Days 102-103 - Streaky Bay (18-19 December)

Drove a marathon 70kms yesterday arriving in Streaky Bay at lunchtime.  Quite a big park and it is going to get busy.  The park fronts onto the foreshore but unfortunately we aren't lucky enough to get a beachfront site.  There is a cafe on site that has lots of take aways and a kiosk for more junk food so really cater for the tourists.  Both spots we have stayed in SA so far are in bays and when the tide goes out it goes out a long way, the beach is very very shallow, barely deep enough for a swim and the sand is more coarse then we have in WA.  Nothing on WA's beaches yet but early days so we'll be generous.  Our second last night in Smoky Bay was really windy so much so we were very worried about losing our gazebo.  John spent a bit of time outside battening it down. The wind was so strong you could feel it pushing the side of the caravan in - our first experience of real wind. A little disconcerting  At one point we had a dust storm and you couldn't see out of the window.  To top it off the whole town had a power cut so it was pitch black, it only came back on during the early morning.  Anyway we got through it unscathed and the gazebo in one piece.  Due to the power cut though we had switched our portable fridge/freezer in the car to run of the car battery and shortly after discovered the car battery was flat - good thing we didn't need a quick getaway during the wind storm.  Next morning decided its time to replace the battery and phoned Ceduna (closest town) to discover they didn't have a battery suitable and he would have to phone around to get one in.  About 1/2 hour later we had a knock on the van and a guy with a bobcat asking if we were after a car battery!  How's that for service!  Apparently he was the distributor for the Eyre Peninsula and is based in Smoky Bay (even more incredible as it is such a small town), he got the details of what we wanted and came back with his bobcat and put the battery in for us.  Can't complain about that service particularly when we reckon we wouldn't have a got a better price anyway else.  Streaky Bay has a population of 1200 in town and 800 rural.  Big enough for two supermarkets albeit bit pricey.  The caravan park is close enough to town that we have ridden our bikes and could walk.  There is a nice walking track nearby through the bush that is dog off leash area.  Other than that we haven't had much time to explore.   Will post more later.