Exploring the Eyre (Part One)

All throughout the first six months of this year, the first year with Matt back working on the farm, our first spud season with a busy packing shed and orders and trucks to fill, we said “after spud season we’ll go away, after spud season we’ll go away, after spud season we’ll go away…” July and August came and went. And most of September. Then I was getting awfully pregnant. Thoughts of a Bali or Noosa or Port Douglas tropical escape slipped away. But away we went – we hooked up Tilly (after an embarrassing amount of time sitting idle in the shed) and trundled our way west. Again. Just for a few weeks this time, but our first stop was much the same as our big trip last year – to the Farmer family near Keith in SA…

It just so happened that Rach and Ben were shearing on the morning after we arrived – so of course what would Matt do but strap on the roustabout boots and help out. He doesn’t really do any stock work anymore here and quite enjoys it, so this was his idea of a holiday! Shearing delayed our departure from the Farmers by another night though, well and truly in holiday mode with nowhere particular to be. Our big Eleanor played well with ‘little Eleanor’, and baby whisperer Harriet (and Matt) got their fix with baby Sophie duties.

But north we headed, around Adelaide and through the mid-north cropping country before pulling up for our first night in Tilly at the Tarlee footy ground, a great little free camp for the night (with a spattering of rain) and a local market the next morning…

Onwards towards Port Augusta, where we didn’t stop really as we’d done a big supermarket shop in Murray Bridge the day before. We did detour off the road for a short trip to Hancocks Lookout where you could see the seas of the Spencer Gulf. We made for a rugged campsite at Fitzgerald Bay after going through Port Augusta. This was the Eyre Peninsula I had imagined – exposed and salty and a bit barren…

It was about 5 degrees cooler than I was anticipating, and windy (which I was really expecting). As usual it takes me awhile to find my ‘camping legs’ and get in the groove of the rhythm of our days living on the road. Hmph. But the girls were having a ball – collecting sticks and shells and stones and making terrariums and generally loving life being wild and free.

We took a gander at the Point Lowly lighthouse, explaining to the girls what a lighthouse keeper would do ‘back in the day’ and pondering how their life would have been living here on this wild coastline, before there was road access. This was probably the first time Eleanor has been able to grasp much of a concept of learning about places we visit – it was great! So many interesting questions posed by her, the little sponge. We meandered into Whyalla for lunch, where Matt took the girls on a ship’s tour (tired pregnant Mummy sat that one out). Our holiday so far had been a tour of South Australia’s playgrounds, Whyalla foreshore didn’t disappoint (although the seagulls were a bit too friendly and the girls took refuge in the car to eat their sandwiches!) Once again we were very late in the day by the time we thought about where we would camp… the trusty Wikicamps app and our Camps book told me of a free camp for the night inland at Yeldulknie Reservoir, between Cowell and Cleve. Inland sounded good to get out of the exposed winds. Tilly was earning her keep and proving what a good solution she is for us – Matt literally takes 10 minutes to set up the camper, with the girls beds out, while I get dinner started and the girls explore our new surrounds. It took us a few days, but we were finding the groove of life on the road and moving camp every night, which is generally what our camping holidays look like!

In Arno Bay the next day we did the raised boardwalk across the tidal mangroves – again exposed and windy and colder than we’d probably anticipated it being, but the girls ran and ran along the boardwalk to burn off some energy! Run, run, run girls! They are generally great little travellers in the car, but sometimes bedtime shenanigans were a bit hectic in the camper, with both of them having lengthy car naps late in the afternoon – doh!

We continued to mosey our way south, towards Port Lincoln – we stayed one night in the Tumby Bay caravan park to do some washing and have hot showers. Delighted to discover this caravan park had little kiddie baths in their laundry that the girls indulged in! The colour of the water after our little campdogs had been in it was something else, oh dear! Eleanor loves a caravan park, as it generally means that Daddy will get her bike down from the roof rack and she can cruise around the park to her hearts content, there’s probably a playground nearby, or other children to play with. We walked into town for some yummy fish and chips for dinner – simple holiday pleasures.

We hit ‘the big smoke’ of Port Lincoln – a lovely fishing town, where we promptly hit up the visitors information centre to book campsites in the Lincoln National Park and find out about 4WD road conditions etc… and where Harriet promptly did a poo in her undies. Cue evacuation of the building and waddle of shame back to where we’d parked Tilly and the car. Travelling and camping with toddlers is not for the feint of heart sometimes! But honestly, 95% of the time the girls are little legends when we’re travelling – you win some, you lose some! Just roll with the punches and learn to laugh later. More playground action on the Port Lincoln foreshore, where the sun had decided to come out, before we thought we’d better make our tracks out to Memory Cove where we’d booked a campsite for the night. The drive was apparently rocky and slow in parts, but we discovered stunning coastal heathland with emus galore, followed by rugged coastline – and that water! So very blue.

What a gorgeous part of our country! We bumped our way down to Memory Cove – where we had been told we would find a little oasis of a cove, but we were honestly blown away with it’s loveliness! This could be one of the best campsites we have had the pleasure of discovering in Australia, a big call considering we’ve had some rippers!

We were literally a stone’s throw to the beach – with the bluest, clearest water and softest white sand, which the girls quickly discovered was perfect for sandcastle creations. Memory Cove, you did not disappoint…

Unfortunately we had only one night at Memory Cove, we’d mapped out where we needed to get to, to see what we wanted to see further along our travels, and how much time we had left of our holiday… We vowed that next time we explored the Eyre Peninsula we would just make a beeline for Memory Cove to spend more time here! We did have a fairly lazy and leisurely long cooked breakfast in our favourite campsite, and the weather had improved somewhat in the protected little bay which I am sure had something to do with my improved mood about our camping holiday! That and a week on the road finding our rhythm. With little gems like Memory Cove to be discovered though (which otherwise I wouldn’t know existed), camping wasn’t looking too shabby. Sorry Bali! But Memory Cove’s water and sand was more idyllic than any Port Douglas holiday was offering, I admit.

We reluctantly packed up from Memory Cove and made our way back out along the bumpy track to find some more 4WD action in the Lincoln National Park sand dunes, much to the poor baby in utero’s dismay! More on that in another holiday post 2.0 I think, the second half of our Eyre Peninsula explorings…