VENUS BAY TO PORT VINCENT

Sunday and Monday were similar days we fished in the morning and then stayed around the van in the afternoon. Diane didn’t go fishing on Monday she stayed home instead and wash all the curtains and bedspread.

We have caught fish on both days Saturdays total of 3 King George Whiting and a Tommy Ruff, Sunday was 2 King George Whiting and 2 Tommy Ruff. I loaded the boat again in the afternoon and we rearranged the weight in the car as we are overloaded by about 460kg.

Venus Bay is a beautiful spot and many people keep coming back here year after year. The caravan park is for sale at 1.5million dollars.

We left Venus Bay on Tuesday morning, at Elliston we drove around the Headland to find some beautiful views of the coast line and then fuelled up at $1.50 per litre for diesel and .86c for gas. From Elliston we headed east towards Lock, the country is very dry and seems to be full of Limestone rocks. A lot of farmers have built buildings and fences out of the rocks. The wind is blowing from the North and we were driving through dust storms from time to time.

As our food supplies are running short we had a hamburger at Lock Deli for lunch. Lock is only a small country town that services the surrounding area. After lunch we travelled through Rudall and Cleve on our way to Cowell that is on the Eastern side of the Eyre Peninsula. When we arrived at Cowell we realized that we had stayed there when we were here last time so as it was only around 1.00pm we decided to go up to Whyalla were we booked into the Top Tourist Park for the night.

On the way to Whyalla we were talking to Rachel on the phone when a whirly wind crossed the road about 100m in front of us swirling dirt up into the air. It has been a hot day today up in the high 30’s early 40’s. A southerly change came through about 9.00pm to cool it down. We travelled into a northerly wind all day and tomorrow we will be heading down the Western side of the York Peninsula into a Southerly wind.

Wednesday 20/2/2008, only two months left before we will be home to start our new venture at Laurieton. Melissa gave us some good news today, she rang the Port Macquarie Council to see where the plans were up too and they told her that they were in typing at the moment and we should have them in a couple of days. The best parts were that they have reduced the house to a category one building but have put some asset management clauses in the approval. We don’t know what the clauses are at the moment but just getting the building to a category one will save us a lot of money.

We left Whyalla and passed through Port Augusta not stopping there as we have been there about three times already. We had a good look at Port Germein on our way to Port Pirie. We drove around Port Pirie it is an old town with some lovely old buildings, it is also a fairly large town. After Port Pirie we drove to Port Broughton where we booked into the Family Parks caravan park for the night.









Port Broughton is a quaint little coastal village that has kept its old buildings in good condition; it’s like stepping back in time. We walked along the waterfront and then up one side of the main street and then down the other until we came to the pub where we just had to stop for a cooling ale even though the weather was fairly cool. The Port Broughton Caravan Park (where we are staying) is a large park right on the Bay that leads into the Spencer Gulf. By the look of the photos in the office at the caravan park they catch some very nice Snapper here in the Gulf.

Thursday morning before leaving Port Broughton we went to the chemist’s to get a prescription filled for Diane and found out that the repeat was six days out of date so we had to make an appointment with a doctor to get a new script. We tried at Port Broughton and then at Wallaroo, where we were successful in getting an appointment at 3.00pm. We were going to go down to Innes National Park but have decided to only go the 50 odd km’s to Wallaroo.

Wallaroo is where the ferry from Lucky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula docks bringing people and vehicles across the Spencer Gulf. I can’t see how it will last as it would of cost us $389.00 to take our vehicle across and it would be less cost in fuel to drive around. The only advantage would be time but we still have plenty of that before we arrive home.

Wallaroo is like so many other coastal towns with new subdivisions springing up everywhere, they even have a canal subdivision. The shopping centre is the old strip shopping centre and hasn’t caught up with the rest of the town’s expansion. They have been catching plenty of Blue swimmer crabs from the Jetty and some squid.

Friday morning and we are attempted to get to Innes National Park today but alias we failed again. We left Wallaroo at 8.30am heading south to Moonta quaint little coastal village, we then pushed on to Maitland. Maitland is in the centre of the York Peninsula and services the surrounding district. As we left Maitland on our way to Port Victoria we spotted a sign on the side of the road stating “Gregory’s Wines” so we thought that on the way back from Port Victoria we would call in and see how good Gregory’s wine was.

