Week 23 – Streaky Bay – Sheringa Beach – Tumby Bay – Adelaide



The area around Streaky Bay is mainly farming area with a very wild coastline. We took a drive around a few loop roads around the rocky headlands. The beaches had some surf but there was no-one around in the water. Granites had a good left breaking over massive granite boulders.


We drove further down to Cape Blanche and Sceale Bay. Further down the coast we ended up at Point Labatte which is a seal colony.


We went fishing from the jetty at Streaky Bay in the afternoon. Nanna got in a real tangle. Just like fishing with the kids.




A local teenager caught a world record white pointer shark on his rod off Streaky Bay. They have a model of it in the garage.


Our next stop was a free camp at Sheringa Beach. On the way we stopped in at a few tourist hotspots – Murphy’s Haystacks and Woolshed Cave. Murphy’s Haystacks are granite boulders emerging from the farmland and are a very impressive sight.



The woolshed Cave was at the end of a 12km dirt road. The waves have eroded the limestone cliffs and formed huge caves which dot the coast. The Woolshed Cave is large enough to walk into. We poked around the rock platform for an hour or two and explored the area before having lunch in the van.




At Sheringa we set up the van right on the headland overlooking the beach.





The surf the next morning was awesome, big waves crashing on the rock platform. Unfortunately for Pa there was no-one around again so he set up his chair on the cliff to watch the waves.


We drove into Port Lincoln and had a good look around. Port Lincoln is right at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula and supposedly has the largest commercial fishing fleet in the southern hemisphere. There was a statue of Makybe Diva on the beach as the owners live in Port Lincoln.


We stayed overnight at Tumby bay where local artists have painted numerous buildings in the town as well as the huge wheat silos on the road into town.



We have decided to drive as far as possible to get home within the next two weeks so we drove from Tumby Bay up to Port Augusta at the top of the bight, passing through Cowell and Whyalla. When we drove down the eastern side of the Spencer Gulf towards Adelaide. We found a tiny town called Lochiel to set up a free camp but the site on Wikicamps was right on the main road which was very busy with road trains.  We went down the back street and found the local footy oval which was deserted, so we drove in and set up on the grass – perfect.

It was a short drive of 180km to Adelaide so we detoured via the Barossa Valley and visited Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop in Nuriootpa. Nanna was in heaven as she got to stand in the kitchen they used in the TV show.


They sell lots of home-made jams, pickles, wines, and verjuice. We had morning tea overlooking the blue pond with tortoises in it.


The road back to Adelaide was highway but it was very bumpy – worst roads so far on our trip! We set up camp at West Beach after driving through long weekend traffic – maniacal! We timed our visit to Adelaide not very well – October long weekend.
On Saturday we drove the short drive to Glenelg and hopped on a tram for a trip to the city (free for seniors – winner).

We went to Adelaide’s Central markets where you could buy all your groceries and fresh produce. It was pretty packed. We hopped on another tram and went into the city proper. After a quick shop for Aunty Kerry at Myer we headed to the Museum of South Australia where we saw some awesome fossils and rocks.


We stopped in at the markets on the way back to the car so Nanna could get some things.
The next day we drove up the Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills and walked around the craft and tourist shops. There was a vintage car event on and we drove amongst hundreds of vintage cars as they went to Birdwood and the Australian Motor Museum.



We also visited Hans Heysen’s gallery at his house in the hills.



 Hahndorf is like Berry or Mojo on steroids – thanks Uncle Al!


On the way home we stopped at Mt Lofty which has awesome views over Adelaide.


We head off to Victor Harbour tomorrow.


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