlers Bay, but we did want to leave ourselves plenty of time to look around.

Not long after leaving Ceduna on a beautiful, if slightly overcast but calm morning, we drove into the midst of a dust storm with very strong cross-winds. This did not bode well for our visit to Fowlers Bay as we had already been advised that that it gets pretty windy at the best of times. We arrived at the Bay by 11:00 AM and were pleasantly surprised that the winds were quite moderate. After a quick setup of our site (we don't go to extremes for overnight stays), we went for a wander around the townsite and took some photographs.

The Esplanade, Fowlers Bay

Fowlers Bay Jetty

One of the historic buildings at Fowlers Bay that has not
succumbed to the encroaching sand dunes.

The dinky little laundromat.

Fowlers Bay has a permanent population of about 25 people. It is totally reliant on tourism, with whale watching and fishing being the key activities, a nearby Conservation Reserve attracting nature lovers and finally a quite impressive sand dune system where 4WD enthusiasts can get their kicks. The fishing is reported to be excellent, possibly due to the reduced pressure on the fish stocks with the limited number of visitors that visit the Bay. The caravan park has just 30 sites, and along with a Guest House and a couple of private dwellings that are available for rent, it means that the fishers can't stay in the numbers that they can (and do) elsewhere.

The Bay, itself, is a bit like the bays on the west side of the Eyre Peninsular. It is very exposed to the Summer wind patterns and the seas are quite rough as I type this. I wouldn't venture out today in a tinnie, let alone a kayak! Never mind, for those that absolutely must drop a line in the water there is the mandatory jetty. The lovely lady at the caravan park kiosk informs me that the jetty is quite productive with species such as Leatherjacket, King George Whiting, Sea Mullet, Herring, Snook, Shark and Trevally being caught regularly.

If you are into beach walking there are many kilometres of sandy beach either side of the town jetty. At the moment beaches on the west side of the jetty have a fair bit of seaweed cover, but the other side is clear. This would obviously change on a seasonal basis. Those whale watchers among you will need to come here between May and October to enjoy your pastime. The predominate species is the Southern Right Whale. They come to this Bay to have their calves and these can be seen from the whale watching charter boat, which is owned and operated by Rod and Simone, who also happen to own the caravan park.

Next on the agenda is the crossing into WA. We're not looking forward to the long drive and plan to break it up by taking a good look at the attractions that are out there.

Close Encounters of the Dolphin Kind

The weather Gods behaved themselves today and we were able to take maximum advantage of this by hiring a dinghy and spending four hours on the water. We travelled from the town of Venus Bay in a circuitous route that pretty much followed the shore of the Bay until we were around the back of the island that we can see from our camp, probably about six or seven kilometres.

While cruising we noticed a small pod of Dolphin ahead and slowed down to take a look. Within seconds the Dolphin had made their way over to us and began to put on a great show of riding our wake and bow-wave. They showed a great deal of curiosity and came so close to the boat that we literally could have reached out and touched them. The show went on for over two hours, with some apparently getting bored and peeling off, while others came over to take a look and joined in the fun.

Here are some of the pictures......

You should definitely click on this last one and enlarge it. You will
be able to see the baby Dolphin to the right of the other two.

After the show came to an end we continued our sightseeing and had to have a bit of a giggle. The diehard fishos go out day after day, trying to "bag out" on King George Whiting. They move from place to place, but usually the same group of places each time they go out. I never see them at the back of the island where we were - and that's why we were giggling. The cunning old whiting were there in droves! Literally every sandbank we drove along was teeming with the buggers. I guess the whiting have figured out the fisho's habits.

On the way back we stopped to drop some crab nets in the water. The local crab is the Sand Crab. Blue Swimmers don't come into this bay for reasons known only to them. In South Australia you may only use three nets if you are fishing from a boat. We caught a feed after just three pulls of the nets. So, for dinner tonight it was fresh crab and fresh whiting with salad.

A nice feed of Sand Crabs

The nippers on these buggers are a lot bigger than Blue Swimmer nippers

Despite the prominent spots on their carapace you cannot see
these crabs on the bottom of the sea, even if the water is
perfectly clear and shallow.

Enough bragging about the seafood. See you next post.

Day to Day at Venus Bay

Those of you whom have been following this blog will know that we have done a lap of the Eyre Peninsula and are now back at Venus Bay, a place that we grew very attached to when we visited back in January. The plan was to try and get away from the cold, onshore winds that have been prevailing over the East coast of the Peninsula for weeks now and at least have them at our back on the other side. Well, that part has worked and we are certainly a lot more comfortable, but, Geez, it would be bloody nice to have a day where the temperature got to 30 degrees Celsius.

The wind has even grounded the birds. These two like it on top
of the air conditioner of our caravan.

We hired a dinghy one day, when the wind was forecast to be no stronger than 8 knots. The wind forecast was correct, the rain forecast was not. We had only been on the water for 15 minutes and the heavens opened up. Sue really feels the cold, so I took her back to shore, farted around with my fishing tackle for an hour, hoping that the rain would stop, and then went out in it anyway. I don't feel the cold as much as she does.

