Eddy

What is it about Norfolk Island Pines?

They seem to be an integral status symbol of every coastal town we've visited so far. Obviously they grow well on sand and must be salt and wind tolerant, and one assumes they do not need much water...but why is Australia's southern coastline dotted with these overgrown Christmas Trees? No town is complete without one - on the Yorke Pensinsula there was bugger all native foreshore veg remaining but still enough room for your mandatory row of Norfold Island Pines. Eyre Peninsula yep coastal streets lined with them - perhaps its a South Australian thing we thought. But no....Esperance in WA has some of the biggest we've seen yet. They're like living oblisques - symbols of manhood or the last century - hiding the real identity of each coastal town. Making them all part of some amorphorous coastal precinct.....

Salt lakes on way to Cactus

The drive into Cactus was amazing - one wonders if surfers are always driving so fast to catch the waves that they don't notice the incredible visions happening roadside - the road stretches through a series of lakes or lagoons each with its own wild colour scheme - backgrounds of huge dune systems reminding me of the shapes of the Egypt you see captured on tv - salt crystals in an array of shapes and sizes encrust the shores in mounds and sheets......bongo buses and station wagons loaded with boards sped past us as we crawled along the road awing and aahing and trying to keep Bill in control - all he could see was dunes, dunes, big, white and beckoning and he wanted to get going and climb them - "bugger the beach"!

Murphys Haystack

From the road heading to Steaky Bay we could see these big rounded things on the flat landscape so we stopped to check out these amazing granite sculptures protruding from the farm land. The area was a slight nob and from the haystacks we could look over the vast pancake stretching out in every direction - the big patch of green mallee vegetation put some welcome colour in the dusty, dry, brown paddocks.

Murphys Haystack

Amazing granite formations on the otherwise flat landscape.

Coolie Beach

Coolie Beach Eyre Peninsula

Waves pounding in at Coolie Beach

"Coolie" Beach Eyre Pen

Spent a week at Coodlie Farm Retreat - a funky place just south of Streaky Bay. Our first chance to have have a campfire and enjoy the vast mantle of stars by the dying embers. Clambering down the limestone cliff to a small private beach - sand grains the size of rice and a myriad of glistening shells - a reef for snorkelling, stripey fish of all shapes and sizes swimming through the kelp or resting in the darkness beneath rocky ledges. Everyday showed the beach in its different guises - calm and crystal clear, curves and curls, wild and full of power. The farms friendly low key atmosphere made it a great base to explore the surrounding coast - Talia Cave, Mount Camel Beach, Venus Bay and the other coves and sticky out bits of this incredible coast line.

The Talia Cave Eyre Peninsula

Fine orange dust with the smell of rotten, rotten what? Bird droppings and feathers - hard to get a foot hold.

Almonta Beach - Coffin Bay National Park

Lines of waves breaking, sucking and breaking - Bill and Mel swam close to shore enjoying the wildness with the shorebirds and algae.

Sand dunes - Coffin Bay National Park

Bill took us through scrub and undulations - onward, reaching out in search of the stark white sand dunes - they seemed just a little distance away but then we just didn't seem to get there - weaving through scrub to avoid the dense patches - and then there they were - oblique, steep, glaring white, sand moving inland, reclaiming the land, bits of twisted wood remnants protruding at the edges - we followed the wind to the beach where we stripped off and plunged into the shallows.......

76 year old tip

tantanoola south australia

How much can you fit in a 92 Camry stationwagon...

Three bods, three enormous egos, and lots of shit.........but there is still more room, more crevices to stuff stuff in, more hidden corners to push yet more crap in....and then there is Bill's lust for toys perferrably big ones in boxes, Mels "just in case" bits of ...well...bits... and Ben's cooking equipment...could there be a seven course banquet around the corner certainly not on the one gas burner and 2kg gas bottle...
The tent did I mention the tent...5 days in and its in ICU...this morning it ressembled a green stick fracture with bits of boney pole poking out the trouser leg tent fly...I'm thinking gaffer tape but even the gaff might not be able to fix this one...

Coastal madness drove us inland to a tiny National Park we believe that we had once visited before....despite dredging his memory Ben still couldn't place Mt Eccles in his short or long term memory - Mel recalled rampant koalas...we were not disappointed... bush campsites surrounded by koalas and Eastern Grey kangaroos, a volcanic lake and a lava canal cave....and wait there's more - a friendly local copper let Bill drive the blue and white mobile in hot pursuit of some evil villains....

A visit to an Aussie icon

The Twelve Apostles huh? We couldn't count twelve..perhaps some had crumbed. Amazing limestone coastline but can the real thing live up to the touched up images adorning travel mags and tv screens??? Well the day was overcast and we were hungry but we followed the four lane walkway and checked it out - personally I preferred the somewhat understated Bay of Islands...or maybe the coffee and food in the stomach had something to do with that.