27^th February – Day 24

Today was the day of all days! The absolute highlight of our trip so far – our SHARK CAGE DIVE!

We had to be up early, and be at the Marina by 6.30am. I was so nervous that I hadn’t slept very well, Carl slept like a top!

The boat is a pretty state of the arts type of one, can have up to 39 people (even had hot showers on board) we had 9 on our trip, so plenty of room! It was a pretty good trip out, had a pod of dolphins follow us out for a short time, playing in the wake of the boat.

We arrived at the Neptune Islands at about 9:30 and did a tour of the seal colony, then finally dropped anchor at around 10am.

Carl was pretty cool, me, I was having heart palpitations and feeling very in denial about going in – at this point I had already stated that I didn’t think that I could do it. The crew were so fantastic, the deckhand went out of his way (knowing that I was having second thoughts) to talk to me and explain the whole process and answered all my ‘dumb’ questions, like – ‘if I panic and want to come to the surface, can I?’ – ‘what if I want to get out?’ etc, etc, etc. He was so good, that in the end, not only did I want to go in; I wanted to jump the queue as there was a shark swimming around the cage and I thought I was going to miss out and Carl was taking too long to get in!

It was brilliant! We had one small 2.5 metre shark attack the cage, he was an aggressive one. They are enormous – one was up to 4.5 metres. They seemed to come from out of nowhere and eye ball you as they swim past! That was unnerving seeing them do that, their eyes, feeling as though they were locked in on you!

Carl had an underwater camera that Bomber lent to us, but the crew made sure that everyone had a camera, some on movie, some taking pics. Whilst we were under water, they were also  filming above, so when they dragged the bait across to the cage, we could see the shark swimming towards it and attacking it, as they were filming from on top –  they combined everyones pics, we have a great DVD and CD of pics from the whole day. There were only 2 dives for the day, 5 in one, 4 in the other, Carl & I were in the 4 with a young English couple, he is an experienced diver, she was nervous and unsure like me, we gave each other encouragement to go in!

All I can say is, if you get the opportunity to experience it, ‘Just do it!’

Until tomorrow xx

                           New Zealand Fur Seal Colony, thats what the Sharks come to have for Dinner

                                             Especially the Cubs who are born in November

                                                                       The CAGE!

                                                                      The Cage in place.!

Our First Sighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               Eyeballing Us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Help

                                                    Notice he is now opening up for Lunch!

                                                                   Departing the Scene

Exiting The Cage at the end of our dive.

                                                                       Before we entered

                                                                      Happy Faces

                                                          No Description required

                                                                          Ditto                    

                                                              One Awesome day

26^th February – Day 23

Today was quite over cast so we decided to head into town and go to the Information  place and maybe head to the National Park to see what it’s like and find a place that we can take our van to. We found a gorgeous place, “September Beach” a couple of people had mentioned it to us when we were in Marion Bay, they are Port Lincoln locals, so take the locals advice I say!

The road in is pretty good until the last 15km, which then becomes dirt, which is also fine, but then there is some really bad dirt road – I’ve left it with Carl. Worst comes to worst, we can just do some day trips in.

We went to a place called Cape Donington Lighthouse, and there was a pod of dolphins swimming along – spectacular!

I think I have mentioned before that we have met some great and varied people along the way. The recent ones are Kathryn & Perry – we first met them in Whyalla, he has a Triton and so started the boy conversation, nice people, about our age, second time round and just decided they needed to do the trip – rented their house out for 12 months – Qld (Billie, he reminds me of your Stephen )  And then there’s Gail & Dave, I’ve just taken to her, she’s great - 18 months older than me, she’s had breast cancer and they decided, it was now or never – put the house on the market and off they went! Eva & David, she’s a teacher, about my age, threw in the towel and went on the road, never had or towed a van before, they have an 11 year old dog that has arthritis, after a month on the road he did a tendon, $1300 later they are doing visits individually whilst the other stays home to look after the dog? Then there are the ones who got on the road and found out that their dog was in pup! Due to drop them any day, so she was just going to lock her in the shower recess, no room elsewhere! I love all their stories, it’s wonderful. I guess the one that we both love the most is the young girl & her friend who are on the road to raise money, she had Hodgkinsons Disease. The stubby holder says, “ONE GIRL, ONE YEAR, ONE MOTORHOME, $1M TARGET” - her website is –  www.cruisin4acure.org.au  - we donated of course, and have a stubby holder! All donations will be accepted!!

