On leaving Elliston we headed north to the historic town of Colton, an old pioneer town complete with a hotel, church, school and cemetery, all only empty buildings today except for the schoolhouse. The cemetery is the burial site of the first Greek settler to SA, George Tramountanas, who arrived in SA in 1822 at the age of 20. One thing not to be missed in Colton is the Bakery !!!! Call in when you see the open sign to purchase wood fired bread via a self serve Shop (shelter) and an honesty pay system. Bread and buns are baked in the wood fired oven bakehouse next to the old Colton school, now a private residence. Trish and I brought a beautiful cob loaf and a pack of 4 sweet sticky buns. Everything was $3.50 each/pack. ... read more

This blog covers the 28th to the 30th October This popular camping area is off the main coast road and nestled in behind the sand dunes with a short walk over the dunes to the beach, great for surf beach fishing.(Salmon) No facilities but great camping spot. It is supported by a well stocked roadhouse (that doubles as the Ranger Station) 7Klm away on the main road. We camped here for three nights and enjoyed the best weather (sunshine) to date albeit it was pretty windy at times! We were able to utilise the outside shower on the Trakkie over the three days and even gave Jackie a shower one night after an extensive session on the beach chasing Gulls, Terns and anything else that flew or moved. I felt I had had 3 days holiday ... read more

It was quite a sad day leaving our fantastic caravan park in Coffin Bay, Trish and I really liked this place the Bay is really fantastic. Leaving Coffin Bay we decided to see some of the farmland of the EP and as such headed inland for Cummins. On the way we were astounded by the quality and amount (hectares) of cropping in the area. If your desire was to be a 'Diesel burning Cropper" you would and should consider this district. Despite the obviously fantastic season, it is is still great cropping country. No jobs here fro Regional Vic Farm Services (Joe!) as it is all aerial sprayed. Maybe I (Mike) needs a pilot license next ! Cummins is a thriving service hub for these farming communities, noticeable by the two largest business' being a John ... read more

This blog entry covers 25th to the 28th October. We arrivve in Coffin Bay and both go WOW, WOW !!!! We are truly talking 'picture postcard here, the town and the caravan park overlooks the pristine waters of Port Douglas. Part of an extensive bay system that includes Little Douglas, Mount Dutton, Kellide, Yangi and Coffin Bays. Being surrounded by seas and National Parks this town is fantastic .....new postcode (Neil) 5607. Coffin Bay was discovered by Matthew Flinders in 1802, today it is a beautiful thriving town with an active commercial wharf in the town centre where you can watch the fishing boats unloading their catches. There are also professional fisherman and abalone divers operating from the amazing boat ramps and we also saw oyster boats returning with racks of the famous Coffin Bay oysters ... read more

Our first port of call today is Whyalla. Located on the western shore of the upper Spencer Gulf with a population of 22500 we felt we were back in a major city for the first time since Adelaide. With an average rainfall of 270mm (about 11 inches for you Poms!), and a climate of around 300 days of fine sunny weather to enjoy we felt we should question this data as we headed into a day of drizzle and clouds! Explorer Edward John Eyre reported the presence of ironstone in the Middleback Ranges in 1840, the first attempt to mine the area began in the 1890's. Starting as a tiny work camp on the shore at the foot of Hummock Hill in 1901 as a service base for the iron ore jetty constructed by BHP. The ... read more

Bit sad leaving today, this was really a magical stop for us, where we met a lot of really great people including a 96 YO and his 88YO wife from Adelaide, still pulling a van and living the dream, there is still hope for Neil and Faye yet !! (only joking :) But....... It was not all that bad as we were loaded with fresh Salmon fillets caught that morning by Vincent and his Welsh mate, Owen, from Porthcawl. Fish for dinner for the next few nights, thanks lads and sorry to the the rest of you. not ! We headed north to Maitland, which is the geographical centre of the Yorke, on a ridge with views of Spencer Gulf to the West and the grain rich Yorke Valley to the East. Maitland is the main ... read more