Australia here we come!

26/9/12

We left Streaky Bay at 9.19am and drove down the Eyre Peninsular through Port Kenny to Venus Bay. We stopped at the jetty and had a walk along it. Then we drove to the lookout. The view was nothing other than spectacular! High limestone cliffs stretched away in both directions broken only by the gap leading into Venus Bay itself. The water of the Southern Ocean ranged from turquoise near the shore where the water is shallow to a dark blue where deep water is. Turning around there were views inland over the town of Venus Bay to the heart of the Eyre Peninsular. We had to drag ourselves away from this magnetic spot as we still had quite a few kilometres to travel today.

20Kms south of Venus Bay we found the turnoff to the Woolshed Cave and the Tubs Cave. A good dirt road led us to the cave, The Woolshed. We walked down a winding set of steps and platforms to the bottom of the cliffs. There was a huge sandstone outcrop lying under the limestone cliffs that has been weathered for millions of years. Huge channels have been carved into the rock by the continuous wave action. A little above and away from the crashing waves was the Woolshed cave. The limestone has been worn away by wind and water to form a large deep cave in the cliff wall with a honeycomb ceiling.

Our next stop was at the Tub. It was a cave in the limestone cliff but the roof has collapsed forming a large hole or tub in the ground. There is still a cave leading to the ocean but the fallen debris from the roof has blocked it from view.

We drove back along the dirt road to the highway and continued south to a one-house location called Colton. Here there is a bakery in the one house where bread is baked in a wood fired oven. We each bought a loaf.

Our next stop was Elliston. We had a walk around town and viewed murals painted on the walls of different buildings. The largest mural was on the walls of the old town hall which is now a community centre and houses the Visitors Centre.

We continued on and stopped at a rest area just south of Sheringa. It was a beautiful spot overlooking a sheep property homestead on one side and rolling grassy hills on the other. We decided to spend the night there and just soak up the atmosphere.