Big Bad Bern's Blog

Heading away from Venus Bay we travelled to Streaky Bay . This is another nice little town on the Eyre Peninsula. We arrived latish for lunch finding some shops already closed. We had fish and chips in a a café attached to a caravan park. Not the best fish and chips but certainly not the worst we have had on our travels. The worst fish and chips we have had were in Tasmania in a small town with the lovely name of Primrose Sands.

There is a fabulous clifftop drive in just out of Streaky Bay with lots of great lookouts. The coastline is quite spectacular. All the good spots are well signposted and have information boards.

Whistling rock was particularly interesting. There is a large cavern under the cliffs where the waves crash in. The top of the cavern is a quite porous limestone. The crashing waves push air up through the holes creating a distinctive whistling sound.

There are a succession of lookouts where you get a great view of the limestone coast. Every bit as impressive the great ocean road. The coast line is slowly being eroded by the crashing waves. There is an array of great walkways and raised platforms. Theses afford plenty of opportunities for great photos.

Venus Bay is small town with lots of holiday shacks. The caravan park is located on absolute beach front. The spaces are wide and the park is flat. So backing in is relatively easy. The van park has a nice shop which also serves the township and is a takeaway shop. There is no pub in town but there is a bus that runs between Venus bay and Port Kenny where there is a pub.

There is a sandbank just off the beach where lots of Pelicans, Pacific gulls and the more common Seagulls or Silver Gulls hangout . They are probably watching the jetty where the local fishing boats have moorings.

It’s a really nice spot to stop.

This is another interesting geological formation in the Gawler Ranges and a bit more remote than Wave Rock. Access is mostly by dirt roads but they are no too treacherous. Our Kia Sportage managed this quite easily.

The roads are quite well signposted so as long as you an eye out you wont get lost. Mobile phone reception is a bit variable so relying on Google Maps or similar maybe a little tricky. It always good to have a physical map when travelling in remote areas.

Once you get to the carpark which isn’t huge there is a walk to the organ pipes. The carpark has a nice little gazebo and an toilet. The walk will take about 20 minutes and is for the most part easy. There are a few rocks to walk over or around toward the end. If you are a little unsteady a walking stick or pole would be well advised.

The walk is definitely worth it. The rock formations are really spectacular. I imagine if it was raining the would be a nice waterfall.

I was warned to be careful as there is some slime on the rocks. Despite this I managed to slip and fall quite heavily. Lucky not to break my arm, only denting my pride.

We did see some local kangaroos on the way back. We managed the organ pipes and wave rock from Wudinna in about half a day.

We travelled to wave rock from Wudinna via Minnipa. The road to Wave rock (Pildappa Rock) is through Minnipa. This is a small service town with a population of less 200 people. Sadly there are a lot of empty stores in town.

Wave rock (Pildappa) is a remarkable rock formation that really does look like a giant wave. The rock is quite large and appears across on the horizon. As interesting as Uluru but a lot smaller.

There is an excellent picking ground featuring the a rather windy long-drop toilet. There is a one way road that circles the rock. Along the way there are many campsites nestled amongst bushes. Other than the toilets its strictly free camping so you need to be self-sufficient.

The site forms part of the Gawler Ranges National Park so you will require the necessary permits to enter and camp. We drive an all-wheel drive KIA Sportage and managed the drive quite easily.