Category: Australia

We packed up and left White Cliffs on the sealed road to Wilcannia – a nice change from the dirt and mud coming into town! The countryside became greener with large cattle stations – and a lot of cattle on the road.

A quick fuel and coffee stop at Wilcannia. The Cooee for Coffee café had a really great coffee and lemon slice.

Wilcannia had some lovely old buildings some of which had been restored but others that needed a lot of work.

Reaching Cobar, we stopped for lunch and then fare-welled the others – we had really enjoyed their company on the trip and hoped that they had too. Another farewell group shot – this time under the mining sign at Cobar.

Heading north out of Cobar the road was good and the countryside took on a greener tone, with grassy paddocks and eucalypt forest. We saw quite a few emus foraging in paddocks and more wild life as we headed to our overnight stop at Nyngan weir.

When we arrived in the late afternoon, there were already a few vans parked for the night, one of which was running a noisy compressor. They did turn it off at sunset though, so the peace and quiet of the area remained.

The site was quiet and far enough off the highway so that the traffic noise was negligible.

At one point during the night, a carload of hoons tore through the campsite blasting the car horn and yelling out to pack up as a big fire was heading our way. The swearing and laughing as they raced off back to town, gave it away though and no-one was taken in by their idea of a funny joke.

Next morning, we headed off to our final stop at Cowra.

Travelling south, we decided to stop for lunch at Parkes, but to our surprise, there was nowhere to park and the town was inundated with hundreds of Elvis look alikes. It was the annual Elvis festival. Short ones, tall ones, skinny ones, fat ones, young ones and old ones – all having fun and boosting incomes for the town.

We were staying at the Cowra Showground and drove past the entrance three times before finally driving in and finding a nice, grassy spot. There were amenities and it was a short walk to town if you wanted to go that route.

We drove out to the beautiful Japanese Gardens and spent a few hours wandering around, before heading back and getting ready for dinner at the Services Club.

Next morning, we took in some of the sights of Cowra, including a terrific holographic movie depicting the infamous breakout of the Japanese prisoners of war camp, before hooking up the caravan and heading to the M1 for the drive home.

It was a fantastic journey and we got to see places and experience things we hadn’t done before, with a great bunch of friends. Can’t wait for the next one.

The rain had stopped by morning and so everyone was up early preparing for our next leg of the journey to White Cliffs.

As we had about 110km on dirt today with the vans, everyone got busy taping up the vents in the vans to minimise dust intake. Dead Horse Gully was a great campsite and we were somewhat sad to leave but keen to go on to the next leg of our adventure.

We drove south toward Milparinka passing a huge salt lake on the way. Between Milparinka and Packsaddle was Henry Roberts Road which led to White Cliffs, so we turned left and stopped to let down the tyre pressures on car and van before hitting the dirt. The road was in good condition for most of the way much to everyone’s relief as some of the unsealed roads can be a bit of an unknown.

We drove though arid plains, farmlands, large cattle stations. The road surface changed from red dirt to white, back again, rocky to sandy and back. In the distance we could see mountain ranges. We continued over dry creek beds that started to look damp as we got closer to White Cliffs and then looked muddy, as there had obviously been some recent rain in the area.

Clouds loomed ahead adding an interesting element to the landscape. Getting closer to White Cliffs the road turned into red mud – slippery and very messy.

We arrived at White Cliffs and found the caravan park. There was mud over the front of the van and caked all over the mudflaps, pipes, step etc. After setting up we drove around town to get an idea of the place and location of various services etc. White Cliffs is very small with only 1 general store, 1 pub and then basic services like police station and health centre.

We drove out to the opal fields and had a walk around looking at the deep shafts that were everywhere, mullock hills and old mining equipment. The whole area was like Swiss cheese with multiple holes – it looked a bit like a moonscape and reminiscent of Coober Pedy. Many of the residents live in dugouts.

We went back for dinner at the caravan park and planned the next 2 days in White cliffs. Sunset over the caravan park was a typical outback sunset and the clouds were starting to abate.

We awoke to a fine still morning in White Cliffs so Trev decided to put up the drone to get a good aerial overview of the town. The pics were amazing – literally thousands of holes surrounded by mullock heaps – it looked like a real moonscape, or a huge rabbit warren. You could see where some of the miners were currently working – one big open cut area was visible but the majority still work in shafts and tunnels.

Our first stop was the Underground Motel for a self-guided history display and tour of the motel. White Cliffs is Australia’s first opal field. Opals were discovered at White Cliffs on the Moomba Station in 1884 by a group of Kangaroo Hunters. In 1892 there were only 18 men exploring for opal in white cliffs. 2 major finds in 1893 caused an influx of miners -over the next 12 months 800 men arrived and by 1897 the population had grown to 3500. Lack of water and extreme heat led to many of the population living in underground ‘dugouts’ which stay a cool steady temperature all year round.

White Cliffs Opal occurs in pockets below the surface with no indication on the surface of its location. Hence shafts were sunk that were 3m square to a depth of about 4 meters in the early days looking for traces of opal. Once opal was found the miners dug horizontally along the seams – no need to shore up the tunnels as the ground at White Cliffs is very stable. Shafts became much deeper as mechanised method of removing the dirt or ‘mullock’ as it was called made it possible.

The opal at White Cliffs is mainly white/ clear with the colours due to light refraction through the water trapped in spheres of the silica. Opalised fossils and unique opal ‘pineapples’ are also found at White Cliffs.

In 1900 overproduction of cheaper grades of opal caused a drop in overseas prices and together with the harsh conditions led to a slow reduction in the number of miners – by 1908 the town started to decline. By 1914 with many having left for Lightning Ridge and now enlisting in the war effort the population had dropped to just 30.

We left the motel and went to Red Earth Opals to book the underground mine tour which looked great. Graeme the owner of the mine was in the shop, and we had a long discussion with him about modern day opal mining and the success he had with his claims. The tour was not until 3pm so we went to the pub for lunch. The menu was limited due to the delay in the supply trucks, but we had delicious hamburgers with hand cut chips – really tasty.

The tour began with and informative talk by Graeme on the history of opal mining at White Cliffs then detailed information on how opal is formed and the types of opals including opalised fossils that are found at White Cliffs. Graeme had some great examples of these that he had found in his more than 30 years mining at White Cliffs. After the information session we all drove out following Graeme to his mining lease. It was a short but interesting drive through the mullock heaps.

We arrived at Graeme’s mine and after donning hard hats and a safety talk, as well as a demo of how the mullock is bucketed up mechanically from his mine, we headed underground for a tour of his working mine. The tour was extremely interesting and went for 2hrs.

Sunset was again beautiful. Another day in the outback!

Our last day at White Cliffs began slowly. Beryl was keen to see the metal art display by Doug Torpey a local artist, so we walked down to his home where his garden was filled with his metalwork displays as well as many old metal mining relics.

His latest set of artworks was called ‘Little Iron Men’ – sculptures of little people made with railway nails – and there were hundreds of different little men in all different scenarios – really well done. We were disappointed that none were for sale as they would have made great garden ornaments and a good souvenir from White Cliffs.

We did a walk through the town, which was only really one main street. The old post office had been beautifully renovated by a private owner and was without a doubt the best garden and home in town.

I did not go on the walk, and when the gang arrived back to the caravan park, I surprised them with a batch of Portuguese Tarts that I had baked. Trev was in his element as Portuguese Tarts are one of his favourites.

After morning tea, we all went to the opal fields to do some noodling. Dave and Rose did a quick noodle then returned to the caravan to relax.

Trev, Clare and I spent a few hours noodling, coming up with some small pieces of opal keeping us interested – it can be addictive fossicking among the mullock heaps!! We had to be careful to watch where we walked as there were shafts everywhere and we did not want anyone suddenly disappearing.

As it was our final night before leaving the others and heading south, we went for dinner at the pub. They had received deliveries and so now had a full menu. The meals were huge and really delicious – amazing, tasty steaks.

Sunrise on our last morning at White Cliffs was beautiful. We had really had an interesting time in this opal mining town which had its own unique flavour.

Due to a lot of rain over the Darling Paroo area all the roads in and out to Rose Isle Station were closed The Loveday and Wells crew’s best option was to drive as far as Cobar and then head north to Bourke instead of Rose Isle Station. This meant we could all travel together as far as Cobar where Beryl and I would leave for the trip home.

 

April 22

The drive to Menindee Lakes was about 110 kms but as we had heard the lakes were full and pretty spectacular, we had decided it would be worth the journey.

Lake Pamamaroo was the first lake we explored – it was full, and the area around looked very fertile with gums and a variety of native plants flourishing. There were quite a few free camp spots along the lake which looked great places to stay…as it turned out Gordon and Kerry had stayed there and had left that morning – we missed them by about half an hour.

We drove up to the outlet regulator area which controlled the outflow of the lake into the Darling River – there was a large amount of water flowing and the birdlife in the area were really enjoying it – there were birds in the water catching fish in the turbulent outflow.

