On the Road Again……. Eyre Peninsula here we come

We finally left home and headed West on the much awaited trip to the Eyre Peninsula. We decided on a long run on the first couple of days and stopped overnight in Serviceton where we had previously stayed. It is a quite community run camp at the recreation reserve, powered site is $15, unpowered $10. Apparently the prices are going up after Easter so next time I think we will stop at the free camp at Bordertown 20km up the road. Click here for my previous post on Serviceton and its old railway station.

After three previous trips to South Australia we reluctantly passed the turnoffs to some favourite locations previously visited including the Limestone Coast, Florieu Peninsula and the Barossa Valley. “Someone” (Anyone, that one or the other one???) supposedly told Alan the road through Adelaide was all freeway – well either “someone” lied or the GPS lied because after negotiating the Adelaide Hills we did cop some annoying city traffic .  

Once through Adelaide we passed rocky hills which should never have been cleared and were soon back in wheat and sheep country interrupted occasionally by salt bush and pink salt lakes. The hillside was covered in the biggest wind farm we have seen on our travels so far.

The turnoff to the notorious Snowtown of Bodies in the Barrels fame tickled my warped sense of humour when the turnoff had a brown tourist sign to the “Big Blade”…..

After some quick research on Wikicamps we avoided the RV stop at Port Pirie and set up camp at Lawrie Park about 10km NE of Port Pirie. Nice quiet free spot with about ten rigs. Flushing toilets, BBQ shelter and not much else, just how we like it! We reminisced how much our travel habits had changed in the last 8 years of caravanning – I used to research caravan parks months in advance of our trips, whereas today we did not decide where to stay the night until ten minutes before we got there.

 

Port Pirie

After the long run over the first couple of days we stayed two nights at Lawrie Park. Neither of us had been in this area before so we spent half a day exploring Port Pirie. It is a strange place, quite a historic town with some lovely old buildings, but like many other industrial towns it is rather lacking in charm and good vibes. We visited the National Trust Museum which is located across three buildings including the old railway station. I climbed up a couple of flights of rickety ladders to reach the top of the station which has some nice views across the town. The other buildings are the old court house and police station.

The town does have a nice area along the water, with nice gardens, shade sails/shed and a strange looking sculpture.

After the cold weather in Victoria we packed too many winter woollies so we had to buy some extra singlets and shorts to accommodate the pleasantly warmer weather – lovely blue skies and high twenties. After stocking up supplies we headed back to our campground for some much needed R&R and a stroll around the nearby nature reserve.

 

Accommodation:

Lawrie Reserve  about 10km North of Port Pirie

Accommodation Rating – 3.5/5

Location About 10km from port Pirie
Facilities Flush toilets and BBQ shelter. Town water
Dog Walks Lots, but beware of snakes – someone left a VERY large tiger snake skin on the BBQ table.
Local Services Did not see any local shops but all services are available in Port Pirie about 10km away
Cost Free
Comment Plenty of room, only a few trees for shade and expect it would be very hot in summer

Good phone and TV signal

Seems to be along the local hoon route which made it a bit noisy.

 

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