Well we reluctantly left Port Lincoln.  The weather really turned it on this morning and it was a bit tough to leave.  Leaving was even tougher since Kel fails at setting the alarm clock … and we woke up an hour late.  Then to top it off Blake woke up and had an insta-vomit.  The mood was well and truly set.

The comedy of errors continued as we were hurriedly packing up and nothing was co-operating.  Just one of those days…

Finally the sunrise appeared, just to rub it in that we shouldn’t actually be leaving yet.  Port Lincoln is one place we’ll be coming back to down the track.

Once on the road though, all was well.  We had stops at Talia caves, Venus Bay, Murphy’s haystacks, Streaky Bay and Smoky Bay.

First up was Talia caves.  The first formation was ‘The Tub’.  It used to be a cave, but the roof caved in eons ago.  Now you can climb about 10ft down a conveniently growing tree with steps cut into the side of it…  Not as bad as it sounds (or looks below), although Kel still had some trouble.  Our trained monkeys were down and off, quick smart!

 

Around the same area is also the Woolshed cave.  The sea was calm today, but both features would be awesome with a rough sea and act as blowholes.  Since it was calm we got to climb down and have a good look around … can’t have it both ways!

 

Next stop was Venus Bay, a tiny seaside town.  It’s got a great caravan park though, right on the beach and it looks like it would never get too busy either.

Murphy’s haystacks were the next stop.  Had a good walk around there, although Hannah had turned feral.  We had lunch in the carpark there too.

 

It’s not THAT cold, but Kel has been well rug-ged up all trip so far.  Hopefully some warmer weather ahead.

Streaky Bay was next up and before we got there we started to think about what we needed to do at Ceduna.  It was getting a bit late in the day and as it was a Saturday we got to thinking that maybe the shops wouldn’t be open.  So, we did a shop at Streaky instead.  We’re crossing the SA/WA border tomorrow and that limits what we can take with us.  In addition to that, we’ve potentially got about 5 free-camp days as well.  Planning ahead is getting a bit complicated.

Streaky had not much open, certainly nowhere to get any seafood.  Smoky Bay was on the way too, so we called in there and managed to get two dozen oysters for $16.  That put a smile on Kels dial.

Smoky Bay Jetty

We got to Ceduna Foreshore Caravan Park about 5ish and set about setting up.  Tonight the hinges on one of the bed bins gave way … and on closer inspection many of the hinges were missing their pins.  To top it off, another of the latches on the front bins failed in the same way as the one just before we left.  Great quality Jayco.  We’re not being rough with the van and it doesn’t bode well for the rougher sections of the journey ahead.  Shopping list: 12 quality hinges and another latch.  Even on holiday the chores don’t stop.  Hmmm … so is that our three lots of bad luck?

We did get enough time before sundown to go and have a bit of a look around Ceduna, a walk along the Jetty and a refuel.  A completely full tank of diesel and also a small jerry can of petrol for the generator.  That will finally get a bit of use in the coming days.

Early start tomorrow as we’ve got about 500+ kms to do.  Unsure yet whether we’ll be stopping at Eucla Caravan Park or continuing slightly past it and free camping.  Not much difference either way as Eucla is pretty basic.  Not likely to have the Internet again until we get to Esperance and even then we’ll possibly be camping out at Lucky Bay or Thomas River for another 3 nights.  Internet being as scarce as it is I’ll try and do an upload passing thru Esperance though.

So … ya might not hear from us until Albany on the 22nd.  The spot tracker seems to be going well, so that should let you all know we’re still alive.  It’s still on its first set of batteries … amazing.  All the gadgets are also working flawlessly … it’s just the Jayco that’s falling apart.

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