Little towns and tourism – do they need us…. Going the extra mile….. for example

Brenda writes.... 

 Coffin Bay – the locals are very friendly from the marine workshop to the Coffin Bay Yacht Club staff, to  the gas man who welcomed us to his town,  to the people walking on the beach who explained the ins and outs of the pipis v cockles – depending on which state you came from. We meet an 86 yr old walking the beach who drove from Adelaide to CB to her shack – takes her 10 hours. We met the shack lady again the next day at the market, along with a friendly knitter – who was keen to engage her knitting group in some guerrilla knitting.

 But there are always some who spoil or who have little respect for the environment – the 2 Kimberly Kamper trailers who lit a fire in the National Park – they had children with them or the lady at Tumby Bay who for the sake of 5 minutes refused to serve us after we had walked 1.25 km to buy fish ‘n’ chips – we were met with ‘Have youse done a phone order’, - we had arrived after closing time. She did direct us to the pub across the road that served us a greasy meal of mixed fish – one serving for $30.00!

With over 75,000 caravan owners, I had expected to find camping grounds/parks full.  Only twice we have come across ‘free’ spots full with caravans lined up waiting – at Cosy Corner, Esperance and Louth Bay – SA. Often we are the first to a camping spot. People arrive from 11.30am – 2pm, if they are coming…  Many of the people we have met come from Mackay – Queensland. We now have 2 invites to call in and stay – Bundaberg and Greenhill – Sth Mackay. Most campers keep to themselves and it is only when people arrive and see us parked up and talk to us about our camping spot that we meet people.  Across the Nullaboor we were often asked if we minded company – it is safer to camp in numbers.

Superman is popular wherever he goes and makes friends very easily. At Elliston Jill fell in love with him and Muz and her husband Russell took many photos of the 3 of them. Dogs continue to be fearful of Superman. One caravanner wondered if I made soft toys! Both Murray and I refer to them as ‘the boys’.

We have both lost a lot of weight – Murray especially, he has dropped several sizes in clothes and we have had to purchase new shorts/jeans etc.

Camping grounds – that is the commercial variety vary in prices from $26 - $36! Per nite for 2 adults. Washing machines vary from $3 - $4 a load and dryers $3-$5 for 15 minutes. Apparently in north WA you pay extra if you are running the air conditioner.

Fitzgerald Bay, 32kms north Wayalla – free camp spot – ideal if you have a boat – very windy though – we had a sand storm the 2^nd nite – winds up to 86km – Pt Augusta had a sand storm the same evening along with a bush fire. We parked 4 feet from the waters’ edge and both experienced for the first time fast tides – 3 metres gushing through the mangroves. Here we collected razor fish – there are signs on the beach at Tumby Bay – to wear footwear due to razor fish – what a fuss – these are shell fish that stick up above the sand – similar shape to a NZ horse mussel – ok they are a bit sharp – the locals preserve the black meat – which looks like a mussel-according to Murray doesn’t taste like a mussel.

We took Superman to the May Gibbs memorial and plaque. He sat in the gum nut tree. Superman also visited the Pt Augusta Library.

Our next stop is the Mt Remarkable National Park – we hope to spend most of December here – using this camp as a base to explore the surrounding Clare, ‘Murdock’ country, Port Perie. With our Sth Australia National Park Pass – we paid extra for camping - $50.00 for 2mths – this hopefully will turn out to be good value. There is no cell phone coverage in this park – so we take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Healthy Fulfilling 2012.

Colours of Coffin Bay

Elliston Yarn Bombing

WORLD FAMOUS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Superman writes….

Brenda says you don’t have to travel to Paeroa – NZ to be’ world famous’…

After leaving Elliston we travelled a short distance to Sheringa Beach – it was an incredible rare hot day. Muz and I were relaxing in the chairs – this is a rareity – usually we sit on the gas bottles, and along came a photographer from WildEyre-the lady was looking for camping photos for their new website and Muz and I were delighted to oblige.

The next day – flies arrived – flies indicate rain – but we got more than we bargained for – 12hours of thunder, lightning, rain – the longest thunderstorm any of us had been in. Just as we thought the storm   had gone along it came again, fork lightning struck the ground just as Murray was outside shifting the solar panels – he was very lucky!

Due to rough seas the fishing was not happening so we moved on to Coffin Bay National Park.

This park is fantastic – Muz and I didn’t want to leave. We spent 6 nights here – fishing, 4wd driving-very rutted tracks-sand/beach driving-we saw a’ beached as’ seal. There was much wildlife, fauna and flora and Muz and I spent the days identifying the birds, listening to their calls – dddd I am preeteee…

We ate young kawahai, pipis and whiting.

Brenda knitted a piece for the National Park – ‘colours of coffin bay’.

Sunday – sadly we had to pack up… drove to Port Lincoln to buy some fresh fruit/vegies and now we are at Tumby Bay – SA coast.

Storytime Craft

Superman Writes...
Muz and I were getting scratchie with each other so Brenda took us for a walk along the beach and we found some holey shells - we made ourselves a necklace?

Cactus beach – Ceduna – Smokey Bay – Streaky Bay – Granites (Pt Westall) – Murphys Haystacks-Venus Bay – Talia Caves - Elliston

Ceduna – a pretty clean town with Norfolk pines down the main street – one of each type of shop, a foodland – IGA – very well stocked, local indigenous to make you feel welcome – watch out for any wine you have in your trolley-don’t turn your back…..

Murray pushed the trolley thru the main street laden with food and liquid, books from the op shops to stock up the van and back again to the supermarket. We used the trolley in the camping ground to load our dried washing into and back to the van – just like the locals – only we are a different colour.

