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Published: March 17th 2022
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On the road again this morning heading down the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula. Our first stop was in Cowell. We were admiring the Silo Art by Austin NITSUA when who should arrive on his motor scooter but Lionel Deer the subject of the artwork! The silos were painted in late 2019 and feature Lionel with his camel Diamantina. I was cheeky enough to ask him to pose for a photograph in front of the silo and he agreed to have his photo taken with the ladies!
Cowell is somewhat famous for its nephrite jade that is mined from the nearby Minbrie Range. The jade deposit is the oldest in the world and one of the world’s largest. I had read about the jade on display at the Cowell Jade Motel so insisted that we make a visit as various bit and pieces of tourist material that I had been reading stated that it was well worth a visit. Hmmn, I expected that there would be at least a little bit of info about the jade and how it was formed and how it is mined, but it is simply a very poorly presented retail outlet for
jade jewellery. It could be a really interesting little stop along the way, but … it’s really not!
Out next stop was at Arno Bay. Another day, another jetty to be walked out, but today saw a return to a good old wooden jetty. From the jetty we drove around to the award-winning Mangrove Boardwalk. Community volunteers constructed the boardwalk along the creek to the sea allowing visitors to experience the mangroves, mudflats and the samphire meadow along the estuary.
We continued south to Port Neill where we purchased lunch at the Port Neill Post & Trade store. We took our sandwiches ‘to go’ and found our way down to Port Neill’s old jetty. The town has a really lovely park down by the jetty so we enjoyed a very picturesque lunchtime view. The contrast between Arno Bay and Port Neill was quite stark with Port Neill being by far the more attractive town.
From Port Neill we made our way down to Tumby Bay. Tumby Bay is a street art destination and we had heard that the town held its annual Street Art Festival over the long weekend. It was
quite exciting to be able to photograph some of the new artworks literally days after they were completed. The leafy sea dragon by Jimmy Dvate was a stand out. From the street art in and around the town centre we made our way to the silo art. This artwork was painted by world-renowned muralist Martin Ron from Argentina on a silo that is still in use. He was assisted by Matt Gorrick to create an image that captures summertime in a seaside town. This silo art has one of the best parking and viewing areas of any that we have been to.
And on we drove to our destination for the next five nights, Port Lincoln. With two national parks in this part of the world there is going to be lots to see over the next few days. We are staying in a rather compact townhouse on the marina. We have a lovely outlook, but we’ve been somewhat caught out again by the ‘two bathrooms’ description on the booking site. At least the second shower and toilet are in the laundry inside the house this time rather than out in the shed!!
Steps
for the day: 16,053 (10.9km)
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Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0317s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Caroline Brunner
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I am SO ENVIOUS. You are enjoying the exact same road trip I should have travelled last August, on my way to a dive with the sharks out of Port Lincoln. Thanks to covid I now have a credit to meet the great whites another time - YET to be decided. Thanks for 'plotting' my trip for me and giving me some additional sights to see.