Step 41 Elliston - Ceduna 279 km’s

Monday 1th February - Valentines Day xxx

Luckily it was a 10:30 check out at the park because we ended up chatting to Elke on the phone for awhile, just back from a weekend in London, just for a change this was related to her studies :-)

As we left the park we drove out on the Elliston Ocean Drive, well worth the effort and the dirt road. Again the views were spectacular

And again the sign writers seem out of sync with the local tourist bureau

Seriously, I think this is getting a little melodramatic now 

Probably going to have to come up with a new adjective soon but spectacular does not do this coast line justice. Nor do these photo's

This photo does do the dirt road justice - way to go MM

The cliff top drive is also famous for "sculptures on the cliff

"Who you calling big nose?"

'and some serious boat trailer vehicles

If you zoom in on the middle tractor you can see the Shannon Avenue Tractors sticker

After a quick top up with diesel, at $1.51 per litre the dearest for the trip so far, we were on the way again. Buoyed with our success on the gravel road clifftop drive at Elliston we turned off the highway and headed for the Talia Caves. Three kilometres later we did a seven point turn and headed back to the highway. Todays score Mighty Merc 1, dirt roads 1.

For the next detour off the highway  we waited for a paved road, so it was into Venus Bay for lunch in MM, again on the cliff tops looking out over the ocean vista.

Editors note: I used to work for a company that sold a product called Vista - it wasn’t as pretty or as pleasant to be with as this vista.

The good news is the wind has dropped and it consequently it has also warmed up.

After lunch it was back on the road until we headed off to Murphy’s Haystacks. Now legend has it that an Irish agricultural expert was travelling by stage coach through the area and was impressed by what he thought were large haystacks in a field in the distance. It turns out they were a large rock formation. It also turns out that Murphy had either a drnking problem or poor eyesight or both, becuse from whatever angle we looked we could not make the rocks look like any haystack either of us had seen (and as has been well documented in this blog and elsewhere - Di is from the country so she should know).

A haystack? Murphy, get a grip. 

Arriving in Streaky Bay mid-afternoon we had a quick walk round the town and checked out the caravan park. 

Didn't take a photo of the caravan park - this is the pub

Not sure what it was but we decided to keep moving on and stay two nights in Ceduna instead. Partly to give us a chance to settle in for a couple of days and catch up on bits and pieces. We’ve also heard from a few people that the Foreshore Caravan Park in Ceduna is very nice, right in town and next door to the pub. Before leaving Streaky Bay though we checked out the local fresh fish shop (but didn’t see anything that took our fancy) and also the replica Great white Shark on display in the Shell Roadhouse.

Now I have never been sure how they work out the “breaking strain” measurement that they put on fishing line. But after seeing that this 1500kg (yes 1.5 tonne) monster was caught on a 24kg breaking strain line I am now convinced it is a random number. The  kid, who caught it (I think he was 19 at the time) saw the shark and then spent two days out in a boat with his dad and uncle waiting for it to return, then spent 5 hours fighting with it on the end of his line  before spending another 3 hours towing back to shore once they had it gaffed. Seriously kid - get a playstation!!!

This is a model of the shark - the boy is real, but it's not the boy that caught the shark

Anyway, Di took the wheel again and we set off for Ceduna. 

Predictably, when we arrived the Foreshore caravan park was full. Shouldn't have changed the plan! They did have a vacancy for tomorrow though, so we booked in for that and headed off to the Big 4 just out of town. Big 4 is very pleasant and well maintained (and for sale) but it is just a bit of a walk back to town.

Tuesday 15th February

I have been told that everyone does not need to know every time I empty the toilet so I won’t mention it. If I had, I would also mention that I filled up the water tanks and checked oil, water and tyres on MM in preparation for the Nullarbor. Also filled up with diesel, even managed to get the 4 cents a litre off at Shell. While we were topping up on everything we nipped into the supermarket again for fresh fruit and vege’s to last us up to the border crossing as well as meat to last a few days more since we are reliably informed things are bit expensive for this next leg.

Having checked into the Foreshore Caravan Park we went for a quick walk on the jetty and a bite of lunch back at MM  

Elke taught me how to take photo's like this. She now regrets it

Di then headed off for a hair colouring. Apparently she is not quite ready to embrace the grey nomad experience. While Di enjoyed her girly afternoon at the hairdressers chatting to the hairdresser and a client from Fowlers bay Steve embarked on an hour and a half walk out to Pinky Point, Thevenard and back. It's a long way

Can you see the Ceduna pier - no you can't because it's a long way away

Editors note: Pinky Point, Thevenard  famously  appears in  the recent Jack Black movie, Gullivers Travels. According to a map reference in the movie Gulliver met with the tiny people of Lilliput on islands visible from the Thevenard lookout at Pinky Point.  Apparently it’s also mentioned in the book of the same name by Jonathan Swift.  

Di’s afternoon at the hairdressers was very informative with such tidbits of information as:

•     The dirt road to Fowlers bay has been graded this week. It was really really bad before that but quite good now.
•     Lorraine’s husband is the modified car champion of South Australia and he built the car himself from scratch. 
• It has a fibreglass Pontiac body and a turbocharged Toyota Supra engine
• He also runs an accommodation place at Fowlers Bay 
•     Ceduna and surrounding districts have the highest birth rate in Australia
•     Streaky Bay used to have another caravan park but it was usurped by property developers
•    Haircuts & colouring are cheaper in Ceduna than in Tweed Heads

All in all it’s been a very informative day because at the caravan park we also learned

•     The King George Whiting are biting. Most people with boats are coming with in with their full limit
•      Blue swimmer crabs are being caught in large numbers from the town jetty
•      and belatedly we discovered you can borrow crab nets from park reception to catch your own
•     The best way to cook Blue swimmer crabs is in sea water. If you cook them in fresh water use plenty of salt.
•     A lot of women go fishing
•     and it can get very crowded at the fish cleaning hut if the fish are biting at the same time as the crabs

After this fun filled afternoon we both relaxed over wine and nibblies and watched the sun set into the ocean. Another day in paradise. 

To be honest we would have checked in for another night but the weather forecast is not looking good here as well as to the  west over the next couple of days. In fact there is a big rain belt heading this way. Would have to say though that Ceduna has turned out to be a hidden gem, most unexpected.