Murphy's Haystacks situated about 40kms from Streaky Bay just off the Flinders Highway.

Murphy's Haystack were so called because Matthew Flinders on an inland trip happened to comment that "the farmer of the land must have had a good year gathering hay in readiness for the winter". From a distance you certainly can imagine this.

The height of the rocks are incredible as they rise up out of the earth. Slowly they are being worn down by water and wind.

Enormous - you have to wonder when it will topple over and where the rest of the rock landed.
All these rocks are on private land and the owners have fenced them off asking for a $2 per person or $5 per family donation. They have built a covered picnic area and toilet facilities for all to use.

Today we went on a scenic drive using all Clare's 4WD skills. We drove through Point Labatt's Conservation Park over 40kms of wet gravel roads to view the only Sea lion Colony on Australia's mainland. Here sea lion's frolic,feed, breed and die over and over and over again. Apparently only the males move away to other colonies in their lifetime.

Point Labatt -the windiest place we have ever been too. A viewing platform has been erected not only to see the sea lions but more importantly to hold on to your life so you don't go over the edge.

Our original intention was to go as far west as Ceduna, stay a week and then begin our return journey via the SA coastline. Advice from other travellers along the way was to "choose somewhere else" to stay the week. Thank goodness we listened - hence the photo of the Post Office just to prove we were there! It's ok for a 1 night stopover but not a lot else to see but it took us 4598kms to get there. This does include a bit of off the track sightseeing along the way.

This is a man very proud of himself mastering the art of "shucking oysters". On our way to Ceduna we called into Smoky Bay which is basically an oyster farming community with a population of 285 swelling to about 350 at holiday times. We bought direct from the farmer at $7.50 a dozen caught that morning. 

As we'd had a long day travelling to Ceduna and back (250kms) we decided to have a light meal that night. Alistair prepared the meal and I poured the drinks, so easy and delicious!

Streaky Bay Foreshore Caravan Park - view from our "lounge room". Stunning bay and excellent park. We are here for a week and relaxed immediately. A lovely village feel to the town

The end of our first day. The colours of the sunset are beautiful. Quite a few travellers from Qld here although haven't meet anyone we know yet!

Yeah we made it - halfway between Sydney & Perth. Kimba was to be a stopover for one night but we arrived at noon and the town has 2 streets so we decided to move on a bit further for the day.

Free camp "outback dunny" at Tcharkulda Hill SA. Clean but not very pleasant due to amount of flies you have to fight off!!

The rocks on Tcharkulda Hill just appear out of nowhere, everywhere around is flat for about 40 km radius. Great view of Gawler Ranges from the top.

Alistair keeping up his exercises while on the road. Muscle Man.

Tcharkulda Hill near Minnipa SA. Sunset behind a small building originally used by water surveyors in 1912. The building was last used as a home by an aboriginal couple called Tom & Tilly

First "free camp" on this trip. Tcharkulda Rock - only facility was an outback dunny and a gas bbq supplied by Minnipa Apex. Camp is 4km off highway on very good dirt track that leads to a local farm. Max 7 days stay. We joined 2 other campers for the night. Beautiful spot with great view of Gawler Ranges.

Sunrise on Tcharkulda Rock overlooking Gawler Ranges

Colours of the Flinders Ranges - stunning

View of Flinders Ranges from the caravan park called "The Foreshores" (Top Tourist) about 12 van could actually see the water of Spencer's Gulf.

The view from Matthew Flinders Red Cliffs Lookout at Port Augusta. When the tide comes in and covers the mangroves you can take a cruise right up to the face of the cliffs.

Quorn Historical Railway Station

Alistair chatting up the conductress to get a ticket on the Ghan pick the dummy). The Pichi Richi Heritage Steam Train rides are available from the Quorn Station but unfortunately only on weekends and school holidays - we were there on Wednesday. Quorn is a pleasant 36km drive from Port Augusta, a stopover before Wilpena or Marreee for a flight over Lake Eyre

For $10 per person a volunteer will drive you around the town of Quorn on a guided tour of all the historical buildings. Alistair offered to swap our Ford for a Ford but then he realised it didn't have a GPS and would struggle to tow the van!

 We travelled from Burra to Port Augusta through the most beautiful farming landscape while following the Flinders Ranges all the way. The colours of the hills are amazing as seem in the picture opposite.

We are staying at the Shoreline Top Tourist Caravan Park in Port Augusta and this is the view across the way. It is the 3rd week in May and today's temperature was 28 and quite hot as there was no breeze and definitely no "shoreline" to view from our spot!

Below is the Matthew Flinders Redcliffs lookout - you can see the mangroves below as the tide is out. You can do an early morning or sunset cruise which sails right up to the cliff edge when the tide is in and completely covers the mangroves. Spectacular colours (and flies!)

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - no this is the "Princess of the Bush". My fancy lace collared dressing gown is the gossip of the Park - I certainly get a few looks from all the other women in their trackie dacks!!

