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Published: October 19th 2014
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Fishing Trip
Point Lowly. Popular fishing point. These places are not on the list of destinations on travel blog. To find them, you need a very good map and look for the South Australian town of Minnipa. Now, many of you will have travelled towards Ceduna and stopped at or passed by The Concrete Crappa. If you nodded, then that is Minnipa. If you shook your head, then go find a very good map like Dr Google has. We have gone past this point three times without realising there is a small town tucked just off the highway.
When we arrived at Minnipa (2 nights from Wilpena) Marg found a regional tourist information map not far from the Concrete Crappa. (A flush toilet set inside what looks like a concrete water tank with a side door.) She said that in dry weather, any vehicle can access these two unusual locations, Tcharkulda and Pildappa. Well, it was dry, and we had time to spare, so away we went. By the way, if the Concrete Crappa is not your cup of tea, so to speak, the town centre has a very modern set of conveniences.
Tcharkulda Rock is about 5ks out of Minnipa down a quite good gravel
Rabbit Rock
Can you see a rabbit's face in this Tcharkulda Rock? road. Then there is a track up to this granite rocky outcrop. It is not unlike The Devils Marbles in the Northern Territory, but just fewer marbles. The rock is also quite a good lookout point with views over a very fertile agricultural region.
Tasmania has its Tasmanian Devils, but this part of South Australia has the Shingle Back Lizard as one of its prolific locals. Now it is surprising that they have not all become road kill. They always want to cross the road. And when they get there, always want to cross the road. We have dodged many in the past two days driving, However, when the camera comes out, they waddle for cover. They are the Snails of the lizard population. They are related to the Blue Tongue Lizard which you may be more familiar with.
From Tcharkulda Rock we returned to Minnipa and took an exit at the other end of town to go to Pildappa Rock. This is an inselburg granite structure which has a wave formation on three faces. So, if you want to go to Wave Rock but don't want to cross to Western Australia, and you want free access with
picnic area, this is a good option.
As mentioned, this is a fertile wheat growing area, and harvest is just beginning. The wheat belt here is HUGE - we drove 170 ks today, of which 150 would have been wheat on both sides of the road. It would look like the region was first sheep and cattle, but as dry pasture wheat varieties were developed, they have taken over the whole region. It is mind boggling to see, because we drove 270ks the day before, and saw just as much wheat for at least 200ks. This region is at the top of the Eyre Peninsular, and this cropping goes a fair way down to the tip as well..
So, how did we get to Minnipa? After leaving Wilpena, we travelled down through Hawker, Port Augusta, camped at Point Lowly for a night, shopped in Whyalla, crossed through Cowell, cleve, Lock and we must mention Rudall. Now, Tom Tom said to turn left at Rudall, but my map showed us going straight ahead. Now if you can find Rudall as you drive you are a magician, yet alone do a left turn because there are no cross streets. However,
Tommy was right, turn left to cross the railway line, then right and go straight ahead. Tom Tom 1, Rob Rob who was navigator at the time, in big trouble. Had we gone straight ahead at the turn left point we would have gone into the magical realm of Darke Peak.
If you look at a map of the western part of SA, you will see that we have not been taking the shortest route. Well, that's because we have criss crossed this area previously, so we decided that we would take one of a few alternate ways to cross the Eyre Peninsular just because we could.
One of the interesting things about this transcontinental drive is the variety of unusual loads we see on trucks. Yesterday it was a truck load of trucks. Today it was a truck load of caravans. Who knows what we will see next week when we cross the Nullarbor.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
If you nodded, that is Minnipa
Glad to see you continue to explore off the beaten track. The lizard is cool.