Day 74 - 18/2/14 – Coffin Bay National Park SA

The boys had hardly had any sleep the night before and slept in until after 8:30. As soon as they had inhaled their breakfast they were off collecting more lizards and playing cricket. Bugger!

Damo and Brendan both do home schooling as they are away for a year so when they were called in we took the opportunity to get the boys school year rolling with a solid 45 minutes of writing and maths! The cogs are moving pretty slowly upstairs for both of them after 2 ½ months so De really has her work cut out for her at the moment!

After more lizard catching and scorpion avoiding the boys had a couple of hours nana nap to try and catch up on last night’s debacle. After yesterdays success fishing was top of the list so we headed to the same beach with De coming along as well. As we pulled up three old blokes were coming up each with two big salmon in their hands, they had only been there for half an hour and a school had come through, Bingo!

Today was different to yesterday as the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was a lot colder, especially in the water, so the enthusiasm didn’t take long to dissipate. I kept trying for about 40 minutes but could see the troops were getting anxious so we ended up heading back empty handed.

The boys were out lizarding again as soon as we returned but this time managed to find a bearded dragon which Brendon, sure to be the next Steve Irwin, had caught. I had put together some Thai fish cakes using Jacko’s salmon and the two families had a great dinner together. Once the boys were in bed we had a few more drinks, inviting another young couple over to join us, with the Dads having a couple of extra chocolate rums to finish off another relaxing day Doin The Block!

Day 73 - 17/2/14 – Taylors Landing – Coffin Bay National Park SA

We had been in Lincoln National Park for three night which is a loooong time for us to be in the same place and I was ready to hit the road. There had only been two other campers at the grounds, a couple of backpackers in a van that read books and meditated for the whole time we were there and an old couple who were a little of the strange side so we were hoping there would be some other people to talk to in Coffin Bay and really hoped there would be some kids around for the boys to interact with. After doing a few jobs in Pt Lincoln we pointed the Izzygator towards Coffin Bay.

Coffin Bay is a cute little town with a mixture of seaside shacks and some big mansion overlooking the bay that is dotted with oyster leases. We headed out to the national park about 20 minutes out of town and as we drove in the first van we saw belonged to Damo and Brendon, the boys mates who we have meet a couple of times along the road, but hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. To say the least we were ecstatic to see them and the boys barrelled out of the car before it had even stopped!

I love my kids and they are reasonably good at entertaining themselves but on a trip like this it is great when they have other kids around as they entertain each other and it gives them a break from just having each other to play with. After lunch they decided to try and catch a goanna and after doing some research on the internet they made a trap and put some food in it for them. The only problem was that the food that they had captured was a couple of lizards and....a scorpion! At least they had been smart enough to use pliers to pick it up! The lizards seemed like fun so a while later they all had a few pet ones crawling all over them!

Black thing under rock is a scorpion...I wasn't going to lift it up to get a pic!

It wasn’t long before they came up with the idea of all of them having a sleep ‘over’ in the tent tonight. When the parents agreed it felt like Juan Antonio had just said Sideney again as there were man hugs and cheers freely flowing! It wasn’t long after the tent was set up when we the dads and boys headed off to do some beach fishing at Golden Beach.

We only have two beach rods so I rigged my Mum’s rod up with a spinning reel for jack while Sam and I ‘shared’ my big rod with my Dad’s massive old Alvey reel. We were chasing Australian Salmon with metal slugs or lures and I wasn’t sure how Jacko would go casting such a big rod but after he chose out his lure he seemed to be going OK and I left him to his own devices. Sambo and I were taking it in turns but it was pretty hard for him and he and Brendon eventually headed for the sand dunes to fight some invisible enemy after about 30 minutes. 

Jacko was still going strong and after about 45 minutes he yelled at me that he thinks he has something. There was a lot of weed in the water catching the lures so my initial thought was that but within about half a second I saw the way the rod was bent over and bouncing and I made a mad dash over to him while trying to wind my line in. The fish was putting up a bloody good fight and managed to get airborne a couple of times and when I saw it I thought we were in real trouble as I had only used 10lb leader. I let him pull it in himself bar helping him hold the rod as his arms were about to fall off. It took a couple of minutes to get it on the sand and Sam and Damo grabbed it and held it aloft like they had just won the footy premiership. I thought they were excited about sleeping in the tent but this had taken it to a new level! We all fished for another 45 minutes but Jacko’s was the only one landed. As we got back to the truck Damo and the boys gave three cheers for Jacko and I think he was pretty chuffed!

