This meant that we'd stop for the night wherever we were and, after seeing a few salt lakes along the way, we stopped at Spud's Roadhouse at Pimba. What a great place to stop - free camping but with access to the roadhouse with its friendly staff at the bar and bar snacks etc.
It was fun, and in the morning we took the 5 klms drive to Woomera.
Woomera - well, at first it seemed as if the place was totally deserted - a ghost town. We didn't see a person or a car (even a parked car) until we got to the rocket museum. This place had a sign on the door saying "Closed, but will reopen on 2014".
Yeah, it was still closed, but as most of the rocket exhibits are outdoors we could see them anyway. Interesting stuff, and the apparently bodgy nature of the build of many of the rockets was a surprise. Check out the photos (when I post them)
On top of the rockets and the seemingly deserted town (we did spot two people walking as we drove out) the standout feature of the town was the number and beauty of the salmon gums. Elegant trees anywhere, in Woomera they were perfect.
Sadly, Karen didn't share my enthusiasm for a rocket graveyard and together with the heat of the day (still over 40 degrees, even early in the day) she ended up sitting in the car reading the paper.
So we turned south again and passed through Whyalla (industrial stuff to its north and a pleasant enough suburbia after that) and travelled through a desert of saltbush and minor scrub until we arrived at Arnos Bay.
Arnos Bay - this is just a small town with one shop and one pub and one caravan park which is right on the foreshore. There is stuff all here apart from a pier that you could fish from, but the people are friendly and the prices cheap enough and for two people who have done a lot of driving recently (about 5,000km so far) the chance to rest up, read a book and do pretty much nothing was too good to resist.
We moved on to Port Lincoln after three nights at Arnos Bay and what a treat it is. We had a first night which (like the last day and night at Arnos) was windy and cool and little fun, but after that the place just settled into 27 degree days (cool nights) and sunshine. Spectacular stuff.
We took a drive out to Lincoln Nat Park which is gorgeous.
What follows is a series of pictures of the park - on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words (probably a hundred thousand of mine) I will let them tell the story with minimal additions.
What follows is a series of pictures of the park - on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words (probably a hundred thousand of mine) I will let them tell the story with minimal additions.
I imagine that you can guess that we like the coastal side of things!
If you have read earlier blog entries you'll know that we like our lighthouses. This one is at Cape Donington.
The main reason was to check out the camping areas and we too a decent walk along the shoreline to do just that. The big problem were the march flies. Nasty biting insects at the best of times, but Karen gets a very nasty reaction to their bites and we won't be staying anywhere that has them in any profusion.
So, here we are in Port Lincoln, checking out the surroundings, taking on the walks and enjoying the good life.
Coffin Bay - We had heard all about the beauty of Coffin Bay so when we arrived there it was with a great deal of hope and high expectations. The town itself is a cute little place, but devoid of anything resembling a coffee shop or cafe. There is one pub, but that is a barn of a modern pub and doesn't appeal much.
There is a really smart little oyster bar called 1802 (the year that Matthew Flinders mapped out the area) that we patronised.
But what about the Nat Park? Well, it is mostly sand with a lot of scrub spread across it - quite unprepossessing really - but when you get to the coast itself the place changes in a dramatically beautiful vista. Sort of a littoral Sophia Loren. Wonderful stuff.
The cliffs are limestone and even walking across the top of them you are kicking over shells and coral and all sorts of the things that limestone is made up of.
Loved all the birds on one side of this rock.
It was at the point above where the white sand stopped and the rocky ground started.
On our walk through the park we met up with a few of the locals - here are a couple.
We decided to leave the tip of the Eyre Peninsula and head up the west coast aiming at Venus Bay. We both commented upon the fact that, after the dry, sere hills and salt marsh of the east coast the first part of the west coast was very pretty indeed. Tall gums waving in the breeze lined the road and the people were happy to wave to us as we passed.
The countryside changed after a while with stubbled wheat fields being the norm. The coast was often visible in the form of huge sand dunes always on the left hand side.
We nipped into Elliston for lunch ( a pie and a coffee in the local bakery) and wandered around the town for a while. I know that I keep repeating myself, but this town is another little gem of a place. situated on a gorgeous bay with sandy beaches (nobody on them of course) and everything you might want to conduct a satisfyingly quiet life.
We arrived at Venus Bay but found the place full. It is a pretty enough place, but very definitely focussed on fishing. We moved on.
