Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula

The ferry from Wallaroo on the Yorke Peninsula to Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula saves about 350kms on the journey over to Western Australia and is a relaxing and enjoyable trip with frequent sightings of dolphins.

The ferry arrives in a rather remote location in Lucky Bay but after a short drive on a gravel road you arrive in the pretty town of Cowell with Norfolk pine trees down the centre of the main street. 

To my great excitement my brother James and his wife Maureen caught up with me at Cowell. They are just at the beginning of on an extended trip around Australia

The Cowell Motorhome Camp which is situated about 3kms south of the town on the foreshore, has only recently been moved from the dump point site in town so is rather barren but trees have been planted around the circumference and rubbish bins are emptied a couple of times a week. 

Nuriootpa to Wallaroo

My favourite place at Nuriootpa was Maggie Beer's Farm Shop, you can purchase all her products here, as well as some small run specials and they have a picnic menu. The staff were really helpful and friendly and the whole place has a lovely atmosphere with peacocks wandering among the fruit trees and a large lake.

Being in the Barossa Valley there were vineyards everywhere. This area is renowned for it's Shiraz. Kellermeister Wines' Wild Witch Shiraz collected three trophies at the International Wine Challenge in London this year and was judged best international Shiraz, unfortunately it's a little out of my budget price at $70 per bottle.

Leaving the Barossa we travelled south through the Yorke Peninsula to the tiny town of Wallaroo on Spencer Gulf where the ferry that runs between the Yorke and Eyre Peninsula departs.

The town has probably the most rough and potholed roads I've ever seen but there does seem to be some work being done down on the foreshore where the kiosk has been recently upgraded and is now a really good cafe with excellent coffee and a good variety of cakes.

The local children also have contributed to brightening the streetscape with some interesting mosaics all with a nautical theme.

Zoom ... Zoom ... Zoom ...

It's around 1,200 km from Coonamble in NSW to Nuriootpa in SA and as a lot of the journey is open countryside we moved through it quite quickly.

In Australia the term "bogan" is used in a derogatory sense and you immediately think of someone with a mullet haircut, wearing stubby shorts, a check flannelette shirt and completing the outfit with thongs (on their feet). So it was rather amusing to discover an area of North Western NSW that proudly proclaims itself "Bogan Shire". On further investigation I found that this shire, and the river it's named, after weren't the origins of the slang term which is also used by New Zealanders.

An enterprising farmer is western NSW has crafted these Galahs from corrugated iron.

In the far west there are miles upon miles of cotton farms, as this is a very arid landscape I wondered how they are able to grow cotton here and found that 90% of the farms depend on irrigation from the Murray Darling Basin (80% of cotton produced in Australia comes from here).

In light of the water crisis in the Murray Darling Basin you'd have to wonder whether this is a suitable crop for the climate and rainfall features of this area.







One of my favorite campsites on this trip was beside the Old Reservoir! Just outside of the outback mining town of Cobar.

 

Coonambling around Coonamble

I arrived in this little town around 10.30am and decided to have morning tea. The busiest cafe in town seemed the safest bet so Skye and myself headed straight there ... what a friendly welcome the local "town planners" gave us!

This group of men (anywhere from 6-12 each morning) recommended the local caravan park and it was certainly a lovely place, quiet, friendly, only $20 for a powered site AND on the river; and were just generally good fun to be around as Skye and myself joined them each morning on the 3 days we ended up staying here.

At the top end of town there is street-scaping in progress in front of the hotel, with shrubs and flowers being planted and a shaded siting area being built on each side of the street.

This seems to be a town that takes a lot of pride in itself.

This post was created on the iPad 4 using the Blogsy app, it's the only app I've used so far that actually works - very pleased with it.

Dad and Dave

The tiny town of Nobby has a really excellent camping spot opposite Rudd's Pub.

Steele Rudd, of Dad and Dave fame used to live in Nobby and apparently penned some of his short stories here in the pub.

Personally I found the front verandah of the pub was the perfect place to sit and write, chat and just generally relax with a cup of coffee and a pumpkin scone (a Queensland specialty). I met this lovely couple who farm nearby and were enjoying an outing on their motorbikes with a stopover at their favourite pub.

The pub has quite an eclectic decor with lots of bush memorabilia.

The town's free camping spot is just opposite Rudd's Pub and next to the now obsolete railway station which is a tourist information and craft centre. There are barbecues and picnic tables available and if you want/need power it's available for a gold coin donation (just pay at the pub). Most folks patronise the pub which is renowned for their lamb shanks — a small serving is more than enough — they must have giant sheep in this area as the shanks were ENORMOUS.

This is an excellent location and a good example to other tiny towns of how providing a place for grey nomads to camp can bring extra business and life into a town.