As I have been sitting here typing there has been a pod of Dolphins swimming in our little beach, they are having so much fun!

We got our days and dates confused, knew we were do the shark dive on the 27^th, but thought it was Tuesday, only realised late last night that it is tomorrow!!! Eeeeeeh! Eeeeeeeh! Eeeeeeh! OMG!!!!

                                          4wd track to Woodcutters Beach in  Lincoln National Park

Donnington Beach and Cottage in Lincoln National Park

The Cottage is available to rent from Parks SA.

25^th February – Day 22

We packed up headed for Port Lincoln this morning. I still wasn’t feeling real flash, but Carl was much better. We called into the Chemist and bought some things to get me through, and some Iron for Carl.

The coast line along the way was absolutely gorgeous,  Lots of Islands and Lincoln National Park in the background.

This is where Makybe Diva came from; there is  a statue is on the foreshore.

The town is gorgeous. The Caravan Park is good; if it had shade it would be great, if we could get TV reception it would be magnificent!

It was a very hot day here today, for those who really know me, I spent 1 hour in the water!!!

Meeting some great people along the way, early drinks and swim with one couple then evening chats with another – I think I like this life!!

Tonight I tried out the smoker; I have been speaking to a number of people who use them, and tasted some snapper done in it, very nice. Carl caught a Tommy Rough yesterday, it’s a bit like a herring, so I’ll throw that in as well and see how it comes up – looking forward to it!

I liked it; Carl is still to be sold!!

Until tomorrow xx

                                            Boston Island Boston Bay just outside Port Lincoln

                                                                Deb Smoking the Fish

24^th February - Day 21

It’s a hot one today!

We started off just sitting around this morning, but we did get going and headed down the beach that we’d made plans to go to. We got to the beach, Carl let down the tyres, and as we drove along the beach, we realised that the tide was out so far that we wouldn’t be able to fish; we could nearly walk out to Tumby Island. We can’t believe the tide differences. We went for a ride down the beach, and then decided to go to some beaches off the beaten track! – Absolutely beautiful! The water is a beautiful green and the sand is as fine as powder, and we had it all to ourselves as well!

We had a late lunch, “chips and milk shakes” – Laura and Kris, do you remember our days at Loch Sport, it made me think of them!

We spent the afternoon hanging around the van as Carl was not feeling 100% so he had a lay down & I just loafed around doing lots of things but nothing in particular.

Neither of us felt real flash by the end of the evening – I also felt quite unwell!

As the end of the night approached, Carl called me in to look at something that he thought may have made him feel unwell. I read the bottle; it said ‘laxative”  L Before we left home, the doctor told Carl that he needed a course of Iron. Carl grabbed a bottle from the top of the fridge that he thought were his iron tabs. Not so, they were laxatives!! He has been taking them every 3^rd night for 3 weeks! No wonder he has the trots, still tired and not feeling well!!!

Until tomorrow x

                                     Driving onto the Beach   

Tide Drop

Guess Who

                                              Driving along the Beach Tumby Bay

                                             Having a fish at Red Cliffs South of Tumby Bay

23^rd February – Day 20

We packed up this morning and drove to Tumby Bay, only 70km down the road, but the pack up and set up certainly takes its toll.

We went for a walk along the beach – there is 10km of sand here! Then we went for a walk along the board walk through the mangroves. This place is just beautiful!

As we walked along the beach we found a dolphin washed up onto the beach, dead, not a pretty sight!

Tomorrow we will take the car for a drive along the beach to the point where the mainland is close to Tumby Island, we’ll do some fishing and some more relaxing!!!

Until tomorrow xx

                                           Tumby Island @ Tumby Bay

Deb hiding in the Hide.

                                            Mangrove Boardwalk Tumby Bay

22^nd February – Day 19

Today was a bit of a quiet day, we needed a slow day. We headed down to the surf beach that we had been to before and just relaxed! Carl caught a couple of yellow fin whiting, but we have so much fish that he gave it to the people in the van behind us.

I had crab for entree tonight, very yum!

We have decided to pack up and go to Tumby Bay tomorrow – we have heard so many great things about how beautiful it is.

It’s interesting the people you meet. I must admit that I thought that it was all grey nomads on the road. Not so! We have met a number of people, near retirement age, who have had cancer and just decided that they just had to do it, just go and enjoy life, it’s too short to be bogged down in the day to day things in life.

