Our journey to becoming grey nomads
Watched ‘The Imitation Game’ last night and loved it. Thanks to Bec and Phil for the recommendation. Good movie.
Today has been pouring with rain so we have been hanging out in the van. At one stage Col had a jumper and a beanie on, even though it was still 27 degrees in the van ha ha. It does feel cold though after the scorching heat. Nice to have a break from it. Continue reading “Day 16 – 29th January 2018 – Ceduna”
Just a chill out laundry day today. We were expecting another scorcher but it didn’t get there, thankfully. We have been enjoying the cool breeze. It has been really windy but we haven’t minded one bit.Â
Col wanted some time to work on the videos that I keep referring to in the blog. So we had a tech day and hung out at the van. This was our office…Â
The pack up went really well in Streaky Bay, we are becoming professionals at it now. The drive also went really smoothly and we arrived at the Ceduna Foreshore Caravan Park by 12pm. The issue with this (the camping crew will understand and appreciate this dilemma), there is a rule that you can’t set up camp without a bevvy in your hand, but we never arrive anywhere early so it was a dry set up at Ceduna. Just didn’t feel right. Continue reading “Day 14 – 27th January 2018 – Streaky Bay to Ceduna”
Today we headed off towards Elliston to do the Clifftop drive, but we stopped in at ‘Murphy’s Haystacks’ on the way there. We had seen a video about these and thought we should stop, but was not really expecting much. We were both really surprised, they are beautiful and we really enjoyed it.
Today it was 35 degrees in Streaky Bay and we wanted to do the foreshore bike ride, so we planned to do this in the morning to try and beat the heat. Col coped with it fine, it is a 5.3km track along the foreshore but is pretty hilly, so the ride in total would have been about 13km. The scenery was beautiful but the flies were really bad. Luckily I had my fly net in my backpack and would suggest to anyone doing the ride to pack one.  It was ok when you had a bit of speed going, but at the top of the hills when you slowed down and was breathing a little heavier, the flies threatened to get in your mouth and ears – somewhat distressing. Once I had the fly net on, that problem was solved. I did manage to get a touch of heat exhaustion – nothing serious. Col has done a lot of cycling and found it a relatively easy ride. Take plenty of water, a fly net and maybe pick a day under 35, or go really early in the morning. We did get some good video footage on the ride and will put that up once edited. Col managed to spot another Stumpy on the ride, might have to change his nickname if he keeps this trend up. The Stumpy Whisperer…….. Continue reading “Day 12 – 25th January 2018 – Streaky Bay”
Today we took the boat out for another fishing day. We decided to use the shallow ramp near our caravan park and Col took my Mazda CX5 rather than his Toyota FJ Cruiser to put the boat in. It freaked me out a bit, seeing the back of my car in the water. On the first attempt to put it in, we realised that the trailer was sitting too high above the water to drive the boat off. So Col decided to reverse quickly down the ramp and slam the brakes on, to try and launch the boat off the back of the trailer into the water. My job was to hold a little rope to stop the boat floating off to sea….. yes, I was crapping myself. I am glad to report that this terrifying plan did work and all went smoothly. Not sure I recommend it as a way to launch boats, but in this instance it was a nice trick and it did work. We did manage to get GoPro footage of this launch and will put it up once edited.
Continue reading “Day 11 – 24th January 2018 – Streaky Bay Boat Launch”
We are excited that the first video is ready to view on YouTube – the fishing day at Farm Beach. Thanks so much Jake Cunningham for your help with the editing!! We are obviously novices at the video stuff, but having lots of fun doing it and learning as we go. Hopefully they will get better and better as the trip goes on.
Continue reading “Day 10 – 23rd January 2018 – Streaky Bay Boat Ramp”
Just a chill out laundry day today. Hanging laundry out in gale force winds is an interesting experience let me tell you, ha ha.  That probably would have made a funny video had we thought of it.
Also had a tech day and hung out in the recreational room updating the blog and Col was uploading the video footage as Jake Cunningham has kindly offered his exceptional media skills to help edit the films. Continue reading “Day 9 – 22nd January 2018 – Streaky Bay”
The final pack up was going pretty smoothly. Col laid down the challenge for me to try and pack up the double privacy ensuite on my own the first go. I accepted the challenge and downloaded a video to watch how it was done (with much teasing from Col).  But I am happy to report that I NAILED IT!!! Might make a video of this so Col can watch it any time he needs, haha.
Things went a little off track when we were packing up the Caravan awning and noticed that it was off centre and wouldn’t click back into the rails on the side of the van properly. While we were trying to fix it, one of the awning arms popped out of the other track completely and we couldn’t fix it. Luckily Col was able to get it secured enough to drive to Streaky where we would look at a more permanent fix for it. This did delay us leaving Coffin Bay much later than intended. Continue reading “Day 8 – 21st January 2018 – Coffin Bay to Streaky Bay”
Today was mainly a pack up day of our Coffin Bay camp, but once the main pack up was done we decided to go and hire a couple of kayaks and paddle around Coffin Bay. You can get them from the Beachcomber shop near the caravan park. We also found that this shop had a better selection of bait for fishing and much cheaper than the general store. They sell a range of things, so it is worth having a look around.
We took the kayaks out for an hour around the bay. The coast line was really beautiful and the water surprisingly clear. We saw a razor fish, crabs and a scallop. I learnt a new fact thanks to Colin East, that scallops can swim! Even though they are in a shell. They open and close so they can move away. Continue reading “Day 7 – 20th January 2018 – Coffin Bay”