Clare Valley: Back on the Road

Campground: Fitzgerald Bay Bush Camp
Facilities: Toilets, Rubbish Bins.
Good stuff: Beautiful bay with some secluded spots away from the toilets.
Not so good stuff: Army firing range relatively close- a bit of a shock when we heard explosions when we went to bed.
Price: Free

Back on the road again in the deluxe Disco! Margaret was missed a LOT; it felt like we had lost a home... Not to mention the Falcon was drinking fuel like there was no tomorrow.

We didn’t waste time while Margaret was waiting for her new alternator. Luckily it gave us the chance to explore spots further away from Auburn. Our first place was to check out a town called Burra and by being here we heard of Redbank Conservation Park. Enticed by the Diprotodon skull and partial spine displayed in the local government building we wanted to hunt for fossils! The next day we set out on the walk around the reserve but we managed to leave our hats and walking boots in the disco… It turned out to be a warm day and was starting to get hot rather than just warm, the lack of water and hats lead us to head back albeit in our signature cack-handed way by missing the turn off for the walk and retracing our route back to the car…

Next was the Rattler’s trail. This is a bike ride from Auburn to Riverton, 16km one-way, and we had been told there is lots of geological information along the route. Setting off from the campground we walked along the bike track stopping at all information points. The information boards have the perfect balance of information, not being overly technical or basic. For a geo it is a great area to learn about the local geology (which is surprisingly interesting).

"Devil's Dice"... Limonite crystals (altered due to iron oxidation from Pyrite)

Shows how rocks react differently when stress is applied

On Friday Margaret was all ready so we headed off to Fitzgerald Bay. The drive from Auburn was a mixed one; Vineyards, followed by agricultural land, then sea on one side and mountains on the other until you get to Port Augusta. From Port Augusta to Fitzgerald Bay it is mainly beautiful sea views with a long, shallow white sand beach shelf and what looked like a bit of a drop off to a deep blue sea. We smashed the journey a bit quicker than we would have liked because of the breakdown… Although the breakdown was frustrating, we did become accustomed to and enjoyed the laughs at the caravan parks happy hour. It really is a great group of people there.

Big mine we saw on the drive!

There are two options for camping spots along Fitzgerald Bay. The first campground, closer to the turn off, was heaving with campervans and camper trailers. The next campground was Fitzgerald Bay Bush Camp, a few more km down the track (with toilets). We headed to the latter and found a sheltered secluded spot overlooking a wide, sweeping bay and standard ridiculously pretty Australian beach scenery.

Pointy Low Lighthouse

We tried our hand at fishing (again). No luck! Maybe we need to buy a boat to improve our chances… We both saw a ray swimming around so there had to be something about but the fish were not tempted by our lure this time.