On to Streaky Bay

Venus Bay to Streaky Bay

Mon. Feb. 7^th

Taking our 2 whiting, we hit the road again. We’d heard all good reports about Streaky Bay and were keen to see it but the trip there proved more interesting than we had expected. The first stop was a Murphy’s Haystacks, an amazing collection of pink granite boulders and pillars on a small rise above a wide flat plain.

From there we travelled on gravel roads to see Baird Bay, a long, shallow bay with a small channel running almost the whole length. A tiny settlement but nothing there for us to do at low tide, so we continued on, taking the road to Sceale Bay where we stopped for lunch. This was a pretty holiday town but it didn’t have any facilities and we were the only ones there to enjoy the view and eat under the large sun shelter. A side trip along the Westall Way Loop Drive allowed us to see the impressive Granites beach area and watch a surfer catching the waves.

The Granites

The pub in Streaky Bay



A calm day at the beautiful bay

We arrived in Streaky Bay around 3pm and went straight to the supermarket where a tuna fisherman was stocking up for a trip out. When we walked on the pier we learned that there was a fast boat that went out and found the drifting tuna nets then radioed the GPS data to the heavier boats that went out and gathered the fish and towed them into Port Lincoln, a job that could take 2 weeks.  

Streaky Bay is an aquaculture and seafood centre with oysters, abalone and scallops along with the usual range of fish.  The place was named by Matthew Flinders on his mapping voyage in 1802. Eyre also made a base some 3km from the bay as a depot for overland explorations. Streaky bay was also a large agricultural port, shipping local wheat and wool to the cities. Granite from the local hills was used in Parliament House, Canberra.

The caravan park was right on the bay but unfortunately there were no beachfront sites available, but given the heat we welcomed anything in the shade. GVS cooked his whiting and we ordered chips to go with it. A delicious meal!!

Tues. Feb 8 & Wed. Feb 9

Streaky Bay was just lovely and such a friendly town. Once again we were amazed at the cleanliness of the SA towns – the recycling deposit required on all cans and bottles ensures that they do not lay around a litter and the lack of plastic bags is due to a charge for them in shops and an expectation that you have your own so rarely will one be offered.  

At the Tourist Information Centre there was a travelling Aboriginal art exhibition called ‘Desert to Dune’ and we really enjoyed this. The artists were from the Eyre Peninsula and we decided that we would see more in Ceduna. It was a very hot day so much time was spent reading in the shade and dashing in and out of the water. In this bay, the tide retreated beyond the beginning of the sea grass areas and the razor fish were visible at the low tide mark.

We also discovered a clearance centre that had great labels, eg. Billabong, Jump, Yarra Trail, at very low prices, but despite my best efforts I could only buy a pair of Rusty boardies for $20. Great fun trying!!

We ended up buying crabs for dinner – a fact that we didn’t pass on to anyone in the caravan park! They were tasty but very messy and little food for great effort. A good way to keep slim!

Our neighbours were very friendly, as were many of the campers and we enjoyed a few great days sharing stories, information and food. Sinclair and her husband David took us razorfishing and we brought back our bag limit – 25 each. We planned to eat them for dinner on Wednesday but they gave us cooked crabs to eat!! No effort outlaid on preparing that meal J We sat with Bob from Geraldton, Ken from the Pilbara, 2 Swiss girls and an English couple and had lots of stories to share.