The place where the Burke and Wills expedition had their base camp from 1860 til 1861 was nearby so we stopped and had a look around the area. Unfortunately, Burke and Wills headed out on an exploratory expedition from there to the interior in October 1860 and never returned, perishing in the interior.

We continued our drive into Kinchega National Park and stopped for lunch at a picnic spot just near Menindee Lake along a creek. No one was in sight for our entire drive into the park but as soon as we sat down for lunch several cars drove in looking for spots to stop – seems we were the fortunate ones to have found the only picnic table around!! We enjoyed lunch…or most of us did. Trev was unsure about the salad but cheered up when the Twisties made an appearance.

The road through the national park was great even though it was unsealed. We drove on and came to Emu Lake – aptly named with a couple of emus wading in the water.

The large Kinchega Station that was once a lucrative sheep station was our next stop. The farming began here in 1870 and was once over 800,000 hectares in size extending from Menindee to Broken Hill. In 1967 the Kinchega section was given over to the National Parks.

We had a look over the old woolshed and shearers quarters… and Rosie got talking to some young shearers who were on holiday – looking at shearing sheds!!

Leaving the national park, we drove into the small township of Menindee and grabbed a great coffee and amazingly a scorched peanut bar at the local store!!!

The drive home that afternoon really highlighted the arid landscape around Broken Hill as we left the lake area. Last night in Broken Hill – off to Milparinka tomorrow.

We awoke to a grey Easter Sunday for the pack up and move to our next destination, Milparinka. The race track at Broken Hill looked colourful against the grey skies.

As it was Sunday, we found a church in Broken Hill to go to before leaving town.

The Silver City Highway to Milparinka was long and straight and passed over arid areas of red dirt, stony desert areas, saltbush, and scrubby bush. Dry creek beds were evident, although a small amount of rain had fallen overnight which was evident in an occasional roadside puddle.

Some small lakes had water in them and there were hills and mountains in the distance at some points and endless flat desert areas at others. The skies were now blue with only wisps of white cloud and the temperature had risen.

We stopped at Packsaddle Roadhouse for lunch. The local gymkhana was on that day, and it was pretty busy. The roadhouse was uniquely decorated with many hats, saddles and riding equipment. Outside were many vehicles parked with their destination obviously the gymkhana or a local station.

Milparinka is a small gold mining town that started after gold was discovered in the area in 1880. The Albert Goldfields were the first arid area goldfields in Australia and covered the area of Mt Brown, Milparinka and Tibooburra.

We set up camp in the caravan area behind the old courthouse and then went to look at the museums, historical displays and walk around the ‘town’.

Gold mining in the area continued despite the harsh drought conditions until 1904 when severe drought made the conditions untenable. In 2020 mining companies did some exploration around Mt Brown and some small yields are coming from there. Fossicking is popular in Tibooburra with gold still being found in the area.

Sheep farming and wool production is a big industry across a wide area of northwestern NSW. One of the most famous pastoralist family, the Kidmans, had donated early footage of the farming in the area which we watched.

A barn housed a lot of early mining and farming equipment exhibits. It must have been a very difficult and challenging era to live in working such heavy machinery in a very unforgiving and harsh climate.

In the old courthouse was a room dedicated to outback women – full of many records of courage, resilience, and heartbreak. Many died at a young age, lost children, babies, and husbands to the harsh conditions of outback life.

The Sturt exhibit was interesting – Sturt and his exploration party had been camped close by for 6 months at Depot Glen during a drought. The cairn they built as well as James Poole’s grave were still there and so we planned to take a quick trip out there tomorrow morning to take a look.

Next morning, we left the vans parked at Milparinka to do the short drive out to Depot Glen to have a look at Poole’s Grave and Sturt’s Cairn. Beryl stayed behind with the vans taking it easy.

The drive was over pastoral land through a couple of cattle gates and I did a great job as gate wench. We found Depot Glen quite easily and Poole’s grave. You could see why the party camped for so long there in drought as it was very shady with a creek running through the area.

James Poole, assistant to Charles Sturt, had contracted scurvy on the expedition and was unwell for quite a while until he finally succumbed in 1845. Sturt buried him under the Grevillea tree which was still standing today – with the carving still evident in the trunk marking the grave. A tombstone was erected much later. A couple of other early pastoralists were also buried here.

We then drove on to Mt Poole where the cairn was that Sturt had his men build to keep them occupied while they were camped there waiting out the drought.

The area was very stony and arid – we climbed up the mountain to the peak where the cairn was… it was a longer climb up than we realised – steep at times and very rocky so we all had to watch our footholds carefully – no one wanted a faceplant on stony rocks.

The views of the surrounding area were spectacular – it really gave you the perspective of the remoteness and you could see the creeks winding though the desert area marked by vegetation growing along them.

After descending very carefully, we drove back to Milparinka to pick up Beryl and the vans and continued along the Silver City Highway heading for Tibooburra.

We arrived at Tibooburra and drove through to Sturt National Park and the Dead Horse Gully campground where we were camping for the next 3 nights. The name originated when 2 dead horses were found by miners in the gully – cause of death was unsure but the thought was that they had eaten something poisonous.

The campground was great with flat areas to park the vans together, some trees for shade and a picnic table near our site that Beryl got to and cleaned and swept. Was she taking over Rosie’s cleaning mantle?

After setting up camp and having lunch, we went back to town for a quick look and to get some fuel ready for tomorrow’s journey to Cameron’s Corner.

A quick drive around the town looking at the local buildings – the small hospital (the most remote in NSW), pubs, school, and even an old drive in theatre.

We had a look at the Pioneer Park which had displays and relics from Tibooburra’s past. A replica of the boat Sturt had taken on his expedition to find the great inland sea was on display.

The flies were pretty bad so the fly nets came out and before dinner once the heat had abated a bit (it was 35 C) we went for a walk around the Granites.

The plan for the day was to drive out to Cameron’s Corner where the 3 states NSW, South Australia and Queensland intersect. After getting advice on road conditions, we decided to take the longer Jump Up Loop and Middle Roads out and then come back along the Cameron’s Corner Road so we explored two different areas of Sturt NP.

Following the Jump Up Loop Road we drove through a lot of arid areas, and periodically along the road were ‘tanks’ built up with mud that had water in them. The tanks were a great spot to support local wildlife and vegetation – a variety of birdlife congregated around the tanks.

In the distance the Grey Mountain Range could be seen as we drove west, and the Jump-ups (flat topped mesas) came into view. Once at the top, we stopped at the Jump Up Lookout to take in the expansive vista over the plains and like everywhere we go, you don’t see another car on the road, but when you stop there are people there

We passed the historic Olive Downs Homestead and all along the way was evidence of earlier pastoral activity.

There were a lot of dry creek crossings and the road varied from sandy to white limestone to red dirt in varying intervals. Nearing Fort Grey Campground we passed Pinaroo Lake which had milky water in it.

We turned on to Cameron Corner Road and then shortly after turned onto the Dunes Scenic Drive for the last leg to the corner. As we got closer to the corner the red dunes became more evident and the road was undulating with multiple crests which required caution on approach. All in all the road was amazingly good all the way out to the corner.

We crossed into the wildlife sanctuary that had been established to reintroduce native species that had become extinct in the area, like bilbys, burrowing bettongs, western quolls, stick nest rats and golden bandicoots.

At the border there was a gate in the dog fence (longest fence in the world) which we opened and drove through into South Australia, turned right and drove immediately into QLD were Cameron’s Corner Store and Fuel stop was located. The Corner Store had a collection of caps from all over the place. Although we had packed lunch we opted to buy local to support the store and so sat in the dining area eating yet another healthy pie/chips etc etc.

After lunch we went over to the marker where the 3 states join and took some pics. Cameron’s Corner was named after John Cameron, a surveyor for NSW Lands Department who surveyed the state borders in the 1880’s. In September 1880 he placed a wooden boundary post in this area marking the state borders and engraved latitude 29 on it plus his name. The original post is still on display in the National Parks Museum at Tibooburra.

We left Cameron’s Corner and returned via the Dune Scenic Drive to Cameron’s Corner Road and drove that way back to Tibooburra. The landscape along the way was more arid than that on the way in.

After a long day of driving we arrived home at camp and cooked and ate in the vans as the flies were pretty bad. The night was hot and made for a restless sleep for some.

The morning looked a little overcast as we woke to another day in Tibooburra. The plan for the day was to do the Gorge Loop Drive east of Tibooburra. The Outdoor Pastoralist Museum was the first stop along the way and was a very interesting collection of exhibits of early farming equipment and machinery. Ingenious yet cumbersome methods of obtaining water and pumping it into troughs for the cattle were on display as well as other steam driven equipment. Again we were struck with just how hard it must have been for the early farmers on the land managing in the heat. Drought and lack of equipment plus the sheer size and weight of some of the steam driven machinery.

We drove on to the Mt Wood shearing shed. Mt Wood shearing shed was still in operation in the 1970’s but now is no longer used. It was again the same style of shearing shed that has been used for over 100 years. Swallows were now nesting in its roof area.

We walked out and over to the suspension bridge that crossed the creek to the shearers quarters. These are now used as accommodation by the NPWS – people can book and stay there in the original but refurbished quarters.