I got a couple of nice King George Whiting and happened upon a school of really big squid. Seriously, these squid a so big that you can't just winch them in, you have to play them like a fish to avoid stripping the gears of the reel. I got four large ones, then a smallish one that I was going to let go until it squirted ink all over me and I got the shits on with it and decided to keep it, then I caught two more before they wised up and wouldn't follow the jig any more. They were in the water, just staring at me, hundreds of them! I probably could have changed from my blue jig to my orange jig and fooled them for a while, but six monstrous squid were enough!

In the meantime I have been working on a little project that I started almost a year and a half ago - fit an electric motor to the kayak. It was ready for sea-trials yesterday and I was pretty happy with the way it went. I only made two small changes to the setup and I will be able to use it in anger from now on. The electric motor was the result of me getting exhausted one day at Cossack. I had paddled upstream in the Harding River until I reached the limits of the tidal influence - I'd guess about four or five kilometres - and had planned to fish until the tide turned and paddle back on the outgoing tide, getting back to Cossack about 5:00PM.

The 'Yak with the electric motor fitted

Because the motor is so far behind me, I had to invent a way
of steering it from my seating position. Voila! Remote control!
The two green "wires" are actually whipper snipper line and
they steer the kayak using a motor in the grey box to the left.
You can also see the echo sounder transducer under the hull
at the rear.

The remote control sits behind the seat when not in use
and swings around next to me when needed.

The joystick controls steering as well as forward and reverse of the motor.
A throttle control will be fitted later. The original module failed (with smoke!)

This was a good plan, until I found that the tide upstream is delayed by about two hours from the tide at Cossack. By then, the wind had blown in really strongly and I had to paddle against it and the tide. I got back to Cossack absolutely knackered and right on dusk. You do not want to be sitting on that river in a kayak at night! (Beasties). Hence, an electric motor was ordered the very next day.

Sue has taken a drive to Streaky Bay this afternoon, to get some essential woman's primping and pampering at the local Salon. Streaky is about a half hour drive from here and the road (Flinders Highway) is excellent. She is also on a mission to buy some dowel and a fibreglass repair kit after my kayak battery fell off a table (tipped the table under its weight) and landed on the stub of one of my $400.00 baitcaster rods, breaking it off. Bugger! I could have used that rod today as the pilchard boat was in and there were Trevally everywhere. I took my lighter rod down and got eight larger fish (than the average being caught) which we will try in a seafood chowder that I'm going to knock up tonight. Trevally, squid and prawns will be the basis of the meal. I could have done better with the rod that broke, as the lighter rod made it difficult to stop the Trevally before they wrapped me around the jetty pylons. I lost four or five like that.

The forecast is for more of the same weather for a few more days (with even stronger winds on Sunday) but by next Tuesday it should start to warm up, with 34 degrees expected on Thursday (the day we are moving on.) We haven't even figured out where to go next but the choices are: Smoky Bay to top up  the water tanks and then to Baird Bay; Smoky Bay itself; Ceduna for a couple of days so that we can prepare meals to get us across the Nullarbor; Denial Bay (west of Ceduna) and do the same thing. We have also talked about ending the SA experience and head back to WA via Esperance and the south Coast of WA and stop in on a long-lost mate at Dunsborough and Sue's Folks at Busselton, before heading to Perth where I will catch up with my Folks and Sue will fly out to Phuket with a girlfriend of hers. We still have 31 days to go before we have to be at work.

Eyre Peninsula East Coast

After leaving the Lincoln National Park we travelled through Port Lincoln itself and then a further 33 Km up the Lincoln Highway before turning back toward the coast and continuing for another 15 Km until we reached a small bay known as Red Cliffs. Had we not turned off the highway the next town would have been Tumby Bay, 19 Km further north. We found out about Red Cliffs from a tourism brochure that we picked up somewhere along the way and haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else.

Red Cliffs Camp Site

 Many of the populated bays on the East side of the Peninsula are protected at the south end by some sort of rock formation or Point. The town or camp sites are most often built at this southern end to gain protection from the strong winds. The northern end of the bays are usually open to the ravages of the sea and are usually not inhabited. Red Cliffs is one such Bay and in its case it has a rocky headland that protects the southern end of the Bay, where the campground is located.

The Red Cliffs campground is operated by  church group - can't remember which one. They charge just $10.00 per day for an unpowered site or $15.00 per day for a powered site. There is also scheme water available and an amenities block. The camp site is located right on a beach which is safe for swimming. A couple of the powered sites have absolute beach front location while the remaining eight are one row back from the beach. As you can probably tell, it is a small campground.

 Red Cliffs Camp Site: Small, a little dusty with very basic facilities.

Our site, next to the amenities block.

A calm, shallow beach - great for kids.

The campground is pretty basic - The sites are dirt, the amenities only get cleaned every two or three days, the water pressure is so low it has to be boosted by a pump (which turned out to be right next to our site) and the couple of cabins on site are pretty simple. That said, for the price it is excellent value and the small, intimate size of the place would appeal to many people.

