Caravan Trip Week 2



 We woke up to a lovely calm morning in Streaky Bay after so much wind! We took the dogs for one last walk before we packed up - the tide was a long way out... 

 



 We headed further south in the Eyre Peninsula. First stop was Murphy's Haystacks.  These ancient, wind-worn pillars and boulders are millions of years old just sitting in a wheat field and surrounded by mallee scrub on a private property (which the owners have kindly opened to the public)...

Had  a lunch stop at Venus Bay...

 

We set up camp at Elliston. As this was also my birthday the men decided to cook me a roast on the new Weber (which turned out delicious)..

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While the roast was cooking we went for a walk around this quaint little seaside town and also took the dogs for a walk down the beach...

Mural on the Pharmacy wall in Elliston

 

Next day we called into the very picturesque Coffin Bay...



Then continued onto Port Lincoln. It was a lovely drive through the sweeping hills and farmland. As we were staying in a caravan park with some nice clean green grass we took the opportunity to give the dogs a bath - quite a fiasco really!!...

We loved Port Lincoln - it was very clean and pretty with great shops - lots of $$$ in the town from the tuna fishing industry...

 There is a statue of the famous racing horse Makybe Diva in the center of town (she won the Melbourne Cup 3 years in a row). Although the famous mare has never been to Port Lincoln her owner lives there and made all his millions in the tuna industry...

The main lookout called Winter Hill offers stunning panoramic views over the bay and farmland areas... 

 We also celebrated Peter's birthday in Port Lincoln...

 

Beach walking at North Shields Port Lincoln

As we travelled around towards Whyalla we called into a few more of the coastal towns and bays. We really liked Tumby Bay...

We arrived at Whyalla quite late in the afternoon and could only get 2 bays together way up the end of the caravan park. The toilets were so far away!  We also ran into a minor problem when we parked the van on its ramps and Peter forgot to put the brake on and it rolled forward onto the car (still with the chains on). After a bit of careful manoeuvring we eventually got it unhitched...

 We found Whyalla  quite interesting and had a great view over the steel works and bay from Hummock Hill lookout...

 From Whyalla we went to Port Augusta. We got lost here looking for the tourist info center, couldn't find anywhere to park and Bella did a big spew which I just managed to catch before it went everywhere. We ended up stopping at a fuel station just out of town to clean up and decide where to go to get back on track!  We travelled through some ranges and along some very windy roads until we arrived at a little old town called Wilmington. Here we found a toy shop with a mans life collection of toys on display and for sale...

 

 

We couldn't resist buying this 1950's original Dinky toy caravan...





 

Our next place to set up camp was Peterborough. This town was originally named Petersburg but was renamed in 1917 due to anti-German sentiments during World War 1. A lot of the street names were changed as well...

 





 

Its all about trains in Peterborough. Back in the day Peterborough sat on the intersection of the East-West railway and the North-South railway making the town a very busy hub. Slowly over time the line gauges were changed linking the larger centers and by passing Peterborough. The town is still based around trains as a tourist attraction.  We met Bob the railway dog who was a famous stray who travelled thousands of miles on the trains...

 





 

 

Even the mens toilet at the caravan park had a mural of an old man and a train!...



 

One thing that really impressed us in Peterborough was the fact that they were an extremely "dog friendly" town. We were allowed to take them into museums and later in the evening to a night show at the Steamtown Heritage Rail Center (Bella got restless and bored and Lucy fell  asleep!)...

 



 

We had afternoon tea in this wonderful old Theatre...

 

 

The weather was absolutely freezing during our time here and we had to rug the dogs up every night..

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 Next we headed towards Broken Hill. I just managed to capture this clothesline out in the middle of no where as we were driving along - the things you see!..
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 We were well and truly in the outback now and stopped at Olary for lunch opposite this pub...

 Crossed the border from South Australia and into New South Wales...

 

We set up in Broken Hill on our very dry crusty "grass site".  Later that night "Mr Bean"  appeared with avengeance  with Dad locking himself out of his caravan!  He tried in vain to pull things apart and break in. Finally he listened to us and Peter had to try and find a locksmith who was prepared to come and do an after hours callout...

    

Mr Bean at work

 

Luckily we found one and a rather large problem was solved!...