The cloud cover was increasing but we went out to Sunset Lookout over Tibooburra where there was a free telescope to look out over the area. We watched the sun go down bit it was not so spectacular due to increasing cloud. It began to rain when we got back to camp so we had dinner in the vans.

April 19

Everyone was up early packing up for the long drive to Port Augusta today. Dave and Rose had been having radio issues – crackly reception and the range was hopeless, so Dave got onto cleaning the aerial in the hope of improving the reception.

We left Penong and it was a long day of driving over vast plains and a variety of landscapes.

We pulled over at Wudinna for a stretch the legs stop (aka toilet break). It was at this point that Dave realised his van fridge was not working. After closer inspection it was discovered that his Anderson plug had disconnected and was dragging along the road and all that was left were some mangled wires. Fortunately I had spares that Dave could utilise when we were at an appropriate campsite so a repair was in order.

We had planned to stop for lunch at Kimba, home of the Big Galah who looked like he had been given a makeover, but nothing was open for lunch in Kimba (Sunday arvo), so we made lunch in the vans.

The afternoon wore on as we drove past Iron Knob, the large mining complex where iron ore is mined. In the distance the Flinders Ranges came in to view. We arrived in Port Augusta and headed for the Sports Club Motorhome Park where we free camped for the night.

Kerry had been told by her brother that the Wadlata Outback Centre in Port Augusta was really worth a visit so before leaving to drive to Broken Hill, we went to have a look. The centre is a museum and interactive centre which goes through the history, culture and other information about outback Australia.

Once inside we entered through the large reptilian mouth into the self guided display of the history from pre-settlement through to indigenous then early explorers.

There was detailed info on the 4 main early explorers Eyre, Sturt, Stuart and Giles and it proved to be fascinating reading.

 

There was a Royal Flying Doctor service display with the history of the service – photos and info. In 1912, Rev John Flynn a Presbyterian minister who rode by horse and camel through the outback preaching the gospel was stuck by the plight of the outback dwellers who had no medical service when sick or injured and so he came up with the idea of a small plane and radio service that would allow a doctor to be called for and transported to where required. The idea was dismissed by most people as the dream of an impractical visionary, but Flynn persisted and managed to establish the Australian Aeromedical  service in 1933 which later became the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the rest is history!!

After spending considerable time looking at the displays we had coffee and scones for morning tea then set off towards Broken Hill. The drive up the mountains of the Flinders Range was slow as we were stuck behind a semi all the way but the view was great towards the mountains.

We stopped at Peterborough for lunch hoping to go to the bakery but it was not open for lunch, so we ate at another café where the food was was delicious, although Trev did snag the last chicken on Turkish, leaving me out in the cold.

  Peterborough

It was a long drive to Broken Hill over mostly arid plains with only the odd goat clan sighting creating interest. Finally reaching Broken Hill Regional Events Centre and Racecourse we checked in and set up – the sites were grassy and very large – it felt very luxurious in comparison to our last couple of camp sites.

As it was Gordie and Kerry’s last night with us we went out for dinner to the restaurant at the Hilltop Motel.

We started the day slowly as we farewelled Gordie and Kerry who were making their way back to the Eastern Seaboard to assist with childminding in the school holidays. It was sad to see them go but I am sure it won’t be long before we will be all back at home.

We decided to explore the town today as well as get some much needed supplies so after careful perusal of the town map we started at the Albert Kersten Mining and Minerals Museum.

The museum was housed on the old Bond Store which was built in 1892 and told the history of Charles Rasp the boundary rider who discovered the silver deposit on Broken Hill. This led to the discovery of the world’s largest deposit of lead, silver and zinc and the formation of BHP.

We continued our walk down Argent Street and the old part of town with lovely building including the courthouse, police station, pubs and cafes. The mine site was a towering entity over the town.

Next stop was the Big Picture at Silver City Mint and Art Centre – the world’s largest acrylic on canvas painting measuring 100m x 12 m. The painting depicted the harsh desert scenery around Broken Hill and was painted by Peter ‘Ando’ Anderson.

That afternoon Dave, Rose, Trev and Clare drove out to the Pro Hart Gallery on the edge of town while we relaxed back at the Lotus. Pro Hart was born in Menindee and grew up there on his family’s sheep farm. He started work as a miner in Broken Hill and developed a love of painting amongst other hobbies. His artwork is famous worldwide and he painted in different and unique styles. Much of his works related to his own life experiences. In later life he became a Christian and was an active member of the Christian Revivalist Church in Broken Hill. He died in 2006 at the age of 77 of motor neuron disease. The gallery housed quite a lot of his original paintings as well as other items of interest from his life. He had several Rolls Royce vehicles in the garage there – one of which he painted which looked amazing.

Trev was up early and organised to drop the Ranger off at ARB for it’s repair job on the electrics. The others followed in their cars and we took them in Landcruiser for the journey out to Silverton.

We drove out to Silverton which was the early mining area where the first claim was staked in 1876. The town was once home to over 3000 people in its heyday but now had a population of 7. The town is now a tourist attraction with several galleries, museums, and old buildings to explore.

The area had been used as a location to film Mad Max 2 – the pub had an interesting vehicle displayed out front looking like a baby interceptor. We explored around the old buildings and marvelled at the harshness of the environment that the early miners and towns people had to live in. We really are blessed to live in the era that we do.

The Silverton Gaol had been converted into a museum with a huge array of items from the early town as well as many records of the people who lived here – very interesting! The volunteer working that day was full of information as well.

After browsing the galleries we decided to have lunch at the pub before going up to the Mad Max 2 museum. The museum was run by an English guy who was a Mad Max enthusiast – very interesting displays of paraphernalia found on the old set locations as well as authentic and replica items such as costumes, weapons and vehicles.

Having seen all there was to see in Silverton, we drove out to the Mundi Mundi lookout which had spectacular views of the area and really displayed the aridness of the landscape around Broken Hill and Silverton.

Back for dinner at the vans and planning for the trip to Menindee Lakes tomorrow.

SA trip April 3
The dawn broke over Marion Bay with the gale force winds still howling making packing up interesting. We drove north up the Yorke Peninsula and stopped in at Moonta for morning tea at the Cornish Bakery who are renowned for their Cornish pasties. Moonta has a Cornish element including the Cornwall Pub as there were a lot of miners who came out from Cornwall to work in the mines in the area in the early days. From 1861-1923 Moonta was the centre of the copper mining industry that formed SA’s largest mining enterprise.

Continuing on, we drove though farming area and arrived at Port Pirie for lunch and then continued our journey north with the Flinders Ranges now in sight and then turned west toward Port Augusta.
The Eyre Peninsula looked less arid than the Yorke in the area we were driving through.

  Lunch at Solomon Town, Port Pirie

We drove through Whyalla which is the fourth most populous city in South Australia and is known as the ‘Steel City’ as it has a large steelworks and shipbuilding industry, and has been exporting iron ore since 1903. Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla are the 3 towns which make up what is called the Iron Triangle.

Our stop for the night was a free camp at Moonabie Hill rest area – the wind had abated, and we all slept well that night!

The destination for the day was Coffin Bay down the south end of the Eyre Peninsula. We were on the road early planning to have morning tea at Tumby Bay to take in the famous “artwork” in the town.  Tumby Bay is home to a JETTY and a lot of street and silo art. We did a walk around the town and took in the beautiful artwork and had a coffee in the local takeaway.

  Painted silos near Tumby Bay

  Tumby Bay mural art features on most buildings

Our lunch stop was Port Lincoln, with its huge grain loading dock and JETTIES.  They had  beautiful sculptures along the foreshore, including one of Makybe Diva and a tribute to the local tuna fishery.

Our next port of call was the Coffin Bay Caravan Park and after checking in and setting up the vans,  we set out to explore Coffin Bay National Park and its famous beautiful beaches. After doing some research it was determined that we would head straight for Sensation Beach as it was very remote and required a specific time frame due to the beach drive that was impassable at high tide.

Most of the drive was 4WD only, over very rocky and sandy tracks and a long beach drive along the full length of 7-mile beach. The distance was not that great, but the drive time was estimated at about 2hr one way.

Entering the National Park we drove at the speed limit 40km per hour, which also slowed the journey and arrived at Yangie Campground, which was the end of the tar  and stopped to let down the tyre pressure on our vehicles.

Once sorted, we started out and realised straight away that the track was indeed pretty challenging – but a great 4WD. The track became very sandy so we stopped to drop the tyre pressures further. Not too far into the journey we rounded a corner and stopped for a 4WD coming in the opposite direction. They had stopped too, but after we indicated for them to go ahead they didn’t move. It turned out that the car behind them was bogged and they were trying to get them out. It was more difficult than expected and the extraction finally worked when the guy winched them out. They were eventually on their way after spending about another 10 mins trying to find the MaxxTraxx which had been buried deep in the sand.

This delayed us about 45 mins, so we were a little concerned with the time of the tide but continued on.

We finally arrived at 7-mile beach and got onto the sand – the beach was beautiful – white sand and the bay waters were turquoise – no swell as it was part of Coffin Bay – but gorgeous, nevertheless.

