Flinders Ranges - Day Trip 2

The drivers view

Plan for the second day trip was to explore the eastern side of the park as, whilst this isn't gushing with gorges, it is interesting country and worth the visit.

Nice spot - pity the track ended here.

We took a detour off the main track into Wilkawillina Gorge - hoping to follow the track all the way to the North – but track was closed.  On the way in there is a fenced area with 4 small enclosures marked A,B, C and D. A is accessible by all the native and feral animals that roam the park, B is accessible by kangaroos but not rabbits, C is accessible by rabbits and not kangaroos, and D is not accessible by either. The diversity and lushness of vegetation the area’s not accessible by rabbits stood out like a sore thumb.

Interesting formations east of Flinders Ranges

Noting the evidence of rabbits through every area of the park we visited I could imagine how different  the park would be without these introduced pests. Let’s hope that CSIRO can find a permanent cure for this blight as Myxomatosis and Calici viruses have run their  course and it seems that the current plague of rabbits are immune to these.  While on the subject of feral pests it was during this day trip that we also saw hundreds of feral goats and the lone but big and healthy feral cat. The things you see when you don’t have a gun!

Once again we also spotted  mobs of roos, emus, wedgetails and hawks so not all is lost.

Old relics at Blinman

Near the end of our day trip we pulled back onto the blacktop and drove into Blinman – a lovely historic  mining town famous for its Cornish mining history and the Blinman Burger and Classic Steak Sandwich at the local tavern.  The barmaid was happy to see us - not because we are good looking grey nomads – but because we hailed from West Oz – turned out she was a Bunbury Lass and her and her partner were on an extending working trip around Oz.

Lots of  things to see

Once again a 160 klm round trip – but a great day out.

Flinders Ranges - Day Trip 1

Roughing it out in the bush!

We stayed in the Flinders Ranges National Park for 4 nights at Trezona Camp-site. Great Camp-site with 14 private and spread-out camping areas along the dry Brachina Creek River bed. For most of the time we shared the area with only 1-2 other campers and these were in the distance. Creek was dry at the time we stayed but you  could see evidence of some  raging  flood waters from previous storms.

Not bad for an old girl with a new hip!

While we were in the Park we did two extended day trips to take in the sights and get a feel for the “ranges”. Trip 1 took in the West and central areas of the park. Brachina Gorge (not far from where we camped )is a great drive – for most of the time the rough track follows the creek bed so you’re always looking up at the mountains above.

Old Rocker in Brachina Gorge

We saw a couple of the much endangered yellow foot wallaby but by the time I got my camera out they had scooted away.

As we headed out of the park to head down to the southern entrance we came up to a stopped car where an old couple were trying to flag us down. Turned out the elderly drive was looking out the window and whilst trying to swipe a fly flicked off his only pair of glasses onto the road. Lucky for him we spotted them (unbroken) as we drove past.

Where the hell is the boat ramp?

We stopped in at Wilpena Pound brought a coffee and left – a really over commercialised tourist spot. Can't get to the "Pound" unless you stay at the resort or take shuttle bus and do the 2 hour walk at the other end – didn't suit us with Linda still recuperating from her hip replacement.

Bunyeroo Gorge - wow!

Drove through the Bunyeroo Gorge on the way back to camp – some more spectacular scenery via heavily corrugated road. Our SATNAV was telling us to go this was to our camp as we came in – glad we ignored it as it would have been hard on our van.

The view from the top

Saw a lot of wild life on our day out – the elusive yellow foot wallaby, large numbers of emu’s, euro’s, grey and red Kangaroos, a few Wedge-tail Eagles and the usual gangs of crows dining in the road kill.

Great day out – 168 klm over 6 hours.

Point Lowly

It’s been 8 days since my last blog and I had plans for blogs on the wonders of Coffin Bay and Port Lincoln National Parks but due to a number of reasons we didn’t visit these Parks. Primary reason was that Linda was suffering an increasingly debilitating and painful shoulder injury. This led us to book into Port Lincoln Caravan Park so Linda could get a quarterzone injection in her shoulder and recuperate in civilization. Unfortunately there are no medical facilities in Port Lincoln to do the injection procedure (using ultrasound to position the needle) so we had to book into Whyalla hospital 5 days after getting to Port Lincoln.

So whilst we “grounded” in Port Lincoln we took day trips to sus out Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay National Parks. Whilst both Parks are ok - neither had what we were expecting/hoping for - a nice water side  camp where we could easily launch the tinny and sit around the fire at night out of the wind.

So after a morning visit to Coffin Bay (and the mandatory purchase of more oysters) we made an on the spot decision to get out of the rain (it had rained cats and dogs the whole time we had been at Port Lincoln!) and start heading towards Whyalla. 

