Ceduna and the Epic Fail!!!

We left Streaky Bay yesterday and made our way the short distance down the road to Ceduna.  We booked into a caravan park a short distance out of town, Shelly Beach caravan park, and set up camp once again. The spot is so nice we decided to stay here 2 nights. 

 The caravan park is right on the beach just behind the dunes. The kids had a great time exploring the park and the beach, and found some enormous beetles they have nick-named Big Freddie! We jumped on our bikes and rode into town, finding the fish factory, a grain export station and the light house. Ceduna also have automated toilets the kids found so much fun they used them twice!! 

This morning I thought it would be awesome to go sand boarding, after I was told the dunes here were awesome.  Troy also wanted to go for a fish, so we packed for the day, Troy got all his stuff ready, I packed a lunch, and off we went.  The caravan park manager had told Ronan the place to go for sand boarding was at Davenport Creek.  She failed to mention ( or maybe she did and Ronan forgot) the 30km of unsealed road you had to drive to get there!! Every time we turned a corner the dunes seemed to get further away, but we persisted! We eventually got there to find some dunes.

These dunes were not what we expected so we hiked through the dunes, persisting despite the sand flies, in search of at least one dune that we could try our hand at sand boarding. Troy had bought the boards especially, and we really wanted to use them.  We eventually found a dune big enough that we could give it a shot. EPIC FAIL! Not sure if it was the boards or our technique, but we could not do it, although we had a bit of fun trying!

Troy decided to have a bit of a fish, then realised he had forgotten bait. We headed back into town to get some bait, when he realised he had left his rod at the dunes! I left him with his other two rods and the kids on the pier at Denial Bay to try and catch some King George whiting, while I went back to try and find the rod, unfortunately to no avail. When I got back to find them, Stella had caught a King George and Troy had not. 

Needless to say, Troy didn't have such a great day today. Hope tomorrow brings him more joy!! And a King George! 

Baird Bay and Streaky Bay

Well today had high expectations and after our 12hr drive it really needed to be worth our while. And it was. We met up with Alan, Chris and Mick from the Baird Bay Eco Experience, 3 of the 4 people who live in this town!! We wet suited up and off we went.  We came straight across a group of dolphins and jumped in. The dolphins were fantastic, swimming all around us. We even saw a baby, Finn, who was too cute!!

The kids took to snorkelling quite well, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, Ronan even playing tiggie with them apparently!!

We then headed over to the sea lion colony that lives on the island nearby. 

These were so playful it was so much fun being in the water with them. One tried to chew on the boat, then make a meal of my toes!! Troy got a kiss from one twice. They seemed to close their eyes and lay down on the sea bed playing possum, then they would come to life and flip around you. It was awesome!! 

We then watched them ride the waves like they were body surfing. What a life!!

We were then treated to a hot milo and biscuit, which went down a treat!!  We headed back into shore after such an amazing, yet casual and laid back experience. It was super!

We then packed up camp and headed to Streaky Bay via Murphy's Haystacks, which are large formations of granite, and that's about it. A great photo op but not much else!!

We only just fit into the Streaky Bay caravan park, ending up in the overflow. The joys of winging it!! 

Great park though. Went for a ride through a very quiet town and had dinner at the pub. 

Marathon Drive

After getting Bill and Connie out of bed at the crack of dawn we set off early, leaving Red Cliffs with the intention of driving to Mount Remarkable. We crossed the border into South Australia, stopping at Quarantine to be searched for fruit and veg, and then filled up with petrol in Renmark. 

We stopped in Burra and had a burger at Harry's deli, which was delicious! Can't quite believe the South Australian countryside. It is so desolate we couldn't find anywhere we wanted to stop so we kept on driving. 

Unfortunately we drove a little too far and ran out of petrol but were saved within about 30sec by a couple who not only sympathized with our dilemma but also who had a 25L jerry can on board that was full of unleaded!!! So we were quickly back on the road, only to find we were about 1km short of the first petrol station in Port Augusta!! We filled up there and hit the road again.  After seeing the weather conditions for the next few days we set our sights for Baird Bay so we could surprise the kids with a dolphin and sea lion swim tomorrow before the cold change hits on Wednesday. Troy did a super job, as did the kids (thank goodness for the loom phenomenon) and we got to Baird Bay, about 900km from Red Cliffs, at 8:15pm after filling up once more!! We found the free stay park on the beach and set up camp in the dark, to awaken to this this morning

Red Cliffs

Day 2 was a nice civilized drive to Red Cliffs to catch up with Bill and Connie, Troy's grandparents. We took the kids to the local pool for a swim, as it was a balmy 36 degrees! We then headed to the local RSL for an early birthday celebration for Connie, as we will be away for her 90th birthday party. Great meal while listening to Bill's stories of yesteryear. Even Connie contributed to the conversation. We learned that she was a nanny to some very important people in Sydney. At home we were treated to Connie's dessert creation called Cathedral Windows. Delicious!!! 

We're off!!!

Well it still seems unbelievable but we have started our journey. After about 47 loads of washing, cleaning the house, emptying the bins and putting the neighbours in charge, we have left the safe and secure comfort of our home for the great southern land!! We listened to our Aussie CD, curtesy of an awesome KK present, which is sure to become our travel ritual. The kids can already belt out You're the Voice as well as Farnsey and are getting the hang of the lyrics from Khe Sanh!! 

We travelled to a place called Vaughaun Springs where we have set up for the night at a free stay park. We went for a short hike around the springs and found some of the heritage gold digging sites (sadly no gold was found!), before heading to the Five Flags hotel for a very delicious pub meal!! 

One More Sleep!!

YIPPPPEEEEE!!!!! One more sleep!!  Not that I think I will get much sleep tonight, what with all the washing, cleaning and packing to do!!  Not the mention all the mental check lists that are going through my head.  Last day of work today was a doozy, very busy but thankfully the day went really quickly and was drama free.  Dropped Chloe to the Dolittles, aka Julian and Sharni's, where she will spend the next three months in the company of two other dogs, three cats, three birds, three rabbits and nine fish! Hope these animals are still all accounted for when we pick her up again!! Mum and Dad in law stopped in for a goodbye toast by way of a nice glass of red which put Troy out like a light, only of course after watching the Hawks take a great win from the hands of the Bombers.  Go Hawks!!

Two Weeks and Counting

Just on two weeks to go, and we have now booked a little more!!  So much for winging it!!  We visited the caravan and camping show and met Brian from Kooljaman at Cape Leveque.  It was bizarre seeing him all the way down here (he looked a little chilly!), but during our conversation with him he told Troy he would teach him how to catch a baramundi.  Needless to say, we have booked a full day tour with him during our stay there!  Let's hope the Barra are biting!!  We also spoke to a few people who live over in south WA and got some great information from them.  As we are hitting the south west of WA during school holidays, this info will be very useful!  We also met Colin, apparently the man who knows everyone in the Kimberley.  If you have a problem, call Colin and he'll fix it, and if he can't fix it he will know someone who can.  Sounds like a handy contact to have!!

We left the show purchasing only a couple of items, and still happy with the caravan we originally bought, so that was great.  Bring on the 29th!