The Eyre Peninsula

Thurs 13 Sept – We shopped and walked around the CBD of Whyalla. This is the third biggest city in South Australia and very industrial, centred around a steel works which borders the main street. There was also a harbour and a water front area. We followed the road S/W inland and re-joined the coast at Cowell, a small tourist town and stopped in a RV camping area just out of town. The town is on the Franklin Harbour in a large semi enclosed bay. The buildings, particularly the pubs were beautiful.

Fri 14 Sept – A strong N/W wind got up in the night and the temperatures were very mild. A southerly change tomorrow! There was a cross wind for the 115kms to our next stop at Tumby Bay. We called into a couple of other tourist towns on the way. Tumby Bay was beautiful with a white sandy beach and clear turquoise water. You would think you were in a pacific island. We have stopped at a tiny camp run by the CWA. We are right on the beach with magnificent views of the water. We went for a walk around the town and the beach with its long jetty. It was 26C and we sat on the beach enjoying the views and read. The forecast for tomorrow is not great so we might just stay here another night. Fish and chips from the shop along the road for dinner!

Sat 15 Sept – The forecast weather arrived in the night with strong cold winds and rain. We paid for another night and went for a bike ride along the waterfront to the far end of the of Tumby Bay where we found canals and posh houses. Back just before another shower. The wind is bitterly cold and the temp is around 10C. Hard to remember it was 26C yesterday! After lunch we ventured out again for a walk along the beach. Even in this weather this place is beautiful.

Sun 16 Sept – It was only a short drive to Port Lincoln. This is the biggest town in this area right at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula. We booked into a camp which is a series of tiered sites giving everyone a view of Boston Bay. It was cold and overcast but we rode a great cycleway back into the main beach and shopping area passing huge grain silos and wharves.

Mon 17 Sept – Another short drive across the bottom of the peninsula to the west side and Coffin Bay. The weather was much warmer, and we walked the “Oyster Walk” for 5kms along the foreshore passing the lovely holiday homes and then around the coast to Long Beach. A few kangaroos came to investigate us at sunset.

Tues 18 Sept – Back on the road and now we are driving up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. The west coast is much more rugged with towering cliffs overlooking the Southern Ocean which was pounding in driven by a cool strong S/W wind. The landscape reminded us of the west coast of Ireland with windswept paddocks and drystone walls. At Elliston we stopped for lunch overlooking the wild ocean and continued on to a small camping area at Walkers Rocks. We were sheltered from the winds by sandhills. The ocean views again were great.

Wed 19 Sept – Back on the road driving N/W thru Venus Bay, more cliffs and huge seas, Port Kenny, not much there, and on to Murphy’s Haystacks. This was an area of very strange rocky outcrops in a farmer’s paddock on a hill.

Our overnight stop was at Streaky Bay. This was a small holiday/fishing village. We camped in an RV Park (another cheap area in a grassy paddock) and rode our bikes along the waterfront and into the town.

Thurs 20 Sept – Near the end of our journey around the Eyre Peninsula. We went to a Perlubie Beach but decided to carry on to Haslam Beach and another cheap RV Park. There was not much there but we walked along the jetty and along the beach. They launch the oyster barges off the beach here and we caught one of them being recovered. A bit like Ward Beach in Marlborough.

Fri 21 Sept – We completed our loop of the Eyre Peninsula at Ceduna. It was a lovely town on a beach with the now usual long jetty. Tomorrow we will start the long trip across the Nullarbor Plains. We stayed in a nice camping ground overlooking the ocean and spent the day organising ourselves for this trip. We booked flights back to NZ (arriving home on 7 Nov) and researching storage for “Andy” in Perth. Once we leave here we have to very carefully watch our fuel and water as everything is very limited. We have phoned to Janine, Don’s niece, and we will visit Janine, Louie & Tyler before flying home.

Coober Pedy - Port Augusta

Fri 31 Aug – The wind and dust storm died down in the night so I cleaned the solar panel before heading east to the Urulu road/Stuart Highway corner at Erldunda where we fuelled up and had internet and cellphone so published the last blog. Turning right we drove south on the Stuart Highway to the border of the Northern Territory and South Australia. There was a carpark area on the border and we joined about 10 other campers and caravans for the night. We enjoyed a couple of hours around a communal camp fire.

Sat 1 Sept – The country of South Australia in this area was flat and the highway straight and smooth. The only sign of civilization was at Marla where we fuelled up again and continued on to a rest area for the night. As no one had arrived by 4:30pm, we felt a little uneasy so made the decision to continue on for another 50kms to Cadney Roadhouse camping for security. The bonus was that we could fill up with water, a scarce resource around here and usually you have to pay for it.

