Day 4 – 17th January 2018 – Coffin Bay

Coffin Bay has been very hot but we are managing it pretty well. We bought a couple of small towels that go really cold when you wet them and shake them out. Handy for hiking and also for sleeping.   We have fans but no air-conditioning.

The controller went on the solar panel so we had to drive into Port Pirie to purchase a new one, which is about 45 minutes from here. We came back to camp and Col fixed the solar panel (thankfully, or we would have been in trouble, or had to buy a new one which isn’t cheap). Col never ceases to impress me with what he can fix. It took most of the day to get that sorted and it was 36 degrees, so Col was pretty over heated in the afternoon. 

Unfortunately the heat overwhelmed the fridge in the boat and all the bait thawed out. At least it was the boat fridge!  The mud guard had also melted when col went to stand on it. I am a little worried about the items in the cars. We will see what damage had been done as we go to use things I guess. We tried to move anything out that would be potentially damaged and put it under the van which was a little cooler. 

We went to a slightly better beach than the smelly mud one, this one had sand but a warning about razor fish. It was also fairly shallow a long way out. Col was brave and went for a proper swim, but I was happy to stay in the shallow on some sand free of razor fish. Col did get nipped by a sand crab which made me laugh.   Glad it was him and not me, or it would not have been as funny.

We decided to go out for dinner due to the heat and picked the 1802 Oyster Bar but we were disappointed over all. The food was pricey, the serves were small, the food was bland and cols pasta under cooked and lobster overcooked. The good points, the setting was beautiful – we sat outside on the deck overlooking the water, the oysters were great and we got half a dozen mixed as an entree – they had a great selection of unusual choices, we tried ones with a hazelnut crumb and apple puree, Japanese Heat with pickled ginger and wasabi and the other was teriyaki and lime. All were really yummy. You need to try Coffin Bay oysters if you ever come here. You can do a tour and learn about the Oyster farming and take one off the rocks to eat fresh if that is of interest. I would go back to the restaurant for the oysters, but not the meals.