Adelaide Shopping

Our trip into Adelaide was mainly to stock up on Christmas goodies from the central market.
It is very similar to the Queen Victoria market in Melbourne and we arrived about 9am so we could get parking for the caravan not too far away.
We really enjoyed our wander around the market buying fresh fruit,veges cheese and seafood to last over the next week.
We also had a wonderful coffee and danish pastry and wandered back to the caravan to try and squeeze everything into the fridge.

Central market

Our next mission was to buy kayaks.
We have really missed being able to get out on the water and I had researched some reasonably priced ones from a guy on Gumtree. We were able to buy the kayaks,paddles,seats, rod holders and life jackets for $750 for both which we felt was pretty good. Everyone says we should be able to get good resale price especially if we sell in the smaller regions as they have to pay that just for 1 kayak.
We now felt set and were able to start our Christmas holidays!!!!!

LLoyd unwrapping the kayaks

All ready to go! Yes at last!!!

Journey to Adelaide through Cowell -Whyalla

We finally left the park and drove up the Eyre Peninsula stopping off at various places on the way.
Our favourite was the small harbour town of Cowell which have lovely old buildings.
The town is in the Franklin Harbour which has an entrance out to sea of just 100 metres. It is also known as the Jade town as many deposits have been found in the last 40years

Most of the houses are built of local stone as this one.

Our next stop was Whyalla where there is a large maritime museum. It is the 3rd largest city in South Aust and has a large seaport. It is also known as "Steel City" due to its steelworks and ship building heritage. The port has been exporting iron ore since 1903. We found a road side camp area for the night then continued in to Adelaide.

The Middleback Range .Mining has given it spectacular colours

HMS Whyalla The first ship made in the ship yard

Lincoln National Park -Part 2

Right so now I will back track on our journey to Rapid Bay for Christmas.
We ended up staying at Lincoln Nat Park for 5 days as we enjoyed travelling around to some of the other beaches in the park.
Lloyd spent some time fishing at lovely September Bay and also at Lighthouse Bay.

Our camped on the cliff

While at there we had a large pod of dolphins go by but the funniest was a lone seal. He came right by us and put on a wonderful display of aerobatics not once but again 20 mins later. Hence to say the fishing was not too great but the scenery and weather wonderful.

The show off seal

No fish !!! Lighthouse Bay

Rapid Bay

We had looked at the map and thought that the coast below Adelaide, the Fleurieu Peninsula would be a good place for Christmas. The journey to Rapid Bay from Adelaide was about 1 and half hours but the road was quite narrow and windy unlike any we have been on yet in Australia, more like NZ roads.
On arrival here we got a camp on the big grass area and hoped that someone on the beachfront might leave as these were by far the best spots, right on the beach with the sea about 30 metres away.
Sure enough the next day a caravan was packing up so we talked to them and made sure we were ready to move straight in, sorted!!!!
It is a council owned campground and the fees are only $84 for the week although they only supply toilets and water which you have to put in containers, all good for us. We think we shall stay for New Years as well as the people seem very friendly and hopefully it will be a good night.
There is a jetty for people to fish off and best of all you can swim even at low tide, its quite deep water even if it is a little chilly.

Our great camp site

The view from the end of the beach of the caravans

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I have not updated the blog for some time so I thought this time I would work backwards.

Our kids with our niece celebrating Christmas in Berlin, we miss you guys!!!!

Our Christmas day was spent at Rapid Bay in South Australia. We started off with mimosas and Lloyds wonderful pancakes and yummy fruit,plenty of lovely mangoes that are so good here at the moment.
We heard from the kids in Berlin
about 9pm,it was great to know they were all together and having a great
time.The Christmas jumper theme shone through.

Breakfast cheer!!!

The weather was not actually that great so the planned kayak and swim did not happen but we enjoyed catching up with many by phone and txt.Our Christmas lunch had a seafood theme, cray and prawns cooked on the bbq with good NZ Duetz bubbles and pav with kiwis and you guessed it mango.

We made our Christmas tree from driftwood and shells after seeing one at a craft market. No 8 fencing wire holds it all together with a cuttle fish  star. Shame we can't bring it home.

