2 lucky ducks on the road again

When we woke this morning we found Tanya wasn't very well she had arrived home with what appeared to be bad vertigo, I went to help her as she had her family coming for Christmas dinner, she had a phone consultation with her doctor who said he believed it was an inner ear infection and sent a prescription to a chemist which Will picked up for her. In the afternoon we went to stay with Paul and Esther, we take the camper and stay in that, in the evening Adam my nephew and his wife Dot came around, we had lots of laughs  Esther putting out 2 magnificent grazing boards over the afternoon and evening. Christmas morning Esther and Jackie banged on our door as they went to church so we went in and had breakfast with Paul. Esther did a very delicious Christmas lunch, she had roast pumpkin and carrots with my favorite pinkeye potatoes she grew herself, the pavlova she made was to die for, she had made fresh lemon curd to serve with it this is something I  will always do now it was del...

It was a beautiful morning, Colin had been checking the weather and it looked as though it should be really great camping up the east coast so the four of us headed off for a couple of nights away camping.  We stopped at Sorrel to pick up a couple of things before heading up the coast. The east coast highway is very windy and hilly in places so we took it easy and enjoyed the trip, we all stopped at Swansea for lunch at the fish and chip shop, Merv and I had chips and scallops, yummo. When we arrived at the camp we were awhile behind Colin and Tanya as we were hit by a large rock from the tray of a truck which hit Merv's side window and shattered it so it took some time to tape it up so it wouldn't fall out, it made it hard for Merv to drive.  The camp was nice right near a lagoon at the beach with good clean toilets.  We went for a good walk on the beach after setting up. Next morning Merv and I walked to the far end of the beach, Merv spinning as he went, he lost 2 lure...

It was such a relief to arrive at Colin's for a break and great too see them.  In the following days we walked on the beach, walked to the blowhole and had an ice-cream from the van and a challenging walk to Cash's lookout with Colin, quite a walk but the views are worth it. We visited Gavin and Emma at Copping on a day that wasn't quite so sunny, they have a nice property with ducks, geese, chooks, sheep a goat, dog and cat. We have had some delicious vegetarian meals with Tanya and Colin. The views from Cash's lookout  Beach walking

The final dash today through Victoria to the boat, we completed our paperwork got the all clear then left before rules changed. We stoped in Bordertown to pick up some take away meals for the boar as we were told we must stay in our rooms and there wouldn't be any food or drink served, I also took a thermos for coffee. The trip was uneventful apart from the extremely rough roads, I thought they would improve when we hit the dual carriage way out of Ballerat, but no they seem to have got worse. When we got to the boat it was a pretty quick checkin, the bio security is carried out in Melbourne now, I had bought 2 bananas for dinner they told us we could eat them there and leave the skins or leave the whole banana, we ate them. I also forgot I had oranges and sald for dinner. After checking into the room wee found out the rules had changed so we went up stairs and had a beer while we departed.  It was an extremely calm night. After disembarking that is when all the checks were carried...

Time to make the final dash to the border, today  is going to be a long one we want to stay in a little town near Bordertown. We went into town before we left to pickup a script for Merv and fuel, we couldn't believe  how busy it was yesterday was Sunday and not a soul anywhere this morning you had to be careful crossing the street. While we waited for the script we went into a collectors shop, it is just as well we were in the camper as there was so many beautiful old things. On the way between Burra and Berri we went into no.2 lock on the Murry River, a lovely spot for a picnic, we could not believe the amount of pelicans and shags that were there, it means there must be an awful lot of fish there We stopped after a couple of hours for lunch and give Merv a break from fighting the wind and rough road, he said he was ok to drive. When we got to Mundulla after setting up we walked up townto see what the local shop had that we could buy in the morning fo...

Merv's favorite 

Burra

Moving on again making our way closer to the border, we stopped at Melrose for lunch in a lovely park/garden. The town is like a little oasis nestled up against the ranges, it is the oldest town in the Finders Rangers. We were going to stay the night at Hewett but when we pulled in didn't like it so mved on to Burra. Burra turned out to be a gorgeous camp in a council caravan park, it was nice and grassed with great amenities the toilet block had just been refurbished and modernized. The park sat on the edge of a pretty creek that had both wild and domestic ducks in it with lots of different birds flying about. The best thing was the beauty of the town with the old stone buildings,  went for a walk before dinner to look at them, we were told that of an evening there are floodlights put on some , it was a balmy night the best weather we have had in yonks so we went for another walk. The local community school is in the building that used to be a private religious school, it is impos...

We are off again, time to be on the move, we are heading up the road with the intention of staying at Point Lowly for a night. We stoppedin at Wyalla where Merv found a car wash to wash the truck, he said he didn't want to take any dieback into Tassie. After that  ( and of course ) checked out the jetty,  the government has spent a lot of money building a new peir and marina, there is a swimming enclosure in the marina with a shark net around it, men were underwater pressure cleaning the net. The peir is an amazing construction with a big circular opening out towards the end, there are also large shade areas put up. We have noticed with all the jettys they have built on them what I call bus stops so people fishing on the jetty has shelter from the weather, some has as many as 3 double back to back shelters. While we were out the end 2 mother dolphin came along with their babies, they came in close and appeared to be watching us as much as we watched them. We had lunch in the c...

On the road again, but before we head off we walked down the beach to the marina, the facilities in these places are first class, they do charge to use the ramp and park but its not much, there is a sign up advising uses not to try ro retrieve their boats in a swell but use one of the bays in the marina to tie up. The wind still hadn't let up and it was overcast and cold. We made our way to Cowell and as usual had a look at the waterfront first. There are major works going on with new playground and what looks like a restaurant. This has a new marina and of course a super long jetty which we walked. As we were going out the wharf we were talking to a couple of guys who were going out fishing on the jetty, they said the night before they had caught a small bronze whaler shark, they had some crab pots with them as well. We saw some others coming off the jetty with a gog feed of crabs. There was 2 guys with a beautiful 18 - 20 foot twin engine boat just came in so we asked what they c...

We are moving again today, not very far we are on the way to Arno Bay. On the way we stopped at Port Neil, Merv went for a walk along the jetty it was blowing so hard I declined. Merv said the jetty was covered in squid ink. We kept moving until we arrived at Arno Bay, it appears to be a nice area the  childrens waterfront playground, caravan park and pub along with some original beach shacks are all along on the beach side of a large tidal salt plain, the town centre is on the opposite side. We went for a walk on the jetty, the water is very weedy and with the wind looks rather disgusting but there was a school group having an outing playing on the bouncing area when we arrived as we came off the jetty they were all going in for a swim yuk, they were having a ball, I did feel sorry for the lifeguard teacher having to stand in that and try to keep count as the wind was not letting up and most grownups were freezing. We left there and went around behind the hotel to camp, they charg...

These are etched and light up at night