Dry, barren and beautiful Eyre Peninsula
Firstly, a photo of the Nullarbor- a long treeless plain and many straight straight stretches of road just like this one, which go for hours and hours....
(will put up more photos tomorrow hopefully)
Howdy friends and family,
We are at Port Augusta now, after a few hard days travel. In two days we covered 1700kms- not a bad effort towing a caravan!
Yesterday we made it from Bordertown to the Eyre Peninsula- we headed down the western side, to Elliston, where it was time to call it a day well and truly. It was a hot day- up around 39 degrees at times. On the way down we stopped at Streaky Bay, a pretty spot. The tourist info centre had a life-size model of the largest white pointer shark ever caught on rod and reel, off Streaky Bay. It was 5.5metres long and the thought of something so huge coming at you in the water is terrifying!
We awoke today to another hot one, with a very hot wind blowing. I went for a morning walk and swim, then we packed up and hit the road again, heading south down the peninsula. We stopped in at Coffin Bay and explored the national park. Like the rest of the area it’s a beautiful place, in a harsh, desolate sort of way. This area is dry and barren- lots of rocks and sanddunes near the coast, and inland lots of wheat farms and brown rocky fields. The bays are pretty, and the surrounding land is quite bare and stark in places. Lucikly we came upon a beautiful beach in the national park. It was very hot, and the wind was offshore. As we walked over the dunes to the beach the water was a brilliant aqua and a huge pod of dolphins was surfing the waves. It looked wonderful and so inviting! There wasn’t another person in sight along the entire stretch of beach so we stripped off and ran into the water for a swim. It was really cold which was refreshing after the heat of the day. It was liberating to be in the middle of such wilderness alone. That was the highlight of our day today. We then sat in the shade back in Coffin Bay and I made some sandwiches for lunch.
We travelled from there around the bottom of the peninsula to Port Lincoln where we stopped off and bought some fresh seafood from the local fish place. We bought local oysters, tuna and a big hunk of smoked salmon.
We then continued up the eastern side of the peninsula, deciding to try and make it to Port Augusta. We arrived here around 8pm and it was stinking hot. The temperature hit 40 degrees on the way up and the fellow at the caravan park said it was actually in the mid 40s here today! At 8pm it was still 38 degrees. Not pleasant.
We set up as quickly as we could and then Adam prepared the dozen oysters we’d bought for dinner- so we ate salad and oysters Kilpatrick which was nice (we stopped at coles on the way in to buy the necessary bacon etc). Our caravan park looks over the water and across to the Flinders Ranges which dominate the horizon and are publicised as having some of the most beautiful, rugged inland scenery in South Australia. We intend to drive out there tomorrow (about 150kms) and do a bushwalk. A cool change is forecast. Hope it arrives in the morning and not the afternoon!! Otherwise we may melt if we attempt a bushwalk. The day after tomorrow we’ll continue on, probably down the York Peninsula for a night, before heading to Adelaide for a few nights.
We are both tired, but despite the long days and our very cramped quarters (and the various things which are no longer working properly in Molly, our old caravan) we are getting on pretty well. It’s 10.30 pm- Adam is attempting to sleep but it’s still just so hot he can’t sleep yet. I will join him shortly.
Sending our love,
Emma & Adam xx
We are at Port Augusta now, after a few hard days travel. In two days we covered 1700kms- not a bad effort towing a caravan!
Yesterday we made it from Bordertown to the Eyre Peninsula- we headed down the western side, to Elliston, where it was time to call it a day well and truly. It was a hot day- up around 39 degrees at times. On the way down we stopped at Streaky Bay, a pretty spot. The tourist info centre had a life-size model of the largest white pointer shark ever caught on rod and reel, off Streaky Bay. It was 5.5metres long and the thought of something so huge coming at you in the water is terrifying!
We awoke today to another hot one, with a very hot wind blowing. I went for a morning walk and swim, then we packed up and hit the road again, heading south down the peninsula. We stopped in at Coffin Bay and explored the national park. Like the rest of the area it’s a beautiful place, in a harsh, desolate sort of way. This area is dry and barren- lots of rocks and sanddunes near the coast, and inland lots of wheat farms and brown rocky fields. The bays are pretty, and the surrounding land is quite bare and stark in places. Lucikly we came upon a beautiful beach in the national park. It was very hot, and the wind was offshore. As we walked over the dunes to the beach the water was a brilliant aqua and a huge pod of dolphins was surfing the waves. It looked wonderful and so inviting! There wasn’t another person in sight along the entire stretch of beach so we stripped off and ran into the water for a swim. It was really cold which was refreshing after the heat of the day. It was liberating to be in the middle of such wilderness alone. That was the highlight of our day today. We then sat in the shade back in Coffin Bay and I made some sandwiches for lunch.
We travelled from there around the bottom of the peninsula to Port Lincoln where we stopped off and bought some fresh seafood from the local fish place. We bought local oysters, tuna and a big hunk of smoked salmon.
We then continued up the eastern side of the peninsula, deciding to try and make it to Port Augusta. We arrived here around 8pm and it was stinking hot. The temperature hit 40 degrees on the way up and the fellow at the caravan park said it was actually in the mid 40s here today! At 8pm it was still 38 degrees. Not pleasant.
We set up as quickly as we could and then Adam prepared the dozen oysters we’d bought for dinner- so we ate salad and oysters Kilpatrick which was nice (we stopped at coles on the way in to buy the necessary bacon etc). Our caravan park looks over the water and across to the Flinders Ranges which dominate the horizon and are publicised as having some of the most beautiful, rugged inland scenery in South Australia. We intend to drive out there tomorrow (about 150kms) and do a bushwalk. A cool change is forecast. Hope it arrives in the morning and not the afternoon!! Otherwise we may melt if we attempt a bushwalk. The day after tomorrow we’ll continue on, probably down the York Peninsula for a night, before heading to Adelaide for a few nights.
We are both tired, but despite the long days and our very cramped quarters (and the various things which are no longer working properly in Molly, our old caravan) we are getting on pretty well. It’s 10.30 pm- Adam is attempting to sleep but it’s still just so hot he can’t sleep yet. I will join him shortly.
Sending our love,
Emma & Adam xx
posted by Emma @ 10:44 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home