Day 46 / 2014 - The Yorke Peninsula

We are feet-up in Edithburgh about 250 km South of Port Pirie eastern bottom of the Yorke Peninsula in a nice caravan park right on the foreshore. Any closer the caravan would have to be a boat as we would be in the water. We have so far made our way from Whyalla to Port Augusta then around the western half of the Yorke Peninsula.

We left Whyalla and headed to Port Augusta. It was a hot day with temperatures reaching 40 degrees we had planned to stop at a roadside overnight rest area but with the hot temperatures we decided to go to a caravan park where we would be able to run the airconditioning. Unfortunately when we made camp in Port Augusta and switch on the airconditioner we found it would run for a while then shutdown with an error this was not something we wanted on a hot day. I had a look on the roof and it appeared as if one of the condenser fans was not spinning but we would need an airconditioner tech to have a look at it. We tried to organise one in Port August but he was very busy and unable to give us a time so we ended up booking someone in Port Pirie our next stop.

In Port August we visted the Wadlata exibition in the tourist information centre which is a journey in time from Indigenous to European settlement. We also looked at a war museum based at the RSL club which featured a Leopard tank as its centre piece. We also caught up on washing and shopping as well as a look around the town.  Since the electoral commision had lost the Senate votes forcing all West Australians to go back to the polls we were out of state when it was called. Although it is a federal government there will be no polling facilities outside of WA. As we don't really know where we will be on the 5th of April will need to organise a postal vote. We tried to register at the Port Augusta Federal Electoral Commision but nominations have not closed so our only option is the postal vote will be sent to our home address on the 23rd then hopefully forwarded to us to register our vote then send it back before polling closes.

From Port Augusta we went onto Port Pirie where the Airconditioner tech had a look confirming the fan had indeed failed. He organised a new fan and although it is past the 12 month warranty by 4 months Air command has graciously agreed to change the fan under warranty. The Aircon tech would contact us when the fan arrive so we could organise a time to replace.

We continued on down the Yorke Peninsula through a loverly town called Port Broughton where we had lunch. There was a loverly grassed area down by the water front which seem like somewhere you could stop for hours. Finishing Lunch we decided we would stop at a free camp spot somewere down the road for the night. Anne using the Camps australia book located a spot in Alford which she though might be suitable. We had a look and it ended up being so nice we stayed for three nights. It was a old school ground which had been converted into a rest area with scheme water, toilets and a free under cover BBQ with plenty of room to park a Van and quite central to a number of towns such as Moonta, Wallaroo and Kardina.

Kadina is a busy town with a population of 4,000 people and is part of three towns which make up what they call the Copper Triangle as copper was mined and opened up this area in the late 1800's. Kadina would be considered the main business town for the area. Wallaroo and Moonta make up the other two. Copper was mined at Moonta and there is a Mine museum whith a tourist railway. It is also home of the famous Cornish Pastie made at the Cornish Kitchen which we just had to try. Wallaroo is a port town where the copper was smelted and exported from. It is still used today to export grain and is where the car ferry departs for Lucky Bay on the Ayre Peninsula.

After three days we left Alford and headed for Maitland then onto Minlaton where the Red Devil is displayed. This is a memorial to local aviator and world War 1 flying ace Harry Buttler. He was locally famous for making the first water crossing between Adelaide and Minlaton delivering Mail as well as passengers.

We had planned to free camp at Warooka and day trip to Innes National Park but ended up travelling to Marion Bay and staying at the caravan park right next to Innes for two nights. The weather had not been good for the last couple of days and we were concered there may not have been enough sun to keep the batteries charged. The following day we drove into Innes Nation Park to have a look around. Innes is not big as National parks go at only 9,000 hectares but the rugged coastline is spectacular. There is also a historical town where Gypsum was mined called Inneston. Minning was conducted here before it was declare a national park but has since closed. The old abandon cottages have been restore as accomodation for hire.

We were thinking of staying another night at Marion Bay to catch up on housekeeping but when we woke the weather had closed in again and since the winds were favorable for an easterly travel direction we decided to packup and head for Edithburgh. We are starting to get a little smarter now and on the morning of departure we phone ahead to make sure there was a site available which there was. The Peninsula has been steadly getting busier of the last couple of years so we now have to check there is accomodation available before we head off.

 Distances are not that great between areas and to get from one side of the peninsula to the other was about 88km taking us about and hour. In fact the average distance from the Spencer Gulf which is on one side to St Vincents Gulf on the other is about 50km so places aren't very far apart.

We arrived at Edithburg and booked into the caravan park. Edithburg is a typical seaside holiday town with a lot of accomodation but not a lot of services. The closed town with services more than a corner store and a service station is Yorketown about 15 Km away. For once we weren't to fussed about where they put us but we ended up right on the foreshore with un-interrupted ocean views of the water and a grass site which we haven't seen for a while. We only planned to do the usual 2 days but we liked this so much we booked an addtional 2 days. The main attraction here is fishing, walking, looking at the coastline and plain relaxing but not a lot of other activities or attractions. Edithburgh does have a tidal swimming pool although we haven't been game enough to try it... not warm enough for us. There is also a wind farm just west of the town which is quite visable from the town and is said to generate enough power to power 55,000 homes.

We did a day trip into Yorketown then out to a farm called Ballywire which is proberbly similar to Country Life farm near Dusborough but it was closed. We drove back to Yorketown and consoled ourselves with coffee, sausage roll and chocolate donut justifying that we would have spent the same amount of money getting into Ballywire and of course we are suporting the local economy. We finished of the day in Yorketown again supporting the local economy by shopping for food and refueling the car.

From here we will start making our way up the east coast towards Port Pirie where we have organised the Aircon Tech to replace the condenser fan on the 26th and the car is booked for a oil change on the 27th. From there we are not sure if we will head for the Clare Valley wine region, Flinders Ranges or start heading our way North. Anne has booked a Mail Run tour for the 14th April so we don't need to be in Coober Pedy until then. We have also booked our site in Darwin which will be from the 11th of May untill the 15th of August.