The dawn broke over Marion Bay with the gale force winds still howling making packing up interesting!

Rose tried to secure the deteriorating bike covers they had purchased in Goulburn with little success…. getting a major blow dry at the same time.

We drove north up the Yorke Peninsula and stopped in at Moonta for morning tea at the Cornish Bakery who are renowned for their Cornish pasties. Moonta has a Cornish element including the Cornwall Pub as there were a lot of miners who came out from Cornwall to work in the mines in the area in the early days. From 1861-1923 Moonta was the centre of the copper mining industry that formed SA’s largest mining enterprise.

Continuing on, we drove though farming area and arrived at Port Pirie for lunch. Wikicamps had located a “beach” area in Solomontown that we could stop at, so once we had all found a park nearby (sometimes challenging with 4 caravans) we had lunch sitting in the park next to the beach. The council had done a great job landscaping the area and although it overlooked the JETTY and huge granary storage tanks it was a lovely area. The “beach” consisted of some very hard sand and once in the water it was a soft mud underfoot but nevertheless it would be nice for the locals on a hot day to have somewhere to swim.

There was a take-away cart at the park and Trev, Gordie and Klaus treated themselves to a thick shake – Gordie declaring that it “rated” as up there with the best – so he went and complimented the guy who made them.

We continued our journey north with the Flinders Ranges now in sight….

…. then turned west toward Port Augusta. Along the road were huge wind farms and solar farms which were not there the last time we passed through this way. Apparently, they generate enough electricity for over 180 000 homes – although they do add an ugly element to the natural landscape!

A quick fuel stop and we drove through Port Augusta – over the bridge and past a JETTY…

Google Maps was wanting to take us through some side streets but as we had been caught before we chose to take the more direct route along the highway – BIG mistake as we got stopped and breathalyzed, and then had to go through a large number of roadworks which slowed our journey somewhat…. and created an issue for Klaus.

It seems that the thick shake had the unusual effect on Klaus creating an urgent need for a pee stop during our queuing to get through the multiple roadworks to the point he considered driving through the cones, over the new bitumen and to a nearby bush – however he just managed to hold on and pulled over just after one set of works, jumped out of the car to go into the van but only made it as far as the front bumper…. Fortunately, he made it look like he was checking something on the car, so no one was the wiser – privacy and dignity was maintained – although when he told the story later it did create a lot of laughter!

The Eyre Peninsula looked less arid than the Yorke in the area we were driving through – more shrubs, farmland and mining activity were dotted across the countryside.

We drove through Whyalla which is the fourth most populous city in South Australia and is known as the “Steel City” as it has a large steelworks and shipbuilding industry, and has been exporting iron ore since 1903. Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla are the 3 towns which make up what is called the Iron Triangle.

Our stop for the night was a free camp at Moonabie Hill rest area – the wind had abated, and we all slept well that night!