Saturday 17 June 2017
Wednesday 21 March 2012
21st March – Day 47
Decided to head for Mildura this morning, time to head home!
We stopped in Renmark along the way, what a pretty little town! Visited a couple of wineries and had lunch before making the final leg to Mildura. Carl was very tired again, so I took the leg from Renmark and into Mildura. The landscape is still a lot of wheat and sheep, once we got to just before Renmark and close to the Murray, we could see a lot more wineries etc. Every time we crossed the Murray I fell in love with it - what a picture it is!
Never been to Mildura before – big place. We had pizza for tea, been a while since we had take away.
Tomorrow we will be heading for Charlton, then home and back to the real world on Friday.
Until next time!!! xx
Swing Bridge over the Murray just out of Renmark SA.
20th March – Day 46
This morning we were woken at 7:30am to the buzzing of shears, barking dogs and of course sheep bleating!
Once again, we got off earlier than usual. We usually try to make a leisurely start to the day as you don’t want to be in the next spot too early, it all depends on where you are and what you intend to do.
I just can’t believe the amount of wheat fields, all the eye can see as we drove was either wheat or sheep – where does all the wheat go, and if there is so much lamb, how come it’s so expensive?
I have been doing a bit of the driving over the last couple of days as Carl has been getting quite tired. He has been driving until lunch, and then I’ve been doing the last leg – until today, when we reached the last leg and he decided that he didn’t want to stay there! We had intended staying at Burra, a gorgeous little town apparently originated as a copper mining town, the Cornish people – beautiful little cottages – anyway, he took one look at the park and flatly refused to stop, so on we went, and here we are at Morgan on the Murray. The minute we got out of the car at the caravan park, we took off our thongs and walked around on the beautiful grass!!! We haven’t had grass for weeks and weeks! It was a real treat.
We are right on the Murray, next to a Ferry crossing. We went for a walk along the banks and came across a Paddle steamer called ‘Marion’, she is 115 years old! We had heard all about her on the radio along our travels and were admiring her from the shore when the perser came on deck and invited us aboard for a guided tour! They are all volunteers and are doing a trip up the Murray, one trip is taking 27 passengers, 3 days, 2 nights - $800, he thought it was good value, we thought it bloody expensive – just depends on interests I guess.
It is extremely hot here tonight, oppressively hot. Apparently they are expecting rain later on. Carl is buggered, so we don’t know where we’ll travel to tomorrow, Renmark is a bit close, Mildura might be a bit far, we’ll see how the wind blows!
Until tomorrow xx
The Mighty Murray
19th March – Day 45
The movement in the park was early this morning, so of course that meant we were awake early, so we headed off early as well.
We are heading across to go through Port Augusta; first stop was The Big Galah! It is also the place which is the half way point from the East to West Coast.
We decided to stop at Iron Knob – we had seen the Iron works when we were in Whyalla, so wanted to see where it all started. Bit like a forgotten town! We went to the info centre, which is a museum. Iron Knob is a ‘self proclaimed city’ there is no council, no rates; all works that get done are done by volunteers. You do wonder how people survive in places like that! We had a cuppa and watched their little movie and gave them a donation it was done quite well and we were taken with them. I also bought myself an Iron Ore Necklace and earrings.
From there we travelled to Nuttbush Retreat where we are staying overnight. The property is a working sheep station and they’re shearing at the moment – 25,000 sheep, 250,000 acres. It has been rather interesting watching, we aren’t allowed in the shearing shed, but you can see quite a bit from outside. We have been here since about 2, and all you can hear is the sheep bleeting and the dogs barking. There is a tiny little pup that is in a pen with a couple of sheep, it just looks like it’s natural instinct – eveytime one of the sheep left the pack, he would go chasing after it and bring it back.
Whilst I was watching, one of the sheep dogs took off and ran to the water trough, jumped in, dived under the water at least twice, jumped out, shook himself off, then went back to work!
After the sheep have been Shawn, they are drenched/sprayed with something. There were 2 people doing this, one was a girl, who the dog belonged to, the other was a young fellow, who the little girl belonged to, about the same age as Lennon I’d say. She followed him everywhere and he lifted her over fences as he went. We have just finished dinner, and there she is, swinging on the rails outside the dining room - just brought up in the environment!
