June 22 to July 3 09

Monday 22 June 09

We left Copley at 8.45 am to go to Arkaroola which is part of the Flinders Ranges but the map also says Gammon Ranges so it is a bit confusing.

We stopped for a short visit at Iga Warta. The impresive rock carving at the entrance is actually moulded fibreglass.

This is an aboriginal shop and appears to be a camping spot for tourists, with a gorge. The shop wasn’t open and as we didn’t have a lot of time so we couldn’t explore the area. We took a couple of photos and carried on along the track.

We drove through the Aboriginal township of Nepabunna which the people can be justifiably proud of. It was well laid out beautifully kept and quite picturesque.

Past this we came to Italowie Gorge. A really lovely spot which would have been great for a picnic stop but again we didn’t have time.

We arrived at Arkaroola at 11.30 am with an hour to spare before our Ridge Top Tour began.

We wandered around the immediate vicinity and took some photographs but we again did not have time to go to any of the other areas shown on the local maps.

The Ridge Top Tour was fantastic and in some places quite hair raising. There were 11 of us plus the driver. We were packed into the back of an open 4x4, 5 on one side and 5 on the other facing each other. The other man was in the front (lucky bugger).

I think it was a good job we couldn’t move because that stopped us flying up and down the seat as we went up and down the hills, some of which were really steep.

Taking photos other than when we stopped was impossible but the views were magnificent.

There were three stops on the route, the last one being at Sillers Lookout.

This is at the top of a particularly steep hill and once at the top you get lovely views of the surrounding ranges and the flat land in the distance where there are Uranium mines operating.

We have been surprised at the number of mines in South Australia. We thought most of the mining and gas and oil was in Western Australia but this is not the case. SA has copper, coal, iron, uranium, gold, gas and oil as well as plenty of small mines with other minerals such as talc.

We had tea and lamingtons at Sillers Lookout and then the trip back was even more scary because the driver, Sharpy, was in a hurry to be back on time. He was an Aboriginal and he gave us some interesting information about the local people and told us one of the dream time stories. He pointed out one mountain which he claimed had never been under water and was the oldest rock formation in Australia. He did say how old but I couldn’t write it down and forgot what he said.

We got back to Arkaroola at 5.30 pm and because we had left Foxy in the caravan we had to drive back to Copley. We got back about 7.30 feeling like our eyes were hanging out on stalks after spending the whole journey watching for horses and kangaroos. We saw nothing.

The following morning we discovered that we had a flat tyre.

Tuesday 23 June 09

The morning was spent sorting out the tyre – getting it patched. We decided that we would take the Strezlecki Track out to Innamincka so we needed to get at least one tyre replaced. The local man in Copley wanted $400.00 for a Bridgstone Dueler, and when we asked about other breeds they were also $400.00. We phoned Leigh Creek and they had a Bridgestone Dueler which was brand new but had been on a rim as a spare. He sold it to us for $280.00. Some shopping for the trip was next and that was about it for the day apart from making lists of what we would need to take with us to Innamincka.

Wednesday 24 June 09

Today we spent the whole day sorting out camping gear for the trip to Innamincka because we don’t want to subject the caravan to 465kms each way of graded road. Particularly as we have no idea of the condition of the track. We brought a tent, etc, with us for just this sort of trip. The caravan park owners do not charge for storing the caravan out in the back blocks. We had to take some stuff off the roof rack and store this in the van and take some stuff out of the van and put on the roof rack. I had some trouble getting Barry to give me a bit of space in the roller drawers for some food but I did get some in the end. The Engel was already full of frozen meat and fresh vegetables so I only had to add the milk, butter, cheese etc. It will be cold in the desert so we need to make sure we have plenty of bedding, especially under the airbed because the cold comes up through the bed and makes it really uncomfortable.

There is no Autogas at Leigh Creek or Copley so we will have to pick some up at Lyndhurst where the Strzelecki Track starts.

Thursday 25 June 09

Today we drove almost all the way to Innamincka. It was raining for all of the morning. Not hard but irritating and it made it difficult to stop at the first camp site that the map showed on the track. This did not matter because we couldn’t find it anyway. The next camping stop showing on the map said no dogs so we couldn’t stop there. According to the map there were no other camp stops on the route so that meant we had to push through to Innamincka. Fortunately we found another camp spot about 70kms short of Innamincka shortly after passing the Moomba gas and oil plant, and as it was 4.00pm we stopped there. Coming across an industrial plant in the middle of nowhere created an interesting change of scenery.

The track did not have a great deal to see, just sand dunes and low scrub in places. There were a few trees where creeks crossed the desert but they were few and far between. The sand was mostly a creamy white with some reddish brown now and again. The actual track went from really good to pretty ordinary with three patches of bitumen about 6kms long. There were several places where track crews were grading the road and fortunately the bad sections were short. Setting up the tent that we got back from Colleen and Craig (we had given them this tent several years ago but it was a bit small for them and still good enough for us and as we wanted a tent that was light and wouldn’t take up too much room this was good enough). Of course that first night we discovered all the things that we had forgotten to pack. Fortunately nothing that we couldn’t improvise without but irritating just the same.

Friday 26 June 09

Moved on into Innamincka where the final 10km of track became diabolical and covered in loose stones, all waiting to add to the profits of one and only tyre repair place in town.

The town only consists of a Hotel/Motel, trading post, laundrette, tyre repair and six houses. Although there are toilets and hot showers opposite the Trading Post.


The campsite in the Town common (dustbowl) alongside the Cooper Creek was quite good and only $5 a night. There are other campsites further along the creek at $15 a night but they are no different to the town site with no facilities apart from toilets, but run by the conservation mob instead of the shire.

