Streaky Bay and Beyond

We headed off to Streaky Bay for a couple of days of caravan park luxury and there is a Mardigra on in town tonight. We did all the normal shopping, charging of batteries as well as hot showers. Unfortunately when we got to the Mardigra when the last event was finished and the band was a guy and his laptop in the back of a big rig who played some of his music so we headed back to the van for the end of Mary Poppin’s on TV.

I awoke early to head down to the jetty for a fish. They had a fishing comp for the kids there yesterday and I didn’t check to see what could be caught. I should have known when I got there that I was the only person fishing. There were a couple of Kingfish around but they were not interested in the Squid or Tommies I had. There are plenty of Shitties around as usual. We went for a drive around the bay, but it was very windy again in the afternoon. We had a fish at the boat ramp and caught shitties, leather Jackets and one Trevalie that broke Jason’s rod anyway we had a bit of fun with the kids.
We headed off towards Ceduna way and decided to hang near the coast as it was going to be 43 for the next couple of days and decided on Perlubie Beach about 39km north of Streaky. You can take your van on the beach here or in a little in the dunes so we set up there. A beautiful little bay with a pontoon for the kids, nice sheltered beach access and flushing toilets. It was bloody hot but if you stayed at the beach in the nice shallow water it was great. We swum and played in the water.

It was super hot today so we headed down to the beach again in a little bay just around form where we are camping and I headed into the shallow water to fish. First cast and a double header hit. Shame it was a Puffer on one and a leather jacket on the other. The water was the best place to be and it was nice and cool out there. Well I certainly removed plenty of Puffers form that bay. A lot of fishing for just 1 big Tommy.
We had decided to go back for lunch but only after a quick fish off the rocks. Once again we tried this time Tina was after Squid and again first cast lands a beauty, but it was the only one.

Once it got a little cooler we packed up and headed for the Gawler ranges. As we got close the sun set behind the bull trail and the view form the rear view mirror was spectacular. Kirsten asked how far to go and when I said “can you see those mountains in the distance” she said “yes”, well that’s where we are going she did not believe us.
Anyway she went back to sleep and next she awoke we were there. It had luckily cooled down and the sunset of the ranges in the red dust was a change form the ocean setttings we had seen for the past 2 ½ weeks.

We awoke to a cloudy morning and it was nice and cool but it would not be long before the sun burnt off the clouds so we headed off to the Organ Pipes. A 15km 4WD track. They were spectacular and well worth the look.

Back to camp with the kids experiencing there first taste of driving (well steering at least) We packed up before it got to hot and headed off towards Kimba stopping at the Pildappa Rocks which are similar to wave rock. A great camp spot that is not shown in any map or town directions. Obviously they just don’t want anyone to stay there.

One interesting place we saw was another large granite rock near Wudinna. In 1915 they built a concrete gutter around the bottom and used it to collect rain water. It was stored in huge tanks and used to water the local community. Apparently this was done at several sites and supplied water to many local towns. Then they built a pipeline from the Murray and since then these have been left to slowly fall apart. I have read a lot of these types of stories it’s a shame we are not as clever now as they were 100 years ago. We spent the night at Kimba.

Our target today was at least Port Augusta and we passed there and stayed at a place called Chinaman’s creek a tidal outlet south of Port Augusta. We went for a walk on the tidal creek and tried a shortcut through the Mangrove Swamp which only resulted in 4 very smelly and Muddy people. Of all the places this was the windiest of all.
With only a couple of days before the kids head home the routine of packing up is going really well, although there is sadness as we will soon be off to Tassie and only seeing the kids in Holidays.
We drove to Port Pirie had some lunch and headed over to Lee & Brian’s place. It was good to sit down and have a chat with them and talk about all of their adventures. They have certainly seen a lot of Australia. They have really transformed their place and the gardens, sheds and stuff look just great. Their neighbour is fairly paranoid about the locals was really concerned that we did not want top put the Tojo in his yard. This was also fairly creeping out Kirsten. We had a beautiful BBQ and watched Australia lose the cricket again. Tina & I got to sleep in a real bed which feels very strange but I spread out like a starfish all night.


Today we are off to Rob’s at Moonta and it is our last night with the kids. SO we packed up said goodbye and promised to try to catch up with Lee & Brian in Tassie.
Tina and the kids are cooking a feast for Rob tonight as every time we come here he always cooks up a feast so we wanted to give him a night off.
Its quite warm again today so we headed down to Port Hughes for a swim and play on the beach. Once we got back Tina and the kids started on tea. It certainly was a feast Weber Chickens, Potato Bake and the biggest salad you have ever seen. The kids also baked a beautiful cake for desert. I hope the caravan can take all that extra weight form our bellies. We had a great night and it covered some of the sadness we are all feeling about heading off around Aus because up until now after each trip we have come back home.