After dinner the boys headed to the tent with some serious warnings and Dave and Laurance, who are both French but have been living in Australia for ages, joined us for a couple of drinks. It was pretty hard to accept the offer from Dave who had bought over a bottle of Rare VSOP Cognac. It tasted all the sweeter knowing we were going to have a night in the van alone tonight!

We eventually managed to quieten the boys down around 9:30 and headed inside for a blissful nights sleep! Until around 2:30am when the boys both came back to sleep in the van! Damo had been cold so he left at 10:30 and while they had been asleep Brendon has woke up around midnight followed by my two pork chops. Dave had heard Brendon and dragged him around 1:30 and my boys ended up being terrified by the sounds of the kangaroos jumping around and eventually gave up at 2:30. It wasn’t the whole night alone but anything is better than nothing!!!

Day 72 - 16/2/14 – Taylors Landing SA

I can’t really explain why but today the camera stayed inside its case. I usually take about 20 or 30 photos a day and delete about half of them but today it was zip, nein, nada! I searched the camera, the go pro the computer and I can't find any.....So I guess today it is going to be left to my literary nous to paint the picture for you!

We were up reasonably early and while the weather wasn’t perfect it was a whole lot better than it had been for the previous two days. So we scoffed down some breakfast and headed for the boat ramp. Yeah! We are getting pretty good at getting Rufus down and the everything in her so we were ready to go. There was a GPS marker about 1 nautical mile down the beach. It didn’t look to be too far out so I thought that would be the starting point for the day’s excitement.

Our only challenge was that the ramp and beach that we were on was protected from the wind so as soon as we got 30 meters of the beach the waves, while they were far from big, were big enough for me to have a second thought. I knew we would be fine getting there but I have been in SA long enough to see how quickly the wind can blow up. It took every part of my better judgement as I really wanted to catch some decent fish, but within 2 minutes of being on the water any hope of a catching a bag full was goooone! As a consolation we decided to sit on the edge of the seaweed in a 'white hole' 20 meters of the beach and have a fish anyway. After an hour we dropped De back to shore and the boys kept fishing with me for another hour or so. Sam ended up being king got the day getting 4 fish with Jack and I only one a piece but none were anything to write home about. While we had caught a few I was pretty devastated that we were going to leave Lincoln without having a decent fish....oh well next time!

In the afternoon De went for a long walk with the boys tagging along on their bikes while I tidied up the back of the truck and organised the wiring on the auxiliary battery. This thing has been the bain of my existence for the past week. To make things easy I installed a switch that automatically switches between solar and battery. In Whyalla, at the start of the week, it was diagnosed that the switch was burnt out, the problem being that they are almost impossible to find. I ended up getting the manufacturer to send one directly to me, and I was picking it up tomorrow and  was looking forward to not have to undo and redo three plugs every time we drove somewhere!

I was really hopeful that the weather might change in the afternoon but was out of luck and ended up putting Rufus back on just before dinner. After having spent a few hours bobbing up and down we were all pretty tired and surrendered early to the sheets.

Day 71 - 15/2/14 – Taylors Landing SA

I was positive that the rain would have cleared this morning but was disappointed to hear the tink of rain as I woke. The boys were up around 7:30 and made their own breakfast and disappeared into the bushes to finish off their secret hideouts that they had started yesterday. I put my head back on the pillow and read for a while and it was after 9:30 before I climbed out of bed, and only then because the boys had invited us for ‘Mournos’ in their hideout.

After the boys had had a bit of fun with the video on their bikes we decided that the wind and drizzle was going to keep us of the water again today so we would head to the 4wd tracks along Seaford Bay that is on the ocean side of the peninsula. We spent the first 30 minutes or so driving along some basic 4wd tracks through typical bush scrub which turned into some pretty cool dunes at Cape Tournefort. Back on similar tracks we went to Wanna Lookout, which of course was the basis of about 45 jokes, all as funny as each other! "Do you Wanna go to the Lookout" Bahahahah!

We decided that this one must be the 13th apostle that got a little lost!

