Fowlers Bay

Still at Fowlers Bay! Mark has been busy with Rod and the whale watch boat. The whales will be here until the end of September and then they go south again. There have been at least 5 Southern Rights with calves and five or six juveniles in the bay. One went under the boat and its tail touched the other day. That is really up close and personal. The fishing has been good at Scott’s Beach and Danny, who has a boat, always comes back with a fish box full. He gives most of it away to the campers in the park unless it’s Friday, then it goes towards the cook up we have every Saturday night. We have been lucky lately with a couple of people coming through with guitars. We have a bit of a sing along around the fire at night. Fowlers Bay is ‘a bit like a box of chocolates’. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. I haven’t been out on the jetty for a while. I have been kept busy with a new herb garden and other little bits and pieces. Mark gets withdrawals if he hasn’t had the chainsaw in his hand nearly every day. The new generator is going well. No blackouts in the park for a while now. The weather has been great and the sunsets are spectacular. Our photos don’t do them justice.

Another sunset

The container for the new generator

The delivery of the new generator

Some of the many seals

Sleepy lizard

Pom's big squid and others (he caught about 10 that day)

A Southern Right Whale

My big flat head (about two and a half kilos)

Rod and Rhonda were here a couple of days ago. We took them to Mexican Hat in the work ute. Rod and Ted had to sit in the back bouncing around. One of the campers took the ‘boys’ fishing on Scott’s Beach but they didn’t catch anything. 

Rod and Rhonda with us at Mexican Hat

Ceduna and beautifull Fowlers Bay

We left Arno Bay and headed to Ceduna. We decided to stay at the Shelly Beach Caravan Park which is 3klm’s out of Ceduna on the coast. It was a short walk over the sand dunes to the beach where Beemer had great fun running about. It is one of the many beaches they allow you to drive a car on. We found a great seafood retailer called Barney’s where we could buy salt and pepper squid ready to cook. At the caravan park there was an outdoor fireplace which we used every night to sit around and yarn with whoever joined us.

Next stop was Fowlers Bay. This is as far west as we planned to go this time before heading back towards home for Christmas. We booked for a week and decided to book for a second week. It is a beautiful bay and the whales are here for most of August/September. As it turned out Rod and Simone needed someone to help in the park and on the Whale Watching boat. They explained to us that they had advertised for an older couple with their own van to keep the park tidy and in exchange they would get a free site for the van. When we heard this we went ‘we are here’! We are having a great time fishing, going out on the boat when there is a seat free. The boat only takes up to six people for 2 hours watching the whales (mostly mothers with their calves) in the bay.

We have a fire every night, which Mark starts at about 4pm. We go out and get wood for the fire. Mark loves using the chainsaw. The countryside is beautiful. There are huge sand dunes right next to the town. Some of the town has already disappeared under the dunes over a long period of time. There used to be a police station, a pub and a post office. Now there is the kiosk, a hall and a small motel and a few houses. I don’t know how many people live here permanently, but I think it would be not many more than 20. There is no electricity or water. The water we use is pumped from the sand dunes by windmills. 

Fowlers Bay Main Street

Some fish Mark caught in the boat with Danny

Sea Lions sunning themselves

Mexican Hat

Beemer in the sand dunes with Fowlers Bay in the background

Looking west from the top of the sand dunes

Our power in the park is by generator. We have just had the old Lister generator, which blow up a couple of weeks ago, replaced by a new one. Mark and Rod have been working very hard to get a container ready by sound proofing it and putting in a false wall.

The container being delivered for the new generator

The new generator

The list of jobs is getting bigger by the day, so don’t know when we will be allowed to leave. We had a day in Ceduna and Mark joked about taking the van with us. Simone said the draw bar would be missing if we did that. It’s nice to know we are appreciated for our efforts to help them. Most people who book in for a couple of nights stay longer. We have just said goodbye to a couple from Adelaide who have been coming here for years and they were here for two months fishing. 

Peterborough and beyond

Checked out of the Tanunda caravan park (Trevor and Charmane’s) and travelled up to Peterborough. We spent a couple of days there wandering the streets. If you love trains it is old engine paradise. Mark found a motorbike museum and had a good look around. The India Pacific goes through there twice a week so we hang around for about an hour after the time it was supposed to come through. Apparently it is known to be late. We missed it by about two and a half hours. The weather was lovely in the day but very cold at night. We had to break the ice on Beemer’s water bucket in the morning so he could have a drink.

Mark and Beemer Bob the railway dog.

The motor bike museum

Jane and a train in the main street

The view from our van

Another sunset.

Sunset and the moon.

While in Peterborough Jane broke a tooth and had to find a dentist. The nearest one was at Port Augusta. We hadn’t planned to go there but off we went and had a couple of days there. It must have been the cold weather that broke the tooth because when we got to the dentist the man from the caravan next door in Peterborough was getting his broken tooth fixed too.

Sunset over the water at Port Augusta

The reflections were amazing

The goods trains with the flinders ranges in the background

While at Port Augusta we did a day drive to Quorn. the drive was lovely through the Flinders Ranges. Quorn is where the Pichy Richy steam train leaves from.

Beemer getting the wind in his face

One of the many pubs in Quorn

The Quorn Railway Station

The Community Hall

On we went to Arno Bay. What a great little place. It was so close to the water we could hear the waves on the beach at night. The local community had worked hard there and had made a walk around the mangroves over tidal flats and a mud flat where a special seaweed grew.

The park owner put on an Arno Bay Breakfast of as many pancakes you could eat on a Sunday morning and a steak, snapper, prawns and sausage night while we were there. We managed to be there for two breakfasts. What a great way to meet fellow travellers. 

Arno Bay mangrove walk

The creek from a veiwing platform

An Arno Bay breakfast

A storm at sea at sunset looking east

The same sunset looking west

Beemer asleep in the van