Most Brits visiting Oz will not have experienced the Yorke Peninsula (west of Adelaide) even though it’s the most popular destination for South Australians. Fortunately, we chose a quiet time after the schools are back, so it was hard to believe that it could be so crowded when seeing deserted beaches, empty roads and encountering nobody else on walking trails and scenic driving routes.
We must thank Gene for the suggestion as an alternative to our original plan to drive across the Nullabor Plain to Perth.
The Peninsula is the shape of a foot and around 200km from north-east to south-west, where we stayed in Marion Bay for easy access to Innes NP. This provided a wonderful day of exploring with spectacular views over the Southern Ocean’s secluded sandy beaches, limestone cliffs and rugged headlands, with several lighthouses. There are numerous stories about shipwrecks and the gypsum mining history of the area which thrived over 100 years ago in primitive conditions. The vegetation is also fascinating, continually varying depending on the altitude and exposure to salt and wind. We also managed to find the time to swim and sunbathe on the beautiful Dolphin Beach.
We had a weird experienced after arriving at Marion Bay, having driven from Adelaide over a leisurely 8 hours of exploring, we’d unpacked and were relaxing in our motel room when a guy burst in and told us to collect our things and leave immediately because gangs of motor bikers were coming. He kept repeating himself in an urgent tone. Once we noticed a heavy smell of alcohol and perhaps a couple of screws loose, we ushered him out of the room as quickly as possible. Later in the evening, with our door now locked, he knocked a few times and enquired whether we were fishing with him the next day. In between, we enjoyed our Valentine’s Day meal in the adjoining Tavern!
In total, we spent two and a half days on the Peninsula and would highly recommend it as an alternative to some of the standard destinations in Australia. We spent time in Port Vincent, Edithburgh, Stansbury, Corny Point, Minlaton (a principal country town), Moonta Bay, Wallaroo and Port Broughton. In each place, we met some friendly and interesting Aussies; most notably Rick and Ann, a well travelled couple of farmers who have 4,000 acres, while we dined at the Moonta Bay Patio Motel. In addition, after Mary’s successful introduction to crabbing in Glenelg, she now speaks with confidence to fishermen we meet on the ubiquitous jetties, discussing the size of their catches.
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