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After lunch we headed for the Sleaford – Wanna Dunes that I had heard was pretty spectacular. As soon as we drove over the first hill we were amazed at the size and expanse of the dunes, they seemed to go for ever. After letting the tires down to 20 PSI we rolled our way through what I imagined the Sahara Desert would look like, except on one side was a raging ocean. 

Thankfully there were numbered red marker poles to lead our way across the dunes and eventually we found a dune that looked perfect for the boys to ride. They had a great time and I was pretty close to climbing up and having a go myself. 

The peak of sandhill had a plume of sand blowing off it and it reminded me of the images you see of the snow blowing of the peak of Himalayan mountain peaks!

After about 5 kms of sand the path changed to a very very very rough rocky track that has been chiselled out of the limestone rock base. The landscape and views were spectacular but the bone jarring nature of the road slightly detracted from the experience! The boys enjoyed counting down the marker poles and cackled in delight as we passed through some of the crossings, especially where we were driving at some pretty acute angles!

No trick photography here!!

At the end of the track we pumped up our tyres and had a quick look down Whalers Way, that was unfortunately locked up and then headed back to camp. 

The sun did manage to show its head for a short time in the afternoon but not for long enough for anything spectacular to happen! The rocking back and forth in Izzy had drained us all and it wasn’t long before we were all in bed dreaming about clear weather tomorrow.

Day 70 - 14/2/14 – Port Lincoln -> Taylors Landing (Lincoln National Park) SA

The rain had set in well and truly as we hooked up the van and headed for Lincoln National Park. I was pretty excited as we were staying at one of the camping areas, Taylors landing, that had a boat ramp and as it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere we could get Rufus in the water and leave her on the beach overnight. I had also managed to garner a bunch of GPS markers for good fishing areas and was really looking forward to some real positive fishing.

We set up camp and I checked out the beach and boat ramp and I was happy we had chosen this area but the rain and wind was going to keep us off the water for today, hopefully tomorrow will be better!

After a nana nap the rain had cleared a bit so we decided to see some of the sights of Lincoln National Park which is the southern peninsula that forms Boston Harbour. The road snaked along the coastline that is filled with spectacular rocky coves, pristine white beaches, points that stretch out into the crystal clear water ending with a lighthouse at the end of Cape Donington. With about 1000 photos taken so far I am trying to find a way to make to the pictures slightly more interesting or maybe memorable! Fortunately my family are willing to humour me just enough to get a couple of different shots.

On the way back we climbed Stamford Hill that Flinders climbed back in 1802 in the hope of finding some fresh water. It was a pretty tough climb as the clouds had cleared away and the sun was starting to crank the humidity up. As it was also the first decent rain since last June every bug had gone into breeding overdrive as we were swarmed by flying, crawling and web making creepy-crawly. We made it to the summit and were rewarded with a spectacular view over the harbour across to Port Lincoln and across to the whole peninsula.

Our neighbours had told us about a Mulberry tree at one of the beaches that they had just visited, and had visited some 50 years ago as a young couple. The boys had no idea what a mulberry was so we tracked it down and munched down on a few as well as collecting a couple of dozen for a special valentines desert! 

I also had a bit of fun capturing pics of a couple of birds that I thought might be worth sharing.

It was pretty late in the afternoon before we got back to camp and after dinner I whipped up a Chantilly cream and Mulberry desert, not bad for a bush dinner! After we put the boys to bed De and I watched ‘The Help’ from our DVD library. I switched on the radio and enjoyed hearing Mitchy J tear through the South African top order and was lulled of to sleep to the dulcet tones of Jim Maxwell and co.

Day 69 - 13/2/14 – Second Creek -> Port Lincoln SA

The rain came down all evening and as today was caravan park day we were off nice and early. After being in small towns, most only having a population of 800 – 1500 for the last two weeks, it was a bit weird driving into Port Lincoln which is a pretty big regional town in SA. The rain had eased off a bit so we headed into town and kicked De out to have a couple of hours of quite time in a town with more than 10 shops! The boys and I then did the rounds of the tackle shops and picked up some supplies including me lashing out on a new $2.50 pair of boardies and three $6 t-shirts as well as a $10 pair of thongs.

We checked out the marina which is HUGE and home a the biggest fleet of trawlers I have ever seen. The photo below is only one line up, there are another 3 or 4 and that doesn't include all of the boats used for the fish farms!

