Our last night on the Yorke Peninsula - thank you Alford

Leaving Marion Bay was hard as we really enjoyed the company of our new friends and Hamish had become good friends with Charlie.  They were like two peas in a pod.  I think it was the fastest Hamish had ever eaten his breakfast and gotten dressed as he wanted to go and play with Charlie.  At least that made packing up easy for us but getting Hamish into the car wasn’t so easy.  Well in fairness he hoped in but he was so upset and devastated to be leaving his new mate.  Really broke our hearts.

We had wanted to try and get away at 9am so then we could get an hour down the road before we had to stop and do a LSODE New Families Online Session (Distance Education for Hamish).  As always we didn’t get away until closer to 9:45am which at first we thought would mean that we would have to pull over after only half an hour, however we soon remembered that we were ahead by half an hour so had a bit of time up our sleeve to at least get to the next town.  I had a bit of trouble logging in but eventually I got there and managed to work it all out.  I of course had the webcam on so they could see I was sitting in the car!  Still it was just an information session and I certainly don’t plan on doing Hamish’s school lessons in the car.

Jason pulled over in Warooka so I could do the session without the kids in the car.  This delayed us by one and a half hours but eventually we got going again.  Once back on the road we decided to head straight to Alford where there was a cheap camp area run by the town’s progress society.  Once we arrived it was obvious that we need to pick up our act a bit with the free camps as these seasoned nomads travel early to get the good spots.  We had wanted to pull up right near the playground but that would have been too close to the other nomads and we ended up pulling up besides the old school building so we would get the sun to charge the solar panels.

Not the smartest of decision really as we had to jack up the front of the caravan a fair bit as the ground wasn’t level.  We even put down the caravan legs to hold the weight of the caravan and lowered the jack a bit more down so it wasn’t pumped up so high.  We just set up the van, locked it up and headed straight to the pub for a late lunch.  Luckily they were still serving and we sat down to a good hearty meal for only $46 for us all including drinks. After the other nights cost I had to ask the publican if that was right as it seemed so cheap. 

You would think that these two had maybe had too much to drink.

There isn’t much in Alford.  Really it is just the houses and the pub so we headed into Wallaroo as Jason wants to buy a certain kayak and there is a shop there that stocks it.  The town is only 23km away from where we are staying so it wasn’t far.  Once there we located the shop but they didn’t have any of the kayaks in stock.  We just headed to the playground then to let the kids loose before driving around town.  There was another big jetty with what looked like a grain loading conveyer belt but no action happening at the moment.

Hamish helping Kayla down he slide - she was scared.

I love seeing them play together.

It was an interesting town and there were new canal front homes, and not just little ones.  We are thinking they are either retired farmers or miners!  The town was quite big but it was Kadina that was another 9km away that was obviously more of the central hub and had all the big shops.  We however chose to stay a little longer in Wallaroo and do our food shopping there.  I don’t know if that was wise as the shop was just packed in so tight that it made getting around hard as really only one trolley could fit down each row.

More beautiful old buildings.

I am guessing an old train station that is now the library.

We returned to Alford to put away all our shopping and we soon realised that our van didn’t feel as sturdy as when it is on a bit more level ground.  It wasn’t bad and we didn’t feel unsafe but we just thought that long term it wasn’t brilliant so decided we would move on the next day rather than stay another night.  The effort factor to hitch on and move to another spot didn’t really seem worth it and if we were going to hitch on we might as well move on.

The evening was a nice quiet one and to try and get Kayla to sleep faster, Jason took her for a drive.  Hamish and I had a good laugh sitting on the step of the van watching Jason go around and around and around trying to get her to sleep.  Obviously there aren’t many roads in this town and she wasn’t falling asleep.  Eventually Jason gave up and upon their return Kayla was smiling at Hamish and I like a Cheshire cat, almost saying Dad didn’t win!  Whilst the attempt to get Kayla to sleep wasn’t successful he was happy as our lovely friend the big spider had come back out and was sitting on the dash again.  This time Jason managed to convince him to leave the car (maybe squashed and in a wipe) but he is gone.

So since that didn’t work getting Kayla to sleep easily, we went to the backup plan – watching the tennis.  It worked a treat and they both fell asleep very fast.

