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Our luck continues. We have been having trouble connecting to the satellite network with the Sat phone, so finally after three weeks rang technical support. We had to send the phone into them to check and got a message to say the phone was faulty (bought in April) and is being replaced under warranty. It is being sent to Mieke's in Kalgoorlie where we will collect it next week.
It was fine but cold when we left Tumby Bay and we headed through Cummins towards the Flinders Highway. The countryside until we got to the highway was beautiful. Mostly undulating hills, beautiful green fields with really good crops or fat happy sheep. One property had English sheep, you know the ones with black faces and black feet. GMan just mumbled, they will feel at home in this cold and wet!
Once we made it to the Flinders Highway we headed north towards Sheringa, then amazingly the countryside changed. Rocky, sparse and very little vegetation. I loved the dry stone walls which dotted the area, even animal pens from former times were made this way. There is just so much rock lying around no wonder they used it.
We
stopped in at the Sheringa General Store which we have heard about because we know a roo shooter who works out of this area. This store is another one of those great country shops, stuffed full of the most amazing merchandise. The range of fishing gear was amazing. Four young men arrived whilst we were there and they we off to fish at Sheringa Beach about 15 kms away. Bought a toasted ham and cheese sandwich each it was magic.
About 16 kms out of Sheringa we came across the Wallings rest area where we had planned to spend the night. As it was only 11:15am we felt it was a little early to stop so we continued on our way.
Not long after that is began to rain, nuisance rain really. We went into Elliston to have a look around and when we got out at the waterfront the wind was bitter and we watched the waves crashing onto rocks out to sea. It looked so cold and miserable.
We headed back along the Flinders Highway and the rain really set it. We finally stopped around 2pm at an overnight stay "Eyre's Waterhole". We could hear
the thunder of the waves somewhere to the south of us and the only rubbish we could see were discarded oyster shells. We set up camp then we wandered off to see the waterhole as there was a break in the rain. Apparently it was a major stopping point for Edward John Eyre on both of his expeditions (1839 & 1840) when he was trying to go from Great Australian Bight to Albany.
The waterhole was described as a shallow well with about 15 inches of water in it which immediately refilled no matter how much water was removed. It was here that they topped up water to continue the expedition. These days the well has been lined with stones and concrete and the water at the bottom is green and does not look appetising at all.
The information board also told us that the members of the expedition would go down to the sea and pick oysters up from the sand and have variety in their diet.
The amazing piece of information we took away with us was just how young Eyre was when he was undertaking all this exploration. He was born in 1815, so
the 1840 expedition happened when he was 25 years old, an amazing feat for one so young.
As we entered the path to go to the well there was a plough displayed. It was invented by a local tractor driver named Ferguson and used by Robert Bratton an early local government employee at the Tumby Bay council for road building in the harsh mallee environment of the Eyre Peninsula and the method became so successful and so widely used that it eventually became known as the Brattonising system of road making. The technique was to plough up the ground until a layer of clay was reached. Limestone rocks were then laid with smaller material and the surface was then sealed. Bet you all wanted to know that. We are convinced that some of the roads in the area are still being built by this method.
By the time we got back to our van another van had entered and set up for the night as well.
We had a lot of rain overnight but got up very late (8:15 am) to discover it was a lovely day.
We were supposed to be 5 kms from Streaky
Bay but once on the road found it was a mere 2 kms down the road. We went in and had a look around. Another nice seaside town. The public art was interesting. There is obviously someone in the art game who likes totem poles. Because it was a Sunday morning it was incredibly quiet in the town. Nothing was open, not even a coffee shop.
We ended up in Ceduna for the night arriving early and set up the TV so we could watch Port play footy this afternoon. Well guess what, we are picking up WA TV and cannot get SA TV so we got the Fremantle game instead!
We emptied out the boot to let that dry out as a lot of rain had leaked in there when it was teaming with rain, will have to look at that when we get to Kalgoorlie.
We were warned that we were not to feed the owners dog at the caravan park because it was on a diet (part Labrador - the greedy ones) but the dog visited about four times just in case we had misheard.
Headed out next morning towards the border but
parked for the night at the Bunda Cliffs Lookout site 75 kms from Border Village, the view was lovely. We were very close to the cliffs and there was a constant wind all night. We went to sleep with the wind coming from the south and rocking the van, but when we woke up it was coming from the east and the van was not moving. We needed to finish up the vegetables before crossing into WA. It will be rehydrated for the next couple of nights. My home dried foods are getting through the inspection points no problems at all. They take one look and say that's fine.
It has been 10 1/2 years since we drove the Eyre Highway and not much has changed. The change in vegetation is always interesting and one thing I have noted is that the edge of the highway has been cleaned up a lot, not much rubbish and very few dead cars.
The only new bird sighting I have had in a while is a Port Lincoln parrot between Cummins and the Flinders Highway. In fact the amount of bird life has been negligible recently. We saw very little animal
life at all coming across the Eyre Highway. My seventh crossing and I still have yet to see a wombat.
I have also included a photo of a painting of Fray done by Sally who is looking after her modelled on the photograph I published recently. We think it is lovely.
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Lorraine Mills
non-member comment
Sheringa
Shaun has been over that way only came home on 11/7/13 due to the wet weather