Eyre Peninsula: Notable Mentions
We arrived into the first town off the Eyre Highway venturing on the Eye Peninsula sticky, dirty and thirsty. Thankfully, we found ourselves a fabulous caravan park in Streaky Bay where we could back the Express up onto the beach and have some ocean front views. Showers, swimming and produce were absolute highlights. I can’t even begin to explain how one comes to miss these things.
We drove down the peninsula hoping to be enamored by a National Park belonging to Coffin Bay. The dryness that the area has been subjected to as of late created a major outcry for water from the local bees (and everything else). So much so that when we drove in, opened the door and stepped out we became engulfed by a swarm searching out the new specimen for water. D tried to put up the mosquito net as fast as humanly possible while I did laps around the area trying to swat the bees from my face (what a horrible place to get stung!) and we found refuge after killing the few that had been stealth enough to get inside. Tummies growling we literally had to wait until dark to set up, go pee and cook dinner. What a mess! Thankfully, the stars were amazing and the bottle of wine didn't hurt either. We woke before sunrise to skip the confrontation and had breakfast to the sunrise on the other side of the park. We had some lovely emu sightings and even saw a dad with 4 emu babies!!
We drove up the east coast of the peninsula in hopes of catching the ferry across to the mainland to shave off some time from the drive. Unfortunately the price of the ferry was triple the cost of the gas it would take to drive and our poor bums got back into the car. In the end we felt life had thrown us a bone as we were graced with the beauty of the Flinders Ranges and got to travel through an impossibly windy and lush mountain pass called Hammond’s Pass. Originally a dirt path to get through the ranges, the pass has lovely scenery and old abandoned brick houses from the homestead days.
We drove down the peninsula hoping to be enamored by a National Park belonging to Coffin Bay. The dryness that the area has been subjected to as of late created a major outcry for water from the local bees (and everything else). So much so that when we drove in, opened the door and stepped out we became engulfed by a swarm searching out the new specimen for water. D tried to put up the mosquito net as fast as humanly possible while I did laps around the area trying to swat the bees from my face (what a horrible place to get stung!) and we found refuge after killing the few that had been stealth enough to get inside. Tummies growling we literally had to wait until dark to set up, go pee and cook dinner. What a mess! Thankfully, the stars were amazing and the bottle of wine didn't hurt either. We woke before sunrise to skip the confrontation and had breakfast to the sunrise on the other side of the park. We had some lovely emu sightings and even saw a dad with 4 emu babies!!
We drove up the east coast of the peninsula in hopes of catching the ferry across to the mainland to shave off some time from the drive. Unfortunately the price of the ferry was triple the cost of the gas it would take to drive and our poor bums got back into the car. In the end we felt life had thrown us a bone as we were graced with the beauty of the Flinders Ranges and got to travel through an impossibly windy and lush mountain pass called Hammond’s Pass. Originally a dirt path to get through the ranges, the pass has lovely scenery and old abandoned brick houses from the homestead days.