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.