Aaron & Lib's Australian Adventure: Coffin Bay

Coffin Bay Foreshore SA

Farm Beach SA

2/4/12 Monday . Yesterday afternoon Charlie and I went fishing at Snapper Point, Coffin Bay. I caught several fish although only two were keeping size, one King George Whiting and one mullet. After returning to camp and cleaning and filleting them, Lib cooked them in a lovely beer batter. It was the first time we had tried to fillet fish and to batter and fry them. It was an amazing success. We left Coffin Bay this morning after visiting the oyster sheds where we picked up 2 dozen oysters which had only just been taken from the ocean. We drove further west along the coast to Farm Beach where, after lunch, we took the dogs for a nice long walk on the beach. It is called Farm Beach because it is shallow for a fair way out and so tractors are used to launch boats into the sea. It has been a really windy day today and so we have spent the remainder of the afternoon watching TV.

Gallipoli Beach SA

Riding to Gallipoli Beach SA

3/4/12 Tuesday. This morning we were awoken rather rudely by Charlie. He had the runs and crapped in the door way of Bess and boy did it smell. Lib was not very happy and once the mess was cleaned up we were well and truly awake by then. We took the dogs for a walk for a couple of hours along the beach, which killed the morning, and after a lunch of deep fried oysters and onion rings we took Charlie for a run with the bikes out to Gallipoli Beach. It is the spot where they filmed the beach scenes of the acclaimed Mel Gibson movie. It was Charlie’s first run with the bikes and he did really well. He didn’t snap at the bikes or tyres and he only ran in front of Lib once. The rest of the time he was happy to run behind or beside the bikes. It was 9 km’s out and back and he was well and truly buggered by the end of it. Upon our return, one of our neighbours was kind enough to offer us a few whiting fillets for our tea, fresh caught that afternoon.

Tractors @ Farm Beach SA

4/4/12 Wednesday. At happy hour the night before a group of us had gathered at Col & Brenda’s van. We had met them the day before down the beach when Lib and I had first arrived at Farms Beach. They have a dog named Nudge and he and Charlie got along like a house on fire, chasing up and down the beach. Nudge had plenty of patience for Charlie’s puppy exuberance. Also there were our next door neighbours for the two days Don & Iris with their pooch Ozi, a 2 yr old Staffy, and also another couple we’d met in Port Lincoln, Peter and his wife, along with some others.

We moved on this morning and as we were making our way back to the highway Lib spotted a wedge tailed eagle flying low next to us. As he alighted in a tree we saw there were three others with him. We stopped to get photos of course. It was amazing as neither of us had seen these majestic birds in the wild before.

Jetty @ Elliston SA

Once we got back to the highway we stopped at Sheringa at the General Store only to pull up behind Col & Brenda. They were headed out to the same camp spot we had decided to check out. The bloke at the General Store told us that there was camping further along from the campground if we continued along the track which we did and came to a great spot. Col and I went fishing for a while after lunch and the girls came down to watch. I spent most of the afternoon working on Bess and in the evening we had a campfire, thanks to Lib for her hard work in collecting all the fire wood. We ate, drank and talked the evening away. We all had a great time and I think Lib and I have made some new friends.

Sunset @ Walkers Rock SA

Woolshed Cave, Talia Caves SA

5/4/12 Thursday. This morning we said our goodbyes to Col and Brenda with the promise to catch up with them for a beer that afternoon as they were staying at Elliston C.P. We headed off as well and did our shopping and refuelled Bess in Elliston. LPG was $1.07/ltr. Whoa! We headed down to the pier where we had lunch and then got out the fishing gear to while away the afternoon. Lib had great success catching about six fish with three of them being keepers, one silver Trevally and two Tommy Ruff’s. I caught two small fish which sadly had to be returned to the sea. Around five in the afternoon we caught up with Col, Brenda and Nudge for a couple of beers and then made our goodbyes and headed out to Walkers Rock campground to spend the night.

Woolshed Cave, Talia Caves SA

6/4/12 Friday. Woke up this morning to a howling gale. We were planning on heading off along the highway but after checking the weather forecast with wind up to 52km/hr expected we decided not to drive. Instead, we spent most of the day inside watching Seachange. Our new friends Col, Brenda & Nudge arrived in the early afternoon to visit and check out the campsite. We shared a beer with them and Col found a semi comfy natural lounge chair by the sea out of the wind. For dinner that evening we had fish fillets from our previous days catch. Trevally is a truly delicious fish.

I also spoke to Barry today who told us that they expected to catch up with us by Kalgoorlie as they are leaving Temora on or around the 13^th.

