Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Renmark and Swan Hill – Our last leg home

Well, as i hinted at in the last post, the trip home has been a bit of a fizzer. The weather from Ceduna to Melbourne has been fairly consistently cold, windy with some rain. We have has some sunny periods but all in al not a real trip back unfortunately.

We had intended to see more of the towns we passed through but instead decided to push onwards towards home, and therefore ended our trip a few day early.

Port Lincoln

The trip from Ceduna to Port Lincoln was interrupted a few times throughout the day when we stopped at some of the towns. We pulled into Streaky bay for morning tea and then again at Murphy's Haystacks for a bit of sight seeing. This was in between rain storms but they were still quite impressive. We had intended to visit some sea caves and a seal colony but as it was raining and the road out to these two attractions was dirt we passed. We also pulled into Venus bay for lunch. This was going to be our stop for the night but we had decided to push on to Port Lincoln.

The park in Port Lincoln was great, well kept and clean with a massive camp kitchen complete with a plasma TV so the girls got some soapies in for the evening. We had a great site overlooking the bay, as all the sites seems to be as the perk was terraced. The main township was a bit of a drive, as was the main marina but all in all we would definitely return here at some point. The park had two jetties which we could fish off and when we did we were able to see both a dolphin pass by and a seal hang around hoping for a free feed i would guess. We stopped fishing when the seal turned up

Port Augusta

We travelled up from Port Lincoln to Port Augusta, stopping in at Tumby Bay and Whyalla. The weather was Ok for the trip through.

Without booking we tried to stop for the night at the Port Augusta Big4 but yet again, this must be a great park as it was full. That’s two trips we have found ourselves staying at the top tourist oh well, its not that bad a park for an overnight stop.

 

Renmark

The trip from Port Augusta was a good one, we did get rain and it was freezing but the scenery up through the hills was great and we stopped in for lunch at the Peterborough rail museum, Steamtown. The guided tour was most informative and highly recommended.

We stopped for the night at the Renmark Big4 right on the river and it was great, again a well maintained park that could easily cater for a full park, which it was not whilst we were there From the moment we arrived Caitlyn had a full flock of ducks following her and one point even had a pair of swans chasing her.

Swan Hill

The trip across to Swan Hill was interesting to say the least. Rather than pass through Mildura as we though we might, TOM TOM decided to take us the scenic route and took us on the single lane country roads. I have to say though, this was well worth it and we saw some great country side. If we had had any traffic, which we did not, i am sure my story might be slightly different

We stayed the night at the caravan park right on the river in Swan Hill as we have done before and it was good for an overnighter but it really is getting too cold to be out in the van.

We made a quick dash for home the next day after swan hill. The trip is over and we managed to travel 10855km. We all enjoyed it, even if it got a bit cold and cramped for the last week. Now begins the big clean up of the van and preparations for the next big adventure.

Thanks to all those that have been following us and my apologies for the light updates in the last week or so.

Ceduna

This will be a quick blog update. We have no real pictures but we spent the last 2 nights resting at the Shelly Beach caravan park in Ceduna. This is a great park that may not be well known to many. When we drove through town the caravan park in the main street was quite busy but this one, just out of town, was quiet. It has great access to the beach and the amenities are well sized and clean.

As I said we spent most of our time at the park resting and catching up on some cleaning. One thing of note was the fireworks that Bianca and I got to see. It seems the township set off some fireworks for an unknown reason and our location out of town and the height of the sand dunes afforded Bianca and I a great view. We enjoyed them anyways :)

From Ceduna we had planned to travel to Venus bay but the weather has been quite bad being both windy and wet, so we planned to reach Port Lincon, which we have. I'll post an update with photos of our journey in a couple of days.

Eucla to Ceduna

After Fraser Range station we stoped in at Eucla for the night. The main reason for stopping here was so we could use up any fruit and vegetables we might have before crossing the border. This was a flawed plan as, although we did use up all our contraband, we did not get inspected at the border, you only get inspected from SA to WA. We did get inspected at Ceduna but we were ok

The camp at Eucla is not to bad and there is a great view across to the water. It was, however, VERY cold over night.

Once we left Eucla we stopped quite a few times to look out across the bight to look for Wales. At our second stop we saw quite a few wales but they were far off shore. We also saw a large pod of dolphins in close to the shore. Ill post the photos but there is not much to see, even with a 300mm zoom lens.

 

We have arrived at Ceduna and are now staying at the Shelly Beach caravan park.

Fraser Range Station

The drive out from Esperance was uneventful. Since we had stopped at Fraser Range station on the journey across to Perth we decided this would be our first stop on the return trip. We arrived at the station early and set up camp, eagerly awaiting the delivery of wood so we could start the fire pit up  

The evening was again great with many in the park joining us around the fire. The only photos i got of this stop was of the evening stars. Since there was no moon the sky was very bright. One shooting star we saw was like a slow moving flare that just broke up before burning out.

I may be able to improve these photos when i get home to a better computer.

Esperance

We arrived in Esperance and booked into the Esperance Bay Holiday Park. This park, a top tourist, is very nice however it right on the main train line into the port. As we checked in we heard the Train horns, this happened again later in the evening and two to three times a day but during the night we could only hear the engines. This said, and not mentioning a clock in the area that chimed every 15 mins, it was a quite park and we slept well.

On the first night, for Sara’s Birthday, we went out for Chinese. I have to say, that has to be some of the best food we have had in a while, full of fresh seafood and tasting great. We also had some local fish and chips before we left and that too was beyond our expectations.

We stayed 3 nights and only did one of the drives that went past many of their great beaches and views, as well as the pink lake. On the first day, as it was overcast and windy, the views were good but you could see how they could be better. The pink lake was not pink for us, rather a dull grey. Since the second day was better weather wise we revisited some of the beaches to see if we could get nicer photos. We also did a nice long walk of the main shopping district which took a few hours. it was a good change from sitting in the car.

After Esperance we are off to Fraser Range to begin our return trip over the Nullabour.