Yorke Peninsula (East Coast):

Edithburgh was our next stop which had a historical jetty and a massive wind farm. We then followed the coastline up to Stansbury. We passed some huge silos where they send the grain out to a waiting ship by a large overhead chute.

Stansbury is a delightful little town which I loved and the caravan park was right on the foreshore. It is a very popular place with the Adelaide people as it is only a couple of hours away and a very good fishing, crabbing area and swimming area and the park is spotless. You can actually rake the crabs out of the sand when the tide is low. Many people store their van here very cheaply and the park tows it out to your site when you come so that’s what a lot of the Adelaide people do. No wonder people who like seafood like this place and I think nearly everyone goes fishing.
It was a beautiful day so finally the bikes came out and we rode along the foreshore to the jetty which was at the other end. We rode out onto the jetty to check out the catches. Most people were successful and we chatted to a young couple who caught two huge crabs.
There was a coffee shop which had the best vanilla slice I have ever tasted so note that!! We even went back for seconds the next day (just when I had decided to start eat more healthily). We also had fresh fish and chips for tea that night. Oh dear!!

The next day was windy, cold and overcast. We headed to Port Vincent another beachside village close by which seemed very nice and people were fishing from the footpath at the bottom of the main street. There was a small marina so we checked this out. Apparently it’s popular to sail from Adelaide to here on a weekend.

We went on to Port Julia as there was a free camp there (well $6 per night). It was an oval which was surrounded by some dense bushes that provided some shelter from the blustery wind. We checked out the jetty and a “red shed” which was used to store the bags of wheat and wool in the early days.
We didn’t explore much more as it was too windy so spent time reading and watching a movie.


We only had eleven klms to go the next day so had a late start and stayed at Black Point where we had an ocean front view of the coast but could hardly open the caravan door the wind was so strong. There are lots of beach shacks right up to the high tide level but also there are lots and lots of new holiday homes. It almost feels like Adelaide has just discovered this area. The sun did come out for a while but the wind didn’t give up all day. We went for a drive to the end of the point where there is a lot of land for sale. A short walk on the shore revealed a four-wheel drive bogged on the beach – you could see where the tide had come as there was some seaweed hanging over the side mirrors!! I think the car might be ruined.


After a rainy windy night we set of for Ardrossan where there is a dolomite mine.
We drove down to the jetty to see some steep red sandstone cliffs which I believe turn really red when the sun shines on them. It was freezing here so we didn’t feel like doing much sightseeing. Where is the summer!!! After a coffee we keep going hoping to outrun the weather.

We had to pick up some mail at Port Wakefield. This town was oozing with wonderful historic buildings. Every building is built from stone and is very old. There was a quaint craft shop which used to be the CWA meeting room. What a great variety of craft they had and the ladies were very friendly.
We checked out the jetty and then had lunch near a large wetland area. There are a lot of mangroves which are important habitat for many creatures.

We stayed at a free camp at Port Parham which is seems to be full of holiday shacks and is quite close to Adelaide. It was extremely shallow and the tide went out a long way. We went for a walk in the fierce cold wind and were fascinated to see many versions of homemade tractors on stilts in almost every yard. This was to tow their boats out to deeper water and I guess leave them out there. We would love to see them in action.

We decided to get to Adelaide a day earlier to get away from the wind.
We really enjoyed the Yorke Peninsula with its friendly laid back atmosphere and their lack of commercialism. Let’s hope it stays like that.