Clare and Ross - a van, no plan.

Arrived at lunch time. After leaving the van we walked the mainstreet 24 degrees, blue skies and sunny. Spring has arrived ....the street is lined in Cherry Blossom, the cafes are open after 2 pm, boutique shops...all very welcoming and nice. A contrast to the bare survival we have seen in other towns. Lost our caravan keys somewhere today so walked up and down the street multiple times looking for them....did not find them!...... fortunately we have copies of both. Tennis courts just near us.....nice surface, lots of courts but only one with a net and there was coaching going on on it......never mind we enjoyed a hit anyway.....you can have really long rallies with no net!

Walked along the cliff tops to Tiddy Widdy Beach. This is along the "Walk the Yorke "walk which goes all around the coast of the Yorke Peninsula. When we got there it was not at all what we expected! It was not a Tiddly Widdly teeny wheeny tiny beach but went on for kilometres!  it is a derivative of the Aboriginal name for the area....Titty Witty Titty.....there is that old lesson again..... don't make assumptions. As we walked along the track on each post someone had left a painted stone.....we have seen this at several places on the Yorke Peninsula.

Played tennis on a very cracked and damaged court...made for some interesting bounces...testing for the reflexes. Walked to the waterfront and out along the jetty...of course. As we watched 2 seals ( or sealions)were rolling around in the water, lying on their backs flapping their flippers in the air....they rolled right up to us as we watched on the jetty, they floated under the jetty and continued on the other side...having a very lazy Sunday...completely unfazed by us. Androssan is on the cliff tops...red near vertical cliffs on both sides of the jetty. It is famous for Blue Swimmer Crabs....but we must be out of season as no-one was catching any today. Went on to Port Clifford...the tide was right out leaving a swimming pontoon and a boat stranded above the waterline. Nice bookswap in an old fridge....someone has delighted in setting it up.....well done them!

Explored more of the park today  Walked out to Royston Head where we had magnificent views up and down the coast.We were nearly blown off the cliffs it was sohhhh windy! Looked for whales but they were hiding. Reminded us of Newfoundland again, only with different animals and no edible berries. These fellows were not hiding at all....very inquisitive....checking us out, warily, as we walked past. West Cape Point has a 360 degree lookout. From here there are 5 lighthouses visible....lots of off shore islands and over 20 boats wrecked off this short stretch of coast. no dolphins surfing today.

Innes National Park on the tip of the Yorke Peninsula...the area used to mine gypsum to make plaster board....it seems it was quite a big enterprise....digging it up and transporting it to a jetty at Stenhouse Bay a few Km away. Initially it was pulled by horses in carts ....then by a train... It all shut down in 1930 but bits and pieces remain. Seventy percent of our school chalk was made in a single house just down the hill. Walked out to the lighthouse at Cape Spencer....very windblown and barren. Amazing views at the end  The park has plenty of wildlife.... emus wandering across the roads and grazing in little groups.....we are now expert emu poo spotters.

Moonta is a beautifully preserved town ....in it's hayday in the 1860s.....lovely old buildings in the main Street, old stone houses and a huge church. It was the second biggest town in SA at the time....copper was discovered ( by a wombat...now imortalised with a statue in the town park) This led to a massive influx of miners from Cornwall where they were living in extreme poverty. Thousands had their passage paid to come and work the mines. We explored the museum at the old mine site housed in the old school building ...it had 1100 pupils at its peak. Nice town living on its Cornish history.....Cornish Pasties are the main food available in town.

Today has been incredibly cold and windy....rain showers at times creating interesting light over the wheat fields. Lunch stop at Wallaroo where we found a nice cafe on the waterfront....everyone huddled inside drinking soup and eating cakes. Strange things go on in Wallaroo.. Drove on to Moonly Beach where we went for a walk along the beach  and another long jetty but the only crazies out were us and the fishermen....no-one seemed to be catching anything. We asked one who said it was too choppy, but now he was here he may as well stay (4°  with wind chill)...luckily we don't fish, we scurried home after walking to the end and back.

Lovely to have a reason for a family get together and catch up on everyone's news...everyone locked down except Rachael, Andrew and us.....lucky us! After the call we set off for the Southern Flinders Ranges. Mt. Remarkable National Park.....the roads were incredibly steep and windy through the hills. We walked down and along Alligator Gorge which was beautiful and narrow We rock hopped through the gorge....as we climbed back up there were kangaroos not really bothered by us at all. Drove back to Port Pirie through a thunderstorm then a magnificent rainbow and sunset. Happy Birthday James.

Driving from Whyalla.....yellow canola fields and green wheat fields. You know when you are approaching a town out here by the massive wheat silos coming up. At Port Pirie we are between The Flinders Ranges and the water. Lunch spot provided individualized coffee....this one specially for Ross... Amazing likeness. Walked along the water.... beautiful day ...22 degrees, sunny and no wind.

Quiet day today Morning jabs at Whyalla Hospital for us both. Then lunch at our old favorites cafe and a short game of tennis at our favourite free community courts. Quiet walk on the beach ( not really). Quiet beach  But we did have a touch of trouble With Big Bird He wouldn't let us pass on the beachside walkway. They are a bit scary. No harm done.