Until tomorrow xx

21^st February – Day 18

Today was the big fishing day that we had come to Arno Bay for. I have to tell you, the wind and sea was vicious!

We had an easy start, for a usual fishing expedition. We met at the ramp at 8am. There were six of us on the charter. Because of the tide, and when the change was expected, Ash decided that we’d do some whiting fishing before we headed out to the snapper grounds. We also did some crabbing. I think that was the clincher for 2 of the people on board, going around and around and around picking up the crab pots made them very sea sick. Dean, the older chap ended up being ok by the end of the day, but the young girl Sarah was out for the count the entire trip. Once we got out to the snapper fields it was rods down. Whilst we were fishing, Ash was catching little fish to use as live bait. So we waited, and waited – occasionally a fish was brought in, here size is 38cm, but Ash prefers people only to keep 40cm and over. We got a couple of them, I got nothing. Then I had a great bite and I got a bit excited and did all the wrong things and lost it. Not long after that, I got another bite, and I was thinking over and over in my head all the things Carl’s told me about what to do when you get a bite, the minute I knew I had him, I yelled out, “I’m on”.  Everyone had to pull in their rods, and all of them were standing around encouraging me and all giving me instructions on what to do – All I wanted to do was get the bloody thing in the boat as my arms were aching from the weight of it. It was peeling off line as fast as I was trying to wind it in.  Once I landed it, I couldn’t stop smiling, Carl couldn’t either, and he was so thrilled for me!  It was 76cm in length, don’t know how much it weighed, I presume a lot! 5kg+

I was an expert at crabbing and now also an expert at Snapper fishing – what else can I try!

The guys were more intent than ever on getting a big one after that, as one of the guys said, can’t let a woman show us up!

The boat landed about 5 x 40cm ones, one about 55cm, another one the size of mine, and a huge 95cm one. Unfortunately it wasn’t Carls turn to get a big one this trip; he’ll have to wait for another time.

Once we got back to the caravan park, Dean & his wife (she didn’t come out with us) and I cooked the crabs – about 14 massive ones – Dean goes crabbing at Ardrossan every year and he said that he’s never seen them this big. Luckily I brought my big boiler as I tried to put one of the smaller ones in my large saucepan and I couldn’t fit it in as the body of it wouldn’t fit, let alone the legs!  Carl & young Luke filleted the fish and divided it all up. The young girl Sarah went straight to bed! Rob didn’t stay or want any of his fish as he was leaving last night and had nothing to store it in.

Dinner for me was Crab – so sweet! Carl had King George whiting – yummo!!

Looks like we’ll be eating a lot of snapper in the coming weeks!

Until tomorrow xx

                                                Deb's Big Catch!

                                          Notice the Swell in the Background!

                                             Two Happy campers!

                                                    10kg of Fish that I came to catch, but didn't.

20^th February – Day 17

We woke up this morning and it was like a mass exodus out of the Caravan Park, place was empty! We had another leisurely day, needed to do the washing and housework (I swept the floor!) We headed in to Cleve to have a look around, as once again, the weather is very overcast and windy. Cleve is where May Gibbs grew up and the area supposedly influenced her many Gumnut Baby books – not sure where they think she got the inspiration from, maybe the place was a lot different back in 1880, or maybe it was just the same and she had to have an imagination to get her through the days! Very slow wheat farming town.

We had lunch then headed back to the van, and the usual flow of travellers started coming in.  We are finding, that people start to arrive to settle in for the night between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, then leave between 8 and 9 in the morning, we travel the same as well.

We went down to the surf beach, but the wind made it prohibitive to fish, so I caught a nap instead! We were chatting to an old bloke who has been on the road with his wife since 2005! They have a huge van, he says he’d give her anything to keep her on the road; she’s even got an ironing board! So many different people, with so many different stories to tell!

From the jetty here you can see the tuna farms  further out, a couple of young Italian boys have just landed themselves a job out there feeding the fish, they told Carl that how long will depend on how seasick they get – it’s pretty rough out there.

It’s all systems go for tomorrow, so tonight I’ll need to get things ready. We don’t have an early start, which is good, 8am at the Marina. Apparently we are to do some whiting fishing before the turn of the tide, then head out for the snapper. It might be along day, so I think I need to get an early night.

Until tomorrow. Xx

Arno Bay Jetty

19^th February – Day 16

Today hasn’t been the best of weather. We woke at about 3am to terrible winds, then thunder and rain by about 6am. It’s been very overcast and showery – but we’re still in shorts and t-shirts!

