Jetty Tour Day 25 - Point Turton to Stansbury

The lime kiln at Wool Bay

Beautiful weather as we moved camp today. 23C and a cloudless blue sky for what was a short crossing from West to East on the peninsular.

An early start included a return to Magazine Bay before we left Point Turton, as we discovered there was a cave to be explored if only we had descended the staircase. We did, we found it, it wasn't worth it. Didn't even take a photo and I take photos of almost anything.

We stopped in Yorketown so Sue could shop and I could update medication I had been given on Saturday, as I was having an adverse reaction to it. Same doctor, same pomposity only this time I stood my ground. I got the script I wanted and left this rude locum behind. I have an inkling as to why he isn't in a practice full time. Walk on.

After Yorketown it was almost straight east to Wool Bay and a look at the historic lime kilns which is built into the cliff face. In the early 1920's there were three such kilns and another three up on the top of the cliffs. The intention was to burn the locally quarried limestone in the kilns to produce mortar for the Adelaide building market but unfortunately, because an unmanageable draft, they were never really a success. The remaining kilns is a fascinating hark back to the area's past.

On to our destination for the next two nights, Stansbury. Tight site but practice is making me near perfect and Sue and I pretty much nailed it first go.

Click on the camera for today's photos

What a site! It backs on to the Gulf of St Vincent, quite literally. As I type, the water is lapping onto a short beach twenty metres away.

Coffees in the village and a short walk around - it doesn't really require anything longer - and then a nice chat with the lady in the information centre. It started about the area but quickly moved into our shared personal love of animals.

Off to sleep tonight to the sound of gently lapping waves.

Jetty Tour Days 21-24 - Three Days R&R ... then Corny Point

Corny Point
Lighthouse

We had three days R&R at Point Turton to take care of some medical issues No sightseeing. No experiences. Just a few photos and walks to the jetty for the first three days.

However this afternoon, we took a drive to Corny Point, which is west of Point Turton. This distance between them represents the northern side of "foot" of the Yorke Peninsular. From Corny Point, the coastline turns to the south and continues in all its magnificent wildness until it reaches Innes National Park.

Sue had read up on Corny Point Lighthouse, which is about five kms past the village. The village itself is the biggest of several along the north coast, all of which feature houses of varying age and development, mostly built so close to the coast that they are little more than a lob back to the keeper from mid wicket. The have a shop - sometimes - and not much else. I must say, as we drove through Corny Point I was wondering if Sue's unerringly accurate research had finally drawn a dug.

The final five kms was limestone dirt road of the type we had encountered at Innes. Any car could handle it. It wasn't until we came over the last rise, sweeping around a left hand bend, that we first caught sight of the lighthouse. Coming past the radar station for commercial aircraft making the journey from Perth, one last turn bought us to our goal and the water it watches over and what a spread it is. At the lighthouse you are looking at 135 degrees of the Spencer Gulf. Between the two are the usual breakers crashing over reefs and running into ultimately quiet, secluded beaches which end at the cliffs. That's the view we had as we ate lunch.

Beside us was a memorial rock which had plaques on its seaward face containing the names of couples who had passed and asked that their ashes be scattered in the sea here, at Corny Point.

We went for a walk in both directions, got some great photos and took it all in and realising how lucky we are.

The late afternoon was spent driving back to Point Turton along the dirt road which follows the north edge. We called in at one of the hamlets - The Pines - and found (and used) the cleanest public toilets we've found in all of our travels. Just shows to go you.

Click on the camera for today's photos

Just before our drive ended, we found Magazine Bay, which is a really small cove, a beautiful beach which is secluded despite being right outside Point Turton. Sue was keen to seize the chance for skinny dip. I don't do that sort of thing anymore. At my last attempt, as I came ashore, three Greenies started throwing water over me and pushed back in the water, before hugging each other and crying. Just as she went for her flannel sized towel, a care pulled into the carpark and spoiled her fun.

Stansbury tomorrow for two days and then we turn for home.

Jetty Tour Day 20 - Innes NP to Point Turton

One last look at the coastline of
Innes NP

Our move was well timed, even by sunrise, when the gusts were picking up and the darker clouds were banging up against each other with menace.

On the road by 8:00am and leaving a campground with only one other couple, we were also getting first use of the roadway which traverses the park. The sun was making sporadic appearances and piercing the gloom for brief moments with splashes of yellow on cliff faces which flashes and then were gone as though the cliffs had been subdued. We managed to capture one moment, stand in the middle of the road in 40kph winds in a shirt I thought was made for the activity ... but wasn't.

Onward, we moved back to the roadspine of Yorke Peninsular and stopped at Warooka for supplies and nice coffee at Moorooboo Cafe. Retracing our steps for a few kilometres, we picked up the turnoff to Point Turton, which is located where the top of the boot meets the shin. It was blowing a gale - literally - and the temperature was on the decline when we arrived but the caravan park is sheltered by the headland and the effect of the wind on campers is minimal.

After setting up, we went for a discovery walk, which turned into a discovery drive after 4 minutes, because driving meant warmth and protection from the wind. We ended up at the Point Turton Store/Bakery/Petrol Station/Post Office and had a long chat with Isobelle, who along with her husband, tossed in jobs in Tennant Creek to own and run the place. In the process, he went from being a manager with Lindfox to a baker. All of the treats for sale he made in the bakery out back. Isobelle was able to answer lots of our questions and we had a good old chinwag.

One of those questions stems back to Moonta Bay, where the development of new housing is staggering. Point Turton is similar, with an entire new subdivision so out of character with original dwellings that they stand out like dogs gonads. Isobelle tells us they are almost all owned by Adelaide folks with lots of dollars who come down for weekends and holidays to their "shacks" ... two storey shacks with entertainment balconies and double car garages and security systems.

If we thought getting into Isobelle's Store/Bakery/Petrol Station/Post Office was hard work with the now 60kph south westerly gusts behind us, the shock of having to walk uphill to the car into the wind was revealing!

The windswept Point Turton Jetty

Showers were nice after three days sweat encased and politely saying nothing because you probably smelled worse. Late afternoon, had fun watching a couple trying to back their Avan - an older, much smaller version than ours - into the campsite beside us. After three tries they abandoned ship and took another site they could drive through!

Some jetty time tomorrow and following up on some intel re a local seal.

(No photos today apart from those already on the page)