Fishing where there’s no fish

I agreed to take Dylan fishing off the local jetty yesterday morning , and dragged Tyler and Kayla along too, letting Tracy have a sleep in. 

The weather was perfect, the water was perfect and the wind was fairly bearable. If only someone told the fish to join us. Despite our efforts, there was not a single fish to be seen other than a few nuisance puffer fish that were probably all of 6cm long and were happily feasting on our bait. 

We stuck it out for nearly 2 hours before admitting defeat and skulking back to the van for a well needed Weber breakfast of bacon and eggs. 

The day then took us exploring slightly north to a place called The Granites - this was literally 4-5 granite boulders on the beach surrounded by absolutely nothing else. The good thing about the location was that we could drive onto the beach and do a bit of exploring and getting the feel of Jerry the Jeep on the sand. I was still a bit cautious thanks to the incoming tide, the looming storm clouds and no sign of anyone else to help if I got stuck, so it was a bit tame, but enough to feel how the car handled the soft sand. 

We had some lunch back at the van, then headed into Robe for a gander. 

The beach at Robe is as amazingly clear as ever, but still windy and cold, so we spent an hour or two walking around looking at the local shops whilst letting the kids expel some of their built up energy at the foreshore. 

The weather was forecast to be getting windier over the next few days, so at this stage it appears we may be simply amusing ourselves at camp for tomorrow. 

Morning arrived and as we always try to do, we were up at 6am and heading off to the local RSL War Memorial for Anzac Day tribute. The kids have done this nearly every year of their life now and are very respectful and understanding. Pity the same can’t be said about Taz who displayed a little too much interest in another dog who had joined the back of the crowd. 

Mid morning saw us all pile into the car with a couple of beach rods in the hope of getting a Salmon or two on one of the beaches we drove along yesterday. It took a whole two casts to work out the only thing we were going to catch was a bucket load of seaweed. We tried several spots over a distance of about 10km up the beach, but it was no use. The weed was thicker than my waistline after too many Weber cook-ups. 

One of the highlights for the kids was letting them drive Jerry up the beach. Yes, completely illegal, but hey, what could possibly go wrong. Well we found out when a car pulled up to us to talk whilst Tyler was driving, and it was at this moment I found out Tyler didn’t actually know how to brake. When he did finally put his foot on the pedal, we stopped so suddenly that my noggin got thrown against the windscreen as the car changed from 40km/hr to 0 in about 2 metres on soft sand. Maybe we should have been wearing seatbelts. Or.... maybe I shouldn’t have been letting my 14 year old be driving a $60k + car on a public beach. 

A late lunch (on the Weber of course) marked the end of our touring and a lazy day followed. The wind was picking up and we could tell it was going to be a cold messy night. 

I did manage to get out and take a few photos of Larry the Lobster before tea just because I could. (And as Kayla was the only one that agreed to come with me, she of course featured in my photo shoot as well!)

Tomorrow is pack up day. At this stage it appears we won’t get wet before we leave, but I am really hoping we get a tail wind helping the drive homeward. 

Kingston in Autumn

Finally, after a very manageable 3 hour drive, we arrived at our home for the next 5 days. The Kingston foreshore caravan park is very basic, with no facilities for the kids other than the beach across the road, yet still have a reason to charge exorbitant rates for the invisible pool and invisible jumping pillow. 

However, being the week after Easter, it met one of my old man criteria, by being only about a third occupied, plenty of space, no ferals or over-active kids, and a choice of sites. 

I know it is Autumn and it is supposed to be cool, but I am not ready for the warmth to disappear yet... unlike Tracy who is completely over the warm weather and wants the cold to arrive so we can start the combustion heater and get the house to a tolerable temperature. (Yep... I don’t understand that logic either). 

Arriving at midday gave us plenty of time for a relaxing stroll along the beach, and giving Taz some much needed exercise. The night temperature was about 3 degrees and saw us snuggled up inside under the quilts very early, watching TV and/or reading books.