We drove along 7-mile beach, which was deserted, and noticed a huge whale skull washed up on the sand.

  Driving out to Sensation Beach

About 2/3 the way along we came upon the dune area where the sand dune comes sheer down to the beach close to the water – at high tide this section is impassable as the seawater meets the steep face of the dune. We got past it with a metre to spare but the tide was now coming back in so we knew we would only have time to have a quick look at Sensation Beach before having to turn around and come back.

We decided to risk it and pushed on over the cross-country track to the other side of the peninsula. The drive was certainly worth it – Sensation Beach was breathtaking – huge white sandhills and sparkling blue waters – so remote and deserted – we were the only ones there.

  The ‘gang’ apart from Clare – taking the photo

After some pics we started back along the track, reached the beach and flew along it as we could see the tide coming in. As we rounded a curve in the beach the huge dune came in site and the water was almost up to it. We raced along the beach and just made it past – partially having to drive through the water – but made it.

At the end of 7-mile beach we stopped for lunch and a swim.

We awoke to another glorious day. We decided to head offto Greenly Beach and rockpool that morning before heading to Port Lincoln.

The Greenly Beach Rockpools  are indeed beautiful, and we enjoyed swimming there and taking in the scenery. Greenly Beach is a surf beach right next to the pools and again is another stunning beach which you can camp right next to.

  Greenly Beach rock pools

That night we enjoyed a tapas style seafood dinner at Oysters HQ, a local restaurant  on the waterfront at Coffin Bay with some delicious and unique items on the menu. The area around Coffin Bay was beautiful with so much to explore – we will have to come back to the Eyre Peninsula. Tomorrow we head for Sheringa Beach campground.

  Dinner at the Oyster Bar

As we only had just over an hour’s drive to Sheringa Beach, Trev cooked his gourmet berry and banana pancakes for everyone for brekkie. We then finished packing, and left the caravan park to drive just up the road for a barista coffee due to the fact we could not get into the beach camp until 12 and there was no coffee shop between Coffin Bay and Sheringa.

After driving up the highway for about an hour, we turned onto Sheringa Beach Road – an unsealed road out to the campground which was in pretty good condition, just a few corrugations that did play a bit of havoc in a van or two.

The rain had stopped but it was still overcast and windy but the campground at Sheringa was great. Hard level sites easy to access right on the beach but protected by shrubbery. The amenities had a couple of outdoor showers and a flushing toilet (very unusual in a free camp ) which were clean and well maintained by Elliston Council.

  Our campsite at Sheringa Beach

The beach was wild with the wind but still stunning with white sand and the backdrop of the sandhills, with rugged cliffs at each end. A quick walk determined that the surf was a bit blown out so Gordie hopped into the Titan and drove the short distance over the point to the other part of Sheringa. He came back hugely excited as the surf was AMAZING. Waves 6- 8 foot and no one on them!! A couple of guys were surfing closer to the point, but Gordie was keen to surf the centre area. We decided to go down to watch and take some pics. It was still windy and overcast and no one wanted Gordie out there on his own.

The surf was indeed big and we all watched the surfers get some great waves. A friendly campers pup made friends with Rosie and loved coming and annoying Clare while she was trying to take pics of Gordie in the surf.

That night revealed a different Sheringa Beach. It was a place of wild things that came out after dark. Huge spiders carrying a myriad of babies on their backs, big scorpions under the Wells and Weiss vans, a large wolf spider enjoying the Hunter’s outdoor mat and tiny native mice jumping around the place – on the Hunters Engel sampling the oyster leftovers, on our chairs – don’t leave the van at night without boots on and a good torch.

We survived the windy night and awoke to a sunny day, with no wild things in sight. Early morning sun rising over the beach was beautiful.

Next stop was Streaky Bay, just under 2 hours away and so we had planned a couple of stops along the way to see some of the local attractions
The Talia and Woolshed sea caves were on the list, but we were unable to locate the Talia Cave but saw the Tub instead – a sea cave whose roof had collapsed forming a rough bowl 60-70 metres deep. The coarse-grained sandstone at the base of the cliffs has joints that allow the waves and wind to erode the weak spots forming the sea caves over time.

The Woolshed Cave was easy to locate, and we walked down the cliff face steps to the cave – another spectacular natural formation.

The road out to the caves area was unsealed and rough. Our van had the microwave tear out of the mounts.
Our next destination was Murphy’s Haystacks – some more Inselbergs like the Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island.

We soon arrived at Streaky Bay Islands Caravan Park – where the vans were set up. Our sites were beachfront and so after setting up we sat and watched the sun set over the bay.

The day started out really cool but soon heated up for a beautiful autumn day. We went into the township of Hahndorf and it was full of beautiful historic buildings that Germans had constructed on their arrival to South Australia.

Between 1838 and 1839 four ships arrived carrying German Lutherans who had escaped the persecution in Germany by the then King, Wilhelm IV. From 1837 to 1900 about 18,000 Lutherans emigrated to Australia from Germany. The captain of ‘Zebra’, Dirk Hahn, was so impressed with the industriousness of his passengers he advocated on their behalf for newly surveyed land near Mt Barker and as a gesture of thanks the Lutherans named their village Hahndorf.

We enjoyed browsing the shops – Rosie picking up a few purchases as always supported by Dave managing the bags and cash. Beryl and Clare also picked up a couple of items at the German Village shop.

We went back into town at 6pm for dinner at the Haus, and ‘authentic’ German cuisine restaurant/bar. I ordered the trio of Wursts and Trev and Clare shared the Bavarian tasting platter – which was HUGE and consisted of a crispy pork knuckle, 3 different sausages plus a smoked pork chop with creamy mash and sauerkraut.

I was a bit disappointed – nothing matches Mum’s cooking.

After dinner we went in search of more strudel – alas the shop where Gordie had ‘the best strudel ever’ was shut.

Back home to get organised for the journey tomorrow to the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula.

The pack up went like clockwork and we were on the road by about 0930 heading towards the outskirts of Adelaide where we were going to stop and pick up supplies.

We had decided to take the scenic route to avoid the busyness of Adelaide city driving so headed north from Hahndorf through the vineyards and orchards through Cudlee Creek and One Tree Hill into the back of Northeast Adelaide to do our shopping at Munno Para West shopping centre. The drive was through very picturesque farmland with apple-laden trees, cherry orchards, vineyards as well as sheep and cattle farms.

As we entered suburban Adelaide, the Loveday’s heard a loud bang and metallic sound coming from the rear of their van via the speaker connected to the rear camera. Looking under the van they could see the water tank half hanging down, dragging on the road. The metal bracket had broken at the bend but it appeared that the tank had not ruptured. If they had gone on any further, the tank would have been destroyed.

Everyone had pulled over to see what had happened, so it was decided that the Wells and Weiss group should continue to the shops and the others would work out what to do about repairs. A phone call to a local caravan repair place, advised Trev that the brackets were easily replaced with a metal strip that could get found at Bunnings. Bunnings was only 10 mins away – 5 minutes past the shops we were going to for groceries.

As Gordie was unhitching his van so they could drive to the shops, an old lady came out of her house that he had parked in front of. They thought she was coming out to see if all was OK or maybe offer us a cuppa, but nothing was further from the truth. She abruptly said ‘I have already called the council – you can’t park here – I can’t see to get out of my driveway’ Kerry politely explained the breakdown situation, but she would not have a bar of it. Gordie explained they would not be there very long, but she was still not happy, so Gordie moved the van further down the street. McGyver Trev managed to do a temporary repair using some tough webbing straps that he had in the Ranger so we were ready to go, planning to do a more permanent fix at Marion Bay our next stop.

Marion Bay is down at the southern end of the Yorke Peninsula, so we still had about 3 hrs drive to get there. A quick stop for lunch at a rest stop and we continued south down the peninsula.

The terrain was very dry, flat, and windswept with cattle and sheep farms as well as mining areas. Copper was mined at Moonta located on the Yorke Peninsula. Today there is a large copper deposit near Ardrossan which is said to be the largest in South Australia. A company has put in a proposal to mine it.

We passed the dolomite mine at Ardrossen. Salt is also produced on the peninsula, and gypsum and lime were also mined down in what is now Innes National Park.

We arrived at Marion Bay Caravan Park, set up and Trev went to work on checking the repairs more thoroughly. The tanks appeared intact, and everything else seemed undamaged. McGyver’s strapping held up well. A more permanent repair maybe in store over the next few days.

  Jetty at Marion Bay

Our sites were beachfront, so we had a water view from our van and the scrub in front was great for protection from potential wind. We all relaxed once set up, then went for a quick walk down the short track to the beach. Marion Bay is a large bay with a JETTY at one end, blue water, and white sand, although there was quite a bit of seaweed on the beach. The water was surprisingly warm. We all had coffee/ supper together and it was great to kick back after an eventful day.

The day started with Gordie getting lowdown on the surf conditions and places from a ‘young mate’ camped behind them. We had looked at the map of the area and decided to use the day to explore the northwest coast of the Lower Yorke Peninsula starting at Daly Head which has been dedicated as a surfing reserve.