The fishing wasn't much good. Everyone says that the whole of the Eyre Peninsula "goes off" for fishing and Red Cliffs is apparently no different. As with almost everywhere we have been so far, the poor old King George Whiting had copped an absolute flogging over the Christmas holiday break and those who had fished while we were there caught nothing. I had a go but all I got was three undersized Whiting and three Herring.

If you aren't into fishing, snorkeling, swimming or walking along beaches then Red Cliffs probably isn't the place for you. If you just want a place to kick back and relax and enjoy the ocean views and tranquility. then this is a good place for it. We mostly did the latter and took the opportunity to fill the water tanks in the van. We stayed for three days after having initially booked for two.

From Red Cliffs we popped back out to the highway and covered the 19 Km to Tumby Bay fairly quickly. The arrangement for our accommodation at Red Cliffs was that we were to pay it at a residence in Tumby Bay, on our way through. We had a look around Tumby Bay first. Like pretty much everywhere we've been so far, Tumby Bay was a smallish town (again, located at the southern end of the bay) with a nice beach, the mandatory jetty, a smattering of shops and an independent supermarket, a servo, pub, caravan park and so on. Like everywhere else, the fishing was supposed to be legendary.

Location of Tumby Bay

Tumby Bay is postcard pretty, neat as a pin and would seem to be populated by a fairly high percentage of retirees. We decided against staying there as we were keen to do some free camping after spending a few days in a "caravan park" style situation at Red Cliffs. So, we found the house where we had to pay for our previous three night's stay and then trundled out of town - having forgotten to take so much as a single photograph.

From Tumby Bay we headed just a few kilometres further north on the Lincoln Highway before, once again. turning back toward the coast to Lipson Cove. Lipson Cove is a popular, completely free campsite. It is listed in the very popular "Camps Australia Wide" books. The Cove was used by the early settlers as a a port to export copper ore that they were mining in the hills that surround the Cove. You can see the old workings and the remnants of the jetty from the campsites.

Campers can set themselves up right on the beach, or locate themselves a bit further back on gravel surfaced camping bays. If you can't get ocean views here, the place must be full.

Lipson Cove Location

The Cove is, once again, populated (by campers) at the southern end and quite windswept and rugged at the northern end. The beach is clean white sand and pristine turquoise water. The beach is about 800 metres in length before a rocky outcrop delineates it from the next bay. Once again, the fishing is purported to be excellent and I did try from the beach, but without luck. The beach itself is not as sheltered as most of the other places that we have been and children would need to be supervised closely if they went swimming there. This lack of protection was one of the reasons why I didn't bother going out in the kayak.

Looking from our camp site to the beach at Lipson Cove.

When we arrived, this beach was covered in camps.
They all went home for the start of school the next day.

On our arrival it was quite windy and even a little on the cool side but around 4:00 PM the wind started easing and by 6:00 PM it was perfectly still. This enabled us to enjoy daylight saving the way it is meant to be enjoyed - lounging around outside the van in light clothing, having a quiet bevvy or two. The calm conditions were to be short lived and about one o'clock in the morning the wind blew in with a vengeance, even blowing down the annex on the caravan about thirty metres from us.

When we awoke we obtained a wind forecast from the Internet and it wasn't looking too good. Three or four days of very strong winds were expected. We decided that Lipson Cove was just too exposed to ride out the wind that was forecast and so we packed up and headed further north. If we we going to endure a few days of crap weather it may as well be in a place where we can watch a bit of telly, or grab a coffee or whatever. (No TV reception at Lipson Cove.)

The first town we came across was Port Neill. Port Neill is a very small town, once again located at the south end of a bay and having the mandatory jetty and caravan park.

Port Neill Location

Not much to see or do really, especially as it had started to rain lightly, confining us to the car. So we moved on, heading further north. The next town on the way north is Arno Bay. Arno Bay is also very small but impeccably neat and also has the standard attributes that we have become used to.

Arno Bay Location

While Arno Bay was very nice and no doubt would be a very serene place to stay, we couldn't really envisage being stuck there waiting for three or four days for the wind to blow itself out. The shoreline here, just as it has been everywhere else we had been on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula, was very exposed and cops a hammering from the predominately onshore winds. We figured that the much more sheltered bay at Cowell would be a better proposition.

By now we were starting to feel a little guilty about bypassing so many places that would obviously be really nice given better weather and by continuing on to Cowell it would mean that we would have covered over half of the east side of the peninsula in just one day - after having taken weeks to do the west side. Pushing the guilt aside,we drove north for another fifty minutes or so and were soon in the main street of Cowell.

Cowell Location

Cowell is situated on a very large bay, not unlike Venus Bay or Streaky Bay on the west side of the peninsula. At this point on the east coast, the Spencer Gulf (between the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas) is starting to narrow considerably - so much so, that a ferry service between Lucky Bay (15 minutes from Cowell) and Wallaroo (on the Yorke Peninsula) was established to shorten the travel time from the Eyre Peninsula to Adelaide. The ferry service is temporarily suspended while they await the arrival of a new boat, but should resume during March of 2012.

