Winter 2019 - OZ 17 To Port Lincoln and Then to Port Augusta, SA

2019 - OZ  17   To Port Lincoln and Then to Port Augusta, SA

No Longer Desert

We are getting back into ‘civilization’, the land gets greener, there are more trees, there are more towns, people, cars, animals… and there is more traffic. 

But we are in an Agricultural belt for now, driving towards Lincoln, SA.Huge water pipes are along the roads, bringing water to towns far, far away. Water is a precious commodity in Australia. Those water pipes, about 2 or more feet in diameter, run in pairs or even more along the highway. They are 100s of KM long. I saw ‘vents’ or loops were set up in those lines; to let the air burp out. Mostly, loops were set up to pumps that moved the liquid down the lines.

Water Pipes

I am not sure if this water is also used for agricultural purposes because that would be an expensive way to grow wheat or corn. Yet we see acres of fields, we see grain silos along the way, so there must be large amounts being grown. 

The land is becoming a bit anti climatic. Towns we go through are just that, towns. Nice, neat towns, Australian towns that have their own style housing, not European, not British, not American but something mixed something in between those looks. 

Agricultural Land

Port Lincoln  is on the lower Eyre Peninsular and is known as the Seafood Town. It has the most millionaires per capita in Australia. We found a nice enough hotel near the harbor, even ate some seafood and yes, the town was nice but a bit ‘flat’ and ‘anticlimactic’ after our trip through the desert. We just wanted to see it but moved on, towards Port Augusta the next day, finishing our loop of the Eyre Peninsula. 

The area we drove through struck me as very agricultural.

Conservation Park

We saw a Conservation Park and even drove into it, albeit the rutted road that led deeper and deeper into a dry, kind of abandoned looking property or park. We saw the back of one Kangaroo hopping away from us, nothing else. Carol even got out of the car, walked a bit…there was nothing to see, so after some kilometers, we turned around, and just got back onto the main road.

We drove to Port Augusta, known as the Rail Road Town of Australia. And also known for some towns nearby that are very ‘touristy’ according to what we read.

Lunch Stop at Venus Bay

We had a picnic in the car overlooking the bay at Venus Bay eating a sandwich we made ourselves.

 

The housing we saw told us these were summer vacation homes, but I really have no clue as to why one would build a summer home here.

Sure there was some sand one could use as a beach and some spots were nice to look at, but … I guess I did not see what people came here to see.

Coming Into the Town of Venus Bay

We drove into Port Augusta, into town.

Busy, hectic, a bit large, we are back into civilization.

We passed a Museum ship, the Whyalla, one of the steel ships built here during WW2. 

Remember, this is a steel town; they had to display this ship to show the pride they have in being able to build ships. 

HMAS Whyalla

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But for me, a visitor, a guy who grew up in the Ruhrgebiet in Germany, this was everyday stuff. What I saw was daily life, what I saw were people making their living, living their normal life.

I wanted to see something ‘unusual’ so I kind of moped about and then Carol found a town we just had to see… Coober Pedy.