Pig Rock, Talia Caves SA

7/4/12 Saturday. We left Walkers Beach this morning and headed further along the coast to Baird Bay, stopping along the way at Talia Caves and Venus Bay. Talia Caves was really beautiful. The coast line there was all exposed sandstone til the high tide mark where it was limestone on top. At one spot called the Tub, the sea had created an underground cavern which had been eroded from the inside out. At some point in time the roof has collapsed leaving a natural amphitheatre that we could climb down into and get up close to the crashing waves as we stood in what remained of the tunnel.

Lib And Puppies @ Talia Caves SA

Venus Bay was also really nice and would have been a good spot to stay if it hadn’t been packed due to Easter holidays. It was really busy there that day as there was a search on for a missing teenage boy feared drowned. The SES, Search & Rescue and the coppers where there with boats and a helicopter. The day before three boys had been out near the heads on a speed boat wakeboarding. The rope had become wrapped about the propeller and had flipped the boat. Two of the boys had managed to swim to shore, however, one of them had died in hospital and the third was still missing. It was very sad.

Our Babies @ Talia Caves SA

We moved on to spend the night at Baird Bay where we found some very nice people to share happy hour with. They told us that the fishing in the bay was better done with a boat as the beaches in the area were very sea weedy and not recommended for fishing off of.

The Tub @ Talia Caves SA

Lib Climbing out of The Tub @ Talia Caves SA

The Tub @ Talia Caves SA

8/4/12 Sunday. We discovered that we were running low on water and the porta potti was full this morning. We drove into Streaky Bay to the dump point to find that water was available there also for a small fee, $1 for 25 litres. We stocked up on a few supplies to get us through the rest of the weekend and then checked out the local market in town which was unimpressive to say the least. We then turned south of town and drove out to Speeds Point. After lunch I got out the surf rod and Lib and I went down to the beach where we had a great afternoon. Lib decided it wasn’t too chilly and went in for a dip with Charlie, while Asha kept me company on the beach. I caught one Mullet before we headed back to camp to settle in for the evening.

9/4/12 Monday. Today we left Speeds Point and drove south to Point Labatt to visit the only permanent sea lion colony on the Australian mainland. We stopped along the way at Surfers Beach, Sceale Bay and took the dogs for a walk along the beach. The waves were very small and there were no surfers there.

Surfers Beach @ Sceale Bay SA

After driving for 25 minutes 17 km’s along a shitty corrugated dirt road we found ourselves at Point Labatt where we were able to view the sea lion colony from a distance of approximately 150m. They lay around and didn’t do much. They didn’t even put on a show.

Shell Aaron found @ Surfers Beach @ Sceale Bay SA

We moved on to Tyringa Beach to fish and spend the night as we had been told it was a great spot for beach fishing. It wasn’t. There wasn’t much sand, mainly rocks and we only caught one rock cod. We settled in for the evening but the wind kept getting stronger and stronger and we were parked side on to the headland and felt like we were getting blown away. At about 11pm as we were heading for bed we made the decision to find a better spot to sleep. Oh what an adventure! In a howling gale in the middle of the night in a 7m vehicle on a shitty dirt track better suited to 4wd’s we managed to turn around. Then we took a wrong turn and had to try and work out how to turn around again and we had no phone service if we got stuck. After finding the right track and moving half a click back from the cliff edge we levelled the van as best we could and went to bed. Why we thought we could take Bess down there in the first place I don’t know, but that’s where stories come from. Don’t they?

Sea Lions @ Pt Labatt SA

Murphy's Haystacks @ Streaky Bay SA

10/4/12 Tuesday. After a big sleep in from the previous night’s adventures we made our way out to Murphy’s Haystacks to see the granite formations in the middle of a paddock. It was quite impressive really. On one outcrop we saw a natural beehive. After that we headed back to Streaky Bay where we fished off the jetty all afternoon catching one Tommy Ruff and several Shitties (called that by the locals as they have lots of bones and are shit to eat). Lib went to get chips and more bait later in the afternoon and not long after she returned Brenda, Col and Nudge arrived to say hello. Late in the day we went out to Tractor Beach to spend the night at another campground. We weren’t very impressed as the beach was covered in a mountain of seaweed.

Murphy's Haystacks @ Streaky Bay SA

11/4/12 Wednesday. Today is our 14^th wedding anniversary. We left tractor beach early this morning and drove into Streaky Bay to stock up a bit and then turned north and drove to Perlubie Beach to spend the remainder of today. It is a great spot. The beach is sheltered by an island an so there are no waves to speak of. The beach is sandy and there is shallow water up to waist deep out to about 250m off shore. We took the dogs for a long walk and a swim. Charlie is still not sure but he gives it a go. We saw a wobbegong shark about a metre long in the shallows but we couldn’t catch him so no shark for dinner.