26th Jan 2011
We went for a drive yesterday through scenic tree lined country roads across the Fluereu Peninsula to its western beaches, of course there had to be an ulterior motive that found us on a farm butcher’s set up while Nancy checked his set up and product, no doubt we will be re-visiting the locality before we eventually leave the region. Fortunately no where seems to be very far from anywhere on this peninsula.
For those whose geography is a little rusty, this peninsula forms part of the eastern coastline of the Gulf St Vincent and actually runs in a north easterly direction which means when the southerly influenced wind blows across the peninsula, providing it isn’t too strong results in flat calm conditions. A lot of the local coastline is formed by rounded hills running basically down to the coast where they form low cliffs or narrow dunes onto beautiful white sandy beaches stretching for kilometres. Under blue skies and warm sunshine the white sand and crystal clear water, not having been stirred up by surf conditions, creates a beautiful picture of tropical looking viridian coloured sea. Keeping in mind they get White Pointers down SA and they only seem to live in cold water, couple of good reasons to keep my shoes on.

Stopping for photos at the coastal town of Moana, we were surprised to see dozens of conventional cars parked all the way along the beach and a council grader working on the beach to ensure a hard packed area of sand existed for people to be able to drive on and off the beach without getting bogged. Talking to a couple of fee collectors at the beach ramp it turned out the council sends the grader down to the beach every couple of day during the holidays for crowds to be able to access the beach and spread out, (parking elsewhere is limited). On this occasion they were also preparing for a massive crowd for Australia Day celebrations, they were charging cars $5 to go onto the beach but I believe most of this was going to charity. They also said that there would be a large police presence to control idiots, this is not the first time we have become aware of the effort local governments down here go to create family oriented venues and limit hooliganism.

On the way back along the coast we passed the turn off to Maslin Beach, this is Australia’s first official nudist beach. For some reason they don’t like using the term nudist, the sign say’s ‘Maslin Beach Australias first official Unclad Beach’, rather strange. We didn’t turn off to this beach to see how scenic it was Nancy insisted she needed to get back to Woolworths at Victor Harbor before they closed. !!
We’ve had a quiet day for Australia Day, I cooked omelettes for a late breakfast then we wandered up town and out to Granite Island for a stroll and a bit of much needed exercise, we had to make one stop while Nancy cooled down with a double scoop gelati, (I was strong).
It was pleasant walking in the warm sun and no humidity.
See following photos of beach