The Eyre Peninsula

Our road to Port Lincoln mainly was wet. It was a long drive, and Inez got hungry. An abrupt realization brought us to the side of the road in the cold and rain. We took shelter under a shelter and made some bacon and eggs. Absolutely delightful (read: very sarcastic, in case that wasn’t clear :-D). In total, we drove 600 kilometers before we arrived in Port Lincoln. The landscapes changed to dunes, seas, and fields full of grain. Our campground offered us a spot with a view of a beautiful bay.

The following day, we started by doing our laundry. We received some wonderful tips about Western Australia from some locals. We eagerly noted them down, making sure not to miss any of them. We were also advised to visit the Port Lincoln National Park. The first road you take in the park leads you over large hills. Fortunately, all the roads are asphalted. We were told to visit Wanna in the park and took the first exit. We ended up on a gravel road full of rocks, potholes, and sand. It was more suitable for capable 4×4 vehicles, but we took it anyway. We bumped along the road for ten kilometers.

Once we arrived, we had a magnificent view of the ocean. Our second stop was the Stamford Hill lookout. We were thrilled to go for a walk here after all the driving. We hiked for 45 minutes uphill and enjoyed beautiful views of Port Lincoln and various bays. Inez thought camping for a night in the National Park would be a good idea. We booked a spot at the Horse Rock Camping area, perfectly situated by the bay. After driving 200 meters on the road full of rocks and potholes, we arrived. We were completely alone and parked our car as close to the beach as possible. We only had to take a few steps out of our tent to have our feet on the beach. It was a beautiful private beach just for us. We set up our table and chairs and enjoyed an aperitif and dinner on the beach. Later, we took a walk along the beach. We encountered some pelicans and black swans. Further on, we spotted a few penguins on a rock in the water. In the evening, we enjoyed a sunset with a beautiful pink glow on the water. It was fantastic! Before closing our eyes, we savored the view of the stunning starry sky and the gentle sound of the water from inside our tent.

In the morning, we woke up with the sun on our faces and the beach and sea at our feet. After lingering in our tent for a while, we took an ice-cold bush shower. It was very cold. Inez opted for the full shower experience while I decided to wash my hair. Then, I quickly rinsed myself under the shower to achieve that clean feeling. We took our time to have breakfast and tidy up. We drove to the town to look for Honda steering fluid for our car, and we found it at Repco. Afterward, we made an appointment at the garage for a transmission service, timing belt replacement, and fixing our door lock. We were told to come back tomorrow morning. We returned to the campsite and enjoyed an afternoon of writing blog posts, reading, and having wonderful conversations. To our surprise, we saw a few dolphins again in the bay before us.

We had to take our car to the garage as early as possible, so we decided to wake up at 6:45. Around 8:30, we drove the car into the garage. We expected to be without it for about four hours. We visited certain parts of the city, but it was limited to a few brasseries, the information center, and a café. There wasn’t much to do here either. Seven hours later, we finally got to pick up the car. Since we don’t have a fixed address here, we were classified as Nomads 😀 We drove towards Coffin Bay. This small town didn’t have much to offer, but the tranquility and views were quite pleasant. We arrived at the campsite a bit later, prepared some food, and enjoyed a glass of wine. We encountered a kangaroo just as we were about to brush our teeth. It’s always fun to be able to observe these animals up close in the wild.

At six in the morning, I woke up to the sight of about eight kangaroos passing by our tent. I woke Inez up so she could see them too. The campsite was quite pleasant, but the hundreds of parrots making noise from sunrise to sunset bothered us a bit. Moreover, I was almost attacked multiple times by magpie birds. On the other hand, the seagulls trying to steal our food disadvantaged Inez. We requested to spend our second day at a site with electricity. Here, we were more secluded and could recharge all our devices. We spent the entire afternoon at the campsite and saw a few emus passing by. Those large birds are always impressive.

Coffin Bay is known for its oysters. Not far from the campsite, there’s a beach bar where you can have oysters at half price starting from four o’clock: twelve dollars for a dozen (65 euro cents per piece). Ridiculously cheap, indeed. They were absolutely delicious! In the evening, we had a great meal at 1802 Oyster Bar. We enjoyed even better oysters, a seafood platter to share, a good bottle of wine, and a cheese platter to finish. It was delicious! We saw some kangaroos in people’s front yards on the way back to the campsite. Before sleeping, many kangaroos came grazing and hopping around our tent.

We had breakfast at the Jetty and saw a few dolphins swimming again. A visit to Coffin Bay wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the oyster farm. We wore waterproof pants and walked through the water to reach the oyster farm. There, we sat on benches in the water and received explanations about the oysters. We learned that oysters arrive here when they are between 2mm and 5mm in size. Coffin Bay and Tasmania are the only places in the world where you can eat oysters straight from their own water without first filtering them thoroughly. The filtering process can sometimes take several days. Luckily, we had the opportunity to taste several oysters straight from the water. They were incredibly delicious. Wow! We also had the chance to learn how to open oysters properly. We didn’t miss Coffin Bay National Park either.

We drove towards Point Avoid and the Golden Island Lookout. The stunning views left us in awe. We were also happy to see the vast ocean again. Not far from there, we caught a quick glimpse of Almonta Beach. Beautiful white sand and azure blue water made our eyes light up. The paradise-like feeling was starting to take shape. Once again, we were completely alone in these places. Since the rest of the National Park is only accessible via a high-clearance 4×4, we decided to spend the night at Yangie Bay. It was a cool and peaceful spot that gave us a good night’s sleep. With a view of the water and a stunning starry sky, we had nothing to complain about once again.

The next day, we headed to Streaky Bay. We made a few stops at the Cummings Monument and Locks Well Beach. During our lunch in Venus Bay, we saw dolphins. We think these creatures enjoy showing up during our lunch breaks. The Lonely Planet, our bible, provides much information during our trip. We found out about The Murphies Haystacks through the book. These are massive granite rocks located in open fields. No one knows how they ended up there. It’s pretty impressive to see them. When we arrived in Streaky Bay, we searched for a campsite, but unfortunately, all the waterfront spots were taken. Since our overnight stay by the water, we don’t settle for less anymore :-D. Through WikiCamps, we found a free spot 20 kilometers away. It was supposed to be located by the beach. The road there was sandy but well-maintained. However, reaching the exact location was a bit challenging as it required driving on 4×4 tracks.

We decided to drive back to the town and look for another campsite. The second campsite had spacious sites, was a bit further from the town, and was within walking distance of the beach. We arrived quite late at this campsite, so we decided to grab something to eat in town. We hurried back before it got dark because we didn’t want to hit any kangaroos. We drove at a slower pace to be cautious. At the beach, we witnessed a beautiful sunset. The vibrant red and purple colors made the water and sky resemble a painting. About 10 backpackers were having a good time when we arrived at the campsite. They were playing music, drinking beer, and making quite a bit of noise. The campground owner had already asked them twice to keep it down. We had enough and drove to the back of the campground with our tent open on the roof for a quieter spot.

The next morning, the owner promptly removed those young people from the campground. A rainless thunderstorm passed over us, so we quickly packed up our tent. On our way to Ceduna, we encountered another crackling thunderstorm. We are both very curious about how our trip across the Nullarbor to Esperance will unfold.