Australia here we come!

28/9/12

We woke to a cloudy, windy day. Yesterday’s beautiful sunshine and no breeze had disappeared. This was unfortunate as we planned to take the Whalers Way tourist drive today to the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsular. We had already paid our entry fee of $30.00 and had the key to the gate so off we went in gale force winds and rain.

We visited Pelamis Point, The swimming hole, Whalechaser Crevasse, Try Works Cliff, Calson's Cove, Cape Wiles. All the before mentioned places were viewing spots at the top of progressively higher limestone cliffs with no safety rails. The edges of the limestone cliffs are fragile and could collapse at any time. Karen and Mary-Anne continually stood on the edges leaning out to get a better photograph. I couldn't watch them after the first cliff top experience and viewed everything from a safe distance away from the edge. At Cape Wiles there is supposed to be a colony of fur seals but the wind must have blown them out to sea, we didn't see any. But we did see the unique rock formations. Then we stopped at Blue Whale Bay which had 122 metre high cliffs. The highest yet!!

We had lunch at a BBQ and picnic area near the Sink Hole. After lunch we drove the short distance to the Sink Hole. It is another limestone cave where the roof has collapsed. Karen went for a walk in the low scrub and got chased by a black snake. I am thinking of entering her in the 2016, 100 metre Olympic hurdles for the way she cleared the low shrubs on her way back to the safety of the car.

Our next stop was at Moonlight Bay which is known by local fishermen as Groper Bay.

The most spectacular spot was next. Cape Carnot is the most south westerly point on the Eyre Peninsular and is home to South Australia's oldest rock formation. We walked into a gale as we approached the mass of beautiful Baleen Granite that had been waiting 2642 million years (plus or minus 130 million years) for us to visit it. The force of the wind on the southern ocean was causing gigantic waves to crash continually against this ancient rock. The resulting spray from the collisions was hurled 46 metres into the air and caused mini rain storms over the top of the rock colossus and us. The wind blew us back to the car and we drove to the last attraction on Whalers Way.

Theakstone's Crevasse would be great on a calm day. We arrived and walked into a 60-70 knot wind straight off the Southern Ocean. We had to fight to stop from being blown backwards as we approached one of only two safety fences erected in the whole area. The view was quite spectacular down into the crevasse but we couldn't look at it for long as it started to rain. The rain drops were accelerating to terminal velocity as they hit our exposed faces and hands. It was worse than sand spray at a beach on a windy day. The run back up the hill was easy with the wind and rain pushing us away from the crevasse. The shelter of the car was much appreciated.

We said goodbye to Whalers Way and drove back to Port Lincoln. We returned the key to the Visitor Information Centre and drove to a shopping centre and the girls stocked up on provisions. When we arrived back at the caravan park we found that the wind had damaged the awning on Mary-Anne's caravan. We managed to wind it up and stop any further damage.