15 December
Up and at them, packed and ready to go well before 10am, the
aim was to start tootling towards Tumby Bay.
Whilst packing up Colman (as always) got to talking to some neighbours
who told him about a Big Rig (that’s what we are now called (thanks to The V)) Park
just outside of Tumby Bay. Opposite the
airport and the cemetery (some strange pattern is beginning to emerge here!!),
it had no power, some water, as well as facilities to get rid of your
sewage. We decided to give this a try
because we really hadn’t properly tested that part yet, would we have enough
water, how would we go with running on batteries & the generator and so on
and forth. We drove straight through
which wasn’t far at all 114km and found the spot no problem. We were the only ones there, it was big,
there were trees and we decided to have the bedroom view over the cemetery and the
kitchen & outdoor dining area (!!) over the golf course. We set up and then took a drive into Tumby to
get our permit $5 per night, cute little town with a gorgeous beach and a nice
pub for our “Welcome to Tumby drink”, we then checked out the cemetery, lot
less kids, more teenagers and some interesting epitaphs, but nothing very
old. Came back had a BBQ and relaxed.
16 December
Up at sparrow fart, not sure what is going on with this up
early business but sleeping in seems to be impossible at the moment. We cranked up the generator, started up the
coffee machine & turned on the hot water system, and the generator
died. We unplugged the fridge, kept on
the hot water heater and cranked up the generator, and the generator died. We kept the fridge unplugged, turned off the hot
water system (priorities) and made coffee, all was well. We then turned off the coffee machine &
turned on the hot water system and the generator died. One expletive didn’t wait for the next
(mostly from Colman) but luckily by just starting it up every time it went out
we managed to get enough hot water for both of us to have a shower. Which I might add was very pleasant, the
shower not the generator crap! We will
need to see about this damn generator! Hmphff!
Went for a huge
stroll along Tumby Beach, I was surprised by the amount of seaweed in places
but it was very secluded and the water was also relatively warm, no thought of
going for a swim though – not that silly (no comments here please). Along the way we discovered that someone had
obviously decided that every beach should have its own Hills cloths hoist so
stuck out there in the middle of nothing was a clothes line with a rusty
bicycle without wheels or a seat.
Needless to say C felt the need to pose for a photo, with some persuasionJ), hiked back and got a
little bit sunburnt. Had a wander around
town, checked out a few shops (nothing to write home about), on the way home
found a geocache and then just puddle about the ‘house’. Then we had a visitor, Gary the mechanic,
about an hour later I looked out the window to see this character propped up on
his ute with the mandatory dog talking the ears off Colman with a beer in his
hand and a slur in his voice. Apparently
Gary (along with his dog) was building his own bus and was in the beginning
stages of same and was looking for hints, clues and information with lots of
his own stories to tell.
17 December
The same damn palaver with the generator, but again we
managed to get enough water for what we needed and then we were off to Port
Lincoln to get a couple of things, check out the CP we will be camping in on
our return and then off to catch up with a friend of ours - PetarZ. Had coffee at his place, followed by the
Royal tour of Lincoln & surrounds. Went
to a look out to get a feel for the lay of the land, very sheltered and calm
waters with lots of tuna & oyster tanks/beds. Then we had lunch, C had seafood chowder
which was very nice & I had my standard Salt & Pepper calamari, yum…Then
we headed off…Some of these places were amazing, went around the Marina, the
smallest boat I reckon would have been about 50 feet and some. Did see one for sale that made us think of friends
who are wanting to buy one, Alan this would be perfect for you and Jenny would
love it too! Petar explained the
difference between the prawn boats which had black ‘wing’ type things which
flipped over each side to drag the nets which scoop up anything floating
along. There are slots in these things
were the prawns drop through and are graded accordingly, all the other “stuff”
gets dumped back into the ocean, hopefully in a healthy state!! There were tuna
boats, some for the farmed tuna, these guys get bred in huge circular net type pens
where they live and get scooped up when required. The wild tuna is another thing. They get caught at sea and put into huge
circular net type baskets, the tuna boat then calls for a smaller tender boats
to come out and take charge of these baskets.
They get dragged (slowly) closer to shore where they are kept until
required. This basically happens when
(usually the Japanese) have a look at the tuna swimming around in the basket
via video link and they pick the one they want.
