Map shows our journey from Sydney in orange and our return journey from the West coast in green as far as week thirty.
On Sunday morning we enjoyed a lovely walk on one of the Corney Point beaches. The geology was very fascinating and the rocks were all quite unique looking, with pillars and dykes and goodness knows what else. (Paul can add more geological input here...). The doggies found very interesting smells and pieces of seaweed and sponge to munch on for breakfast.
We drove to Marion Bay along a very scenic road. The wreck of the immigrant ship, the “Marion” near here in 1851 gave its name to Marion Bay. Whilst the town wasn’t that interesting, we did stop for a drink in the local Tavern and a short power nap next to the jetty. Then it was onwards through Warooka again and via a small wrong turn to Coobowie on Salt Creek Bay. We passed through Yorketown which was surrounded by 200 salt lakes, and the red to pink to white colour of the lakes made for some great photos.
We passed huge grain silos and a large wind farm in the distance and decided to spend the night at the Top Tourist caravan park at Coobowie as we had run out of on board water, and very pleasant park it was too. The amenities were spotless, the people friendly and we had the benefit of a large shady tree and the beach just across the road. We took the dogs for a walk on part of the coastal trail to Edithburgh and then settled in for the night.
Past history tells of three bushrangers who were captured at Coobowie and claimed they were towed there by a huge whale. Nevertheless they were taken back to Tasmania and hanged, so their story didn’t quite work!
We took off rather slowly the next morning and drove into Edithburgh. On the way in we heard on the radio that there had been a murder in town that night. We found out from a local cafe owner that a wife had allegedly murdered her husband and was in custody, so we felt quite safe that there was no manic murderer at large in the town! The couple were apparently new to the town and had had a row in the pub in the evening during which the husband threw a glass of red wine over his wife before they both went home. The husband was only in his thirties – so all very sad.
We walked first along the jetty but it was extremely windy and the dogs decided to play up by eating everything they could see (lots of bait left and pieces of crab and fish), poo-ing and wee-ing and tugging and pulling - the wind and fishy smells just got them over excited! Tia seemed to think that anyone casting a line was really throwing a ball for her! So we walked back to the town instead for a quieter life.
Edithburgh was very pretty – we loved all the stone cottages with wide verandas and red or grey corrugated roofs. The town had an olde-world feel and the harbour was scenic with boat ramps. The town once thrived on harvesting salt and sending it over the water, so it too has had its fair share of ship wrecks. It still seemed very prosperous and well maintained. An old stone house on the front was being done up and looked fabulous and we found out that over $1M was being spent on renovations alone.
After coffee and cake at the cafe, we drove out to see the wind farm which had more than 50 turbines supplying the town and farms. Then on we went, back through Coobowie and stopped at Stansbury for lunch. On the way into town Paul bought fresh snapper, and then a local man (who had overheard Paul asking if there was a crab to buy) kindly gave us a free crab that he had caught. So we were well equipped for dinner. We did a bit of a shop at the local IGA and a short dog walk and then hit the computers for a couple of hours, parked overlooking the bay and Oyster Point. If you are a fisherman, the Yorke Peninsula is THE place to be.
Our next stop was at Port Julia – a tiny town of just a few houses off the main road. There was a row of real old beach shacks (holiday homes) sitting on the edge of the water with steep cliffs all around and a little bit of beach that was just enough for Tia to get a good run. Muffin and Ian pottered as usual, taking in all the smells and sights. There was a camping area just nearby on an old original cricket pitch, so we stayed there for the night. The caretaker came round to collect the $6.00 nightly fee, and Paul cooked up a storm with the crab and snapper. There were a few other campers there but all were spaced a long way apart. Our nearest neighbours had a Christmas tree with lights powered by a small wind turbine they had set up – very innovative.
We sat outside for dinner and both agreed that the countryside looked and sounded very English. We were on an oval at the edge of a huge cut wheat field, sitting beneath lovely smelling old pine trees which were loaded with cones and with lots of birds twittering in the branches. When it got dark we retired into the van and amazingly had really good TV reception so we watched the SBS news and ‘Man v. the Wild’ and ‘The Fixer’.
We made it to Ardrossan the next morning and parked under a shady tree and explored the town, jetty and did a bit of shopping. We met a very interesting local man on the jetty who told us a lot about fishing and the tides, including the Dodge Tide where the sea hardly moves in and out at all. We saw shoals of mullet, and crabs being caught by the dozen by holiday-makers. We were also lucky to see a Dolphin mother and her baby work together to drive a large shoal of fish towards the shore and then attack them – so lots of fish were leaping for their lives out of the water, trying to escape. It was quite a sight and everyone on the jetty stopped to ooh and aah.
Our next stop was Port Wakefield and it was quite a shock to hit the main road from Adelaide with all the road trains and petrol stations and fast food outlets. We quickly took a turn down to the town centre of the historical part of Port Wakefield. It was very hot and we were just grateful to get into the little caravan park in the tiny old town. Once we were settled we did a little exploratory walk and found out that the town was originally known as Port Henry and was used as a port for copper ore which was brought more than 80km by mule and bullock train. The sad demise of the port was due to the arrival of the railway and lack of facilities. The town of Wakefield was built next to the port in 1859 and it was then that Port Henry adopted the name of Port Wakefield. The town has changed very little from those days and most of the original buildings are intact but with a very run down appearance.
