Travelling Out West

 Sometimes it's hard to find enough interesting events to write about, especially as I don't like to post about personal problems, although  many bloggers do, and I am interested in the ups and downs of their life but that is not what I set out to write about in my blog.  I have been reading several other blogs about travels and find them very interesting so have been going back over my many diaries of our travels and will post from my written diary in a more condensed form about some of our trips from many years ago.  I hope you find it interesting.  

WA  Trip  2017

Day 1

We had a late start to our trip as we had to go back to Optus to try and sort out the new modem which we were told would work when travelling on the road but once installed we realised they sold us one that had to be plugged into power and we need a mobile modenm.  By 10.30 am we had the modem sorted, did the last minute checks around the house, gave our spare keys to our neighbour and were on the road heading north out of Adelaide on the Main North Road. 

The weather was cloudy and cool but no rain. We arrived at Tarlee at 11.40 am and it was starting to rain, travelled on through Rhynie, Watervale,  Penwortham and Sevenhill where we stopped at the Bakery which is a must for us when going through these lovely little towns, and bought some cakes, and fresh bread rolls. 

Next town was Clare, which is a larger town and was quite busy so we didn't stop and continued on to Spalding where we pulled into the Oval and I made lunch with our lovely fresh bread rolls and a cup of coffee before heading off again.  The scenery was very pretty with rolling green hills and vineyards.

Lunch stop at Spalding Oval

Clare

Our next stop was at Yatina to take photos of the old Yatina Hotel.  It is a shame it has closed as it is a lovely old stone building and looking a bit sad.

Yatina was proclaimed as a town in 1874.  The  Yatina Hotel served the community and travellers for almost 90 years but closed in 1961.

The old Yatina Hotel

Our next stop was in Jamestown for fuel. We continued on to Orroroo, and stopped at 4 pm and stayed overnight in a lovely bush camping area where we had stayed before.  Enough driving for our 1st day.

 

 

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Austin A40 - Ron loves anything old and rusty

Overnight stop at Orroroo

Distance travelled  on Day 1 - 274 km

Day 2  

It was very windy overnight and I didn't sleep very well, but usually on the first night away I am a bit restless due to different surroundings and a different bed.  We had breakfast and tidied the van and left around 9 am. after we discovered that we had a problem with the hot water service, but I did manage to have a shower, so we will get it sorted when we get to Pt Augusta, a fairly large regional town. 

Flinders Ranges in the distance

We were now able to see the Flinders Ranges and arrived in Pt Augusta around 10.30 am and found a Plumbing store where Ron was able to get the parts he needed to fix the pressure valve and he fixed it fairly quickly in the parking area of the store which was very handy. 

Fixing the problem - thank goodness! It's great to have a Handy Husband!

We left Pt Augusta after getting more fuel, stopped for morning tea and then on the road again.  Next stop was Iron Knob, almost a ghost town with mostly empty shops and houses. Mining in Iron Knob ended in 1998 and the population declined from 1500 in the 1950's to less than 200 in 1998. The roadside scenery is very dry with low bushes.

Iron Knob

Caravan Park looked abandoned

From Iron Knob we drove on to Kimba, a lovely town and had a look around the town and at the Silo Art then decided to continue on to a Rest Area at Koongawa where we stayed the night.

On the road to Kimba

The mural spans over five and a half silos, 60 metres by 25 metres high.

Mural at the Recreation park in Kimba

The Big Galah in Kimba

Kimba is a service town on the Eyre Highway.  The statue of a galah is situated beside the highway marking halfway between the East and West coast of Australia.

Koongawa Rest Area

Resting at Rest Area

Distance travelled Day 2 - 318 km

Day 3 

We left Koongawa Rest Area  by 9 am .  It had rained overnight but we both slept better.  Our next stop was Kyancutta which is now almost a ghost town.  It is so sad to see these small towns in decline, but it happens when transport routes change and agriculture is so dependent on good rainfall which is very unreliable.

Wudinna sculpture to the Australian Farmer

Our next stop was Wudinna, which is 13 km from Kyancutta.  Wudinna is another small wheatbelt town but has a larger population of just over 1000 people.  There is a large sculpture dedicated to the Australian Farmer which is very impressive.

We stopped at the Bakery and bought some nice fresh bread as it was the weekend and most country towns close up at 12 noon on a Saturday and don't open again until Monday morning so it's good to get some basics to carry us over the weekend.

Our next stop was the small town of Minnipa.  Ron's father went to school with Jack and remained in touch with each other over many years so we thought we would take some photos. The airport looked abandoned as did most of the town, but it was interesting to visit this town.

Our next stop was at Pildappa Rock, which we had heard about and although we had to go on a dirt road, it was a good road and we went carefully.  It was a great spot to investigate and roam around and we could have camped there overnight but we were the only ones there and I don't like camping in such isolation and it was still early afternoon so after exploring the rock and surrounds we headed off.

The rock is very high and we didn't go right to the top

The Geraniums planted in 1938 and still flowering

Pildappa Rock geraniums have a unique local history. In 1938, the Kwaterski Girls planted geraniums on the rock. The rock itself is a significant geological formation, a crustal intrusion formed 1.5 billion years ago.

After a great stop at Pildappa Rock it was time to head to our planned stop at the Streaky Bay Caravan Park.  We noticed our tyre was going flat so we stopped and pumped it up and kept going and watched carefully stopping to pump it up a few times.  We got to Streaky Bay and spent 2 nights there in a foreshore site.  It was a great few days to rest and relax without much driving.

Time for a drink

View from our caravan site

Great to see a horse rider on the beach one morning

Streaky Bay Jetty

Day 4 - Streaky Bay

We enjoyed another relaxing day here at Streaky Bay, walked along the jetty and back to the van.

In the afternoon I tidied the van and sorted out a few cupboards which made it easier to find things. We had a bbq tea and enjoyed the great weather and views of the beach in front of our caravan site.  

Day 5 - Streaky Bay CP

We reluctantly packed up after a relaxing couple of days at Streaky Bay and stopped in the town to get our tyre fixed and were on the road by about 10 am.

It was a alovely sunny morning, no wind which makes driving better.  Our first stop was Smoky Bay so we had a look around this little fishing village and had a great coffee at the cafe.

Smoky Bay

Smoky Bay Jetty

We arrived in Ceduna around 12 noon, found a parking spot near the supermarket and restocked with a few essentials.  

Cohen school ruinns

enjoying the stop

Penong
Our next stop was at Penong to look at the Outdoor Windmill Museum. There were so many windmills and some very large ones which have been donated and restored. After chatting with a few of the visitors there and spending time exploring the different displays, we headed off to look for an overnight stop.

We found the Cohen Rest Area and decided to drive in and see if we felt comfortable to stay the night.  It was a reasonably large area with some low bushes, and a few other campers and caravans there so we found a nice spot and setup for the night. 


 

To be continued .......