We had a very leisurely start to the day – I’d think I read half a book by lunch. Once the weather picked up we went down to the local surf beach. Most of the beaches here are covered in sea grass – up to 2 feet in height where we are. Carl was a happy little fisherman – landed 3 yellow fin whiting and a Tommy rough in about 1.5 hours.

I think I have mentioned in the past that Tommy rough are something that these SA people fish for, and keep – no size or bag limit. So we tried some tonight for entree – it was the size of most of the ones we had seen caught – hmmm! Taste was ok, but you’d need a heap to make a feed! Might try and smoke it next time, they’re like a herring

Whiting was yum!

Spoke on Skype to the kids tonight. The boys were so funny. Lennon got all silly, as you do when you’re 4. Eli, he wanted to watch Chipmunks with Pa. Pa told him that they were on holiday with us (they’re on a movie on our laptop) Eli told us that he was going to get on a train and visit. Next thing we see, Lennon is telling us that he’s just going to drop off Eli and his bag and then he’ll go home. In the distance we see Eli sitting on his Thomas the tank train, bag on the back, heading for the front door. We had to close off as he was getting too upset that he couldn’t visit Pa – dear little thing!

Thank goodness my dear boy is a landscaper – he has mown and cared for my garden! Thanks my lovely!

Carl has gone down to the jetty to hopefully get me a squid. We go on our fishing trip on Tuesday, hopefully for Carl’s sake that we get some decent Snapper.

Until next time – xx

Sea Grass Caravan Park in Back Ground

18^th February – Day 15

We packed up and drove to Arno Bay this morning along the way we say Iron Duke, an Iron ore cut – huge!

We are going to stay for about 5 nights.

Caravan Park is full with travellers. People coming and going along the coast, very interesting to talk to them all. We are learning so much.

We have already made notes about things we need to do before the next trip – special shockers and  a car fridge/freezer with all the wiring – will be worth its weight in gold!

Carl has just come back from the jetty, he’s still learning about squid catching! They seem to fish for squid, whiting and Tommy rough off the jetties.

We are booked to go on our fishing trip on the 21^st. The beach is like the rest of the coast, huge amounts of sea grass washed up on the sand.

Until next time!

xx                                                           Caravan Park @ Arno Bay

                                            

17^th February – Day 14

Certainly doesn’t feel like 2 weeks on the road – we’d be packing up and coming home if we were on our usual summer holiday!

This morning we did a tour of the steel works – it was fabulous! We got an insight right from the beginning when the Iron Ore arrives by train from the coal pit, right through to it being made into railway sleepers – excellent, excellent, excellent!

After the tour, we came home and did some relaxing. I have to tell you, driving every day is very tiring, and being in close quarters with another 24/7 is also very tiring – we have always given each other down time, but this has enlightened it again for us!

For those of you who really know me, it was Thursday yesterday, and I had ‘me time’ last night – a day late! Feet, nails and legs feel normal again! J

After we had some great relax time, we took a drive to Point Lowly lighthouse, can’t believe how far the tide goes out – people looked like ants they were so far out!

We had to do some shopping today to stock up for Arno Bay, believe there’s not much there in the way of shopping.

I spoke to our babies tonight – Lennon told me he was standing on one leg whilst he spoke to me, and poor little Eli, every time I heard him say ‘it’s my turn’, the phone would go dead – he kept touching the mute button! We have made a date for Skype, Sunday, 6:30 Vic time so that we can talk to them all.

Wind is picking up again, so might go and start getting things packed away for our drive down the coast.

Until next time! Xxx

                                              The Ex Navy Vessel WHYALLA

                                                       Blast Furnance OneSteel Whyalla

                                                           Coking battereies being emptied

                         Coal coated in Paper Mache to stop dust& help keep the enviroment clean!

                               Railway Tracks exiting the reheat furnance before being rolled.

 The Finished Product. Railway Tracks waiting shipment to the end user. OneSteel in Whyalla is the Only place in Australia to make them.

16^th February - Day 13

We got on our way early this morning, once again to the old bloke swimming and singing, he changed it up a bit this morning, he sang, ‘How do I love thee ..’

We drove through Port Augusta and are now in Whyalla, it is so windy! I went for a walk to the beach before, I must have gone out at least 250metres, and I was still just ankle deep – tide is huge!