The boys and I had a bit of fun with De as Port Lincoln is the home of the cage dive with great white sharks and all kinds of other creatures. As we drove around the marina I intentionally chose not to look at the shark dive signs and while she says she new I wouldn't do it, after making her jump out of a plane for mothers day, there was always the chance I could feed her to the sharks for Valentine's day! Aside from making De's sweat cold we managed to run into the local seal at the boat ramp who was more than happy to pose for a picture of two, and managed to save us a few hundred bucks on paying for a tour!

We spent the afternoon on the caravan park jetty trying in vain to catch a squid, however we at least saw a couple trailing our lures so I was feeling pretty hopeful for this evening as they are supposed to be a lot easier to catch at dusk, which is around 8pm in this part of the world!

The park had a full oven in it so De cooked up an awesome dinner of lamb shanks and roast vegies and early valentine’s day meal! As soon as the boys were in bed I headed for the jetty determined to get a squid. There were a few others there already but nothing to show for it. I set myself up and cast and cast and cast but with no result. A local bloke fishing at the end called me as a couple of squid had followed his lure in so we jigged our lures in front of them. I am guessing they must have liked his colour more as two ended up taking his while mine remained an unloved prawn looking thing. He managed to get another small one and when he was leaving offered them to me as well as showing me how to clean the small one. They are a comical creature squirting out these massive blobs of ink when they are caught and as they lay on the jetty they change colour from translucent to a dark woody brown.

I squided on for another half an hour but called it a night and proceeded to clean my other two. When I was shown previously there was no ink at all and apart from being really slimy it was fairly easy to do. The first step is to pull its head off and as I did my first one I ruptured this guys ink sack which he must have thought to keep relatively full. My hands and him were now completely covered in something that resembles ink from a black ball point pen. 5 minutes later I had three calamari tubes that looked like they had been dipped in a tub of tar! Back at camp I managed to wash all of the ink off, stored the bits for bait and packed away some tubes to show the boys in the morning. I wanted to tell them that I caught them but new I would be found out in the end.

The rain started again just as we were going to bed and it was awesome to have the sound of rain tinking on top of the van as we drifted off to sleep.

Day 68 - 12/2/14 – Lipson Cove – Second Creek (Near Tumby Bay) SA

In stark contrast to every other day since the 2^nd of January we awoke to gray skies! While school started a couple of weeks ago we thought it was about time we tried to turn the boys brains back on so we started our first effort as home schooling with 30 minutes of free writing. It was pretty successful and I am looking forward to reading some more interesting stories!

It wasn’t raining yet but it wasn’t far off so instead of a swim the boys surfed a couple of sand dunes while we packed the van up. 

As I was backing the truck on I noticed that we were down to one bar on the fuel gauge so we hurriedly chucked everything in and headed to the next town with everything crossed that we would make it! After a couple of minutes the gauge changed its mind (probably due to the angle we were on) and now read two bars, easily enough to get us the 20km to Tumby Bay.  Feeew!

Happily we made it however while we were filling up in with diesel Jack noticed that, in the rush to get going and not waste any fuel, I hadn’t taken the hand brake of the van! Now I know why it had felt a little sluggish....Ahhhh!!! After having two previous experiences with caravans and wheels falling off I decided to do the smart thing (unusual I know) and take it to a workshop to have it checked out. We aren’t far from the Nullarbor Plain and the last thing I want to happen is have trouble out there! We pulled into the local New Holland tractor dealership and they were happy too look at it. While one wheel felt good the other just had a little bit too much movement in it so we (I handed him spanners and the like) took it off and regreased the bearings all for the princely sum of $22! In Brisbane that probably would have cost $150+ labour!

Tumby Bay looked magnificent but with the gray skies came a cool breeze and the desire to swim was minimal so we moved on to our camp for the night, right on the edge of an estuarine beach 10kms to the south. For lunch we had crumbed whiting and oysters and with a few of them I used sweet chilli sauce instead of egg wash, yummy! De even liked the oysters!

Eat your heart out Manu!

 I then set the boys up and sent them fishing while De and I relaxed. Unfortunately there was so much sea weed it wasn’t conducive to fishing and soon after the rain finally started to tumble from the sky. No problem, thanks to the Berry’s we were well prepared for afternoons like this and we settled in for a relaxing afternoon watching Turbo the snail tear up the Indy 500!

The weather turned pretty foul so we closed up for the night safe and sound in The Gator!