2015/11 Australia trip - Murphy's Haystacks |
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Dear All,
At the end of part 3 of this story we had just crossed the Nullarbor to Ceduna on our way back towards Melbourne. We had three weeks left in our vacation, so we planned to return to Melbourne in just over two.
We’d been to South Australia three or four times before but always on a tight schedule, either trying to get to the north and warmth, or needing to get back to Melbourne for a wedding.
First we were going to explore the Eyre Peninsula, down the west coast to a couple of parks and up the east to Port Augusta and the Flinders Ranges national park. We’d follow the coast from there back to Melbourne, taking in Kangaroo Island, the Limestone Coast, and the Great Ocean Road.
Thursday November 5th
We had just passed through Ceduna’s quarantine station so our first priority was to stock up on fresh fruit and veggies in Ceduna, a tidy little seaside town. The town is also notable for being the western end of Goyder’s Line; the limit of successful agriculture. North of the line it’s too hot and dry to grow crops.
We also had to visit the visitors’ centre to pick up information on South Australia’s national parks. I’d downloaded info on all the parks we were likely to visit, but it was all on the laptop, unreadable because of the failed screen. We loaded up with paper instead: guides and pamphlets. We also bought a two month pass for the parks; $77 was expensive, especially as some parks were excluded, but it included camping fees so we reckoned it was worthwhile. Although these are all termed “national” parks they are managed by the individual states, so the remaining week on our WA pass couldn’t be used in SA.
Our next destination was Coffin Bay at the southwest tip of the Eyre Peninsula. It was too far to get there before dark, so we needed to find a campsite for that evening. I picked Murphy’s Haystacks from John’s book as it sounded interesting. We drove south on the Flinders Highway, a mostly empty road, with wheat fields off to the east and distant sand dunes to the west.
The haystacks are big oddly shaped granite rocks, and we saw some rocks on the tops of a number of hills, and while looking we missed the signpost and had trouble finding the right hill. When we got there we found a spot for free camping on the hillside. Entry to the Haystacks enclosure, on private land, was a $2 donation, a good deal, we thought, as it included flush toilets and a water tank. For the geologists amongst you these are inselbergs, granite domes that have eroded unevenly. Murphy was the original landowner and someone thought the rocks looked like haystacks; hence the name.
The closest rocks are in a meadow, but those at the hilltop are surrounded by trees with roosting birds; galahs were flying around screaming at us and magpies were crooning.
Friday November 6th
We had rain overnight and into the morning. We set off south on the Flinders Highway on a cool and cloudy morning. We noted that we now had eagles and kites patrolling the road and looking for roadkill. On the Nullarbor, magpies and crows did that job