Cowell is a fair bit larger that the towns that we had been to earlier in the day and is a popular tourist destination. The large, sheltered bay makes it a mecca for fishers. It is also a centre for supporting the agricultural industry and has thriving aquaculture and oyster industries. The town is large enough to support two pubs and has the familiar array of small shops and an independent supermarket that have been a feature of most of the towns that we have been to. We were pleasantly surprised to see a bakery and a butcher in the town.

The main street of Cowell

Neat as a pin. You won't find litter anywhere.

There are many beautifully restored or maintained old buildings.

The town is, as are all of the towns in this part of Australia, neat, tidy and litter-free. The Council has made a nice park near the jetty and has equipped it with very clean dunnies, some shade shelters and free BBQ's. The entire area is grassed and has some shade and would be a nice place when the weather is fine. The boat ramp and other facilities for the fishos are very good.

The family-friendly park

An art installation at the park

Naturally, there is the mandatory jetty and we weren't at the caravan park more than about ten minutes before being regaled with stories of how many Blue Swimmer crabs were being caught at the jetty at the moment. There are no swimming beaches at Cowell and the bay is lined with mangrove swamps near the town.

We had the choice of two caravan parks. One is about three kilometres out of town and the other is pretty much at the centre of the town, next to the mangroves. We chose to stay at the one in town, reasoning that we could walk to the pub for a "countery" or to the shops if we chose to. We booked for three nights.

The crap weather continued, as forecast, for the next three days and was predicted to do so for at least one more day, so we spent our time shopping, dining at the pub, going on some of the tourist drives  (there are three of them centred around Cowell), doing odd jobs on the caravan and car and getting some photographs and video shot. I probably should have spent some time on this blog but somehow couldn't raise the enthusiasm.

The weather was so crap that none of the diehard fishos at the caravan park put their boats in the water, so they had to kill time by standing around, scratching their balls and telling lies about the fish they had caught at Cowell on previous visits. It was actually funny to watch some of them. They were so bored that they polished or cleaned everything in sight - twice - and wandered around aimlessly, annoying anyone silly enough to say g'day to them.

I also met Vince and his wife (apologies, but after we left the park I realised that Vince never actually introduced you, so I don't know what your name is). They also own a Kedron caravan and we were able to swap some ideas for improving how some things work. As it turns out, Vince's wife has been following our travels on this blog and was wondering if we would bump into them somewhere.

We had a nice meal at the pub, at the bakery, purchased some meat from the butcher and some groceries from the supermarket, so we contributed to the local economy while there.

One of the Pubs does a spit roast every week. This week it was a pig,
cooked on the verandah so that passers-by can watch.

While waiting for the weather to remember that it is actually Summer, we decided that a day trip to Whyalla would kill some time and enable us to finish our trip up the east coast without having to move the van again. We had already been to Port Augusta on several occasions, so there was no real need for us to go there and so going as far as Whyalla would be enough. This meant that we could go across the Peninsula from Cowell to Elliston, or Venus Bay or Smoky Bay and finish our vacation on the more sheltered side.

Whyalla is an hour's drive north of Cowell

Whyalla Location

On the way to Whyalla you pass quite closely to a working iron-ore mine at Iron Duke. It is iron, from mines such as this, that sustain Whyalla. It has a history steeped in steel manufacture, ship building and iron-ore exporting, although the ship building ceased over 40 years ago. The town also has a legacy of iron-ore mining - dust. The town is liberally coated with iron dust which has the effect of giving it a dilapidated look. Equally, much of the inner-city housing is "standard mining company issue" and very dated looking.

Fortunately the dust is being removed in a concerted program of cleaning, starting with the public buildings and amenities. Although looking a bit shabby, beneath the veneer of dust lies a vibrant community and a sense of optimism for the future. The town gives the appearance of being busy and economically sound.

We drove the streets (remember, the weather was crap), visiting the Tourist Information Centre, where the very friendly staff gave us some ideas of things to see and do. The Information Centre is co-located with the Maritime Museum and the naval vessel, the "Whyalla", is also located at the Centre. The ship can be toured by appointment.

We actually braved the conditions for long enough to take some video and photographs from the old gun emplacements that now served as a lookout right above the town centre. These were not your usual sweeping views of beautiful beaches that we have become so used to seeing. From this lookout you have views over the OneSteel steelworks, the dusty town centre, the port facilities and the marina. You can also see what passes for a beach but it is pretty ordinary. Views over Spencer Gulf were spoiled by the low cloud, making it difficult to see the other side of the gulf.

Yep, Whyalla is a steel town.

Difficult to see in this picture, but everything is covered in a layer of red dust.

After looking around at a few more sights, we ventured to the other end of town to the shopping centre to get some things that we haven't been able to get at the smaller towns. We had a very nice lunch at the shops, washed the car in a car wash that fitted us in even with the kayak still on the roof-rack, purchased some more books (in case the weather stayed fowl) and managed to get most of the things on our shopping list (and a few things that weren't.)

Having satiated our need for some "retail therapy" we piled back into the clean car (first wash since we left home two months ago) and headed back to Cowell for our last night there. Even though the forecast was not indicating improved weather, we felt that we needed to move on.

