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.

11 to 13 May 09

I noticed reading over the last one that our blog is a bit messy because Barry and I both write it and with our different writing styles this comes out bitty.

If you double click on the pictures you get to see them in full screen. This is particularly good for the fur seals.

Monday 11th May

This was a day of rest apart from taking Foxy to the vet. Her foot is no better but the vet just looked at and said come back in 10 days if it hasn’t improved. Fortunately she didn’t charge us for that visit. You need a mortgage to visit a vet these days. We also did a bit of shopping and bought a transmitter for my Ipod which included a car charger which will be useful. I have become quite a fan of Audible Books since I have been forced to listen to those that I bought. Unfortunately it is a bit unsociable. Barry finds himself talking to himself a lot of the time. He claims this is not much different to my reading a book.

Tuesday 12th May

Drove to Whalers Way. This area is at the southern most tip of the Eyre Peninsula and is a squarish piece of land. The eastern side is facing Seaford Bay the southern side is facing the Southern Ocean and the western side is facing the Great Australian Byte.

Cape Wiles home of Fur Seals

There were a few wild flowers around which were quite pretty but nothing different to those we see in WA. The road which is gravel is about 12 kms round but it took us the whole day to do with stops at every sign post. I think we walked about 4 kms, at least that is what my feet said at the end of the day. Most of the bays were viewed from the top of 100 metre high cliffs. The tallest cliffs were 128 metres high. A few had access but very steep and none that we were inclined to climb down to.

Theakstone Crevasse

We took quite a few photos and videos of waves breaking over rocks but when viewed this became quite tedious. There are only so many waves that you can look at. When standing there watching them it is one thing but watching them again on video is not the same. We paid $25.00 for the key to get into Whalers Way and I am not sure that we actually got our moneys worth. We couldn’t see where the money was being spent. The road has to be graded and the one toilet block cleaned but there was nothing else there.

The bbq area had some bins and some tables and seats. The bbq was about 100 years old, very rusty and very rickety.

We had talked about taking the caravan into the camping ground there for a couple of days but we were glad we didn’t as the road into the camping area was very rough and as our van is not the off road type it wouldn’t have handled it very well. As it turned out there was only one beach or bay that we didn’t get to because we were too tired. Barry was disappointed with the day but I wasn’t. Whether we will bother with the national park now is debatable, mainly because it means leaving Foxy but also the cost involved with going.

Wednesday 13th May

Washing day for Barry (he starts early before I am awake) and he took the car to a gas agent in town. He had to book it in for Friday so it looks like we will have to extend here for at least another week. The water will have drained out of Lake Eyre before we get there. (For those of you who don’t know, Lake Eyre has filled up with water from floods in Queensland for the first time in years and apparently looks superb. It is near the Oodnadatta track which is where we are going when we leave the Eyre Peninsula.

I spent the day downloading and sorting photos. We had a bit of rain, jut enough to make drying the washing difficult but not enough to be of much use to the dams around the place.

21 April to 10 May

For our overseas readers. This is the Eyre Peninsula. If you look across the top you can see a black road, this is the main road which runs from the Nullabor Plains and Western Australia to Port Augusta in South Australia. When arriving from WA we drove straight across this road so that we could go to Adelaide and we are now backtracking to see the bits we missed. Unfortunately with the holdups with the vehicle the weather is not as good. As you can see from the rest of the following blog we are travelling down the eastern side of the peninsula and will then go back up the western side and back to Port Augusta.

The period from the Tuesday 21st April is a bit blurred as we didn’t make notes to remind us of what happened during that time, but we had heard that dolphins were following the boats into the harbour so we after lunch we took a walk along the beach to the marina and fisherman’s harbour to see if this were true. We saw several but it was impossible to get photographs of them as they were gone by the time we got the cameras focused and never knew where they would re-appear, so Merry tried filming them with a limited amount of success, and a lot of failures.



It was good to watch them frolicking in the wake of the boats as there appeared to be several mother/baby pairs.

There were lots of pelicans around that seem to think that lamp posts are installed for their benefit.

The walk to the harbour and back was a good hour so we stopped at a beach side café for coffee and cake. Defeated the purpose of the walk, but was nice and something we don’t do that often these days.