Waking this morning to a beautiful mostly clear blue sky, meant that the Weber needed to be fired up and laden with bacon and eggs. After clean-up, we went for a 3km walk to the local shops and jetty to get some supplies for tea. Somehow, it was lunch time when we arrived back, and then it was off for a fishing session on the Jetty with Dylan and Kayla..... in 30 knot winds with no fish. 

A bit of R&R in the afternoon, mixed with a few more walks with Taz, and finally the Weber was on again for tea. 

A day of doing not much at all has left us all exhausted. I spent the night posting pictures and writing a couple of versions of my blogs, whilst Tracy and the kids watched a movie. This life has reinvigorated my thoughts of retiring as a caravan park owner by the beach (most likely with my mate Peter, because a:) he has a boat, and b:) Tracy has told me she has no intention of doing anything remotely like that!)

Tomorrow morning is going to see the kids and I at the jetty early to try our luck again. Let’s hope. 

A very different Easter

Chocolate eggs. Chocolate rabbits.  Chocolate anything. Oh it would be nice to be a child again and not on a 365 day diet that stops us thinking these thoughts. Just as well we have 3 amazing children that can (and do) have these thoughts and enjoy it for us. 

This year, Easter is very different for us in that we are not racing away with an unauthorised early hour off work on Thursday night to arrive at a packed campground in the dark for a 4 day getaway. In fact, on this Thursday night before Easter, I am working from home and Tracy is out with her friends.

On Friday, I pottered around the house, in the garden and had Tracy’s parents over for lunch. Saturday saw us catching up with some friends at the River Murray for the day, enjoying a day of knee boarding, boating, tubing and even some skiing by the kids (and maybe a drink or 3 with a BBQ tea)

Easter Sunday was a traditional morning hunt by the kids for the mysterious chocolate Bunny droppings in locations that the dog couldn’t reach overnight, followed by an hour or more of them pretending not to eat too much, yet somehow devouring what seemed to be nearly a Kg if chocolate. We then headed off to a beautiful Adelaide Hills winery called Anderson Hill. It is a beautiful location out the back of Lenswood with some great food and wine and 16 or so friends that joined us for a very different (for us) Easter Sunday. Finally, it was time to leave and head back home to start packing for our holiday starting tomorrow (Easter Monday)

This trip sees us away for 4 nights, coming back on Friday. Just in time for a few weekend tasks before the kids head back to school next Monday. 

We've got crabs

Today was all about Dylan getting his fishing fix. We had a bit of a lazy morning with the usual fry up on the Weber, then with fishing gear in hand, Dylan and I set off to try our luck at Carrickalinga to see if we could catch ourselves a salmon or two. The weather and water conditions were pretty near perfect, yet the fish weren't out to play. we had a number of small bites and finally Dylan discovered the source of our disappearing bait. A couple of nice big sand crabs later, and we decided to call it quits. Despite the lack of fish, it was nice spending some boy time out on our own.

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That afternoon, we all decided to go for a look the other way down the coast, and headed South. Tyler, Taz and I were in my car and we stopped at Lady bay for a bit of crabbing. This is one of those beaches that you never forget thanks to the very shallow still waters filtering through the rocky reef, providing a huge habitat for the thousands of tiny crabs.

Next stop was Second Valley. a tiny little beach nestled amongst the cliff faces, with a popular little jetty and swimming area. We spent a couple of hours doing not much at all whilst the kids went swimming, until it finally approached wine o'clock

Tonight was another beautiful sunset, and the warm weather saw us all wondering down the beach, relaxing, after a hard day of relaxing.

Catching Waves

The water was beautiful and calm this morning, perfect for the kayaks. Trouble is, we are about 500m away from the waters edge, with a boardwalk, gate and sand dunes in the middle of us and the sea. The kayaks are too heavy for 1 person to carry, but ok with the help of one of the boys. I finally managed to convince Tyler to help me carry one down so i could get out for an early morning paddle.
Some time later, the rest of the crew arrived, along with the second kayak. We all spent a good couple of hours paddling and generally enjoying the beautiful weather.