Someone then hops into the basket with all these tuna and wearing white
gloves they gather the specific tuna that is being requested by the customer. The tuna is carried on board (with white
gloves) it gets a spike into the back of the neck (instant death), all the
stuff (internal organs) that could taint the flavour of the tuna are removed and
it is snap frozen between 2 over sized sponge mattresses. These tuna can fetch up to ……. Wait for it ……….$25,000.00
each!!!! More money than sense, who knows but I wouldn’t pay that for 1 fish! The
only tuna canning factory in Oz is located here in PL, but the tuna here is too
good to can so they import fish which they then can and presumably sell as Oz
tune?!? There were also oyster boats, and a couple of
plain yachts for leisure activity. The
names around here is the like the who’s who of ‘The Worlds Richest’, oh how the
other half live. Mind you it was funny
because the ‘well-off’ got the ocean & harbour view, the next level down
got the harbour view and the next level after that got these poky little houses
set at the end of a battle axe drives. To
get into the driveway of this “estate” you actually had to go over the footpath
curb, no slopping driveway entrance, the driveway to 6 villas was wide enough
to cope with an average size car. There
would be no chance of anything wider than a Laser getting through that entrance,
the turning circle once you got to the villas was just a smidge off having to
do a 3 point turn and the whole thing was lined with brush fencing. The villas themselves kind of dead ended and
should some lunatic decide to test if brush fences would burn one would want to
hope that they could jump tall buildings at a single bound! Something else again I didn’t get, but I guess
they do get to ‘live in the marina’, no thanks.
We kept traveling out of Lincoln and towards Coffin Bay, named not after
a coffin as I thought but more on that later when we come back down with my
mother late January. We did a few scenic
lookouts along the way and the views were spectacular, it had been raining and over
cast in Lincoln but the clouds lifted and it was gorgeous afternoon. We checked out the Coffin Bay CP for next year
and did a tour of the town, all the clichés about Australia came true there,
there actually were kangaroos on the main street and apparently last week there
were also emu’s plus chicks doing the same.
The harbour is very sheltered and apparently great for fishing, all you
do is find yourself a spot and when the tide changes throw your line in. At the incoming tide, all the fish swim past
your line, at the outgoing tide they do it again, and the stupid ones stop and have
a nibble, has no one told them there is no such thing as a free lunch. Really am not sure how I will go will this
whole fishing thing. Had coffee at the
local, really friendly people, and ran into another friend of Petar (he really
does know everyone) who Petar asked about a campsite just out of Coffin Bay
called North Shields CP, he thought it had been closed but wasn’t sure……. So that was our next stop. Did a few dirt tracks and eventually found
the turn off to this campsite. Now the
guy we met did say he thought the site was closed but this turned out to be ‘interesting’. Now, I’m sure you have all heard of the film Deliverance,
and the little tune that goes along with it, well by rights this should have
started to play as we drove through the cracked & over grown entrance
way. I was ready to turn and leave but
Petar was going to check it out, C was stuck in the back seat riding shotgun! All I wanted to do was wind up the window and
lock the doors and hit reverse gear, but Petar spotted a car parked outside a……
something that would once have been called a cabin I guess. So off we drove up to the car/cabin and out
comes this apparition. Imagine a mix of
ZZ top, Chopper Reid, Father Christmas and then give him 1970’s style board
shorts and a shifty attitude. I couldn’t
leave quick enough and I can tell you for nothing that I won’t be going
anywhere near that place again!! That was truly an unsettling experience; I could
just imagine the gates creaking shut behind us and we are never heard of again….I
do have a great imagination! Mind you,
as we left we saw two others of the same ilk coming out of the shrubbery, C
said smiling toothlessly and waving, I say lunaticish & scary! We then headed off to Kellidie Bay, a little
town/village running between the road and the beach and completely overgrown, apparently
they learnt nothing from the bushfire a few years back. You drive into this place and come to a
T-junction where one sign points left and reads ‘One Way’ and the other sign
point right and reads ‘One way’. As
opposed to what I don’t know but it did leave us scratching our heads as to what
exactly they were trying to say.
Apparently 20 years ago you could buy a place here for $30,000, now they
are looking at a few more zeros at the end.
Started heading back to Lincoln, checked out a few more storage places
for Xmas and then we left Petar and headed back to Tumby. The drive home was an absolute nightmare, it
was just before 9pm and just that real twilight light (you know what I mean),
the clouds were making these amazing formation and it really looked like a
cyclone was forming. To add to all that the
lightning was like nothing I have ever seen, the entire horizon was lit up with
lightning coming from what looked like 4 or 5 storm fronts. The words Armageddon kept coming to mind and I
have never been more glad to get home.
Where we sat cocooned, me with a double whisky and C with a red, eating apricot
& chocolate gingerbread and watched the light show. It literally was like a huge candle burning
outside, when the left wasn’t lit the right lit up and so it went on and on,
but it never actually got dark, just kept on with lightning bolts, down,
across, like fingers arching out. Me! Bed!
Undercover!
18 December
Today was tidy day, nothing to report except we had our
usual entertainment with the damn generator (oh we did notice that there was a supplier
in Lincoln, I do feel a visit is required very soon!) C hooked up our solar
panels and I did secretary stuff, of which I have now had enough – so Good Bye!
xxxMoMo&Co