Relaxation at Marion Bay

We got away easily this fine Monday morning, mainly as we had packed everything up outside the night before.  Mind you we double and triple checked everything was done right this time and the legs of the caravan were securely locked in.  We also didn’t put our Hayman Reece bars on until we were out of our site and through the gate – made a huge difference and is actually the recommended thing to do. 

Two happy kids.

As we had just free camped for three days we had decided it was time to head back into a caravan park and had booked into the only one in Marion Bay.  We were secretly hoping that it had a nice beach that was an easy walk away so we could spend our afternoons there.  On our arrival we were all busting to go to the bathroom as the last 51km was a very bumpy road which didn’t help.  Hamish also said he was busting 20km out but after what happened last time we convinced him to hold as realistically there wasn’t anywhere to pull over.

Back to salt lake area by the looks of it.

Check in felt like it took forever but eventually I had the necessary information, but there was another hold up with the boom gates.  After about eight attempts we were finally in.  Jason continued our new habit of removing the Hayman Reese bars whilst I was checking in.  It was a lucky thing he did as we had a few tight turns to get to our site which was actually easier without the bars on.  Getting into the site was a little hard as the kids were a bit over the car and Jason couldn’t hear my instructions on the walkie-talkie.  We eventually got there but we had to go right back so the front wasn’t sticking out.  Lucky I had warned them that we own a long van as who knows what site we would have ended up in.

The kids were happy to watch a DVD while Jason and I set up – we like this as it allows us to get it all done a lot faster and uninterrupted.  As soon as the water and power were plugged in I started catching up on the washing.  I had quite a few to do and that included Kayla’s sheets as she had a nappy leak the night before.  I had done three loads of washing by the time we decided to head out so I put on the forth and off we went just to explore the town.

We found a lookout over Marion Bay and yes the beach looked amazing so we breathed a sigh of relief.  Then we just continued our drive around the town and checked out some very nice homes, all the time wondering if they are just sitting there empty for most of the year as they are holiday homes.  This town has at least a servo come post office come corner store so we pulled in there for an ice cream for the kids and so Jason could ask a local about what bait to use and where he could fish.

Even on low tide it looks beautiful.

He ended up getting some more worms and some cockles.  We had never used the cockles before so was keen to give it a go, so back to the van we went to get all the gear and put on some sunscreen.  I would like to say we had a successful time fishing off their jetty but that would be a big fat lie.  We didn’t even get one bite, but we at least saw a stingray and some of the locals launch their nice big boats, one using a tractor.

Our bait - did not make us successful.

High hopes.

At least Hamish had fun with the shells.

Typical tug for a boat.

We then returned to the van to hang out the load of washing and to put on another one.  Only took me six loads to catch up!  I then went for a walk to see how easily we could access the beach and it was a nice short, easy one hundred metres from our site.  Had a nice quiet afternoon and met our neighbours behind us who come down here every year (live about a 2 ½ hour drive north).  It took forever to get the kids to sleep but we were pretty relaxed about it as Jason was watching the tennis and I was reading my book so they just did their own thing for a while.

All refreshed the next morning we decided to head out and explore the Innes National Park which is just down the road from where we are staying.  Of course as we drive into the Information Centre there is a sign about buying your passes online.  We of course ignore it, assuming we could buy our pass at the centre.  Naturally we were wrong as the Information Centre was closed, but luckily had a computer out the front which we could use to buy our day pass.  Obviously there was no printing ability so couldn’t display anything on the dash, but if we were approached at least we could show them the email.

The drive into the park.

There seemed to be quite a number of stops along the road so we thought we would head to the furtherest point and work our way back.  Being only 23km away we didn’t think this would take too long, but then the majority of the road is 40km/hr with it eventually increasing to 60km/hr.  Hmm was going to take a bit longer than we thought.  So we decided to break up the slow drive by calling into Ethel Beach which has the shipwreck of the boat ‘Ethel’.  We were taken back by the beautiful view down onto the beach.

Was not expecting this rugged coastline.

Looking down on the shipwreck.

In memory of the two ships that had wrecked in the area.