Port Gibbon foreshore - nice!

So we packed  in the pouring rain and after stopping for a cuppa and chat to a lovely couple we had met coming down the west coast we stopped over at 

Port Gibbon. Nice spot for a “one nighter” near the beach.
Lots of history in this area.

couldn't resist the rainbow photo coming out of Port Gibbon

After Port Gibbon we trecked further north to Point Lowly which is just out of Whyalla. 

Our front yard at Point Lowly

We had stopped at Point Lowly our last trip around Oz and our memories of a great spot with spectacular views of Spencer Gulf we confirmed the second we turned the corner into the camping area.

The mandatory Point Lowly lighthouse photo

Not too many spots match this for $5/night. After an afternoon spent at the Whyalla Hospital Linda came away with the much needed quarterzone injection and almost immediate pain relief – yahoo!

Overlooking Fitzgerald Bay

Whilst at Point Lowly we spent a very pleasant morning under that big yellow thing in the sky (I recall it’s called the “sun”) driving along the coast towards Port Augusta.  As you head towards Whyalla from Point Lowly there is a road called Flinders View Drive – if your down this way take the time to spend an hour or two out on this good quality dirt road to take in some spectacular coastline and some more remote free camps (Shingle Beach overlooking Fitzgerald Bay stands out as a beauty).

On our  morning walk - miserable view :(

Put Point Lowly on your “must do” list if you’re on Eyre Peninsula.

Venus Bay

If someone said –

“I want a place where fishermen can go out safely in small tinnys into sheltered pristine waters.  There must be a safe launching area within 80 meters of the caravan park. AND the waters must be full of the best tasting fish in Australia”

Good looking bird on Venus Bay Jetty

That person would be talking about Venus Bay South Australia which has all this and more.

We spent 8 nights at Venus Bay and the tinny got wet every day except the last day which is pack-up day.

Despite some absolute “chilled to the bone” days it was good being out on the water.

a dozen KG's about to be converted to fillets

Took me a while to learn the ropes and master the King George (KG) Whiting  but with a bit of trial and error and a lot of talking to the locals I was eventually a “whiz” and ended up 15 meals of KG’s vacuum sealed for the weeks ahead.

Its a bird, its a plane, no its a whiting frame!

The Caravan Park is busy and I have never seen so many roof-top tinnies in one spot.  No wonder with all those KG’s out there ready for the taking! Whilst the Park doesn’t have a lot of water the facilities are first rate and very clean.

Even grey nomads get up at dawn for a good photo

The flats of the estuary are a haven for water birds and at any time there would be a hundred or so birds of many different species in front of the Park.

Yahoo – we will be back!

Worlds biggest Oysters @ $7/dozen

Stacks, Lions and a Pub

On the second day at Venus Bay  we lent the tinny out to so nice folk we had met at Haslam Beach – so this was a good reason to do some sightseeing in the local area and have a pub meal for lunch.

Couple of farmers at the "haystacks"

First stop was Murphey’s Haystacks which is an unusual rock formation on a farm not far from Port Kenny. 

Didn't spend too long there as the rain storms were sweeping through, however, worth the stop and walk.

Hey!

For other travellers there is a free camp at Murphey’s Haystacks that looked OK for a one nighter and the opportunity for sunset photos of the “haystacks” would be worth the stay.

You can just see the sea lions on the beach below!

Next stop was Pt Labett Nature Conserve. The largest Australian mainland sea lion colony. Just over 40 kilometres of dirt road but it was worth it. 

These are NZ fur seals who snuck across the "ditch"

Luckily we have a good pair of binoculars and we spent ½ hour watching the baby sea lions and mums frolicking about below. 

On the way to Pt Labett we stopped at small Church for some divine inspiration about where the fish would be biting tomorrow – think HE is checking the tide charts and will soon get back to me in a flash of light?

Linda and Paj at "smooth Pool"

We followed the coast around from Pt Labett to Streaky Bay where we had a really good pub meal at the Streak Bay Pub.

Nice day out.

The Venus Bay blog to follow soon.

Haslam Beach (aka Squid Jetty)

Jetty at Haslam Beach

Haslam Beach Free Camp (well almost @ $5/night)  is 32 Km north of Streaky Bay on the western side of Eyre Peninsula – we planned to stay one night on our way to Venus Bay but stayed three. 

Not much here but a small un-serviced camp area (room for about 20 vans at a push) and a 100 metre long jetty close to the camp.

Lots of squid rings here!

 Like all the Grey Nomads staying here we were soon down at the Jetty hoping to catch a King George Whiting or a squid. No KG’s but 20 squid – yummy! 