And so, after taking a month to see the west side of the Eyre Peninsula, we had taken less than a week to see the east side. We know that we haven't really done it justice, but the weather can bugger up the best of intentions.There is no doubt in our minds that the east side could be as interesting and spectacular as the other side - we simply didn't get the weather to do it. Even as I write this update, three days after we left Cowell, there has been just one day of good weather since we left. So here we are, back at Venus Bay. The wind has been a little gentler, but here it is offshore - reducing the chill factor and improving the comfort factor a lot.

We are booked to stay here for two weeks, but may not stay here that long as we are having problems with the water here. The water is very saline and has actually killed the membranes of our reverse osmosis water filter. We can no longer filter water and do not wish to run the saline water through the plumbing of the van. This means we have only about 120 litres of drinking water left and even less general purpose water. While we can get by with showering at the caravan park's amenities and also doing our washing using the park's machines, it will be drinking water (or the lack thereof) that will force our hand.

At least the weather has been good enough that I've been able to get out and get amongst the fish. Fresh King George Whiting, freshly caught squid and hot chips for dinner tonight - Yum!

Port Lincoln and Lincoln National Park

As we said in a previous post, we changed plans for staying at Coffin Bay NP and ended up driving across the 40 Km at the bottom of the Eyre peninsula, to Port Lincoln. As we approached Port Lincoln from the west the first thing that struck us was the size of the place. Since leaving Ceduna we had not been to a large town for weeks. Port Lincoln has a population of 15,000 people. It nestles on the side of a massive bay that provides safe anchorage for large ships as well as a significant fishing fleet, tuna farms and oyster farms. Predictably, the fishing industry is a major employer in the town as well as being a centre for agricultural production.

Port Lincoln Beach Freshly Graded for the "Tunarama" Festival

The Grain Loading Wharf Dominates the Foreshore Vista

Looking out from the foreshore at Port Lincoln you cannot actually see where the entrance to the bay is as it is quite distant and obscured by islands. The town centre has a myriad of shops and business premises as well as a pretty foreshore and beach. The grain loading wharf dominates the waterfront but not in an ugly way as has happened with, say, the Port of Geraldton in WA.  The town is relatively hilly and many suburbs have commanding views over the bay.

Directly south of Port Lincoln is the Lincoln National park. Our aim was to spend a night at Port Lincoln and then find a spot at the NP and spend five or six days there. The only caravan park in town (there was another some distance up the east coast at North Shields) was perched on the side of a hill and many of the van sites had been carefully carved out of the hill to maximise the views. We were allocated a site in a drive-thru area of the park where all of the bays were staggered so that each site had unobstructed views of the bay. The sites were perfectly level and had concrete slabs for the van and annex to sit on. The "garden" was a few shrubs planted in the midst of a layer of crushed brick material. It was the most expensive park that we have stayed at so far, at $33.00 per night. Once we had set up the van we went for a quick sight-seeing trip and took a few photos.

Next morning we drove the twenty kilometres to the Lincoln NP. This NP has many different camping grounds to choose from, each offering something a little bit different from the others. Those who like a surfing beach should camp at September Beach. The camping area has had a lot of work done to ensure that visitors have nice level sites, long drop dunnies, walkways and bush walks. Those who are after sheltered sites can choose from Surfleet Cove, Horse Rock, Fisherman's Point, and Richardson's Hut sites. Surfleet Cove is bitumen all the way but the others mentioned are gravel roads access. All of these are accessible with a caravan in tow but those pulling non-offroad vans need to lift the right foot and go slow over the few sections of corrugations. The remaining campgrounds are more suited to people camping in tents or pulling off-road camper trailers. These include Taylor's Landing and Memory Cove campsites, with the latter accessible only with a key obtainable from the Port Lincoln Visitor Centre. Only 50 people are allowed at Memory Cove on any given day.

The Van, Tucked Away in the Scrub at Fisherman's Point

Just One of the Many Boats that Passed Each Day

The View Straight Out in Front of the Van. Port Lincoln in the Distance.

We chose to stay at Fisherman's Point, at a site looking across the bay to Port Lincoln. We had excellent views of the sea and the passing boats as well as being surrounded but natural bush (and the birds that come with the trees and shrubs.) The only drawback (as we found later) was that the entire campsite was prone to dust when the wind blew up. Not helping this were the peanuts who insist driving around the campsites for a sticky beak without realising how much dust they were raising at the speed they were driving. After setting up camp we sat back and did what we have become pretty good at doing....relaxing. In fact we relaxed for three days before actually exploring the rest of the National Park.

The fishing at the National Park was pretty ordinary. I got a feed (several times) by going down to rocks directly below our campsite and fishing for Luderick. I haven't caught Luderick before and had to ask another visitor if he knew what they were (after having already throwing many back). These fish are usually weed eaters but I was catching them on small pieces of cockle. Unfortunately for them they are very good on the tooth. I had no luck with the Whiting or Herring. Our "neighbour" has been to the same place for twelve of the past fourteen years and was telling me that the place is usually teeming with Whiting but this year he has only caught five (in about three weeks.) He went on to say that "Last year we filled a fifty litre freezer with fillets and the year before we filled that freezer and the freezer in the caravan as well." And he wonders why there aren't any fish!

