Innes National Park

After such a restful time in Moonta, we headed for the wilds of Innes National Park. The park occupies the south western tip of the Yorke Peninsula.  It was time for a bit of the rough bush camping and I admit to looking forward to it again. Although caravan parks usually have hot showers, BBQ’s and a camp kitchen of sorts, they can also have a few “interesting” neighbours. Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of our fellow campers are delightful, but we had one group recently who sang. Yes, they sang. They got together at about wine o’clock, dredged up a ukulele, tambourine and one other unidentified string instrument and sang. The repertoire was mostly from the 60’s and 70’s. The words “cruel and unusual” were mentioned in our van.

Anyways, no such problems in National Parks. You see stars you never knew existed and fall asleep to the sound of waves and little else.

To get to Innes we had to pass through Warooka, a town that really needs to work on its slogan. The District council should get better creative next time.

We stopped in Minlaton to visit the very helpful ladies at the information centre. In my experience, the smaller the town, the better the service one finds at these centres. Minlaton was no exception with two ladies providing us with all the good local knowledge, a few laughs and a cheery wave to see us off. I have developed a standard set of questions when entering a town, particularly if we plan to spend a night there. They include “where is the library/supermarket” and “where is the best coffee?” Usually the response to the latter sounds a bit like this: “There are no trained baristas in town”. However, at Port Lincoln I got a great tip from the information lady that resulted in the best flat white on the trip to date. I think Rod blogged about it earlier, so won’t labour the point again here.

Innes is a well organised park with defined camping areas that you can book online, but as usual there are  no showers, no water, no power,  no BBQ’s ( not even solid fuels allowed – complete fire ban from October to April) and in this instance, one pit loo. In my experience, long drops are really quiet good, but pit dunnies are hard work.  The area is really windy and many trees grow with a "wind list". I would recommend utilising a more rigid caravan when visiting this part of the world. The Jayco was buffeted convincingly most of the night, but survived. 

We got a bit lazy this time and for dinner the kids had a cup’o’noodles each. They thought it was Christmas. Rod and I managed baked beans on toast with half a rockmelon to finish.

Innes National Park has some interesting history.  There was an original town, Inneston, established in the early 1900’s to mine gypsum. The company built a town and employed staff for over 30 years until the depression caused a downturn in the building industry (Gypsum is used largely for the manufacture of plaster)  When the venture folded, most people just left  so there still remains several  buildings, infrastructure and some  machinery.  I found this all very interesting and I think for at least a little while, so did everyone else.

Gypsum is found in areas where salt lakes have formed repeatedly through evaporation over time. Even though we did not get to  Lake Eyre, this region is dotted with countless small salt lakes. I think they are very pretty and sparkle in the sunlight.

Inneston tennis court  circa 1905

The coastline around the Yorke Peninsula is deadly. There have been countless shipwrecks dating back to the early 1800’s and some as recently as 1971. One vessel, the “Ethel “was washed aground in  1902 and the remains of its steel hull is still visible along with a boiler from the “Ferret” that also had an unfortunate end.

As usual, the wildlife was out to greet us. We have started to find the emu’s somewhat annoying, they are everywhere. Even my delight in finding a live shingleback lizard has evaporated after having to dodge several of them on the road over the course of a week or two. But above all, the scenery was stunning, the coastline awe inspiring and the remote tranquility a balm for the soul.

Emus everywhere!

As much as I have cherished the wilderness, I think the family is experiencing some urban withdrawal.  Georgia asked today “when was the last time we saw a traffic light?”  We are going to make a big push to Adelaide and get a hit of the city life.

I have mixed feelings regarding Adelaide, having worked here for a short spell in 1989 and also the now infamous “social case in the church” incident. But that story is for another time, and another blog. Thanks for reading folks, and boys, I will let Rod blog again shortly and fill you in on his latest sporting adventures.

STOP PRESS: Georgia clean bowled Rod this afternoon, fair dinkum middle stump.