The best fishing i did was at happy hour, a chap came up and asked if we could spare some boat fuel as he had run out and needed to get back to the boat ramp. I gave him 3 or 4 litres of pre-mix, he offered payment but i gave him my "what goes around comes around" thoughts and left it at that. The next morning he came back with a nice large pink snapper, so i guess the adage worked that time :-)
We left the van park on the Friday morning and spent the next six hours checking out the town until it was time to head out to AJ's. Andrew is an 'old' Internet friend from the Landcruiser forum days, we had never met but had corresponded for the past 5-6 years. We have been past Whyalla many times without calling in and it was about time we did. We parked the van in his yard and caught up with all that has happened in the past and what was new. The Jack Daniels #7 that AJ had bought back from his recent trip to NZ went down a treat.
Leaving on the Saturday morning we drove 32klms to Fitzgerald Bay which is on the Point Lowly road. There were a few other vans camped up and we found a nice spot off the track with a lovely view of the Bay. To show what a small World we live in at times, we met another BT owner whom i had seen & spoken to on the UHF radio back home around Byford, Spydor and Robyn were camped just down the track from us and he recognized our number plate NIKNOFF
We had a great happy hour with them and another couple who were also camped close by and were leaving the next day. Spydor & Robyn left the following morning and we stayed another night as we had to head back into Whyalla and pick up some mail that our daughter Caddie had forwarded on to us, thanks Cad !
Finally we drove past Port Augusta and onto the Yorke Peninsula, We went into Port Germain, Its population was 364 in 1901. The jetty was opened in 1881 and extended by 122 metres to a length of 1680 metres in 1883. The present length, following storm damage, is 1532 metres and Port Germain is advertised as home of the longest wooden jetty in Australia, BUT maybe the 140-year-old Busselton Jetty in WA, measured at 1841 metres, should take that title.
Regardless of who has the longest, we walked out and checked out what was happening at the end, a few Blue Swimmer crabs caught but nothing to get excited about.
Lunch in the Van and then it was onto Port Pirie, Port Broughton looking for a nice camp site. We overshot a couple and it was difficult to find them as our maps were not detailed enough and my Navman had been sent away for repairs.
We eventually decided to have a look at Wallaroo and Moonta before stopping at a coastal camp at the Gap. We met another couple from Mornington Victoria and chatted over a couple of coldies as they cooked a camp oven casserole.
Today i have adjusted the fridge hinges as the freezer door was coming open, taken down the en suite vent and cleaned it, temporarily fixed the stove lid which had loosened it's hinge, i will have to get a larger bolt & nut to fix it properly. I also went and searched for some crabs but only saw two which i caught and in the end i let them go, that and one Tommy rough was all that was caught. I wasn't disappointed to much as two other guys from NSW fished for a few hours with no success.
The 2nd night the weather was the best we had struck, a beautiful sunset and dolphins frolicking down at the waters edge, we saw a small shark also in close but i could not entice it to take the bait of a juicy squid. The next morning we moved on passing through Maitland which was a lovely town with lots of historic buildings, we raided the bakery and checked out a markets before heading to Port Victoria for a look,
of course the town has a Jetty, and we did the now very common Jetty Walk and then on to Wauraltree Beach which was recommended to us, but it was fairly small site and three motor home / buses were already camped up so we decided to move on to another site down at Port Minlacowie boat ramp, here the only other campers were a lovely couple Wazza and Bev in their Winnebago on route to the motor home gathering at Whyalla at the end of the month. We had a nice happy hour exchanging stories.
3 comments:
We overnighted at Port Germain a couple of years ago. I'm sure they would be appalled to hear that the jetty at Busselton is longer than theirs.
Had a meal at the pub too.
Hi S&R, yes that is correct i will have to correct that inacuracy, can't trust those Crow eaters
[quote]
The 140-year-old Busselton Jetty, measured at 1841 metres, is the longest wooden jetty (pier) in the southern hemisphere and today is one of Australia's most unique eco-tourism sites.
AND Germein Jetty
Between 1881 and the arrival of the railway in 1934, Port Germein was the scene of much activity. Its population was 364 in 1901. The jetty was opened in 1881 and extended by 122 metres to a length of 1680 metres in 1883. The present length, following storm damage, is 1532 metres.
The jetty was the longest in Australia, and one of the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.[/quote]
They are all chicken feed compared to the Cape Lambert loading facility jetty - something like 2.7 km from memory - maybe more. Somewhere in Qld claims to have a similar sized jetty. However SA have rebuilt the jetties in each coastal town, unlike WA where unless the community can raise the funds, the jetties just go.
Post a Comment