Robe - Home of the Rock Lobster

Robe , home of the Rock Lobster, dont you just feel like breaking out into that song by the B52's.

The sun was shining today and we had blue sky as we meandered our way down the main street of Robe.  Its a bit of a confusing street as it  dosn't seem to know if its olde worlde sea port or modern eateries and trendy clothing shops?

Our meander came to a sudded  halt as we made a mad dash to the marina to see the trawlers come in with their catch of Rock  Lobsters.

The marina was all modern and floating walkways.  The trawlers I was expecting turned out to be sleek newish boats that looked like something the rich and famous would own..  We watched as the lobsters are hualed out of the hold with tales flip flapping, put  in crates and wheeled along the floating walkways to be weighed in at shore.  The fisherman leave at 3am and return to the marina at 1pm.  It only takes to fisherman, a skipper and a deckhand.  The lobsters are caught in cages that contain some type of bait, sounds like bits and peices of fish.  The chap we talked to had 4 boxes, the same large storage type boxes we all used at home. We thought it didnt look like very much, But where told thay have limits and there sitting in front of us was $8000 worth of Lobster.  The Lobsters are mostly sent to China.  Naturally we followed the fisherman back to the co-op and viewed all the lobsters in their tanks.  The Red Elephants where surprised how big the Lobsters where and they come out of the sea red , just like us.

We went for a walk along he beach that ws covered in great blobs of seaweed and the water  still all murky and dirty as a result of the recent Super Storm.  ( I just like saying Super Storm now.).There was no way this Mrs Red Elephant was going to swim in there.  On the beach we found all sorts of washed marine life  we have never come across on the southcoast.  Sporty Red Elephant turned into Bindi Red Elephant, picking up manner of critters and inspecting them.  There seemed to be lots of soft sea slug/cucumber type things and other little roundish whitish blobby things.  Soft mini coconuts in round shapes and dare I say poo type shapes.  Lots of sea urchins washed up but with out their spikes.  We where wishing we had our Uncle Mick with us to tell us what they all are.

Red Elephants Fun Facts

So far Travelled =  4500km
Fuel Fill ups = 7 = $1035
 Average Km per day = 350km
Main Driver = Mr Red Elephant
Map Reader /Navigator extrodineer = Mrs Red Elephant

Food Shop= Every other Day,  massive credit debt incured

In car Entertainment = Audio Books Specky Mcgee  x 4, bears, reading,maps, looking out window.  There are hardly no fights or complaints of boredom from the back seat.  However always hungry.

Lunches: Peanut Butter or cheese and vegemite sandwitches, noodle cups, jaffles and the occasional pie.

Dinners: Not many BBQ's due to weather, spaghetti bolognaise, satay chicken, carbonara, pies mash and corn, Fried Rice, meatball stirfry, pasta and sauce, jaffles, sausage on the BBQ and Hamburgers on the BBQ

Overnight Stops =  13
 Weeks on the Road = 3.5

Two Floods, One Super Storm, One Statewide Blackout,  numerous road closures, 2 sunny days

2 Change of routes due to weather.

Homework=  Every 2nd day on average

Naughty Bears in car threatened to be sent home to Nanny on the next train.
Minor Surgery; Blanky boo

Crochet Completed; 1 shawl and one penguin under way .

** Spelling and grammer note, having read back over past posts I realize there are some errors, please note some posts are written late at night, some in a hurry and some with interuptions and some with fueled with a cider or too,  Spellcheck sometimes works and sometimes not.  This shows that I am human and we are not all perfect and that is Ok.  Its all about sharing the experience.**

Mannum on the Murray

As we left Burra this morning I called into the local craft shop and got talking to a very nice lady.  My impression of Burra was saved by this lady and I bought some Peach and Ginger Jam and Cauliflower Chutney that we have tried already with cheese, and I can report it was yum.

