Today we had decided to spend exploring Innes National Park which is renowned for beautiful, rugged coastline, surfing beaches and lots of historic sites. Those who had not already bought their National Park passes did so online…. but Gordie had an internet glitch with his – the payment page was fixed on “Processing your payment” and would not go through…. Gordie felt like a “Glass Half Empty Gordie” as nothing seemed to be going right…no surf…too much wind…weather predicted to worsen … and now this!! Everyone tried to cheer him up with positive comments – which always works, and positive Gordie reappeared…

The Hunters stopped at the National Park Office and went in to sort the NP pass issue out and planned to meet up with us at our first stop. The rest of us drove to Pondalowie Bay – place of great surf and lots of dolphins…. we walked along the long boardwalk from the carpark to the beach and alas when we arrived the surf was small and no dolphins to be seen. However, the views and beach made up for this – it was a beautiful location.

Up along the beach we could see in the distance a shipwreck on the sand so while waiting for Gordie and Kerry we all walked up to have a look. Trev stayed behind to wait for the Hunters.

The wreck was not particularly old but gave opportunity for a great pic – Klaus nearly doing his almost healed knees a further injury climbing into position!

We walked back along the beach and met Trev – the Hunters had still not arrived, so we started walking back along the boardwalk to the carpark….and met them halfway along. It seems that they had still not fully sorted out the issue and had to spend half an hour on the phone to their bank to work out if the payment had gone through. The ranger was OK and said they could pay later if it had not worked.

We left Pondalowie and drove towards West Cape Lighthouse – and around the corner came across baby emus with their father walking across the road – no wonder the speed limit in the park is 40kms/hr!

West Cape was absolutely stunning even though the weather had started to become more overcast and windier.

The large beach on the left side of the headland was pristine – it looked deserted and untouched. The huge cliff faces were rugged and colourful with reds, ochres, whites, and yellow tones – they reminded me a lot of some of the places we had visited in W.A.

At the end of the cape stood the lighthouse – again a different structure this time of stainless-steel sheets. The lighthouse was built in 1980. In front of the lighthouse was a small Helipad – it was hard to imagine landing a chopper in such a small location with the winds as they were – it would take an expert pilot to do so.

The view to Pondalowie Bay and its rocky islands was commanding – you could even see the fishing shacks on the hill.

Below the cliff were rugged rocks with the powerful surf swirling and breaking on them creating maelstroms of water which were fascinating to watch.

The cape had an abundance of native flowers and bushes which made a beautiful ground covering over the otherwise rocky and barren area.

We stopped for lunch in a shelter at West Cape that conveniently faced the right way and got us out of the wind. Gordie decided to go back to Pondalowie after lunch for that elusive wave…. Kerry came along with us to explore the rest Innes NP had to offer.

Next stop was the Ethel Wreck on Ethel Beach. We arrived and looked down over the cliff to see huge pounding surf – biggest waves we had seen so far… and the iron bones of the Ethel sticking up through the sand.

Carefully making our way down the steep staircase we got down to the beach and walked along to the wreck. The Ethel was a three masted iron barque built in Sunderland, England in 1876. On 2nd January, 1904, after damaging its rudder at nearby Cape Spencer in a south-westerly gale, it was driven ashore, with the loss of one life. The coastal steamer S.S. Ferret attempted to aid the Ethel without success and notified authorities. Ironically the Ferret ran aground on the same beach 16 years later on the 14th February 1920

The strait between the Yorke Peninsula and KI is known as the Investigator Strait. Since the establishment of the colony in SA in 1836 it has played a crucial role as a natural thoroughfare for trade and communications. Over 26 vessels have been wrecked in this strait with a loss of over 70 lives.

Down the road a bit further were the historic Inneston Ruins, so we stopped in and did the 2km walk around them learning about the early life on the Yorke Peninsula. Gypsum was mined and plaster produced in the village of Inneston – and transported down to Stenhouse Jetty firstly by horse and cart then later rail.

Inneston was a mining company town with more than 36 dwellings that was built in 1913. The village thrived in the early days but once the Depression hit in 1939 the building industry collapsed, and the town died. Today some of the houses have been restored and are available for holiday rent.

Cape Spenser Lighthouse was the final lighthouse for the day and again we were greeted with spectacular coastline views. A stunning beach lay to the right of the headland and was completely inaccessible – to the left were harsh, heavily eroded cliff faces with deep but clear water below.

Our last stop for the day was the Stenhouse JETTY – which was where the Inneston plaster was loaded onto ships for transport.

By this time the wind had become gale force and icy so we returned to the caravan park and gave the idea of a communal roast the flick. Trev went up to the Marion Bay Tavern and booked us in for dinner that evening.

Gordie returned just in time – he had an amazing surf at Pondalowie with a pod of dolphins coming in so close they touched his leg. The dolphins apparently breed there so make it their home and are very human friendly. Gordie met another surfer whose name was Phil. He had had a difficult life and was still struggling. Gordie was able to share his own story and the Gospel with Phil – and gave him some things to read including Luke’s gospel. Phil was grateful for Gordie’s openness and encouragement – and was happy for Gordie to pray with him…. hopefully he will put his faith in Jesus and see a great change in his life.

Dinner at the Tavern was great – the place was very busy, and food excellent. Back home we had coffee in the salubrious Hunter Lotus – the club lounge and 2 poufs being able to accommodate 8 guests!