Yummy Xmas Dinner

Port Lincoln National Park

We decided to drive right through to Port Lincoln as we had heard that the National Park was well worth a visit. We came into the parkl and  as it was Friday and we thought that maybe all the good camp spots might be limited. We chose Fishermans Point camp which is 28kms into the park and were surprised to find most of the road was tar sealed unlike the map we had but good news.
On arriving there was only 1 other caravan and so we had lots of great spots to chose from. Our choice was overlooking a beautiful beach high on a cliff with the walkway down to the beach right by us. It was such lovely place that we guessed we'd be here for over 3 days.We set up and then unhooked the cruiser so we could go into town(Port Lincoln) to stock up and buy a South Australian National camp pass.

Relaxing after dinner

 It is such good value at $72 for 2 months we can stay in parks for 5 nights at each and there are about 20 National Parks and Conservation Parks so we will get lots of use.
I have already had a swim, the temperature was 32deg yesterday so that was my first swim in weeks. This bay is wonderful for walking in and we have had 3 different yachts come in and anchor.We have also met some lovely people and enjoyed happy hour or two with the other 2 couples sharing lots of travel stories . The couple parked near us are from Melbourne, he is a Fijian Indian and she is Italian and they are good fun. I think it will be hard to leave here!!!  and the wind is not too bad either at present, we are sheltered a bit.

The view from our caravan

Eyre Peninsula- Murphys Haystacks -Woolshed Caves

On leaving Speed Point we went through Venus Bay, Elliston and down towards Port Lincoln but there were places to see on the way. Our first stop was at Murphys Haystacks  which were in the middle of wheat and barley growing districts and on private land.

They are inselberg pink granite rock formations that got their name because a traveller saw them in the distance and thought they were hay. The farmer was named  Murphy so they became known as Murphys Haystacks.. The huge overhanging dome is about 8 mts high,they are very cool.

One of the largest rocks

We went on to the Woolshed Cave which is often described as a grotto or  cavity as the cliff has eroded away sandstone rocks by the ocean and wind.We were really impressed with these as the rock colours and the rock pools in tub or round holes in the sand were so interesting.The water was also so clear and there was so much marine life.

Woolshed Cave and rock formations

Streaky Bay -Speed Point

We enjoyed our 2 nights at Ceduna and headed of down the Eyre Peninsula rather than just taking the highway straight across to Port Augusta. The area has many crop farms, wheat and barley and its coast fishing industry.
Streaky Bay was a good stop to visit the information centre to stock up on all the brochures for South Australia. The wind was rather strong and it was a challenge to find somewhere sheltered and we thought we had at Speed Point which was just about 10kms out on a dirt road.
We got all parked and set up, had lunch and then the sand started be very annoying and blow all around. It was gusting about 30kms and we knew it was going be difficult to find anywhere very sheltered so went for a long walk on the beach and came back and sat inside out of the wind until it did die down about 5pm when we could sit out in the sun again.Now we know why its called Speed Point as the sand speeds around!!!!

The pattern made by the wind and seagrass in the sand. They were like this all along the beach.

We certainly needed a shower and to give the van a good clean as the sand even found its way in through the fly screens. The joys of caravanning !!!

The view from our doorway at Speed Point

Ceduna-South Australia

The rest of the drive was uneventful, we did share the driving as it got a little tiring. Although we had driven the longest stretch there were many more very straight roads until we reached the town of Ceduna at the end of the Nullarbor.
 The wind was a about 20- 25kms which did have some affect on our fuel consumption but it didn't really buffet us around at all. We were now into our 4th state in Australia and actually feel like we've been up the east and across at the top and down the west and now along the bottom!!!!
Going through the quarantine into Southern Australian was not as thorough as coming in to Western Australia,they only looked in the fridge and not any cupboards. We had made sure we ate all our fruit!

Lloyd fishing near Ceduna

The town of Ceduna was rather pleasant but we were mainly interested in the supermarket and then finding a camp for the night which we did. We were right overlooking the sea.

Can you see where we are camped?

The never ending straight roads!

Magical Sunset at Ceduna

Head of the Bight

We really enjoyed visiting the area of the Nullarbor called the Head of the Bight, its a large open bay of epic proportions in the Southern Ocean and is a marine park. It is an ideal whale watching area between May and October for Southern Right Whales that migrate and of course its many sharks!!

