Thursday 21st April - Last Day Broken Car

Called into Paramount this morning to collect our caravan after being repaired and now heading towards Sorrento for our final committment.  Last day of our holiday and we are going home after having a counter lunch with Maree & Paul as well as Graeme & Trevor & Mum at the Sorrento Pub for Dad & Steven's Memorial. Unfortunately the Patrol is not having a bar of it and has blown the motor while driving on the Frankston - Cranbourne Rd heading to Tooradin for a free camp for the night.  RACV total care have towed us back to Frankston Caravan Park where we will spend the night and then get the car and van towed to Eltham tomorrow to be fixed.  Could have been much worse so actually very happy.

This Blog is now closed, have had a wonderful holiday with Joy & Wayne traveling to WA as well as Stuart, Sue, Maree & Paul who all traveled across to Moana in SA with us. 
Looking forward to the next adventure............

Friday 15th April (Nhill - Daylesford)

Staying at Lyn & Kevins place for Friday 15th & Saturday 16th April before going over to Rochelles & Daniels for Sunday night.  Planning on visiting as many people as we can while we are in Melbourne.  Monday 18th April the caravan is going to Paramount to get the scratch fixed and we are having dinner with Erin & Trevor as well as Jason & Li before we do the Sorrento Memorial with Mum and the rest of the family on Thursday after we pick up the caravan and then head home.
 

Thursday 14th April (Langhorne Creek - Nhill)

A very pleasant drive towards Nhill where we are staying in the Caravan Park for the night. We stopped to have a look around Serviceton Railway Station which is on the line between Melbourne & Adelaide.  Don't think it is used anymore which is a shame as it is a lovely old station with lots of history. There sitting in a cage was a beehive with lots of bees buzzing around.

Tuesday 12th April - Wednesday 13th April (Cowly Point - Langhorne Creek)

Beautiful warm morning as we hit the road and head towards Langhorne Creek to meet up with Chris & Eric.  Sad farewells to Joy & Wayne, I will truly miss traveling with them, it has been lots of fun and laughs.  Staying at Langhorne Creek for 2 nights, Tuesday by ourselves and Wednesday night with Chris & Eric.  Very busy little camp here and close to the Wineries where we have managed to grab a few nice bottles. On Wednesday 13th April Chris & Eric have arrived and camped next to us for the night, have decided to walk up to the Pub for a counter tea tonight instead of bothering with doing any cooking.  Have meet a nice couple in a motor home who have camped right behind us, such a small world they somehow ended knowing relatives of Eric's.  You really need to behave yourself as it is a very small world.

 

Monday 11th April (Elliston - Cowly Point Free Camp)

Cooler weather as we leave Elliston and head towards Whyalla for our last night together.  Just a little bit of drizzle as we travel up the hill and towards Lock, then Cowell and finally camp 554 (Cowly Point) where we will part ways tomorrow. Joy & Wayne are going to Wanye's parents and we are calling past Langhorne Creek to meet up with Chris & Eric for Tues & Wed nights.  Pulled into a free camp south of Whyalla at Cowly Point, $6.50 not really a free camp but nice and quiet during the night, there were lots of lights on the refinery which looked very pretty, also lights on the end of the jetty and the old lighthouse.  Looked a little like a fairyland. Went for a walk along the beach but no sand, only rocks still quite picturesque.  Champagne for Happy Hour tonight to celebrate Joy's birthday as well as our last night together.  

Thursday 7th – Monday 11th April (Elliston)

Have decided to spend 5 nights here at Elliston and have a nice relax before heading towards Whyalla on Monday when we will probably part ways with Joy & Wayne.  Nice quiet caravan park with a terrific camp kitchen where they have a Coonara heater that is lit every night by one of the colourful residents that live here in the park. We had a BBQ on Friday night where we cooked up steak and onions as well as slices of potato that was absolutely yummy.  The internet signal here is pretty useless so I will have to update my Blog later in the week. Barry & Wayne have tried numerous times to catch some fish but not a lot of luck although on Saturday Barry brought me home a lovely little King George Whiting that I will be having for dinner. A bit sad that the holiday is now coming to an end, it has been a terrific trip with lots of special moments and very relaxing as we didn’t travel lots of kilometres on any days.

Wednesday 6th April (Penong – Elliston)

There was quite a bit of rain during the night but not all that cold.  Was hoping that it cleaned the car and van but no such luck, they still look filthy.  On the road by 9.00am and there is blue sky to the West and grey skies to the East which is the way we are heading.  Hopefully no more rain as we call into Ceduna to do a spot of shopping as all of our veggies are gone due to going through quarantine today. 12.30pm and it is still dull with no sun and fairly muggy but thankfully no rain. We have ventured off the road to have a look at Venus Bay which is approx. 5kms out of our way. The caravan park there was filled to the brim and the carpark at the boat ramp had heaps of cars with trailers on the back so guessing there are a lot of people out there fishing.  There were also lots of people on the pier fishing.  I had thoughts that this was going to be just a pretty scenic place to have a look and instead there were so many people around I was stunned. I doubt that there would have been room for our vans if we had wanted to stay. Hope they are all catching fish…… We have just passed a spot on the map called Colton, nothing there at all except for 2 Cemeteries.  One named “Colton Cemetery” and the other named “Colton Catholic Cemetery”, I would have loved to have counted how many graves were in each of them as there is absolutely nothing here. Into Elliston caravan park for a few nights at this stage, paid for 2 but think we may be here for 4 or 5, I guess that will depend on how many fish are caught.

 Fishermen in their Kayaks trying to catch King George Whiting.

Tuesday 5th April (Penong)

We have decided to stay 2 nights in the Penong Caravan Park before heading down to Elliston on Wednesday morning.  Going to bypass Streaky Bay as we could only get 2 nights there, so instead we are going to Elliston for 5 or 6 nights – Gee I hope the fishing is good for the guys.  We have had a dull and drizzly day today but not cold.  It would have been much better to get a downpour so that the caravan & car could get a bit of a tub and make them look clean again.  Went for a walk into the bustling town of Penong this morning, a garage/roadhouse, general store & pub, that’s it…….

Monday 4th April (Glimpses of the Sea – Penong)

Once again another glorious day to continue our journey towards Penong.  Last nights camp was nice and quiet and during the night I opened the window to take in the magnificent clear star filled sky.  Stunning, so many stars and it felt as if you could just reach out and touch them. Where we camped there were no trees so the landscape was typical of the Nullabor, just little shrubs and nothing the block the view, we were also only 800 metres from the cliffs down to the sea so we could hear the roaring of the waves during the night. Not even windy so an added bonus.  Morning tea at Nullabor where we caught up on some phone calls and then on towards Penong where we are hoping to get down to the water at Point Sinclair. There is a jetty at Point Sinclair and 22kms of dirt road to get there and when we were there in 2009 you could get a caravan right down to the waters edge. Would have been a stunning place to stay BUT we have been advised by the locals that the road is very, very corrugated so it is into the Penong Caravan Park for us for 2 nights. As we passed through Nundroo I took a couple of pictures and put them on Facebook just to make Maree feel all warm & fuzzy.... We are booked into Streaky Bay Wednesday & Thursday nights so we can go straight there from Penong.  I think the guys may try a bit of fishing on Tuesday down at Point Sinclair, Barry tried earlier tonight but no luck.

 Nundroo Roadhouse