It turns out, two of the most beautiful attractions in South Australia are in Mount Gambier. Blue Lake is a lake in a dormant volcanic crater that supplies Mount Gambier with their drinking water. The Umpherston Sinkhole, a lush, green and special place.
What a beautiful part of the world! Stunning coastal drive with the azure blue waters on one side and dense bush on the other side. Coastal activities only a short car ride from shady, green, tree fern lined walks in the forest.
Foxes can cross over to Middle Island at low tide and this was hurting the penguin population until a chicken farmer suggested training Maremma sheepdogs to protect the penguins.
The Meredith Parks free campground is a lovely spot directly facing Lake Colac with clean flushing toilets and sinks connected to town water, rubbish bins, fire pits and good mobile signal. People fishing were also pulling numerous large carps out from the lake.
Apollo Bay
We left Port Hughes in the Yorke Peninsula with a spectacular sunset and headed onwards to explore the Eyre Peninsula.
Port Lincoln and the other towns of the Eyre Peninsula are towns that have seafood and grain industries. The Eyre Peninsula is famed for its seafood and it was indeed the freshest, most local seafood I’ve ever tasted. There’s also something about eating seafood when you can feel the ocean breeze on your face!
The small coastal towns of South Australia have often a similar feel and configuration about them. They will almost have a jetty, some old buildings, old artillery pieces, grain silos, vacation homes and a caravan park. They common thread is how neat and tidy they all are. Often, a strong sense of community can be felt in the small thoughtful touches around town like the local art displayed at the public toilets or the public art works at tourist vantage points.
We saw a lot of wild and windy coastlines in the Eyre Peninsula. They are treacherous and beautiful.
The amazing thing is, despite the wild coastlines, there are also quiet, calm, protected bays.
Just south of Streaky Bay are the Murphy’s Haystacks. These amazing rock formations are an aberration on flat farming land!
Streaky Bay has an ocean pool built to the jetty due so people can swim without worry about sharks. In the local Shell fuel station, there is a replica of a 5m white pointer shark that was caught off these waters.
That’s it for this post. Stay well!
If there are any doubts that Australia has the most beautiful beaches, this blog should dispel all doubts! The Yorke Peninsula is a leg shaped bit of land just west of Adelaide. It’s a great place for a road trip as the distances are quite manageable for driving. Fishing is a big thing in the Yorke Peninsula. Every jetty in each small town will have some recreational fisher-people trying their luck. A lot of locals have crab pots which they throw in off the jetties to draw up blue swimmer crabs. The small towns are lovely, tidy and spotted with heritage buildings.
It has been really lovely to see the amount of wind turbines and solar farms that abound in South Australia. It was particularly nice to see this wind farm up close and really get a feel for the sheer size of it!
This is a quick detour via Pimba when driving from Coober Pedy towards Adelaide. A military town that clearly used to have a bigger population. These amazing displays were by the roadside for anyone to look at.
It is a rare and special thing when it rains at Uluru. We were very lucky to catch the magnificent rock after some rains. The waterhole was flooded and it was a cacophony of frog calls at Uluru. We did the 11km base walk after some rains so a lot of the track had turned into muddy lakes. The base walk allowed us to see the many personalities of the rock but did feel very long and would have been very exposed had it not been overcast that day.
Waterhole full at Uluru – Note the plants that have gone underwater!
The wet base walk track around Uluru.
Rare picture of Uluru with a rain cloud on top!
Despite being a long 5.5 hours drive from Alice Springs by 2WD, the Kings Canyon Rim Walk is one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful hikes ever. As a result, there are lots of photos! It was stunning in every direction! Lucky that the day we did the walk was overcast and slightly drizzly. It would otherwise be exposed and hot! Bring a fly net for your head! The number of flies would drive anyone to insanity!
A great day trip from Alice Springs with lots of interesting sites to see. These are accessible by 2WD and not too far a walk.
Simpson’s Gap
Simpson’s Gap
Ormiston Gorge – refreshingly cool to swim in!
Ellery Creek Big Hole – lush and green due to recent rains
Ochre Pits
Standley Chasm
