Coffin' at the cost of Oysters!

We began the day with a walk to the Dutton Bay woolshed.  A resident was gathering the roo poo from his lawn so visitors didn't track it into his house, and he invited us to walk through the revegetation area on the low dune.  This avoided some boggy bits (in one of which Frances lost, but regained,  her shoe last time we did this).

No dead dogs were found on this walk.  This Kelpie spotted Tammy and just laid down in front of her.  After being thoroughly sniffed she got up and followed us around.

This shows (most of - the roof doesn't matter) the Dutton Bay Woolshed which is being restored as part of a tourist attraction.  It doesn't look any different to when we were last here, 6 years ago.  The adjacent campground was getting a bit of action from caravans so I presume the owners of the areaare doing OK.

As we strolled on the jetty the large dog accompanied us.  This stroll gave us good views of a stingray swimming under the jetty.

We went back traversing an area where the seaweed had washed up.    I liked the three colours!

After a bit more to eat we headed to Coffin Bay to do parts of the Oyster Walk along the foreshore.  We did the red bit (probably 3km return) before lunch and the yellow bit (2.5km) after.

It was showering as we went out on the morning walk so I didn't take a photo of the bunch of people sat under this shelter eating oysters.  The deal is to wade out to the platform and capture oysters - presumably getting trained in shucking - and munch.

I presume the plastic owls are there to dissuade gulls and cormorants from crapping on the deck.

The walk is very good.  Near the start point it goes very close to people's houses (I would be interested to see how close the houses were built to the boundary of the block) which could be very strange in Summer when the houses are fully occupied.  A bit further on some nice mosaics of the usual suspects - starfish etc - had been set into the path,

I was rather surprised to see a Sacred Kingfisher still present.  As we saw one on the afternoon walk, about 3km from here so I think they were different, birds they must overwinter rather than heading North,

A flower!  Hakea cycloptera.

This was an attempt to get the Hakea flower and a 'nut' in the same image.  At least the mulch on the ground is in focus!

We had to turn at the edge of town as the bush area there is owned by the Department of the Environment  so dogs are banned.  It is surprising how Council Parks are generally so much more sensible that the ideologically driven State Government gulags.

One of the new McMansions adjacent to the walk.  Very architectural with a galvo kangaroo to the left of the deck.

A view across the bay.

Closer my Pelicans to thee,   I guess they are aso dissuaded from the oyster munching area by the owls!

This is the scene outside the cafe from which we got some excellent crumbed whiting for lunch.

I suspect the waders are those provided for the oyster munchers.  I am not sure how much they charged for the full oyster munching 'experience' (cough, splutter - I do apologise for that use of the word) but they were like unto a wild bull for the shucked items in the shop.   $17.50 per dozen for opened oysters is about $7.50 more than is charged in Canberra .  So they were left in the fridge.

The second stroll passed a good number of Quandong (Santalum acuminatum) bushes with very unripe fruit.  As well as anything else, there were a number of very informative signs along the walk.

A view down the bay towards the sea

A clip of some of the closer dunes.

These monsters are, as measured on Google Earth, 10km away, which I think explains the hazy quality of the image,

At the close of the walk a Singing Honeyeater appeared!

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A trip to several Bays

As Winter (or at least Autumn) has finally arrived in Carwoola we are heading off to somewhere we hope will be slightly warmer.  The broad plan at present is:

• 12 May: drive to Wentworth NSW 
• 13 May: Continue to Dutton Bay, SA
• 13-20 May: Lower Eyre Peninsula
• 20 May: drive to Glenelg SA (aka the Bay)
• 21 - 26 May Adelaide area
• 26 May: drive back to Carwoola.

I'll put links to the daily posts here as they are compiled.
Day 1: Home to Wentworth
Day 2: Wentworth to Dutton Bay
Day 3: Gallipolli is visited
Day 4: Whalers Way
Day 5: Around Dutton Bay
Day 6: Salt Lakes
Day 7 Coffin Bay
Day 8: Last day at Dutton
Day 9: Transfer to Glenelg
Day 10: Around Glenelg
Day 11: Mainly Port Adelaide
Day 12: St Kilda and Thompson's Beach
Day 13: Southern Vales and beaches
Days 14 and 15: Glenelg area and driving home.
Overall Birdlist

Day 6: Coffin Bay National Park

There, (or possibly here) around Lower Eyre Peninsula.