A very clean camping ground on the foreshore – next time we will state we have a longer van-trying to fit between 2 other smaller vans – which we did-avoiding the tree which left  us only able to put up 3 legs as we didn’t have enough room to turn our leg jack. No room to put out chairs for a drink so off to the local foreshore hotel for a lovely feed of oysters, prawns, baked snapper and whiting – accompanied by the shiraz and nz sauvy blanc. A sunset poked itself through the Norfolk pines . After dinner a stroll on the jetty to watch the locals feed the pelican.

Leaving Ceduna on the Friday we headed to Smokey Bay to buy Murray’s oysters @ $6 dozen in the shell. Drove through Streaky Bay and started to looking for our next camp spot- Pt Westall – free camping on a cliff – another couple joined us. Saturday – no sun so ran the genie, watched some dvds, when suddenly the wind changed and the awning jumped- a sand storm arrived, our neighbour Bill came and helped us take it down, secure. Fortunately the boys were inside-but dust and sand throughout…. We managed to last 5 days here-eventually the wind drove us away – 67 knt winds the last straw, plus we had bees for neighbours and they had started to swarm up our sullage hose.

Murphy’s Haystacks at Cacla – a great tourist spot – Inselberg Rocks – similar to wave rock material and the Avebury Rocks in the UK. Very clean flush toilets here.

Next top Venus Bay – we had heard so much about this place – I expected a lush clean green bay of commericalisim – rather like Ceduna – alas – it is a lime sand bay no greenery around, plenty of water-commercial sardine fishing village? With a camping ground on the foreshore-stop here if you have a boat or love to fish off the jetty. We stayed for 2 hours – Murray caught a herring and a man we had met the other day at the granites gave us a small kawahai. Superman met a young girl from Pinjarra and had his photo taken. We had a lovely lunch of whiting and chips washed down with Watties Tomato Sauce! Wines were cheap in the local shop so a few bottles managed to be seconded to the truck.

 Colton Bakery on the side of the road – Flinders Highway provided Murray with a chance to try their bread – they are not always open –so we were indeed lucky.

Tomorrow?

Talia Caves provided a refreshing stop – with a walkway to the cave and rock formation.

photos to come...



 As we were only 28 kms from Elliston – we decided to call in for the night – do a wash and stock up with water. And here we caught up with Bill and Ma

storm rolling over cactus

yarn bombing

where's julia

Lizards and more....

Lizards galore-Julia’s cousins abound the golden sands at Cactus Beach, out they come to play, to eat the millions of tiny ants and to suckle the moisture from the minute mauve succulent native flower.

Muz and I spent hours and days watching the lizards, hoping and wishing that just one would stop and play with us. Murray said we had to be patient. After 168 hours we were rewarded with Julia’s 2^nd cousin stopping by to say hello..

What a thrill for Brenda to capture this on her camera!

We met some interesting characters while staying at Cactus Beach

 – George who works in the gypsum mine-the biggest mine in the Southern Hemisphere. The gypsum is sent by train to Adelaide and Melbourne and shipped overseas to be made into plaster board.

-          Ruby the jack Russell x – wasn’t at all friendly towards us – growled each time she saw us.

Every day Murray took us fishing, we caught leather jacket (trigger fish-nice eating), herring, rock cod and the biggest thrill was when Brenda caught a massive snapper that took her float and all her rig-in fact we thought we were going to loose her – she nearly fell off the cliff with all her excitement. Muz said it was a bigger spectacle than the ‘dingo event’ – some of you may not have seen this video clip – I think Brenda has deleted it…..

November the 5^th, we had own private fireworks display – another ripper of a thunderstorm hit us about 4pm- rolling in from the ocean – temperature dropped, thunder, lightning and then Muz and I had to be rescued – we were in the annex listening and watching – when all of a sudden we were floating – yes we nearly floated away- well not exactly but we did have a river crossing under us and under the truck.

We were very lucky as Ron the owner of the camp  had his empty water tank blown 500 metres and his front verandah flooded. Our awning and annex stood up to the severe wind and our CGear matting withstood the water. This matting is the best – it keeps the sand/grit out – has a double layer and is rather like shade cloth to look at and is soft to walk on. Very easy to keep clean and folds up flat and not bulky like the clip together foam squares.

The toilets here are just amazing – Ron makes them from limestone rocks cemented together, forming a circular pattern, like a maze-Muz and I sometimes play in here-Brenda doesn’t like this… and we sit on a bucket and when we have done our business we put a scoop of lime sand on top. Ron comes twice a day to empty the bucket. We use Dettol hand cleaner – and we eat from plastic plates-to save water-that way we can all have a shower every day and a tank will last us 4-5 days.

When we are not fishing or lizard spotting we help Brenda fossick on the beach – beautiful twisted, swirled shells abound the beach here. Some are so tiny that Muz and I are unable to pick them up and Brenda has to help. We have put our collection in our ‘treasure box’ – to show you when we return to COP.

Brenda has introduced yarn bombing to Cactus Beach. She has ‘dropped’ a piece at the A-frame-this is where bore water is available for clothes washing or a cold shower-not drinkable-smells like sulphur. Some of you may recognise the piece….

In the evenings we play a game of scrabble and Brenda knits – she is knitting Murray a sock, and we read or Muz and I listen to the wind and the rain or the frogs.

Fortunately while we have been at Cactus Beach the sun has shone every day charging our solar panels – only once has Murray run the genie – so all the electric devices eg computer, phones, shavers, camera, drill, toothbrush batteries could be recharged.

the wind has become too much to bear-the contstant flap flap.. thunderstorms and rough seas saw us move on - CEDUNA - here we come..