Cowell on Franklin Harbour

We stayed for 3 nights at Cowell. It is a lovely town and is designed for fisherman. It has 2 pubs and fishing boats everywhere. The only problem with Cowell is it stinks of fish. The town is quite lovely and the main street is out the front of the caravan park. We met some old friends there who come from MacKay in QLD and we had camped near them previously at Tumby. Kerry and Ray invited us back to their van for a lovely red snapper dinner.

red snapper

The snapper was delicious. The weather here is too hot as there is no swimming pool, only the bay to swim in. The Jetty is also just out the front and the guys in the park caught a minimum of 6 huge red snapper everyday. They cleaned the fish in the park as the jetty had no cleaning areas. It cost you $4 per day to launch your boat at this jetty. hmm I wonder when NSW will catch onto this fee?

boat ramp at Franklin Harbour at Cowell

This photo is taken from the jetty looking back to the boat ramp at Cowell.

Cowell Town is quite lovely with an IGA, butcher shop, bakery and a few other shops. It is very adequate and the main street has Christmas carols playing most of the time with decorations as well. It is starting to feel like Christmas.

Tony in the main street at Cowell

Because fish is so plentiful, the hotel cooks a spit of lamb on the footpath for the fisherman. I must admit the lamb roast smells better than the fish smell everywhere.

dinner at the pub

Cowell was a great fishing town if you have a boat with you. As we have no boat, 3 days was long enough. The guys who paid $180 per day on a fishing charter always came back with plenty of red snapper. The guys who had their own boat often came back with nothing. Obviously you need to knwo where to go for the fish. We did meet a lot of lovely people there who plan staying for weeks. I just couldn't stand the fish smell all of the time in the 40c temperature. So we moved on......

We drove through Whyalla, Tony said it was too industrious for him. Also passed through Port Augusta and we moved down the Yorke Peninsula, through Port Pirie and stayed at Port Broughton for a while. This is a fantastic place but I'll tell you more next time.

sunset on the Yorke Peninsula from Bertha's door