Taz was so anxious at being left alone on shore, he overcame his fear of water and swam out to me on the kayak and jumped on board.. Not overly sure this was a good idea as it now means I need to take him on every paddle. Best get him a life jacket methinks

Some of the gang below

After lunch, we decided to head off to Carrickalinga, which is 5 minutes down the road and provides a few surf waves for the kids (and us bigger kids). This was a fantastic way to escape the heat and the kids even got to meet the local dolphins swimming only 10-15 metres behind them

After a few exhausting hours, we all headed back for a very late wine o'clock, an even later Weber BBQ dinner,

Escaping the heat

It has been an average of about 39 degrees over the last week, with the last 2 days reaching over 41. 

And of course, this is the week we have chosen to go camping. At least our location for the week is down south by the sea, where it is forecast to be almost 20 degrees cooler. 

Leaving home at about 11, we set off for the 80km trip to Normanville where we were going to be for a week with the Hardy’s and Rist’s. 

With the Kayaks on the roof, 3 weeks worth of clothes and half the house jammed in the van, we were off. 

We arrived at our site at 12:30, which happened to be the hottest part of the day and got everything set up. 

There was enough grass to be classed as a nice site, and enough dirt to be classed as not such a nice site. 

But... we were about 2 minutes walking across boiling sand that was hot enough to burn all the fungus off our feet and into beautiful calm and clear water. 

The overcast conditions unfortunately didn’t lower the temperature much below 33, and it was a perfect day for cooling off. 

Tonight it actually ended up cool enough to be wearing a jumper, with a few spots of rain that sent us scampering for shelter for about a minute, every 15 minutes. 

Warm, but cool

There was s prediction of a small amount of rain in the early hours, so last night I decided to work on my erection skills in the new van. 

With the added height of this van, it was a little more of a challenge to reach up high enough and not have my mountainous midriff break free for the world to see, but being the shy guy I am, I let it all out as I set up the awning to provide the required shelter. 

And sure it enough, it was about 5am when I got woken up to the sound of about 8 drops of rain and then sunshine. I lay there for a couple of hours swearing at the weather man and wishing I had got up to go pee, and finally at just after 7 when I couldn’t hold on any longer, I got out of bed and did what I had to do. 

After the traditional Weber breakfast of bacon and eggs, I started pottering around trying to fix the issue of no mains water getting into the van. After becoming a Google certified caravan plumber, I finally managed to locate and undo the pressure limiting valve, release the stuck spring, and replumb, giving us the flow we needed. 

I celebrated with a 30 minute paddle on the kayak, battling a 30 knot head wind, only to be tipped out 15m from shore as Taz jumped aboard and upset the balance. 

After lunch saw us heading off to Raikkan, which is s little ghost town just past Narrung, that is home to the church featured on our $50 note. It was a good excuse to take some photos and to read up on some of the history of thiis old town. 

I would have liked to have gone for s further drive down the local dirt roads to just explore, but quite clearly my love of the ocean, farm lands, country roads and fresh air was not shared with others. So instead we headed back to camp to have a quiet drink or two (yes.... our 1st alcoholic drink of the day st 5pm..... what’s with that????). 

Tea tonight was steak, snags and salads with s few more drinks and a Cornetto for everyone kindly donated by the in-laws who were camping with us. 

Again, it became very cold, very quick, so bed was the obvious choice. 

Tomorrow looks like there will be no wind which will be a pleasant change, so should be a great day for the kayaks. 

Not so hot after all

After suffering through a 42 degree day yesterday, I was looking forward to today’s cooler forecast of 32 and being able to wallow in the shallow waters of Lake Albert, hoping people don’t mistake me for a beached dugong. 

This trip was the first in our “new to us” caravan. We now have a 17’ Outback Expanda and despite being the same design as our last van but with a few additions, I was constantly finding stuff that I had to work out. 

We were packed and ready to go at 10 am, and I was sweating more than Colonel Ssnders’ pet chicken. It was already the estimated high of 32 degrees and I needed to be in air conditioning. 

I got about 500m away (3 streets) when I realised I left my phone behind. To me, this is the equivalent of leaving the caravan behind. I managed to convince Tyler to run back as I couldn’t turn around with the van, which he was very nice and obliging to do. Luckily for us that this all happened because on my hot sweaty rush to leave, I had left the roller door up for all and sundry to explore our back yard. 

