Ardrossan to Port Vincent

---

We had read about the sunrise on the red cliffs at Ardrossan being spectacular so we were up before the sun and off to the Ardrossan jetty to take photos. While waiting for the sun to rise we met a Golden Retriever puppy named Gus and chatted to the locals fishing for squid and blue swimmer crabs. At 7.10am the sun rose behind a bank of clouds so we had to wait a little longer before the sun rose above the clouds and was shining onto the red sandstone cliffs.

After the sunrise we went ‘home’ for breakfast and showers before driving down to Port Vincent looking for all the Photo Opportunities shown on the tourist map! Our first stop was at Billy Goat Flat/Pine Point. Funnily enough Billy Goat Flat was down at sea level and Pine Point was up on the bluff just to the south. While on the bluff we took the opportunity to walk a little (very little!) section of the ‘Walk the Yorke’ trail.

Our next stop was at Surveyor Point near the Port Vincent Golf Club. There were stairs down to the beach somewhat reminiscent of the ‘boardwalk’ we did in Adelaide at Hallett Cove. These stairs took us straight down to a very rocky beach. There may not have been any sand, but there were some picturesque rock formations.

After this elevated section it was back down to sea level at the Port Vincent township. We parked under the ubiquitous beachfront Norfolk Island Pines alongside a sign that warned against doing so at nighttime because the shags like to roost in the trees … and while they are roosting they poop! The sign included a photo of a car covered in shag sh1t after being parked overnight. Eeeeuw!

We decided to drive back to the Ardrossan Bakery for lunch. With Cornish pasties sold out we had to make do with their beef and potato pasties. We ate in and left a pile of pastry crumbs underneath our table because the pastry was so flaky. Yum!

From the bakery we made our way around to the Ardrossan Museum which is operated by the National Trust. The museum is the home of the stump jump plough which was invented by a couple of local brothers, Richard and Clarence Smith. After a falling out between the brothers it became quite controversial as to just which of them it was who invented the plough with each of them claiming it was him! The rest of the museum contained a wide variety of agricultural equipment and artefacts from the wreck of the Zanoni.

Before returning to James Well, we picked up some meat and salad from the supermarket to cook our own dinner tonight on the BBQ. Back in James Well we headed out the back door and on to the beach for an invigorating walk along the shoreline to Rogues Point, the next small settlement along the coast.



Steps for the day: 12,984 (9.0km)

---

Photos

Gadli droppings on the beach at Port Vincent
Actually boulders dropped by a glacier millennia ago

Comments

[Caroline Brunner]

Sharing is caring.
LOVE touring with you. My road trip to SA had to be cancelled last year (I was going to Port Lincoln to dive with the sharks) so you are both travelling the path I had planned to do. Now looking at 2023. Be safe 'roadies'.

[Trabern]

COVID has a lot to answer for!
I imagine that like us you have been very frustrated by the limits that have been imposed on our ability to travel in the last two years. Thank goodness things are starting to get going again. We were excited the other day to be in a car park in a South Australian National Park together with NSW and Queensland registered vehicles!!