24/5/2022 – Tuesday – 170km

Marion Bay disappears into the dust behind us as we follow the coastline of the York Peninsula north on a dirt road in reasonable condition. Unfortunately the coast & the water is not visible as the tree & shrub growth hide the ocean from us, but there is plenty of very dry wheat & barley farmland stretching away on the other side with the odd old farmhouse & cluster of machinery sheds. We have a few little unplanned detours on rough dirt roads as I head the wrong way & have to turn back.

Port Moorowie is our first look at the ocean after around 60km of driving. We stop & get out at the visitor car park & a sign tells us the story of this old port town, established in the 1870s & shipping grain from here until the 1940s. The jetty was destroyed in storms & only a few stumps are left near the boat launching ramp. In 1908 the ship “Sir Wilfred Lawson” was wrecked on a reef nearby.  

More straight dirt roads through farming areas & more missed turns until we get to our next stop at Troubridge Hill Lighthouse, a tall brick structure staring out to sea marking another tragedy site with the loss of the “Clan Ranald” in 1909 & 40 lives taken. The road here is right on the cliff edge with uninterrupted views of the ocean & this dirt road continues hugging the clifftops until we get to the Wattle Point wind farm. These wind turbines are huge & there are so many of them as the dirt road takes us through the middle of the huge swinging blades.

Edithburg is the town we plan on staying for the next couple of nights & we book in to the van park & set up on a front row site overlooking the waters of St Vincent Gulf, it is very pretty. There are about half a dozen other travellers camped here. We drive down to the main street shops (very few) looking for a place for lunch & find one takeaway/general store/fuel. The fish & chips are disappointing after all the great seafood we have been eating.

We go for a scenic drive out through Yorketown to Warooka, around 40km. More of the same vast plains of empty wheat & barley fields with the odd salt lake here & there. Farmers are busy planting seeds as rain is forecast for the next few days, good for them, not for us. Some of the salt lakes have water with a pinkish algae tinge to them, most are dry. Warooka is a small quiet town with not much happening, there are a few old small stone houses & a small main street with a school. We turn & head back to Yorketown.

At Yorketown, (the biggest town we have come across for a while) we stop & have a short walk around town, it is a nice old town with some nice buildings & some history signs on the street explaining some of the story of Yorketown & its buildings. We call into the grocery store to replenish supplies then head back to Edithburg & camp as it is getting dark. Cheese & bikkies with some red wine for dinner finishes another great day.