The roads out from the main road were all dusty dirt roads. On the road out to Daly Head there were enormous sand dunes which sparkled in the sunlight and had what appeared to be rocky points sticking out of the top. They were pointy hillocks of bushes.

We stopped at the first carpark at Daly Head, a spectacular area to view the multiple surf breaks in different directions. A few surfers were out catching some waves. The rugged coastline with multiple reefs and rocky islands was beautiful and wild – so unspoilt and remote.

There were several vantage points along the road, so we drove to the next one. The Pearl came in too hot and missed the turn, so the Titan jumped in first.

The beaches along this stretch looked untouched and the views were amazing. The surf looked OK, but Gordie decided to continue on with us to check out some more spots before making a final decision as to where to have a surf.

Out next stop was Gravel Bay which was far more attractive than its name. The beach was quite protected from the wind but there was no surf, so we moved on to the next location Berry Bay.

Unfortunately, the south end of Berry Bay was playing host to a large surf school and the water was full of learners, so the next stop was the north end and Corny Point Lighthouse.

The rocky headland upon which the Corny Point lighthouse is built as well as the submerged reefs nearby were a hazard to the sailing ships trading in Spencer Gulf. The 15-metre-high lighthouse was first lit in 1st March 1882 and was manned for 37 years until 30th June 1920 at which time it was automated. From the headland you looked north towards Horseshoe Bay and out to sea the rocky reefs were easy to see.

The wind was cool and had picked up a bit, so we decided to go back to Gravel Bay to have lunch. We walked down to the sheltered end of the beach and spent some time there eating and relaxing.

Gravel Bay was very picturesque with aqua water, white silky sand and large outcrops of granite rocks at either end. The rocks had an orange colour in parts much like what we had seen on Kangaroo Island. The orange hue comes from lichens, a combination of algae and fungus that live together in a symbiotic relationship.

We walked around the rocks, looking in rockpools and enjoying the unspoilt nature of the area. Trev, Rose, Dave, and Clare all went in for a swim in the crystal , but the two elderly members of the group decided it was too cold.

We checked out Marion Bay JETTY on the way home. The jetty was built in 1889 to aid with delivery of supplies and transport of gypsum mined in the area.

Today we had decided to spend exploring Innes National Park which is renowned for beautiful, rugged coastline, surfing beaches and lots of historic sites. Those who had not already bought their National Park passes did so online, but Gordie had an internet glitch with his. Gordie felt like a ‘Glass Half Empty Gordie’ as nothing seemed to be going right. No surf,too much wind,weather predicted to worsen and now this. Everyone tried to cheer him up with positive comments, which always works, and positive Gordie reappeared.

The Hunters stopped at the National Park Office and went in to sort the NP pass issue out and planned to meet up with us at our first stop. The rest of us drove to Pondalowie Bay a place of great surf and lots of dolphins. We walked along the long boardwalk from the carpark to the beach and alas when we arrived the surf was small and no dolphins to be seen. However, the views and beach made up for this. It was a beautiful location.

Up along the beach we could see in the distance a shipwreck on the sand so while waiting for Gordie and Kerry we all walked up to have a look. Trev stayed behind to wait for the Hunters. The wreck was not particularly old but gave opportunity for a great pic.

We walked back along the beach and met Trev. The Hunters had still not arrived, so we started walking back along the boardwalk to the carpark and met them halfway along. It seems that they had still not fully sorted out the issue and had to spend half an hour on the phone to their bank to work out if the payment had gone through. The ranger was OK and said they could pay later if it had not worked.

We left Pondalowie and drove towards West Cape Lighthouse and around the corner came across baby emus with their father walking across the road. No wonder the speed limit in the park is 40kms/hr.

West Cape was absolutely stunning even though the weather had started to become more overcast and windier. The large beach on the left side of the headland was pristine and looked deserted and untouched. The huge cliff faces were rugged and colourful with reds, ochres, whites, and yellow tones.

At the end of the cape stood the lighthouse, again a different structure, this time of stainless steel sheets. The lighthouse was built in 1980. In front of the lighthouse was a small Helipad and it was hard to imagine landing a chopper in such a small location with the winds as they were.

The view to Pondalowie Bay and its rocky islands was commanding and you could even see the fishing shacks on the hill.

Below the cliff were rugged rocks with the powerful surf swirling and breaking on them creating maelstroms of water which were fascinating to watch. The cape had an abundance of native flowers and bushes which made a beautiful ground covering over the otherwise rocky and barren area.

We stopped for lunch in a shelter at West Cape that conveniently faced the right way and got us out of the wind. Gordie decided to go back to Pondalowie after lunch for that elusive wave. Kerry came along with us to explore the rest Innes NP had to offer.

Next stop was the Ethel Wreck on Ethel Beach. We arrived and looked down over the cliff to see huge pounding surf – biggest waves we had seen so far… and the iron bones of the Ethel sticking up through the sand.

Carefully making our way down the steep staircase we got down to the beach and walked along to the wreck. The Ethel was a three masted iron barque built in Sunderland, England in 1876. On 2nd January, 1904, after damaging its rudder at nearby Cape Spencer in a south-westerly gale, it was driven ashore, with the loss of one life. The coastal steamer S.S. Ferret attempted to aid the Ethel without success and notified authorities. Ironically the Ferret ran aground on the same beach 16 years later on the 14th February 1920.

The strait between the Yorke Peninsula and KI is known as the Investigator Strait. Since the establishment of the colony in SA in 1836 it has played a crucial role as a natural thoroughfare for trade and communications. Over 26 vessels have been wrecked in this strait with a loss of over 70 lives.

Down the road a bit further were the historic Inneston Ruins, so we stopped in and did the 2km walk around them learning about the early life on the Yorke Peninsula. Gypsum was mined and plaster produced in the village of Inneston – and transported down to Stenhouse Jetty firstly by horse and cart then later rail.

Inneston was a mining company town with more than 36 dwellings that was built in 1913. The village thrived in the early days but once the Depression hit in 1939 the building industry collapsed, and the town died. Today some of the houses have been restored and are available for holiday rent.

Cape Spenser Lighthouse was the final lighthouse for the day and again we were greeted with spectacular coastline views. A stunning beach lay to the right of the headland and was completely inaccessible – to the left were harsh, heavily eroded cliff faces with deep but clear water below.

Our last stop for the day was the Stenhouse JETTY, which was where the Inneston plaster was loaded onto ships for transport.

By this time the wind had become gale force and icy so we returned to the caravan park and gave the idea of a communal roast the flick. Trev went up to the Marion Bay Tavern and booked us in for dinner that evening. Gordie returned just in time and said that he had an amazing surf at Pondalowie with a pod of dolphins coming in so close they touched his leg. The dolphins apparently breed there so make it their home and are very human friendly. Dinner at the Tavern was great. The place was very busy, and food excellent.

The next day started slowly as it had blown a gale all night and was still blowing and the skies were overcast. Everyone took their time having brekkie.

After much discussion it was decided to have an easy day as the weather was so foul and we had a couple of long driving days coming up. Some of us walked up to the local art Gallery and café, which looked great on the internet but was disappointingly closed when we arrived. We continued our walk around the Marion Bay area and saw some unique and interesting houses most of which looked like holiday homes.

Along the beachfront the tide was up, and the wind was relentless. There was a wreck named the Willyama which was just visible above the water not far from shore. Another boat that had been a victim of this savage coastline. The Willyama had been carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle to Port Pirie in 1907 when it ran aground in Marion Bay.

We had a look around the west end of the beach and then headed back to the vans for lunch.

The afternoon was spent reading, blogging and repairing the Loveday water tank strapping.

Gordie went out to see if there was some surf and despite the wind had another good surf at Pondalowie.

The Marion Bay Caravan Park has a fantastic camp kitchen so we decided to cook our roast dinner in the large oven there and have dinner together out of the howling wind. An added bonus was the TV, so Dave could watch his beloved Swannies play. The roast dinner was delicious, and Beryl made a legendary apple crumble for dessert – not a crumb was left!!

The wind had picked up even more and it felt cyclonic, so we all hibernated in the vans and tried to sleep – the wind was rocking the vans all night – sleep was only intermittent for some of us.

 

 

Today we planned to explore the central north area as we were moving to American River for 3 nights and check in was 2 o’clock. This gave us ample time to look around the region and sample some of the local produce.

First stop was the Emu Bay Lavender Farm. We strolled through the lavender plantation marvelling at the many different types of lavender being cultivated.

Inside the shop and café were a huge array of lavender-based products, including lavender scones which Trev honed in on straight away. They were huge and very tempting so we all decided it was time for morning tea and had coffee and scones. After a few purchases at the gift shop we drove on the Island Beehive at Kingscote.

KI is home to the Ligurian Bee which originated in Italy. It is smaller and less aggressive than our mainland bees. KI is the sanctuary to the only Ligurian bee population in the world and so honey and bee products are not allowed to be brought to KI to protect these rare and precious bees from diseases, and to keep their breed pure.