We have driven today back across the top of the Eyre Peninsula to return to Whyalla where we have appointments for COVID vaccines tomorrow.. We drove back through Kimba which we last drove through 5 months ago on our way to Perth. It is still the same and continues to claim fame as the spot 1/2 way across Australia. Nice silo art Another beach front site at Whyalla.... beautiful!!

Drove down to an Australian Sea Lion colony at Point Labatt. We could view from a platform above a rocky area with some beaches that people cannot access. They all looked very relaxed and most of the females had pups. Drove on further around a coastal loop....lots of spectacular cliffs and remote beaches...several of which we could get down to. Our favourite spot was The Granites....sandy patches, granite rock platforms, surfers and soooo many shells!! look at that!.....all over the beach! We like Streaky Bay.....beautiful! Our campsite was right on the bay with a beach just for us to walk on.

Took the trail along the cliff tops from Anxious Bay around to Waterloo Bay and back today. Enjoyed watching a sealion fishing then playing with a fish flapping it about in the first bay. As we walked along the cliffs there were lots of little bays and coves with the sea battering against the points between them. Very beautiful and wild......sculptures at several spots along the way. Lunch spot at Salmon Point looking down over all of Waterloo Bay.....no salmon on the menu though....just cheese and salad sandwiches. When we walked back the sealion was playing...jumping around in very shallow water at the beach.

Elliston is half way up the West coast of the Eyre Peninsula. Walked up Town Beach which is one of 3 beaches around Waterloo Bay....a big bay with a narrow opening out to sea and a rocky reef between the headlands. A long jetty out to the centre of the bay was inviting to walk along. It used to be used to load ships with grain....now it is used by local fishermen.

A fantastic National Park and the area is famous for its oysters....we did not sample them ....not on our list of delicious foods. Wild crashing serf on one side of the peninsula and a protected bay on the other. There was a lot of wildlife and very few people  We stood on a clifftop overlooking a beach with surf rolling in and watched a pod of dolphins....more then 10 of them all in a line catching a wave and bodysurfing in....then leaping for joy swimming out and doing it again. The beach seemed to go on for ever. Lots of emus....some in groups, some alone....wandering across the road On the quiet bay side the view from the lookout was expansive.....family groups of grey kangaroos grazing beside the path.

Have discovered our van is waterproof after a big storm through the night(first in 4 mths)...good news! Have explored the Parnkalla Trail from the caravan park round to town 3 1/2 km each way with beautiful coastline all the way. Half way is Shelly Beach...very different to Shelly Beach in Sydney. We watched seals playing in the bay....lots of wildflowers out along the walk. The town of Port Lincoln is right on the water....fishing boats....off shore fish farming....huge wheat silos.....it has a nice feel.....cafes are good....huge second hand bookshop......pelicans on the jetty......ticks all our boxes!

This is a windblown wild peninsula with remote beaches and coves on both sides. We started at the tip where there is a lighthouse and did a loop walk. The beaches were beautiful and only us walking on them. We had the whole park to ourselves!! There is a colony of sea lions here so we were on the lookout for them.... didn't see any but we did see 2 pods of dolphins, hooded plovers, a huge white breasted sea eagle and some wallabies grazing just near us...one with a Joey in her pouch. Great way to spend a day.

Drove down the East coast today to Port Lincoln. Stopped off in Arno Bay....a long boardwalk through mangroves to the beach. Very windy but not too cold. On to Tumby Bay.....great bakery.....long beach front and jetty. It is home to feathered dragons! A type of seahorse..... didn't see any! On to Port Lincoln.....wow....big town.....huge silos on the water to send all the grain grown on the peninsula OS.

Leaving the van safely installed at Cowell we headed inland today to a conservation area in the hills behind the coast. Hiked along a creek through wattle and small eucalypts to a big drop that has a waterfall when it rains....not today ...just pools of water at the top. spectatular views from the lookout a bit further round. Visited a weir and reservoir on our way home...built 100 yrs ago and no longer used for water supply....good job as it had very little water behind the massive wall. Met a woman travelling the other way who saw her first emu yesterday. We haven't seen one in  nearly five months travelling.

Drove 100km down the coast....crops growing...the first we have seen since the wheat fields of WA. Cowell is a small town with several nice old buildings...100 yrs +....this used to be a busy port....now a sleepy small town  Walked out along the jetty and through the mangroves. No social distancing here! It is very cold....we have got out all of our jumpers, jackets, gloves and hats!

Tennis on free community courts, first in six weeks 🤗 Walked out to the waterfront....out onto the new circular jetty. Good to see the seagulls are being responsible and socially isolating still no giant cuttlefish to be seen....closest we could come.... Lovely to walk back along the beach to our caravan. We have liked Whyalla even though around the headland it is quite industrial with the steel works.

This is breading time for Australian Giant Cuttlefish and the only place they lay their eggs is here at Whyalla....there are supposed to be thousands of them in the shallow coastal waters....all changing colours....but unfortunately we did not see any as we didn't have wetsuits. But we did see the lighthouse on Point Lowly We then cycled along the coast on a bike track....reminded us of Newfoundland - very beautiful and barren...also very steep up and down! saw a Shingleback...almost trod on him and he did not move at all.