Day 51: Tue 04 Apr 23

Day 51: Tue 04 Apr 23 - Streaky Bay

April 04, 2023

Tue 04 Apr 23 - Streaky Bay

14 Deg overnight reaching another lovely 33 Deg today. A moderate NW wind in the morning, clearing to no wind in the afternoon. Another fantastic day of weather for exploring the South Australia coast. We collected Dale and Caroline at 0815, and set off for the 55 km drive to the Sea Lion Colony at Point Labatt. Half of the drive was along good sealed road, the other half was unsealed with some corrugations in places, but mostly in good condition. We arrived and watched about 40 Sea Lions (probably many more) from 50m above on a viewing platform. They are so cute, and it was a real buzz watching them. We then drove back towards Streaky Bay, turning off the main road into Sceale Bay for a look, but its nothing but a fishing village, and there isn't much to see, so we continued on to drive the Westall Way Loop Drive, a very scenic 32km ocean loop drive. First stop on the way in was at the Yanerbie saltpans with views (by drone) across to the Yanerbie sandhills. We then continued to the Smooth Pool where we wandered along the rocks enjoying the sunshine and watching people snorkelling in the shallow blue waters and large rock pools - it was very pretty. We then continued on to the Granites, past High Cliff and Tractor Beach Camp Ground, returning to the caravan for lunch at 1300. We had a bit of an afternoon nap, then went back into Streaky Bay for a wander around town and onto the Jetty, watching people swimming and fishing. We returned to the caravan, and Noeleene did some cleaning while I disappeared on the bike for a ride into town and back to end the day's activities.

The caravan Park where we are staying is quite new and the lay-out is very structured but well thought out. The sites are large level gravel sites with plenty for room to park the van with the awning out and the car parked beside it. The amenities have individual ensuite showers and toilets which are kept spotlessly clean - they are the best we have seen anywhere. $99 for the 3-night stay. The park is full and there seems to be a lot of long term regular fishing groups with boats here at the moment. The guy across from us travels from WA each year for 6 weeks, fishing for squid and whiting. He currently has 26kg of whiting fillets in his freezer to take home. I saw some frozen fillets in a seafood shop for sale today which cost $26 for 400gm, so I can only imagine the value of old mates freezer full of fish. The caravan Park also has the nicest tasting water that we have had since entering South Australia, and that is because the generates and supplies its own water from an on-site desalination plant, and they don’t use any chemicals in the water. It's a very nice park, and in a great location 7km out of town overlooking the bay with beautiful sunsets. If you are not into fishing or don't have a boat, there isn't much to see or do at Streaky Bay, but it is pretty and worthwhile the visit.