Sun 2 Sept – A slightly shorter trip today (150km) as we had covered 50kms of it yesterday. Our destination was the opal mining town of Coober Pedy. The last part of the trip was past the mines with their conical shaped piles of waste. We booked into a caravan park for the night and went for a walk around this unusual town. A large part of it is underground carved into the limestone. The reason for living underground is to avoid the high summer temperatures. We went into the Desert Cave Hotel and walked the underground parts. We will stay another night in this area and explore more tomorrow.

Mon 3 Sept – Over to the information centre to get some brochures for South Australia and then a walk around this strange town. We saw a couple of underground churches and when went into a tour of an underground house, originally built by three ladies. After lunch we had another tour thru a working opal mine. We were underground for about 1 ½ hours and experienced all the processes for get the opals, divining, the excavation machinery, the vacuum system for removing the rubble, and using ultraviolet light to find the seams. A great tour! We spent the night at a huge free camp just out of the town.

Tues 4 Sept – We continued south on the Stuart Highway and stopped for the night at a road side rest area with about 20 others. A cool breeze today but it warmed up in the afternoon and another great sunset.

Wed 5 Sept – Back on the road south to Woomera passing several salt lakes on the way. The Red Centre of Australia, millions of years ago was a huge inland sea stretching down from the Gulf of Carpentaria and ending in these inland salt lakes. All the landscape we have enjoyed on this trip was formed by this sea. Woomera (Aboriginal word for a spear thrower) is an Australian Airforce Base which was used by America and Great Britain to test missiles from around 1950 until 1980. They even launched satellites into orbit from this secret area. We visited the museum and walked around the rocket park with many examples of the various missiles. We camped at a free area beside “Spud’s” road house. In the early evening we walked to the road house and had roast lamb sitting chatting to another couple of travellers.

Thurs 6 Sept – Our last day on the Stuart Highway. We saw the sea for the first time since Yeppoon, 50 days ago. We are at Port Augusta at the head of the Spencer Gulf with Adelaide about 200kms south. We have decided not to visit Adelaide on this trip. We are camped in a Football Club grounds. In the afternoon we biked around this old town of Port Augusta set at the end of the Spenser Gulf. A bit run down but with character.

Fri 7 Sept – Drove off our site and into town for shopping. We arranged to get 2 new tyres fitted next week, bought a 10lt jerry can for diesel, went to a laundromat and bought food and wine. Back at the Football Club (AFL) we set about giving “Andy” an internal clean getting rid of all the red dust. The camp was full tonight.

Sat 8 Sept – We are going short trip into the Flinders Ranges and drove down the east side of Spencer Gulf to the Mount Remarkable National Park where we have booked two nights. We had a great site in the gum trees in the Mambray River Valley. The camp is full of wild life and we had a parade of the following thru our camp site, Kangaroos, Emus, Goannas (1m long), and the usual Kookaburras laughing and Galahs screeching. In the afternoon we went on a short walk thru the bush and out onto a ridge for views of the Southern Ocean. The bush is very different as there is obviously more rain here. The meadows were covered with lovely spring flowers.

Sun 9 Sept – After a late start and pancake breakfast we packed our sandwiches and went on a 9km walk up the Mambray Valley ending in a steep climb for great views. At the head of the valley we found a beautifully built hut constructed in 1870 by Mr Scarfe for his family, farming this area. The temperatures are mild, and we sat outside until the sun set.

Mon 10 Sept – We left the National Park and drove south to the coast at Port Germain, where the longest wooden wharf in Australia (1680m) stretched out to the deep water of the Spencer Gulf. We turned inland and up a windy gorge road where the country suddenly turned in to green pastures and yellow rape seed. This is the first time we have seen green pasture this trip!! We drove on to Melrose and stopped at the Showgrounds in a lovely park setting. We cycled back to the village of Melrose thru a farm track. In the evening we sat around a fire with some folks from Adelaide on their annual holiday.

Tues 11 Sept – The forecast today is for strong N/W winds followed by southerly rain. The winds were very strong as we headed into them for 60kms to another small town of Quorn in the Flinders Ranges. Laundry required, so we stopped in a camping ground. The town has some lovely old buildings and has been used for several Aussie Movies. The wind and the temperatures dropped, and we got a short burst of rain, the first this trip.

Wed 12 Sept – We drove back thru the Flinders Ranges on a great road to Port Augusta. We have really enjoyed our 4 day loop in the South Flinders Ranges. Last week we ordered 2 new tyres for “Andy”, got them fitted today and then drove S/W down the start of the Eyre Peninsula. We have decided to drive west across the Nullarbor Plains to Western Australia and fly home from Perth around the first week of November. Before setting out on this journey however, we will explore the Eyre Peninsula which will take 5 or 6 days. We have kept an extra tyre so spent some time attaching it onto the bike rack. We now think we are fully prepared for the long trip. We have stopped for the night at another AFL ground in Whyalla.