Today the sun shone the sky was blue and hardly any wind at all.  We drove from Burra that incidently is in the Clare Vally to Mannum on the Murry River.  Leaving Burra we once again passed lovely green rolling hills dotted with the orange tinge woolly sheep.  Honestly I just want to crochet them up into a beanie.  We also passed the same hills once again dotted with the giant windmills of wind farms.  Large fields of wheat and canola where also passed and fields of other crops we couldn't quite work out what they where.  The wheat was gently waving in the breeze.

The thriving metropolis of  Gawler woke us up and stressed us out with all its business and narrow busy main street.  We missed our turn of completely and I asked a local the way at the garage while Mr Red Elephant filled the car with Deisel.  He was very helpful and it turned out we had to about turn and drive down the main street again.  Mr Red Elephant was not impressed with my map reading.  NOT my fault I was expecting a big sign saying Mannum not a little sign saying Lyndoch!  AND the map had really tiny writing.

We then entered the Barossa Vally and of course here we saw Vineyard after vineyard sporting their fresh new spring leaves.  One we could see still had flood waters sitting on the ground and debris washed up against the base of the vines.

The Red Elephants enjoyed lunch at the edge of the oval and under the AFL Goal posts  at Lyndoch a lovely little village in the Barossa.

We also stopped at Williamstown after I spotted a tree that had been yarn bombed!

Again the view out the window  changed again we had more rugged hills with more hardy sheep that where climbing amoungst great big rocks in their paddocks.  Once again my map and the signs let me down and we missed our turn of.   We had a very UN pleasant time arguing our way up MT Pleasant.  Mr Red Elephant the made it his job to point out the BIG green signs.

So here we are at Mannum.  Its nice here I like it.  Its warm I had to put shorts on and take my jumper of.  We drove down the main street to the our friend the Murray River that is a little bit dirty looking right  now and very very wide.  The caravan park is on the banks of the Murray River and is nice and clean and welcoming.  We have had a walk up and down the main street, and. I mean that literally, as it is up and down hill.  Visited the op shops,  Soccer Boy found himself another pair of soccer boots and I left some nice tableclothes behind.  Mr Red Elephant then spent a restful afternoon fishing in the Murray and caught one carp that some how escaped the waiting Pelicans.  We had watched another fisherman have his fish stolen and gobbled up by the Pelican as her reeled it in, hilarious the pelican had this big fish shaped bulge in his neck.  I sat in my campchair by the river crocheting in the sun.  Soccer boy tried his new boots out kicking the soccer ball with a new friend and Sporty Girl Red Elephant was being a photographer of Pelicans and baby ducks.
Mannum Caravan Park
Today was a good day and is exactly how a trip like this should be.

Historic Burra

Today we had a good travelling day.  We passed by lovely green rolling hills dotted with woolly sheep.  I found it quite uplifting.  The sheeps wool had a slight tinge of orange to it.  I guess this comes from the very red\ornage soil.  Even the dams have a reddish orange hue to them.

We decided to call into a town called Peterborough.  It was a lovely town filled with old buildings ,wide roads and Mr Red Elephant counted 3 Pubs.  Peterborough is a historic rail town and as such we felt the need to attend Steamtown.  At Steamtown we where meet at the door by a friendly chirpie lady.  We paid our family fee of $35 and joined a tour.  Our tour guide was most knowledgable and came from a train family, both her husband and her father had worked on the railways, and she grew up in a house just opposite the tracks.  The junior Red Elephants counted 12 trains that we climbed in and out of and explored.  We had First class and second class, the workers sleeping train, the hospital train, the dining car, the guards train.  We hopped in and shovelled coal into the steam engine then pretended to drive a deisel engine.  We toured the roundhouse and the mechanics shed.  It was well worth the visit and I am so glad we went.
Steamtown Website
While in there the wind blew up all cold and strong again.  Driving into the wind Mr Red Elephant could only get the car up to 75km an hour.  He kept shaking his head.

