A Breath of Fresh Ayre - Day 9

Day 9 Sunday 19th June 2011

Lucky for us it didn’t rain last night which meant that the canvas on our camper was dry when we packed up this morning. I for one was sad to be leaving such a pretty place, we’d really enjoyed our visit to Streaky Bay. The one thing that struck us was how friendly people were. They waved at us as we drove past even people from their gardens and children walking down the street waved to us as we went past.

After we packed up, we had our showers and then left the caravan park. We fueled up before leaving town and then headed south on the Flinders Highway. The first town we came to was Port Kenny which wasn’t much more than a few houses and a hotel and small jetty. It was quite an ugly place so we didn’t stop.

About 20 kilometres down the road we turned off to Venus Bay which was only a couple of kilometres in. The population is only around 20 inhabitants but that number swells to the hundreds during the popular seasons.

The town had a large jetty for fishing boats and looked over a large sheltered bay.

We drove up to the lookout behind the town to be surprised by some breathtaking views of the jagged cliffs along the coast stretching north and south.

We also had a spectacular view of Point Labatt from the south this time.

There was a caravan park a convenience store and a liquor store and a few houses and not much else, although we found it to be a very pretty little coastal resort style town with the most fantastic coastal views.

A few kilometres south we reached Coodlie Park farmstay where we will be bush camping for a couple of days while we explore areas along the coast and inland.

The camping area is about 2 kilometres from the farm house and there is a flushing toilet. Unfortunately, by the time we set up camp the beautiful clear day turned windy overcast and cold. It wasn’t the best weather for bush camping but we only hope the weather will change again before the day is out.

This is the spot where we camped for two nights (right).

About an hour after we set up camp another couple came along and set up their camp on the other side of an open clearing and just across from us. We had set up by a clump of trees and close to the toilet.

The only downside to the toilet was that it didn’t have a proper door just some shade cloth across the doorway which was blowing around in the wind giving no privacy for anyone wanting to use the loo. It would have been ok if we’d been the only ones here but the opening faced directly out into the clearing so anyone driving in could see you if you happen to be sitting on the loo.

The retired couple camping near us came over and said hello to us and the dogs of course. They are from Sheparton in Victoria a beautiful place where the fruit canning factories are located. Like us they are touring around the Eyre Peninsula but in the opposite direction to us.

During the night we woke to Toby being sick and then later we woke again to a horrible smell only to find that he also had diarrhoea and was standing at the bottom of our bed impatient for us to let him outside. James climbed down and let Toby out before cleaning up his little accident. We had to cover the area in disinfectant just to get rid of the horrible smell. Not really a nice place to end today's story but I'm afraid that's all there is to tell for today from the Short & Sweet and Slightly Smelly Tourists..