Lipson Cove - Whyalla

It was nice to re-visit Tumby Bay again but we were disappointed in the Caravan Park and the lack of happy people, the majority appeared to just stay inside their vans or look past you with blank faces, i don't know whether the Bushtracker and F250 intimidates people from saying g'day but that has certainly appeared to be the case in Van parks. Out on the road or camped up at a 'free' camp site we meet a more relaxed style of traveller always ready to have a chat.

Our big drive after Tumby consisted of around 15k's where we pulled in and stopped at Lipson Cove. As we drove over the rise looking down at the camping area & bay with Tern Island in the near distance we thought this is more like our kind of place. There was ample spacious camp sites, a couple of Eco type drop toilets a lovely clean white beach and around the corner a walk track along a rough and rugged cliff facing the ocean.


A sign describing Lipson Cove and it's history greets you as you enter the camp area.


The remains of some old ruins and water well, it was approximately 2 - 3mt deep and full of old rolled up fencing wire.


The old jetty post's stand still and make for some interesting photographs, I fished the beach morning & afternoon with the only catch being two small herring [Tommy rough] I gave it another go after tea for some Shark but was driven crazy by all the sand crabs stealing the bait. It didn't matter what rig i used the crabs found the bait so i gave up and headed home to the van.



A photo of the overall camping area, we were about 1/2 way down.


Seated under the awning looking out at our view, there was a walk way down onto the beach not far away.

Now here is where we stuffed up, i had arranged to catch up with a friend who lives at Whyalla on the following Friday, Talking to one of the other campers he told us that Port Gibbon which was further down the coast was a lovely spot to stay, we decided to leave Lipson Cove and head there to spend a night or two before getting to Whyalla. Well 1st impressions usually count and we were not impressed with Port Gibbon, it was a camp area [gold coin donation] but mainly fine dust and a beach that was covered in sea weed most unattractive looking, to be fair there is a drought on and it is a 'free' camp site so what do we expect? Well had we not just left Lipson Cove then we may have thought differently about the place, it did have a dump point which i used and i donated a $2 coin for. Two converted buses, a Boroma and a new looking Bushtracker were camped there but we still decided to not bother for the night and move on elsewhere.


Our mistake because elsewhere meant nothing else did we come across on the drive towards Whyalla. We called in at Arno Bay, a lovely seaside town with a Caravan Park but we wanted a bush or coastal 'free' camp, it irks us that our van is fully self contained living and need for nothing that a van park can offer so we feel slightly robbed paying just to park the wheels so to speak.



We drove down to the township of Lucky Bay, here is where the ferry leaves for Walleroo which is on the western side of the Yorke Peninsula. We drove down to the groyne put the kettle on and settled down in our camp chairs to watch the ferry UN-load and load up the next lot of vehicles, The town site is a typical seaside / holiday shack village i wonder what they think of having their serenity changed by large ferry's 3 times a day. The SA Ferry company has some special deals on at present with 1/2 price travel on Tuesdays & Wednesdays with the cost around $150 for a one way travel for a small 4mt van & car, considerably more for a BT & Effy.




Our drive has taken us into Whyalla, where again we are camped in a Van Park, at least we are down on the foreshore and have 180 degree views of the ocean. Another morning spent re-stocking with provisions and this afternoon we will do some site seeing. Tomorrow we meet up with a mate and stay the night camped on his acre block.

Port Lincoln - Tumby Bay

Port Lincoln is the Eyre Peninsula's second largest city, set on the shores of Boston Bay, Australia's largest natural harbour, Lincoln Cove, is home to the tuna fishing fleets of the Great Australian Bight. The area offers a diverse range of things to do, from fishing and sailing, to diving with great white sharks, touring aquaculture industries and exploring the area's beaches and booming surf.

