PORT GIBBON and COWELL SA

   Does this sound familiar? A lonely signpost on the Hwy pointing to a gravel road that seems to disappear into the distance but in fact leads to a wide, open beach with rugged headlands and white sands. In the case of Port Gibbon a few cottages atop the low cliff and a small campground near the beach complete the scene. The weather is still bad, windy with rain on and off however, I did get a chance to explore the deserted beach. I liked being able to sit there by myself and contemplate what it was like when Matthew Flinders charted this part of the Spencer Gulf.
  The township of Port Gibbon that once existed, was surveyed in 1915 and was needed as a place to ship wheat from the nearby Elbow Hill and Carpa districts to markets elsewhere. In the early days two companies operated a chute to slide bags of wheat down the cliff face to a large dinghy which was then rowed to a ketch waiting in deeper water. As the district developed more wheat  had to be shipped and so the shipping facilities needed to be upgraded. A port facility was built with goods, wheat and superphosphate storage sheds and a jetty.Tram lines where laid from the wheat sheds to the end of the jetty where the Ketches now waited to be loaded. The loaded tram trucks were started from the sheds and down the steep the incline to the jetty under gravity with the brakes on most of the way. The Port is now obsolete and only a small portion of the jetty remains. Two plaques near the jetty recorded shipwrecks. the "Lillie Hawkins" that ran aground in 1917 and was wrecked without loss of life and the schooner "Milford Crouch" in 1959 when 5 died including the captain.

 When I first arrived here on Thursday there was only one other Caravan, next day there were 5 and it is getting crowded. Since it was "Pension Day" on Monday I will be here until then.

  I am badly in needed of a shower and there is a Caravan Park at Cowell, a small fishing village just 20 kms further on via the dirt "Ketches Scenic Drive" that follows the coastline. Nothing much to say about Cowell, friendly enough with a few old buildings, a reasonable feed of fish and chips and an overpriced Van Park.