Port Germein South Australia - March 13th 2009 until March 15th 2009.

 

Port Germein is located 255kms north of Adelaide on the eastern side of Spencer Gulf.

 

Fri 13th March 2009: With blue skies and no wind, it was 2:19pm as we left home for our weekend at Port Germein. The sole reason for this trip (not that anyone needs a reason to go away in the caravan) was to try our luck at catching some blue swimmer crabs off of the Port Germein jetty on the Saturday night.  After a short two and a half hour drive, we arrived at the Caravan Park by 5:06pm to set up on our site for the weekend. Sue & Malcolm had already arrived earlier in the afternoon and were well and truly set up by the time we had arrived.

 

PORT GERMEIN CARAVAN PARK

 

SAT 14th March 2009: After spending last night sitting around talking, it was a late rise out of bed for most of us today. Unfortunately the weather forecast that had been handed out leading up to the weekend was correct and the day was as windy as could be making it not very nice at all to be sitting out on the end of a jetty crabbing.

 

PORT GERMEIN

 

With time on our side, it was decided that we would go for a drive along the Bridle Track where we had hoped to get some spectacular views looking out over Spencer Gulf. We drove through the Port Germein Gorge which takes you from Port Germein through to Murraytown and it was along this road that we turned onto the Survey Road where we could then start on the Bridle Track from the eastern end. It was disappointing to find out that as we got closer to the top of the ranges, the fog and misty rain got thicker and thicker to the point where we couldn't see very far at all, let alone seeing the water in the Gulf.

 

 

By the time we had done the entire track and arrived back at the Caravan Park it was nearly lunch time. After a bite to eat and a bit of a walk out onto the jetty, we found that the wind had picked up in strength to what it had been earlier on in the morning. By mid afternoon we had worked out that we were not going to be going out on the jetty to be blown over the side so the idea of crabbing for this trip had now been abandoned. The rain in the ranges had now lifted so we all decide to go for another look along the Bridle Track this time entering it from the western side.

 

BRIDLE TRACK IN THE AFTERNOON

Unlike this mornings trip, the sun was now shining which made it very nice up in the ranges although the haze was bad enough to stop us from getting a clear view of the gulf water. Port Pirie and Port Germein were both visible although not clear with Whyalla being fully blocked out by the haze. The Bridle Track certainly looked different when we could see the vast drop off to the side of some of the track which was a reminder to watch where we were driving. The Track travels through private property so all signs must be obeyed and gates left as they are found.

 

JETTY

When we arrived on the Friday, the water was like glass as seen above with some of the jetty photos. By the Saturday evening the wind was so strong that it was blowing the waves up between the jetty timbers during the peak of the high tide. The bottom right photo above shows the wet marks from the water splashing.

 

SUN 15th March 2009: Our very short weekend away was fast coming to an end with both caravans ready to leave by 9:38am, Sally and I headed for home leaving Sue and Malcolm at the Park to leave around 10:00am as they had people to see on their way home. Due to roadworks being carried out between Crystal Brook and Lochiel, we returned back home via Port Broughton to avoid road tar going all over the front of the caravan as it did on the Friday afternoon.

 

We stopped for lunch on Adelaide side of Port Wakefield where we noticed a couple had left some of their belongings behind in a bag when the drove away. Sally picked up the bag and the people were lucky enough to return to collect the bag before we continued on our way.

 

It was 1:07pm when we parked that caravan under the carport ready to pack it away for the next trip to Clare, the Southern Flinders Ranges and Melrose during April.

 

Park Report - Click here to read the full report on this Caravan Park

Our Park rating - 7 out of 10. Click here to see rating numbers.
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