After
spending most of the day in and around Moonta, we had to drive to the
other side of the peninsula to Port Vincent, only about 90km. We
didn't stop in any towns, as we could come back and visit another
time. We had booked into Port Vincent Caravan Park and Seaside Cabins
as we heard from other happy campers that they had a 'winter special'
of $20 per night. This was only the second caravan park we have
stayed in this trip as they are usually so expensive. For $20 we had
power, water, a great camp kitchen, and new shower blocks. There is
also a mini golf course that we were going to use, but the weather
wasn't right. We decided to stay for two night, and then an extra
night, so three nights. The site we had was right on the water. We
could watch the waves and the weather roll in. It was very cold. What
are we doing traveling in the winter in South Australia!!!!!
Port
Vincent was originally known as Surveyor's Point and was first
settled by Europeans in 1852 as pastoral land, and by 1854 some land
had been allocated for wheat growing. By 1869 wheat farming was
replacing the sheep runs. Surveyor Robert Cook named the town Port
Vincent, and called the bay Port St Vincent in 1877 and a jetty was
built into the bay the same year. The jetty was needed to transport
the grain to Port Adelaide. Port Vincent thrived because it was the
only port on the eastern side to have a wharf, and it was the main
entry point into the Yorke Peninsula for people and cargo - there
was no road until 1949. Port Vincent was, and is a fisherman's haven.
Today it is a holiday and retirement town. I was so looking forward
to some oysters somewhere along the eastern coast of the Yorke
Peninsula – sadly no. Yorke Oysters, we were told, are the
sweetest, creamiest oysters and I would have loved to have tried
some. Managers at our caravan park recommended a few places to eat.
The Ventnor Hotel had a good menu – oysters not available, but the
garlic prawns were one of the best we have had. Prices were a bit on
the high side, and Peter enjoyed a couple of craft beers. The Port
Vincent Takeaway also didn't have any oysters, but we did get some
nice hot chips to go with our van dinner of salmon. The menu was very
reasonable, so we will definitely be back. Other happy campers had
recommended the Chill Out Cafe, as it was 'different' but with power
at the caravan park Peter made his own coffee.
Our
first road trip from Port Vincent, we drove south along the coast
road to Stansbury, located on Oyster Bay. A lovely village that we
can only imagine thrives in the warmer summer season. A lot of shops
are closed for the winter season. The town was originally named
Oyster Bay because of the wonderful oyster beds in the bay. A fitting
name! The first pastoralist to the area was Alfred Weaver, who
arrived in 1846 to run sheep on his property. He had problems with
not only water, but also bushrangers and the local Aboriginal people,
which resulted in him leaving in 1848. We have seen no mention of
bushrangers in the area. I 'Googled' bushrangers on the Yorke
Peninsula and came up with this. Interesting.
Oyster Bay was surveyed in 1873 and was re-named Stansbury by
Governor Musgrave, after a friend. The Oyster Bay Hotel was opened in
1875 and in 1877 there was a port to ship grain to Port Adelaide.
By this time there were many oyster dredges, and that started to deplete
the natural oyster stock. Stansbury oysters are not sent to the local
market. They are mostly used for stocking other oyster beds or
sending to Hong Kong and Singapore. However, local tourists can
purchase the fresh oysters. Again, I Googled South Australian oyster
season and Google said 'oysters season is March through to January' –
a long season yet no oysters were available at Stansbury when we were
there. Maybe we will taste them next time. We didn't do a lot in
Stansbury mainly because it was drizzling and many shops were closed.
Continuing 12km
down the coast a short way to Wool Bay, a tiny village between
Stansbury and Edithburgh, we drove down to look at the jetty. The
jetties here seem to all have a history notice board next to them.
We were surprised to find an old Lime Kiln. It was still raining, but
this was worth investigating. It was built early 1900 and was used
for burning lime. The Lime Industry flourished the first half of the
twentieth century. There were number of these kilns around this
section of coast, as limestone was readily available. It was mostly
used for making building mortar. Due to the position of this kiln, it
was not particularly successful. Wool Bay was originally called
Pickering, and was founded in 1876 to export lime. It was changed to
Wool Bay because there was a cliff face that was the right width and
right angle to roll bales of wool down to the beach. The wool
industry was still an important export.
Out
last coastal village was Edithburgh. The area was first settled prior
to 1847 by John Bowden who had a sheep run. There were many
shipwrecks off the coast which lead to the erecting of a lighthouse a
little further south on Troubridge Island in 1856. There are
information boards about the shipwrecks. The town was first surveyed
in 1869 and is named after the wife of the South Australian Governor
(1868-73), Lady Edith Fergusson. The jetty was built in 1873 and was
used to ship lime and gypsum, and later salt to Port Adelaide. The
rain had stopped so we were able to walk around the town. Again, it
is off season so many places were shut. The buildings are old and
full of history. It is good to see them maintained.
We
now started the scenic drive along the coast, past Wattle Point wind
farm. The wind farm seems to go for ages. Started in 2005 and with 55
wind turbines, they must form part of South Australia's energy plan.
The Troubridge Scenic Drive is a gravel road running about 88km along
the beautiful coastline. Photos do not do justice to this beautiful
coastline. We stopped at the Troubridge Hill Lighthouse, built in
1890 from wedge shaped bricks, and had lunch a little further south. How is this for a lunchtime view!
Forget the Great Ocean Road do this.
We
continued to the cape and then took the main roads back though the
peninsula to Port Vincent.
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