The explorers Burke and Wills who travelled from Melbourne to the Gulf Of Carpenteria both died near Innamincka. They, plus a man called Adam who died before they reached the Gulf and King were the only 4 who travelled on from Cooper Creek near Innamincka to go to the Gulf. They left the rest of the party in a fort they had built at what is now called the "Dig Tree" with orders to wait no more that 4 months for their return. The remaining party waited 17 weeks and they finally left the same day Burke and Wills returned. There seems to be a series of errors that followed resulting in the deaths of Burke and Wills and King being rescued by Aborigines who kept him alive for 5 months before he was rescued. There is an official Burke and Wills web site which gives a great deal of the history and tries to correct some of the sensational stories that surround the expedition.

Prior to setting up our camp we drove 69km out to the ‘Dig Tree’ where the food and water was buried for Burke and Wills, should they return. This was along side the Cooper Creek and was the first sight we had of this creek. We are quite lucky to see it in full flood as this does not happen every year and is dependent on the rain in Queensland. This was a reasonable track once you got past the first 10km out of town, and once the Queensland border was reached the road was bitumen. We can now claim to have been to Queensland, albeit, only just.

The road from the bitumen to the ‘Dig Tree’ was worse than the Innamincka town roads.

On the way out after lunch we did managed to successfully shred the tyre that had been repaired in Copley.

On the way back to Innamincka we turned off again to check out the place where Bourke died.

Some of the views of the Cooper Creek are quite spectacular.

Burke and Wills died in separate places along the creek and according to the signs Wills died alone. Burke still had King with him who was rescued by Aborigines and he lived with them for five months until he was found and taken back to Melbourne. This is obviously how they know so much about the expedition and what went wrong. I would be interested to read the book and find out much more about this doomed expedition to get to the Gulf of Carpentaria. I know there was a reward offered for the first man to reach there but I don’t know why. I know it was important that the residents of Victoria learn more about the interier of Australia. Aparanently we now no more about outer space than the Victorian's knew about the interier of Austalia at that time.

On re-entry into Innamincka we called into the tyre place to discover they were only open from 8am to 9am, so we set up camp and promised to visit the tyre mob in the morning.

Our campsite by the Creek was well away from everybody else, and therefore, quiet with views of the birdlife in the trees on the opposite bank. Until about 6.00 pm when a mob of campers moved in fairly close to us and proceeded to wake the dead until about midnight. I slept through most of it but Barry was awake until well after they stopped.

The Creek is currently in full flow at quite a rapid pace.

Saturday 27 June 09

Visited the tyre mob and as expected the array of 17 inch rim tyres was not great so I settled for a reasonable second hand one, which gave us one new spare and one second hand spare.

We used the town hot showers at $2 for 4 minutes and then returned to camp and spent the remainder of the day as a rest day.

We sat by the creek and watched the birds, particularly a Whistling Kite who flew over head several times and was really graceful. I watched him on one occasion as he tucked his/her wings back and dove into the water. He came out with nothing so I gather he didn’t get the fish. I was surprised that he could see anything in the water because it was very muddy looking obviously with all the sand it was bringing downstream from Queensland.

In the early evening a huge mob of white cockatoos flew over several times making enough noise to wake the dead. They settled on several trees around us and then flew off and settled again but where they actually roosted was anybody’s guess.

There was a dead tree near our camp and on one occasion there were cockatoos, galahs, a kite, several small black and white birds and some crows all on this tree together. It really did look quite spectacular. We also saw some pretty little red and green birds but we didn’t get a close enough look to see what they were and a photo was out of the question as they were too quick.

Sunday 28 June 09

We drove out of town over the creek causeway which is quite a sight, and then on to Coongie Lake which is a permanent lake although nothing like as large as Lake Eyre. There are several other smaller lakes around some of which are permanent and some only fill when the Cooper Creek is in full flood.

On the way in we stopped for lunch at the remains of an old station outhouse that was presumably used by the mustering team. The outstation building has been done up by the Toyota Land Cruiser Club of SA and was very useful for lunch in the kitchen area as the flies were very friendly. There was also another building with a sign that said Meat House which was interesting. There was a small lake at this point and several camp sites a little bit further down the track that were also beside this small lake (or possibly this is part of the Cooper Creek).

The lakes are the end result of Cooper Creek, and as some of them are permanent we had expected a lot of birdlife but in fact it was very limited and therefore a bit disappointing. (When these lakes fill Cooper Creek carries on and fills Lake Eyre although most of the water that flows into Lake Eyre from Queensland comes from the Diamantina River. Lake Eyre also fills with local water occasionally)

However, the lake is quite impressive. I need to add here that Barry was disappointed, but I found the whole area absolutely fascinating and I saw quite a few birds although not necessarily a large variety. I got a lovely photo of a Whistling Kite.

Parts of the track in/out of the lake was excessively corrugated (the worst we have experienced) and we had an engine management light flash on and off on several occasions. On checking the manual this is a warning that the fuel filter may have water in it, but as it only happened on the badly corrugated sections of road it was assumed to be the possible cause.

Monday 29 June 09

As a precaution, the fuel filter was drained into a plastic bottle and checked for water, which proved negative, and therefore the corrugations must have been the problem.

We drove into Innamincka to take some photographs of the town and to visit the old nurses station that has obviously been done up and is being used as the head quarters of the Innamincka Regional Reserve.

