Yorke Peninsular

Wallaroo Sunset

One could be forgiven for thinking we had landed in Europe as the shape of the Yorke Peninsular looks like the boot of Italy. Yorkes as the locals affectionately call it is easy to criss cross and explore, only a two and a half hour drive from top to bottom and thirty minutes across. Matthew Flinders named the region in the early 19th century and before European settlement the traditional owners were the Narungga people. There are wonderful bays and beaches, jetties, historic buildings, charming stone cottages with the most stunning rose gardens, wildlife, rolling farmland, grain terminals, lighthouses and all that goes with it.

Restored Stone Cottage

We stayed at Wallaroo on the northern end of the Spencer Gulf for a couple of nights where we had front row seats from the van to view the stunning sunsets over the water. We had long walks on the wide sandy beach with the dogs. Brie was in her element playing chasey with the bird life and took off at the rate of knots to catch them until her extending leash pulled her up short! Darn - missed again! Bere is a good paddler and unlike his sister doesn't mind being wet though we need to pay attention to him as he has disappeared in pools on a couple of occasions - the trials for our blind boy. Wallaroo has a modern marina where the Spencer Gulf prawn fleet is based and local boaties moor their toys.

An Original Cottage

Copper was discovered in 1850 in nearby Kadina and when skilled Cornish miners worked the Wallaroo and Moonta mines it was referred to as "Australia's Little Cornwall" and the three towns are commonly known as the Copper Triangle. Even though the mines closed in 1923 the cultural mix from these settlers lives on with all things Cornish from the hogs pudding, ginger pop and more importantly the home made Cornish Pasties! Oh yeah, food again and I have never tasted a Pasty like it - delicious!

The Before

Our next move was to Port Vincent on the eastern side to catch up once again with our travelling friends from Brisbane, Syd and Lorelle for a few days. Another delightful historic little town, this time on the Gulf of St. Vincent and once again our camp site was right on the water. Syd couldn't wait to take Ade gardening and with rake and rubbish bin in hand the two of them set off. This was gardening with a twist!
...and after - yummy!

The boys were like two little kids let loose in a lolly shop. The first day they came back with eight Blue Swimmer Crabs which required a special rake to extricate them from their sandy hideaways in waist deep water. In their enthusiasm they broke the rake (Ade reckons it was a giant crab that got away). We cooked the crabs in the camp pot and thought we were the bee's knees devouring our fresh crab meal. Day two, with new rake in hand they set off again returning with 42 of these delectable little crabs this time. Hours later after the cooking process we sat back and engorged ourselves all over again, and still had plenty left!

By the time we said goodbye to our friends and moved south to Edithburgh the weather had deteriorated. Wind and rain prevailed and the temperatures dropped considerably. In actual fact we had a howling gale for two days and by now we should know what to expect when there is a wind farm nearby! No taking advantage of the tidal swimming pool at our front door with this lousy weather so instead we went exploring. On an historic note here, I read that the Yorke Peninsular is the resting place of 85 shipwrecks and Edithburgh the site of at least six of them.

The Lime Kiln from above
The rich limestone soils produce bumper crops of barley and wheat and Yorkes is known as the Barley Capital of Australia. It's said you can find a little part of Yorke in every glass of Aussie Beer. We think you could be in England with the countryside dotted with stone ruins and dry stone walls, wheat and barley fields waving in the breeze and narrow roads my imagination lends me to believe could be country lanes - but no horse or hay carts on the horizon!
.....and below
We probably drove through all the towns and along all the coast roads. There are views across the treacherous waters of Investigator Strait to Kangaroo Island from Stenhouse Bay. We were fascinated by the historic Lime Kiln ruin dug into the cliffs at Wool Bay where lime was collected and burned from the late 19th century until the 1950's. It was then shipped to Adelaide to be used in mortar for the building industry. The town of Minlaton has a memorial to daredevil pioneer aviator, Captain Harry Buttler who flew across the Gulf from Adelaide in a WWI Bristol monoplane known as the Red Devil to deliver the Royal Mail in 1919. Our last stop in Yorkes was at Tiddy Widdy Beach to see how "tiddy widdy" it was. We had a good laugh but there was nothing to get excited about!

The Red Devil

Tiddy Widdy Beach

Lots to take in and we continue to be amazed at our wonderful country. More to see and particularly in the infamous wine country of the Barossa, our next port of call.