 Guess where we went today? Finally made it to a winery after driving past some many vineyards- most of them while towing the caravan and they were on the other side of the road so had to bypass them. The previous weekend the town of Clare had its Gourmet Food & Wine Festival - just missed out! We spent the morning looking at all the place and stores named after moi! In the afternoon we moved onto the Sevenhill Winery established by the Society of Jesuits in 1851. Sevenhills Cellars is the oldest winery in SA Clare Valley and the only remaining Jesuit-owned winery in Australia. Originally set up to produce alter wine, it is now recognised for its premium table wines. A walking tour of Historic Sevenhill includes the beautiful St Aloysius' Church completed in 1875, Crypt -final resting place for 41 Jesuits, College & Spirituality Centre where you can go for retreats & spiritual formation, the Marian Shrine and you can walk the "Way of the Cross" a prayerful walk that recalls Jesus' final walk from Jerusalem to his crucifixion site outside the city.

And yes the band played on .........

After Clare we travelled on to Mintaro where the town's historic significance was recognised in 1984 when it received state Heritage status and many of the building have been turned into B&B's. There are 35 listed buildings in this small town. So all in all a lovely round trip from Burra, a few wineries visited and a very relaxing and rewarding day viewing the beautiful colours of the Clare Valley landscape.

Anyone recognise this house? Located just 6km north of Burra is this lovely old stone house sitting in the middle of a grain farm.If you were a fan Midnight Oil you would recognised it as one of their album covers. The farm owners wanted to restore the building but due to the dilapidated state of the building they were quoted $13,000 to restore it so the owners were going to have to knock it down. The residents of Burra got together and raised $3000, then contacted the band and the photographer Patrick Jones who also contributed to the restoration.

In 1993 the Township of Burra was placed on the National Heritage Register as a significant historical site, being one of the best preserved mining towns in the state. By purchasing the "Burra Heritage Passport" you are given a key and guide book to an historic 11km self-guided trail around Burra. Opposite picture is Morphett's Pumping Engine House built in 1858.It commenced pumping in 1860 and ceased in 1877. It is a now a museum with an interpretive display on Cornish beam engines.

From this lookout you get a panoramic view of the mine showing the extent of the ore body and the level of the groundwater encountered by miners. The modern open-cut operation worked to a depth of 100 metres with concentrate producing about 24,000 tonnes of copper metal.The water was returned to its natural of 50 metres deep in the mine pit. Burra was a very interesting place and the landscape in the towns surrounding it is incredible. The catholic church was St Joseph's built by the Jesuits in 1874 and the current Parish Priest was born in Burra, baptised, 1st communion and confirmed here. He celebrated 50 years as a priest in 2013. He currently says mass in 3 community towns each weekend. We had a day drive through  Mt Bryan, Hallet Jamieson and Spalding - lots of Wind Turbines through this area.

Day 19 of our trip and we have packed up from Mildura ready to cross the border into SA. Our next stop is Burra an old Copper Mining town about a 340km trip. As we were driving through Renmark we decided to break our journey and popped into a Rotary Park to enjoy a cuppa and a bite to eat. Low and behold Clive Palmer had been there before us or is this the one he left behind!!

"That's a fine mess you've got us into Olley" no joking! We left Mildura with a full tank of petrol which should get us at least 430kms towing the van. Little did we realise the gentle sloping climb (over 2000 ft) or the slight head wind on the last part of our journey from Morgan into Burra. Sign said 83km to Burra and car gave us 154km range to go - should make it easy. 3kms out of town and we run out of petrol!!!!!! Thanks to a wonderful farmer who was popping into town for some supplies. He took Alistair to the petrol station and returned him back to the car with 5 litres of petrol so we could make it safely into town for a very hefty refill.

 The Perry Sandhills - according to geologists they originated after an Ice Age (40,000 years ago) and were formed by wind erosion over thousands of years. Skeletal remains of giant mega-fauna (kangaroos, lions, emus, wombats and a giant goanna) have been found here. Aboriginal tribes used this area to camp and hunt. Evidence of this is still being uncovered as the sands drift.

Over this first sand dune, a 500 year old River Red Gum tree, know as the God Tree, can be found. Her trunk is buried in the sand allowing you to stand in the canopy of the tree. These sand hills were also used as a bombing range during WW2. The area has also been used as a backdrop in many films, TV shows, adverts and theatre/music presentations. The dunes are a unique formation of 333 hectares of continuously shifting sand dunes

The Old Wentworth Gaol is the most well-known building in Wentworth. Built in 1879-81 it is a small single storey brick gaol with bluestone trim. It was the first of the Australian designed gaols, Hay & Dubbo gaols followed this one. It is a real testimony of the building skills of the day. It consists of 8 male cells, 2 female cells and 2 large cells for overnight drunkards. It served a large area yet only operated until 1927. The tour gives an insight into what a struggle life could be in colonial times. After its closure as a gaol the building was used as extra classrooms for the Wentworth Central School until 1963 and today due to its remarkable condition it is a major tourist attraction.

 It appears the architect erred badly when he only made 2 female cells. By all reports they were often overcrowded and in October 1898 for example 14 women were cramped into 2 small cells. Surprisingly perhaps by today's standards 7 of them were members of the Salvation Army. It appears the Salvo's were incarcerated regularly during the life of this gaol, not because of any criminal act but rather because they were seen to stand outside the orthodox religious order. The common pretext for gaoling was breaches of the street procession bylaws. In reality that meant that they had been singing songs of praise on a street corner, thereby upsetting the established religious. It was common for the Salvation Army women to receive 7 days detention for their transgressions and their male counterparts 14 days.

Arriving at lock 11 is the PS  'Melbourne' launched in 1912 at Koondrook on the Murray river. We had set out for an afternoon drive to explore some of the 13 locks and 15 weirs along the Murray bur arrived just in time to see the Melbourne arrive at  lock 11 on it's way upstream. It was quite amazing to see the water rise some 3.7m so when it arrives the passengers  on the lower level rise to ground level and the one's on upper deck are 'flying high'

This picture shows the Melbourne leaving the lock, the total time taken was about 30min so all on board could move on towards Mildura and carry on with their holiday.
Lock 11 park has become a popular cultural hub, hosting events such as Opera by the Lock.

 Day 3 in  Swan Hill we decided to investigate some of the smaller municipal towns up to Robinvale where we planned to have lunch and return via Ouyen. About a third of the way into the trip we saw a sign - 115 kms to Mildura - oops we were travelling the same road we would to travelling on tomorrow!! So we did a cross country turn at Tooleytuc to Manangatang where we found this abandoned station and a stopover for travellers who could use power, toilets and even a shower for a small donation.

Yes there was already 5 caravans parked there! We had lunch there and spoke with a man from Bendigo whose wife was on the phone trying to see if she could get Newstart Allowance as she was too young to retire but wanted to keep travelling with her recently retired husband, and he told us you only pay the donation if you get asked! Shame on you! These townships surrounding Swan Hill are part of the "Mallee Country" and have their own unique characters and identity. Very picturesque villages of Beverford, Nyah & Piangil all part of the Heart of the Murray. We were tempted with Fruit and Vegetable stalls all along the drive but unfortunately as we were soon to be crossing the border with strict rules on not to carry these items under threat of heavy fines.

The morning was spent exploring Swan Hill, a very well laid out town with nice wide roads and good pedestrian walkways it has   all the usual services and the people were very friendly.

The afternoon was spent exploring the Murray River from the Pioneer Settlement paddle boat. The trip took an hour and only made one trip a day so we didn't want to miss it as we would have to have waited 24hrs to make the trip.
 Water levels on the Murray was very low and I don't think we would have wanted either to fall in or drink it, as it made the Brisbane river look like a pristine lake !!!

 Clare showing off her camera skills, subject matter was a great benefit as the picture shows but all kidding aside she did catch my good side !!

Clare gave me the camera back and as you can see she made the Murray River look a real picture...
All in all we had a pleasant afternoon and will probably return to the Pioneer Settlement tomorrow as we missed many of the historic features, as it is only a short walk from our caravan park.

 Today we left Tatura, the place of Sun, Earth & Water - they forgot the FOG! This was the view as we left the caravan park heading for Swan Hill at 10am on Sunday morning (after picking up another supply of Vanilla Slices to go!) and it didn't get much better for the next 2 hours.

Finally the fog lifted after 2 hours of travelling and we were able to stop for Mother's Day morning tea at Gunbower - a very pretty and well maintained parkland backing onto the Goulburn Valley River. Good days travelling saw us arrive at Swan Hill by 1.30pm time to set up and enjoy "beer o'clock" with the afternoon sunshine and the toot of the paddle steamer as it passed by on the Murray River.

Tatura Vic - home to the award winning Vanilla Slice voted the best in Australia 3 times and runner up twice.You bought 4 did I hear you say - well you never know when you might get visitors!!  Now for the tasting so we can compare. The kettle's on for the cuppa, the tension is building. Oh my, oh gosh, oh lordy, lordy. The creamy icing, the custard that just melts through your mouth, the crispy bottom (who would have thought we would talk about a vanilla slices bottom!) So 2 for lunch and 2 for tea and the bakery opens again tomorrow at 8am. Just as well we are only staying here for 3 days. Points - 10.5 out of 10
Apart from that Tatura is a bustling country town with historic architecture lining the main street and is steeped in history from WWII with seven Prisoner of war camps that were in operation around this district. Tatura is known as "water-wheel country" with it being home to the Goulburn-Murray Rivers. Shepp (as the locals call it) is a flourishing town despite the immenient closure of SPC / Ardmona . We did our bit and stocked up at the Campbell's and SPC factories.