The trip very quickly turned from a “crickey it’s hot “ kinda day into a “what the...?” moment. The wind had picked up and by the time we got out the car, it was 21 degrees. 

Once mostly unpacked, the kids took the kayaks (which I discovered had almost fallen off the roof racks during the trip here) and headed into the Lake, which seems to have a maximum depth of about 70cm. 

The wind and cloud cover kept changing the “feels like” temperatures to anything between 12 and 23 degrees, which resulted in me getting frustrated and burnt thanks to my laziness and lack of desire to go back to the van to find s jumper and hat. 

Tea tonight was some beautifully cooked Pork chops on the Weber with some equally beautifully prepared mixed salads. 

It very quickly turned too cold to sit up past dusk, so into the  van we migrated and off to bed. 

Weather is going to be similar tomorrow so we may end up driving and exploring yet. 

Inappropriate dress code

The days have progressively got warmer and my tracksuit pants were getting shabbier and dirtier. But it doesn’t matter because I didn’t bring any shorts or other pants or any non-camping clothes! 

That’s ok when you are just bumming around the campgrounds and not really trying to impress anyone, but not necessarily ok when you decide to go for a walk up the street to a swanky Gin bar. But in true Barty fashion, I did it anyway and couldn’t care less. The Gin was going to taste the same regardless of how disheveled I looked. 

What made this visit even more different was that we left the kids at the caravan park with 16 year old Darcy whilst we sauntered down the road for our tasting session. (Not sure that meets Parenting 101 rules, but......). 

Of course by the time we got back and had a bit more to drink and cooked tea, we were exhausted from our big day out and went to bed early. It was the hottest day since winter today and I vowed to shoot home to get some shorts tomorrow to be more comfortable in the forecast 28 degrees. 

Tomorrow arrived after the hottest night since April with a minimum overnight temp of 21 degrees. I cooked up brekky on the Weber, then went home to get some shorts. 

I arrived back at the resort in my shorts and Lily white legs, to be greeted with a thunderstorm and sudden temperature drop of about 10 degrees, along with some gusty wind bursts that made things uncomfortable every now and then. 

I was sheltering inside with Taz when the call for help arrived. 

Daniels erection couldn’t stand up in the stormy weather and was falling down around Olivia, mich to her dismay. There was only one thing to do, and that was to puff my chest out and make sure that my erection would see her through until Daniel got home from work. It was very quickly over, and Liv was smiling again, knowing that her awning was now safe and secure in the gusty wind. 

We all lazed our way through the afternoon whilst the kids did mini golf, swimming, table tennis and screen time and topped off with the now seemingly mandatory wine o’clock. 

Off home tomorrow with Tracy working whilst we unpack and clean up, but thanks to the long trip home (about 10 minutes), I am hoping we will get some more lazy time tomorrow afternoon. 

I need space

After a hard day at the office yesterday, I got back to the camp site to be greeted with 2 swags on our only green patch, bikes everywhere and some exhausted kids. It seems like the day had been a success and everyone was happy and smiling- Phew. 

I sat down with a bourbon and finished off some of the emails I hadn’t got to at work. I was also very happy to be told that the Mardle’s has found my GoPro outside their tent. The happiest part of this was that it turned out to be the one I had lost at our last camping trip, and not only had I now recovered nearly $600 of camera, but I also had all the pictures from that last trip. 

Saturday morning was upon us before we knew it, and so the  mandatory Weber breakfast cook up began. 

A very lazy day followed ( as it should when camping) with the kids playing mini golf, swimming and playing on the jumping pillow. 

The afternoon soon launched into Wine O’clock ( as it should when camping) with a quick kids friend exchange in between - Kayla’s friend Hattie going home with Dylan’s friend Archie arriving a couple of hours earlier. One swag disappears but a tent gets erected on our ever diminishing grass. 

Wine o’clock soon melded into nap time (as it should when camping) and I went to lay down for a few Zzzzzz’s, albeit very interrupted with the dog barking or kids screaming or Tracy continuously coming into the van for 4 different bottles of wine. 