On Wednesday we went to the visitor centre which is also the Marine Museum and has the Frigate 'Whyalla' parked between the visitor centre and the museum buildings. We watched a video of the movement of the ship from the harbour to the current site which was a major engineering performance.

We then had the tour of the ship, followed by a look at the museum that included a large display of model trains simulating the rail system around the harbour and pellet plant plus another simulating the countryside which included The Ghan.

This was in addition to the marine displays of costumes, battles and equipment.

On the way back to the park we detoured to two lookouts, the Flinders/Freycinet overlooking the town and the other, Humpy Hill, overlooking the pellet plant and harbour.

It surprised me that a pellet plant still existed as the pellet plants that were at Robe River and Hamersley Iron, both closed in the 1970s. Here they still export iron ore in pellet form, but load the ore carriers by using tugs to tow huge barges out to the carrier and transfer it at sea because the harbour is too shallow for the large carriers to come in to the dockside.

Merry finds it interesting to watch other travellers parking their vans as some old hands slide great big vans in with the greatest of ease, and others tie themselves up in knots with little pop-tops. I maintain this is dependant on the instructions received from the person at the rear, plus the placement of trees, poles, fences and if the sun is in your eyes, or mirrors.

We had yet another cloudy day but no rain on Thursday. I am sure the rain clouds just look at SA and decide they don’t like it here and go somewhere else. Barry and I were always accused of being rain birds but we haven’t managed to bring any rain with us to SA.

We do however seem to be dogged by violence. Whenever we turn on the news on TV it is to hear about somebody being stabbed or shot where we were the day before. On Saturday we stopped overnight near Port Pirie and Port Germein. The following day we heard on the news that a man had been shot through the door of his car. Merry thinks the police are going to find the link and see that we were always near one of these acts of violence and decide that we must have something to do with it. Sunday we drove through Port Augusta and that night the police were shot at there.

I believe we have mentioned before that a boy was stabbed in a street in Adelaide the day after we walked down it and a man was shot, killed and left in his car in the carpark in Mile End the day after we went there to do some shopping. This was way across town from where we were staying but we needed a camping shop that was there.

We had discovered by the time we had travelled up to Port Augusta that second final adjustment to our gas system had been a dog’s dinner and our gas percentage was up to 36%. On the first Monday in Whyalla we informed Diesel/Gas of this and they posted out a selection of smaller jets, as we didn’t intend to return to Adelaide again.

These jets arrived on Thursday and I changed the current ‘C’ jet for a smaller ‘B’ jet on Friday morning

Sat 25th April Phoned Colleen (our daughter) to wish her a happy birthday, but did little else as it actually rained. There is a soccer pitch behind the caravan park so I was able to watch the soccer from the caravan annex in comfort whilst they all got saturated. That brought back a few memories of my younger sporting days.

Mon 27th April Visited the Mt Laura homestead museum depicting the agricultural history of the town. This was a bit of a let down as a lot of the displays were in poor condition.

The most eye catching items were in the garden in the form of an unusual statue, and a rose.

Wed 29th April Drove out to Secret Rock about 30 kilometres south of Kimba (we passed through here in November). The area around Kimba has many rocky outcrops, some of which are quite interesting but this one was just another rock and could be kept a secret.












From there we headed south east to Cowell on the coast with a break on the way to have our prepacked lunch at the roadside at a spot with a very pleasant view.

At Cowell we looked at the small harbour and town and then drove a short distance to Lucky Bay and watched the ferry from Wallaroo on the Yorke Peninsula arrive from its trip across the Spencer Gulf. We watched it unload and reload then depart back to Wallaroo. All the cars were put on one side of the ferry so I (Merry) asked if the ferry wouldn't tip over. After much derision the crew told us that the loading was done this way to counter balance the cafe and seating areas. There not being many cars. We discovered that they were doing half price deals on Tuesdays and Wednesday until August but we don't need to go back to Adelaide now. If we did it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than driving right around. Not though paying the full price.

We then drove south to check out Port Gibbon’s free camping spot, which didn’t impress us enough to want to use it. On our return to Whyalla we refilled the diesel and gas tanks to determine that the smaller jet had managed to defy the laws of Physics and produced an increase of gas use at 43% rather than reduce it.

