From the Clare Valley to the Yorke Peninsular- a 2 week motorhome meander

[RB]

Park Entry Office


Little Emu Beach





Looking back to park entry


Education while we walk






Roof of Park office in centre back

 

[RB]

More of Stenhouse Bay Lookout Trail






Dao Thanh-noted as the first Vietmanese to reach the Yorke Peninsular


Good track & pretty easy walk-cold wind though

 

[RB]

Finish of Stenhouse Bay

 

[RB]

Next stop for us was Cape Spencer Lighthouse- rough road in off the main road but then an easy walk out to the lighthouse. 40kph limit in the park but spots to get off for photos

 

[RB]

Next was West Cape- lady at the park entry had suggested this was the highlight of the park & I think she was right. Some great 360 degree views that were very difficult to capture and the light was pretty gloomy

Good lunch spot

 

[RB]

More of West Cape

 

[RB]

Our last stop in the park that day was at Inneston Historic Township. Again well signposted and a reminder of the tough life they had in the early 1900's in a gypsum mining town. Only a population of 200 but it was self sufficient.









Saw quite a few of these signs- a reminder of the dry climate


Finished our day at the pub with a seafood pizza. They have 2 sitting times (much bigger area than appears in photo) and a busy bar

 

[RB]

Next day was another drive. First up was Gym Beach & then further afield to Corny Point. Some great camp spots are available around the Gym Beach area (the road in was a shocker) and the road onwards to Corny Point is a good bitumen surface. The locals are obviously working hard to attract visitors to Corny Point and the local shop was a real revelation. The shop was very well stocked, prices were sharp (including bottles of booze) and we really enjoyed the hamburgers. Back at the bay in Marion Bay there were many trying their luck from the beach but we only saw a few tiddlers landed in spots in between the ever present weed.

Gym Beach Area-bit of a short hike up dunes to get the best views





Some very private camp spots








A mob we saw from the road into the beach

 

[RB]

Corny Point
Only saw the outside but liked the name


Chasing a feed


Same fisherman- centre of this photo




Heaps of info for visitors on boards like this (difficult to photograph though)

 

[RB]

Back at Marion Bay- all within 10 minutes walk of the caravan park

 

[RB]

Marion Bay to Port Wakefield
We didn’t have any particular attraction to see in Port Wakefield but a 1 night stay here was to position us for an easy last drive back into Adelaide and the drop-off of the motorhome. More good road and plenty to see. It was noticeable today that the signage to the next town was signposted differently to what we see in NSW-various signs of 16km, 28km etc, we are used to numbers ending in 0 or 5. Again there were some fantastic broadacre grain farming area, some right down to the ocean. There were some big areas of salt lakes (some pink). This was previously a big industry.
Yorketown was bigger than some of the settlements we had seen & we stopped in to buy supplies to make our lunch. Edithburgh had a fantastic jetty area for fishers & divers, Coobowie had the huge silos and Wool Bay had the historic lime kiln. We lunched by the shoreline at Port Vincent. Climbing out of Port Vincent we caught the mural artist still at work on the water tower.
Port Wakefield has been an important copper and wool port and there is currently substantial roadworks happening.

Some background info
Yorketown, SA - Aussie Towns
Edithburgh, SA - Aussie Towns
Port Vincent, SA - Aussie Towns
Port Wakefield, SA - Aussie Towns

Again pretty impressed with the roads


Is this a South Australian thing?




Yorketown




Edithburgh

 

[RB]

More Edithburgh








A difficult looking Par 3 fairway as you leave town



Silos of Coobowie

 

[RB]

Wool Bay





View from Wool Bay back to Coobowie



Port Vincent Water Tower-still being completed

 

[RB]

Around Port Wakefield.
Port Wakefield, SA - Aussie Towns
It is a flat walk around town & pretty compact. The Rising Sun hotel dates from 1850’s. It is obviously a social centre for the locals and we were super impressed with the renovations of the outdoor area/kids playground and Mrs RB thought her dinner choice of salmon ( Wrapped in prosciutto, crispy skin, pan fried, served on warm potatoes, baked fennel, baby tomato + green beans, rubbed in a lemon + parsley butter, served with a side of hollandaise dipping sauce.) was the best meal she had on the trip. There are some other nice buildings - it is a quiet location away from the highway construction.





