We pulled into Port Arno in the late morning and got ourselves set up in the caravan park. It is a Top Tourist and quite reasonable at $25/night. Family run park which is very friendly and clean. We lucked out and got two waterfront sites near the Jetty. Have a look at the view from our site below. Sandra got a picture of the nice garden at the town entrance as we were coming in.
Nice waterfront but lots of seaweed. Check out the guy fishing below. We had a quick walk out to the Jetty and then Stephen & I sampled the famous Arnormous Burger at the local take out/general store. Huge and not bad at all!
The afternoon saw us take a walk out on the Arno Bay Boardwalk. This was a great little walk with wood walkways winding through the creek and mangroves. Lots of lookouts and fishing spots built along the boardwalk. We walked over some crab flats and then out to the mouth of the creek. There were hundreds (maybe thousands) of sea gulls and pelicans were sitting on the water at the opening to the ocean. For a small town of only 250 people the boardwalk is a real credit. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk and ended up spending a couple of hours touring the area.
We had happy hour with Di & Terry who were already staying here before dinner. Terry has been fishing everyday down at the creek and has caught a number of King George Whiting which are the local favourite. They are very small so you need to catch quite a few to get a feed.
Tuesday morning the Ransleys and Bewells headed off sightseeing. Our first stop was at Red Banks which is only a few kilometres north along the coast. The coast line was as you would guess made up of red banks. Quite different than Port Arno and also notable in that the beach area had little seaweed which is unusual for South Australia so far. A bit of a grey day so photos won't be quite as colourful as they could be.
Next stop was Port Gibbon which was about 6Km off the highway on a dirt road. Had a nice free/very cheap campsite there with toilets and water. Worth a look when travelling through. Took in a couple of lookouts before having morning tea overlooking the cliffs. Saw a couple of dolphins swimming near the shore. Thought they were sharks at first. On the road we took back towards the highway we drove by the "Igloos" which are WWII Air Shelters. One wonders why they would be located here and apparently they were never used in combat.
Cowell was our next stop which is quite a quaint old town. We had a stroll down the main street and explored some of the shops. Lots of old buildings which were clean and green park areas. We had our lunch down near the Marina and saw a couple of overloaded Oyster boats go by.
We headed inland after lunch towards Cleve. Rolling agricultural land but quite dry. Stopped at the Yeldnuckie Weir which didn't hold very much water. Another nice free camping area there with toilets.
Into Cleve we went which is a nice clean agricultural centre for the region. Ventured up Ticklebelly Hill which is the local lookout. Found another camping area like a showground which looked quite good with water and power. Looks like a donation system. Nice clean, quaint town as well.
We headed home where we had afternoon tea with Di. Terry was fishing again. Had the marinated Salmon we had picked up on sale in Port Lincoln. It was delicious! We bought some lamb shanks and a lamb roast from the caravan park. The caravan park carries a variety of meats and other products all at reasonable prices. They also have a charity BBQ every Thursday which Di & Terry said was very good value. Very nice to have a caravan park that doesn't try to overcharge for all of their products and services. I'm sure they will benefit in the long run from return business and word of mouth. Got a nice shot of the Jetty just before Sunset.
Wednesday morning came out beautiful and sunny. We decided to head back to Red Banks where the boys had a fish and the girls laid in the sun. Had the beach pretty much to ourselves and enjoyed 2-3 hours fishing and sun baking. As usual the sun baking was more productive than the fishing. John caught the monster below which was the only catch. Decided to release as my filleting skills are definitely not that well defined. Would need micro surgeon I think.
Headed back to the caravan park where we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. Did a baked dinner with the Lamb Roast we'd purchased from the park and a Pork Roast that the Ransleys had. Delicious! Thought I'd mention that as I received some feedback from Blog followers that we never seem to eat anything but seafood!
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