Eyre Peninsula – Feb 2021 – Streaky Bay

Elliston was lovely and restful – except when we wanted decent internet! – but it was time to move on, and Streaky Bay was our next destination. Here we cross onto the traditional lands of the Wirangu people.

The friendly guy parked next to us at Elliston told us that they had just come from Streaky, and it was hot, humid and didn’t have a skerrick of wind. Haha. Funny man. Hot, yes. Humid, a little. But still? We were almost blown away several times. At least it felt that way. And it never let up for the 3 nights we stayed there. Our awning went out on arrival, but was soon put away not to be seen again.

Anyway, that little tidbit aside, on the way to Streaky Bay, we stopped off at the Woolshed Cave at Talia. Jack Jack managed to get down the stairs alright, but required assistance for much of the uphill climb

After doing a little grocery shopping in town, we settled in at Streaky Bay Islands Caravan Park and did a few hours work to end this travel day.

The following day we decided some work needed doing, and we also needed a break from driving. A stroll around the park and a walk to the beach were the bulk of our excursions, some of which Jack Jack required carrying (again). He’s just not up for long walks these days. However, towards the end of the day we realised we had forgotten a couple of items at the store. Jumping in the car we headed off to try and beat closing time. We did not get far.

Car Trouble

We didn’t even make it out of the park before we started hearing a screeching, metallic sound coming from somewhere. I investigated but couldn’t see anything that might cause the sound. Finally, Megan hopped in to drive slowly while I walked alongside trying to figure it out. As we had driven quite some k’s on dirt roads and the caravan park had gravel roads and sites, my hypothesis was that a small piece of gravel was stuck in the front left brake, but I couldn’t see anything. It was now around six pm on Friday evening and there was little we could do, so we just parked for the night. Our plan was to call the RAA in the morning, but we knew we’d be stuck until at least Monday. We’d ask the management how we could get some groceries and that would be that.

Saturday morning, before we did anything else, I wanted to make sure the problem still existed (why wouldn’t it?). I hopped in, reversed out of the site, and started to drive. No noise. More driving. Still no noise. What the? I should have thought of it earlier (d’oh!), but the simple act of reversing probably ejected the trapped gravel. It proved my hypothesis correct, but I felt pretty silly for not thinking of the probable solution. A diesel mechanic at our next stop confirmed this as the likely scenario.

Point Labatt

Anyway, that left us free to explore some. Megan wanted to see the sea lion colony at Point Labatt Conservation Park. No dogs are allowed, so Jack Jack had to sit this one out. Sorry the photo is not the greatest, but the sea lions are actually quite a distance out and below the observation point. A real camera with a long lens would be much better here.

Murphy’s Haystacks

Also on the road to Point Labatt is an odd rock formation known as Murphy’s Haystacks. These insulbergs date back around 100,000 years.

After these two places, we headed back to pick up Jack for the next round of sightseeing. I have somehow managed to lose (temporarily, I hope) some of the photos and video from these stops, but the main place we visited was the Whistling Rocks and Blowholes. The sound the waves created here was much more of a whoosh or roar than a whistle, but the spray and blowhole were not doing much during our visit. There were plenty of stairs to climb down though, and Jack once more needed assistance on the return journey.

Stay tuned…