We saw a bee colony in action and purchased some honey from the store then back on the road to continue our gourmet tour of KI.

The next stop was KI Eucalyptus distillery where we watched an informative short video on the history of eucalyptus oil on KI. Trev and I got the prize seats in the old wagon and Gordie ended up playing chauffeur.

Most of the eucalyptus oil in the world is now produced in China, so it was great to see that this local family had revived an Australian Industry that had once been large. They are now producing eucalyptus oil and other products such as emu oil locally.

The KI Cider Company was also in the same complex, so we decided to do a cider tasting. Great value and you received $5 off any purchase of cider. Trev decided to buy a 6 pack of the non-alcoholic apple cider (appealed to his sweet tooth) and, as no one else bought any, the girl gave Trev $10 off as he was able to use my voucher as well.

After a few purchases from the eucalyptus gift shop, we went on to the KI spirit distillery to sample some local gins. The KI Spirit Distillery was really well set out with a great outdoor café area set among a garden full of interesting herb and fruit plants such as pomegranates, citrus and a large flowering perennial basil.

The distillery itself was really interesting and they had a well thought out display of the different gins they produced and the ingredients used for each. There were 5 locally produced gins to taste and they were all good apparently. Trev and Clare bought the KIS Mulberry Gin as it was quite unique.

Some of the gins must need an aquired taste

It was then time to drive to American River and hopefully grab some lunch at the Oyster Farm. We arrived just in time, but Kerry was extremely disappointed, as they had NO oysters. The KI oysters were apparently not in season. We all had fish and salad instead.

After our late lunch we drove up the road to ‘Stringybark’, our next home for 3 days. We arrived and had some drama as the key safe would not open no matter who had a go. Clare finally got in contact with the owner who discovered she had made a typo in the email she sent, giving me the incorrect code. The new code worked, and we unpacked and settled in.

The house had a waterfront aspect and the bay had black swans and pelicans cruising around…. And of course, there were 2 JETTIES.

The house was beautifully decorated and well stocked. It was separated into 2 pods. The front pod had the kitchen, living area, laundry, main bedroom and ensuite.

The second pod consisted of the other 3 bedrooms, a second lounge area and a bathroom. There was also some lovely artwork and garden sculptures.

We cooked up a few curries for dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

We had planned to explore the eastern side of the island today including the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse tour and had booked it in for 2pm. First stop was Brown’s Beach which was another unique location with very different rock formations compared to what we had seen so far on KI. The rocks were weathered sandstone, sharp in places but varied and interesting shapes.

Baudin beach, the next beach along, was also very similar – named after the French explorer Baudin, who had done some mapping of KI around the time that Matthew Flinders was exploring here.

We decided to stop at False Cape Winery for an early lunch. The timing was great as it began to pour with rain, so we raced inside and ordered lunch.

The cellar door area was built from local timbers including old JETTY timbers and local sandstone and was well set out. Kerry, Gordie and Dave did a wine tasting and the homemade pies we had for lunch were delicious.

We still had some time before we had to be at the lighthouse so we did a quick detour to Antechamber Bay, which was a lovely location and would have been ideal for a swim if it was sunny and warm.

Driving on to Cape Willoughby Lighthouse, the surrounding landscape became more windswept and arid. The lighthouse and keepers’ cottages stood out on the point as we drove up the road. Sheep were being farmed in the area around the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was built in 1852 and was built without foundations, just very thick walls at the base and can withstand winds of up to 240km/hr. The first light was generated by burning whale and seal blubber. This was replaced with a large glass prism and then eventually a 22W LED the current light source was installed in the 1990’s. The modern lighthouse is not manned but managed remotely.

The waters around KI can be very treacherous and there have been 70 ships wrecked in the area.

The tour was very informative, and we were able to walk up the 120 steps inside and come out onto the small balcony at the top for some amazing views of the coast and mainland.

We decided to head to Penneshaw for coffee and to grab some supplies before heading back to the house. There were no big plans for tomorrow – our last day on KI – we decided to work it out in the morning according to the weather etc.

Our last day on KI had arrived – tomorrow we were catching the early ferry back to the mainland. After some discussion we decided to drive to the lookout at Prospect Hill and walk up the massive staircase for some butt and thigh exercise and to see a bird’s eye view of much of KI.

We walked down the road a bit and had a look at the boat building that was going on down near the American River jetty – they were in the process of building a replica of the ‘Independence’ – the first schooner built here on KI by the Americans in 1803.

The guys at the boat shed were more than happy to give us a tour and tell us the history of the Independence which was built by Captain Andrew Pendleton and crew here in American River. The schooner was 45 feet in length and took 3 months to build. It was used for sealing in the area and then left for Port Jackson in Sydney in 1804 never to return to KI.

There was a model on display of the original Independence. The replica being built has been under construction for 3 years already – a slow process as it is locally funded and being constructed by retirees relying on donations.

We then drove to Prospect Hill and commenced the 512 stair climb to the top. The ‘hill’ is actually a large sandhill which Matthew Flinders had climbed when he was on KI mapping the area – to his surprise he saw sea on the other side – he had assumed it was part of the mainland… He named the hill Prospect Hill.

The views from the top were awesome and gave a good perspective on the shape and differing landscapes of KI. Making our way down the 512 stairs, Trev was left behind. He had started talking to  ‘old mate’, George from Gippsland who also owned a Ranger and a caravan.

We made our way to Kingscote for lunch at the Aurora Ozone Pub and a look around. There was a beautifully painted silo at the entrance to Kingscote.

We walked along the foreshore and saw some old buildings including the courthouse, police station and gaol.

Lunch at the pub was delicious. After a coffee we stopped to get fuel, then travelled home to get organised before our early start tomorrow.

After packing our gear into both cars (which went smoother and took less time than we anticipated) we then drove down to the Ferry Terminal arriving just over 2 hrs early.

While we were waiting for the coffee Trev went to check us all in and was told that they had 2 cancellations so if we were able to get on board right then and there, we could go on the 1230 ferry instead of waiting til 3PM – bonus!

We quickly jumped on board and Dave and I drove the cars on. In no time at all, we were off to KI.

The ride over to Kangaroo Island was a bit rough but we went upstairs to the outside deck for a better view.

   Leaving the mainland behind, for Kangaroo Island

The sun came out and KI was clearly in view. We were all excited for what the next few days would bring!

Kangaroo Island is about the size of Bali and is home to just over 4700 people. It is a very fertile island with many freshwater creeks and lagoons and rolling pastures.

Many species of native wildlife including koalas, echidnas and of course kangaroos make KI their home.

The koala population was very large prior to the bushfires in 2020, but the loss of the vast majority of the population, which was free of chlamydia which plagues the mainland population, is devastating.

There is also a lot of marine life including penguins, Australian sea lions and New Zealand fur seals as well as a myriad of fish and sharks.

We disembarked the ferry and drove out from Penneshaw towards Emu Bay the place for our first 3 nights.

We arrived at our home for the next 3 days ‘Seas the Day’ a great house with wonderful views over Emu Bay.

The bay itself was large with a long, curved beach of white sand and again more beautiful blue water.

The house itself was spacious and comfortably furnished. Beryl and I were allocated the main bedroom with ensuite out of respect for their elders.

Gordie and Kerry got the other double bed and due to the fact they were ‘family’ Trev, Clare, Rose and Dave shared the kids room with 2 double bunks.

After an interesting night’s sleep, we got ready for our first full day on the island. The plan was to see the northwest area which included lunch at the Enchanted Fig Tree which we had pre-booked.

We drove out in a westerly direction and soon were on dirt roads passing through sheep farms, forestry and rolling hills. The island did look a bit dry with some empty lakes, and the evidence of the 2020 bushfires which devastated the island was still obvious.

Our first destination was Stokes Bay – a potential surfing area so Gordie and Trev were hopeful. We had all dressed in our finest for the 1215pm lunch at the Enchanted Fig Tree but Trev and Gordie had worn boardshorts in the hope of a quick pre-lunch surf.

We arrived at what was marked on the map as Stokes Beach to be confronted by a rocky beach with no waves – nothing like the pics on the internet. Fortunately, there was a sign that indicated there was a beach area to our right – Trev went and inspected and sure enough there was a small track through some large rocks that lead to a beautiful beach.

   Stokes Beach

The surf was a bit small however, but we enjoyed a walk along the beach, a paddle, and some photo ops. The beach again had fine white sand and some interesting rock formations at either end.

As the girls walked back through the crack in the rocks it was very reminiscent of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ – disappearing amongst the rocks never to be seen again.

Our next destination was Snelling Beach, which was the next possible surfing location, so we continued on. It also happened to be the location of the Enchanted Fig Tree.

The Enchanted Fig Tree is a 120-year-old fig tree planted as a food source for the first settlers of KI. The tree’s huge canopy and gnarled limbs have grown in such a way as to create natural ‘rooms’ which have been turned into a unique dining experience location near Snelling Beach. Our booking was for 1230 but we were asked to be there by 1215 sharp, so we were keen to keep an eye on the time so as not to miss any of this unique experience.