Thursday 30th April

Changed the gas jet from ‘B’ to ‘A1’ which is the smallest jet.
A large group of multiple car clubs touring the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas stayed at the caravan park. Some old cars had matching old vans. The range consisted of Morris Minor, Austin A35, 1957 Vauxhall Velox, several Chrysler tanks, Wolseley 6, 1954 Mercedes sports, MG B, Morris van, Jowett Javelin. As well as meeting with local car clubs they all gathered in town

Friday 1st May

Phoned our son Garon in Melbourne to wish him a happy birthday and then attempted to change a wheel on the car as the tyre was getting rather worn. This didn’t work out too well as the nuts on the spare wheel carrier had no intention of coming undone. With the assistance of a stronger brute than me, we managed to undo one nut and sheer the other to studs. I then changed the wheel and drove around town and found an AutoPro shop and purchased two new studs and then found a workshop to grind the old studs off and re-weld the new studs on. AutoPro recommended a workshop to me and I was able to remove the carrier and leave it with them for a few hours.

I later returned and re-fitted the carrier and the spare wheel

Merry did some work for SAFE

Sat 2nd May Drove down to Cowell again, and on to Cleve to see what an inland town has to offer.

Just before reaching the town is Yeldulknie Weir built across a small valley which once had a stream running through it which supplied water to Arno Bay and Cowell. It has BBQ facilities and tables and is a pleasant spot but unfortunately doesn’t have any water.


The town is quite small but boasts several building with large murals depicting the way of life in Cleve











This trip allowed us to determine the new gas percentage of 23%, a lot healthier than before but lower than the 28% that we are trying to achieve. Changed the ‘A1’ jet for an ‘A’ jet which in theory should get us closer to our target figure.

Sunday 3rd May Packed up and moved on down to Port Lincoln. This move let us determine the effect of the new ‘A’ jet but under towing conditions which proved to be 19%. This appears low but is always low when towing because of the load and gearing (not using overdrive) have filled both tanks and will now wait until we can determine the non-towing value. We decided to stay at a caravan park about 10 kms short of Port Lincoln at a suburb called North Shields. The caravan park is sitting on top of the cliffs and our caravan is looking out over the sea about 20 metres from the cliffs. There is no beach here and no access to the sea which hits against the cliffs even when the tide is in. The park is less expensive than the one in Port Lincoln (always a consideration) and very peaceful. When we looked at the other one it appeared to be very busy.

Port Lincoln is almost at the base of the Eyre Peninsula. It is almost as far south as Adelaide and has a similar climate. When it rains in Adelaide it usually rains in Port Lincoln. There are two National Parks at the base of the Eyre Peninsula, Port Lincoln National Park and Coffin Bay National Park. In the middle is an area called Whalers Way which is a flora and fauna reserve.

Monday 4th May Phoned our daughter-in-law to wish a happy birthday but didn’t actually make contact. Hopefully out enjoying herself and received our message later.

We took a drive up through the hills which are just inland from North Shields and got some lovely views looking out over Port Lincoln and Boston Island which is about 7 kms off the coast in Boston Bay. The map shows a scenic drive which we decided to follow. We also called in to look at the golf club and find out how much a game would cost.

This is a view of Port Lincoln taken from the lookout in the hills near North Shields.

Somewhere between the 4th and 8th I did some work for SAFE and one other client.

Friday 8th May 09

We took a drive around Port Lincoln and took some photos of the bays near the town. We drove around the marina and canals to see how the other half live. There were some lovely housed and some huge boats but I got envious so Barry got out of there.

This is in the Marina.

Barry walking at one of the bays near Port Lincoln.

Apart from the two trips mentioned up until today Sat 9th May, the week has been pretty uneventful as there has been thick heavy cloud cover which has not invited you to get out and about. It threatens rain but even when it attempts it we only get a light drizzle. We could have gone to England for that.

With reference to the violence that follows us, now that we have left Whyalla, someone has tried to burn the shopping centre down. I'm hoping we manage to stay ahead of it.

Foxy has developed a swelling on one pad of her left rear leg and has been to the vet, which she absolutely hates and starts trembing and trying to escape the moment we pass over the threshhold, but medication doesn’t appear to be doing anything so she will have to endure another visit in a few days time, on Monday 11th April.