All the travellers we meet and talk to are all complaining about the weather and in particular the wind.  We are all well and truely over it.

Leaving Petersborough we headed to Burra past more rolling green hills this time dotted with modern windmills.  They are so tall and streamlined.  It was funny some where turning and some no.  With the wind spend today they should have been zooming around  Some people like them some people dont.  I dont mind them, up close they are very big, quite amazing really.

We reached Burra and lets say the first two people we encountered in a tourist industry type job where well and truely past their used by date.  So although the town is little with lovely old sandstone/limestone buildings and a river running through it these ladies have put me off.

Escaping the Wind

Today was spent in the car.  A bit boring and long.  We had planned to do a trip to the Head of Bight where you can view Whales and the Great Australian Bight.  We had heard 2 weeks ago there where 98 Mumma whales and their bubba's.  But 2 days ago only 6 and with more 50 km winds forecast for today we decided it just wasn't worth the 4 hour drive.  Mr A if you are reading this I am sorry we have not found your hat.  I'm sure it would have blown past us when we where in Coffin Bay.  I can only suggest that  some   whale is sporting it and thinking itself quite flash.  I do feel a little ripped of on the whale situation put I guess another time. We can always see them at Narooma at Christmas time.

So here we are back In Port Augusta trying to decide our route down to the limestone coast with out getting stuck in floods.  The one bit of excitement today was passing through Kimba.  Kimba is the home of the Big Galah and is also famous as being the halfway point across Australia.  We had our lunch of sandwiches in the park down the main street.  Strangely the street was empty of people but there was a loud speaker somewhere playing music.  We thought we where at an outdoors rave playing 80's music.  Very odd indeed.

Actually across the top there a quite a few little towns and close together they all seemed to be serviced by trains and have huge silos for the grain.  It is harvest time there are big posters up promoting Harvesting work.  I suggested I could leave Mr Red Elephant behind, funny how the car seemed to speed up.

We had thought it would be quite nice to stay at a little place at the base of Mount Remarkable National Park and the southern end of the Flinders Ranges.  When we got there all tied and worn out from a day of travelling, it was like a cyclone had gone through.  So much damage to trees, lots of whole tees down, big branches cracked and corrugated iron wrapped around trees that where left standing.  A true disaster zone.  I can not describe it, I wish we had taken photos to show you that seemed wrong to take photos of someones very bad luck.

So we headed back to Port Augusta and promptly backed into the wrong site, had a fight, did everything all wrong.  But as I write this all is good in the world we have had an icescream, but still do not know where we will go tomorrow.

Streaky Bay

Ah Streaky Bay or Streaker bay as Sooccer Boy Red Elephant likes to call it.  At the top western side of the Eyre Peninsula I’m sure on a sunny day would be quite pretty with the sun sparkling on the bay.  BUT right now with 50km winds blowing in my face all day I am not feeling the love.  Streaky is a small town here for the fishing and surrounded by grain growers.  The country is very flat and the roads in the Eyre are all very long and straight.  The caravan park is on the bay foreshore, we are one row back from the beach.  The sand on the beach is very grainy and dirty looking.  The towns here on the Eyre are tiny , tiny, (yes two tinnies)  and we have decided that our own NSW south coast is by far prettier and has nicer beaches and the lovely green mountains as a backdrop not to forget the black and white cows.

The Red Elephants have enjoyed 2 scenic drives today, one to the whistling rocks that did not whistle and to the blow holes that wumpth but did not blow.  However we did have some more views of the Great Australian Bights cliffs.  They definitely where because it said so on the map. 

The next scenic drive was to the see the sea lion colony at Point Labett, this was a long drive in and we were rewarded with views of big fat sea lions, more cliffs of the Great Australian Bight and the big Bonus what seemed like 100 km winds just for a change.  I actually put my beanie on, I know ridiculous.