Linda' big squid

 We met some great folk camped nearby and were invited to a seafood cook-up on the Friday night. Fresh Salmon Trout, Herring (Tommy Ruff’s to the SA folk) and skipjack trevally as a mains and Linda’s fresh fried squid and Julies kilpatrick oysters as an starters.  This is what travelling is about - good food, good company and a roaring fire!

On Saturday morning the local oyster farm guy pulled into the camp after tending his lease and was selling a baker’s dozen of gigantic oysters for $7. Oysters a half hour out of the ocean at $7/doz – he did a roaring trade. Oyster on the menu again tonight!

Off to Venus Bay tomorrow – more fish and oysters!

Fowlers Bay

After a long drive across the Nullarbor and mostly short one night stopovers we decided to stay at Fowlers Bay (on the North Western side of Eyre Peninsula) for 4 nights. The road into Fowlers Bay is 50/50 bitumen and dirt and was quiet OK for us and our van. We were looking forward to unhitching the car, putting up the annex and floor and having a longer shower.

Unfortunately Mother Nature discovered our plans and our first 2 days/nights were blown away by 50-80 Km winds.  On our first night we had an exciting time putting down our annex at 10:00PM before it blew away on the 60-80 Km winds – great!

View of township from the top of a nearby sand dune

Fowlers  Bay (when weather is kind) seems to be a quiet little town and would be a good place to chill out. The main attractions are the long jetty, numerous sand dunes to play around in your 4WD, lots of good surf fishing beaches (accessible only by 4WD), and great milkshakes at the one and only kiosk/shop in town.

The Caravan Park is situated across the road from the Jetty and although small and lacking water has a good camp kitchen and they light a fire in the communal fire pit every night.

Its a long jetty - but no squid today

Linda has been busily cooking up all of our vege’s as we off to Ceduna tomorrow and will have to hand in what's left at the quarantine check point.

Next stop – one free camp (TBA) and then a week at Venus Bay where hopefully I can get my tinny wet. 

Linda outside the famous milkshake shop

Across the Nullarbor!

It’s a fair hike across the Nullarbor from South Yunderup in WA to Fowlers Bay in SA (1,916 kilometers to be precise). We took our time and camped for 5 nights on the way.  A lot of people have a preconception that it’s a long and boring drive but this is not the case – sure there are times when you drive for a couple of hours where there is little change in scenery but for most of the time there is always something to look at and enough trucks and wide loads on the road to keep you alert!

Riveted Pipe and Old Rocker 

We stayed the first two nights at Karalee Rock and Dam which is 30K’s east of Southern Cross.  Great spot 4-5K’s off the main road and most camp sites have room for a caravan and a table and fireplace. The spot has some interesting history  “Karalee Dam was constructed to provide water for slow steam trains en-route to Kalgoorlie. The site was chosen mainly because of the granite outcrop; with rain the outcrop becomes a natural catchment area. Constructed between 1896–1897 the dam has a capacity 10.6 million gallons. Retaining walls of granite slab, all cut from the top of the rock and laid by hand, surround the enormous rock catchment. 

Gamma holes on top of Karalee Rock

This enables the water to flow off the rock into the dam via a large semi-circular aqueduct of steel, hand riveted at each joint, which is still in very good condition considering its age and the natural harsh elements. To reflect upon the unbelievable manual labour and horsepower involved in this construction, is well worth the journey.”

We travelled from Karalee to Fraser Range Free Camp after stopping in Norseman to fill up water tanks in our van for the hike east. The Visitors Centre in Norseman has a tap out the back where you can fill up your tanks with good water (piped all the way from Perth) for a gold coin donation.

Our overnighter at Fraser Range Free Camp

Fraser Range Free Camp is a popular stopover with views over the salt lake. We found it difficult to find a level spot but with a bit of patience and a large rock set up for the night with a table and a view over the lake. Not far from the highway and the trucks roared past all night – lucky I'm getting a bit deaf J.

Moonera Tank (about 270K’s from SA border) was our next camp - chosen only because it was about

Nice quiet spot away from the road

400 kilometres from Fraser Range. Not much here except some bins. Good thing was that there were numerous tracks going back a kilometre or so to flat and secluded camp sites – no truck noise that night. Put up the SAT TV to watch the footy - Carlton vs Collingwood but went to bed at ¾ time as the Blues were getting an absolute flogging.

The Great Australian Bogan

Last camp before Fowlers Bay is called “52Klm Peg” which surprising is 52 kilometres east of the WA/SA Border. Beautiful views over the Great Australian Bight but a bare and featureless camp area.

A very nice head!

On our last day we took a 11 kilometre detour off the main track to the “Head of the Bight” which is the most northerly point in the Great Australian Bight. Good walkways and lookouts – worth the detour.

Everyone takes this photo.

Next stop Fowler Bay!