Eyre Peninsula and beyond – The Gap Lap Part 1

February 22, 2023

Well, I didn’t get much fishing on the magnificent Cape York in last year because my wife Shelley and I did what we called a ‘gap lap’ around this fabulous country.

So named as, for the most part, we travelled straight through Queensland and NSW – having already toured fairly widely thereabouts – to South Australia.

As well, we wanted to maximise our time further west.

We travelled in our 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4 and towed a 12’ X-Scape off-road caravan made by The Little Caravan Company. Both performed brilliantly over 23,000km, without even a flat tyre.

We had the Discovery serviced in Geraldton in Western Australia and its only hiccup on the road was a loose battery terminal, which caused the car’s computer to have a hissy fit.

But it was easily fixed.

The highlights of our gap lap?

Well, there were so many!

Despite some wild wet weather, South Australia really impressed. Fabulously rugged coastlines with Australian sea lions on Eyre Peninsula, squid caught off jetties, and the wineries, of course!

Seeing endangered Australian sea lions in their natural habitat was a real highlight.

Being heavily into nature, the Naracoorte Caves with all the incredible fossils was wonderful too.

We took one of the ranger guided tours, which was very informative.

Over many thousands of years, animals have fallen through holes in the limestone landscape and into the caves below.

The fossils that remain give a remarkable history of Australia’s extinct megafauna – such as the marsupial lion thylacaleao, thylacines and huge kangaroos.

And yes, you can still see the original fossils in situ.

Fowlers Bay on the Eyre Peninsula held great appeal as something completely different.