The next week and a bit would be spent driving around the Spencer Gulf, which is the little body of water between Adelaide and Port Lincoln.
Our plan was to spend 3 nights at each of Moonta Bay, Port Augusta and Port Lincoln, before getting ready to set off on the Nullarbor and on to Western Australia. First up was Moonta Bay!
Monday, April 17th – (Day 11)
MOONTA BAY – On todays agenda was a 2 hour drive to Moonta Bay, a place they call “Australia’s Little Cornwell”. Linda took the first hour as we continued The Martian audio book. About half way Adam took over we listened to Game 1 of the Wolves-Nuggets series.
Turns out that game was a fizzer with the Wolves losing by 29pts. Not a great start! On more positive news, we got a kickass spot at the campsite right on the water with amazing view of the water and pier. We could tell this was going to be an enjoyable stay.
After setting up and exploring the park, we decided to drive into town with our laptops and find a cafe to do some work. We stumbled upon a little cafe called Nook & Nourish and got a smoothie. It was a nice spot, but we kept getting interrupted by the chatty owner and the place was full of flies.
The guy told us to avoid going to Port Augusta as it is a dump (about the millionth person to tell us this now…). It wasn’t long before we were off again, stopping at Drakes for some supplies before heading back to the carvan.
We went for a walk along the pier and cooked some tea in one of the nicest spots we’ve been so far, before settling in for the night.
Tuesday, April 18th – (Day 12)
With a free day on the cards, our plans today were for a walk into town, explore the city some more and grab some supplies for tea. It was also a good opportunity to finally do some washing for the first time on our trip, as it was a beautiful sunny day.
The walk into town was a long one, about 50 minutes or so, plus it was super hot along the way. On our journey we came across a little pinecone that turned into a game of “kick along the path without it going off the path”. This entertained us for a while, with Adam winning a thriller 5-4.
Nice view to wake up to 
Main street of Moonta 
Pinecone game!
We grabbed a delicious pastie from one of the bakeries and got some more supplies from Drake’s. Given it is basically a one street town, there wasn’t much to do so we just set off back to the caravan park. Again, we stumbled on the pinecone and had another contest, Adam winning another thriller 5-3.
After collecting our washing, the rest of the afternoon and evening we did our favourite thing, chilling out at the caravan. Another good day in the books.
Wednesday, April 19th – (Day 13)
Today would be our last day in Moonta, so we thought we may as well do some exploring in the car. It turns out Moonta is a famous old mining town and there was an old heritage site that was supposedly interesting to visit.
First up was the old Moonta Railway Station museum which we walked around for a bit. Then just up the road was the ruins of Hancocks Shaft which was some old smelting factory back in the 1800s. Finally was a trip to a Cornish miners cottage, but of course that was shut, so we had to skip it.
Next up was a drive to a nearby port named Port George. It was basically a little mini Moonta Bay. The scenery and stuff was nice, but it was pretty much just a tiny little stop with not a lot happening, so we were back on the move again.
Much like yesterday, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and not doing a whole lot. With the view we have here, it’s the perfect spot to relax.
Thursday, April 20th – (Day 14)
PORT AUGUSTA – The day was here, we were finally heading to the town people keep referring to as “Port Agutter” as it is supposedly like a gutter. Our hopes were night high, in fact we even considered cancelling our stay and going somewhere else.
Luckily we didn’t listen to people because as usual they were wrong. It seemed a lovely little town and the caravan park was really nice!
Today’s drive was around 2h30 minutes and in between was a town called Port Pirie which was almost exactly in the middle, so that seemed like the perfect stop. Much like Monday, Linda took the first leg and we listened to The Martian again, while the second leg was Game 2 of the Wolves-Nuggets series.
Our stop in Port Pirie was quite nice. If we ever come back this way again, it’s on our list as a potential place to stop. After a little walk around, we grabbed a coffee from a Skin Ski Surf window, then hit the road.
