Thurs, 10th Mar, 2016 Antechamber Bay West Campground to Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA via Cape Gantheaume Cons Park

Overcast and 23 degrees – where has the sunny sky gone. On Sunrise weather this is a bank of rain coming all the way down from Cairns – Mum said it was raining there.

Sad news too to hear Jon English passed away aged 66 years from surgery complications. Interesting to hear his 4 kids names all started with J, even his grandchild and his brother and sister.

Packed up the vans and headed off back across Dudley Peninsula to the main road at Browns Beach.

Around the bottom of American River where there a lots of little islands in the inlet.

On the left side of the narrow neck here is Pennington Bay. There was a lookout but we will come back later hopefully on a brighter day for a look.

Turned off the bitumen onto a good dirt road to Cliffords Honey Farm. I think is meant for kids!! Looks like it is in an old shearing shed.

Inside was lots of bee products and merchandise with three flavours of honey to try – Sugar, Bottlebrush and a mixed variety – liked the mixed the best. The bees get the flavour from the plants that are flowering nearby. They usually forage within a 1 kilometre range from their hive. Beehives are migrated around KI to places where there are lots of particular plants in flower. Ripe honey is removed about every 3 weeks. In winter when there are not many flowering plants the bees collect what nectar they can and use it themselves. The hives are not harvested in winter. To make 500g of honey the worker bees visit 2 million flowers and fly 100,000km, at a top speed of 27km/h.

Downstairs was a great display with lots of information and a see-through beehive.

Interesting reading about the Queen Bee. If the Queen dies then the workers feed between 5 and 10 female larvae ‘Royal Jelly’ and create a new Queen. When the first one hatches she promptly stings the other ‘queens’ so she can rule!! The Queen bee will leave the hive after about 10 days to find a mate then after that she never leaves the hive. She can lay up to 2000 eggs in a day making a total of 1,000,000 in her 5 year lifespan.

I bought some chocolate covered honeycomb and a little tub of honey icecream.

Continued south towards Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park and D’Estrees Bay. This area was once a whaling station and the bay has a few shipwrecks. Once we hit the park the road got very corrugated. It is a Camps 8 site where you pay $14 per night. Continued along to a camp spot which was down by the water – one site one way and the other opposite though the shrubs need a good cutting back to be able to back the vans in. The beach was covered in thick layers of sea grass so it wasn’t looking very inviting. The grey sky didn’t help either. (Forgot to take a photo.) 

We left Rick & Leanne and drove on to see if it improved. Stopped at Point Tinline where a big Osprey nest was on top of the rock at the point. The beach is called Wreckers Beach.

A few more campsites tucked into the scrub but none suitable for our vans. Another sign at Wheatons Beach about the local birds.

Further on there was a fishing shack then the end of the road at Sewer Beach – bit rocky to call a beach!!

Looking further along the coast of the Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area. There is a hiking trail from here around to Bales Beach.

Walked along the track a bit to a horseshoe-shaped cove which is a popular surf break.

Drove back to the others and then pulled into a pullover area to have some lunch. Decided to continue on to Vivonne Bay to camp. Past Murray Lagoon that has a walk up Bald Hill but as visibility is not too goo decided to skip that. Then past Lake Ada – reminded us of Lake Ada in Tassie in the high area of Great Lake – freezing.

Nearly got a peacock trotting across the road. Glad we are back on a better dirt road. Passed the turned off to Seal Bay – will definitely go there and Little Sahara.

Off the main road down beside Harriet River to the Council campground behind some holiday houses. Got ourselves set up. The sky is very low and feels very moist.

Only a short walk to the river. Though it doesn’t look like it reaches the sea.

I walked along another track where old camp areas used to be overlooking the mouth.

Further out to the cliff over the beach. Would look spectacular on a sunny day.

Zoomed in further around the coastline to the jetty and Point Ellen.

Went back to camp for a cuppa. The boys were getting the fishing rods ready so Leanne and I walked back out and down the ramp to the beach. The mist has rolled in.

The river water was warm but I stood in the Southern Ocean too – it was freezing!!

A poor Little Penguin had a sad ending.

Back to the boys and into the cars down to the jetty. Steve tried for squid while Rick and I chased the whiting. Leanne just enjoyed her wine!!

A lovely spot even though we have the eerie sea mist making us feel like we are in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

 Looking back to Harriet River mouth.

A cray boat came in and then came to the jetty in his tender which they lifted up onto the jetty. They loaded their precious cargo onto the old trolley to push up to their car. The trolley was used in the old days to transport goods down the much longer jetty to the ships.

The chap asked if we wanted to see a King Crab. It is a by-product as they swim in the craypots in the deep water. This beauty weighs about 6kg and he will get $75/kg for it. He said they get best money $80/kg for smaller crays.

The mist is coming in and as we hadn’t had a bite we headed back to camp.

Along the edge of the rocky beach the seaweed clings to the rock platforms – the water is so clear.

20 degrees in the van at 6pm. No TV reception so chatted while we ate dinner outside till the cold chased us in. Enjoyed our honey icecream. I am slowly catching up on my blog while Steve watched a movie.