Most of the shearers are so young, Carl checked out their cars and lots had P’s on them, one was a hotted up outback ute with ‘Redneck Women’ on it – a girl roustabout! Carl has just come back from the games room, he’s been talking to one of the girls over there – she is a wool classer. Apparently the sheep that we saw coming out very cut today were from the apprentices from the local TAFE, the experienced shearers were on the other side. Apparently the fully fledged shearers shear up to 200 per day, the trainees are only expected to shear 80 per day. The Shearers get $2.60 per sheep, trainees, $200 per day, once they shear over 80 they get $2.60 per sheep
It is very hot and dusty, and believe it or not – windy! They have a pool so we were able to cool down. As a rule you can get a meal here, but as she has 45 shearers, that’s not available at the moment. It’s quite a set up!
The night before we left Streaky Bay, Bill, one of our neighbours showed me how he was cooking a roast in his electric frying pan – guess what I’m cooking tonight??? We’ve got TV reception as well (we can only get digital, most of the coast is still analogue) - first time in nearly 2 weeks, so we might get to watch MKR for the first time in ages. Forget that, Carl has arranged that we go to the Rec Room and watch it with some of the shearing crew; the girls are mostly wool classers.
As we go to sleep tonight, we will not hear the sound of waves or birds, but the bleet of sheep, so if that doesn’t work, we can go out and count them!!!! J
Until tomorrow xx
Overnight Stay at Nuttbush Retreat Pandurra Station Est. 1895
18th March – Day 44
Today we left the coast and headed inland and on our way home. We pulled into the Wudinna Caravan Park very early, much to the dislike of the receptionist – it wasn’t 2 and they hadn’t cleaned the ablution block as yet! – I told him it wasn’t a problem and we didn’t need the toilets or showers, so it was fine J He let us park and set up the van. After having lunch we headed off into the Gawler Ranges. I really wanted to see the Organ Pipes – 40km of dirt road, then 8km of 4WD track, then 500m of 4WD footwork – we finally made it - Spectacular! Although Carl doesn’t think much of ‘rocks’!
I’d had great hopes of seeing a Major Mitchell Cockatoo, but unfortunately not so. We have been fortunate along the way to sight Port Lincoln Parrots and a rare eagle at one stage – Carl is very into birds.
We looked at some other rock formations along the way home, the Pilappa Rock looked like a mini Eyers Rock. The next one we went to was a bit uninspiring, but as you can see, one thing did get my attention!!!
Spoke to the kids tonight, starting to get a bit fidgety about getting home now, although Carl is still good. Tomorrow we are heading to a working sheep farm to stay overnight; they are shearing at the moment, so hopefully we’ll get an experience there
Until tomorrow xx
Saturday 17 March 2012
17th March – Day 43
We didn’t do a lot today, needed a bit of a down day. Went for a drive around what they call ‘Westall Loop’ thinking that we might find a good beach so that Carl could do some surf fishing, and me some laying about reading! We did see what they call, ‘the granites’ beautiful coloured granite, there was also a great rock pool – wind was howling, water was cold, so I didn’t brave it! We ended up at ‘Back Beach’ wind still howling – I was covered in sand, my eyes and ears were full once we left! No fish, but that’s ok!
When we got back to the park I decided to put the feet up and relax in my chair and catch some sun – something different for a change! J There was a lady in front of our van sunning herself on the beach, very unusual for here, it’s a real fishing village – I thought I was being very out there sitting in my chair in my bathers let alone on the beach! She came up to me and asked ‘does anyone swim here?” I replied, ‘only paddle, there are sharks in the water’, she said I only want to go out to the blue line, ‘mmm, they saw a 9 foot shark off the pier, which is just outside the blue line – go for it if you want!’ I think she will, she is here for 9 days and is a swimmer! She thinks she might go and swim in the enclosure at the jetty, mmm – got holes in it!
So we’re packing up and heading inland tomorrow. Intentions were to go to Minipa, they don’t have a vacancy, going to Wudinna instead.