We met a couple we had seen the day before at Coongie Lakes and chatted to them for a while. They had done some interesting trips and were interested in our trip up the Canning Stock Route as they intend doing that soon. They had travelled from Brisbane just using a tent.

Barry chatted to a man about the gas conversion who was interested because he is considering spending $14,000 converting his truck to gas and diesel. We were going to have lunch at the pub but it didn’t open for another half hour and as the Trading Post was not set up for lunch either we drove back to the camp site to make our own. On stepping out of the car we heard a hissing noise and sure enough we had another puncture. I was feeling quite guilty because I had talked Barry into not getting new tyres in Port Augusta because there is still some tread on the tyres we have and they would be fine for sealed roads. Not, as Barry had said, for graded roads though. Particularly really bad ones like those around Innamincka. Barry plugged this one, a first for him and it appeared to work. Not that we have given it the ultimate test back on the car. Now we have two new tyres on the back of the car and two fairly ordinary spares as well as two tyres with a bit of tread on the front. Hopefully this will see us through the rest of the graded roads we will be doing in the Flinders Ranges. I spoke to one guy who said his mate had 4 punctures in 2 days but I think he must have been driving like a maniac, or he had really ordinary tyres which is our problem.

After lunch we drove round to look at some of the Regional Reserve camp sites which looked pretty much the same as the ones we were using in the Town Common. Unless you had bought an annual desert parks pass this was an expensive way to camp at $15 per night. If you had travelled from Birdsville or Oodnadatta and spent a couple of weeks out in the desert this was not worth getting. We looked at Wills grave site (I say grave site but both Burke and Wills were buried in Melbourne and these are actually the sites where they died) and also at the site where it is claimed that King was found by Aboriginals and cared for, for five months before being rescued by a search party sent out from Melbourne to find out what had happened to the four men who had left the main party at Innamincka to travel on to the Gulf of Carpentaria. These were intrepid men who opened up the interior of Australia searching for inland seas and telegraph routes etc.

We had by this time just about exhausted what there was to see and do in and around Innamincka and I for one will never forget the experience. Hopefully we will be able to come back again one day and do some of the other routes through to Birdsville and Oodnadatta as well as crossing the Simpson Desert which we are told is quite an experience. I think though that we need an off road camper or van for this as tenting is getting a bit primitive for us these days.

Tuesday 30 June 09

We packed up the tent and headed into town for a much needed hot shower. We had been making do with strip washes in the tent and I needed to wash my hair and get properly clean. The wind had started to come up during the night and while I was finishing off my shower Barry sat and watched a dust storm blow through the town. Showers done, and fuel we had picked up the day before, we left Innamincka to head for Cameron Corner where Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia meet. I was interested to see this little spot and stand with both feet in three states which we were told you could do. What else is there we have no idea. Our Camps Australia book does not show any camping spots there. As we were driving the wind was getting worse and the dust storm was starting to make it difficult to see where we were driving. There were several occasions when Barry had to pull up or slow right down to a crawl to see where he was going. We have never seen anything like this before and were not impressed. Barry started to get really concerned about diverting to Cameron Corner as this was another 200 kms and we had no idea what the track was like or what would be there when we got there. We thought there was a good possibility that we would find it impossible to put the tent up and cook in the wind and dust storm and we had no idea how long it might last. We decided to give Cameron Corner a miss and head back to Copley. I was disappointed but I could see Barry’s point. Maybe we will get there one day in the future.

We had decided to stop on the way back past Moomba to get a photograph of this huge gas and oil facility but when we got to the lookout it was as if the facility did not exist. We could see nothing at all. We did manage to stop at Montecalina Bore which is an artesian bore and looked just like a small lake in the desert. Yet another tree absolutely covered with white cockatoos. The tree looked like it was covered with blossom. We could not stay here because this was the camp site I mentioned earlier that did not allow dogs, although we could not see why.

We arrived back at Copley at about 5.30 pm and picked up the van and put it back on a powered site in the caravan park. We then went for dinner at the Leigh Creek Hotel which is in Copley. The whole place is really confusing as the original town of Copley was called Leigh Creek and there was a Leigh Creek post office and a Leigh Creek general store. Later the town was renamed Copley and the post office and general store changed their names to suit. The pub however has always retained its original name. As a new town of Leigh Creek was built around 1980 this has added to the confusion. This town has a Leigh Creek Tavern which is also a motel and cabin park. So you could be forgiven for not knowing where the hell you are in this neck of the woods.

Wednesday 1 July 09

The morning was spent washing. Barry took a gas bottle to be filled and the rest of the day was spent cleaning the caravan and sorting the Nissan out. Taking the camping gear off the roof rack and storing it back in the van, moving all the food back into the van and putting the stuff that we had put in the van, such as the golf clubs and the dogs play pen, while we were away back on the roof rack. This left us with no time left to do anything else but download the photographs we had taken in Innamincka and drove to Leigh Creek for some shopping.

Thursday 2 July 09

This day was basically doing nothing. I was messing about with cross sums and Barry was updating the blog I think, adding photos to what we had written before.

Friday 3 July 09

After a very lazy morning I prepared a lamb roast and vegies to cook in the Dream Pot. You brown the floured lamb in a pan and drop it into an oven bag; you do the same to the floured potatoes and carrots and add them to the bag. You then seal the bag really tight and put it into water in the inner pot of the Dream Pot. This you bring to the boil and boil slowly for 20 minutes and then you put this into the Dream Pot and leave it for a minimum of 3 hours. It turned out really well. The potatoes and carrots were not quite like roast vegies but they were still really tasty and not a bit soggy which I had expected.