A large part of the attraction of this trip for me was the chance to visit Coffin Bay National Park which I had seen several times from aircraft between Adelaide and Perth.  It looked to have spectacular scenery, particularly when the 'planes were approaching Adelaide.

Today was the day we would fit this in to our schedule.  As it was a National Park the small dog would not be welcome so we took her for a walk to Ricky Bates Reserve first.  By being a little more adventurous we found that the area at the end of the road I had assumed was private property not only allowed public access, but also permitted dogs on leash.  (The leash bit reflects a 1080 fox baiting project.) We added several birds to the Dutton Bay list and found more orchids.  At present I am unsure if they are a different species or just  late-emerging specimens of Cyrtostylis robusta.  We also saw another dolphin (actually it could have  been the same one, but you know what I mean) out in the Bay.

On our way to Coffin Bay we found the Grass Trees again and stopped for photos.  Then on through the town to the National Park.  Getting our Park permits was amusing as we wanted to pay with change and the envelope wouldn't seal and the slot through which to post was too narrow for our pile of metal,  So someone will have to scrape it all out of the container.  Tough: if they had someone on duty they wouldn't have had the problem.

In fact we didn't see any trace of a Ranger or other official presence.  Presumably they all lurk in Port Lincoln where cafe lattes are easier to acquire.

We first stopped at the Templetonia Lookout to assess the rather spiffy 360 degree views to Mount Dutton etc in the North

and the sandhills behind Gunyah Beach, and the ocean, to the South,  

We then headed for Avoid Bay 

(and the similarly named Point).  

This was all bitumen and certainly provided some excellent cliff views.  There were many Rock Parrots around and an Osprey was soaring along the clifftops at the Point.

I had thought we would walk a trail from the bitumen road to Gunyah Baech but that turned out to be a 4x4 track so we drove along it until it started to look very sandy and parked.  This had cut about 1.2km off the 8km walk.  (In fact we could have gone for another 2km before it got too sandy, but the walk was very pleasant).

We didn't find many new plants for the day but the flowering of the Templetonia, Pomaderris (white bushes in the background, living up to its reputation as the coming woody weed),

Leucopogon and mallee-form Eucalyptus was excellent. Pigface and other succulents were on the dunes.  A   Wedge-tailed Eagle flew over (surprisingly the first for the trip) and various honeyeaters made a ruckus in the bush.  A group of 3 Emus were booming near the track.

In total we saw 18 species of bird in the Park, adding 3 to the trip list (which now stands at 91sp.)

Getting close to the beach we found some large sandhills on and in which the 4x4 fraternity had been having fun. 

We walked up and along one of the big hills and were intrigued to see how quickly (within 10 minutes) the wind was erasing our footprints in some places.   This is illustrated by the differing heights of the  track markers:

- a third one only had the red bit showing!

On leaving the Park we stopped to have another go at getting our envelope through the slot and while I was losing that battle Frances glanced out of the car and there was another large colony of gnat orchids.  They are giving Pomaderris a run for its money as next WW.

We then cruised the town looking for Oysters.  The first two places we investigated only sold closed ones and I didn't fancy opening them with a knife.  A passing ETSA employee told me a simple way to do it, if we had time:

1.      put them in a freezer overnight; then

2.      shift them to the fridge for about 2 hours; and

3.      they will open themselves.

I mention that for educational purposes only since we found that the butchers shop would open them for us for a quite reasonable fee.  So we did that.  (As an aside, in a conversation in the shop one participant mentioned that they had never used an ATM.  I am astonished!)

Back to the Shack to find a very happy little dog.

Just after typing this I glanced out the window and saw a Pacific Gull rise out of the water and dive back in, completely immersing itself.  It then flew to the beach with prey in beak.  The prey turned out to be a fist-sized octopus which was gobbled before I could photograph the event.  A Pied Oystercatcher ran past quickly, presumably to ensure it didn't beccome dessert.

Bird of the day:                     Emus [Osprey was a contender but Frances barely saw it.]

Flower of the day:                 Templetonia: everywhere in the Park

Interesting sight of the day: The sandhills

What we learnt today:          How to open oysters (without opening an artery). [To believe at least some "4WD drive only" signs was a runner up in this category.]

I looked upon the towering dunes,

And quietly blessed my luck;

I looked upon the carved up track,

And there I was not stuck.

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