Merry's update from Yorke Peninsula

This area is a boot shaped peninsula between the Fleurieu Peninsula which houses Adelaide and the Aire Peninsula which is the first area you come to when you come off the Nullabor crossing from Western Australia. It is not a very big area but is, at the moment very dry and quite barren looking. It would look better after rain but as that could be years away we cannot wait. Our plan is to stay on this peninsula for 2 weeks and then move back to the Aire Peninsula to see the areas we missed on the way through.

For those of you who are overseas, just letting you know that today we have had a National Day of Mourning to honour those people lost in the Victorian bush fires. Some fires are still not under control and there is some concern that they could escalate again due to the weather conditions being similar to that which caused the fires. I just hope to god the arsonist stay in bed for the next few weeks until the threat is over. Barry and I are nowhere near this fire region and if fires were to break out anywhere near us we would not hang around to see which way they are going. Where we are in Minlaton there are not too many trees and quite a lot of trees that are around are being cut down quite ruthlessly. This is because they are non native fir trees. A lot of the locals are up in arms about this because some of the trees are over 60 years old, but I pointed out to some that I was talking to the other day that it is possibly because these trees are water guzzlers which our native trees are not and they could be affecting the ground water. This gave them cause to think and one lady said she would find out from the shire whether that was the reason.

I may have said before, we do not go out every day as we are constrained by the cost of fuel and have to ration our trips. This is very relaxing and gives us time to sit and read and for me to do my cross stitch. Some days, like today, have been too hot to be bothered with going anywhere. I watched the service from the Rod Laver Arena on television and then we watched the golf from the Vines in Western Australia.

We are hoping to take a look at the National Park down on the tip of the peninsula on Tuesday as we have once again met some lovely people who have offered to look after Foxy for us for the day. We cannot take her into the National Parks.

There are an amazing number of little towns on the coast all round this peninsula. We have called into a lot of them but quite a few aren't worth a photograph. They are just a collection of houses and a jetty. We stopped to chat to some people on the beach at Bluff the other night who were English. They had been living in Western Australia for a long time and had moved over to South Australia to live on this beautifully peaceful peninsula a short while ago. The man came from Chatham which is near Barry and my home town of Maidstone. We often remark that it is a small world.

Yorke Peninsula

Hopefully this map of Yorke Peninsula will give you an idea of where we are, bearing in mind that there are more roads than are shown on the map.

Minlaton is fairly central to the lower part of the peninsula and therefore convenient for trips to the other towns.

It is the quietest town that we have experienced with only one car passing through at a time, with an age between each one. The main street has two lanes in each direction plus room for angle parking and the mandatory wide tree lined median strip although the trees are native gums rather Norfolk pines.

The town was originally known as Gum Flat because of the gum trees but became Minlaton when it was politically correct to rename towns with aboriginal content (Minla meaning ‘sweet’ and ton being old English for town). We haven’t seen any aborigines here yet.

We took a hike along the town’s walk trail that took about 1.5 hours but like everywhere in SA, it is so drought ridden that there wasn’t anything of significance to see other than a nicely constructed bird hide but unfortunately the lake that used to attract the birds is totally dried out.

The town is home to a World War One, Bristol monoplane (Red Devil) flown by Captain Harry Butler from Yorketown as a fighter pilot and later on the Minlaton/Adelaide mail run across the Gulf St Vincent.

On Saturday 14th we drove to Stansbury to check out the market that happens once a month and uses a road along the sea front that is closed off to traffic for the occasion. Being on the East coast it has the low cliffs on each side of it, and once again we arrived when the tide was out so it wasn’t looking its best.

The following Tuesday we drove to Port Rickaby to check out the beach on the western coast line and strangely the tide was out, so beyond the initial narrow sandy strip of beach was a lot of exposed rock. The sandy beach was only long enough to walk for ten minutes and then became rocks again.

However, on Thursday 19th we found Parson’s beach but was disappointed as there was a lot of it, but covered in seaweed.

On the way home we turned off and found a very pleasant and clean Bluff beach which allowed us to walk with Foxy for as far as we could manage and still had plenty to go. There was a very small township of about six houses along the beachfront and several two storey mansions on the bluff but there didn’t appear to be anybody living in them, so assume they must be holiday homes.

The beach had the remains of an old structure below the bluff and some of the old machinery at the top, presumably for winching something up from the beach many moons ago.

Friday 20th we drove about 100 kilometres on a circuit that took in Yorketown, Edithburgh, Port Giles, Wool Bay, Stansbury and back to Minlaton.

Yorketown was very disappointing with little to offer, and the only worthwhile photo taken was of a church.

Edithburgh was better with its wind farm (55 towers) and attractive main street leading to the jetty that is reputed to have been the third busiest in SA during its peak, but like most small town jetty, only used for fishing now.

The beach was good and allowed us to give Foxy her mandatory walk to keep her in good shape, even if it doesn’t work quite so well for us.

Port Giles was only a grain terminal with ship loading facilities but a short distance away at Wool Bay is another jetty (of course) and an old lime kiln built into the cliff face. This apparently was a failure due to the variable wind conditions. Maybe they could use it to produce large pizzas.

The return trip via Stansbury managed to coincide with the tide being almost completely in which improves the appearance to almost postcard quality, and looked a little bare without the market stalls along the seafront.

We drove round to the small boat harbour and jetty but didn’t stop as the car park had a parking ticket machine. Too bad when you need to park your car and trailer whilst you use your boat. Maybe this is where Westfield got the idea to put parking ticket machines in their shopping car parks.

11 to 13 Feb 09

We have finally left Adelaide as of 11th February and have backtracked to the Yorke Peninsula with our first stop for two nights at the coastal town of Ardrossan. We were restricted to the two nights as the caravan park we chose only had those nights available, and the other Park was booked out for ages, probable due to the workforce from the Dolomite mine just outside the town.

Some of the overburden has been used to provide a lookout over the mine, silos and the town. There is a well kept and challenging golf course alongside the caravan park but we didn't get the opportunity to try it out.



The town is quite small but tidy with the usual wide streets plus a median strip lined with Norfolk pines.


The wall of the town hall is an interesting backdrop for the towns war memorial, and surprisingly hasn't attracted the more usual graffiti.




The eastern coastline of the peninsula consists of low cliffs with towns placed wherever there happens to be a low spot that provides access to the beach. Consequently, not many towns. When the tide is out, it is well and truly out, leaving a not too attractive beach behind, but when it is in, the views are much improved. I have been told that Port Wakefield at the top of the Gulf becomes a mud flat when the tide is out and boats are left hanging on the wharf side.

The cliffs add interest to the surroundings but they appear to be relatively soft, with a tendency to break away easily and often. They are all fenced and warning signs are abundant.

On Friday 13th Feb we moved on down the Peninsula to the inland town of Minlaton, apparently the barley capital of Australia, where we will be based for the next two weeks.