While this was cooking we drove to look at Aroona Dam which had been closed for road grading when we were in Copley before. The actual dam is quite small but the lake was surprisingly big and quite picturesque in yet another section of the Flinders Ranges. The dam supplies water to the towns of Copley and Leigh Creek and gives them more than adequate supplies. I left Barry in the car and did some extra trekking around the dam to get some more photos of where the lake appeared to go off around a corner. This extra walk was well worth the effort. Barry had worn shorts and was really cold so he wasn’t interested in leaving the car.

We carried on down the road to look at the historic town of Beltana. This proved to be yet another town largely ruins and a few buildings that were still occupied. It didn’t inspire us to get out of the car and take photos so we just drove around it. There were quite a few other tourists walking around and if Barry had been more suitably dressed for warmth, we may have got out of the car and walked around too. I could have but nothing really called out for a photograph.

The drive out to Beltana was quite interesting, the hills looked as if they had been blown there like sand dunes. Quite a different formation.

3 June to 21 June 09

Wednesday 3 June 09

Still on the Eyre Peninsula

We drove back into Coffin Bay stopping on the way at the lookout that overlooks the bay and the town for some photos. The views from here are really spectacular with some interesting streaks in the water, I think caused by the sand and the seaweed.

Once we got into Coffin Bay we discovered a walk beside the beach which we walked along for about 700 metres. We felt like we were walking through everyone’s backyard as the path skirted them and there were no fences. As the backyards were small this added to the sense of trespassing.

I had spotted a little jetty with dozens of pelicans sitting on it which I wanted a photo of but when we got to where we thought it was we couldn’t find it. We walked back and looked back and there it was. It must have been behind an inaccessible bit of the beach. I had a go with the zoom to see if I could get them but it was a bit far away.

Coffin Bay is a really pretty little fishing and tourist town (really what I would call a village). Quite a few of the small houses we walked past had signs saying holiday rental. As this is winter the town was very quiet but I can imagine in the summer it is really busy. It is a very popular holiday destination as is Port Lincoln especially among the fishing fraternity. King George whiting is one of the most commonly caught fish in this area but I saw several salmon trout being caught.

On our way back to Farm Beach we stopped in at Dutton Bay and West Dutton for some more photos. Neither of these places is particularly appealing just little fishing villages with no more than a dozen houses in each. Most houses had great big tractors by them which are used to take their boats into the sea.

Thursday 4 June 09

We drove to Wangary, another small town which appears to service the small fishing villages of Dutton and West Dutton as well as the surrounding farming community. It was big enough to have a football team. We called into the local general store to get some bread and find out where we could get some drinking water. The assistant directed us to the local footy ground which we drove around twice without finding anywhere where we could get water. There were some people in the clubrooms so we went in to ask where we could get water but they were just cooking for the evening footy match meal which we were told attracts about 200 people each week. They couldn’t help with water. We could see several rain water tanks around the place but none with suitable fixtures for attaching our hose to fill our caravan tanks. We decided to wait until we got to Elliston and hope we could get water there.

We decided to take a drive in the other direction from Coffin Bay going north up the coast to a place called Frenchman. We could not see this place marked on any map we had. This turned out to be several spots where you could drive off the road to get a view of the cliffs. The cliffs were fairly high but quite attractive. We had sheep on the road on our way home and had to wait a while behind the farmer until he got them off the road. We would have been quite happy to wait until he got to the farm gate which wasn’t much further down the road but as he had pushed them off the road we waved and went past.

Back to the caravan and yet another pack up ready for the morning move. We took down and packed up the annex and put away as much as we could. This still left quite a bit to do in the morning but as it was not a real caravan park we were not obliged to be out by 10.00 in the morning. I don’t know whether we mentioned earlier that we were paying $5.00 per night for this park. This saved us quite a bit of money for fuel to look around.

Jenny and Bill had decided to leave the next day as well so we agreed to meet them at Elliston and look for another cheap or free site to stay at.

Friday 5 June 09

Packed up by about 10.30 and drove on to Sheringa Bay where we had been told the camping spot was good and the fishing excellent. When we got there we decided that the camping spot was not that good and the cost was a bit high, $9.00 per night, for a camping spot with virtually no facilities other than a toilet. We decided to move on to Walkers Rock which was on the other side of Elliston. Barry thought it likely that the cost would be the same as it was in the same shire, which turned out to be the case.

We stopped at the tourist information centre in Elliston to find out about water and get some local maps. The centre had rain water tanks which we could connect to and fill our tanks.

We stopped at Walkers Rock beach and set up camp. We did not bother with the annex because we were only planning on stopping for a couple of nights just to see the area and possibly do some fishing. The fishing did not happen. Had a quick look at the beach but as there was not much left of the day we just set up the generator and the satellite dish and watched a couple of hours of tv. Barry picked up the satellite within 3 minutes which was a relief as it can be very frustrating messing about for ages trying to find the satellite. Buying the angle finder has proved to be very useful. You can find out from the internet what angle you need and with the finder it is very easy to get the right angle. It is then just a case of pointing the dish in the right direction. Unfortunately there is no channel ten which is picked up by the Optus 2 satellite so we miss out on a few programs we like to watch.

Saturday 6 June 09

We went into Elliston and picked up some more water from the tourist bureau. Did some shopping and then we took a drive along a scenic drive south of the town overlooking some more cliffs. We took a few photos of the town and then had lunch at a small café opposite the tourist bureau. The waitress told us how to get to another scenic drive which took us around the cliffs north of the town of Elliston. Lunch for me was a really nice steak sandwich and a latte. We managed to get instant coffee for Barry which was nice because he doesn’t like percolated coffee.