Monument to Makybe Diva, the highest stakes earner in Australian history

With the winds not doing much for our 'shall we go fishing' frame of mind we choose to just look around the town, to be honest towns and caravan parks just don't do it for me and i was quite happy to just stay a couple of days and leave Port Lincoln. We didn't go far approximately 22klms in fact to a lovely coastal town of Louth Bay, we have been here before and knew that there was a nice camp site in the town with basic amenities of flush loo's for $5 a night in the honesty box.



At the camp area we met some other couple's also travelling around and invited them back to our site for happy hour. We had Adam and Mary, Mick and Sue, Brian and Corry's company for the time we were there, all very nice people and i do believe you meet the nicest people away from the Van Parks.


In the town of Louth Bay there is no shop and a population of around 420 people, there is a golf course with green fee's of $5 and the area has the bay on one side and ocean on the other. The bay has a jetty which is well coated with squid ink, testimonial to the amount of squid caught. We caught 3 which was good, nothing huge but 3 was better than none.




On the walk to the jetty which wasn't far i passed a house with a sign out the front advertising smoked fish for sale. i have a fish smoker that Erin bought me but as yet it is still as new inside it's box and i was interested in tasting some smoked fish so that it may stir me into action and do some ourselves. Laurie the Fish smoker was a very interesting guy, he had a great shed full of things that blokes like, the more you looked around the more you saw, he even had an old Triumph motorcycle in perfect and unrestored condition tucked up high in the shed.


I bought some smoked King Fish of him and chatted for a while, he then said "i will show you my other shed" this one was locked and when he slid the door open it revealed a very neat & tidy shed full of shelves which were full of shells, mounted Cray's & crabs, old models of sailing ships in bottles, memorabilia going back to his Grandfather's whaling days. It was very interesting and i bought a polished abalone shell he had done and said I'd be back the next day with Vickie as i knew she would enjoy it. The next day not only did Vick enjoy it but we bought some more smoked fish and Laurie gave her a small gift of another polished shell.





After 3 nights at Louth Bay we left on another 'long' drive this time 28klms to the town of Tumby Bay, Yes it's another Van park but it's small and nice enough for a couple of nights to catch up with the washing etc. We went for a long walk around the town looking at some of the beautiful historic homes fantasizing how we could live here and the kids there etc etc but in reality it's a small town and I'm over living in small town's, still it's fun to play games :-)









7.20pm and I'm going for a fish on the jetty. Well i was back after an hour, howling wind and no squid, i was battling to stand up straight and not be blown off the jetty, grrrr

Elliston - Port Lincoln

Leaving Elliston we stopped at the Community Hall which doubles as an Information centre, we wanted to know if there was a dump point for the toilet cassette in town, but alas no, a mistake on behalf of the Elliston Shire in not providing one for the many tourists visiting the town.



We cruised on down the Flinders Highway for around 30k's and called in at Locks Well which is a well known Salmon fishing area for the keen angler. Locks Well has a windy steep road going down to the main car park, i missed seeing a sign that said No Caravans Beyond this point and continued down realising too late we hoped there would be room to turn around at the bottom, luckily there was and i u turned and faced the rig the correct way to enable a safe exit without getting blocked in.






There are 283 steps going down to the beach and is heart attack material for those not quite fit, Vickie stayed up top as her ankles & Achilles tendons are not the best for multiple steps. Locks Well consistently produces large salmon and certainly looked very fishy even though we struck it at low tide. I chatted with a group of a Sth Aussie's on the beach as i was throwing lures and having no luck, they were using pilchards as bait and having better luck so they kindly gave me a few pilchards to use, that is when i caught my Salmon, it wasn't a monster but at least it was a salmon. The guys told me another place worth trying was Sheringa Beach which also allowed camping so we headed off there.

