Week 4

Adelaide, SA 23rd - 25th Jan 2013(Part 2)

We came very familiar with their roads after quite a few hours exploring the suburbs.
For our wedding Anniversary we had a lovely day out in the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley. Spending time visiting different places (chocolate factory, cheese factory, toy factory with the large Rocking Horse), but my fave was the Jacob’s Creek Winery, a lovely place to have lunch and that is kid friendly.
We had a free attraction day visiting the SA Museum, The SA Art Gallery and a shop down Rundle Mall. Parking for cars higher than 2.1 metres was almost impossible and we ended up walking at least 2 k’s in 35+ heat to see the attractions.
 

Yorke Peninsula 26th - 29th Jan 2013

Well it’s very dry, and not a lot to see, just endless wheat and barley fields.

We left Adelaide late after having more repair work done to the van (under warranty) and made a bee line to St Kilda on the way to YP. Rach had heard of an Adventure Playground she was itching to take the kids to.

 

  We moved on and after a bumpy drive decided to stay at the Maitland Show grounds for the night (it was listed in the free camps book.) First time for us and felt a bit strange. We did have about 10 other campers around us so we felt safe enough. Clean toilets and hot showers were available. The next day, armed with the tourist brochure of the area, we set off to find a piece of nice beach to free camp at for a few days. (Beautiful images in the brochure!)

At Adrossan, they use a rake and bucket to find blue swimmer crabs at low tide. Zach just had to have one... (as I write this, it's now a large Souvenir.. never used...)

We stopped at Edithborough for lunch next to a sea pool..

Well, after hours of driving down the east coast, checking out each town, we made it to the bottom where a few free camp spots were. Following directions, we drove along a corrugated dirt road, into a wind turbine farm on the coastline, only to find the camp spots were too small to fit our van and too close to the turbine blades for my comfort.

 

We decided to move on following this track (TomTom didn't know where we were), drove all around the cliffs edge, only 5-10 meters away, no railing nothing, if you were in Victoria there would be railing all around and signs warning you of the cliff edges.
 

The kids were unsettled (being politically correct here.) as we moved on, it was getting late in the day. Eventually we set up camp on the southern west coast in another fee camp spot.

 

   To make the budget for the week stretch after spending so much in Adelaide, we needed to find another free camp spot. So we navigated further up the west coast, back to Maitland. Whilst the town was at their morning Sunday church service, we sneaked back into the show grounds to "use” the facilities.(rubbish, dump point...the porta potti has been well used. it's my job to empty it...I close my eyes and hold my breath. I hate when it splashes...Eww .. Not nice...Hey Rach, do you want to swap jobs? I too can cook...lol) We then headed off to "The Gap". Another 16km of corrugated gravel/dirt road after what felt like an hour at walking speed, we made it and setup for the night.

  We were not experiencing what the brochures were showing so we felt quite disappointed in our visit to Yorke Peninsula and decided to move on sooner than planned. We also decided that night, to cross off the Flinders Ranges, from our travel plans. The kids are about to start school and we feel they would not appreciate the beauty of the area.

  We have been cautioned about driving up through Port Augusta due to the behaviour of the local natives. A wonderful couple that we have now bumped into 3 times during our travels suggested we check a ferry service from Wallaroo across to Lucky Bay. After weighing up the pros an’ cons, and taking into account the savings by not doing Coober Pedy and the Flinders Ranges, we decided to take the ferry ride. This choice will now place us a few weeks ahead of schedule. It's funny, Wallaroo was actually a nice place and Zachary did catch a few crabs!

 

Eyre Peninsula

After departing the ferry, (Amity and Guy didn't feel to well from the motion of the ocean lol) We drove down the east coast and stopped at Tumby Bay for lunch, play and a spot of fishing….

 

We moved on and found a nice and quiet free camp in Louth Bay for the night. We tried again to catch some fish but it seems something has told the fish we were coming. The crabs must be deaf as Zach pulled in one after the other with his crab net…about 8 we counted. Pity they were all just under size and back they went…