In the afternoon we did the second scenic drive which turned out to be very unusual. Quite a few artists have made sculptures which have been placed around this loop in various places. Some of the sculptures were very good and some were not my idea of art. For example there was a giant pair of thongs and a little fat man on a bike which were a bit ordinary.

On the other hand there was a sculpture of a Cobb and Co wagon which was excellent. Some of the sculptures were a bit weathered and one of a group of albatross which had fallen over. I imagine this was quite spectacular when they were standing as they still looked quite good on the ground.

There were painted chairs scattered around the cliffs which looked like litter. Barry thought the whole display looked like litter. The following day we passed a paddock which had a pile of tyres dumped in it and Barry asked me if he should stop so that I could get a photo of some more “art”. There was work done by the community, some done by school children and some done by recognized artists. I thoroughly enjoyed myself getting photos of the sculptures good and bad and the seascapes when and where they were accessible. Barry staid in the car virtually the whole way round. It rained a bit so some of the pictures may be a bit spotty.

When we got back to Walkers Rock camp ground the heavens opened and we had a deluge. Unfortunately this meant Barry had to almost swim to his door of the car the following morning as there was a huge puddle.

Sunday 7 June 09

Packed up to move on. Packing takes a bit longer now because we have to put away the generator, the satellite dish and the solar panels and because it doesn’t get light very early we haven’t been leaping out of bed very early.

Our intentions were to go to Baird Bay 50kms south of Streaky Bay because again we had been told that it was a great camp site with good fishing. When I looked at the camping book I saw that it said small vehicles only and as I wouldn’t say we were small I called Bill and Jenny and asked them to let us know whether we could get in there when they got there. Bill called back a few moments later and said that they were going to Perlubie Beach which was 21 kilometres north of Streaky Bay rather than try to squeeze into Baird Bay so we agreed to follow them there.

We stopped for lunch at Eyre’s Water Hole, a well which Eyre had found and used on a couple of his trips of exploration. One of which was across the Nullabor to Albany. I walked down the track and got a couple of photos of the well.

We drove straight through Streaky Bay without stopping and discovered that Perlubie Beach was a great camping spot with toilets and cold water showers and only $4.00 per night. Bill and Jenny weren’t there when we arrived which was a bit odd as they were ahead of us when we left Elliston but it turned out they had turned off to go and look at Murphies Haystacks (a rather unusual rock formation) about 40 kms short of Streaky Bay. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and walking along the very messy (seaweed) beach. There are about 6 shade shelters on the beach which we discovered were put there by the local pony club, who obviously meet out at Perlubie Beach.

Monday 8 June 09

We spent the morning doing hand washing. It is years since I did so much washing by hand in cold water. It is one thing washing out your smalls each evening, but hand washing jeans is no joke. We ran the generator so that we could use our washing machine to spin the water out to make rinsing and drying more efficient. Jenny and Bill took advantage of the generator and spun out their washing as well. The afternoon was just relaxing. We were able to sit outside the caravan under the awning as the sun was shining and it was quite warm. Barry did an oil change on the generator. Monday evening Jenny and Bill joined us in our van and taught (or re-taught) us how to play Skip Bo. A very simple card game which is quite good fun for several people and not too taxing if you want to socialise as well. We only played 3 short games but it was good fun.

Tuesday 9 June 09

We drove back down the Lincoln Highway to take a look at Murphies Haystacks. We were very impressed with this group of rocks, some of which look like haystacks.

One looks like a shell band stand. We should have called in like Bill and Jenny did when we passed the turn off but not being sure of the road we passed by.

We had to pay a couple of dollars because the rocks are on private property but the owners have put toilets in and a compressed rock path to walk around the formations so we didn’t object.

After this we went on to look at Baird Bay the camp ground where we had been going to stay. The camp ground was extremely small and we would not have got in there with Bill and Jenny getting there first. There was a fairly large bus with a boat trailer and another van a bit smaller than ours. One more would have been the limit. Baird Bay was not particularly attractive and there was nothing there to make us get out of the car. There were a few houses there.

Our next stop was Cape Labatte which is home to the only mainland based pod of Australian sea lions. A very rare and endangered species so the board said. All other Australian sea lions are living on islands off the coast. Some times they are only metres off the coast as they were at Port Lincoln. So it was really good to see them so close. We had been to see them last time we visited Streaky Bay but they are such lovely creatures that you can never get too much of them.

We couldn’t see any babies but there appeared to be lots of males around so they may have been breeding.

According to the signs they breed every 18 months, summer one year and winter the following year. The females stay but the males roam hundreds of miles away.

Next stop was Sceale Beach which also had a few houses, probably fishing people. This place had a bush camp which was very well supplied with a camper’s kitchen and gas bbq, toilets and cold showers. It appeared, however, that you would have to drive to the beach so we picked the right spot at Perlubie Beach.

Wednesday 10 June 09

We did nothing today. Jenny and Bill moved on to Haslam, another free camp ground on the beach. As this was only 18 kms up the road. Barry was not interested in moving there so we decided to stay here and take a drive up to look at Haslam later in the week.

Thursday 11 June 09

We drove around Cape Bauer Loop which is a rather nice drive with several stops to look at bays and cliffs. There were some blow holes at one point but although you could hear them they weren’t blowing and the sea was very calm.

The drive took us longer than we expected so we didn’t bother with the other drive around Westall Way Loop Drive. On the way back we saw a sheep with its head stuck through a wire fence. Barry got some pliers out of the car and unwound one of the fencing wires. The sheep wasn’t very helpful and kept trying to push us out of the way but he didn’t hesitate to run off as soon as his/her head was free. Barry was quite disgusted and put out that it didn’t even stop to thank him. He repaired the fence and we went on our way feeling good about our good deed for the day.