I got up just in time to start the Weber for tea, averting the situation where Tracy may have needed to start cooking and putting me in a position where I had to pretend I was ok with her using it. 

It was a much warmer night tonight. We may actually make it later than a 9pm bedtime. 

The Big trip

The planning for this trip was simple. Close to home was the only requirement. 

So on Wednesday night we packed our clothes and some food, then tonight (Thursday) we left home and travelled 10km to the Hahndorf Big4 resort. 

I am going to work from here tomorrow, and Tracy is going to work on Tuesday. We are being visited by some of the kids mates with a sleepover on both Friday and Saturday night and I think there might even be some time left for us to relax. 

It is so cold tonight the Brass Monkeys are clanging with every step and making it seem like Santa Claus is ringing his bell through the park

Almost cold enough to send me home to sit in front of the fire. Almost

We opened up a bottle of wine and finished off the night with a bourbon or two, before climbing into bed in an attempt to warm up. 

I am back in my happy place, albeit for only one night but knowing after one more day st work, I have 4 days of camping. 

Time to go home

The worst part of any holiday is going home (in my mind anyway. We are 1633km away from home, towing 2.2 tonne of van, and some very weary legs, knees and children. 

The majority of this trip until we reach Pt Augusta is also without Telstra service. I am not sure how we are going to survive without posting hourly updates on Facebook .....

We had originally planned this part of the trip to take two nights, however we have agreed to just get up and drive until we can’t drive anymore, and see where that gets us. 

Despite a horrible headwind that meant I was chewing through closer to 18litrea per 100km instead of the normal 12-13, I kept my foot down and soldiered on. 

The kids kept themselves entertained in the back seat playing Minecraft on their iPad’s, whilst Tracy dozed and jumped out of her seat in fright occasionally when I powered over a cattle grid across the road. 

We eventually stopped at 5:30pm after a 8am start and could hardly walk. 

We were at a roadside stop (called Bon Bon) with about 10 other vans with another beautiful sunset and the most incredibly clear night sky I have seen. The stars and Milky Way are just amazing to see when there are no city lights around

It was also nice to have a night where the temperature stayed above 5 degrees again.....

The morning greeted us with our last country sunrise, before we started on the last leg home. 

This was a little slower and thankfully a little easier on the fuel use thanks to a tail wind. We stopped at Pt Augusta for lunch and gave the caravan a wash at one of the commercial wash bays, and then made a bee line to pick up our very missed and loved Taz from mums....

Battling peak hour Thursday night traffic with the van on the back is not my favourite thing to do, but we eventually got home and started the arduous task of emptying the van. 

The rains are coming tomorrow, so it is going to be fun removing everything that can be removed to try and get 6 weeks of red dust out of it, but I am sure every last bit of dust will be a reminder of the amazing journey we have just completed. 

And No... I am not going back to work tomorrow just because I got home a day early. 

(143 hours, not 43.....)

Our last walk

The sunrise over Uluru is supposed to be almost as spectacular as the sunset. Apparently. 

We get up at 6:15am in -2 degree weather and speed off into the darkness. Along with about 50 other cars in front of us. 

At least by the time we arrived at the Eastern car park and walked to the vantage spot, it had warmed up to 0 degrees. 

As we stood there in our our 4 layers of clothes, we heard somebody mention that the sunlight doesn’t reach this side of the rock in winter. It would have been really nice to have heard that yesterday 🤭

Once the sun was up and the temperature had dropped back to -1, we drove to the main car park and started our big base walk. 

There are many different areas of the rock that are fascinating to see from different angles, and despite still not being able to feel our fingers through the cold, we all chatted  about the adventures so far and what we interpreted from the story placards located around our trail, as well as what we had learned yesterday from the cultural tour. 

After what seemed to be an eternity, we reached the car park again. By now, both Tracy and I were not able to feel our knees and legs, and we collapsed into the car for a lazy afternoon. 2 hours and 50 minutes for nearly 11km. Certainly not any type of record, but a time that we will remember.