Entry 2 –
19th February to 3rd March
Moving on from the beautiful Sheringa Beach we stopped for a
look at Locks Well. It was a beach noted for salmon fishing and not recommended
for swimming. And yes, the ocean looked very intimidating with its large swells
and beach rips.
Our travelling distance for the day ended at about 50
kilometres up the road with our next camp at Walkers Rocks located a bit north
of the township of Elliston. Elliston is another town in decline from it’s busy
bye gone days as a bustling service port for the local farming community. The
local council were doing their best with a focus on attracting the passing
tourist trade providing cheap camping areas and dressing up the town with
murals, statues, walking trails and scenic drives providing an interest for
people to stay awhile.
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| Great watering hole mural |
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| Big crow |
Walkers Rocks was a similar type location to Sheringa Beach
where we set camp in a spot with some shelter from the constant ocean wind, positioned
close to a sand hill. There was the constant background noise of surf breaking
onto the shoreline, providing a soothing background tune.
We did all the touristy bits around Elliston, trying to keep
occupied but unfortunately there wasn’t much to keep us captivated for long and
the windy cool conditions at the time didn’t help.
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| Cape Barren Geese |
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| Another different sunset |
After two nights at Walker rocks we were ready to move on.
Continuing in a northerly direction, we stopped for a look
at one of Elliston’s much publicised attractions, ‘Talia Caves.’ Woolshed Cave
the main draw card was closed due to a rock slide damaging the lower access
stairs. It had been publicised as a temporary closure since November, now
approaching 4 months. A couple of very large overhanging rocks had broken off
from the overhead cliff face and we thought it to be a rather large job to make
the area safe, possibly out of the local council’s capabilities, we are
thinking it may never reopen for public access.
It was a beautiful rugged section of coastline, looking a
bit daunting when Steve scampered down onto a rock face a little bit down the
road from Woolshed Cave.
Next, we had a look at Venus Bay with a caravan park
appearing to be bulging at the seams with caravans and boats. It looked like
one of those locations popular with fishing folk. We disconnected the caravan
up the road a bit at a location called Murphy’s Haystacks and drove the 80-kilometre
return trip to Point Labatt promoted as the only mainland location in Australia
where you could view an Australian Sea Lion Colony. We counted 42 seals sunning
on the warm rocks, way below from a viewing platform mounted high up on a cliff
face. We thought it was worth the drive.
Returning to the caravan we spent time viewing some large “Inselbergs,”
(a hill that looks like a rocky island rising sharply from the ocean) given the
name in this instance, “Murphy’s Hay Stacks.” We walked around several
interesting rock formations, even doing a loop in the opposite direction
viewing them from a different angle. It was something different. We camped the
night in the carpark of Murphy’s Hay Stacks, enjoying its quietness all to
ourselves.
We were about 40-kilometres shy of Streaky Bay our next
planned area for exploration. We had previously stayed in the township of
Streaky Bay and thought on this occasion we would explore some of the nearby
bush camping locations not visited by us previously. Whilst at Murphy’s Hay
Stacks we had internet reception and started to plan our next week’s activity
options.
One of our requirements was to visit nearby Ceduna Hospital
where we were both to have blood samples taken for medical assessments on our
return home planned in two weeks-time. The doctor provided forms that showed
the location where we needed to attend, minus the opening hours. A check via
the internet to obtain opening hours showed this clinic as now permanently
closed. The next closest clinic on the form for this company was at Pt Augusta about
400-kilometres down the road and adding to our predicament we received a phone
call from our doctor notifying our appointment date had been brought forward by
a couple of days.
We researched our options coming up with plans A, B, C and
eventually settled on plan D.
We arrived at Streaky Bay on a Saturday to find the
information centre closed over weekends. Thankfully the shops were still open
and we stocked up with fresh food and filled the near empty tow tugs fuel tank.
Our last fuel was obtained at Port Lincoln and it was about a 300-kilometre distance
to Streaky Bay. Of interest we had travelled this route and had clocked up
610-kilometres which included our deviations to view the nearby scenery along
this route.