We went back to Streaky Bay for some shopping and to do the washing in the Laundromat, sheets and towels etc.

We bought fish and chips for dinner much to Barry’s disgust. I enjoyed it. The Shell garage where we bought our dinner houses a replica of a shark (White Pointer, I think) caught off the coast of Streaky Bay which holds the record for the largest catch, on a hand line, in the world.

According to the info board the meat was used for bait. How is that for waste?

These fish are now heavily protected I am pleased to say. I also bought a squid jig in the hopes of catching some squid when we go to Haslam to see Jenny and Bill.

Friday 12 June 09

Catching up with blog and I cooked “porcupines” in the “Dream Pot”. This was rissoles cooked in tomato soup and Worcestershire sauce. For those of you who don’t know, a Dream Pot is like a vacuum flask. You cook your ‘whatever’ for 10 minutes or so on the stove put it into the Dream Pot and leave it for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours depending on what it is. You can cook scones and cakes and do a roast in it. I haven’t used it to its best advantage yet but I must start doing so. One of its best features is that you can start a meal cooking in it before you start travelling for the day and by the time you get to where you are going you have a cooked meal and you have used no energy at all other than residual heat. I haven’t tried myself but I have eaten cake that has been cooked in a Dream Pot. It was one using 3 baked bean cans to cook the mixture in.

In the afternoon 5 people turned up by the toilet block and spent about 10 minutes just standing staring over to where we were parked. They looked a bit official. Barry thought they were just sheltering from the rain but I could see that where they were standing they were not under shelter. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable even though we were not doing anything wrong and had paid our fees for the camp site. They left eventually and we thought nothing more about it.

Saturday 13 June 09

The weather was still bad with the wind blowing hard and rain. There were breaks in the rain so we decided to take a chance and drive around Westall Loop Drive.

This drive is about 20 kilometres south of Streaky Bay. One section had some rather nice sand dunes and there were some good views of cliffs and bays. An enjoyable but blustery day.

We were back at the caravan by 4.00 pm and soon after there was a knock on the door and the visitor asked us to leave in the not too distant future. He used to cart the water in to the camp site but had given the job away to the Shire Council, who presumably didn’t want to do it, plus the septic tank was not working too well and tending to overflow, so the council wanted to close the campground down as soon as possible. After a very windblown night we packed up and left the next morning and headed for Haslam despite not originally intending to go there. Perlubie Beach campsiteis now officially closed.

Sunday 14 June 09

We arrived in Haslam about midday and met up with Bill and Jenny again, giving them a chance to teach me the art of squid jigging from the jetty in the afternoon. This was without success due to very rough water, despite the wind having dropped considerably. Yet another camp site for a small fee. These camp sites are quite good, this one even having a washing line. The town of Haslam (I use this word loosely) used to be quite a busy port for wheat export to Adelaide but these days there are just a few houses there. Probably fishing people. There is power to the town so they are not on solar panels. We have seen quite a few new settlements where the houses are festooned with solar panels and water tanks, obviously going for the self sufficient life style. It appears they do not feed back into the grid because there are no lines anywhere.

Monday 15 June 09

We drove though to Wirrulla on the Eyre Highway via a dirt road to see just how good or bad the road was, to determine whether to take the caravan along it or not, as we had been informed that the campsite there was a donation only, although you could get a key for a hot shower from the shop or the pub. The road was good enough for the van to go along which would save a lot of fuel by not having to backtrack to Streaky Bay and out to the highway at Poochera.

After lunch I had another attempt at squid jigging, again without success. Jenny caught one and Bill nothing.

I took some photos of the town later in the afternoon.

Tuesday 16 June 09

Once again we packed up and moved on to Wirrulla. This is a little wheat town just off the main highway between Ceduna and Port Augusta going across the top of the Eyre Peninsula. We had lunch and a wander around the little town. We had seen a sign that said this inland town had a jetty, which we found.

As this is nowhere near the sea it seemed a bit strange but the sign said that the only difference between Haslem, Streaky Bay and Wirrulla was a jetty they decided to add one. There is even a boat at the end of the jetty called Sea Duced. The end of the jetty is actually the tee for the fifth fairway of the golf course.

There is a general store, a motor mechanic and an engineering shop which Barry was able to take advantage of, as we needed to get a new bolt for our wheel carrier which had sheered in half where the pin went through. This bolt holds the wheel in place when the spare wheels are open on the back of the car so that we can access the back doors of the car. The cleaner left the shower door unlocked so we did not have to pay $5.00 for the shower key. We did however put $5.00 in the honour box for the general power we used. It was nice to have a real shower without having to turn the water off between rinses. Barry set up the satellite dish so we were able to watch some tv before an early night.

Wednesday 17 June 09

We left Wirrulla and headed for Kimba. Those of you who have been keeping up with our blog may remember that we stayed at Kimba on our way to Adelaide last October. This time we used the free camp site right on the edge of the highway, n a corner where the road turns to go to Port Augusta or Whyalla. This means that all the big trucks going to or from Perth etc have to gear down and break for the corner so it is very noisy. Barry did not sleep well but I don’t remember hearing them at all. We met some really nice people who came from Mandurah (Lorrette and Rod) in Western Australia who very kindly offered to look after Foxy while we treated ourselves to dinner at the local hotel. Very nice. Barry had Fillete Mignonne, with enough left for Foxy as well, and I had King George Whiting.