Looking back 

The coastline has these amazing cliff faces that in places are up to 60m high.

They have great viewing platforms

Nullarbor and Bunda Cliffs

Preparing to drive the straights of the Nullarbor. This and cruise control is all you need!!!

Nullarbor comes from the Latin phrase "nullus arbor meaning no trees named in 1866 by Edward Drelisser.

Longest straight road in Australia 146.6 kms

After the longest straight the landscape changes and the highway passes the picturesque Bunda Cliffs with lookouts and rest area where we stayed the night.

View from the caravan on the Bunda Cliffs our camp for the night.

Most of the traffic was other vans or road trains such as the huge tyre truck that pulled in along side us,the truck had 3 trailers which had 42 tyres on the ground with 6 spares and then the 12 huge tyres it was transporting, massive!

Water is very precious along the Nullarbor but they do provide public water tanks which you can fill containers as you need.It is not drinkable but handy for showering etc. we are buying drinking water at the moment which we have done since the Northern Territory.

Norseman and the Nullarbor

Our time at Cape Le Grande was wonderful but it was time to move on, especially as we woke up to a overcast day which does make for a good travelling day.

Tin Camel sculptures in Norseman

Norseman is located in the Goldfield-Esperance region and is the start of the Eyre Highway and the last biggish  town in Western Australia before the South Australia border.It has a population of about 1000 people and at 9am on a Saturday morning in seemed like a ghost town, it was an old gold mining town in the day so the buildings are interesting. We filled up with diesel and drove on !!

Pub in Norseman

We know were in outback country again and looking forward to the many rest stop camp stops along the Nullarbor Plain drive which is about 1200kms from Norseman to Ceduna in South Australia.

The flat treeless limestone plain of the Nullarbor. It is sealed all the way but no fences!

Cape Le Grande NP Part 2

Frenchmans Peak

We enjoyed driving in the park but some of the gravel roads were a bit rugged.

Lloyd did enjoy some fishing which he was successful catching 3 fish. It took awhile before we discovered what sort the largest one was, but thanks to my cousin Wayne's fish identification book which he leant us we found it was a black bream. The other were cod and so we had a yummy fish dinner.

Which side of the road do they drive on in Australia?(The smooth side of course)

Can you see our visitor watching Lloyd?

The rocks were Lloyd caught his fish

Cape Le Grande National Park Dec 3- Esperance

Esperance is a pretty town on the south west coast about 720 kms east of Perth. It has a population of 10,000 and with 5 National parks in the vicinity tourism is a main industry.

We had the choice of 2 camping areas in the park and chose Lucky Bay as the caravan sites have sea views of the beach which is said to have the whitest sand of any beach in all Australia.

This is the view you see as you drive to the camp site. The water is an amazing turquoise  against the white sand

We stayed for 3 days enjoying all the park had to offer. It is  78,000 acres and the landscape is granite rocks and sand plains which are covered in wildflowers. There are large areas of banksias and lots of birds. Also heaps of Western Grey kangaroos which are very friendly. We met some lovely people and explored Cape Le Grande beach, Hellfire Bay and Frenchmans Cap, the granite peak.

Hellfire Bay Too cold for swimming though!!!Again such white sand

Lucky Bay

On the Way to Stokes Inlet Dec 2

We woke to rain and low cloud so there was no point in doing our mountain walk. It was the first time we had to drive in rain since the start of our adventure.
We headed through the Stirling Ranges and down towards Esperance which was about 350kms.
You always see interesting things on the road,although there was very little traffic really.
Much of the landscape was in the wheat growing area and we went through so many towns with the ending of UP.
Evidently it comes from the Aboriginal Noondgar language,meaning either place of, water place or meeting place but probably all three.

One of the many varieties of wildflowers

Stokes Inlet walk

Homestead with plane and windmill.

A Friendly Bandicoot visited our camp, they are usually very shy

The rain stopped and we decided to go to Stokes Inlet NP which sounded good and we booked in for 2 nights as the camp host told us about a great sounding walk. Last night we enjoyed happy hour with 8 other travellers ,its where you pick up great tips on places to go. The walk was lovely and we had a quite afternoon. I especially enjoyed the fact we had coverage and so could catch up on the blog and spend some time researching things.