10th May 09

We drove to Tumby Bay which is about 30 kms back up the coast from Port Lincoln. This is a pretty little coastal town which we believe is very popular with tourist in the summer. We spotted this rather nice wooden sculpture of a dolphin on the beach which we were impressed with. On the way back we drove inland to have a look at Cummins. This is just another farming community and there was nothing there that invited us to stop the car for a photo. Still we have been there so we wont be wondering if there was something there that we would have missed if we hadn't gone. We drove back down some graded roads through the hills to North Shields.

17 March to 20 April 09

Tuesday 17th March

In the morning, we drove into Port Pirie for some shopping and Centrelink business (no fight this time).

In the afternoon drove about thirteen kilometres into the Southern Flinders Range to explore Telowie Gorge, which is more like our type of interest rather than towns, beaches, jetties and war memorials. We walked in to the Gorge for about twenty five minutes along a well defined track to the end of the so called tourist part, where there would have been a cascade of water into a small pool if any significant rain had happened in the last year or two. The literature claims that if you sit quietly, you may see a rare yellow footed wallaby, but the latter part didn’t happen, so ten minutes later we climbed over the imaginary cascade (didn’t get my feet wet) and walked on along the gorge for another ten minutes before sitting quietly again, with the same result. We were told the gorge goes right through the range to the other side (about 29 kilometres but that was not our intention). We were rather impressed with the tree growing around a large stone which has become imbedded in the tree.

Wednesday 18th March

Did a day trip to take in some of the relatively nearby towns and attractions so headed initially to Murray Town which involves a pleasant winding drive though Germein Gorge, and as nothing of interest lives at Murray Town went on to Melrose and Mount Remarkable which boasts some trails to a Cathedral Rock and the summit. The signposts give you information on the severity of the trails but no idea of where you are going. Consequently, we didn’t get to either place. The summit would have been a major achievement as the track was exceptionally steep and rough and 12.5 kilometres long. Whilst the track we did take split off later with no indication of where any of the tracks went. Having driven and walked about half way to the summit and/or Cathedral Rock, we gave it away to seek out somewhere to buy some lunch. The only place was the local pub which claims to provide all types of meals and drinks, but seems to lack anybody to serve them, so we gave that away as well. So much for Melrose and Mt Remarkable which proved to be anything but, and moved on to Booleroo Centre (which we thought was a centre for something but it wasn’t) and found a cafe/bakery that provided a reasonable meal but the rest of the township offered nothing so continued on our way to Wirrabara and followed the sign to Wirrabara Forest. Fifteen kilometres of dirt road later we came to a locked gate across the road but no forest other than pine plantations so backtracked and headed for Laura which is quite a pretty place with a well tended median strip and a larger than life bronze sculpture of some dude outside the art gallery. I only took 2 pictures all day which is very unlike me but there was nothing much to inspire photos. The one above was taken from near the monument at the base of Mt Remarkable.

We turned off here to go to Beetaloo Valley and Hughes Gap, but again once you leave the bitumen there is a distinct lack of signposts at ensuing junctions, and the local map doesn’t help, so ended up back on another bitumen road heading back to Port Pirie and on to Port Germein. All in all a wasted day and fuel with nothing to show for it although patches of scenery were okay.

Barry omitted to mention that the drive through Germein Gorge was beautiful. I love walking and driving through gorges. They are so majestic.


Thursday 19thMarch
Main street in Port Germein (almost only street in Port Germein)

Bought some bait and borrowed the trolley with crab nets and bucket from the Park office, loaded it up with chairs and drinks and then dragged it the 1.5 kilometres to the end of the jetty. Set the nets and chairs and dug in for 2 hours. The final outcome was four legal size crabs and then dragged it all back to the park where Merry did the technical stuff called cooking. It should provide enough for Merry to have two meals from it as I am not interested in seaborne meals of any description.. This was a first for both of us and was a pleasant experience with just one small drawback in the form of a crying baby. You don’t expect that a mile out to sea perched on an eight foot wide strip if wood. I was not allowed to use the baby as crab bait.

