South Australia - Eyre Peninsula

Hello again! My, how time flies when you are having fun, even with a cold & a cough! Another week of the blog has almost got away from me.. Thank you for all the emails & comments, so nice to hear from you!
Love, Heather & John.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Still in Ceduna. SA - Mainly resting, trying to deal with this cold. I very rarely get a cold & don't 'do' colds well! That's my little moan out of the way! John is much improved, so he has taken over some of the domestic chores for a few days. Picked up a bit of food shopping ready for leaving here in morning. Took couple of photos -  inside van & of beautiful wattle tree just behind van. Had to decide today, based on how healthy we are feeling, which way to go from here - directly to Port Augusta & on to Broken Hill or spend a week touring Eyre Peninsula, South Australia?  Decided we would survive the colds & coughs & we had time to 'do' Eyre Peninsula [EP].



Ceduna, South Australia: John sitting on bed, photo taken by me while sitting at table doing blog;
various shots of wattle tree behind van

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Departed Ceduna this morning bound for overnight stop at Elliston on west coast of EP. Stopped for coffee at Streaky Bay. Sat on balcony overlooking the crystal clear waters & jetty. Coffee was really nice & scones were 'voted' best ones, so far, on this trip! John's sister, Lyn, visited Streaky Bay many years ago, so we phoned her to ask what she remembered - not much at all really, except climbing down a cliff somewhere to a seal colony!

Elliston is a very small town, but it does have a pharmacy for throat lozenges & the mural painted on the outside of the building is very well done! ! Spent the afternoon 'doing' the tourist drive from Elliston. Took us along magnificent, rugged coastal scenery, but sooo.. windy!  Saw some abalone fishermen come in at one of the beaches, they tow the boat in with tractors. Some nice photos of Pacific Gulls also taken at this beach. One of the attractions on this drive is the 'Cliff Top Sculptures' dotted along the cliff tops, well, where else would you find them!



Elliston, SA: Pacific Gulls, Surf, Sand & Beach



Elliston, SA - Tourist Drive, Cliff Top Sculptures: Salmon Pole; Big Thongs & John; Fish Rock Carving;
Surfer Boy & Heather; Dolphin Skeleton, Cliffs & surf in background



Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Today heading for Coffin Bay 152km away near southern tip of EP. Coffin Bay was named by Matthew Flinders after his friend Sir Isaac Coffin & has nothing to do with shipwrecks or coffin shaped rocks. It is also famous for its oysters, but I really thought the ones at Ceduna Oysterfest were better & bigger. Mind you I don't know where the Oysterfest ones came from & I guess they were marketing all the best.
Arrived at Coffin Bay right on lunchtime, so after setting up van headed to 'town' & ate at 'Oysterbeds Cafe / Restaurant', which is know locally as the 'good food house'. Very nice steamed King George Whiting fillets with good chips & very tasty salad. Lovely drive into the National Park this afternoon. Lots of wildflowers out, but limited diversity, unlike Western Australia. Managed to take a few pics of flowers, but the wind made it almost impossible! Lots of photos of water, waves, rocky cliffs & sand dunes!  John says to tell you we did not avoid Point Avoid, actually drove right up to it!



Coffin Bay, SA: Wildflowers in NP - Large Alyogyne Huegelii [Native Hibiscus]; Eucalyptus diversifolia [Coastal White Mallee Gum]; Lasiopetalum discolor [Coast Velvet Bush] - top: with green beetle on back of flower & bottom: front of flower

 As we were coming out of the park we saw Daddy Emu with about 10 chicks! They were very cute, but really hard to get good photos. They ran for their lives, following Dad across the track! Bought some nice oysters & local green king prawns at general store. Yummy Prawn & Veg stir-fry for dinner!



Coffin Bay, SA: National Park - Coastal Scenery: Daddy Emu with chicks; Native Hibiscus close-up;
Goanna, walked across road in front of us then stopped on edge of road for picture!

 Thursday, October 7, 2010
Very short, 50km, trip today from Coffin Bay to Port Lincoln. As we were driving out of Coffin Bay, had to stop & take some photos of the oyster beds at low tide, & boats in the bay. The light was 'just right' & the water was so still making the reflections beautiful!



Coffin Bay, SA: Morning light & Reflections in Coffin Bay

 Arrived at Port Lincoln just before 10 am. Thought we might be a bit early but Caravan Park was happy to let us in. Beautiful site for Caravan Park - ground slopes gently down to the water & the vans are arranged at an angle on terraces so everyone has great water views!
Set up van & drove into town for coffee. Visited Information Centre, booked boat trip for Saturday morning, John had haircut & I made appointment for hair cut & colour tomorrow. Lunch in town, again! Really blowing the budget today! Bought fresh local seafood at seafood co-op outlet - Blue-eyed Trevella & oysters for dinner; bay prawns for tomorrow & a little other food shopping at Coles then back to van to rest & relax.
Lightly dusted the fish with flour & Pirri-pirri spice ['cause that's the only spice/herb I have in the van].  I cooked the fish on baking paper on BBQ while John mixed the Hollandaise sauce & cooked the steamed veges in van. Very nice dinner!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Beautiful sunny morning & no wind! Well, at least till John hung out the washing! Got quite cloudy & tried to shower, but washing did manage to dry in the wind. Late-ish breakfast then I was off to hairdressers for first time since end of August in Perth. Really nice relaxing time & hair, once again, short & very easy to maintain. Will last now till well after we get home in about 3 weeks time.

Whilst I was relaxing at the hairdressers John took Landcruiser to car-wash, had coffee, read paper, had walk around town, bought avocado to go with the prawns tonight & strawberries [from Palmwoods]. Now, if I don't stop blogging & shell those prawns we won't be getting them for dinner tonight!



Port Lincoln, SA: Heather, with new haircut, typing blog, with views to water outside; John near van & views from our site

Saturday, October 9, 2010 Windy, cloudy & quite cold this morning! Not a good start to a boat trip, especially for me! Luckily for me, & the other 8 people on the boat, my tablets worked again! Spent 2 1/2 hours in small boat [7 metre] cruising around the bay & learning about the aquaculture industry here in Port Lincoln. Huge lucrative tuna industry here but also farm mussels, kingfish, pilchards [to feed tuna & kingfish], abolone & more!
Very interesting day. Tasted Sashumi -raw Blue Fin Tuna served with pickled ginger, horseradish cream or wasabi & soy sauce - of the same quality as that sold from here to Japan. This fish retails in Japan for about $1,000 per kilo! Port Lincoln supplies 1% of the Japanese tuna market & only 1% of Japanese people can afford to buy it!
As well as learning about aquaculture industries & eating very expensive tuna we saw seals, sea lions, various sea birds, island & bay scenery. Close-up sighting of a White-bellied Sea Eagle was one of the highlights!
After lunch we drove to a lookout which gives great views of the bay area where we cruised this morning.

Port Lincoln, SA: Cruise boat; Fur seals; Young Sealion; Tuna cage;
View of Port Lincoln from lookout.

Port Lincoln, SA: White-bellied Sea Eagle & seagulls aerial show, a few of the many photos taken!