We had planned to stay here for 4 nights but with this wind we fear the Red Elephants will be blown of course and end up in Antarctica.  Good job I have my Beanie.  So we will turn tale and head for home and hopefully calmer weather.

Coffin Bay OK BUT NOT OK The Super Storm

*** Warning Long Post***

OK .  Well it would seem after the last post all went pear shape, after I stated we would be ok with the impending storm.

You have probably seen it on the news and know more than me, but here is my experience.

After I last wrote we decided to pack up the junior Red Elephants bed and made a fun new bed on our table.    If you don't know our van our beds pop out the ends and fold in for travelling our roof also pops up and down for travelling.  The junior Red Elephants bed was facing into the wind so this explained us packing it up and popping it in.    Early in the evening we lost all power.  Through out the night the wind consistently got louder and stronger rocking and buffeting the van.  We where all a little scared.  I was lying in the darkness listening to the wind whipping about alternatively listening out for a crack of a tree falling on top of us and working out a way we could all safely make a run for it and hide out in the toilet block.  At one stage we packed in the bed end of the senior Red Elephants and pulled in our roof.  We then had 2 Red Elephants sleeping on the table and 2 Red Elephants sleeping on the floor.  When I say  sleeping I mean lying there waiting for the worst.  We could hear metal blowing down the road, not sure if it belonged to someones van.

When daylight finally came we emerged to find lots of trees and branches down throughout the park.  Fortunately no one had received damaged. We found out no one in the park had power.  A lady came to tell us she had spoken to the local Police Officer who told her the whole state of SA was in a black out, roads out of Coffin Bay where untravellable, more severe winds where expected for that day and night. and the Police Officer would call into the park later to check if we where all OK.  He understood we had no mobile phone access or Internet access as the tower had been taken out in the storm.

I tried stalking the Police Officer to see if he could get a message out to the outside world,mainly my family to let them know we where OK.  But I could not find him.

With more winds forecast we very quickly decided to go into a cabin.  We grabbed blankets, food bears, Uno, my crochet and books and headed for the cabin.  We where still so exhausted I thought we would just hang out in the cabin in our pyjama's.  But it was so cold with out power.  We put our trackies on over our pyjama's.

We then found out that the local yacht club was an emergency drop in centre.  So of we went they had a generator  going and where providing hot tea and coffee, toasted sandwich's and pies and sausage rolls.  There we sat tired and shellshocked in our pyjama's with our track suits on as well.  They also had a heater going.  The local policeman called and gave us a update.  The whole of Port Lincoln was shutdown with out power, no shops , no petrol , nothing open.  He was not sure when power would return.

We returned to the caravan to find that our fridge had defrosted itself and leaked out all over our mattress.  I think at that stage I cried.

With out power we could not charge our phones, could not call out anyway as towers down,  Could not check internet for further updates,  Could not have a hot cup of tea, could not have a hot anything including shower.  It was to cold and windy to light our gas BBQ.  The park only had electric BBQ's  so we could not make ourselves something hot to eat and it was so cold thats all we wanted.  So back to the lovely people at the lovely warm yacht club to spend the afternoon and have dinner.

We found out on Friday that Port Lincoln had fuel , they could only take cash payments, some new friends went in and qued up for 2.5 hours.    These friends also provided me with hot water for a cup of tea and hot milo for the junior Red Elephants.

Also on friday I must have been looking a bit ragged as the lovely lady at the Yacht Club asked what we where doing for showers and said we could have a hot shower there.  I could of kissed her.  So down I went with my basket and had a lovely hot shower and changed into some new clothes.

This all happened Wednesday night, power was returned to most of the Eyre Peninsula last night as we left Coffin Bay this morning, Coffin Bay was still with out power.  They are so isolated and really the end of the line down the Eyre.  One of the stories in today's paper called it the Super Storm.  We survived the Super Storm and Coffin Bay and especially the Yacht Club and its lovely people will always have a special place in our hearts.