Town Memorial


Taken from our caravan park site

 

[RB]

Rising Sun Hotel Port Wakefield- very impressed by their business





Couple of locals enjoying a beer


Several Back Bars


Part of kids play area


Social Club looks to be good value


Mrs RB's salmon dish

 

[seanq84]

On the back of these signs would be the distance to a town in the opposite direction in 5km increments. I guess this means less posts than if they also signed Warooka at exactly 5km increments - using the back of the sign means they can share one post for both directions of traffic.

Is this a South Australian thing?
View attachment 249896

 

[RB]

On the back of these signs would be the distance to a town in the opposite direction in 5km increments. I guess this means less posts than if they also signed Warooka at exactly 5km increments - using the back of the sign means they can share one post for both directions of traffic.

After I zoom on the photo I think you are right re the double-sided signs.

 

[RB]

Port Wakefield to Adelaide
Massive amounts of roadworks throughout the drive and time to get used to driving in traffic again. There were a few new residential developments before we reached Croydon Park- all the new grey rooves perched close together, I am guessing allowing people to have cheaper housing and commute to work in parts of the city. The motorhome didn’t boast any onboard navigation but Mrs RB handled Google maps well & guided us to a last minute fuel stop without any significant arguments or confusion about left or right.
Drop off of the motorhome was pretty low key. We explained there had been a bit of a hiccup with a non start on the final morning ( sat for 5 minutes then started) but other than that they only had a cursory glance at the vehicle. We had clocked up just over 1,500km and really enjoyed the motorhome experience again-think about 2 weeks would be our limit though.
We then caught a Uber to our 1 night stay in Adelaide.

Majestic Old Lion Apartments North Adelaide

Booked using an Amex travel credit, we had never stayed over in this area before- nice enough but think we will stay in the CBD next time. We booked a 1 bedroom apartment in the annex-very friendly, welcoming staff and the annex is located well away from traffic noise. A very comfortable king bed, great shower and a very functional (very old) air conditioner. We didn’t use the washing or kitchen facilities.

Around Adelaide
There are plenty of food options nearby and it is an easy, flat walk around towards Adelaide Oval & the city. Late lunch was at Marcellina. We had a good yarn to the owner about his history in Melb & Adelaide. About – Marcellina
We enjoyed a walk along Melbourne St and then onto Adelaide Oval. Mrs RB pushed on to have a look at Rundle Mall. We decided to round out the holiday with dinner at a pub-this time the Lord Melbourne. Again decent pub grub and reasonably priced drinks before we packed it in for a quiet night.
Our 9.40 am departure meant our Uber drive was through peak hour traffic- certainly a lot more traffic than our previous Adelaide time in 2012. VA had helpers available for tagging bags etc and there was no wait getting through screening-they were particularly concerned to know if people had umbrellas in carry-on bags!!

Old Lion Apartment

 

[RB]

Walk around Adelaide











I guess the facilities of the ground are better but not a fan of the look

 

[RB]

VA 413 Adl-Syd 9.40am 11B & 11C
Probably around 60% full in Y and we pushed back a bit early and we were also in Syd early. No one else in our row and it was a very smooth flight all the way. Not much trade happening with the snack menu. Again a heavy landing but we were in the terminal early and our bags were in the first dozen.
We had time to kill before our flight to PQQ . Numbers around the airport are still pretty quiet so it took us very little time to get across to T3. Unlike in mid March there were a few staff around to help with tags & bag loading if necessary. No worries through security and I again escaped the extra wanding. Still not many people around although the QantasLink waiting area ended up busier as a block of flights happened.

QF 2164 Syd-PQQ
Not a great option but we used QF points for this trip-ticket prices to and from PQQ have been abnormally high with neither QF or Rex seeing the need to sharpen prices. Boarding started around 15 minutes before flight time and somewhat predictably there was a missing passenger as we waited to be bused to the aircraft. Probably only a half full Dash 8-400. The regular Byron Bay cookie was again offered as we seemed to hug the coastline rather than head in at the Hunter. Another solid landing and soon off the plane. Bags are always quick at PQQ and we were soon in an Uber and getting updated on local news.