19 November 2013 – Port Vincent

So, the weather turned nasty overnight and we therefore packed and headed back north to make tracks.  We drove up the eastern side of the Yorke Peninsula, passing many wheat farms with their large wheat storage silos as well as lots of pink salt lakes.  Both the salt and the wheat industries have a great history in this area and were, in their day, exported to other parts of Australia from various jetties right down this coastline.  These days, however, it is wheat and sheep farming that are the major industries of the area and the jetties are only used for fishing.  As we approached the town of Edithburgh, we could see a number of wind turbines scattered along the coastline.  It wasn’t until we got much closer that the number of them seemed to double if not triple.  In total there were 55 turbines and the wind from today was obviously producing a heck of a lot of power for this area.  We continued only a little further until we reached Port Vincent, apparently known as the water sport centre of the Yorke Peninsula – going by today’s weather forecast I myself would hate to be out here in the water.  However, for those surfers and windsurfers that we saw out in the water today, the conditions were ideal – blowing an absolute gale!  We set up camp and went for a short stroll into town, not that it took long as the town was quite small.  We were pleased to retreat back to the van, albeit only for school work, but the protection from the wind was well appreciated.