27TH MARCH 2013 - PORT GIBBON, EYRE PENINSULA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

It's my turn to be the driver today as we are going on a day trip inland & then offroad along the coast & I love driving offroad.  It also gives Stu a rest from being the chauffear.  Naturally there will be no van on the back to tow as we will leave it at the  camp.   The scenery inland is still pretty boring but we stop at at a little place called Cleve en route, then back to the coast to Cowell which we had seen the day before, then offroad right along the coast.  It was amazing how many caravans were  camped in amongst the sand dunes etc,  most of them interested in fishing.  Had we known, we could have followed suit.  However it was good to leave the van where it was & be freer without the worry of towing.   With Easter weekend starting tomorrow everyone we meet is a little concerned where they will find a site. It's a wonderful open coastline, with lovely white sand & dunes which were good to photograph.  And guess what?  I actually got us back without any mishaps.

Next morning is Good Friday, rather dull with rain on the horizon.  It is 19deg & only caravans & boats on the road.  It is so popular for all fishing along this coast - it seems there is hardly an Aussie who doesn't enjoy fishing.  There is a big fishing industry here & the varieties of fish caught are amazing.  We had a shock to our system today - a GREEN paddock!  It's so long since we've seen green we've almost forgotten what that colour is.  Must have been a crop I guess, or perhaps just well irrigated  grass.   By morning tea the temperature has risen to 22deg & is nice & sunny when we reach yet another port, Port Neill.  Most of these were obviously working ports at some time, but a lot have no large ships now, some would have fishing boats though.  Anyway Port Neill is a lovely little bay, again with a long jetty (great for fishing off) & a lovely white sandy beach.  There are families enjoying themselves here because there is a camping ground on the beach, but even though it is Easter weekend everything seems very quiet no matter where we go.  Even through residential areas there doesn't seem to be any life - if it was really hot weather I could understand that they would stay inside, but that can't be the reason at present.

View from Farm early morning
 

We choose to stay at a farmstay camping spot for the next two nights - thought it might be an interesting & educational experience. We rang first to make that it was OK & were told there was only one site left (untrue), & on arrival discovered there was only one flush toilet & one shower, though it did have a little twintub washing machine.  If we used power it was $30 per night, but I decided it was not worth that so we did without the power & used their washing machine, shower & toilet for $20 p.n.  The owner was away & a young Swiss lad was looking after things including delivery lambs which were early.  The good part was that there were some other kiwis staying too.  Well, I say Kiwis but they were all Aussies now.  There were 2 other vans & a tent,  (7 people - all from Tassy)  & 3 of them were Kiwis, plus a large 5th wheeler with two other ex kiwis.  The latter had only been here 7 years & have been travelling all that time & intend to keep doing it in the near future.  They said they didn't think they could live in a house in one place again.  It made for a good evening talking to them all over a wine or two.  One of the ladies is going to email the owner here after she leaves to tell them she thought the facilities were not worth the money.  Good on her!
A nice finish to the day was a lovely sunset.

Yannik's 20th birthday cake
 

Party in the old shed
 

Sunset from the farm
 

To fill in the next day which was cool, windy morning, we set off on another day trip to Port Lincoln.  (Yes I know it's confusing with all these ports).  It is a much bigger town &supports a large fishing industry.   Being  Easter Saturday all the cafes & supermarkets are  brimming with people & parking is at a premium. Feels strange to be back in the hustle & bustle.   Much to our pleasure we find a cycle trail which takes us right around the coast, though after 5kms it started to rain so we decided to return as we were not prepared for that.  Luckily it stopped long enough to enable us to ride back to the car, but 10kms was a nice length for me anyway.    On the way round we discovered a great caravan park situated right on the bay & there were heaps of unpowered sites vacant, so we could have stayed there -  will be more thorough when looking for somewhere next time.  Mind you, it was not in our 'bible' so probably expensive but at least we would have got what we paid for.  The climax to this stay was a wonderful night spent in the farm shed celebrating the young Swiss boys 20th birthday.  The Tassie crew had purchased a 'Happy Birthday' banner & tied it to his caravan plus a delicious chololate cake with candles, so we all had a barbie with lamb chops from the farm's own sheep, drank wine & generally an hilarious night.  Yannik had a Swiss girl come down from WA who he had attended  'farming school' with.  Apparently in Switzerland a 20th birthday is like our 21st so he was quite overcome that we all took the time to make it special for him so far from home.  We really liked the Tassy crowd & will keep in touch, so some time in the future we'll no doubt be visiting Tassy. We may not have been impressed with the camp but the company was great!

Skeletal trees