Port Victoria is a beautiful spot on the coast with a fairly sheltered harbour; the four mast sailing boats used to pick up grain from here and take it to England in the early days. They even had races to see who could get back to England the quickest. They have an annual Whiting fishing competition in December each year. Port Victoria is a very nice holiday destination.

We left Port Victoria and just out of town we found another sign that said Gregory’s Wines was 14km down this dirt road. The road was a very good dirt road and we found the Winery without any trouble. We went in to sample some wines and met Rod Gregory who was very friendly and told us a lot about the district and his wines. It started to rain while we were there and I said I suppose you want plenty of rain as the ground is so dry and he said no we are picking our grapes on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I said do you have trouble getting picker and he said yes as of last night we only have twenty and we need thirty.

We decided that we would stay around and help with the picking. After some discussion we have agreed to take our pay in wine (by the way their wine is lovely). Rod said that we could put our caravan in the wine tasting shed for the three days that we will be there. As it was only lunch time we went back into Maitland and had a look at the Markets and then drove 23km to Ardrossan where we stayed in the Highview Caravan Park for the night. Ardrossan is a very popular holiday and fishing spot. Over here the crabs are that plentiful that they walk around in knee deep water with a stiff rack and rack the crabs out of the sand. Our next door neighbour gave us 6 crabs cooked and cleaned; he had caught about 60 in three days.

After we leave Innes National Park (that is after we get there) we will comeback to Ardrossan for a few days.

Saturday morning we stayed around Ardrossan for the morning and then went back to Maitland and waited there until 4.00pm as we told Rod & Toni Gregory (the owners of the winery) that we would be back on Saturday afternoon. We set the van up out in front of the Winery and used the power from the winery. Rod thought that we should sample the wines again just to see if they were the same good flavour, to out surprise they tasted just the same, beautiful.

Sunday morning and I started with Rod at 6.30am and went down to the vineyard and started placing the buckets in the rows for the pickers to start. There were about 39 people either picking or picking up the buckets and taking them up to the winery for crushing. We started picking at 7.00am and finished 8 rows of grapes by 3.30pm; we had a break at 9.30am for 10 minutes and lunch at 12.00pm for about 20 minutes. In that time we had picked 14.5 tonne of grapes. The yield was about one tonne better than they had expected and by early predictions the wine should be better than last years.

When we had finished we went back up to the winery to see how the crushing was done and then we had to have another tasting; I did the tasting and Diane went and had a lay down to rest her back. After a day in the field it doesn’t take to many glasses of good wine to get a wobbly boot, both Rod and I had one on by the time we had called it quits. A good night’s sleep was had by all.

Monday morning was another 6.30am start with the same procedure with the buckets and then started picking at 7.00am. We only had 6 rows of Grapes to pick but the rows were longer and we had fewer pickers. We completed picking at 2.30pm. The tasting started again back at the winery and I started with a couple of beers first of all and paced my wine drinking out so that I didn’t end up in the same state as the night before. We also had cheese and biscuits to nibble on and then when they were gone I got the crabs out and Toni had some as well so we polished them off. Diane had another rest before she came into the winery to sample the wares and to catch up to us which she did in fine style. Toni gave Di a wine glass holder that you hang around your neck, it worked so well until she forgot she had it on and tipped a glass of wine over herself and the floor.

Monday morning I borrowed Rod’s welder and fixed the bracket that holds the fishing rod holder that I made and then did a bit of work on the van before we left. We went up to the house to say goodbye to Rod and Toni and ended up having coffee with them before we left at about 12.00pm.

Rod and Toni are lovely and generous people, Rod is 65 and Toni is 60 and they would like to retire and do some travelling like we are. John Zilm who is the winemaker wants to buy the property from Rod and Toni so that they can retire. The property is 100 acres with 20 acres under grapes and is possibly worth about 1.2 million.

John Zilm told us how the grapes were performing even in this early stage saying that the PH is low and that is good for the wine. He told us about the Tartaric acid, the yeast and the sulphur that he adds. If I can remember right the Tartaric acid is to keep the flavour, the yeast is for fermentation and the Sulphur is to kill bacteria from the farm. John has been travelling the world making wines and lecturing about wine making for the past 5 years and came home 18 months ago to help Rod and Toni.

