17 June 2011
We took off this morning to go on the treck we were told about by the guy who owns Streaky Bay Bush Camp which is on a private property. We had to go through a few gates and then we went on a little dirt track that hugged the coastline for a few kms - it was just spectacular - really worth the drive, it was very rugged and beautiful and we all had a ball, especially when there was one particular rocky bit where the Land Rover couldn't get up and we had to find another way around! We were in the blue one, not our original one - if we had have been in that one with the diff locks we would have had no trouble but without diff locks and with only plain road tyres she just couldn't get up there!
After that we decided to go and look at the sea lions at Point Labatt Conservation Park. I had never seen wild sea lions before so it was a real treat. If you ever go there - make sure you look for the NZ fur seals that are futher out on the rocks as the sea lions won't let them closer - they are very hard to see! It was really cold and windy but we saw babies suckling on their mothers and sea lions playing in the ocean so it was great.
After that we went to Baird Bay for lunch. There is a free campsite there that we almost went to but luckily we didnt as there is no shelter there even though it is a beautiful little spot but with the wind it would have been horrible!
We headed back to camp and got the fire going and cooked curried sausages, had our showers and relaxed. There was a bit of rain but not much.
18 June 2011
We then headed off to have a late lunch on the water at Elliston - another lovely little town with murals on many of the walls of buildings. After lunch we started heading across to the east side of the Eyre Peninsula. The first bit of the road was quite ugly with heaps of paddocks with hundreds of dead trees laying or standing in the paddocks - that went on for quite a way before the scenery finally got better with better land and no dead trees. Along the way we spotted a sheep running along the side of the road so we stopped to see if we could get it into a paddock but it had other ideas and after we got out and started trying to herd it towards a gate it charged at the fence and managed to get through by itself - great fences!!
We ended up pulling into Yeldnuckie Weir for the night - what a lovely little spot - rainwater as well as town water available, lovely clean showers, a picnic area with electric BBQs and beautiful scenery to boot! We got the fire going and decided it might be a good place to stay for a few days and relax.
19 June 2011
It had sprinkled overnight but nothing major. A couple of locals stopped by and we had a chat to them, they are part of the Lions Club who run the campsite and they were full of information about the area - lovely guys. They told us that there was an 8 km walk and told us what there was to see on the walk which included the weir and an old garden bed where the settlers used to grow there vegies and used the water from a soak, etc, etc so we all started out on a trek along the road. The oldies only made it as far as the weir but Ross and I kept going and had a beaut walk, it was really lovely country and it was good to be able to just relax and take in the scenery. We got back at about lunchtime and had jaffles on the fire for lunch. After lunch we went looking for firewood for the fire and spent some time tripping back and forth with wood to stock up.
20 June 2011
We had heard about bad weather coming with 60 km/h winds but we like this place so much we decided to ride it out. It was a bit of a miserable day but it didn't stop us doing more exploring - we walked over to the old quarry and cut up and collected more firewood to keep warm. We also went into town for bread and milk (Cleve is only about 5 kms from the campsite). Another local stopped by for a chat and a cuppa - such friendly people around here!
21 June 2011
It was a better day today though still windy but it was sunny. We drove out to Arno Bay for a look around on the recomendation of some of the locals - they have built quite an extensive boardwalk around the mangroves and out to the beach and we had a lovely couple of hours wandering around looking at the area. They even have special fishing spots designated with chopping boards and such - it's really well set up! Towards the end it started raining again so back in the car and back to camp.
Lester and I were bored so we walked up to the old settlers garden and planted some capsicums and tomatoes in there - I wonder if they will grow someday??
The mice have been driving us a bit nuts around here - there sure are plenty around and they are cheeky little buggers and Boris has managed to catch one (with a little help from Ross stomping on it first). He's not a very good mouser - a bit old and slow unfortunately but Ross decided to have a go at killing a few tonight as well and spent a good deal of the night with a shovel in his hand trying to kill mice but he wasn't very successful - they are too quick. Boris managed to get another one - he had pretty much given up after a night of chasing them around and was lying on his bed near the fire when one got too close to his front paws and he just grabbed it - he was quick as lightning and didn't even leave the comfort of his bed!
22 June 2011
We finally decided to get back on the road after a lovely stay at a great little campsite. We were on the road by 9:30 and started to head towards Whyalla. Once we reached Whyalla we had a bit of a look around but the town itself wasn't very exciting, though it was big. We stopped and bought a couple of things that we needed and as we were only stopping for one night so we decided to go out to Point Lowly rather than Fitzgerald Bay as was recommended by a friend as it was a bit further out of town. Another beautiful spot - completely free and you are allowed to stay here for two weeks!! We set up near the toilets which were only a few hundred metres from the water. There were showers there too but they were cold so we had to heat the water and we just took the buckets into the shower recess and had our showers that way. We went for a walk and there were a couple out on their back deck that were really friendly and had a chat with us - we had a great afternoon.
Mother and I got up early and went for a walk down to the lighthouse to watch the sun rise. It wasn't a spectacular sunrise but it was a great walk (albeit freezing) and we had a lovely time. There was a very interesting sign down at the lighthouse that explained about the salinity, etc around the Point Lowly area, making it unique. We then packed up and headed to Port Augusta which was a very interesting little town with a very interesting Information Centre and some very interesting old buildings. We did some shopping and had lunch in the park there before heading off towards Wilmington through a back road that took us through part of the Flinders Ranges. The back road itself was like a goat track that had bitumen on it but it then came out onto a main road before heading through the mountains - what a majestic drive! We stopped off at Hancock's Lookout which was really worth the 7 km devation off the road with it's fantastic view.
We continued through to Wilmington and we were originally going to go through to Wirrabura for the night at the showground there but we had rung ahead and they told us that they were closing for a while for repairs so we decided to stay at the caravan park at Wilmington instead as it looked like an interesting town as we drove through it with a toy museum that the boys were interested in. There was also what looked like a large garage sale that was happening and we wanted to go check it out tomorrow. It was a nice little park that wasn't too expensive and there were also bush camping sites available out the back but we didn't find out how much these were. We got some washing done and had an early night.
1 comments:
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