Written in retrospect: 16 days on the road and all is going well, no major arguments since leaving Kalgoorlie and the annex episode, needless to say we have not put it up since. Wait, we have put it half up and all went well, so learning complete. The true test will be when we put it up for a long term place. We have travelled well, Ian still likes his long stints of driving without stretching his legs. The driving is shared 50/50 and I am getting much better at managing the caravan. Reverse parking is still an issue for me, I spit the dummy once and Ian took over, since then I’ve tried to be more patient with myself. I feel we are always stopping for fuel which in some ways is good because it gets us out of the car, I do try and stop at least every three hours. I usually keep fruit, nuts and cracker biscuits as a driving snack and not too many sweets…. so I feel we have done reasonably well. The other trap is buying crap when you stop to fuel up, this has also reduced, mainly because it is really expensive – a meat pie was $7.50. The advantage of having the caravan is you can quickly make a sandwich and cuppa and that too saves money.

Interesting stats to date, in 16 days we have travelled 2,594km, 452.79 litres of diesel costing $1,031.31 – clearly I’m keeping a spreadsheet of the mileage and fuel used. Ian worked out that we use approx. 5.7km per litre of fuel, that seems awfully expensive in my book, but he said it is reasonable given we are towing a 20 foot heavy caravan. I’ll take his word for it.

We have done some free camping mainly single nights when our focus is reaching a particular place and its worked out well for us.

The Eyre Peninsula is just so beautiful, the days were warm, sunny and the nights still cold- our first stop was Streaky Bay, Venus Bay, Elliston, Coffin Bay, Port Lincoln, Cowell, Whyalla and Port Augusta.

Streaky Bay is an attractive town, it services many surrounding towns and also has a hospital and an old style jetty. Steaky Bay is know for its seafood -oysters, King George whiting, tuna etc. We stayed at the Streaky Bay Island Caravan Park (visit steakybayislandcaravanpark.com.au)- we had ocean views with great sunsets, the water looked like glass and I have to say they have the best ablution blocks (toilets) I’ve ever experienced for a caravan park. The more nights you stay the cheaper it is. We originally were going to stay two nights but after the first night decided we would stay for 5 nights – great decision.

We used Streaky Bay as a base and did some sight seeing of the area. Our first day we explore the town and walked the jetty. Second day trip was to do the Cape Bauer Loop Drive, which included the Whistling Rocks & Blowholes, it is a long platformed walk down to the coastline – there was not much happening at the blowholes, but the coastline is just divine – the ocean was just so blue and intense, just amazing.

We had dinner at the local pub (Streaky Bay Hotel, great atmosphere) and watched the Matilda’s play -good game.

The town has some beautiful unique shops, there was a delightful craft shop which I spent hours just sitting on the floor reading the patterns which dated back to the 1950’s, I just wish weight was not an issue when travelling in a caravan otherwise I would have bought the lot. There’s a great bakery and a couple of second had shops – all worth a look. The guy in the Post Office was super helpful and the Information Centre is a great resource, very friendly & helpful – also does photocopying…. worth knowing when travelling.

Westall Way Loop Drive is a day trip again a great drive with magnificent ocean views – if you continue down the Sceale Bay Rd, you pass Sceale Bay, its a smaller bay it has some interesting houses and a beautiful bay and not much else. Continuing down the same road, you follow the coastline, I spotted a flock of pelicans in the water fishing, I called out to Ian, “stop, look, let me take a picture, see all the Pelicans”, dutifully, an stopped – poor Ian spends most of his time waiting for me to say ‘stop’ for a picture or two. As you continue, you reach Point Labat and this is where there is a Sealion Colony – there is a small walk out to a viewing platform where you can watch the sealions playing or fighting beneath you. Best remember to bring you zoom camera or binoculars, best thing about it is, there are no charges. On our drive back we went via Murphy’s Haystacks a 1500-million-year-old geological wonder -its on private land with an honesty box, again don’t forget your camera. There was nothing at Port Kenny except they say the pub does a good lunch, we did stop to look at the dilapidated jetty and then drove on to Venus Bay.

Venus Bay was equally divine, its smaller than Streaky Bay, if you want less shops and more beach time, then Venus Bay is for you – the water was icy cold but crystal almost like glass, it was really tempting – I almost succumbed to its temptations.

Coffin Bay a picturesque town – this was were we saw so many Emu’s just walking the streets, in peoples gardens, it was quite amusing. Its a busy little town, quite the fishing village – it has a commercial wharf and you can watch the fisherman unloading and best of all you can see all the Pelicans and seagulls trying to get a free feed. Ian certainly got his full of oysters…….55 he shucked and we ate together, followed by another 2 dozen oysters – he likes his oysters.

Port Lincoln was great, we stayed two nights at the Port Lincoln Tourist Park at $44 per night. There were lots of nice shops and I found a brilliant camera shop to get my new zoom camera. We stayed two days, found a Kmart for some essentials for the caravan, a beautiful craft shop called the Patchwork Pear – my happy place, just delightful. We put the caravan in for a service which cost us about $1200, but better to be safe than sorry. Now on our way to Port Augusta.

We stopped at Cowell for fuel and not much else, Whyalla was a bigger town in SA, with many shops and quite industrial – we only drove through as our destination was Port Augusta.

We arrived late in the evening, I hate arriving at night to a caravan park, its the pits. Navigating the parking bays for me is a nightmare and its dark. It was cheap, $25night if we paid cash or $29 if we paid by card. The caravan park was a bit out of town but we didn’t know that till the morning. Port Augusta was a surprise to me, it was quite spread out and its shopping precinct was lacking in brand shops – we had to get new tyres for the car, thankfully only two. We decided to stay for 4 days at $25 per night, this allowed us some free time before the trek up the middle of Aus. When we got the tyres changed I asked about a hairdresser – the lady said “honey its Friday, we have 4 saloons and you won’t get in” – lucky for me there was a cancellation and I got a badly needed hair treat. I wouldn’t go again to Port August.

We did a day trip our to Quorn and Hawker not part of the Peninsula but it was a great day out, such beautiful old buildings and history. – and managed to see some of the Flinders Rangers.

life in the caravan – it takes me less than an hour to tidy up, that is sweep the floor and clean the toilet. I love having a toilet it saves having to go out in the night – the down side is emptying the toilet a the dump sites, but now I’m use to it so all is good – it didn’t take me long to work out how many times we can use it before having an overflow – you only need it to happen once then never again. The best thing is to empty each time we stay somewhere then we never have any mishaps. There are so many products on the market that odour is not an issue – keep the toilet vent open is another good strategy.

Cooking, I’ve been sticking to simple meals – we bought a slow cooker and I put it on in the morning and the meal is ready when we get back, this will keep us going for a couple of days I just mix up the veg that goes with it. Some times beans on toast is also a good solution. I cant wait for summer then Ian can do the BBQ and I’ll do the salad.

We have gotten into a good groove now in setting and packing up, we each have our own jobs and get it done in half the time.

Lessons learned: keep meals simple: have simple quick options: wash up as we have eaten, once you sit you don’t want to move again. Do not critisize each others driving!

I would highly recommend the Eyre Peninsula for a family holiday – its a great place.

Next stop Coober Pedy, Uluru, Kings Canyon & Alice Springs.