On our way we saw a signpost directing people to Murphy's Haystacks - well, we had to detour to check them out and the following pics show them. It was an overcast day so they are not at their best, but they are still worth seeing.
Karen giving them a little scale.
Streaky Bay. It feels like coming home again - a lovely town and a lovely feel to it as well. We walked into the town after setting up in a very busy van park and sat on the deck just looking out at the jetty and saying "Ahh" as we de-stressed. Dinner was local caught whiting and chips'n'salad and it was lovely.
The next day we decided to take the drive down to Point Labatt to check out the sea lion colony (the only permanent one on the mainland) and we were in luck - there were lots of them on the beach.
At one point a female sea lion came out of the ocean and started calling. She was replied to by a pup who scrambled to meet her as she came out onto the beach. When they met they curled their necks around each other and sort of hugged. It was a real David Attenborough moment and they went up the beach so she could feed the pup. It brought tears to our eyes - a magical moment.
There was a specially built lookout so you could see the animals but not get too close - great work by the SA people.
The ic below is of the mother feeding her pup.
Driving back we decided to have our lunch (Karen had cut sandwiches for us) at Sceale Bay, but first port of call when we entered the tiny township was a visit to the loo.
It is pictured below, but have you ever seen a more quaint long drop in your life?
We found a place down by the water and ate our lunch looking at this scene:
Yes, we had to go and have a paddle and yes, it was bloody cold!
I decided to take a few photos of a more considered (arty farty?) nature - what do you think?
The sky over the township and beach:
The steps down to the beach from both left and right
After seeing the sea lions (and we were alone there - nobody to interfere with our enjoyment) we decided to loop around Westall Way and have a look at that.
We stopped at Speed Point where there is a camp site that we should have been using.
This is the view across to the point
In the pic below you can see where the camp site is - just perfect positioning isn't it?
Further round, and Smooth Pool, we took a drive along the beach. It is a smooth, firm 2WD surface (apart from the climb back out) and is so beautiful that a decent photographer could turn it into an advert for Mitsubishi.
A little further on we stopped at The Granites and took the 110 step stair down to the beach. Easy going down, but harder going up!
The rocks have the same red algae on them as those along the Tasmanian shore and glow red in the sun.
The pic below shows the stairs - 110 steps, but easier because of the level parts between sets of steps.
Just about our first non-bird bit of wildlife in SA was this sleepy lizard (like a bluetongue further north) which was a joy to see.
The next day we decided to take a look at the other "Tourist Loop" near Streaky Bay and have a day checking out the beauty spots.
The first stop was at a wonderful (and deserted) beach with a gentle surf washing up onto the beach of clean sand. Yeah - we had to have a walk along it, just to feel the sea breeze in our hair (well, Karen's hair and my scalp) and to have a paddle.
Here's a warning to one and all though - this ocean and its currents come from Antarctica and the water is COLD!
Even in these less visited areas the SA parks people have catered for us very well - the steps down to the beach were well made and safe
How's this for a quiet beach?
Well, maybe not THAT quiet!
A little further on we came to a limestone cliff that has blow holes and whistling rocks. The difference being that water jets out of the first while only air comes out of the second, but they do indeed whistle.
We had missed high tide so the blow holes were not working, but the platforms are built impressively close to them.
Our last day and night was a bit of a foodie festival - lunchtime we went to the cafe in town and had the best coffee we have had for YEARS - literally. It was superb, but it equalled the slice of orange and almond cake that accompanied it. All in all, it was a real treat for the tastebuds.
But then we went out to dinner that night to a restaurant that is right on the water next to the jetty - it's called Mocean and it unsurprisingly feature seafood highly.
We shared an entree of abalone (flash fried in butter and served with a fresh salad) while Karen had a bluefin tuna steak that was a revelation. We have eaten yellowfin and skipjack tuna before, but the bluefin was magic. I had a white fish called a Kapuka which was delicate and beautifully presented, but the tuna was the star.
Well, it was until we had a dessert - salted caramel tart served with peanut butter ice cream and a berry coulis - it sounds a little odd, but it was just wonderful. The whole meal was accompanied by a bottle of pinot gris and followed by coffee.
I can only recommend both of these places - they were wonderful treats.
It was with some sadness that we left Streaky Bay and headed off to Ceduna. We stopped at the Shelly Beach caravan park as the town has a reputation for some "disturbances", especially on a Friday and Saturday night.
Just a stopover for us - we hit the Nullarbor tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment