Day 1 in Port Lincoln, Monday the 23rd of January, we were up nice and early to take Belinda down to the harbour for her full day trip to dive with great white sharks. Not my thing personally, but what a great experience.
As hubby mentioned, he dropped me off at the dock very early. I went with Calypso Star charters, as they’ve got the best rating and reviews online. There were quite a few of us going on the boat, around 45 people plus the crew, which surprised me, as I didn’t think there’d be that many.
It was a long and rough boat ride out to the Neptune Islands Marine park. As I’m prone to seasickness, I was well prepared, but I opted to be outside in the fresh sea air. While heading out, one of the crew came around with a chart asking us to write our names down as we’d be going into the cage 8 at a time. As I was travelling solo, I ended up in group 6 out of 8. (Not all groups had 8 people though).
Neptune Islands consists of 4 small islands, which provides a safe anchorage for the cage diving experience. The North and South islands are 35 and 40 Nautical miles from Port Lincoln, with a travel time of approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. Australian Fur Seals call these islands home and I was able to see some relaxing on the rocky coves. The sky was very overcast and cloudy, some cool wind in the air, but overall it was beautiful out on the water. The ocean surface appeared quite dark from on the boat, I was concerned about visibility in the water, but the crew assured me, I’d be able to see the marine life once in the cage and under the water. There’s a lot of bird life around and on the islands.
Once our Captain found a good spot, they dropped anchor, and gave a group talk about keeping our fingers and hands inside the cage, and how to use the diving regulator mouthpiece, and encouraged us all to have a practice before our turn to dive. I was extremely nervous about breathing underwater with the regulator, but I managed ok.
I had a while to wait until my turn in the cage, so I found a seat upstairs to get a good view of the ocean life. They served up a nice buffet lunch for us in the meantime, with salads, bread rolls, chicken drumsticks and beverages. I opted to fill a plate and save it for after my cage dive.
As the groups entered the Cage, the staff on the boat would take photos of each person all kitted up climbing in the cage. I watched as staff threw the natural fish burley into the water to attract the sharks, some of the sharks would partially leap out of the water, while others would dart around below the waters surface, it was an amazing sight. As my turn grew closer I felt more and more nervous.
Finally it was time to get suited up for my greatly anticipated cage dive! We put on thick wet suits, boots, a weight belt and snorkel mask. Then had my photo taken by the Captain, as I climbed down the ladder into the cage, with an oxygen regulator in my mouth, of course.
Once in the cage, I focused on getting my breathing under control, as I was breathing heavy due to my nervousness. But once I looked up and saw how clear the ocean appeared , I instantly felt a calm wash over me. So many Trevally, Blue fin Tuna and Kingfish swimming in all directions, following the natural fish burley, here and there. Some of the fish were so large, longer than my arm, I felt comfortable in the cage, and took in the beautiful scenery while others slowly entered the cage. Some of the people in my group were quite frightened of getting in and took their sweet time, which just meant I had more time to get comfortable before they began throwing the bait out.
Once the staff began throwing out the burley, a large grey shadow appeared off in the water, we were all excited and tapping one another on the shoulder pointing at it and preparing our Go Pro’s for the first picture or video. Well, it was certainly large and grey. The Great white moved so graciously through the water, it dwarfed the trevally and tuna darting out of it’s path, so slowly the shark moved towards the cage, then calmly changed direction to swim below us. We all followed it’s path with our Go Pro’s in hand, trying to capture every second of the beautiful fish.
We had about 45 minutes below the surface in the cage. The Great White gracefully glided past the cage a few more times, giving us a quick glance, LOL. The sharks must be used to seeing dinner in the cage all the time out there! We only saw the one shark while my group was in the cage, however we did see a few others throughout the day. Once our time was up, I didn’t want to leave the cage, I didn’t feel scared at all, just in awe of these large majestic fish.
One of the groups before mine, had a Great White swim directly at the cage and attempt to bite the railing of the cage! I hope she didn’t loose a tooth.
Once I was out of the cage and back in the boat, I got out of the heavy wet suit and headed for the tiny bathroom for a quick shower to warm up and get changed. I grabbed my lunch and dug in. Shortly after we made our way back to Port Lincoln, I spent the few hours enjoying the scenery and making new friends with like minded travellers. Needless to say, I slept well that night.
Another amazing experience ticked off the Life long Bucket List!
While Belinda was on the tour, the boys and I spent the morning doing a few things around town and got some yummy fish & chips for lunch before making our way back to camp. In the afternoon gave the car a well overdue bath and the kids found some other kids in the park to play with. After dinner we drove back to the harbour to pick up a very tired but very happy wife and it was pretty much straight to bed when we got back to the van.
The next morning was a bit of a late start as we all slept in a bit, but when we did get going we drove up to Tumby bay for a look around. It’s a nice little town but we didn’t stop in the main part as the jetty was closed, but instead drove through and out to the point. We parked there and had a nice walk up along the beach and rocks to the headland where you could look out to Tumby Island. On the way back we also came across a snake slithering along on the rocks, so we made sure we stayed well clear of him.
On the way back through town we stopped at the bakery for some vanilla slice for us and jelly slice for the kids before moving on to Glen forest tourist park. We spent the afternoon at the tourist park seeing all the wildlife. the kids got to feed lots of different animals from the usual kangaroos to emus, a camel, sheep and rabbits. We also all got the opportunity to pat the koalas during their feeding time. When we had finished seeing and feeding all the animals, we headed into town to the information centre to get the key to the southern part of Lincoln NP in preparation for our day trip there the next morning.
Wednesday morning we headed off about 9 to explore Lincoln NP. We made our way straight for the track down through the gates (which we got the key for) and all the way to Memory cove at the end of the track. It is a good track, nice and firm but rough in places so it was a slow drive, taking us about an hour to cover the 20km or so to Memory cove. Memory cove is a beautiful, quiet spot and would be a great place to camp but getting into the campsite between the trees with the caravan would have been all but impossible you would have to back in a caravan and the only turn around spot is very tight and has low overhanging trees. You definitely could get a camper trailer in there without to much trouble. The beach here was lovely, with soft whiter sand and smooth water for the boys to swim in. The water was a little cold though.
After a swim, a play and some lunch, we headed off again back down the track and up to the more publicly accessible northern section of the park. on the way up, we checked out a few of the campgrounds in the park, immediately wishing we had stayed here instead of the caravan park as it is just beautiful right by the water on the sheltered side of the bay. We stopped at Fisherman’s point for a quick play on the beach and then went out to the furthest beach of September beach. We stopped here for a while taking photos and playing on the beach.
By the time we finished here it was getting late so we hopped back in the car and started back towards Port Lincoln. We stopped in town on the way through and got takeaway for tea to take back to camp. The roads through the northern part of the park were all very good and even though half were dirt, would be fine for a 2wd car. for a caravan we thought either Fishermans point or September beach were the best options.
Thursday, Australia day. We headed out and spent the morning in Coffin bay where we had a walk along the foreshore and then made our way into Coffin Bay NP to see a couple of the lookouts. 1st we stopped at point aux crabiers which looks west up towards the great Australian bight before going across to golden island lookout. Another beautiful view from here but it was very windy so we had a quick lunch at the picnic tables there before heading back to Port Lincoln for the afternoon.
One thing that has amazed me is the colour of the water throughout the southern Eyre peninsula. Such bright aquas and blues.
We spent most of the afternoon at the Tunarama festival in Port Lincoln where the boys had a ride on one of the sideshow rides and spent a bit of time at the kids disco. On the way home we also stopped at the Axel Stenross maritime museum. This is a museum housed in the old Axel Stenross boat building yards and is quite interesting both in the history of the person as well as the maritime history of the area. There are lots of small boats to see and plenty of other boating gear as well, The kids really enjoyed seeing all the things there too.
Friday was a much quieter day. We went into town in the morning to do some grocery shopping and we spent the rest of the day at camp cooking up a heap of meals to freeze for when we are more remote across the Nullabor in a couple of weeks and resting.
Saturday morning we went to the pool in town so the boys could have a practice with their new snorkel and goggles before needing to try in the ocean in a few days when we go to swim with the sea lions and dolphins at Baird bay. Both did very well. After that, we went to the festival again and the boys got a balloon pirate sword each. We then had the chance to catch up with our friends that we met at point Gibbon so we saw them for a while until it was time to head home for dinner.
Sunday morning and we left port Lincoln and drove up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula to Tahlia caves. An awesome camp spot surrounded by dunes and close to the beach. We had a relaxing afternoon at camp while the kids wore themselves out playing up and down the big dune just opposite our van.
Monday 30th January and we spent the morning exploring Tahlia cave and the tub. The cave opens to the ocean but you can walk in from the rocks fairly easily but you do need to be careful as the way in is on a fairly steep slope and if you slip you will end up off the edge and in the water.
The tub is a big hole in the ground near the cave and there is a small opening in the rock at 1 end where the ocean can get in at high tide.
After lunch Belinda had a rest at the van while the boys and I went to explore the beach and dunes just south of camp. The beach was very very soft and we did get the car temporarily stuck uncomfortably close to the water until I let the tyre pressure down further to 10psi and was able to reverse out back up my own tracks. After that bit of excitement, we followed the track through the dunes behind the beach for a few KMs and had a play on a big dune down the end before making our way back to camp.
Tuesday we had a late start and eventually headed off to Baird bay where we were booked to go swimming with the dolphins and sea lions on Wednesday. After setting up we did a drive around to the other side of the bay to point labatt where there is a lookout to view a sea lion colony. When we were there we saw about 20 sea lions sleeping on the rock or going in and out of the water. If you go there make sure you take some good binoculars or a big zoom lens for the camera as they are a fair distance away. From there we did a quick run into streaky bay for some groceries before heading back to camp for the night.
Wednesday the 1st February. A day we had been excited about for a while. We were up early and headed just down the beach to the Baird bay ocean eco experience office to do our trip to swim with the dolphins and sea lions. After getting wetsuits on we hoped onto the boat with the other people on the tour and we were off down the bay to look for the dolphins 1st.
It’s not a big boat but enough seating down each side for the 10 of us on the tour and the 2 staff. It was only about a 15min boat ride down the bay until we got to a spot where the dolphins were. On the way we were fitted for our goggles and snorkel and briefed to be ready as once in position we needed to all be in the water together quickly as the dolphins don’t always stay in the same spot.
When the word was given, all the adults hopped in the water but the kids( ours and another families) decided they didn’t want to yet. We then swam around as a group with the dolphins as they swam back and forth past, under and around us. This was such an amazing once in a lifetime experience, seeing these beautiful animals so close to us and in their natural environment.
After a while we were directed to hop back in the boat and we drove a little further down to see if we could find more dolphins in a clearer part of the bay. We did find some more so back in the water we went and this time our oldest came in too. As he is not a strong swimmer, he was able to float in a big life ring attached by a chord to my leg so I could tow him around. We saw several more dolphins here and our oldest got very excited when he saw one swim straight under him. After that we all got back on the boat and it was time to go across the bay to find the sea lions. On the way across, we had hot Milo and bickies to keep us warm.
The sea lion colony lives in a shallow protected part of the bay on a small island. Once we found a part where there were several females and a couple of males, the boat was anchored and we watched them for a while to make sure they were not in aggressive moods as it was breeding time.
After seeing that all the ones there were ok we jumped in the water to get a closer look. I thought it was going to be hard to top the dolphins but I was wrong….. Such graceful, inquisitive and playful animals the sea lions are. They swam around us, with some of us and came right up to check us out too. We got to see one of the smaller males chasing 2 of the girls around and even getting a bit friendly with one of them. Unfortunately the boys decided not to come back in the water as they were cold but they still got to see the sea lions playing up close from in the boat. Once it was time to get out we headed back up the bay to the office and the end of the tour. This would have to be up there with the best experiences of my life and one I’ll never forget.
That evening my shoulders were so sore from all the swimming as I haven’t done any real amount of swimming in such a long time but it was sooo worth it.
Thursday we had originally planned to stay at Baird bay again in case the tour had been postponed due to weather. Since it hadn’t, we packed up and made the short drive to streaky bay stopping at Murphy’s haystacks on the way. These are not actually haystacks but unusual rock formations Just sitting above the ground on a hill in farmland. They are about 1500 million years old and formed when the softer ground around these granite pillars and boulders was slowly eroded away leaving the granite standing sticking up or on top of the ground.
After a bit of an explore we jumped back in the car and finished the drive to streaky bay. Originally we were going to stay at the RV park but as the weather was wet and windy we decided to stay at the caravan Park with toilets, showers, water and power. The caravan park is also right next to the water.
Friday was a bit of a lay day as it was raining on and off and very windy. In the morning we did a bit of a clean of the inside of the van and in the afternoon we watched a couple of movies.
Saturday February 4th was a better day as the sun came out late morning and we headed around the headland to whistling rocks and blowholes. This is a unique place where fissures in the rocks allow the air to escape from the cave below as the water rushes in from the ocean making quite a noise. To us it sounded like very heavy breathing. Water vapour and spray also come out the top of the bigger holes when the tide is high enough.
After we had finished looking around there, we made our way back to streaky bay and had a nice walk on the beach in the afternoon.
Sunday morning we left streaky bay drove north up the coast to point brown to camp and had a look at perlubie beach on the way. We would have liked to camp at perlubie beach but could not get a booking for the days we needed.
Even though we couldn’t stay at perlubie beach, point brown does not disappoint either. A more rugged coastline but plenty of options to camp on both sides of the point so you can always find a spot protected from the wind.
On the northern side where we camped, the small sheltered bay is great for a swim and has a rocky outcrop on the end near our camp that the kids love playing on and looking for crabs. We spent the afternoon after arriving swimming, and playing on the sand and rocks.
Monday 6th February we took a short drive around the point to the rock pools on the southern side of Brown Point. They are not big rock pools but we found a few small ones in the rocks, spotted some little fish in them which fascinated the kids. We found a nice protected beach between the rocky outcrops which was great for a swim with only small waves so the kids could enjoy it too. after our swim, we headed back to camp and the rest of the afternoon the kids played with some other kids camped there down the beach in front of camp.
Tuesday we left Point Brown and drove to Ceduna to stay for 3 night before crossing the Nullabor. in the afternoon we stopped at the information centre and had a swim in the pool at the caravan park.
Wednesday We had a fairly quiet day, just doing some grocery shopping and catching up on washing. I also had to drop the car off at the mechanic for a service. We met some new friends who have 2 girls who the boys get along with really well and we ended up all going to the pub together for dinner.
Thursday we took the boys to the playground across from the caravan park for a bit with some other people we met the and then back for cake as it was one of the other kids birthdays. The rest of the day was spent swimming and the kids playing.
From here it will be across the Nullabor and down to the south west coast of WA. Next part there will be beaches of white sand and beautiful aqua water, national parks and mountains to hike up.
A Love of Adventures 