The beach next to the Point was shallow, calm and pristine white sand that went out about 30 metres to the weed line. It was sheltered from the prevailing winds every day that we were there but I didn't take the kayak out because access to the water was difficult, to say the least. I had the first proper swim of our trip at this beach (I was too busy dodging sharks at Ningaloo to really enjoy a swim.)

The Beach, 30 Seconds Walk From our Camp

We took a full day to explore the other places at the NP, including a walk up Stamford Hill to the memorial to Mathew Flinders. This walk included a nine hundred metre climb up the hill, a walk that wasn't too steep but did have a slippery gravel surface that meant that you needed to keep your wits about you. Our friend Tanya would probably jog up the bloody thing, but we settled for a walk. If you take the trouble to get there, the views from the top were worth the effort. From this vantage point one could see the entirety of the bay that is Port Lincoln, as well as the town of Port Lincoln itself. In the other direction you could see over to the rugged southern side of the park where the Southern Ocean crashes against the cliffs. One of the other places that will stick in our memory was the lookout at Wanna, also on the southern side of the NP. I'll let the photos do the explaining.....

Wanna

Wanna

Wanna

There is a cottage at Donnington Point that can be hired by the public. It is a restored cottage from the earliest days of white settlement and is perched high up on a hill with truly excellent views over the sheltered side of the National Park's beaches. As Sue said, "It would be great to hire this cottage in Winter, light a big fire, sit in front of it and read books."

As good as the NP is, the continual swirling dust was starting to wear us down and after six days we moved on. This time we were starting the eastern half of the Peninsula, marking the halfway point of our exploration.

Some Musings

On Litter:


Unlike our home State of Western Australia, which is rapidly turning into a shit-pit, South Australia has very little litter on show. Contributing to this is the 10 cents per container refund on beverage containers, the very strong emphasis on recycling (even in the smallest of towns) and the fact that if you don't have your own bags at supermarket checkouts, you have to buy plastic bags at a price that must be a deterrent. (We don't actually know what that price is because we always took bags with us.)


On Wind:


You expect wind anywhere on the coast and the Eyre Pensinsula is no exception. Fortunately, the wind has only caused us to alter our plans on one occasion...right now as it happens...that's why I'm sitting here doing this Blog instead of fishing or sightseeing. The strong winds are not ideal for kayaking, especially on the east side of the Peninsula, where the seas are less protected, so if you plan to visit and are into fishing you would be well advised to bring a dinghy, or at least hire one. During the summer months the predominate wind is offshore on the west side of the Peninsula and onshore on the east side.


On the Towns:


The four key towns, Ceduna, Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta, have most of the shops and services that you are likely to need on a holiday here. Outside of those towns the smaller places generally have a population of two to three hundred and the shops and services to suit. We have found the people in the smaller places are friendly and very helpful when pointing out the tourism highlights of their region.We always try to spend some money at each place we visit. It is fairly evident that the realisation has hit home that the farming and fishing industries will not be enough to sustain these towns into the future and that they need to do something to attract and retain tourists. Elliston, for instance, holds a Salmon fishing competition that runs over a three-month period during the winter months. This helps spread the tourist dollar over times outside of school holidays. Let's hope they don't shrivel up and die like so many other small towns in Australia.


On Drinking Water:


Many of the places we have stayed have no water at all. Many have bore water that is absolutely unfit for drinking. Of the rest (so far) that are on scheme water, the water is allegedly potable (drinkable), but by crikey it tastes like shit. If you tour the Peninsula, bring your own water - or a method of filtering some.


On the Roads:

The Flinders and Lincoln Highways (the two roads that flank the Peninsula) are excellent roads, with no significant inclines that would make towing a struggle. They are in a good state of repair and have plenty of long, straight, stretches for overtaking. The gravel roads, both major and minor, are well-made gravel or limestone surfaces that have enabled us to travel comfortably at 60 KPH while towing the van. Most of the roads are just short hops from the main highway to the attraction that you are visiting. We can say, after having travelled much of this country, that the roads here on the Eyre Peninsula are as good as you'll find anywhere, if not better.

On Free or Cheap Camping:

There are some excellent free or cheap campsites on the Peninsula. They are close together and you wouldn't usually need to travel for more than an hour between sites. The complication comes in if you can't carry a lot of water. Often the only reason you would leave a site is to get more water. Quite a few of the camp sites are close to the water, but few are right on the water's edge. National Park sites are generally well back from the water and have limited or tricky access (particularly for launching and retrieving boats or kayaks.) There are some absolutely stunning locations for free and cheap camping such as Sheringa Beach, Port Lincoln National park and Lipson Cove (the last two of which will be reviewed in upcoming blogs.) We have come to the realisation that we won't be able to visit them all and that the east side is more difficult when hoping to fish from the kayak. Summer school holidays means lots of visitors at these sites, so in some places you may miss out. We have been lucky enough to get in everywhere that we have tried.

