To Port Lincoln and Eyre Peninsula.

After a quiet New Year with brother and sister in law, we planned to visit friends in Port Lincoln, over 600 km from here. We waited until 12th January to leave though, as it was very hot and we didn't fancy driving through areas which had extreme fire risk.
Cool change with rain, and we headed north to Port Augusta, then around the top of the gulf and down to Whyalla, where we camped the night at the Footy club for $5.00.

Next day I drove Winny from Cowell to just outside Port Lincoln. The road was an easy drive.
We arrived at our friends K & R's house around 3.30pm and parked in their driveway. We had a good view of the town and Boston Bay; at night it was nice to see the lights down there, and in the morning we could watch the sun rise behind hill.
View from where our Winny was parked.

We stayed at K & R's for 2 weeks, and during that time we helped them with their business where we could, and toured around the area. Around 25 kms south of town is Whalers Way at the tip of Eyre Peninsula. K & R kindly let us use their old ute to drive down there; the dirt roads were very rough, so we were happy we didn't have to take Winny down there.

The coastline is rugged, and care must be taken when walking near the edge of cliffs.
A couple of photos of this area........

Another excursion we took was a boat ride out into the bay to feed and swim with Tuna. (Port lincoln is the Tuna capital of Australia)  The fish in this pen are babies at around 40 kg, and swim very fast. Rick and I fed them, but didn't swim with them, though quite a few in our group did get in the water, and appeared to enjoy the experience.

Port Lincoln is famous for its annual Tunarama Festival, which includes various events - the Tuna Toss, (they use rubber ones these days) prawn toss (plastic ones, for the kids) Grand parade, bands and music for all tastes, sideshows, food stalls etc.
We strolled down for a looky-see, enjoyed a feed of fresh local fish, and listened to some good music. We particularly enjoyed the reggae band.

27th January we packed Winny, said our goodbyes to K & R whose hospitality was very generous, and headed of up the centre of Eyre peninsula, through Cummins and Lock; Kyancutta on the Eyre Highway, then Kimba (halfway point across Aus) where we stopped for the night.
Next morning we visited the Information centre and Rick asked about the Gawler ranges. We were told the road is good, so off we went. 100km to the entrance of the Gawler Ranges National Park; the road was sealed and good condition for about 40km, then wide graded gravel road. Then it became narrower, and rougher, with puddles and corrugations. We were beginning to wonder if we had gone the wrong way.

Finally we reached the Park. We couldn't drive off and see too much as most of the tracks are 4WD only, so we drove through the park, (more narrow corrugated dirt road) and out the other side, around 40km. Then we discover we have about another 40km of dirt road before we reach the highway again! The corrugations were even worse on this stretch of road! So we took it slowly while everything rattled and banged; we thought we would be shaken to pieces!
Then we both see it at once and say simultaneously.................BITUMEN!  Yay! 
Photo is a view in the Gawler Ranges National Park.

We had taken a long detour and ended up back on the Eyre Highway 45 km north west of Kyancutta. We camped at Polkdinney Park, Kyancutta, near the general store. We plan to avoid dirt roads for a while.

Friday 29th January - around 180km east / north east to our next stop, Iron Knob, where we took a mine tour and looked at the interesting exhibits in the Information Centre.
We stayed the night at a camp spot in the centre of town; this was very quiet.

Photo below taken from the top of the mine.

Saturday 30th January - Next stop Port Augusta. Rick found the house he lived in for a few years as a child. Right next to a small cliff which he used to ride his go-kart down; and the mangroves he used to play and fish in.
Around 20km south of Port Augusta we turned east towards the southern Flinders ranges; through Horrocks Pass to Wilmington, through Melrose and other towns; then Clare Valley.
We arrived back at my brother's place 7.30pm.
Photo below is a view of southern Flinders Ranges from the road to Horrocks Pass.

We are still here, planning our next trip. We are waiting to have a camber kit fitted to Winny; must phone the Iveco dealer and ask what's happening with it.

Back on home turf.

Long time no post. We have been busy catching up with family and friends, and here it is, the end of 2009; well, tomorrow..........   :)
Today is our 14th wedding anniversary. Where have those years gone?

Thursday 19th November: We left Willow Park and headed into Melbourne on the Princes Highway, and found Robert's Winnebago. We parked out the back for 2 nights while they did the 6 month service on the house section of our Winny.

Saturday 21st November: Time to tackle the freeway out of Melbourne. I was nervous about driving our Magna back to Adelaide by myself, but after leaving the city I was fine. I stuck behind Rick (in the Winny) and it was an easy drive; no big mountains to cross.
We stopped for the night at a pleasant rest area on the outskirts of Great Western, it rained all night and most of the next morning.

Sunday 22nd November: We originally planned to stop for the night at Bordertown, but decided we could drive another couple of hours. We found a car park next to a community hall in Coomandook which looked OK, so pulled in there for the night.
It was quite busy as travellers stopped all during the night to use the toilets.

Monday 23rd November: Through Tailem Bend, past Murray Bridge and down the freeway to Adelaide. Back on familiar roads! Well, almost. A lot of roadworks along the start of Port Road by the city; what a mess!
First stop was Semaphore foreshore to gaze at our beach; then we stopped outside our old house. The new people seem to be doing quite a bit of work around the place.
Then on to Mum's. She wasn't home, but we waited for her. She was thrilled to see us.  :)

Tuesday 24th November: After spending the night in the street outside Mum's house, we went to my daughter's for 2 weeks. Granddaughter was VERY happy to see us, and spent most of her spare time in the Winny with us.

Monday 7th December: We packed up and headed to my older brother's property, where we were warmly welcomed by brother, sister in law and niece.

Saturday 12th December: Packed up again and visited my younger brother and family down south at Seaford; again, a very warm welcome.

Sunday 13th December: Further south to the country town Yankalilla to spend time with Rick's daughter. Again, we were made to feel very welcome, even though the only level area they had was in a horse paddock.  LOL  
But we didn't mind as it was very peaceful, and Rick's DD came to chat with us every spare moment she had.

Photo below is a view from the hill above "our" horse paddock, over Yankalilla to Normanville on the coast.

This photo is from the same hill looking down into "our" horse paddock. I have circled our Winny so you can see where we were camped.

Friday 25th December: We had Christmas breakfast with Rick's DD and BF, very nice. Then we had to leave as we were invited to my younger brother's house.

We had a great day with more family; lots of good food & laughs.

Saturday 26th December: Back to the north western suburbs to have lunch with Rick's brother and family. Then back to my older brother's property north of Adelaide in the evening. Another great day of family fun.  :)

Photo below is Rick learning to drive my brother's tractor. If it wasn't so hot outside today, Rick would be working on it now.

 

My next post will be in 2010! 

Happy New Year everyone!!!