Unfortunately the Timberwolves were getting routed again so we decided to turn it off when they fell behind 20+ and listen to some music. About half an hour later we arrived at the park (after Google Maps stitched us up because it didn’t recognise the bridge) we checked the scores as we waited to check in and the Wolves were actually leading! What the heck?!
We went to go setup, but turned out someone was mistakenly in our spot and we having problems with their car, so we had to go kill sometime. It was a good chance to make some lunch in the camp kitchen and listen to the end of the game, which the Wolves narrowly lost. They’re now down 0-2, not the ideal start.
Whilst setting up, we befriended a group of elder A-Van ladies who were proud as punch showing off their caravans too us. Then we decided to go for a little walk around the area, finding some Water Tower Lookout along our way with great views of the city.
On the way back we found some terrible grocery store which didn’t have the essential stuff we needed for tea. But every cloud has a silver lining, as they had super cheap easter bunnies, so again Easter would continue for us.
Again, we have no idea why people hate Port Augusta so much, we were enjoying it. A lesson to not listen to people when they say places are dumps.
Friday, April 21st – (Day 15)
This morning before we had barely even gotten out of bed, some dickhead knocked on our door about 8am asking to take a look inside our caravan, along with a million questions about our van that a quick Google search could have answered. Definitely an annoying start to the day!
We decided to go find another cafe or pub to have a business meeting around 11am or so and found a pub around the corner called The Western. It was a little gaming bistro type place and we got the lady to put the NBA playoffs on for us, the LA Clippers & Phoenix Suns match was on.
This kept us busy for the next few hours, we even got a bite to eat there (which cost a fortune for a tiny little entre type meal) and then we went for a walk across the bridge into town.
Grocery shopping in Coles 
Business meeting at the park
Port Augusta is only a small little place but it has some nice walks. We stocked up at Coles, given the supermarket near our park was trash, and also got some supplies from Big W (yes, another easter egg!).
Later on in the arvo we had another table tennis match which was game 3 in our series (remember, game 2 was abandoned). Linda won in an absolute whitewash, in front of a crowd of annoying Asians.
Game 3 – 21-17, 21-5 (series tied 1-1)
There wasn’t much else to do so we went back for a read, cooked some tea and settled in for another night. We were really loving this park, one of the cleanest ones we’d been to yet on this trip.
Saturday, April 22nd – (Day 16)
This morning we were able to wakeup without a dickhead knocking on our door. Surprisingly, the place had really cleared out and there was barely anyone left. Maybe people were listening to peoples advice and skipping Port Augusta?
On the agenda this morning was an online piano lesson for Adam. The piano could be placed perfectly on the table and the Zoom screen in an ideal position. Piano lessons could indeed continue on this trip, which was good news.
After the lesson we drove into town to see if there was any local footy games on. There were, but there was an expensive entrance fee, so we bypassed that and went to get some supplies for tea (and another easter egg…).
We had another game of table tennis which was Game 4 of the series. The result of this one was much, much different to yesterday with the cream rising to the top this time. It was one of our closest battles yet.
Game 4 – 22-20, 21-19 (Adam leads 2-1)
It was a usual finish to the day like most of our others, but this time the dude next to us was playing guitar which sounded pretty cool. Definitely a change from his earlier behaviour, where he stunk up the place of oil smell working on his car, whilst his wife vaped every two seconds.
Sunday, April 23rd – (Day 17)
PORT LINCOLN – Time to hit the road again, this time to Port Lincoln. The drives was set to take us a little under 4 hours, but we decided to do something different for this trip. We’d be doing a little gulf tour, stopping at all the main stops along the way. Scouting out potential stops for future trips.
First up on the journey was Whyalla. This town was bigger than we thought and had a beautiful foreshore area with a large pier. We even got to see some dolphins swim up to within a couple of metres of us. This would definitely be a place we’d come back and see. Whyalla ✅.
