In 1973 John (Goog) and Jenny Denton along with their son, Martin (Dingo) Denton decided to construct a road through their property, Lone Oak Station located 35 kilometres north of Ceduna to the railway station further north at Malbooma. It was intended for commercial pastoral use, but has never been used for this purpose and is now a recreational track covering a distance of approximately 190 kilometres for 4wd adventuring. The Denton's completed the track to Mount Finke (150 kilometres) in 1976 and the track was named 'Googs Track' in John's honour. We only drove about 40 kilometres of the track to see the 'Dog Fence' and test ourselves on a few dunes. Apparently there are over 360 sand dunes to navigate on the track. But we would definitely be keen to get back on it, as it is said to be the precursor for traversing the Simpson Desert Track. The 'Dog Fence' was originally constructed as a rabbit-proof fence in the 1880's, but was updated in 1946 to keep dingos away from grazing sheep stock, which were becoming a real problem, killing sheep. The fence still to this day is the longest fence in the world at 5,614 kilometres, but was once 9,600 kilometres. The fence has been mildly successful, but dingos still appear at times on the southern side as infant dingos make their way through holes.
Located on private property and accessed by a gold coin donation, along the Eyre Peninsula about 40kms from Streaky Bay are a group of ancient, seasoned, pink granite rocks said to be over 1500 million years old. Named after Denis Murphy who owned the property back in the early 20th century, the rock formations appear from a distance in the arid wheatbelt district to be haystacks, hence the name, “Murphy’s Haystacks.” Known as inselbergs, which means “island rock,” the hard granite edifices have remained, protruding out of the surface of the ground, as the surrounding softer material has eroded over time through weathering. Research fellow at the University of Adelaide, Professor Victor Gostin said the actual granite itself is very ancient believed to be over 3 billion years old, making the “haystacks” a significant tourist destination in the region and one that Murphy’s grandson and current owner Denis Cash has been happy to open to the public. Other inselbergs across Australia, include, Uluru in the Northern Territory and Wave Rock in Western Australia, both of which Shovel and I are yet to experience together. Shove and I had a fantastic time running around and between the rock formations, in awe of the magic of nature.
Point Sinclair & Cactus BeachAfter passing the Pink Lake we arrived at Cactus Beach, known throughout the surfing community for having one of the best 'left' and 'right' breaks in Australia. Point Sinclair was declared a National Surf Reserve (NSR) in 2013. Other areas we have visited that have been declared NSR are Lennox Head and Phillip Island. The area is intriguing, flanked by mountainous sand dunes to one side and vast salt plains to the other.
Fowlers BayFurther west past Penong is a turn off to Fowlers Bay, a genuinely sleepy fishing village, with nothing more than a few houses, a tiny caravan park and jetty. The population of this small habitation swells however during the months of May to October, when eager Whale watches descend upon the bay to marvel at what I can only imagine would be a specular sight. We lazed on the rippled snow-like sand before taking a walk along the jetty where local indigenous kids plunged without fear into the ocean depths below.
Ok, so here's the story.... Whilst toiling away at the Broken Hill Outback Resort, during the dust storm two couples of Grey Nomad caravans checked in for the night on their way from the Gold Coast heading West.... After listening to them vent their frustrations at the lack of dump point at the 'Resort' - agreed, extremely inconvenient and their apparent enormous fuel consumption driving through the dust storm they mentioned their destination was Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. 'You've not heard of Streaky Bay' one Grey Nomad squarks 'Everyone's heard of Streaky Bay' the other chimes in...
So here we are at Streaky Bay checking out what all the fuss was about and I have to say, 'not impressed' and very thankful we didn't park Florence here for the few weeks over Christmas and New Year... Kids and Grey Nomads everywhere! After lunch and a bit of a walk around we decided to head out to the Point Labatt Conversation Park... this on the other hand was well worth the trip and certainly demands hype, although I'm pretty sure this isn't what the Grey Nomads were talking about given they appear more interested in W(h)ine Time than actual travelling... The location is amazingly incredible in itself, stepping out of Cherry and looking around I said to Shovel, 'honestly I'm not even bothered if we don't see a sea lion, this landscape is breathtaking.' We were grateful to be the only visitors to the site and had the viewing platform and telescope all to ourselves. Initially, upon searching the coast line and rocks below we could only see about half a dozen or so lazing sea lions, but on closer inspection we started to notice, a dozen, then two dozen until we lost count. It was absolutely wonderful to witness these stunningly cute blubbery mammals gracefully glide through the shallows of the rock pools, navigate what appeared to be treacherous rock climbs with their flippers and laze sleepily on the sand or smooth rocks, occasionally rolling other to change sides. It was a pure delight to observe this magnificent, but threatened species in their natural habitat. Point Labatt is home to the largest breeding colony of Australian Sea Lion in the World. Unfortunately due to over zealous poaching by First Europeans, Sea Lions were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800's, and although they are protected now, their numbers have never fully recovered and are still listed as threatened. Female Sea Lions can grow up to 1.5 metres long, weighing up to 120 kilograms and spend most of their lives pregnant. The gestation period, unlike other mammals can be up to 18 months, at which point upon the birth of the next pup the previous pup is weened. Males can grow up to 2 metres long, weighing up to 400 kilograms and spend most of their time fighting with other males over the females. Due to this aggressive behaviour there is a high death rate among new born pups. Females are grey/cream in colour whilst males are dark brown. Sea Lions are opportunistic hunters, feeding off a variety of fish, squid, cuttlefish, lobster and penguins. The Wirangu Dreaming Story speaks of a Wombat (Wardu) and a Seal (Balgurda). Wombat is fascinated by the sea (Warna) but Seal warns Wombat about the dangers of entering the sea as Wombat is not a sea animal. Wombat ignores Seal and enters the sea anyhow, only to start drowning. Seal nudges Wombat out of the perilous sea and saves Wombat. Wombat thanks Seal and apologies for ignoring Seal's advice. In a show of gratitude and respect Wombat gives Seal his front legs for digging and Seal gives Wombat his flippers for swimming.