So goodbye coastline!!
So goodbye coastline!!
Until tomorrow xx
(No pics today – I forgot the camera!)
16th March – Day 42
What a day!!
We got up in time to be at Baird Bay by 8:45am. We were sized up for wetsuits and bustled onto the boat, 14 of us altogether. The weather was not so bad, but the wind was not so good!
We headed out to see the dolphins first, but they were a long way out, so the skipper decided to go to the sea lions and then come back to the dolphins.
The sea lions, OMG!!! They were so much fun! Carl got some magnificent video of them, and then I got some great pics – one little sea lion was watching me, so I would roll, then he would roll, I would dive, so he would dive, I would look at him and he would swim toward me and look at me – very cute! I only left the water because I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore! Once I got out of the water, the wind was so bad I couldn’t feel my body anymore! Don’t know which one was worse!
After we had done our time with the sea lions, we headed back to the dolphins, as it turns out, one of them had given birth to a new baby overnight and the pod was not coming anywhere near the people in the water – hence the swim with the Dolphins was aborted – I think I was too cold to get in anyway, and the waves were a bit high for me as well. Not only that I was a little nervous about it as the deckhand, who went in the water with us, had a thing strapped to his leg, it’s called a shark radar, what it does is send out a ray 15 metres around him to ward off sharks, outside that mark you were not safe. When we’d gone out the first time, I struggled a little in the current to keep within the band, so I decided being tired and cold, big waves etc, I was much better off being an observer. We actually did get to see more of the dolphins than the ones in the water as they kept swimming away from the swimmers.
After our great morning we headed off to have a look at the accommodation at the farm – Carl had been speaking to this guy over the net on a car forum. Hmmmmmm! The road in was enough to really put us off, it was a shocker, and lots of it. We caught up with him at the house; we’d already met them in person at the local PO, which they run. Anyway, he took us down to the cabins, oh dear!! I kept saying to myself, they’re old, but that doesn’t always tell you what the inside is like, so long as it’s clean, they had people who had just left and he said that he hadn’t checked on them yet. MY GOD!!! I felt like I was back at work walking into an abandoned property – crap everywhere, cockroach in the bottom of the fridge, I’m sure there were bedbugs in the bed, it was filthy! We tried to keep smiling and thanking him so much for the offer, but we were very concerned about the road in etc, etc!! Very nice people, but a different world – kids were cute!
After that we headed back to the van, as soon as we arrived, Barry and Hazel popped over for happy hour, they’re leaving tomorrow. I shared my crabs with Barry, they were very large and I was not going to get through them all, and Carl and Hazel are both allergic to them – took us forever to have our entree! Carl then cooked the flathead that he’d caught yesterday and we had that with bought chips from the park kiosk (wrapped up in newspaper – haven’t seen that for years! I think that’s because it’s a health risk, but we are in the country and all those rules go out the window in places like this) I also cooked my Razor fish, interesting, not unpleasant, but I think that as my first time at cooking it I probably didn’t cook it quick enough. Each piece is the size of a scallop, the texture of squid, and that’s how you are supposed to cook it, quick and hot – I played around too much and it wasn’t as tender as it should have been, but quite sweet in flavour.
Until tomorrow, another beautiful day in paradise!! xx
Out to meet with the Sea Lions
15th March – Day 41
We had decided to get up early this morning before the change of tide – they’re quite odd here, there was a very low tide very early yesterday morning, so we expected another one late yesterday afternoon at least – didn’t happen. When I woke up at 7am I said to Carl, quick, get up, the tides on its way back in and we’ll miss being able to gather the Razor fish. By the time he’d had a cup of tea, we realized it was on its way out, over 24hours since we’d had a low tide! No one seems to be able to work them out!
Anyway, collect Razor fish we did. To start with, we didn’t quite know what to expect, and then we came across a rather large patch of them, all standing up in the sand. We gathered about 9 of them and brought them back to the park where Carl cracked them open – once again we had no idea what we were doing. As you can see by the pictures, the reward is very little for the amount of work you have to put in! We are told that the whiting love them, so we are going to use the ones that got a bit ruined in the opening process as bait.