To be honest we didn’t think the kids would be up for going down but they were so keen and wanted to take their buckets and spades too.  So off we went, down all the stairs to the beach, and no I did not count the stairs this time.  It was so amazing looking back up the cliffs and you really felt sorry for the people who were on the ship when it was washed ashore.  It would have certainly been a hard climb out.  The kids had a bit of a play on the beach before starting the climb back up.  I thought we would have to carry one child up each, but Hamish stormed ahead and was at the top in no time.  I was obviously a bit slower as I was carrying Kayla up.  I think Hamish is really improving in his ability to walk a bit longer without complaint.

Making our way down.

Not much left of the old ship.

Just stunning.

Now to go all the way back up.

 

From there we headed further west and called into the West Cape which had a lighthouse you could walk to but we decided we didn’t need to see another lighthouse and we weren’t going to push the kids to do the walk.  There was another beautiful beach but again it wasn’t suitable for swimming as all the warning signs made it pretty clear so we decided to continue onto Dolphin Beach as it sounded nice and relaxing.  By now our nice smooth bitumen was replaced with a hard corrugated road and by the time we pulled into the carpark we were hoping it was going to be worth it.  It was amazing and so sheltered and peaceful.

Yep don't think we will be swimming here.

As you walked down there were two old beach shacks to the right.  I could just imagine people staying there and having the place to themselves for the majority of the time with just the odd tourist popping in for a visit.  The kids had a bit of a play on the beach but I was mindful of the time as it was getting closer to lunch and we thought it was best to head back to the caravan before the kids got too hungry.  So we started the trip back with the kids making their funny noises as we bumped along the road. 

Dolphin Beach.

Chasing the seagulls on Dolphin Beach.

Next thing I hear Jason say ‘jeepers’ and pull over in a hurry.  I was wondering what had happened or if something was wrong with the car.  He then kindly points out a large spider making its way up our dash board!  So being the spider lovers that we are, we should have realistically just killed it but instead we tried to flick it out of the car.  This did not work and it ran back under the dash board on the driver’s side.  Jason wasn’t too keen about driving home then knowing the spider was in there somewhere and could reappear at any given moment! 

Our friend who came along for the ride.

We made one final stop at Pondalowie Bay which seems very popular with heaps of boats pulled in and people camping there.  I went for a walk as Kayla was asleep and Jason wanted to see if he could flush out our little spider friend.  It looked quite pretty and there were rock areas that you could see kids enjoying exploring.  I returned to the car and swapped with Jason so he could see the sights and also to get an update on the spider search.  He had no luck, so naturally our car got a bit of a fumigation when we returned to camp.

So many places to discover.

By now the wind had started to pick up and the weather cooled down so we cooked up some fritters for lunch and tried to rest.  We even had to pack up the awning as the wind was starting to get too strong for our liking and we didn’t want any damage.  It really wasn’t weather for the kids to be playing outside but everything they wanted to do inside seemed to just make a big mess.  Jason took them out to the playground for a bit before I realised we needed to get some milk so off we went to get some (I drove).  We quickly dropped it back to the van before heading back into the Innes National Park. 

Well the sign was right.

This time we called in at the Inneston Historic Township which would have been quite big in its day.  It had more shops then Marion Bay currently has!  We didn’t do the entire walk as it was two kilometres and Hamish didn’t have shoes on, so we were carrying him on our backs.  On the way home we stopped at Cable Bay, the lookout for Chinaman’s Hat Island and finally Stenhouse Bay.  All looked beautiful but it had certainly cooled down a bit so there was now way we would be going in the water.

We weren't the only ones checking out the old town.

The old tennis court.

We are just really wishing for a nice day of late 20’s to early 30’s in maximum temperature.  Just so we could go and enjoy the beach and swim.  This certainly hasn’t been the summer weather I was expecting down here.  As neither of us were in the mood to cook dinner we headed down to the local tavern for a meal.  It has a nice little view of the water but for the price of the meals mine was a little disappointing.  Jason really enjoyed his seafood basket, but the prawns I had on top of my overcooked steak were so small you had to wonder if they were of the frozen cocktail sort.  Still it was nice not to have to cook and wash up so I should stop complaining.

Wednesday morning saw us washing the remainder of the sheets as the weather wasn’t looking spectacular.  It wasn’t raining but it was overcast with a slight breeze so a bit cool to do much.  Hamish met the little boy Charlie from the camp area behind us and that was it.  They hung out together all morning until Charlie and his family went out.  Meanwhile Kayla and I baked a cake whilst Jason tried to see if we could have the car’s tow ball capacity upgrade.  We can’t which is stupid as they can in South Australia but Queensland won’t do it.  So there goes that idea. 