Snelling beach was stunning – turquoise blue water, white sand but again the swell was small.

There was a group of vintage Combies lined up on the beach itself – Gordie of course was drawn straight to them and had a great chat – they were a group doing a fundraiser for KI bushfire recovery and the family that had lost 2 members during the fires.

After dragging Gordie away, we left the beach and went across to the Enchanted Fig Tree – slightly early so we had a look around the grounds at the old shearers shed…and Gordie and Trev did the quick-change routine to fit in with the dress code.

We walked down to the large fig tree and were greeted by a waitress who welcomed us with a refreshing cocktail of KI gin, fig syrup, peppercorn leaves and other delights as well as a fig canape. The obligatory group photo at the entrance to the fig tree and we were then ushered in by our waitress to our table inside the fig tree canopy.

Thankfully it was a beautiful day. The sunlight filtered in through the large translucent green leaves, small birds flitted amongst the branches and the tree was heavy with fruit.

The tables were set in amongst different areas of the tree – it was semiprivate, relaxing and we were able to hear each other talk – unlike most restaurants that are so noisy. Background music floated through the air and fairy lights shone subtly among the branches – truly an enchanting experience.

  The dining “room” is actually in the fig trees to the left of the building

The set menu was amazing – 2 starters, an entrée, main and dessert all beautify prepared, presented, and tasty beyond belief! Fresh local produce was used, and it was difficult to select which part was the best – but possibly Berry Bombe Alaska with a berry ice-cream centre, chocolate coating then covered with a soft meringue topped off with a berry compote and fig coulis – magnificent.

Kerry had noticed that there were a lot of ripe figs near the toilets and so surreptitiously she and Gordon went to the loo (several times) and gleaned a fig or two. I spoke to the waitress, leading the conversation around to the fact that there were a lot of ripe figs, to which the waitress replied, ‘take as many as you want’. Honesty works well and so then everyone helped themselves to a few figs to take home.

We left the restaurant after having such an enjoyable experience and returned to the beach to check for waves – the swell was now smaller, so we decided to head for home and a swim at Emu Bay instead.

On the way home we saw a magnificent wedge tailed eagle and managed to snap a pic. After such an indulgent lunch we opted for cheese, fruit, and bikkies for dinner.

We had a big day planned hoping to tour the southwest area of the island and as we left. As I was packing the esky into the car, I noticed that the bolt holding on my tow hitch, has almost rattled loose. Got the big spanner out and quickly secured it.

Seal Bay was the first destination of the day – a whole bay and beach area dedicated to a colony of Australian sea lions. Female Australian sea lions always return to their place of birth which is why this area is a permanent home for the colony. The gestational period of the sea lions is 18 months, and the pups are born up in the sandy hollows or rocky outcrops away from the beach.

    Seal Beach is a must see on the island

The sea lions spend 2-3 days out to sea at a time hunting for food up to 100kms south of KI and then return and spend 2-3 days recuperating and sleeping on the beach and in the dunes as they are exhausted from the continual swimming and feeding. There are around 1000 permanent resident sea lions at Seal Bay in KI.

We did a beach tour and were able to get up close and personal with these beautiful creatures. The views up and down the coast from the lookout were spectacular.

On leaving Seal Bay we drove out onto the main sealed highway and, lo and behold, a rock flew up and chipped the Pearl’s windscreen – Dave was NOT impressed. Rosie was swift to start googling stone chip windscreen repairers.

We arrived at the famous Vivonne Bay – apparently great for surfing and sure enough there was a wave or two. The beach was again beautiful but the beauty was somewhat marred by the large amount of seaweed covering the silky white sand.

Gordie and Trev stayed for a surf while we went to get come coffee and lunch. We had great burgers at the Vivonne Bay General Store Take-away.

Time was marching on and so we grabbed takeaway burgers for Trev and Gordie and went back to pick them up. It took a while to pry Gordie out of the surf, but Kerry eventually succeeded, and we were back on the road towards Flinders Chase National Park and the Remarkable Rocks.

It was about 50mins drive to the Remarkable Rocks, but it was worth it – they were simply spectacular. The rocks are domed inselbergs ‘islands of rock’ – protrusions of eroded granite formed over a lengthy time period. Sea spray enters crevices of rock, then drying and the salt expands producing cracking, as well as wind and rain weathering the rocks, producing the unusual formations.

Next stop was the Admiral’s Arch near Cape du Couedic Lighthouse. We walked down the boardwalk looking at the wild remote coastal area on the southwestern tip of KI and marvelling at the rugged beauty of it. The area teems with wildlife – 85% of South Australia’s marine flora and fauna are found nowhere else in the world.

 

Out on the edge of the continental shelf here are huge submarine canyons bigger than the Grand Canyon. They are channels for the currents that bring up cold nutrient rich water that wells up from the deep-sea floor, which attracts marine life in large numbers.

Below the cliffs was a colony of New Zealand fur seals frolicking in the rock pools. They are larger and darker than the Australian sea lions we had seen earlier. We could see a rockpool with pink water – apparently the water turns this colour when concentrated seal poo mixes with saltwater.

Around the corner at the base of the cliff was the Admiral’s Arch, a natural rock arch formed under the cliff. The wild seas and wind had eroded the hole over many years to become a spectacular archway.

By this time it was quite late in the day, and we had an hour and a half drive back to Emu Bay so we decided to give Cape Borda Lighthouse a miss and make a beeline for home.

Back at Emu Bay, I saw an echidna just strolling across the park and it was completely unperturbed by our interest. The day had been very full, taking in the natural wonders of God’s creation found on KI.

Sunrise was spectacular as we woke to our last morning at Seas the Day. We left Emu Bay having really enjoyed our time there.

 

Arriving in Kingston we drove through the Will’s Beach Shack – a ‘free camp’ ground on Will’s beachfront property.

On our arrival we were greeted by a very friendly Will, who was a lot shorter than I envisioned, who directed us to our site location- and gave us some good advice as to where to eat in town.

  Two Willys marching to the same tune

The Crown Hotel Bistro in Kingstown was the place to eat according to Will as the fish and chip shop allegedly had given him diarrhoea – better to eat where the locals do so we drove back in to the pub.

Kingston is the home of the Big Lobster – love those big Aussie icons – so we were hoping for some great seafood.

The sun rose over Will’s Beach Shack the next morning, as we packed up and attempted to leave early.

We drove past some interesting scenery in Coorong NP – salt pans, lakes including a pink lake, sand dunes and scrub – a real wetland area.

Through Meningie and past Lake Albert, we turned off to Wellington and waited to catch the vehicular ferry across the Murray into Wellington itself.

  Waiting to cross on the car ferry

More beautiful old SA buildings lined the banks and were scattered across the farmland as we drove south toward Victor Harbour.

The land was increasingly fertile with vineyards, cattle and sheep farming making a change from the more arid area between Coorong and Wellington.

Arriving in Victor Harbour, we had a quick lunch at a bakery in town and then continued to Rapid Bay.

By this time, it was starting to rain, and the area was increasingly hilly with windy roads.

The view looking toward Rapid Bay would have been spectacular if it had not been for the rain and mist.

Wayne, the caretaker at Rapid Bay Campground, instructed us over the phone to park in a grassy spot in a wagon train configuration.

The campground looked great despite the weather and the bay was beautiful with high hills on either end and a long jetty at the south end.

Sunset arrived as the rain stopped and a spectacular rainbow appeared down the north end of the beach – which brought out all the cameras.

  Set up at Rapid Bay

The water was a beautiful aqua blue which contrasted with the pink and orange sky. We had dinner and Rose went to wash up – she suddenly reappeared clutching her hand – she had dropped the stovetop cover down on her finger (very heavy!) and it had cut her finger deeply and bruised the nail – extremely painful.

Into the Loveday van and out came the first aid kit…Rosie was regretting wearing her white shorts which now had a lot of red on them – even though she was in pain she managed to make a joke of the shorts and was very brave.

On closer inspection it was deemed the cut would need some stitches, so we Googled the nearest hospital – back at Victor Harbour a 40min drive – so after some Steristrips and a pressure bandage Trev drove Rose and Dave to the ED.

The hospital was great – after 4 stitches and instructions on how to care for the wound they were on their way back to camp.

After an eventful evening everyone had a slow start to the day. The sun was shining – not a cloud in the sky – a real contrast from the day before thankfully.

We decided to make the most of the sunny day and headed out to the surf beaches of Parsons Head and Waitpinga in the hope of Trev and Gordie getting a surf.

Arriving at Parsons Beach we were greeted with a breathtaking vista of golden beach, clear turquoise waters and waves (albeit small!). A carpark discussion with the lone local female surfer there revealed that the surf was not expected to pick up any time soon so we decided to drive around to Waitpinga for a swim and a surf.

Waitpinga was also very beautiful but much longer – and the waves were no better. Trev and Gordie had a paddle anyway.

We ate lunch at the Castaway Café near the jetty at Victor Harbour.

After some food and beverages we walked out along the jetty to Granite Island where there is a penguin colony.

A quick walk around to take in the sights and some pics. It had beautiful views over the harbour and rocky islands and there was even a rock that looked like Mr Magoo!