Next up was Lucky Bay. We’re not sure why we chose here, but it must be nice if it’s named Lucky Bay right? Wrong! It was a complete waste of time, in fact all it had was a couple of derelict houses and a big rock factory a kilometre away, there was absolutely nothing here worth seeing. Lucky Bay ❌.
About a 15 minute drive away was Cowell, which is where we should have stopped first. It had a population of 1,100 or so. The caravan park was located right on the water front and there were two reasonable sized pubs, plus a nice cafe and bakery. Yep, we liked this one, but only for a couple of days if we stayed. Cowell ✅.
Arno Bay was next up. This place looked a bit more sleepy, with just a population of 300. We found a cafe and got ourselves a smoothie and after a short stroll, we were back in the car. It was a lovely little place and while we enjoyed, I don’t think we’d want to stay here in the future. Arno Bay ❌.
Final stop on the journey was Tumby Bay, yet another small town, but a bit more lively with just under 3,000 people. It may have been smaller, bit it had a bit more going for it. We grabbed some snacks at the local IGA and had a little walk around. I am not sure what the caravan park is like, but we quite liked the place. Tumby Bay ✅.
The gulf tour was now over and we were off to our final destination at Port Lincoln. The Carlton vs St Kilda game was on the radio so we listened to the first quarter of that.
When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by a youngish girl who obviously hates her job and proceeded to tell us all the things wrong with the park. Then we drove to our site, which was a shitty little spot right at the back next to the permanents and a couple of big dumpster bins, and a mile away from the amenity blocks.
No way we were going to stay here, but luckily she didn’t mind us moving and we found a nice little spot about half way up with great views of the water and next to the amenities.
Our night was spent listening to the end of the footy (which the Saints won) and soaking in the nice view of the water that we now had. It’s not the greatest park, the amenities are a bit yuck, but our new spot was much better than the spot she put us in. Welcome to Port Lincoln!
Monday, April 24th – (Day 18)
Today was another Timberwolves day with Game 4 of the series on at 11:30am. We take our laptops into town and find a sports bar to do some work at, only to find it doesn’t open till midday. So we decide to go for a stroll up and down the main strip.
Along the way we get an awesome smoothie and also learn Port Lincoln is the home of Makybe Diva with a big statue setup. By now it was midday so we hit the pub again, but we let down a second time when the dude said they don’t have ESPN. He recommended a pub down the road, which we also learnt don’t have ESPN, so it was back in the car and back to the park.
We caught the second half in the caravan and it was an epic game with the Wolves winning in overtime, but giving a scare where they gave up a 12pt lead with 2m34s remaining in regulation.
After the game we went back into town to stock up on food at Coles and also grab some little LED lights to light up our dining area so we could actually see our food when we ate. Why we hadn’t thought of doing this in the past 3 years remains a mystery, it has made a big difference!
Business meeting in Port Lincoln 
Port Lincoln – the home of Makybe Diva
The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to sort out an ant plague that has caused chaos in our caravan. We must have parked near an ant nest or something, as the buggers were trying to get in from all angles. We lathered the external part of the caravan in surface spray and crossed our fingers it would do the trick.
Later on we caught an epic sunset down at the pier near our park and also saw some more dolphins. A good end to another good day.
Tuesday, April 25th – (Day 19)
Anzac Day today! We had some plans in town such as heading to a brewery, but the public holiday killed that idea. So today was spent mostly chilling at the park.
After lunch we decided to go for a walk along the Parnkalla Trail which lead to the rich area of town around a lovely little marina. On the way back we listened to the end of the Grizzlies-Lakers game which went to OT,.
The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling out in the sun listening to the Pies-Bombers Anzac game, then we caught another epic sunset again down near the pier. Oh, and the ants returned! There was a spot we’d missed that they had honed in on. Little bastards!
This brough an end to our Port Lincoln stay and we were pretty keen to move on tomorrow to what was hopefully a nicer park at Streaky Bay.