In the meantime I had realised we have too much stuff in the van and have started to de-clutter.  Hamish alone had ten summer shirts hanging up in his wardrobe when we arrived, plus the one he was wearing and we had 4 days worth of dirty clothes.  This is way too much and Kayla is the same, not to mention our own wardrobe that needs a review.  As we can travel with the water tanks half full it isn’t a major drama with the weight, but every unnecessary kilo we take out of the van means another litre of water we can carry which just saves us filling up the van before we get to a free camp.

Maybe Jason could see me eyeing off those tennis shoes he packed that really aren’t on my necessary list as he came up with another solution, and that was to move one of the water tanks to the back of the van.  Currently we have both between the tow ball and the wheels, putting a lot of weight on the tow ball when they are full.  By taking one of them from the front and moving it to behind the wheels we will be effectively moving 80kg to the back of the caravan.  This will dramatically reduce the caravan tow ball weight when they are both full and with some smart packing, put us under the limit. 

So in order to do this we double checked with our mate from Adelaide Coromal if this was okay to do and that the van would still tow fine.  Once we got his tick of approval we searched for a service centre that would do it and also the caravan’s ten thousand kilometre service.  Jason found one at Port Lincoln which is on the Eyre Peninsula and they also have Mitsubishi so we can get the car serviced too before heading across the Nullabor.  In order to book them in for their work we needed to look at a calendar and try to work everything out.  Add into it we start school on Tuesday and then on-air lessons the week after that.  Oh and the caravan place ideally wanted to do that sort of work on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and we wanted the work done as we came into town.

We eventually managed to get our head around it all and are satisfied with it so booked them in and also booked a caravan park at Port Lincoln as we know it is a favourite holiday hotspot.  By now Hamish’s friend had gone out for the day and all the washing was done.  Even better though, the clouds had gone and there was no wind.  So I took the kids down to do a quick beach assessment and it was perfect, so back we came to put on our togs and get everything one needs at the beach.

Setting up at the beach.

Going for a bit of an explore.

Finally loaded up like pack horses we made the one hundred metre walk down to the beach from our caravan and set up camp.  The water is so shallow which is perfect for young kids and we all enjoyed lying in the water and building sand castles.  Well okay I built the sand castles, my kids seem to prefer destroying them.  Jason even got creative and built a sand man.  It was just so peaceful and relaxing and there was only one other family down there when we arrived and only one other one joined us.  Maybe it has taken us a while but Jason and I realised that we don’t have to go out exploring each day.  Sometimes it is nice to just enjoy what is your backyard.

Hamish having a paddle.

Of course Kayla couldn't miss out.

Showing off his little sandman.

Close up of the sandman.

After a very long time we packed it all up as we were getting quite hungry.  It doesn’t seem like hard work when you just have to bring the things back such a short distance and can leave them all outside until you are ready to deal with them or clean them down.  As naturally the first thing was for the kids to have a shower so they didn’t spread the sand all through the caravan.  We just chilled for a while by putting on a DVD for Hamish and Kayla.  Although by now Hamish’s mate Charlie was back so they were off again.  So Kayla watched the movie with me whilst I read my book and Jason went over to the camp kitchen to watch the tennis.

Two ring ins (I don't know their names), Charlie and Hamish.

Every now and then I would go outside to make sure Hamish was not annoying the neighbours but they were behaving wonderfully and even went down to the playground together.  We played a bit of a game of hide and seek before I did up a treasure map for them both.  The way they went off and around meant that I really still need to refine my drawing ability, but in the end with a bit of help they got there.  Jason and I then took it in turns to complete our daily cardio workout.  Before we knew it, it was time to have showers, dinner and then bed.  Kayla was exhausted as she has cut out her daytime naps on us, so fell asleep early.  The perfect end to a beautiful day.

I didn't have any chocolate cake.

As we had really enjoyed the day before, we decided to do exactly the same thing on Thursday.  We started the morning off at our now usual slow pace before making our way down to the beach.  We built another sand man before going off exploring a bit more further along the beach.  It is just so nice to sit back and relax without having to worry about the kids.  This time we packed up and returned to the caravan before we were all famished for lunch.  I think we are finally really starting to ease into it more and enjoying this last week of freedom before we start teaching school next week!

