On past trips we had missed the coastal stretch from
Ceduna to
Streaky Bay so we made our way south and pulled into the little township of
Haslam.
Haslam, a small coastal village, is located about 32 kilometres north of the township of
Streaky Bay It was established in 1893 as a deep sea port, under the name of Port Carawa, to allow the shipping of machinery and food to the local settlers, as
well as providing transport of local products to other parts of the state. When road transport took over in the 1960s, this service died out. The jetty remains today but not original.
Haslam Wharf
Sunsets were great
Tractor taking 'oyster boat' to deep water
Today, apart from local fishermen and tourists who like to try their luck, two oyster boats, launched by tractors, go out daily to their leases.
Not far down the coast we passed through
Streaky Bay on our way to Westall Loop Road to take in some more beautiful SA coastline. 'The Dreadnought's were impressive rocky outcrops which have been created by the force of the ocean weathering away the coastal cliffs.
'High Cliffs' provided a magnificent
vantage point from which to take in the vista and '
The Granites' were quite impressive with the rocks strewn around the point.
'The Drednaughts'
'High Cliffs'
[
Speeds Point - Magic !
The Hooded Plover breeds in this area
Ever in search of food
A lone pelican on the bay
We past Point Westall and then drove down to
the beach at
Smooth Pool. This was a lovely location but we couldn’t find a spot where we could get out of the wind. We finally settled in on the
cliff at Speeds Point overlooking a protected bay. There we stayed for two nights.
It was time to leave the coast and head to Minappa on the Eyre Highway. From there it was just 15km to
Pildappa Rock. This huge
granite rock is like
Wave Rock found in WA, but a miniature version. From two of the picnic areas it is an easy climb to the top of
the rock to take in the 360 degree
views of surrounding farmlands.
Hugo parked alongside the 'wave'
A close up of the rock surface
A gnamma hole on the rock surface
Make sure you climb to the top of the rock
One of the picnic areas at the base of the rock
A Google image of Pildappa Rock
We were now on a mission to reach
Adelaide as our ‘house batteries’ needed replacing.
The internet is a wonderful thing and we were able to track down a supplier but we had 5 days to fill in before they were available
We passed fields and fields of grain being harvested, trucks entered silos with their loads and others transporting bales by road. stayed at a wonderful ‘
free camp’ at
Kimba Recreation Reserve and another at Weeroona Is.
Trucks pulling into the silo
A field of wheat - golden in the sunlight
A magic sight
In
Adelaide we discovered the batteries were not the same dimensions as those in the truck so we continued onto
Melbourne where we were able to replace our house batteries with the original brand - 2 x HAZE 230ah.
We had a few days before we needed to reach
Melbourne so we took the 'less direct' route via
Murrayville. Our visit this time took in a visit to the historic
Kow Plains Homestead. It was wonderful to see the restored buildings which now give visitors a look into tour past.
The barn - Kow Plains Homestead
Inside the barn - Kow Plains Homestead
The Cook's house
Inside the Cook's house
Inside the homestead
The homestead well
With new batteries installed we had six weeks to fill in before catching the Spirit of Tasmania on the 12th December.
Did we go to Tasmania or didn't we?