We called into the Sheringa store and bought our permit, $5 per car and $2 per person along with a bag of salted pilchards. The drive in is a well graded dirt road for around 7k's and ends at a junction with camping and enviro toilets at a spacious camp area fronting the main beach, further up the road takes you to the salmon beach and surf beaches. I unhooked & set up the van, grabbed my beach rod and gear and drove on to the salmon beach, i was told at the shop to go over a small dune and try my luck at the next bay which i did. Immediately i started getting bites and it didn't take long before i had 3 nice fat salmon in my bucket, i let one smaller one go and then the bites stopped, so much for being Mr nice guy, i reckon the little fella told his mates!

The tide was ripping in and some big waves started pounding the rocks where i was, i stepped backwards and stumbled and to stop myself falling down completely i put my hand down on the sharp rocks and gashed my palm, nothing deep but it convinced me to call it quits for the day.
Just as well because the wind picked up and down came the rain, back at camp i chatted with Mark Jardine the owner of the Sheringa store and 'man in charge' of the camp area, an interesting guy with some great stories. For tea we decided to bake the salmon in the Weber Q so i seasoned them with an assortment of bush spices and lemon pepper and wrapped them in alfoil and cooked them slowly whilst Vickie made some home baked chips in the van oven. It was lovely but i still prefer my fish filleted and no bones, with the Flys starting to carry us away we spent the rest of the evening in the cosy van watching and listening to a John Farnham DVD concert whilst we played SKIPBO [our latest card game]




With rain still sprinkling down in the morning we hooked up and headed further South driving through steady rain and howling wind, at least the area needs the rainfall we thought. A coffee break at Dutton Bay and then into Port Lincoln where are camped at the only Van park in town. Peter the park manager saw us coming in and came over and suggested a better site than what was allocated to us, he even took me for a drive in his Ute to check out a couple of options, great service we thought. Later a drive into town so Vickie could donate more money to Woolworth's in return for a miserly amount of goods, dinner of Chile Con-Carn'e which was very flavoursome and filled the tummy's.

Streaky Bay - Elliston

At Streaky Bay we booked into the waterfront Caravan park, presently the only Caravan Park but plans are underway for an additional park to be built. The park was around 3/4 filled and we were 'lucky' to get a site at the end of a row [we like corner blocks] and had plenty of space, that was until another caravanner had set up in the wrong site and was asked to moved 2 places down next to us, that's OK ... we are not that bad to live next too, but these people wrote the book on anti-social attitudes and we barely raised a grunt in acknowledgement when we said hello, oh well each their own.


We did have a guy walk past and strike up a conversation about Effy's and then BT's as they do, this bloke turned out to be a BT and Effy owner and local of Streaky Bay, his name was Terry [Trance his nickname] a nice enough bloke and easy to chat too, at 1st i thought he may have been another BT Streaky Bay owner whom we had been given his contact details, Loyd and Heather Smith, Trance knew these people and gave us directions on where they live. We decided to go to the Streaky Bay hotel for lunch as we had heard the meals were good value. We can 2nd that as we had the most scrumptious meals, I had a mixed grill which was XXL and all for $16 and Vickie had a Chicken Schnitzel with bay sauce which also was very large, the bay sauce consisted of 8 - 9 prawns in a seafood sauce, Vickie loved it.

Little did we know that we would be back there again later that night, after lunch we went and visited Loyd and Heather, we had heard from John and Wendy Standing who had met them previously that they were a nice couple and again we can vouch for that. Very easy to talk too, we had the ownership of the BT's in common but also many other things and the chat came easily. Heather suggested we meet again later that night for a meal and that bought us back to the Streaky Bay Hotel again that night. This time Vick had a Thai stir fry and i had King George whiting & chips, the meals were dearer but equally as lovely along with a great salad and hot vegi bar. A few beers and good company it was a lovely end to the day.





Our plan was to leave town the next day and head to High Cliff which is on the tourist route on Wallend Way, 20ks out from Streaky Bay. We were pleased to be back on the road and leaving caravan parks to those that like & need them. We have previously stayed at High Cliff and knew exactly where to go and how to tackle the track to give us a camp site right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the bay. We have seemed to have struck the low tides during the best part of the day and the bay was not the best for rock fishing but we walked and explored the area with Vickie searching for shells.

