Piccaninnie Ponds where the fresh water bubbles up from the dark depths below.

We travelled up the coast as far as Carpenter Rocks where we stayed a few days and put the boat in. Bit windy but managed a few wrasse which turned out to be very mushy, yuck. Sandy caught an octopus which we skinned and kept for bait. Checked out the cave gardens and the blue lake at Mount Gambier. We travelled to Robe to pick up our mail but we were both impressed with Southend (crayfishing town) and Beachport (longest jetty in SA) which deserve a longer stay next time. At Cape Jaffa we filled the freezer with squid which we caught off the jetty. I caught a Port Jackson shark from the boat but let it go as it wasn't terribly big. Next was a drive along the Coorong National Park which lies adjacent to the mouth of the River Murray. It consists of a 100 km of shallow, salty lagoons which separate the mainland from the sandhills / beach. Good for bird watchers and mullet netters but it did not interest us much. We stopped at The Granites and 42 mile crossing with an overnight camp at Long Point.

Long Point at Coorong National Park - scroll right for more.

Heading on further after a barge crossing over the Murray River we arrived at Goolwa. Being at the head of the Murray River there was a large boating community with plenty of houseboats available. Continuing down the Fleurieu Peninsula we camped at Port Elliot in a park overlooking Horseshoe Bay. Sandy had a very scenic walking track along the foreshore and cliffs the next morning.

At Victor Harbour this tram crossing takes people to Granite Island, home of a fairy penguin colony.

The National Park camping grounds around the Fleurieu Peninsula are set way back from the ocean, some up to 2 kms away. So we carried on around the peninsula until we found Rapid Bay with a council park on the foreshore. While here some friends we met last year at Bremer Bay contacted us and we arranged to meet them in Kalgoorlie so we headed off the next day.

Rapid Bay

We didn't stop at Adelaide as we will check it out next time. Heading north we stopped at Port Pirie for lunch then a visit to Telowie Gorge and Mambray Creek in Mount Remarkable National Park.

Solomontown Beach at Port Pirie - scroll right for more.

Sandy finally got her heat as it touched 47 deg on the drive to Streaky Bay. We decided to stay here for a few days as we camped right on the foreshore and went for a few dips to cool down. They forgot to turn the sprinklers off the first night and we were rudely awoken at 1:30am when the water hit the side of the van with the noise of a thunderstorm. The unlucky campers next door got the full blast of water into the tent waking them up with a start. They were flooded out and the park owners gave them a unit to stay in for the night.

Murrawijinie Caves on the Nullarbor. No trees as far as the eye can see. Scroll right for a 360 deg view.

We were told about some fishing spots on the coast so we took a track down to the cliffs at the WA/SA border. We were told we could get down to the ocean here but it looks like you have to go via Eucla. The lady at the roadhouse told us if you go via the airport at Eucla heading west along the coastal dunes you will find camping spots / fishing huts every 5 or 10 kms. We camped the night at the border on the cliffs then headed inland to the checkpoint before heading further west.

SA/WA cairn behind the caravan.

The next fishing spot was Red Rocks which was about 30 kms from the highway. It took us a couple of hours to get there as we travelled slowly down this skinny track. Half a dozen fishing huts including a two storey one. These had mostly been built out of driftwood, flotsam and jetsom. It must not have been the fishing season as they were all vacant, one owner turned up later and told us the fish haven't been biting for six weeks, just our luck. When we got to the camping area I found that the floor under the batteries had collapsed. I had to remove the front of the van and glue, screw and reinforce the floor, the staples supplied by Windsor weren't strong enough !!!!!!

Red Rocks

After leaving Red Rocks we travelled a fair way and camped at the Yadadinia Rock Hole just south of Balladonia. Nice and peaceful with a few roos around and lots of birds. Next we travelled via Norseman arriving at Kalgoorlie in the afternoon. Les and Iris arrived a few days later and we caught up on all the gossip. We went and saw a little poof at the Superpit, they blast every day and the one we saw was just a small cloud of dust with a bit of a rumble. In the picture below the drill rig was getting the ground ready for a big blast which we were looking forward to but being so close to the viewing platform they closed the gates. We did hear some of the blasts back at the park and they would have been good to see.

Kalgoorlie Superpit - scroll right for more.

I have a Minelab gold detector training course in March at Kal so will hang around for that then head back to Perth to catch up on a few things. We will be meeting Peter and Dulcie back in the goldfields near Leonora at the end of March for some intensive gold detecting.

Till next month.

Temporary city slickers
soon to be miners

Peter and Sandy