Ceduna faces west despite being on the south coast so we watched the sun go down after dinner as it is later here after the time change.

After two longer driving days we had a shorter one today. Before leaving Ceduna we drove out to Pinky Point from where you can see ships belching out smoke at the port across the water. Millions of tonnes of gypsum, salt, grain and mineral sands are loaded onto ships each year and dozens of trawlers unload fish. There is an automated light somewhere but all there is at the point is this.

There is a walking/cycling trail to the point from the town. We were briefly back on Highway One until the turnoff for the Flinders Highway which runs down the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. Had we stayed on Highway One we would have passed the midpoint between Perth and Sydney. The first stop was at Smoky Bay, a quiet town and former port. It was named by Matthew Flinders who saw smoke rising from the fires of the indigenous people as he sailed by.

There are numerous shells on the beach and some children were collecting them as we walked along it. Oysters are farmed here as well as at Ceduna and fishing is a popular hobby. Some people were fishing from the jetty and there were several seabirds hanging around.


Further down the coast is Haslam, a community which is smaller and has no shop. Here tyres are used as a breakwater and others are just left on the beach and in the sea. They will continue to shed fibres into the ocean.

Information boards outlined the history of the town and the push to build a jetty. Food supplies had to be ordered and delivered by boat from Adelaide and a jetty made unloading much easier. Perlube Beach is further south and has white sand and dunes and a caravan park. Our destination for the night was Streaky Bay which also got its name from Matthew Flinders who saw the streaks of colour left from seaweeds in the water. We stopped for lunch just past the town on the shore of Cape Bauer. It was still windy but there were lots of purple flowers just behind the beach.


There were several notices regarding restrictions on razor fishing: the number that can be taken and the need to dispose of shells below the tide line. As we left to find our hotel, two cars with fishermen arrived. We only drove 85 miles today so the total is now 9,084.