Elliston Sculptures on the Cliffs Streaky Bay, Eyre Highway.

Road Trip Day 14: 5th June 2007

Before leaving Elliston, Rose decided we should take a drive around the Elliston Cliff Top Tourist Drive which also happens to be the location of the Biennial Elliston Sculptures on the Cliff Event. Unlike the sculpture parks at Broken Hill and in the Barossa Valley these cliff top sculptures aren't all permanent so the ones you see on this drive are the few permanent sculptures that have remained after each event.

The tourist drive takes you along a dirt track that overlooks Anxious Bay. I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect but after seeing the view I was glad we decided to take this drive. I've lived in Australia all my life and seen these kind of 'edge of the continent' kind of views in brochures all the time but it's not often you actually get to see these views in person when you live in the cities. Just had to have my photo taken with this view to prove I was there.

Along the drive you come across various sculptures left behind from the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Sculptures on the Cliff events. The first one we came across was a pair of giant thongs (the Aussie kind you wear on your feet - otherwise known a 'flip flops' in other countries). Upon seeing the thongs I knew these sculptures were coming from a different place to those of Broken Hill and Barossa. A sculpture event with a sense of humor.

Not all the sculptures are humorous, though it's hard to tell how much humor is involved given that many of the less permanent sculptures have been removed. It's also disappointing that the permanent sculptures feature no plaques that credit the artists. If you're lucky you may still be able to read the temporary info sheets left to rot in their plastic envelopes. Something really needs to be done to rectify this.

One highly impressive sculpture was a face carved into a wall of brick. From a distance this face really stands out on the landscape and looks like some kind of mysterious monument that draws you to take a closer look. As you can see from the Photo Rose even climbed up the back of it.

The last sculpture I wanted to mention, though certainly I haven't mentioned all of them, was one that could actually be two separate artworks. I'm not exactly sure?

In the photo you can see a boat suspended on wires from a wooden roof structure. Then you can see me, apparently working at an art table, painting the boat sculpture. In actual fact the art table, complete with partly finished boat painting, paint tin and brushes is a sculpture in it's own right. Whether it's part of the boat sculpture is hard to say since the plaque for the boat doesn't give any clues. It simply says the boat artwork's title is 'Every person is a boat person' by Artist John Turpie. It is from the 2002 event.

If the art table is a separate sculpture then it again demonstrates the humor that some of the artists inject into this event.

Once again too, I'd like to compare this with Barossa's Sculpture park because even though these sculptures are spread out and only remnants of several events they still make better use of the spectacular backdrop. Their positioning has helped make them features of the landscape complimented by the view - giving them more presence and power. I think it would be amazing to see this event in full swing in 2008 (presumably that is the year of the next Sculptures on the Cliffs event).

Streaky Bay.

The tourist drive at Elliston delayed us a couple of hours so by the time we got to Streaky Bay we decided to stop for lunch. I didn't take a lot of photos here because our stop was so brief but I kind of liked this photo of the jetty that captures the glittery sparkle of the water in the midday sun.

We had lunch in a beautiful restaurant just up from the jetty called 'Mocean' that offers wonderful views of the bay to compliment your dining experience. If your in town look them up.

The Eyre Highway.

After Streaky bay our journey returned to the Eyre Highway after passing through the town of Ceduna. From this point we are once again following in my families footsteps from the same journey by car in 1978. The journey that changed all our lives so that 'home' from then on would be 'Perth' rather than 'Whyalla'.

The Eyre Highway is one of the longest and straightest highways you're ever likely to travel. Rose and I made it as far as the Nundroo Hotel/Motel/Caravan park where we've stopped for the night.

Tomorrow we hope to cross the border into WA and make it as far as Balladonia. The town whose claim to fame is having a piece of the ill fated Skylab space station fall down onto it.

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