On our way to Kimba we stopped at Wudina (pronounced Woodna) to take a look at the new statue of “The Australian Farmer” a ten foot high statue representing the farmer, sheep, wheat and various other aspects of farming life. It was opened some time while we were in Adelaide and had been on the news so we were keen to see it and very glad we did as it is very impressive. It is right on the main highway so it was easy to get to and lots of people stopped to look at it while we were there. The statue is carved from local granite and cost over a million dollars to complete. The town is still working on the landscaping and there are still some names to add to the walls. Anybody who was associated with the making of the statue either financially or practically has their name on the wall. You can get yours added for $1,000 if you are interested. We had lunch in Wudina at a small bakery.

At Kimba we took a walk to take some photos of the sign that tells you that you are half way across Australia. From East to West Kimba is right in the middle of Oz. I also called in to the gem shop but there was nothing there that excited me.

We worked out that we were only a 1000 kilometres from Melbourne and Garon’s house and we discussed momentarily going to see him instead of heading up the Oodnadatta track but we decided that it was impractical, especially as he is about to head out to California. So the following morning saw us heading on to Port Augusta.

Thursday 18 June 09

We arrived in Port Augusta about 2.00 pm having stopped enroute for lunch.
As we have now been to Port Augusta and are not particularly fond of the town we just did some shopping, stocked up on prescriptions and filled the car ready for our trip into the outback.

We only stayed in Port Augusta for the one night.

This map covers all of South Australia but the next entries are concerned with the Far North of South Australia.

If you look near the Queensland border you will see Innamincka and moving down to the other end of the Strezlecki Track you will see Lyndhurst. Up the main road from Lyndhurst is Marree and down from Lyndhurst on the main road is Leigh Creek. Copley is not shown but it is near Leigh Creek.

Friday 19 June 09

On to Copley, which is a very small town about 6 kms from Leigh Creek where brown coal is mined which is used in the Port Augusta powerstation. Leigh Creek is a very new town built because the mine got too close to Copley. We chose Copley because we were told that the caravan park was very nice and will store your van whilst you explore elsewhere. Barry decided to put the annex up as we would be staying here for several days.

On arrival, we booked a flight to look at Lake Eyre since it is full of water from the Queensland floods. Only the third time it has filled in the last hundred years. (Actually we are told it is not completely full and has not flowed through to the Lower Lake Eyre and is already receding, so it is a good job we didn’t linger any longer on the Eyre Peninsula. We also decided to go mad and book a Ridge Top tour of the Flinders Ranges. It will mean leaving Foxy for 12 hours in the caravan, but we can’t take her with us. The Ridge Top tour goes from Arkaroola which is about a two hour drive from where we are staying in Copley. We can’t take the caravan there because the road is not sealed and not good enough to take a chance with. We are told that there are brumbies and lots of kangaroos on the road so we will have to be careful.

We had planned on leaving the caravan here and travelling on to Oodnadatta but ave decided that the tyres are not good enough to subject them to the gravel road which can be rough in places.

Saturday 20 June 09

This morning we did the washing and I cooked a stew in the Dream Pot and a spaghetti bolognaise in the electric frying pan. This will actually be five days meals as the stew will last for 3 days and the spag bog for 2 days. I did this so that we would not have to worry about meals when we come back from the air trip and the tour on Sunday and Monday. Monday’s trip will be very late back.

We met some more people at the camp fire which the owners light every night.

Sunday 21 June 09

We left Copley fairly early to drive to Marree where the flight over Lake Eyre was to leave from. We arrived in Marree at 10.30 for an 11.30 flight only to be told that they were a pilot down and had moved us to 1.30. This flight would be stopping at Muloorina, dropping us off for a walk around the water hole there and afternoon tea and then picking us up and taking us for the tour over Lake Eyre. They were sorry and hoped we did not mind. We though this was great with the additional stop so we had a complimentary cup of coffee and went for a wander around this old town.

Marree is one of the towns which sprang up in the far north of South Australia when the “Ghan” railway line was put through to Alice Springs in the late 1890s. It was a thriving little town which serviced the railway. When the new railway was put through in an entirely different area this town had nothing left to exist for but it is now quite a popular tourist spot.

This is where the Oodnadatta Track starts and also the Birdsville Track which goes up to Queensland. We took several pictures of the town and read the history boards about the railway and the buildings.

At 1.30 we went for our flight over Lake Eyre. We travelled with 2 other people. After we had been in the air for about 10 minutes the pilot announced that we would just be doing the tour of Lake Eyre and not stopping at the station and was this all right. As none of us could actually see any point in complaining and upsetting the pilot nobody said anything but we were all annoyed. We were disappointed with the flight. We did not fly high enough to get any idea of the size of the lake. We were just flying over miles of water and salt pans. The pilot pointed out several things but they were hard to see. There were no birds around and no flora of any sort. We had been told that the birds would be prolific but reading the literature later this only happens when the lake first fills before the salt residue has dissolved and made the water too salty for the birds to stay. Apparently they just go there to breed and then push off.

When we landed Barry was steaming and all he said to me was ‘We were ripped off’. He said he was going to the shop to have a piece off somebody so I made myself scarce. He came out with $50.00 in his hand and told the other couple what he had done so they followed suit and also got back $50.00. It didn’t make up for being messed about and left us no time to drive out to Muloorina and look at the lake from the ground but we were told later that you couldn’t get near the lake as there is a kilometre or so of slimy mud before you reach the lake so we didn’t miss anything.

We arrived home to a very upset little dog who had not liked being left.

