Winter Journey

Crystal Brook

Morgan

Mildura

Kerang

Bendigo

The rain had stopped by the time we left Port Augusta. We didn't see much, that will have to be another trip. The entire place was crowded with hundreds of caravans, either travelling west, doing “the big lap”, going to Uluru or Kings Canyon.

Having a break in the middle of nowhere

We enjoyed our journey east, we stopped at Crystal Brook and Spalding before reaching Morgan for an overnight stop. It's a lovely little park right on the banks of the Murray River, we'll have a look around in the morning before we leave.

Wandering in the main street of Crystal Brook

Deserted shopping strip

Crystal Brook Butcher shop

Thinking of becoming a Vegan!

This morning we walked along the banks of the Murray at Morgan, we watched the ferry bringing the cars and caravans across the river. This is a free ferry that operates 24 hours every day. It didn't stop, backwards and forwards continually as there was plenty of traffic.

We followed the Tomtom instructions and took the road towards Renmark and then on to Mildura. We are in the Golden River Holiday Park

which is full of families and kids...1^st day of the school holidays!

We'll have a look around in the morning but are only overnighting here, and as we've spent time in this region before will keep moving. A flat tyre held us up, after sorting that out we continued on to Kerang and then Bendigo.

Camp kitchen beside the river

Morning reflections, Loddon River, Kerang

The Tudors to Windors exhibition at the the Bendigo Art Gallery was the finale of our winter journey, we arrived home safely the next day. 

Queen Elizabeth I

King Henry VIII

Prince Charles & Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Winter Journey

Tumby Bay

Elliston

Venus Bay

Streaky Bay

Port Augusta

4 Days without phones or internet hasn't been much fun, we finally bought a Telstra Sim so we could contact home. Most caravan parks say they have WiFi but unfortunately the signal is so weak it is truly a waste of time logging on...even here in Port Augusta which is a large rural city we have none, oh well, I'll type this out and try to add it to the blog at some time.

We left Tumby Bay and travelled west across the Eyre Peninsula to Elliston. There's not much there except a couple of fabulous drives around the cliffs. We did that with the caravan on but coped well with the unmade roads, thankfully it was dry. Wonderful views and a not to miss experience of seeing The Great Australian Bight for the first time.

There are lots of interesting murals in this part of the world

Rugged coastline of the Eyre Peninsula

The Great Australian Bight

Looking towards Flinders Island and Tasmania

Not Easter Island

We drove on to Venus Bay and stayed in a small park right on the water. It was a little more sheltered there and a good place to overnight.

Venus Bay

Continuing on up the coast the next day with a stop at the magnificent Murphy's Haystacks. We loved the walk through the hay fields and took as many photos as we could.

Amazing rock formations known as Murphy's Haystacks

Dotted around on private farmalnd

Reminded me of Stonehenge

Natural rock formations called Inselbergs

Streaky Bay was our next stop, we treated ourselves to a fish and chips meal, looked around the town, did our washing and relaxed at the park. The wind started to howl on Friday night so we expected a sleepless night. There was wind, rain and hail but we survived and left early this morning for the long drive to Port Augusta.

War memorial Streaky Bay

Fabulous sunset Streaky Bay

This one is sunrise the next morning

One of the Streaky locals

We passed through Kimba which is famous because it's half way across Australia, has painted silos AND the Big Galah.

Kimba, celebrating wheat

Main Street Kimba

Here he is

The sign says it

I believe it

Iron Knob from the other side

The next two photos give an idea of the vast distances

we travelled

This road goes on forever

When we got to Port Augusta all the caravan parks were full...oh dear!

Trev finally talked his way into The Discovery Park who kindly gave us a never used site right beside the highway. We are grateful, yes we are, even if it is a 5 minute walk to the bathrooms and the van rocks every time a truck passes by. 

Lesson, book in advance from now on as we head into Victoria and homeward.

Winter Journey

Port Neil

As you can see the day started off well with the caravan door giving Trev and a neighbour lots of grief. Finally a decision was made to leave broken door as it is and find an expert somewhere on our travels.

Then a perceived problem with the car turned out to be a false alarm with a mechanic saying “ I can't see any oil leaks, so don't worry about it Mate, she'll be right”. Fortunately we had no further problems so hope he's right.

We went to Port Neil which was closed as are many of the small towns and settlements in this area at this time of year. There is a lovely park on the foreshore with a beautiful newly planted garden. We sat in the sun and had our picnic there looking over the water. We drove along the “scenic drive” which only took a few minutes and ended up at the Roger Cox lookout which did give spectacular views of the area.

Anchor from the ship Lady Kinnaird.

Port Neil

Port Neil, a lovely holiday village

Taken from the Roger Cox Lookout

We drove back to Tumby on back roads, passing through Ungarra, Lipson and picturesque farmland. We sat in the late afternoon sun before the cold drove us into the heated caravan.

Dog Fence Road

This little bird got as close as she could, just out of Pippie's range...smart bird

Birdie for dinner would be good!

Winter Journey

Tumby Bay

Port Lincoln

Coffin Bay

The last 3 days in this area have been relaxing and interesting. We did go to Port Lincoln briefly on Saturday only to find the caravan repair and spare parts place was closed.

We spent the rest of the day in and around Tumby Bay.

Tumby Bay

We discovered more Silo art just off the highway. This time depicting life in Tumby Bay showing 2 boys jumping from the jetty. There are also other wall art pieces around the town.

Silo Art Tumby Bay

Wall of Yacht Club

More murals around the town

It's a great walk from the caravan park along the waterfront to the jetty, we watched the pelicans lining up and squabbling, waiting for treats from the fishermen.

We found the National Trust Museum in a side street of Tumby Bay, it's only open for a couple of hours on some days so we timed it perfectly. What a treasure trove of wonderful memorabilia collected around the local area. No aspect of the community has been forgotten, the history for just about everything Tumby and surrounds is recorded there. It turns out that Trev may even have had a distant relative who was well known in the town. The man there showed us a photo and a newspaper article about Ern Nitschke.

Port Lincoln is a large regional city, with large shopping centres. The road trains full of grain deliver to the wharf just on the edge of town. It was freezing cold there today so we didn't wander much. We did get a new handle for our van though and had lunch in the car with a great view over Lincoln Inlet and the National Park.

The wharf at Port Lincoln

Port Lincoln foreshore

Can you see the Lindt Bunny...

or is it just me?

It took us about ½ an hour to drive down to Coffin Bay which is on the western side of the peninsula opposite Port Lincoln. It is home to oyster farms, fishing, with lots of beach lovers holiday homes. We drove around the point into the National Park before gong to the lookout and then returning to Tumby Bay through Cummins.

Coffin Bay oyster beds