I have to admit I spent a bit of time reading up on it all this morning and trying to sort everything out.  I think I have my head around it a bit more but then the school emailed me an example itinerary and there were a few things that threw me there.  Nothing we can’t handle though.  Tomorrow they have a new family’s session which I thought would be good to do to refresh our memory.  The down side is it is from 9:00am until 10:30am.  This is our ideal travelling time but we thought we might try and get away early and then pull over in one of the towns so I can do the session and Jason can take the kids to a playground or something. 

I doubt the caravan park here is going to let us stay later with it being the start of a long weekend.  We are also planning to do over a week of unpowered camping so I want to try and be organised and print everything I need tonight before we head off.  That way we don’t draw too much from the caravan battery.  Our afternoon was spent relaxing around the caravan park and another trip down to the beach as Hamish found out Charlie was down there.  The boys had so much fun playing together and they gained another little mate along the way.

By the time it was getting dark I had to drag Hamish away and he was so upset.  I had told him we were moving on the next day and he was just devastated that he was leaving Charlie.  Inside he told me how he has no friends and was sitting on our bed so upset.  Talk about a heart wrenching moment when you start to question if you have done the right thing taking him away from his friends for a year.  Mind you after a cuddle and a few minutes of watching TV he was fine.  I just hope we run into more families travelling on the road as I know with school holidays coming to an end it is going to be hard to find other kids for him to play with.

Still no fish.

Just down the road from Marion Bay.

Kayla destroying our beach person.

Watch out for the locals.

Pelicans on the beach near the jetty.

They certainly know their way around town.

 

Port Julia introduces us to the Yorke Peninsula

What a day our Friday was, not really one we want to re-live again anytime soon but in saying that, if it is our worst day on this trip then we are really lucky.  It all started with Hamish chucking a massive tantrum and demanding everything as we were trying to pack up.  Of course we were not giving in to this bad behaviour so that only made it worse and trying to deal with that and packing up wasn’t exactly fun. 

Our first stop was the weighbridge to make sure we were all still legal with our towing with the van and we were quietly confident that we were, yet my gut was not.  Really should listen to my gut as it wasn’t good news at all.  The caravan was 100kg heavier than what we wanted it to be.  It was still well within the caravan weight limit but as it was over 2.5t it meant the tow ball weight had to be 180kg.  Whilst we didn’t get an official tow ball weight there is a basic calculation that can give you a rough figure and that was 260kg, so yeah just a bit over there. 

It isn’t the end of the world as we had our water tanks full, so if we travelled with them half full that would drop the weight from the caravan and put it back down to 2.5t which then means our tow ball weight can be 250kg.  It would easily be that when you take that much weight off the front of the van.  That being said, it isn’t really helpful for free camping as you need water and it also annoyed us as it means we have added 100kg to our caravan along the road and during our travels!  That part had us stumped.

Anyway on we went towards our destination of Port Julia which was only 177km away.  Once on the main highway out of town someone driving past gets Jason’s attention and points to our caravan to indicate something needs winding up.  That is never good so we looked for somewhere to pull over and finally found a space big enough for us to fit.  One of the caravan legs weren’t fully up.  It wasn’t fully down either but still it is better to have it properly locked in.  We are very grateful to that stranger for letting us know.

So take two on trying to get to our destination, and once we were back on the highway Hamish of course suddenly needs to go to the toilet.  We ask him to hold whilst we look for the next truck or parking bay, but of course there isn’t one for ages.  I was so annoyed at myself for not taking him to the bathroom before we left – when will I learn.  We ended up pulling over on a side road and Jason took Hamish to our toilet.  It is great having it just behind you for these reasons.  Unfortunately this time getting back onto the highway wasn’t so easy and we thought we could do a U-turn at an intersection of four roads.

In hindsight it wasn’t a great idea, but it is possible as our car and caravan has a great turning circle, you just have to take off the Hayman Reese bars.  As you can now imagine we didn’t take them off and we thought we had pulled off the manoeuvre when we heard a bang.  We thought it was the bars just re-aligning themselves but luckily Jason wasn’t convinced and pulled over.  One of the bars had bent its pin holding it in place so bad it had come off.  On the upside (which at the time we could not see) we hadn’t done any damage to the parts on either the car or caravan.  It was just the pin that took the brunt of it and needed to be replaced.

