Streaky Bay

Leaving Cactus we went straight to Ceduna, gave what little fresh fruit and vegetables we had to the quarantine man and drove a few hundred metres down the road to the Oyster Shack. Of some fame, the oysters are fresh and supposedly good value. Little did we know that just a hundred kilometres away at our next stop oysters in their shell would be almost half the price.

Streaky Bay, hot, still and sunny.

Ceduna itself has a nice foreshore and a Katherine-esque feel to it. As such this was a quick pit stop before our next camp of Streaky Bay,  our one and only on the Eyre Peninsula. We arrived after what felt like hours of grain fields and more blue skies, into pretty Streaky Bay. Full of stone cottages dating to the late 1800s, a calm blue expanse of water streaked with weed and a main street with a few boutiques, I was happy.  Once we got our waterfront site at the caravan park, Fiela was happy and the playgrounds kept the kids happy. The weather turned too; for the first time in months we were in shorts and shirts. The nights were still cool enough to bother with a fire on the beach, but there were times when the wind stopped and it was hot.  Finally the cold, wet weather had broken.


Fiela kayaked for King George whiting,  the kids played, I actually read a few chapters of a novel.

Fun in the bay.

At Cape Labatt lookout.

We drove out to Cape Labatt to have a look at the rare Australian Sea Lion in one of few colonies left.  These enormous creatures are like us in that they also love protected beautiful shorelines and headlands to live in, much to their own detriment. Australian Sea Lion number are considered to be very few,  another Aussie animal on the endangered list. We watched from the top of the cliffs as they made their awkward way about the rocks, to drive into the water transforming into graceful ballerinas.

Two Australian Sea Lions.

Australian Sea Lion colony at Cape Labatt..

We then made our way around the coastline to Ocean Beach, a deserted expanse of pure white sand and crystal clear blue water. The Beach was absolutely full of tiny pippis, and we all had a beautiful swim, a gentle little wave providing us with a bit of fun.

Eyre Peninsula coastline...

And ocean beach just around the corner. 

Back at camp our Grey Nomad neighbours made time in their schedule to have a few drinks with us at the fire... Lovely people in hot demand, Gwynn and Dave were loving their newly retired existence in their caravan,   finding time to relax between dinners,  lunches,  drinks,  sightseeing and fishing. I'm surprised we even got a look in, though Fiela was unimpressed with the lack of offers to babysit the kids. On these grounds he didn't even want to extend the name of friendship by swapping numbers on our departure. He just can't understand why people don't want to look after our kids, though I'd guess having seen our angels in operation over a 24 hour period in a confined space would give even the kindest heart second thoughts on babysitting offers.

Ocean Beach.

Ocean beach.

Time seemed to go quickly, and by the time I roused myself to go and pay for a few more nights, our site was no longer available. We were spewing but have come to take these hiccups in our plans as fate. There must be something just as good or better at the next place. Right?

A windy day on the bay.

Camp at Streaky Bay.