We left Elliston a few days ago and only travelled about 120 k's to Streaky Bay. It is another part of the beautiful Eyre Peninsula and it is a fishermans paradise. We are staying in The Islands Caravan Park and let me tell you, it is definitely a 5 star caravan park. The sites are huge. You would probably have enough room to put out your awning as well as have 2 cars.
The recreation room, where I am sitting typing this blog, has about half a dozen of the most comfortable couches, as well as a T.V., toys for the little savages (none of which are here) and a great pool table. The amenities are also 5 star. There is about half a dozen full ensuite rooms, each comprising your own toilet, shower and basin. Without a doubt the best park we have ever stayed in.
Back to our travels now. On the way to Streaky Bay we stopped off to check out an incredible geological feature. They are called Murphys Haystacks and are well worth a look if you are ever over this way. For your information, they are called Inselbergs, meaning a hill that looks like a rocky island protruding from the sea. Just to prove I did read the information board, there are 2 types of rocks. Boulders, that just look like a huge rock, and Pillars, that seem to be rising out of the ground. There were heaps of these formations on the site but I will just share some of my favourites with you.
The next item on our agenda was to drive around the Cape Bauer Loop Drive. There are 3 loop drives in Streaky Bay and we will do them all while we are here. Our first stop was at Hallys Beach. It is more of a surf beach and definitely not for the weak swimmer. After deciding I had better not go in for a dip we then checked out the area known as Whistling Rocks & Blowholes. I don't know about Blowholes, but this area just blew my mind.
When you are walking towards the viewing platform, you can hear the roar as the water is forced up through numerous blowholes towards the surface. It sounds much like the sound of whales forcing air out of their blowholes. The ocean at this point is awesome. I don't think I have ever seen such turbulence as the 3 metre waves slam into the cliffs and as they bounce off the cliffs the next 3 metre wave crashes into them. It is at this point that the water screams up the blowholes. I was totally mesmerised by the whole area and we stayed there for ages. I took a video on my camera that I am going to try to upload as a separate blog. If it works that is. Just ignore the middle bit where I forgot I had the video running.
We walked over to another section and it was much the same. I got 3 shots in a row of a huge wave that was about to crash over the rocks and I think the end photo shows the pure force of the ocean. It was just spectacular.
We continued on to Cape Bauer and the ocean was much more sedate. Got a couple of lovely photos of the rugged cliff face. It was nothing like the blowholes area of about 500 metres further back. We even got a photo of a family of pesky kangaroos that obviously live in the area. I had only just been saying to Deb that we have hardly seen a kangaroo in all the time on the Eyre Peninsula.
Enough excitement for the day so it was back to the van for the night. Only about 200 metres from the van is a small island that is home to hundreds of sea birds. Thankfully for us they are not of the squawking sea gull family. The sunset that night was pretty awesome as well. I intend to upload a couple of photos but if they don't come out very good I will delete them.
We then went to the local Shell Service Station where they have a replica model of a huge great white shark that was caught in the area. It was caught by a 22y.o. local boy on just a 24kg line. The shark was 5 metres long and weighed 1520kgs. The shark was a female, thought to be 16 to 18y.o. The replica also has a friendly 'love bite' on the side of the shark thought to have been received during mating. There have been numerous shark sitings in Streaky Bay so most locals choose to swim within the netted area next to the jetty.
On the following morning we headed out to check out the Point Labatt Conservation Park, which is home to a colony of Australian Fur Seals. When we arrived at the observation deck overlooking the area, it was incredible how strong the wind was. It was impossible for Deb to take any photos with her phone camera as it was impossible to hold it still. I tried everything possible to hold my camera steady and ended up getting some pretty good shots of the seals. When we initially arrived we couldn't see any of the seals but eventually we found one out on a rock all by itself, then we spied a couple of separate groups. I must say they are not the most active animal I have ever seen.
Just before leaving, Deb spied about 3 young seals frolicking in a pool of water, well away from the main group. They were probably about 100 metres away from us, so zooming in for a photo was extremely difficult in the wind. They were pretty cool to watch though, with Deb looking at them through the binoculars.
From there we headed onto the other scenic drive, the Westall Way loop drive. Our first stop was at a beach called the granites. Fairly impressive high cliff walls. We then stopped at a place called Smooth Pool. The whole beach front is covered with these different sized rocks and with the surf crashing over them, there are literally dozens of huge rock pools to explore when the tide goes out. Not being an expert surfie type, but I would think some of these waves were at least 5 metres high.
The following day it was time to explore the town area. The local catholic church is very impressive, with a beautiful stained glass window inside. I have been very good so far on this trip, as this is probably the first church I have been into.
On the foreshore we came across a really good sand sculpture. It was not in the tourist guides so it must have been fashioned by a local. Pretty good though. Then it was off to check out the local Anglican Church. What a beautiful building this is. Not as fancy inside as the catholic church but still pretty good. No, I have not got back into my old habits of going church crazy. Just a couple.
The park benches in the town are all pretty impressive, with a mosaic end on them. A great spot to just sit and watch the world go by, with a coffee of course. Down on the foreshore there are 4 large decorated poles at the start of the jetty. Designed to ward off evil spirits I guess. The jetty is probably about 300 metres long and there is a netted off area for swimming. It also has a small pontoon within this area for the kids to jump off. With the number of sharks seen in this area, this is the preferred place for the locals to swim. Don't mind the tourists though.
There are several murals around the town with the Powerhouse Museum displaying one right across the front of the museum. On another wall is a very cute mural showing 4 children on the beach, under the watchful eye of a group of pelicans.
We went out to the local pub for dinner last night with another couple, Geoff and Frances from Qld that we keep running into. We first met them at Arno Bay, then Port Lincoln, then Elliston and then here. They are great company and there is every chance we will meet again in Ceduna.
Anyway that's all for now. Having a bit of a slack day today so its a good day to do the blog.
Bye for now.
Barry and Deb.
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