We went back into Maitland to pick up our computer and to have lunch before heading south again towards that illusive Innes National Park. As we needed to do some washing and groceries we stayed at Minlaton Caravan Park for the night with the view of making the National Park tomorrow. Minlaton Caravan Park is a nice little Park with good amenities and close to the main shopping centre.

Finally we have made it to Innes National Park after leaving Minlaton on the 27/2/2008 Greg’s birthday. At Warooka we turned right and went out to Corny Point, Dunn Point. Dunn Point is right on the coast and a nice small fishing village. After Dunn Point we headed south to Marion Bay, Stenhouse Bay and into the National Park where we setup camp at Pondalowie Bay camping area that has showers and septic toilets.

In the late afternoon we drove to Pondalowie fishing village that is situated on the banks of Pondalowie Bay, a beautiful sheltered Bay with boats moored out in the Bay and you can launch you boat straight from the beach. After Pondalowie Bay we had a look at Royston Head, Dolphin Bay and Shelly Beach, they are all beautiful places with rugged cliff faces and sandy beaches. We returned at about 5.30pm for our afternoon drinks.

As we found out today, Thursday, Innes National Park is a very picturesque place. We started our own tour of the Park by going to West Cape Lighthouse (the farthest point west of the Park). A visit to Ethel Beach was next in line, named after the ship “Ethel” that was wrecked on this beach and sixteen years later the “Ferret” was also wrecked here.

Inneston Historic Township was our next stop. This town was built by a Gypsum Mining Company and was fully self-sufficient with its own school, Bakery, General Store, Post Office, Cricket Ground and Tennis Court. During the boom phase there were 500 people living in town. The mine produced gypsum from 1913 to 1930. The product was bagged and taken to Stenhouse Jetty by Clydesdale horses towing wagons on railway tracks to then be loaded onto ships for export to other centres. One can just imagine the hard life that it would have been.

After such a hard walk around Inneston that took about an hour we called into the Rhino Tavern for a hamburger for lunch and to quench our thirst. The Rhino Tavern is a quaint spot and besides the Tavern has a General Store and also serves fuel, it looks our towards a headland that looks like a you guessed it a Rhino’s Head.

After lunch Marion Bay was calling so we drove around and took plenty of photos, visiting “Willyama” Bay on the way back. Willyama was another ship wrecked in this Bay. In all there are about 40 ships wrecked in this area. Many fell victim to the unpredictable storms that frequent the area.

We then visited the Stenhouse Jetty were you can see the remains of the structures that were used to load the Gypsum onto the ships. There were people fishing on the jetty so we went for a walk out to the end where they were fishing. A couple of them caught squid and the others were fishing for Garfish and Tommy Ruff.

A visit to Cape Spencer Lighthouse was our last port of call on the way back to camp, from the lighthouse you can see how treacherous navigation would be in bad weather with small Islands and shallow reef’s everywhere. We had an interesting day and where weary by the time we arrived back at camp.

29/2/2008 one day in every four years we left Innes National Park in the morning and drove up to Warooka, Yorketown, Edithburgh, Coobowie, Port Giles, Wool Bay, Stansbury and then to Port Vincent. We can only stay one night at the Foreshore Caravan Park as it is booked out on Saturday night. We have arrange to stay at Port Vincent Caravan Park on back beach for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights as it is a long weekend over here and we wont to stay off the roads over the long weekend.

We are waiting for mail to come to Ardrossan from Garmin as we sent our Street Pilot away to be fixed and they are sending it back to the Post Office at Ardrossan.

The York Peninsula has a lot of lovely holiday destinations around its coast line and it’s not that far from Adelaide, only about 200km to the Middle of the Peninsula. All the towns we went through had older style stone built homes in them, it is a very old area settled in the late 1800’s early 1900’s.

Saturday 1/3/2008 a beautiful day all day with hardly any wind and the temperature was only about 24 degrees. We didn’t do much today a bit of Grocery shopping and a drive around the town. In the afternoon I went to the bowling club to watch the semi finals of the Pennants but had to come home as I was falling asleep sitting in the sun on this lovely day. Diane and I went for a walk in the late afternoon along the waterfront.