Day Two - Wallaroo Mines To CowellDespite a late night the body clock kicked in and I still woke up early. Upon opening the door to load a bike this critter tried to run in. He was ushered outside. The picture isn't overly clear but it was a rushed photo.
Overnight road trips usually mean taking breakfast cereal. More often than not it's Special K but occasionally it's be Nutragrain or Sultana Bran.
I left in the dark and arrived in Wallaroo in the dark. It was only seven kilometres from my accommodation at Wallaroo Mines. I got some good lighting on this by pointing the bike at it and turning on the LED bar.
Then it was off to the port and I got there in the dark too, although preparations for sailing were under way.
It was light before I got on the boat though.
Overall there were four bikes on the ferry just like on my way to Tassie
last year in 2019. I keep saying last year. The only one that interested me was this Goldwing.
A short cut across the Spencer Gulf was under way. When I checked in I was told that a drone will be filming for their website and facebook pages and to go up on the top deck. I didn't actually see a drone but in email conversations after I got back they said it fly and look forward to posting said images on the relevant pages.
I spent the whole trip on the top deck in the fresh air. I had to ride the bike up this ramp and all I was thinking was "don't stall it". Part of me also wondered how slippery it might be if it was wet.
The journey to Lucky Bay was a lot longer than the Kangaroo Island ferries I did last year but a lot cheaper. This was my first return to Lucky Bay since 2015. The ferry wasn't operating then.
Look at all those punters waiting to go back the other way. How did they get a morning sailing? Initially my plan was to utilize the ferry going back and to ride the long way there, but the only sailing on my return day was 1430 and I didn't want to use most of the day hanging around for it, so ditched the idea. A day later I thought about sailing in the opposite direction and the times were favorable so I booked it.
When we hit Lincoln Highway almost everyone headed south but not this black duck. If anything I don't do anything conventionally. I was hoping to find a road from the Lincoln Highway to Minbrie and Mangalo that Langers had suggested but as I kept going it was apparent there wasn't one or I missed it but I did recall going to Iron Baron in 2015 and there being a road to Kimba from there so if I didn't find it I'd do that. Along said road I saw this sign in Middleback Range.
Then I thought, Whyalla is a city, not a district council and wondered when it changed (and how old was this sign). I did some research when I got home. All I could find was that the City Of Whyalla was once "The Corporation of the City of Whyalla" but never a district so I decided to write to the city council and ask for clarification, attaching that photo in the email. I got a reply last week saying "This sign is not a Council or DIPTI owned sign, Whyalla has never been a district and it appears that someone has placed that sign there without consent.".
It may not be a council or DPTI sign but I doubt it was without consent. I've seen these signs in a few places including Whyalla Barson, Lincoln Gap, Watraba and Ceduna so I think they get put there by the Outback Communities Authority with consent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback_Communities_AuthorityThis stop sign in Cooyerdoo is a legal road sign, but trains stopped running in Eyre Peninsula a month or so after I was here on Border Run 2019. Well grain trains stopped running then. I'm not sure if if this is a grain train line or an iron ore train like. Iron Knob, Iron Duke, Iron Knight and Iron Baron are all in this area.
The previous sign said 60km/h so I'd thought the increase to 80 may mean the the road conditions would improve. It didn't. It wasn't the worst road I have encountered but will go in the "never do again" category.
A quick stop at a bend before checking out Secret Rocks..
I am pretty sure this is the road I still had to travel, not what I had already covered. Geez, I only took this photo about a week ago and I can't remember what direction I was facing when I took it.
I'm not surprised that Secret Rocks are kept secret. The road out here was abysmal and the rocks themselves weren't that impressive. Not everyone is going to write home about them (although I just did). I didn't know they were here, just stumbled across them.
I was quite happy to hit a sealed road in Kimba, where I stopped for lunch. Many a road house these days have staff from the sub continent which in turn means they have curries and that instead of the usual schnitzels and pasties. This was the first overnight road trip I have done without having a schnitzel. I'd choose a rice dish any day if the option is there and the butter chicken here was very good. Butter chicken, Barosta Bros iced coffee, the Ozstoc cap and the 2014 National Rally shirt all color coordinated with the kwaka.
The Durban Curry I had in Tumby Bay the following night was awesome. I didn't take any photos of that one though.
After lunch it was the usual things you do in Kimba, photograph the silo art and big galah (posted in those relevant threads) and spotted this bus. I was hoping to see JB's bus in Tumby Bay later in the trip.
It's not often a fox stays still long enough for you to get a photo of it. Actually there were quite of lot thee littered around the grounds of the
information centre bakery. I didn't even notice it was a bakery until I looked at google maps street view just now. Probably because all traversing through Kimba means refuelling at the road house and if I lunch or brunch then it's at said roadhouse. The motel rooms all looked vacant come to think of it.
I took the Kimba-Cowell road for the first time and it was a good ride. I didn't cover many new roads on this trip but they were all from Kimba. I'd done Whyalla-Kimba to get here, Kimba-Cowell on the way out and the Cleve-Kimba on my last day. The latter two were nice rides.
I always so no road trip in SA is complete if you don't see either a disused railway or a salt lake and I saw both on this trip, but I guess it's almost a given that you'll see ruins somewhere. This one was in Miltalie. What's rare is is it still has a roof.
Now that's more like it.
That one was at Minbrie. I could see the Spencer Gulf from there so I knew I was close to pulling up stumps for the night.
The silo art in Cowell was done only a month after my stay in Cowell on Border Run 2019 so snapped that before refuelling for the next day, buying milk and making my way to my accommodation.
Until now it had always been the Jade Motel but this time around they didn't return my calls and booked a cabin at the caravan park instead.
When the ground isn't solid you always worry about the stand sinking into the ground, but I improvised with this cover which I used as a shim.
I spotted these when I went for a walk into town.
Unlike my previous two outings Spotwalla/Bubbler didn't miss a beat this time. Funnily enough the course on Eyre Peninsula itself looks like a mini Eyre Peninsula (shapewise).
I've used the flag icon and fuel icons before but this was the first time I used the green and yellow spots in Bubbler. Green was for where I changed roads and wanted to record a spot so the line doesn't 'cut a corner' or for obscure places where I took photos (ie. Cooyerdoo, Secret Rocks). The yellow ones were where I changed timelapse cameras (ghostxldrift, mobius, gopro).