 Now in the middle of nowhere there isn’t exactly going to be a shop we can just walk into to buy another one so we needed to decide what we were going to do.  Jason remembered that there was a caravan shop in Port Wakefield which was 60km in the direction we wanted to go.  So we took the other bar off as we thought it would be safer to drive without them on then just one on.  He also rang ahead to make sure they had the part before we got there and we were in luck as she thought she did.

We took it slower to Port Wakefield and it gave us time to discuss the weight and why there had been an increase as I thought I had been trying to counteract anything new coming in.  In reality I realised I hadn’t been doing as well as I thought and we started to work out what we had added and when we had last weighed the van when we hardly had any food or beer in the van.  Now we had at least half a carton under the bed and quite a big stockpile of food and other items.  Also our mistakes with the Hayman Reese bars were discussed at length and some new action plans were also put in place.

In regards to the weight we agreed that the best long time solution would be to have the car certified to tow 3t with a tow ball weight of 250kg.  So I guess it is upgrading the tow ball capacity.  Jason met someone on Kangaroo Island who had done this so he could have a ball weight of 250kg when towing over 2500kg.  We will look into that in the future but in the mean time we will travel with our tanks half full and get rid of a few extra items we really don’t need. 

Then quietly to myself I came up with a plan in case this stop didn’t have the part we needed and what we would do.  The worrier in me needs to always know there is another option out there, and in reality there were plenty.  Once we arrived in Port Wakefield I left Jason to take care of the caravan whilst I took the kids to the local bakery.  That way Jason could get the part plus spares (not that we hope to make the same mistake) and could fix it all back up as one of the bolts also needed tightening.

We had also ruined the new bearings so Jason had to replace them but luckily we already had spares.  He actually got it fixed quite fast and came to join us for a coffee to calm us down – of course the kids got a sugar coated donut to hype them up!  Don’t ask us to explain our logic.  By now we were over this drive and just wanted to get to the Port Julia free camp.  Happily the rest of the drive was uneventful and nice and easy.  Though we were back to dry country again and it was obvious that they hadn’t gotten any of the recent rain that came through.

We wanted to try out our new solar and start to get some cheaper places to stay so had done a bit of research and found that the community of Port Julia had a camping area run by their Progress society.  There was no power or water to plug into the van, but it was only $7 a night.  We rolled in and did the lap of the area to suss out where we wanted to park.  Once we had decided it was a matter of removing the Hayman Reese bars (see we have learnt our lesson) and backing in the van.  Jason did say that it was actually easier reversing into the site without them on.

There were some fellow campers there who had been staying for quite a while as they were working in the area and they kindly shared with us some information.  For instance they did not recommend swimming down at the local beach as there are razor fish which would slice up the kid’s feet!  Also, that we could get good water from a park in Port Vincent which would allow us to top up our water tanks if need be.  Best of all it was only 15km down the road and had the nearest shops so no doubt we would be calling in there at least once.

Our camp setup in Port Julia.

Once we were all set up we went for a drive around Port Julia but there wasn’t much to see at all.  Just lots of holiday beach shacks and a jetty, so we headed onto Port Vincent.  It is a beautiful little sleepy beach town with a small beach that was obviously safe due to the number of people on it and in the water.  We let the kids out to enjoy it and have a paddle as we hadn’t packed their togs in the car.  Jason also took the opportunity to go and buy another plastic water container.

Lookout over Port Julia

A photo for our old neighbour Vince.

The kids went for a bit more than a paddle and were quite saturated by the time Jason got back.  I didn’t mind at all as they were just having so much fun playing that I wasn’t going to stop it.  So we stripped them off, chucked them in the car and headed back to camp.  It was a lovely cool evening for camping without power and Jason and I have to admit we found it quite addictive watching to see how much power everything used and how low the battery got.  The worst item for draining power was the pump for the water.

Having fun at the beach.

Just a little paddle, we will only go up to our waist!

Saturday saw us get going very slowly as it was quite cool overnight and Kayla hadn’t slept well.  I should have known that the temperature would drop and to put her in her winter pjs, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.  After the coffee kicked in we headed straight down to check out the Wattle Point Wind Farm which had a viewing area right up close.  We have seen heaps of them from a distance but never have we been able to get up this close to one.  The viewing area also had heaps of information about the wind turbines on display so we could get a better understanding of just how powerful they are. 