14 May to 2 June 09

Thursday 14th to Sunday 18th May

Other than shopping we didn’t do anything during this period because it rained most of the time. It was just a fine drizzly rain. I think the farmers are quite happy because this fine rain sinks into the ground. We have seen a lot of activity around the area. Some farmers are burning off last year’s stubble but most seem to be just seeding through the stubble. I suppose that makes sure you don’t lose the top soil in high winds. Saturday I went to see a doctor with a sore shoulder. He said unless I go back to Adelaide there is not much that can be done. So I will just live with it until it gets too bad to do that.

Monday 19th May

We took a drive back down the road towards Whyalla to take a look at Port Neil. This was basically to use some fuel to once again determine the gas/diesel ratio, which proved to be too high again. Port Neil had the usual jetty, anchor and war memorial gun but also had an arty type place that uses an electrolytic process to plate eucalyptus leaves with copper, much the same as chromium plating. Apparently they can apply this process to most organic matter, with examples of wheat and gum nuts. They are made into framed pictures which are quite effective, but ridiculously expensive, or as ear rings, brooches, etc.

Tuesday 20th May

Barry went to the doctor to check his throat but nothing of significance.

Wednesday 21st May

The car is back for yet another adjustment. Merry x-ray on shoulder.

Thursday 21st May

Merry doctor re x-ray, all okay, it just hurts.

Friday 22nd May

Took a few photos of the Town, the Flinders landing spot and the statue of Makybe Diva (winner of the Melbourne Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2005) on the foreshore.

This is a tricky operation as the theoretical best way to take the photo is with the ocean as a backdrop rather than in the other direction with shopfronts as back drop. The statue, like the original is very dark and tends to appear in silhouette with little detail, and worse still, it has a boat in the background which is the ugliest, scruffiest boat in SA and belongs to the Mayor.

He probably leaves it there out of jealousy because he owns the boat, not the horse, but after waiting three weeks we actually had the chance without the boat.

Saturday 23rd May

Bought 26 week lotto ticket (why do we have to wait that long to win) and usb keys to download audible books which we then sent to Terry and Steve.

Drove through to Mt Dutton and checked out some free or cheap camp sites for our next stop. Called in to Coffin Bay on the way back. Very picturesque area but no shopping centre.

Sunday 24th May

Showery but drove into town for some final photos and out to a rose garden which wasn’t really worth it as roses are not at their best at this time of year.

Monday 25th May

Bought a one Terrabyte USB hard drive to store our photos on. The cars gas system finally seems to be as close to right as we are likely to get it.

Tuesday 26th May

Packed up and took the caravan to a repair agent and had the brakes and bearings serviced. After lunch proceeded to Farm Beach slightly north of Coffin Bay and set up camp again in a $5 a night park with basic flushing toilet and cold showers. There is no outside lighting like a regular caravan park so once all of our lights are out you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Foxy will not jump from her bed onto our bed because even she can’t see, so she whimpers until I turn a torch on. The nights have become very cold.

Wednesday 27th May

Day of leisure, or we did nothing.

Thursday 28th May

Returned to Port Lincoln to check out an additional solar panel to add to our two existing ones as the second battery in the car is not handling the Engel fridge/freezer too well but didn’t buy one as we were informed that what we have is sufficient, but we did order a new battery as the original was nearly 4 years old. The solar panels have proved to be insufficient but as we run the generator most evenings to watch TV we should be able to manage.

Friday 29th May

Returned to Port Lincoln to have the battery fitted and bought new windscreen wiper blades.

Met Bill and Jenny who have just moved in as our only neighbours, apart from the local birds. A very friendly couple who have been using free camping sites since February and only spent 4 nights in a regular caravan park in all that time. We will be interested to see if we can do that as it will be a lot cheaper than the parks.

Saturday 30th May

Returned to Port Lincoln yet again to do a load of washing in the Laundromat and then would you believe, bought a fishing rod and tackle so that Merry can join the many who stand staring into the ocean dreaming of the many way to spend the lotto win that never comes their way (a bit like the fish). Went down to the beach with Bill and Jenny to watch the sunset. The camp ground is only a stone throw away from the beach but we hadn’t walked in that direction so we didn’t know it was there.

Sunday 31st May

We went down to the beach with Bill and Jenny for Merry to have her first lesson in rigging the line and casting. Merry, Bill and Jenny spent about two hours feeding the fish but the fish did not return the favour by jumping on to the hooks. Which only proves my point that fisher people do not actually catch fish they just talk about it. The exercise did help Merry, who can now cast more than slightly in front her feet.

Came back to the beach later for some more sunset photos.

Monday 1st June

We drove into coffin Bay to get a gas bottle filled for the caravan and bought some smaller hooks and bait ready for another fishing onslaught that didn’t exactly eventuate. Bill caught a sea bird with his first cast which we were able to free and then caught something slightly bigger than the bait he was using which had to be thrown back. Merry went through another load of bait with no success.

Tuesday 2nd June

We drove into Coffin Bay again to take photos and explore the area a little better. It is a really picturesque spot and ideal for anyone mad about fishing and boats.

In the afternoon we took Bill and Jenny on a 4 kilometre drive to another beach known as Gallipoli Beach as it is the spot used for making the film.

We were very lucky as there was a large pod of dolphins close in to the beach herding fish around whilst the youngsters played.

There was long descent to the beach, and if this beach represents the real beach in Gallipoli when you see the cliffs in front of you couldn’t help wandering why anyone would try to land and capture the area under fire. It was asking every soldier landing there to commit suicide, as was proven. In our stress free circumstance it was a lovely place.