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Published: December 8th 2009
After spending a fortnight in 40 plus degs in outback SA, we were relieved to revisit the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula and spend a week with Jane and Steve. Most days were a lot cooler with the exception of one. Steve, who had just left Aberdeen at the beginning of a Scottish winter, was welcomed into Adelaide with its highest ever recorded temperature (43 deg)! Needless to say he found it a little unpleasant! Even Jane, who had flown down from Brisbane, was seeking solace from the heat and had resorted to storing her dresses in the fridge!!! By this point we also started taking pity on the Woodster and after we finally agreed that neither the health authorities or the RSPCA would be happy if we stored him in the fridge we decided to give him a “boxer” look by soaking a towel in cold water and draping it over him. Now he quite happily accepts the fact that he has to look like Mohammad Ali just to cool down!
During the week with Steve and Jane, we had the tough job of revisiting the lovely beaches of Port Elliot and Victor Harbor and we were forced to participate in
Steve, Rich and Jane
Waitpinga Beach, Fleurieu Peninsulayet more wine tasting in McLaren Vale …yes it’s a tough life but we took it on the chin like any good Aussie would!!! As usual the time flew over and it wasn’t long til Jane and Steve were leaving us for their next adventure on the Great Ocean Road.
The next move for us was to make our way across the Nullarbor and reach WA. We had planned to skip right over the top of the Eyre Peninsula (which I am sure most travellers do!) but at the last minute we decided that it might be worth a look. We were very pleasantly surprised and I have to say that both of us thought the coastline on this peninsula is the best we have seen so far on this trip and by far the best in SA.
Our first night on the peninsula was spent at a lovely bush/beach camp spot in Fitzgerald Bay which provided stunning views over the top of Spencer Gulf and gave us a beautiful beach all to ourselves. The next day we visited the maritime museum in Whyalla and being the only tourists around …were given a personalised tour of HMAS Whyalla.
Rich, Hay and Steve
Waitpinga Beach, Fleurieu Peninsula This was the first ship to be built in the new steel/ship yards in Whyalla in 1941 and was built for use during the 2nd world war. Several other ships of similar design were built shortly after her and their main role was mine sweeping. She served successfully for many years during the war and despite being in “the action” on several occasions, there were never any fatalities on board. After retiring from service she was known as the RIP and was used to blast the entrance of Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne until the late 1970’s. She was saved from the scrap yard by the Whyalla visitors centre and has since been restored to her former glory as a Navy ship and is certainly worth a look around …especially if you have a personalised tour as the lovely lady lets you play with the wheel and honk the horn!!! (Rich was a very happy boy!).
The Eyre Peninsula’s main industry is aquaculture and this is evident in pretty much every town you visit. It provides SA with more than 60% of it’s seafood and is world renowned for its “Coffin Bay” Oysters. Never having tried an Oyster you
Hay, Jane and Steve
Waitpinga Beach, Fleurieu Peninsula can probably forgive me for not being aware of this!!! They also have large sea pens which are used to culture fish species such as Tuna, Yellowtail Kingfish and King George Whiting. Each tuna season, which starts on the 1st December, the tuna wranglers leave Port Lincoln in their fishing boats and head for the Great Australian Bight. They hunt down massive schools of tuna and bring them back to the pens in Port Lincoln where they culture them. One of the unique delights about Port Lincoln is that they actually let you swim with the tuna in the pens on the tuna farm …. don your flippers, mask and snorkel and you can go in the pens and play/swim with these huge fish! It is very popular and must be an amazing experience … especially if you are in there at feeding time!
Despite swimming with tuna, there was an even greater temptation for Rich and I, the chance to swim with wild sea lions …this one we just couldn’t resist! We were taken out to Blyth Island in the Sir Joseph Banks group and as soon as we arrived, a small group of “teenager“ sea lions waddled
down the beach and into the water to meet us. The boat was anchored a little way off shore since going onto the island is prohibited to respect the sea lions territory. We were given the usual snorkelling gear, a wetsuit and a few “do’s and don’ts when in the water” and off we went. All of the sea lions were youngsters and were very playful. The interaction is all up to them and you aren’t allowed to touch them but the more you roll, twirl, dive and flip in the water the more they want to play with you. They actually imitate some of the actions you do. They are very curious and very funny! They don’t allow you to swim with the adults or close to the breeding beaches as it can get quite aggressive and the big boys can weigh over 300kg! The little guys we were swimming with were anywhere up to 200kg and that was big enough …especially when you are in the water with them! This was so much fun and is certainly a must do if you’re ever in Port Lincoln.
Another great attraction of Port Lincoln is that you can go
cage diving with Great White sharks where they will chum the water and attract the big beasties in. Knowing that they did this only a few kms from where we were swimming with the sea lions, despite all the antics and fun of swimming with the sea lions, I simply could not shake the idea that we were about to become dinner for a wandering shark. We were swimming with a delicacy after all, the locals actually refer to the sea lions as “shark chocolate” so as you could imagine I was very relieved to get back on the boat in one piece! The tour guide did come in with us and I did happen to notice his rather large knife before we entered the water!!! Ah well, all good fun eh?!!!