Leaving Streaky Bay township, we travelled along the Westall
Way Loop Drive with a few campground options along the road. We settled for
Speed Point campground, another beautiful setting providing a most relaxing
atmosphere.
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It is always a special sight when the conditions are right
for a gorgeous sunset and Speed Point excelled with an ocean sunset.
Speed Point was another location a bit out of the way with
no facilities, less frequented by most travellers with a gorgeous setting,
providing a most relaxing atmosphere. We were enjoying a peaceful state of
mind, helping with some further constructive thoughts for our bloods,
predicament. On the Monday morning we phoned the local hospital whom provided
us with an appointment time the following morning to facilitate our blood
requirements.
We moved to plan option E, relocating to a caravan park a
few kilometres just north of Streaky Bay.
The following morning, we attended Streaky Bay Hospital
where we were drained of the required bloods and continued exploring the local
area with a drive on the Cape Bauer Loop Drive north west of Streaky Bay. We
viewed some rugged coast line with some beautiful beach locations.
After a couple of nights in a caravan park we were ready to
relocate to another bush type setting. About 20-kilometres up the road Perlubie
Beach ticked many of our wish list elements.
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| Arrival just after low tide |
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| Just out of harm’s way at high tide |
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| More stunning sunsets |
Perlubie Beach was a fabulous location with nice sand under
foot and a vehicle drivable beach. Near the entrance road onto the beach were
six brush topped shelters with caravans setting up on the three sides of each enclosure
leaving the beach side open. The many young travelling families seemed to
gravitate around the shelters, creating a wonderful child friendly environment.
We were at the age where we appreciated a quieter atmosphere and set camp a
couple of hundred metres down the beach, distancing ourselves from the busy
sheltered area.
Unfortunately, strong winds appeared mid-afternoon of each
day with fine sand granules finding its way into the caravan through any slight
opening, causing us to lock all windows whilst the wind blew. After two days we
even moved our caravan to face the opposite direction to see if we could
improve our comfort from the 40 kilometre plus winds with the door on the
opposed side to the oncoming wind.
Thankfully the wind would subside around 6 pm most days
We did participate in a daily happy hour with our neighbours
with a growing group of more senior sedate people happily chatting each
afternoon for a few hours until we all drifted away for our evening meal.
We walked daily along the beach enjoying special time in a
great setting providing a harmonious setting for everyone around. Perlubie
Beach was another beautiful summer location.
We had stretched our time lines as much as possible soaking
in a copious amount of time at Perlubie Beach. It was time to head home,
attending appointments as another part of life.
Departing Perlubie Beach our first stop was at Streaky Bay
car wash, where we did our best to remove as much sea spray as possible from
the tow tug and caravan. We headed east with a targeted destination of Kimba
about a 200-kilometre drive for the day. It was our longest days drive for over
a month and our bodies felt weary by the time we arrived at Kimba.
Kimba was another innovative town doing its best to attract
the passing tourist trade to spend time in its town. There was a large free
camping area with showers and ample toilet facilities, numerous murals located around
town, a promoted nature trail with plant identification signage and sculptures which
drew our immediate attention.
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| Nearby 8 metre granite sculpture titled “The Australian Farmer” at Wudinna |
Day two’s allocation of driving was around 160 kilometres
where we stayed a night at Port Augusta catching up with one of Mary’s primary
school friends. The chatter between the two girls seemed endless. It was
wonderful to see two school friends enjoying one another’s company.
Day three we commenced driving just after sunrise with a required
day’s drive of around 350 kilometres to our home base for medical appointments
the following morning. It was a long, long day.
It was now seven years since we both ceased working life to
pursue a retirement activity focused on travel. We unquestionably were still thoroughly
enjoying our travel lifestyle with in this instant leaving a required return to
home till as late as possible.
Like so many of those locations we had visited in Australia,
Eyre Peninsula was another one of those locations we would like to allocate an
extended time line to explore further, including some of its inland regions for
a time in cooler weather.