The morning came with a heat wave and temperatures quickly rose to 42 degrees. We heard on the news that there were bush fires and several homes lost in Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula where we had travelled only a few weeks previously. We drove in sweltering temperatures to our ‘home’ for Christmas week – the Clare Valley. The drive was pretty and hilly, and the town of Clare was very busy and had lots of shops, cafes and hotels. We stopped briefly to explore the town and then went on to check into the Clare Caravan Park which was 3 kms south of the town.
We were amazed to find the caravan park almost empty on the day before Christmas Eve. It was a nice big park with lots of shady trees, but we stayed in the van with the air-conditioning on just to cool off a bit. It was still sweltering outside and stayed at 42 degrees well into the evening. That night the wind picked up and there was a storm with a cool front. We slept badly as there were cones falling from the trees onto the van roof and the wind was howling through the branches. We heard the banging and securing of tent ropes in the middle of the night and then the loud crack and crash of a tree branch that split from the trunk and fell down. It was very fortunate that it was on the edge of the park and no-one was camped beneath.
The morning was a relief and the temperature so much cooler and better. We took the doggies for a walk along a small part of the 34km famous ‘Riesling Trail’, which follows the former railway from Auburn to beyond Clare. The countryside was really lovely and the trail passed many vineyards and often had an English wooded feel. We walked 3kms into Clare town and back. In town we sat outside with a coffee and cake and Muffin disgraced herself by barking furiously at two little fluffy white dogs passing by. Paul had to pick her up and carry her out of the immediate vicinity whilst apologising for the noise to the other cafe patrons as he went by! Worse than having a toddler with a temper tantrum I think...
On Christmas Eve later in the afternoon we drove back into town and stocked up on festive goodies for our Christmas Day meals, then drove 15kms to a very historic town called Mintaro. The town was established in 1849 and is part of a State Heritage Area. We strolled though the old streets which have the same village charm of the English Cotswolds. Many of the old buildings feature Mintaro slate from a local quarry. There were lovely cottage gardens and an old blue stone church and community buildings. We had dinner at The Magpie & Stump historic pub with just a few locals, but whilst the surrounds were quite lovely, the food was a bit ordinary. But then I have been very spoilt with many years of Paul’s wonderful cooking!
We carefully drove back to our spot at the campsite as it was getting dark and listened to the carol service on the ABC Radio. Many of the caravans in the park had put up festive twinkling lights and decorations, and there were tables piled with bottles of good cheer. We strolled around and wished a Merry Christmas to people, everyone seemed jolly and it was a lovely environment with the trees gently waving and the stars out. And so to bed.
Christmas Day was glorious – lovely warm temperature with blue skies and a gentle breeze. We jumped out of bed, but it was a bit strange that we had no ‘presents under the Christmas tree’ to share. I had already bought Paul a folding camping table for outdoors and he had bought me two audio books – but of course these were ‘presents’ we both wanted for our travels and they were already in use! After breakfast we walked part of the Spring Gully Loop for about 2 hours or about 8kms, up the hills and down the valleys. The views were spectacular over the wineries, fruit trees, olive groves and fields. There were horses and sheep in the fields to get Tia and Ian excited and we stopped for a coffee from our flask and some ginger nut biscuits.
Back at the campsite we just relaxed sitting outside in our chairs and enjoying a very nice piece of Christmas fruit cake while the exhausted doggies had a special Christmas biscuit treat and a sleep. Then Paul was up and running with Christmas Dinner –a Jamie Oliver special of stuffed pumpkin with pistachio nuts, cranberries, rice, olives, spices and mange touts and parsnips along with lush giant prawns. We had mince pies and chocolates with plenty of the local Riesling wine. We watched a few really old episodes of Morecombe and Wise and enjoyed a long SKYPE video/phone session with all my family in Edinburgh. It was so good to be able to actually see them on Christmas Day enjoying a ‘White Christmas’.
Boxing Day was also warm and sunny and we walked the other part of the Riesling Trail with the dogs for about 2 hours. We took a detour to Sevenhill Cellars, the oldest winery and vineyard in the region. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1851 and still produces sacramental wines and other wines. The whole area was very relaxing and picturesque to stroll around. In the middle of the vineyard was the magnificent St Aloysius Church which was beautifully decorated for Christmas with a nativity scene. We explored the church and crypt and then we all sat under a huge Cypress tree for a rest and drank our flask coffee.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, reading and having a power nap. The poor doggies were quite exhausted and stiff after their long walk, but they did manage to wake up to have left-over prawns and parsnip for dinner.
On reflection, it was a very different Christmas for us this year - we had certainly avoided most of the manic commercialism, but we did miss some of the nice traditional elements. In any event we had time to reflect on the meaning of Christmas and how fortunate we are to be able to travel like this. I think this is one Christmas we will remember in the years to come.
