Lap of Australia  – Week Seven

This week we finished off the Yorke Peninsula and started to make our way down the Eyre Peninsula. Unfortunately the wind was our enemy this week, but we still had a good time.

Day one

We woke up this morning to the news that our package was ready to be picked up at Port Pirie! We decided to spend the day exploring the Copper Coast and heading up to a donation camp on the highway past Kadina. We packed up at Moonta and went down to Port Hughes to use the free public showers and to have a walk round. We then drove up the road to Moonta Bay to have a wander, but couldn’t go to splash town as it wasn’t open yet. After Moonta Bay, we went to Moonta Mines to explore some of the old buildings and learn a bit about the history in the area. From Moonta Mines, we made our way to Kadina to have some lunch, and play some mini golf at the visitors centre. For only $5 per person, it was a fun way to spend some time outdoors. We then drove through Kadina to have a quick look, and then drove to Wallaroo for a fish where we unfortunately didn’t catch anything. After Wallaroo, we made our way to Alford, where we stayed at the recreation park for the night. The park had toilets, and was a donation to camp there so it suited us nicely. We were happy that we covered off the Copper Coast and were ready to move on towards the Eyre Peninsula.

Day two

Today we made our way to Port Pirie and had an errand day, as this was one of the first bigger towns that we had seen since Adelaide. We had items to return and purchase at Kmart, a car service to do, post to pick up, and we had to wash the car as well. This took up most of the day, but we made sure we made some time to go to the Port Pirie Aquatic Leisure Centre to have a swim and a shower. Port Pirie was a nice town and suited our needs as to what we needed to do. After running our errands, we made our way out to Lawrie Park, just around 13km outside Port Pirie. Lawrie Park is another low cost camp that has BBQs as well as toilets. We found a place to pull up and did some walking around the nearby Nelshaby Reserve. There was only one other person camped there and it was lovely. We watched an amazing sunset and settled in for the night, only to be woken up at 3am by intense wind that came out of nowhere and wasn’t predicted on the weather radar. We nearly lost a chair in the wind!

Day three

We were making our way to the Eyre Peninsula today and we were super excited! We had a bit of a drive to do, so we left Lawrie Park and headed towards Port Augusta, then onto the Eyre Peninsula. We made our way towards Fitzgerald Bay and the Freycinet Walking Trail, as there were a number of free campsites that overlooked the water. We found one perfect for us and we had it all to ourselves. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the water, doing some fishing, going swimming, and getting in a workout. We also got to see some dolphins right near where we were camping. After dinner, we did some more fishing and relaxing, watched the sun set from the other side of the camping area, and fell asleep listening to the waves.

Day four

Today we were making the short drive to Whyalla, where we were going to stay for two nights. It was time to do some laundry, and Whyalla had some things to see and do in the area. After a slow morning of some more fishing and watching the sunrise, we headed to Point Lowly to have a look at the lighthouse, and found out that it was completed in 1883, and has been owned by the City of Whyalla since 1995.  We also drove past Port Bonython, which has a deepwater port, gas fractionation plant and diesel storage and it was huge. We then made our way to Whyalla stopping in at the HMAS Whyalla for a look, and wondering how they got the massive ship into the area as it was nowhere near water! Our next stop was the Whyalla Jetty and marina. The Whyalla Jetty is brand new and was opened in 2020, and is a unique circular jetty. This design was popular and chosen by the community as it was a unique point of difference. We walked around the jetty and spotted some dolphins swimming around the marina, so we had to go and have a closer look. We were able to see multiple pods having a swim and rolling around on their backs, it was very cute. We had some lunch and went for another walk before checking into the caravan park. We spent the rest of the day doing washing, and hiding out for the horrible wind that was rolling through Whyalla.  

Day five

The wind kept us up the night before, so we had a bit of a sleep in before going and exploring Whyalla. Our first stop was Old Tower Hill lookout, and this one was probably the least official lookout for the way. It was very windy up the top, but provided us with nice views of Whyalla. We then went to the Flinders and Freycinet Lookout that had a similar view, but also some information on the two explorers as well as contemporary statues of each of them. After this one, we went to Hummock Hill Lookout, which provided great views of the Whyalla Foreshore. Hummock Hill was the site of the first settlement at the turn of the century, and was developed by BHP as a gift to the city for the company’s centenary year. The views were amazing, but it was so windy up the top it was hard to get a nice photo or video. We decided to then head out to Wild Dog Hill, which is located in the Whyalla Conservation Park, around 10km outside Whyalla. The hike was an easy 1.2km circuit and gave us views of Whyalla and the nearby hills. The red sandstone hill was the highlight of this walk and it was great to go outside the town and explore some different parts of the area. After Wild Dog Hill, we had some lunch, and spent the afternoon doing boring jobs such as supermarket shopping and getting diesel. We did have some time to walk along Whyalla Beach, but got sandblasted and nearly blown away, that was how bad the wind was! 

Day six

After a run and some pancakes (our Saturday morning tradition), we packed up and headed off from Whyalla. We were making our way to some low cost camps at Port Gibbon, but our first stop was Cowell, where we took some photos of the car and trailer in front of the silo, and got some fish and chips for lunch. If you are in Cowell, we definitely recommend the fish and chips. The outside of the shop looks a bit run down, but don’t judge a book by its cover as it was up there as one of the best fish and chips we have had! We even had change left over for some ice creams from the IGA. While we were waiting for our fish and chips, we went for a walk around the jetty. You can see they are doing some renovations to the area, with marina parking and a new playground on the way. We left Cowell and headed 20km down the road to Port Gibbon. There are heaps of campsites to choose from in the area, and you can pay either $10 for a self-sufficient campsite, or $15 and have access to showers and toilets. There are different pay stations located along the road, so we grabbed an envelope and paid our $10, and made our way to a campsite near the Port Gibbon dunes. We have beach views, as well as beach access (but it was very steep and a bit dicey to get down). We spent the afternoon relaxing and planning our next few months on the road, and also went for a walk along the beach, with the water being so warm.   

Day Seven 

We tried waking up early to watch the sunrise this morning, but we woke up to clouds so no sunrise for us unfortunately. After relaxing at camp and having some breakfast, we packed up and headed towards Arno Bay. We stopped at the Mangrove Boardwalk to have a look and a walk around. It was interesting to walk amongst the mangroves, and we saw heaps of tiny crabs. As well as walking, you can fish, swim and kayak there as well. They also had a viewing platform where you could take in views of the beach. After our walk, we headed towards Port Neill, then headed towards Carrow Wells campground. This campground is a donation to the RFDS and there are heaps of spots you can choose from. There were a few cars here already, so we decided to head towards a more sandy part, headed around the corner, and found ourselves a campsite with access to our own private beach! Once we set up, we spent the rest of the day fishing, hanging out on the beach and relaxing. We are loving the low cost camps on the Eyre Peninsula so far and look forward to discovering more over the next few weeks,

Weekly stats

Number of KMs – 681

Number of states – 1

Number of campsites – 5

Number of items lost – 1

Number of items broken – 0