We stayed 2 nights at High Cliff but on the 2nd day we had a call from Heather warning us that the forecast was for high winds and 44c temperatures, all the schools on the Eyre Peninsula had been closed for the day, bunch of wimps we thought, but it was the threat of bush fires that caused the caution and after the recent Victorian Fires we can understand the reasoning. As it turned out the temp only reached around 40c and the winds were predominately in the morning, during the day i told Vick i was going to cool off, she seems to recall me saying 'going for a swim' anyway off i went ...... and as i do i got interested in something and walked along following a track, the track went along the cliff edge right the way to the area named after 'High Cliff', i didn't realise i was gone for a while and when i made my way back to the van i couldn't find Vickie, so i went down and sat in the water. After a few minutes i could see her walking back along the beach and it wasn't until she got closer that i could see she was crying and very upset. Poor Vickie had came down to the beach after i left and couldn't find me, she had searched up and down and got to the point where she was screaming my name, all this made her more of a panic as she thought i had either drowned or fallen off a cliff. She walked to another camp a Klm away and with tears in her eyes asked the campers if i had been seen, it was about this time that they spotted me on the beach back to our camp. I had some apologizing to do and it was very upsetting to see my beautiful 'babe' so upset thinking she had lost me ....


Tuffing up and getting over all that we battened down the hatches as the heat increased along with the wind and flys, it became uncomfortable so we did what all tough campers do, retreated to the van after starting the generator and having the A/C on. The next day we packed up and left taking a slow scenic route along the Wallend Way, we have been along here before so we only stopped at the places we had not previously visited. At Smooth Rock we came across a guy walking up the track, Patrick and his partner Barbara were from Switzerland and had a flat Tyre in their car, he had attempted to change it but the car they had bought had the wrong wheel spanner. We took him back to his camp and went about swapping over the wheel and pumping up the flat which appeared to be a slow leak, they were a lovely couple and we were only too happy to help. I am a great believer in 'what goes around comes around' and enjoy helping where i can.

What a VIEW when your doing business :-)


Another quaint place was Sceale Bay where it must have the most photographed public toilet in existence, well maybe not but it's worth a visit even if you don't need to go ... so to speak.

We stayed the best part of the afternoon at Venus Bay fishing off the jetty, we did OK with a mixed bag of trevally, Aust Salmon and one Tommy Ruff [Herring] more than enough for a couple of decent meals. There was a great fish cleaning bay with resident Pelicans just hanging around waiting to do the garbage disposal thing, At Venus Bay they wouldn't have much of a smelly bin problem with these big boys & girls doing the cleanup job.


We spent the night camped 4k's off the road at a location over looking a very fishy looking beach, i gave it a go the next morning but the weed was causing havoc with the line & bait so we again made the move and went and checked out Talia Caves which was an interesting place watching the waves crash against the smooth rocks.



I was in awe thinking what size waves must hammer through the rocks & channel to have made the cave what it is today. We met another vanning couple in the car park, Pete & Dawn from the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria they were doing a similar trip to us except in the opposite direction, we exchanged 'travel cards' with web site details, theirs was www.wereaway.com who knows we may meet up again somewhere in the NT.




Along the highway we came across the small town of Colton, not much here but there is a bakery of sorts, a tiny property off the side of the highway sells fresh bread and if your lucky sticky buns, when we got there all we had a choice of was bread & rolls so we bought both.



We are now at Elliston, staying in the van park close to town. We have hit the bakery for lunch and been for a touristy drive around the area along with a walk along the jetty, we love SA jetty's. This afternoon i spent the time giving the Effy a bath and general sorting out the gear that gets put back in the wrong place, tomorrow we may do something different and go fishing.


As usual more photo's can be seen here