On the 14th of Feb, after months of planning and discussion, Anna and I finally set off on our grand tour of Australia. Between moving out of our rental in Norwood and packing for the trip, we hadn’t had a great deal of time to process the fact that we were about to head off on the adventure of a lifetime. So, when we finally finished prepping the X-Trail, finally purchased all of the food for our first week, and finally made it through the northern suburbs of Adelaide toward the West coast, excitement and apprehension really started to set in.
We left at 2pm and made it to a free campsite in Fitzgerald Bay (just outside Whyalla) by 6:30pm. Despite the inevitable wee stop, we made good time on the first leg and squeezed a couple podcasts in before we arrived. As incredible as Chris Blowes’ shark attack survival story is, it’s probably better to listen to it after camping in white pointer territory, not before. My bad. Thankfully, the beautiful sunset that greeted us after our drive lightened the mood.
The next day, we packed up our gear early and drove for an hour or so to Whyalla where we had a delish breakfast at The City Plaza Espresso Café. If anyone’s ever in the area, those guys do a mean smashed avo on toast. Would recommend.
After brekkie, we headed off to Pt Lincoln. We were booked in to stay in the Lincoln National Park at September Beach. However, after a few hours into the drive, the sky turned from blue to dark grey. Shortly after, the rain came….and came…and came. So, after deciding not to set up our little 3-person tent in the rain, we booked a room in the Port Lincoln Youth Hostel. Turns out, even though it’s summer, it can still rain. I guess we should’ve thought about that before we left. Nevertheless, a good lesson to learn now rather than later.
The lovely Debbie at the Port Lincoln YHA treated us really well. I was eaten by their resident shark…
…but thankfully I survived. We learned later that evening that flood warnings had been sent out for many areas along the west coast, including Pt Lincoln. In hindsight, it was certainly a good call that we decided to book a room.
The next day, the rain was still coming down, so we had a lazy breakfast at the YHA before spending an hour or two hanging out in a Coles undercover parking area; our home away from home. When the heavens opened, we began the short drive to September Beach. The road to our site was unsealed, pothole laden, and still wet so Anna and I had a blast putting the X-Trail through its paces. The puddles may have only been puddles but, given our very limited 4x4 driving experience, they felt like raging rapids and we felt like Indiana Jones. After an action-packed first few days, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing at our site in September Beach. The view was gnarly!
The following day was spent chilling out and exploring our slice of paradise. No driving, yay! We went on a couple of short walks around the area, explored a nearby lighthouse, tried to juggle a hacky sack, did some reading, and went for a chilly afternoon swim. Later that night, we could hear what sounded like kangaroos fossicking around our camp site. It sounded like one of them tried to steal our chairs. I’d love to say that Anna and I leapt out of the tent and went toe-to-toe with it like that guy who boxed a kangaroo to save his dog, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we stayed in our tent and quietly finished our documentary on saturation diving before going to sleep.
Tomorrow we head for Coffin Bay national park (Yangie Bay), then up to the infamous Streaky Bay! Stay tuned for the rest of our adventure. Much more to come.
looks like you are having fun beautiful people! keep it up!