Barry caught three of the crabs and I caught one. As Barry said it was good fun. There was another lady on the jetty whom we talked to a bit and before we left I asked her how many she had caught. She said one and she had been there longer than we had and had years of experience so we felt quite proud of our four. Mind you we were allowed to catch 40. I decided that if I had taken my book so that I could read between checking nets I could have stayed out there all day. As it was two hours was enough. We do not have the patience to be good fisher people. I have often toyed with the idea of buying a fishing rod and having a go but the expense is quite off putting.

Friday 20th March

Washing day. I did some work for SAFE as I discovered that their books have not been done since I stopped doing them last July. Also we decided to pack up as much as we could, annex, awning and anything else that didn’t go inside the caravan so that we could have an early start in the morning. Heading back to Adelaide.

Saturday 21st March

Left Port Germein at 8.00 am and arrived in Adelaide about mid day. As soon as we arrived, and were parked in the same place as our first visit to Adelaide, Foxy heard our neighbour Arley. Barry released her from her harness and she leapt out of the window into Arley’s arms and wriggled around as if she hadn’t seen him for a month, which of course she hadn’t. It was quite a warm day but we really needed to put the annex up so that we could put the chairs and tables into it. Done by 6.00 pm and we were exhausted. I asked Barry if we could have a Chinese meal. So we went to find a restaurant. We did find one but it was packed to the gills so we gave up and went home for me to cook again. Watched The Bill and that was the end of Saturday.

Sunday 22nd March

I spent most of the day working for SAFE and Barry pottered about. I think he watched the Clipsal 500, which was running in Adelaide, on the television in the afternoon. We managed our Chinese meal this evening.



Monday 23rd March

Barry took the car back to Diesel Gas Australia for our 6th attempt to get the gas to work. This time he left the car there and brought home one of the mechanic’s utes. We do not hold out much hope because the mechanic said the computer says the car is using gas. If this is so it is also manufacturing gas as we are not buying any and haven’t for 4000 kilometres.

I spent the day working for SAFE and gossiping with the neighbours.

Gary phoned at about 5.00 pm and said the car was fixed but he was going to drive it home to make sure it was using gas. We still have no hope that it is fixed.

Tuesday 24th March

Gary phoned at about 9.30 am and said the car is fixed. This time I think he really has got it as the car is making the growly noise that it used to make before it stopped using gas. He actually discovered the fault as he was driving home. He was watching the computer and he saw a “Mapping Sensor” fading out as he watched. Once this sensor unit was replaced everything worked as it should. When you consider what they have replaced (practically the whole system) and the hours they have spent on it, the cost would be astronomical. Time wise it would be longer than it takes to fit the original system and as expected the replaced item was the one I suggested to them in the original instance.

Wednesday 25th March

Washing day

Thursday 26th March

Trip to Mt Barker to gain confidence in the gas system, which proved to be successful (Barry was spinning the wheels when we took off from stop signs) but the other purpose of the trip was not so good. We had been led to believe the town and surrounds had some interesting points of interest which didn’t turn to be exactly true. The old centre of town is quite quaint but the surrounds had little to show except the nearby wetlands which did provide a 40 minute walk around the perimeter, and a pleasant spot for lunch. Considering the lack of rain, these wetlands aren’t in too bad a shape. There were quite a few birds which Merry took some photos of.

Once lunch was over with nothing left to do in Mt Barker we did the only logical thing to do in this area and made for Woodside and the Melba chocolate factory for the third time. We took a round about way home down through the Torrens scenic drive to get back to Windsor Gardens. We noticed that although there has been little rain the hills were definitely greener than they had been last time we drove through them. This is not to say actually green but green in patches and not quite so brown.

Friday 27th March

Just some shopping.

Wednesday 1st April

Took the car in for a final adjustment to improve the gas/diesel ratio as it is good, but could be slightly better.

Monday 6th April

Packed up some clothes and food to head out to Dale’s house for dinner and instructions regarding feeding the dog and cat and be shown where everything is. Dale invited us to look after her house and the dog and cat for the 4 days that she was in Melbourne.

Tuesday 7th April

Settled in at Dale’s

We did some lovely walks around the area where Dale lives. There are some beautiful houses around Greenwith and Golden Grove and some really big ones. The area is very dry like everywhere else in South Australia but still the walks along the creek were very nice.

