Beautiful Venus Bay and Murphy's Haystacks, SA. Sun 18 Nov 2012.

We did our own mini-Ulysses Sunday ride today….just the 2 of us, along the Eyre Peninsula coastline between Streaky Bay and Venus Bay, 72km apart. Matthew Flinders in 1802 described Streaky Bay because of the algae causing streaks in the Bay, and Venus Bay is apparently named after a schooner ship in the late 1800s.

The village of Venus Bay is like an organised clean and tidy new version of Coober Pedy, because everything has the same white colour, the buildings, the white tracks and paths. It is a fishing place with a jetty and the population increases in summer time when tourists arrive to fill up the caravan park. The coastline on the edge of town is awesome and timeless. We stood on the top of the cliffs in the wind, gobsmacked at the high views with waves crashing endlessly into the bottom of these towering rock faces, eroding them. Seals and dolphins are often seen here, they say, as well as migrating whales, but we didn't see any.

After a delicious whiting fish burger at the local kiosk, we rode on back to our home base, stopping on the way at a place called "Murphy's Haystacks." This is a group of impressive huge granite boulders looking rather like a strange kind of Stonehenge with the vibes coming off them. They are in the middle of vast wheat fields, and the local farmer has set up a little picnic shelter with toilets nearby, asking $2 per person to enter the property.

The land on many parts of the Eyre Peninsula has granite outcrops. Even at Wudinna there is a large granite quarry which is being worked. So the Murphy's Haystacks are much eroded geologically ancient forms of rock. Later on I Googled this place to see what Indigenous significance this place would surely have. Yes, it was a special place, some say it was a "birthing site" and one could imagine it would be a safe place in the old days before white settlers came along and took over the country. Now there is no sign of Aboriginals around these parts. There are oral stories of the coastline along these parts having people being driven over the cliffs to their deaths at Elliston, which is the next town along, and retaliatory spearings and shootings happening all over the place. The tourist brochures keep this early history quiet.

On the ride back to Streaky Bay Dave stopped to collect some feathers off a dead peregrine falcon (road kill); Now he has 2 smart feathers in his new leather hat! He was eyeing off a peacock at Kulgera Roadhouse in the Northern Territory, but this bird wisely ran away from him.

Tomorrow morning we have to be organised early, as we have a 600km ride through to Border Village which gets us right up to the WA border near Eucla. And it's going to be at least 40 degrees. We've booked an air-conditioned cabin at the end of this part of our journey. We are looking forward to getting back home to be with our family. Dave's dear little Mum is to have hip replacement surgery soon, and our little 3 year old granddaughter Orlena is very slowly recovering from her horrible head injury that happened in August. She's still in Princess Margaret Hospital, having lots of treatments, and I want to be by her side when she has her skull part replaced next month. Then more therapy, with Nanna Bensley able to be more part of this.

So, WA, here we come!