Aaron & Lib's Australian Adventure

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.

Tree Hugging Hippy

Wedge Tailed Eagle @ Farm Beach SA

Nudge, Charlie & Asha @ Sheringa SA

Col, Brenda, Aaron & Lib @ Sheringa SA

Lib @ Perlubie Beach SA on our Wedding Anniversary

Perlubie Beach SA

Some of the Risks in SA

Campsite at Port Augusta SA @ Cenrtal Augusta Sports Club

Our band aid solution in Port Augusta seems to have worked. We added a product called Seal Up with water into the radiator and it has plugged the gaps. On the bottle it says it is liquid glass. No idea how it works but it has. Bess does seem to be starting and running a lot easier now.

Flinders Ranges as seen from Port Augusta SA

Charlie & Asha at Tug-O-War

Point LowlySA

We left Port Augusta on Tuesday 20/3 and traveled south west down the Eyre Peninsula to a place recommended to us called Point Lowly. It has a large and popular free camp with a toilet block with showers. There would easily have been 50 or more vans there when we arrived. We managed to find a spot to set up and then went down to the beach for a swim. It was magnificent! Pristine clear, calm blue water with white sand. The temperature of the day was about 30 degrees without a cloud in sight and just a breath of air for a breeze. Lib and I decided there and then to spend a week there. Charlie had no fear of the water either. Asha was her usual self and stayed most of the time on the beach. When Lib and I walked into the water Charlie was not going to be left behind and in he came. He was happy enough to chase a stick or the ball in the water while we were in there. I don't think he would ever enjoy going in on his own but he had fun in there with us.

Point Lowly SA

While in the water we noticed a couple of other campers in the dunes and so we wandered over to have a look. We found two vans in a car park by themselves with no "no camping" signs around. They were far from the toilets but they were a lot closer to the beach so we then packed down our campsite and moved over to where they were. As it was only a small car park, it only fit four vans in that night.

Lighthouse @ Point Lowly SA

That night the weather changed. A southerly blew in and we thought we were going to blow away it was that fierce. Wednesday 21/3 dawned with howling winds and the temperature that day rose to more no more than 20 degrees. Oh where had our idyllic paradise gone. We spent the majority of the day hiding in the van from the wind but we did get out for a walk around the point at about lunch time. We walked out along the beach and then rocks to the lighthouse and then back via the road to the boat ramp and jetty. It was pretty.

Point Lowly SA

Boobies!!!

Sunset @ Point Lowly SA

The next morning Thursday 22/3 we moved on as the weather forecast had the weather remaining the way it was for the next week or so. We traveled down through Whyalla to Cowell, where we had a seafood lunch at the Franklin Harbor Jetty. After lunch we began heading towards a free camp in the book at Port Gibbon. On the way we saw a another road heading off in the other direction down the coast and decided to see where it went. We ended up driving to the end of a dirt road and came to Point Gibbon where we spent the next two nights camped by our selves. We saw few people during the day but as it was still chilly and windy we spent most of our time in the van. We did go for the occasional walk along the beach and through the big white sand dunes. The dogs loved tearing up and down those dunes.

View of beach from our campsite @ Point Lowly SA

Whyalla SA

Point Gibbon SA

On Saturday 24/3 we moved just down the coast to another free camp in the book called Redbanks. We got out the fishing gear here as we'd bought some bait at Arno Bay before making camp at Redbanks just north of town. In the first half an hour I caught a foot and a half long Australian Salmon, which Lib cooked up the next day for lunch in an amazing fish curry, but the rest of our time there I didn't even get a nibble. Saturday night saw us acting like children as we got rolling drunk, fished, enjoyed the amazing sunset and each others company.

Sand Dunes @ Point Gibbon SA

We left Redbanks on Monday 26/3 and checked out Port Neill and Tumby Bay as we made our way down to Port Lincoln. They both looked like happy seaside towns though there did seem to be alot of seaweed on the beaches. We had been told that this part of South Australia was famous for its white sandy beaches but so far we hadn't seen any. At Port Lincoln we found out that there were two new free camps in town at the two public boat ramps. We checked out the one north of town but it was highly unsuitable as even with ramps we could not get Bess level. We headed over to the other south of town and it proved to be well worth it. There is a public toilet there which is locked at night but it is level enough. On the way there though Lib and I both missed a "DIP" sign. As a consequence we ended up with a crack in one of our water tanks. We spent that night in the free camp but decided to spend the next three nights in a caravan park while we repaired the crack.

Sand Dunes @ Point Gibbon SA

There is one caravan park in Port Lincoln which does not take dogs but there is one 10km north at North Shields that does. We had to jack up Bess and drop out the water tank to find the crack to repair it. While at the caravan park we walked up to the jetty each day and we bought a squid jig at the caravan park shop and tried our hand at squidding, but so far we have caught none. Though we have seen others catch them. Looks messy but worth it I think if you like calamari.

Sand Dunes @ Point Gibbon SA

As far as white sandy beaches go we were told that they usually are in spring and summer but that the sou' westerly winds in autumn and winter drove the seaweed up onto the beaches.

One local attraction here I did look into as it looked like fun was Cage Diving with Great White Sharks! Way! Well, it did look good until I found out that it came with a $500 price tag. I don't think it looks like that much fun. I think for that money I'd rather go sky diving again.

US @ Redbanks SA

On Friday 30/3 we left the caravan park and dropped Charlie off at the vets so he could have his nuts cut off. We spent the day running errands, had a look at the local marina where we saw prawns being unloaded and had lunch at a local hotel while we waited to pick him up. I know it is necessary to have him desexed traveling so he is much easier to control while we are living on the road, but I still give Lib a hard time about it. It is good that we are able to joke about it.

Redbanks SA

We stayed that night in the free camp at the boat ramp again and tried squidding in the evening but to no avail. Saturday morning 31/3 we moved on to Coffin Bay where we are spending the next two nights at the caravan park. When we arrived yesterday we stopped at the General Store which is also the information centre in town to get the local hot goss on fishing etc only to find out the guy behind the counter, while friendly enough, had no interest and therefore no idea about fishing in the area. He was happy enough to sell us a dozen fresh Coffin Bay Oysters for $8.50 which were beautiful to eat for lunch. As dusk was coming on and we were settling in for the evening we had kangaroos come and visit the caravan park too.