Wednesday 8th April

We took Dale to the airport in the morning and when we got back we tore up cardboard boxes and weaved them through the fence to stop Foxy from escaping while we were out.
We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon.

Thursday 9th April.

We had planned to go to Glenelg and Brighton beaches today but we could see that there was already too much traffic on the roads and because it was going to be Easter Holidays we decided that those places could do without us and we would just enjoy veging out on Dale’s lovely recliner chairs. I had a good book.

Saturday 11th April.

Shopping in the morning for the food for Dale’s family breakfast on Sunday morning and we picked up Dale from the airport in the evening.

Sunday 12th April

We had a lovely breakfast with Dale’s family. Daughter Theresa and partner Carol, daughter Sue and son-in-law Kane, son Michael and wife Jo, brother James and wife Joan and another couple I didn’t catch the names of and various grandchildren.

After breakfast Dale, Theresa and I took the kids up to a playground with the dogs.

Barry and I then went back to Windsor Grove Caravan Park for the rest of our stay in Adelaide.

Barry took the car back for another adjustment as we discovered we were now using way too much gas (53%). Barry asked Gary if we needed to hang around in Adelaide for another week to make sure the gas was OK but Gary was convinced that it would be alright for us to leave for Whyalla.

Thursday 16th April

As Audible Books took $365.00 from me in December even though I tried to stop them and tried to get the money back I decided that I might as well have the books so I spent the day downloading books from their website. I downloaded 12 books but I still have 17 credits left which I will have to get next month. I am almost out of download usage with Bigpond.

Friday 17th April

Lovely dinner with Dale (a beef stroganoff) and pecan pie for desert. It was sad to say goodbye to Dale as it could be some years before we see her again and we really enjoyed her company.

Saturday 18th April

Started early on the pack up to leave Adelaide for the 3rd time. We were away by 9:00am after a sad farewell with Arley and Jenny and Barry and Rene all of whom we had become friendly with during our three stays at the park. Barry and Rene are leaving in two weeks to go to Kalgoorlie prospecting but Arley and Jenny are still at the whim of their health issues.

We stopped overnight at Port Pirie. Apart from a walk around the caravan park, which was on the main road not in Port Pirie itself, we didn’t do anything else. However, we determined that the second final adjustment to the gas system still left a lot to be desired, as it is still injecting too much gas (37%) but not as much as before. As we do not intend returning to Adelaide again, they are posting out some smaller jets that I can change myself to reduce the gas use back towards the 28% we desire. Rather than alter the computer settings. This can be done when we reach Port Lincoln in a few weeks time.
If only they would let me have the computer program on my computer in conjunction with the ten minute training, which is all they appeared to have had, I could also apply my own guesswork.

We arrived in Whyalla at about 11:30 am and spent the rest of the day setting up the annex and getting everything out of the caravan. We are getting quite good at setting up these days but Barry still gets frustrated with the caravan parks various problems when trying to park the van. Our site had a light pole dead opposite and a tree trunk right where we needed to reverse the van. Both made it necessary to juggle the van backwards and forwards until he got it into the right position. As usual the site was not level and we had to use 2 jockey wheels to get the front of the van low enough to make it level, juggling back and forth between the 2 until we were there.

We took Foxy for a walk along the foreshore in the evening. It was extremely windy and we were quite glad that we were too stingy to pay for a foreshore caravan site, they were about $5.00 a night dearer. We could see a lookout which looks inviting and a mariner where fishing boats appear to come in.

Monday 20th April

Spent half the day standing in Centrelink waiting to hand in our rent assistance forms. It is the only thing that makes me wish I was home and not having to keep handing the damn forms in. We could post them but if we do that we have no proof that they have received them and then we might lose our rent assistance. It is only a pittance but it helps. We have to put a form in every time we move and as this can some times be daily if we are travelling any distance it can be quite a few forms.

After Centrelink we called in to the Tourist Bureau to see what Whyalla has to offer to tourist. There are a few things for us to do but being a mining town rather than a tourist destination there is not a great deal to do.

We took Foxy for a walk the other way along the beach in the evening. There was nothing special to see this way but we did have a chat with some of the other travellers as we were passing their site.