This is also an industrial city, but nicer than Port Pirie. There is a huge steel works here; we are going to do a tour of it tomorrow.

We had a look around today, Photos. Just not do some of the views justice, even though it is industrial, some views are breathtaking!

We had a look at sculpture of ‘The Loaded Dog’ which is based on Henry Lawson’s bush tale, about a mischievous retriever who made off with a stick of explosive and dragged the fuse through the campfire, lighting it and creating mayhem in the chase that followed. It is made of steel, so it’s location in Whyalla is apt.
                                                                  Whyalla Marina

                                                               Whyalla Foreshore

                                               The Loaded Dog, Mischa or Taj

15^th February – Day 12

It was very hot all night last night, got a slight breeze around 4am.  The local shift workers came home to their cabins about 3 and  didn’t go quiet until about 5am – finally some sleep, but then, we were woken by an old bloke  swimming down the river singing at the top of his voice – “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day.........” – gotta laugh!

We went for a drive into the Southern Flinders Rangers today. We walked to Telowie Gorge and back, then drove through the Rangers – so rugged looking!

We have decided to make an early night of it, and get on the road early tomorrow; we’re both a bit tired due to lack of sleep and heat last night. We’re thinking we may just spend 2 nights in Whyalla instead of the planned 3, depends on how we feel when we get there. Spending 2 days in Port Pirie is enough industrial for the time being.

Carl spoke with Andrea, who is looking after our cat. Apparently Jetson is very comfortable! Ella loves him, as soon as she gets out of the car, she calls for him, and has been telling people, ‘this is Jetson, he is my cat for a while’ – thank you so much Andrea & Darren, really appreciate it!

We are headed for Whyalla tomorrow.

Until tomorrow! Xx
                                             Telowie Gorge Southern Flinders Ranges

                                                                           As Above

                                 The ONLY sighting of The RARE Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby

                                                                   An Angry Local

14^th February – Day 11

This morning we packed up headed on to Port Pirie.

You certainly meet some ‘different’ people along the way!! There was a couple in a van next to us, who told us that they normally travel with old people – they would have been in their 70’s, don’t know how old he thinks old is? He also started packing up at lunch time the day before, we had packed up and gone the next morning and he was backing the van for about the 10^th time, he’d told Carl he was great at it now, he didn’t need his wife’s help anymore – would hate to see how long it took him when he wasn’t good at it!

Port  Pirie is very hot. We are in a park overlooking the river. One thing that we’ve noticed along our way is that there are a lot workers living in the van parks.

This is a real industrial town, has a lead smelter works and silos for the wheat and grain. We couldn’t get over the difference in the height of the river, it’s tidal and looks like it could be close to a 3 metre tide.

We didn’t do much today, the weather was just too hot.
                                                  Low Tide at port Pirie

                                            Sunset Port Pirie

13^th February – Day 10

We woke up to the most glorious day today, and we’re going to make it a lazy one and make the most of it!

Had a very lazy start, went into Moonta, had a look around and I had a Cornish Pastie.  The history of Moonta is that it was a copper mining town and most of the miners came here from Cornwell – hence a very Cornish history to go with it!

We had lunch, did the museum, and then went back to beach – oh what a beach!!

Tried to catch some swimmer crabs, but they didn’t co-operate tonight. Carl has gone down to hopefully catch me a squid or two! They also didn’t co-operate.

Tomorrow we are moving on to Port Pirie for 2 nights

Until tomorrow! Xx
                                         So far Our Favourite Beach, especially good for Grandchildren lol!

12^th February – Day 9

We packed up and left Marion Bay today and headed for Port Hughes, which we had been told was beautiful. A huge van park, with the beach just over the dunes via a short board walk.

What a beach!!! Miles and miles of sand – gorgeous!  Of course, there is the usual long jetty that all these coastal towns seem to have. They are all so very high as well. Carl informs me that it is due to the huge tide changes that both the Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf experience.

I had been told that the Blue Swimmers were on the go – so off we went, crab net in hand.

You are now talking to an expert!!!!  In no time at all, I had one in the net and within less than an hour I had caught 3, but only one keeper.

                                                         The Hunter & Gatherer!

I have to tell you, this crab catching, cooking and eating is not for the starving! All that work, not just the catching, but the eating as well, for very little return! Just as well it was only entree!

Carl went down a little later to go fishing for squid, but the wind was really bad again, so he came home and we made an early night of it – we needed it, been quite busy, with lots of driving.