Coffin Bay to Adelaide

Today I drove from Coffin Bay to Adelaide.

Its only 704 km.  

I left about 7:15am, and arrived at my hotel at 5:15pm.

Easy peasy.

Along the way I stopped for some silo art.

This one is at Tumby Bay.

A very nice bakery is at Tumby Bay too.

This artwork was at Cowell.

An option on a weekday is to put your car on a ferry at Cowell.  That way you can cross the Spencer Gulf relaxing on the ferry instead of driving up to Port Augusta and back down to Wallaroo.  That saves 4 hours driving (375km).  The ferry takes about 2hrs 45mins.

The ferry timing on Sunday didn't suit me, so I just drove the whole way in the car.  Also, I wanted to get a second COVID test done, and they had a mobile unit setup at Port Augusta that operated on the Sunday.  

The drive from Port Augusta to Adelaide takes you through huge farmlands.  I decided I'd give you another 360 degree video along the way.  

A single photo snap just doesn't translate the immensity of these wheat crops.  I am looking for a better way to capture the huge grain pastures.  I hope this helps:

I suppose you have realised that I lashed out and bought myself a drone.  This was the first time I used it in fact.  

While in Coffin Bay I met a chap who showed me what he had done with his drone.  Being the jealous type, I dropped everything and drove to Port Lincoln to get one right away.  After all, it was only a 90km round trip.

Oops... the salesperson at Harvey Norman forgot to sell me the SD memory card... back I went.  

By the time I'd completed the two trips and then experimented on how to use the thing, that was another half-day gone with ease.

I wish I would have had the drone for when I was on the cliffs and along the Nullarbor.

I might have also been able to show you my style on the Nullarbor Golf Links.  

My next travel blog will definitely make use of this technology.

Eventually I arrived at my hotel in Glenelg - the Ensenada Motor Inn.

This area is surprisingly full of entertainment.

Glenelg is right on the water (St Vincent Gulf), and has a nice sandy beach too.

They have a jetty.

And guess what some people do there.  Yep... they go fishing.  

I didn't see anyone with a rod and reel, but quite a few were catching crabs like these:

Unfortunately, they were too small to keep, so back to the water for these guys, and maybe when they're bigger, they'll feed some humans craving for crab meat.

Tomorrow (today if you're reading it Monday 18th Jan), I plan to play golf at The Grange Golf Club - a reciprocal rights club to my club at Riversdale.  I won't be disclosing anything about that round to you, my blog readers.

So...  All good things must come to an end.

The fishermen amongst us will probably be saying, not soon enough Julian!

I unreservedly apologise to those who enjoy fishing, surfing, and golfing.  I showed my ignorance in reflecting how those who don't enjoy those activities haven't a clue about the finessing that makes them so enjoyable.

My only excuse is that I was looking to say something contentious to entertain my readers.

So sorry about that.

Whilst I'm apologising, a few people wondered how come I knew so much about those birds I photographed in the Coffin Bay blog.  I "forgot" to acknowledge where that information came from.  

Thanks Chris (Joanna's colleague) for identifying those birds, and sharing those interesting facts.

Yes... so this is my final blog for the "Julian crosses Australia" blog.  I should rename it "Julian crosses 60% of Australia, twice".

I have driven the vehicle a total of 4,157km to this point.

Dan Andrews changed the Victorian Border restrictions to enable me to return home as long as I have a negative COVID test.  So my choice became Plan A: Return home 18th January; or Plan B: Blog around South Australia till Jan 22nd, then continue the drive through to Denmark, and then get home Jan 28th.

I went with Plan A mainly because it gets me home 10 days earlier.  I'll be driving the car to a transporter here in Adelaide after my round of golf.  They'll get the car to Denmark for $900.  

Ruth and I will go visit Jo, Josh and the grand kids a little later in the year.

Who knows, I might even share some photos with you.

Keep safe everybody, and I look forward to catching up with you in person.