The Eyre peninsula also has some of the most beautiful national parks in the whole of SA. Port Lincoln NP has amazing beaches and some great bush walks and the whole area offers great fishing (Mr Olyott, you would love this place … lots of squid and fish everywhere!!!). Coffin Bay on the western side has a fabulous lake / inlet system which is very sheltered (perfect
HMAS Whyalla
Maritime Museum for the boatie) and is absolutely spectacular. This is certainly a favourite of mine!
We took a week to explore the peninsula (so much for a brief look!) and the bays on the western coast (Baird Bay, Venus Bay, Waterloo Bay and Streaky Bay) are even better than those on the east. Our final stop before leaving the peninsula was Ceduna and after the beautiful bays, the town itself was a bit disappointing. However, this is the place where I fell in love with Bruce!!! Yes, Bruce is a true blue aussie and he does have a big belly but he doesn’t wear thongs nor does he drink beer! Bruce is a common wombat and lives with Val at her fauna rescue centre along with several southern hairy nosed wombats (one called Bill with downs syndrome!), a gorgeous sleepy lizard called Goulder and a few other small critters who have been rescued for one reason or another. Val is a lovely “retired” lady who does all of this almost entirely out of her own pocket and has a heart of gold! I did feel a little sorry for her husband though who has had to come to terms with
Hay and Statue of Makybe Diva
Owner of Makybe Diva from Port Lincoln wombat boxes right through his house and wombats sleeping on his sofas!!! She does an amazing job and she spent two hours with us showing us around and telling us all about the animals. I got a beautiful cuddle from Bruce who fell asleep in my arms and I just couldn’t resist giving him a kiss on his big smooth nose!!! Gorgeous!!!!
Over the past 2 days we have had 2 really good days (weatherwise) to cross the Nullarbor and stopped off along the way to see the Great Australian Bight. Although we were out of season to see the southern right whales (which apparently arrive in huge numbers to breed here between May and September) it was still quite spectacular. There isn’t really that much to see crossing the Nullarbor except a few roadhouses and the worlds longest golf course which stretches for nearly 1400kms!!
Crossing from SA to WA we had to go through another border control but this time I wasn’t going to be beaten so we stopped about 10kms before the border and ate the entire contents of our fridge!!! Feeling very sick and heavy, yet satisfied that good food was not just going
to be thrown away, we passed through border control and had our trailer and car searched for fruit and veg. This time they only got away with 3 onions and a jar of honey!
We are now in WA (nearly half way!) and December has arrived with Christmas just around the corner. To remind us of this we have purchased some Christmas decorations for the trailer including reindeer, a little silver tree (Emma, you would be so proud!) and some coloured outdoor lights!!! I also have a little snowman (or woman since we’ve named her Bella after one of Val’s wombats) which lights up and changes colour and she rides shotgun with me!
I will leave it until next time to tell you about the beauties of WA. Hope you are all enjoying the festive season and you all have enormous Christmas trees dominating your entire living space!!! I’d expect nothing less!!!
Wishing you a fun and safe season and a Merry Christmas to all!
x
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Roy and Linda
non-member comment
Cooooool dog........!
Hi, Richard, Hayley and Woody The photo of Mohammad Ali Woody is a knockout! Even the towel very nearly has ALI on it! The way the Woodster adapted to the cool towel shows what an intelligent animal he is. A star! I had wondered how he would be coping with the heat. Did not realise Adelaide recently had new record temperatures. The best thing I remember about the heat there was that the night temperatures always seemed a lot cooler comparatively to elsewhere. I remember seeing lots of pelicans too! The sea lion swim was a 'must do' Louise and I would have found it difficult to resist the tuna swim as well. I did a seal swim off Kaikoura, the only seal I saw was in the car park! So amazed about that, we returned the next day and there was a different seal in the car park! You don't see that in South Shields! I did read since that orca like the odd seal as a snack and can mistake humans in black wet suits for seals. Haven't tried it again! Apparently you should wear bright multi coloured wet suits, but then do sharks, orca etc have colour sight? About 35 years ago when they were still whaling in the Bight there was a documentary doing the rounds of slaughtered whale carcasses at anchor off Albany awaiting dragging ashore for processing. The local sharks would bite off chunks and the programme made an issue over how big and ferocious they were. Therefore you are very brave. Seems that Bella and Bruce's home must be the SA equivalent of Chatton. Val sounds so much like Lisa, another wonderful person. You definitely have a talent for making animals relax and pose for you Hayley. The beaches are our sort of beach, pretty, peaceful and the sight of a happy dog enjoying himself (no doubt) what more could anybody want. WA was always my preference, I preferred the heat there, always seemed less humid and therefore more comfortable, hope it is for you three. The moral of this blog Hayley and Richard is, DO NOT skip over anything, leave NO stone unturned, it is a unique, wonderful country (away from the cities) full of surprises, go for it! You have a life time to enjoy the memories and we have the next blog to look forward to, can't wait! Keep them coming! First frost last night, day time temperature 2 deg C. Comfort is somewhere in the the middle of here and SA! Hoping Bella brings you both the very best of health and happiness for Xmas and the New Year. Lots of love Roy and Linda xxx