Our Happy PlaceOn the 50 odd kilometre drive from Streaky Bay to the Point Labatt Conservation Park, Shovel made a detour onto an inconspicuous dirt road that lead to a small carpark. We ventured out of Cherry and onto a timber staircase that lead directly to heaven....
Not since Ellis Beach, had I experienced the 'I've made it' sensation until now... white powdery sand lapped by feathery waves, a gentle ocean breeze and crystal clear salt water... I said to Shovel 'get the beach towels, we've made it' Gateway to the Nullabor PlainIn local Wirangu language, Ceduna, from the word Chedoona, is said to mean 'a place to sit down and rest' and that's exactly what we intend to do over the next two weeks... Despite the first Europeans, the English Matthew Flinders and the French Nicolas Baudin to discover and name Murat Bay in the early 1800's it wasn't until the late 1800's that the area now known as Ceduna was settled for agricultural purposes. This was due in part to many others rejecting the land based on limited access to a fresh water supply. Today this remains an issue for the residences of Ceduna with fresh water being pumped from Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, located approximately 450 kilometres away. Ceduna boasts a high-frequency deep sea port that exports grain, salt, mineral sands and gypsum, with the world's largest mineral sands mine located just 200 kilometres north-west of the township. About 25% of the approximately 3,000 strong population is indigenous, with many communities located not far out of town, this is the highest concentration of indigenous within South Australia. Being the last major township before entering the Nullabor Plain, the population of Ceduna fluctuates with tens of thousands of visitors passing through each year.
The previous few days on the road have felt like a hard slog compared to day. Dodging obscene amounts of road kill coming out of Broken Hill and winding our way through the rangers around Port Augusta. The Eyre Highway is flat, smooth and very easy going, our journey of 300 kilometres went quickly and we were at our next destination and set up by early afternoon. We have been so blessed with the sites this trip; flat, smooth and easy going. We are loving the Ceduna Shelly Beach Caravan Park, so much so we booked in for two weeks.
A fascinating 290 kilometre journey had us passing through a contrast of landscape. The road trip began with dry wheat country and rolled into the hills of Mount Remarkable, an area that looks like it is begging to be explored with its 960 metre hills filled with gorges and bushwalking tracks. The flat road suddenly turned into a windy range taking us through the hills of Mount Remarkable and out the other side to see the narrowing Spencer Gulf. It was quite a change of weather from hot and dry to windy, damp and cold. The bends of the road eased out to a straight road that put us on the A1 into Port Augusta. We stocked up on goodies in Port Augusta and had lunch by the city park, which entertained us with views of the Gulf and some local street artworks. We ventured out of Port Augusta and the country changes again to dry arid saltbush landscape. The road took us past a town called Iron Knob, its 64 percent graded iron ore has supplied the country since 1900 and makes up 21 percent of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We drove along and made it to our destination, Kimba. The caravan park was a hassle free set up so easy we did it twice, as I (Shovel) put a water filter on too heavy for the mains tap, the water feature is nice though, isn't it? We went for a walk in the afternoon to witness the almighty 8 metre tall flaming Pink Galah and the stunning silo art put together by artist Cam Scale in 2017. The silo artwork is quite jaw dropping with the amount of detail thrown into the 30 metre towering concrete cylinders. We finished the day off with a delicious curry dinner at the servo. You might think delicious, curry and servo are never seen in the same place but Kimba is an absolute game changer.
After a week of hard toil in the red dirt at the Broken Hill Outback Resort we decided to turn around. Today we crossed the border back into South Australia, as we make a direct beeline for the beach! The journey to Peterborough of about 300 kilometres, with a few stops along the way, took about 4.5 hours.
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The JourneyChoose Curiosity The Catalogue
November 2023
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