Before we head out, we are going to book into the pub for tea – ROAST NIGHT!!!!
Carl threw in a line at a spot one of the old blokes, who has been coming here for 54 years for the whiting, said that this was the spot to go to if you didn’t have a boat. That’s if you like to catch fish that you have to throw back because they are undersized!
Headed down to ‘Back Beach’ for a surf fish, and first line in, Carl caught a beautiful flathead. We heard a whole lot of squawking etc and Carl realized that a huge cuttlefish had just been washed up onto the beach as we had been sitting there. Not to waste any time, Carl took the best part for bait – the whole thing in length would have been nearly 2ft long!
At this stage I was happy, meal planned for tomorrow night (tonight is roast night at the pub!) had my Razor fish for entree, flathead for mains, and flathead head to try and catch some Blue swimmer crabs for more entree. As luck would have it, as Carl was cleaning our flathead, and drawing some attention from the locals at the caravan park, one of the guys came up and asked Carl if he liked crabs, Carl said he did, was allergic to them, but his wife loved them! God love him, out came 4 crabs, big ones as well! Not only were they cooked he’d prepared them for eating as well! Into the fridge for entree tomorrow! There is a couple next door who have a disabled daughter(CP) with them, maybe late 30’s. She said to me, ‘I love crabs’ – so of course I shared! When I called into see her this afternoon she was eating it, she was very happy!
We didn’t bring a broom away with us – just something we didn’t think about, got a little hand broom, that’s all. The park, as some of them do, has a mat pegged out in the area where the annex should be. Ours has been getting pretty messy with leaves blowing onto it. I mentioned to our other neighbours that I was the messiest in the strip, but it would have to wait until we left and the wind blew it away as I didn’t have a broom. We went out to dinner and had our ‘roast dinner’, as we drove back to the van, I looked at the mat and said to Carl, ‘the fairies have been, our mat is swept!’ Carl said ‘that will be Hazel’ – and yes it was, god love Hazel, she’d swept it out for me! She was still doing hers, but wanted to get ours done before we came home! Really lovely people, and not just because she swept my mat!
Hope the weather is good tomorrow – swimming with the seals! J
Until Tomorrow xx
Razor Fish from collection to finished product!
14th March – Day 40
(I have to make a correction to yesterday’s blog, they were collecting Razor fish, not swordfish!!)
Today was a bit windy, but when it died down, it was quite warm. We went for a drive and found some spots we might try out tomorrow, fishing wise that is. We drove to some beautiful places, great views. We went to a place called the whistling rocks and the blow hole – boy oh boy did those rocks whistle!!! The air is pushed up through the holes by the waves, it sounds like the dolphin we heard the other day, only louder, much louder – we could hear it from the car park! The blow hole wasn’t working, just as well, I realised afterwards that the platform we were standing on, when the blowhole worked, would have blown all over us!
The spot where we are is magnificent! We have been here for one night, 4 to go. We have what’s called an ocean view site – we were sitting having happy hour with the people next door when a lady asked us how we got such beautiful sites, my neighbour said that she asked for it, we just happened upon it, last spot they had available. Apparently it’s $2 per night extra – worth every cent!!
We are planning an early start – 8am (lol) want to go out and collect some of these Razor fish we have seen them all getting, as well as pump some nippers so that we can catch some King George Whiting. Once Carl has cleaned them, I’ll take the carcasses and go to the jetty and try to get some Blue swimmer crabs – this is a great life!!
But – started missing home tonight! Got a call from Eli, he wanted to ring Pa to tell him that he had been doing wee in the potty all day and was wearing undies! Lennon also had a chat, they’re better on the phone than on Skype, except poor Eli keeps pushing the mute button! We have been sending them a postcard each from every place we stay, I tell them a story on each one – can’t wait to cuddle them!
We can only get ABC (we can only get digital TV, and you can only get analogue here), so my lovely neighbour has invited us in to watch MKR – hanging out! Carl is out talking to the new neighbours on the other side, they’re travelling Oz with a disabled daughter – got a walking frame – brave people!!!
Until tomorrow xx
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