Streaky Bay - 9th October




See Photo - Sign says it all ... Kimba.

We set off from Mt Remarkable and headed down the escarpment to the coastal plain, we stopped for a break and noticed that the toiled cassette had leaked into the shower recess........ not a lot but enough for Bell to say "its yours!" and she was off!......... So yours truly pulled out the toilet and with gloves, detergent, paper towels and around 15 massive blow flies for moral support as I began the ardours task of cleaning up the mess. Good thing we really only use it for "WEES" so it wasn't that bad! 


See Photo - Bell and the boys with the
 Big Galah at Kimba.



See Photo - Our local hero.

We forged on across the Eyre Peninsula thru Port Augusta, Iron Knob and on to Kimba and the home of the Big Galah, this area is like the Dongera region of West Australia with predominately wheat and sheep farms. As we made our way we noticed that many of the vehicles don't drive during the day with there headlights on unfortunately, making it harder to see them especially on the long highways. We arrived at Streaky Bay and headed for the caravan park, along the way we heard a huge thump, only to find some teenagers throwing things at passing vans, more accurately ours, so we hit the breaks and turned around to find them disappearing into the bushes, they made one mistake and left there bike, scooter, helmets and ipod......... which we picked up and took to the local cops. Several hours later the kids turned up at the van park looking for there stuff only to meet the local police and explain their actions!


See Photo - Our front row seats at
Streaky Bay Caravan Park.

See Photo - Boys trying to cope in the 16 degree
water and wind.

The caravan park was great, we had front row seats on the beach front so we settled in and let the boys do their thing! As we only had 2 nights we headed off the next morning to Baird Bay for our close encounter with the local Sea Lions, little did we know this also included Dolphins! We arrived at 9am and got kitted out for the swim, water temp was 16 degrees, Bell had earplugs and 2 wetsuits on! The boys also got theirs and we boarded the boat, in total there were 6 of us and we headed for the island at the mouth of the bay between two reefs. Our guide had a Shark deterrent lanyard on for added security!!!!! when we arrived at the island Alan whistled and some little heads popped up from the surrounding bushes then headed for the water, he'd been doing the tours for 20 years and knows almost all the sea lions by sight.



See Photo - So inquisitive our little sea lions.

See Photo - A bull trying to ward off a smaller male.

We jumped in the water and almost instantly we were greeted by a little female sea lion, after a few minutes we were surrounded by 3 or 4 and were ducking and diving with them just 2 to 3 feet away. Then the dolphins came in pairs, first 1 and then 2 then 3…. 6 dolphins in total! they were fantastic, as Alan circled the boat around with the kids on board we swam in the middle, the dolphins came cruising through us jumping the waves from the boat, it was a wonderful experience being able to swim alongside these wild animals.

See Photo - The dolphins would swim right under you.



See Photo - Dolphins surfing.

See Photo - Bell and boys trying to keep warm.

See Photo - Sea lions love to play.

See Photo - Enjoying the surf.

After boarding back on the boat we tried to rug up and stop shivering, headed straight back to shore and warmed up with a hot pie while chatting to Alan about how he has built up the business to what it is today, but kept it from being commercial and keep that true outback feeling…… the kids of course played on the beach much to our delight!. We then boarded Retro and along the way saw 5 little Shingleback's enjoying the sun.





See Photo - Shingleback Lizard - saw heaps.




See Photo - Murphy's Hay Stacks amazing views
in all directions.

Next stop …..Murphy’s Hay Stacks, what an amazing sight these are. Named after the farmer who’s land they’re on, they were spotted by a local stage coach driver and his passengers, tired of answering the same curious questions he decided to tell passengers they were huge excess bales of hay……… since then the legend grew and are now the most photographed formations in South Australia. We must have spent a good hour and a half taking photos, in awe of these amazing granite structure which looked like they had been placed there by aliens (a bit like our camp site at the Granites). Following this action packed day we headed back to camp and the boys joined another group of kids riding around the caravan park. Kept within eye sight they still managed to stack it about 3 times each, after the third strike we figured it was time for the bikes to go away and for the boys to have a rest for the remainder of the day!




See Photo - Somers family with Murphy's Hay Stacks.



See Photo - Amazing rock formations at Murphy's.



See Photo - Riley's favourite rock.

See Photo - The catch at Streaky Bay.

After bidding goodbye to the lovely people of Streaky Bay Caravan Park we headed into town and out on the Jetty watching the fishing boat unloading its catch of sharks, the reflection on the water was like a mirror. Knowing that Streaky Bay was home to the World’s Largest Shark 1550kg (as per the ‘Are We There Yet?’ children’s book) we managed to find it at the local Shell Service station (of all places) so we had our photo taken under the replica shark and found it hard to believe it was caught by rod and reel.

See Photo - The monster Shark at Streaky, just like in the book
'Are we there yet?'

Hitting the road to Fowlers Bay we travelled 245 km passing through Ceduna and enjoyed the lovely smooth roads. We found the boys have been getting much better at their school work and have noticed a few things are really starting to sink in now. Riley is trying much harder and is not getting as frustrated all the time. Also there attention to creative drawings of what we’ve previously seen have more detail now, in particular Aiden has come a long way in this area.

So here we go .. heading for the coastal outback.