On Caravan Parks:


Caravan parks are a necessary evil - if for no other reason than to top up water tanks or get a bit of washing done. All of the parks that we have visited have been adequate. I won't go into reviewing individual parks as the needs of each visitor is different. We have everything in our van and thus have little need for any of the facilities at a park. Others use just about all of the facilities. None of the parks we visited were of "Big 4" standard, but neither were they crapholes. Some places had more than one park to choose from and our criterion for choosing may differ from why other people would choose to stay at a place. Prices have ranged from $24.00 per night to $33.00 per night, with the average being $28.00 per night. One thing we have realised is that the more time you spend bush camping, the harder it is to get used to having "neighbours" at a caravan park.

Elliston to Coffin Bay

Sorry folks, Blogspot have yet again cocked up my ability to upload photos to the Blog. If I wait any longer I will forget what we have done, so, for the time being it will be words only.

Having topped up the water tanks and washed some clothes, it was time to move on from Elliston. We were keen to do a bit of bush camping and get away from the caravan park lifestyle for a while. The aim was to stay at the National park at Coffin Bay. Earlier in the trip we had purchased a Parks Pass that entitled us to enter and camp at National Parks in South Australia for a two-month period. The pass cost just $65.00 and we were keen to put it to some use.

Just 38 Km down the track from Elliston we turned of to Sheringa Beach. This beach offers cheap camping with a permit obtainable at the Sheringa Roadhouse (which is located on the Flinders Highway about 100 metres from the turnoff to the beach. Like all of the well-made gravel/limestone roads we have used in SA, this one was in good condition and would be accessible by standard two-wheel drive vehicles and non-offroad caravans.

The campsites are basically of two types. The first type is the formal camp area at the south end of the camping areas. This has reasonably delineated camping areas and there are two long-drop thunderboxes nearby. Beach access is via a sandy track that goes a short distance through the coastal dunes. Like many of these places, you must carry out all of the rubbish that you create. There are no rubbish bins and there was no water. Bring your own.

The second camping style is a series of individual nooks along the cliff face to the north of the beach. These afford the camper some quite spectacular views of rugged, rocky, coastline. There is wooden stairway access to a couple of very small coves along this section. The coves appeared to be safe enough to swim at, provided one studied the wave pattern for a while first, just to be sure no big breakers roll in unannounced.

We were tempted to stop at Sheringa but the day we were there it was particularly windy and the campsites were very exposed to the wind in the direction from which it was blowing - so it was a case of sticking with Plan A. I guess it is a symptom of our being "beached out" that we didn't even take a photograph of Sheringa Beach.

The Flinders Highway had so far taken us through a lot of farming country with mostly coastal vegetation that tends not to be overly green, nor very tall. The further south we progressed, the evidence of more rain was in the height and size of the trees. We began to see many eucalyptus species that were as high as 30 metres. There were even some freshwater lakes (as opposed to the predominance of salt lakes that we had seen up until now.) This reminds me of something that I haven't mentioned previously......

We have seen a lot of waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans) that you would usually see paddling around on freshwater sources, bobbing around in the sheltered bays of the Eyre Peninsula coastline. I have not experienced seeing these particular waterbirds inhabiting saltwater environments, until now. One can only guess that the farming has caused most of the inland lakes to either dry up completely, or turn into salt lakes - forcing the waterfowl to adapt. And adapt, they have!

Anyway, back to the story. Within an hour we had reached the turnoff to Coffin Bay, leaving us just 17 Km to the townsite. As you drive into Coffin Bay you immediately see just how protected the waters are. The area is also reasonably hilly, enabling people to build houses on the slopes and take advantage of the views. The other impression is the amount of trees in the area. You go for long periods of time travelling this peninsula without seeing substantial tree growth, and this reawakens you to their presence.

Panorama shot from lookout at Coffin Bay

We drove through the town of Coffin Bay and made our way to the National Park. The plan was to set up camp there and use it as a base to explore everything in the area. The road to the campsites was bitumised but very windy and narrow in places. It took us at least half an hour to cover the 20 Kilometre distance. When we arrived there were two signs. One was a symbol of a caravan and pointed to the left and the other was a symbol of a tent and pointed to the right.

The problem was that the water was to the right, at least 200 metres from where the caravans were supposed to park. This would mean a fair old trundle to the water with the kayak, made worse by the fact that it would be all uphill on the way back! The second problem was that the campground for caravans was nothing more than a dustbowl that had been denuded of any trees. There was no shade to peak of and the dust was blowing everywhere in the wind.

We parked up and took a walk down to the water's edge to find that the small cove was very shallow, obviously didn't get much flushing by currents and was lined with stinky mud instead of beach. On the walk back we went for a look around the tent camping area and saw that these had been well set up with nicely defined bays set amongst some well established trees for shade. We could possibly have got the caravan in there (and while we were there, another caravan did sneak in) but we didn't want to break any rules.

Our jobs at Cossack require us to enforce the camping guidelines of the Shire of Roebourne and it would be hypocritical of us to be enforcers at home and transgressors while away. National Parks, a message for you.... The area set aside for caravans at Coffin Bay is a disgrace. Why should tourists in caravans be treated any differently to people in tents or camper-trailers? We pay the same entry fees! Lift your game (and expect a formal complaint from us as well.)