The penguins return to the island at dusk and head into their nests, but we were not planning to stay that long so we walked back across the jetty.

A late walk on the beach at Rapid Bay to investigate what looked like a cave at the end proved fruitless. There was one section that looked like an entry to a cave but it was too high to get to. The day ended well with no serious injuries or incidents!

 

Another beautiful day dawned at Rapid Bay and Gordie thought he would break out the ring of fire for breakfast. Fortunately experience makes for wiser decisions as he has a custom-made board to sit it on now to prevent any fire damage to the table below. Unlike his first attempt with it.

As the day was beautiful, we planned to head north to a few different beaches. First stop Second Valley where we had heard the snorkelling was good.

The area is known for the Weedy Sea Dragon and we were keen to see it in its natural habitat. Trev and Clare grabbed snorkelling gear and jumped in from the beach while the others went for a walk around the rocks.

The water was a good temperature and very clear.

As they swam over towards the jetty the seabed was pretty with fine white sand and a huge variety of underwater plants as well as colourful fish.

They snorkelled for quite a lengthy time but unfortunately did not see any sea dragons.

The next stop was the lookout where the HMAS Hobart memorial was. The warship was deliberately scuttled a few KMs off the coast here after it had completed its service and was now an artificial reef and well-known dive site.

Memorial to HMAS Hobart, which lies just offshore

Everyone was pretty hungry by now so we went back to the local café and grabbed some lunch.

After lunch we swam out to a pontoon about 50m out and climbed onto it. I soon realised that I couldn’t swim as far or as fast as I used to be able.

Normanville was a lovely location and once we swam back to the beach we decided to stay and relax for a while. The others arrived and we spent some time sitting on the beach.

It got so hot that we found some shade under the jetty.

It was time to leave but Dave decided to quickly fill up his jerry can of water as security, from the beach shower! Seems he needed some insurance on water usage due to Rosie and the shower?

After a windy night we woke to a beautiful sunny day, which was great as we had planned to drive to Deep Creek Conservation Park and go to Blowhole Beach, where there may have been some surf.

Entering the Park, we hit dirt roads and came to the turnoff to Blowhole Beach – a steep descent on dirt roads – with a warning at the start.

The Ranger and the ‘cruiser handled the descent well and the views were spectacular.

Blowhole Beach was smaller than expected but beautiful nevertheless. Some of us made the final walk down to the beach for a swim.

Unfortunately the surf was small, but the water again was clean and clear, and we enjoyed the swim. Well, apart from the sand crab that grabbed Trev’s big toe and drew blood!

After exploring the beach, we made the trek back up the hill, my Landcruiser making quick work of the steep ascent!

The surrounding farmland with velvety hills rolling down towards the beach were picturesque. Grass trees were dotted everywhere – the species here is large, rounded with very tall and thick flowering spikes.

We stopped at the top of the hill to take in the awesome view.

A mob of kangaroos were resting in the shade. Kangaroo Island could be seen in the distance.

We drove on to the Trig Campground where the walk to Deep Creek Waterfall started.

Before starting the walk, we had some lunch in the shade then headed up to start the walk.

Trev deciphered the description of the walk as ‘easy’ to the group, but it seems he misread it and it was far from easy.

The walk started out easy, but it was quite a warm day with very little breeze. As we got into it, the track became a little rocky and uneven and we started to descend into the valley.

After walking for about 30 mins, we met another couple coming back who informed us that the waterfall was still about 15mins away.

The track was very challenging ahead with steep steps so Kerry decided to stop and wait.

Gordie decided to stay with Kerry so Trev gave them our car keys so they could go back to the car.

Dave and Rose were machines racing ahead, while Trev, Clare, Beryl and I brought up the rear.

The walk did get very steep, but we finally made it to the bottom…and the creek and waterfall.

The waterfall only had a trickle of water running over it into a deep dark pool.

The rockface was unusual with a large white limestone rock protruding out the middle of the waterfall surrounded by black rock. The falls would have been great if there had been rain.

What goes down must come back up…and so we started the long haul up the track in the heat, with Dave again leading the pack.

Trev held back and we both gave Beryl inspiration and moral support.

It took us 2 hrs plus to get back but we all finally made it.

A great butt and thighs workout some may say!

Trev then revealed what was actually written on the sign. Some people may have been ready to strangle him after the harrowing experience however on reflection it was a good walk to have done.

It was time to leave Rapid Bay and make the journey to Kangaroo Island.

We were leaving our caravans at the caravan park at Cape Jervis where the ferry for KI leaves.

As we drove toward Cape Jervis, the sky over Kangaroo Island looked threatening and the wind had picked up, so we were anticipating a rough ride across the Backstairs Passage, which is the strait that divides KI from the mainland.

The caravan park at Cape Jervis was happy to store two of our cars and our 4 vans for the 6 nights we would be on KI. Beryl and I opted for the luxury storage package which came with power and an ensuite. True Australian dunny style.

The rest of the crew were assigned the povo pack in the back stalls.

Our next port of call was going to be the Cape Banks campground, in the Canunda National Park, only a relatively short drive away. Leaving Mt Gambier, we headed south to take a look at Picanninnie Ponds. The ponds are a well-known dive and snorkel site as the water is crystal clear and it has underwater limestone caverns. The visibility is said to often exceed 40m. Unfortunately, the day was overcast and cold with an icy breeze. The ponds were really beautiful, and the water was very clear – the depth at the pontoon was 5.9M.

Picanninnie Ponds

We drove into Port MacDonnell past a coast that looked bleak and uninviting. The endless stretch of rotting seaweed giving it a unique odour.

Close to Port MacDonnell, there was supposed to be a penguin colony, which seemed to have long gone. However there were some large local penguins on display.

Cape Northumberland is the most southern point of South Australia, so we took an obligatory group pic and had a walk.

 

The coastline is beautiful but rugged with obvious reefs out from the shore. No wonder the coast has a long history of multiple shipwrecks.

 

Camel Rock sat between two rocky outcrops and the water surrounding the rocks was crystal clear.

 

The destination for the night was Cape Banks Lighthouse campground in Canunda National Park – a “free” camp area. The road in was unsealed and very dusty but easily manageable for the cars and caravans.

On arrival at the camp a couple of the sites were quite tight but ours was wide, so we shared it with Gordon and his 22ft mobile palace.  Trevor and Clare had the smallest site but it turned out to be the most sheltered from the Antarctic gale that was blowing. As we drove past the Wells site a large black snake slithered into the bush, so we were on snake alert.

After lunch we went for a walk up to the lighthouse, which was painted orange and very distinctive. There was a small seal colony on the rocks at the point and so we walked out to take some pics.

I got so excited with the wildlife photo-op I did not notice the limestone pothole among the seaweed and suddenly face-planted into the mound of seaweed on the beach. He gave us all a real shock and Trev helped him up – the spiky seaweed had left a real impression as had the limestone with some bark taken off a knee or 2… fortunately the damage did not appear too great – and Klaus had managed to save his camera…

The beach was littered with many varieties of multicoloured seaweeds and finally the sun made an appearance which brightened up the view with the turquoise blue water and white sand making a great contrast.

 

You could drive on the beach, but we decided to walk along instead – getting windblown all the way. There were a lot of interesting insects around – Gordie made friends with some March flies on the beach that would not leave him alone… and there were a few bull-joes (large black ants with a VERY mean bite) inhabiting the area….not to mention ladybugs and centipedes…and the Hunters had a visit from a spider in their van…

On our return from the walk, we enjoyed happy hour in the protected Loveday camp, then had dinner in the vans out of the incessant wind. It looked very stormy, and thunder was heard in the distance however fortunately the storm circled around us.

 

We packed up and headed west along the coast aiming to have lunch around the Beachport area.

First stop was Southend Beach – the end of an extremely long stretch of beach. It was again white sand with turquoise water and obviously a great fishing place.

We continued on then to Beachport stopping at Surf Beach where finally there was a wave albeit a bit small. Gordie and Trev decided to stay and have the first surf of the trip while we all went on into Beachport itself for a coffee and a look around.

Beachport has a very long jetty extending way out into the bay so we walked the length after a coffee at the café just across the road from the jetty.

Beachport had some lovely old buildings – all in the style that seems very characteristic of South Australian buildings with large edge blocks on the corners

Trev and Gordie arrived back from their surf and grabbed a takeaway coffee and we drove on to Salmon Hole a beautiful swimming location on the other side of town.

We decided to have lunch nearby at the Pool of Siloam – a great place to park but the pool looked a bit murky. A local bloke came past and was going in for a dip – all was revealed when he told us that he was going in for his daily treatment for his skin!! Apparently the water in the lake was 7 times saltier than the sea and very good for your skin….

Driving on then towards Kingston our destination for the night, we stopped at Robe for a look but there was not much to see so went on to Pinks Beach, another long beach that was a popular spot for driving 4WDs – seems most beaches here are used as alternate roadways. The water here was warmer than Salmon Hole as it was a huge shallow bay – and Rosie was hoping it would be much the same at the place we were staying….