Some of the wind turbines.

The kids checking them out.

This really cements in our minds that South Australia seems to be going down the sustainable living path.  They have so many more different alternatives, plastic bags in shops are not handed out – you are charged for them so naturally after a while you get sick of this and start to actually remember to bring in your green bags.  The noise coming from the wind turbines wasn’t as loud as I was expecting, but in saying that I think I would struggle to sleep right under one.  I can’t even stand the awning of our caravan flapping around too much.

There were so many of them.

On the way back to the caravan we drove through Edithburgh, Coobowie and Wool Bay.  Just lots of sleepy little beach towns that look like great places to just get away and unwind.  There really isn’t much else to do there so if you are after an exciting place to hang out they really aren’t your sort of holiday destination.  As we had promised the kids we would take them to the beach, we returned to Port Vincent.  It is certainly no mean feat with everything we had to take with us.  First there was the sun shade, the togs, mat to sit on, shovels, spades, food and of course the snorkelling gear.

Loading grain near Wool Bay.

The big grain silos.

Eventually we were all set up except we realised we had forgotten the towels!  Just a major oversight on our behalf, so Jason set off back to the van to grab them.  At least it wasn’t far away thankfully but it was a bit cool so we thought the kids would want them.  On his return Jason went out for a snorkel and saw some big whiting in the water.  Talk about stirring him, knowing that they were in there but he couldn’t catch them.  The sun shade held up really well and it was great to be able to sit out of the sun and supervise the kids.  Mind you of course they made new friends and kept going further down the beach so I had to leave my comfortable spot to make sure they were okay.

All set up and ready for me to sit in.

Jason and the kids having a play.

Eventually we pulled the kids away to head back to the van for a late lunch.  Jason did a few jobs around the van and then we all relaxed after the bad night sleep.  We even made some play doh for the kids to play with and I got to catch up on the blog and start reading the next book.  Great Christmas present for Jason Mum and Dad!  I got sick of waiting for him to finish his other one and started this one.  We also arranged where we were going to stop next and decided on Marion Bay, so booked into a caravan park there.  For only $33 a night for power and water you have to be happy with that.  One thing we have learnt about this Peninsula is that it is the place to visit if you love diving, snorkelling or fishing (boat needed).

On Sunday we headed into Minlaton to see if we could get some spare fuses for the TV to run off 12 volt.  Always good to have some just in case and also some bearings to replace the ones we broke on our way here.  However, at the time we didn’t really think or realise what day it was so forgot that it was Sunday and of course everything was pretty much shut.  Luckily the Information Centre was open so we popped in there and grabbed a few brochures before heading to the local park.  There, we had the morning tea that we had packed which was lucky as it looked like even the bakery was closed.

Having a play on the surfboard.

Kayla as she hops off the slide.

There, they had the Red Devil memorial which was an interesting read on the history of the pilot (who I have forgotten his name).  From here we decided then to head to Ardrossan as there was a lookout over a mine and ship loading facility.  After the 48km drive we were very disappointed to find it was closed and locked off.  According to the sign it is now locked off on weekends due to misuse.  Sad really as we expect shops to be shut on a weekend but not lookouts.

The Red Devil.

So we headed back to the van for lunch, on the way calling into Billy Goat Flat and Pine Point to check them out.  Both seemed to be holiday shacks that are shut up for most of the year.  Though all the beachfront ones at Pine Point would be nice to stay in as the majority of them had direct beach access.  After lunch Jason and Hamish headed down to the jetty to try a spot of fishing.  I had decided I needed to get a bit of exercise so took Kayla in a stroller for a walk around the streets before making our way down to the jetty too.  The boys weren’t having much luck so after a while they called it quits and we returned to the van and cooked yummy roast pork for dinner instead.

It has been a great stay at Port Julia but I have to admit I am looking forward to getting back to a caravan park to plug into the power and most importantly water.  Then I can have a nice long hot shower without thinking how much water I am using.

Enjoying the sunshine and playtime.

Happy snap with Hamish.

Jason watching up whilst watching tennis.

The jetty at Port Julia.

Hamish trying his luck fishing.

The boys out fishing on the jetty.