Jetties and foreshore at Coffin Bay

So we decide not to stay at Coffin Bay. There were other campsites but these required driving through very deep sand - no problem if you aren't pulling a 3.5 tonne caravan behind you. There was also a caravan park at Coffin Bay but we figured that because we needed to pick up some supplies at Port Lincoln, we may as well stay at the caravan park there.

Off we trundled for another 40 or so kilometres to Port Lincoln. We set ourselves up in the caravan park and had a quick look around, before calling it a day and returning to the van to dream up Plan B. Plan B is the topic of the next blog. See ya.

Road Sign

Hi Folks

This is just a little novelty that we have spotted in our travels. These signs are seen a lot on the major routes around SA. They're certainly not mincing their words symbolism.

Venus Bay to Elliston

Not far from Venus Bay, on the way south, are the Talia Caves.

Location of Road into Talia Caves

We called in there and had a look. It was a grey day so the photos don't do the "caves" justice. These aren't caves in the traditional sense. They are simply where the action of the ocean has eroded the limestone where it is softer, making hollows where it occurred. I was actually more attracted to the shapes that the rocks had formed and the layers of different colours than I was to the caves.

Staircase leading to "Woolshed" Cave"

The first cave that you get to is "Woolshed" Cave. I think that it is named solely because of its size. It doesn't have any other similarities to a woolshed.

Woolshed Cave

The rocks around the Woolshed Cave have eroded into channels which funnel the water into the cave during storms. It is expected that the cave will continue to erode and that the roof will eventually collapse.

One of the natural channels that funnel water into the Woolshed Cave

Crikey! I actually thought I'd lost weight - until I saw this photo.

From Woolshed Cave it is a short drive to the next easily accessible cave, "The Tub". This cave is the result of the action of the sea carving into the limestone, forming a very large cavernous space with a relatively small entrance. The roof of the cave collapsed and the rocks that fell were washed out of the cave, leaving a large, tub-like, hole in the ground.

Part of The Tub. The entrance is just out of view at the front-right.

The view from the other end of The Tub, showing where the water enters.

There are many caves at Talia but to access them requires a walk along the waterline - definitely best done at low tide and with a calm sea. We had neither and deemed it an unnecessary risk to go and view them. We did drive to where the rocky coastline meets the beach and were rewarded with views of yet another pristine piece of coastline. Those of you who have toured the Kimberley or Central Australia will be familiar with the term "Gorged Out" - where all of the gorges are spectacular, but they start to get a bit "ho hum" - well, on the Eyre Peninsula you can get "Beached Out" in much the same manner.

Where the rocks become beach at Talia

Moving on from Talia caves we came across a sign on the side of the road that said "Colton Bakery - OPEN", yet there was no bakery, just an old house in the trees. We had been told about this place by many travellers that we had met since arriving in SA. A closer inspection revealed a little "cubby" on the side of the road, near the house. It had a sign that said "Fresh bread from a wood fired oven". In the cubby was a sliding window and once opened there were shelves of fresh baked bread and rolls. None of the loaves was sliced and they were the old style loaves like Cob loaves, Tank loaves, Twist loaves and Upright loaves. The loaves were $3.50 each, regardless of whether they were wholemeal, multigrain, white, or what shaped loaf they were. I have to admit, it was the beautiful  smell of fresh bread that won me over. We came away with a white Tank and two multigrain Cobs.You leave your money in a tin inside the cubby. It is an honour system and I guess it works or the baker wouldn't bother continuing.

So there we were, driving down the road toward Elliston with the smell of fresh, wood fired, bread permeating throughout the car. Talk about torture! Just before Elliston there is a clifftop drive. As usual, the scenery was exquisite, but this drive had something else as a drawcard. Along the drive were placed sculptures made of different materials. All were interesting, some were downright clever and others amusing.

One of the sculpture on the clifftop drive near Elliston.

More sensational Eyre Peninsula coastline.

The drive is quite short, probably less than 10 kilometres in total, but worth doing. From there it is just a few minutes to Elliston.

Location of Elliston

Elliston has a population of around 350 people. Like most of these coastal communities it is located on the shores of a sheltered bay, but in Elliston's case, not quite as sheltered as places like Venus Bay or Streaky Bay. The town has two caravan parks which gives you the idea that tourism is one of the major industries. There is a small supermarket, a couple of servos, a Community Hall and a smattering of small shops - along with the mandatory jetty. We didn't take any photos at Elliston because, sadly, nothing really jumped out at us and said "Take Me!" I did take a shot of our site at the caravan park, complete with the towering grain silos.

Look! Grass! We didn't even set the table and chairs up because it was too darn cold outside.

The only reason that we stayed at Elliston was that we needed to fill the caravan water tanks. The water at Venus Bay was unsuitable and my 12 Volt pump had shit the tin, making it impossible to filter any water there. From Elliston the intention was to bush camp at the National Park at Coffin Bay, thus we needed to take as much water as possible as none would be available at the NP....but that's another story. Stay tuned.