Life on the (land) end of the jetty

Life on the (land) end of the jetty

I’m looking at the crystal blue, sheet glass water of the Spencer Gulf and thinking there’s only one way to mark this milestone.

The sun is high and it’s a cloudless day at Port Hughes on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula and I’m feeling like a corner has been turned on my trip around Australia after an early mishap.

I’m stopping in here after another trip to Adelaide; it was time for a check-up on the surgery I had to put bones and tendons back together in my finger after I tried to stop my dog Mallee chasing a fox and got caught under her collar. I now have three screws and some wire permanently housed in my finger with a surgical scar zigzagging the length of it.

My entire right hand has been in a splint, rendering it pretty useless, for eight weeks. For an experiment, try and butter toast with only your non-preferred hand, it’s an ordeal. First-world problem, I know.

But now, on doctor’s advice, with my scar healing and the danger zone of re-rupturing my tendon passed, they say I can live largely out of the splint.

Camera IconThe Big4 Breeze cosy villas. Credit: Christien de Garis/Supplied

So with the plastic cast on the bench at my Sea View villa at the Big 4 Breeze holiday park — located smack bang on the foreshore of this quaint coastal hamlet — I’m going for a swim.

But despite the sunny outlook before me, it’s freezing. An unusual water movement phenomenon known as an “upwelling” has seen South Australia with the coldest water in the country. I need some support.

With my now strong left arm, I throw the ball deep into the water for Mallee. She can go first, it’s the least she can do. I follow her diving under the turquoise water, the first time I’ve been back in the ocean since the surf I had on the day Mallee wanted to eradicate a fox.

It’s cold, real cold. But it’s liberating to be entirely immersed in the ocean again.

Even though there’s a bit of time until I’m truly back on the road from my base in Port Lincoln, I’m discovering a new place and I’ve got that travel buzz back. And what a place it is.

Camera IconThe Port Hughes jetty at sunset. Credit: Christien de Garis/Supplied

And as the sun dips and the land glows orange, it’s like a cow bell has been rung and boats are returning from all directions of the gulf. Skimming along the silky water at top speed, they wouldn’t be spilling a drop of water on board, it’s that smooth out there.

I’ve got the additional treat of leaving my camper behind for my villa, a well-appointed cabin with a comfortable double bed in one room and a bunk and single in the other. The lounge is roomy, the small veranda looks towards the ocean and it’s dog friendly. The shower is warm with great pressure — another glorious moment without the splint!

Just metres from my villa is the jetty, tavern and general store, both humming with locals and visitors, but I can’t hear a thing from either once I go to bed.

The next day I visit nearby Moonta. Port Hughes, along with its sister town of Moonta (the two remind me of Port Denison and Dongara) and nearby towns of Wallaroo and Kadina, make up the Yorke’s Copper Coast, named after the copper mining which saw the communities boom in the 1800s.

Moonta is sometimes called “Little Cornwall” due to the impact of the huge numbers of migrants who arrived from the English town to work in the copper mines. Moonta’s population swelled to 12,000 in the late 1800s but within a hundred years, all copper mines had closed and the population dwindled. A sea-change renaissance (it’s only a couple of hours from Adelaide) has seen thousands returning and it’s one of the fastest-growing regions in the State.

Camera IconThe architecture of ‘Little Cornwall’. Credit: Christien de Garis/Supplied

I’m thinking how lucky I’m even here, it’s only after my sister-in-law recommended it; they stayed here once they parted ways from our initial adventure travelling together.

There’s so many towns and coast to cover, it’s reminded me that chatting to people and noting their recommendations is the best way to find hidden gems now we’re getting back on the road.

+ Christien de Garis was a guest of Big 4 Breeze Port Hughes. They have not influenced or read this story prior to publication.

Camera IconMallee braved the cold water along with her owner. Credit: Christien de Garis/SuppliedCamera IconThe glassy conditions of the Spencer Gulf. Credit: Christien de Garis/Supplied


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