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.