Here’s one for ‘Bernie’ over at Diary of a Dublin Housewife a typical sunrise on Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas, Queensland. Warm and tropical and only a short stroll up the beach to good coffee, great cafes and one of my favourite pubs The Courthouse (aka The Courty). Continue reading Sunrise Port Douglas
It’s a cool autumn morning and we have a dream run east from Kimba across to Port Augusta except for the fact that Woody said that he would fuel up in Iron Knob and guess what? There are no servos in Iron Knob, so once more we crawl along the Eyre Highway checking the DTE (Distance to Empty) versus Garmin and Google maps. With little more outside the car than saltbush to say that it’s nail biting is an understatement. To happen twice on one trip is ridiculous. Continue reading Running on empty 2
On our trip down the Eyre Peninsula we were planning on visiting Tumby Bay until Woody suddenly realises that we are low on fuel and this being Sunday it isn’t worth the risk leaving the highway (it’s sometimes easy to forget that not everyone has 24 hour trading). We press on grimly, calculating the car’s DTE, Distance To Empty versus the Kms to Arrival on the GPS. Of course, we’re punching into a head wind with the caravan on the back. I’m trying to keep our mates The Prado’s informed of our situation but can’t reach them on the CB … Continue reading Running on empty
On the east coast of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, Arno Bay is set on a curve of stark white sand. A jetty extends out into Spencer Gulf. At the southern end there is an aquaculture centre and fish hatchery as this is a breeding ground for tuna and cuttlefish among other sea creatures. The sheltered caravan park fronts onto the beach and the old Arno Bay Hotel next door offers camping for RV’s as well. Out at the end of the jetty we meet a somewhat reticent man who is hauling in bright green leather jackets. We feel as though … Continue reading Arno Bay
We take a break at Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula where a Sunday market is flourishing. Although it is early morning the grand stone pubs are open for business and one pub overlooks acres of mangroves. Locals are selling olives … Continue reading Cowell
Is there such a thing? Being retired we no longer live by clocks but Woody is a naturally early riser (a habit developed over years of being a milkman). Breakfast is not rushed but we usually find ourselves on the … Continue reading What’s a typical day on the road?
We spend a chatty happy hour with a chap who along with his wife has been on the road for a year. They are now looking for somewhere permanent to settle down as they no longer wish to return to their home in the Sydney suburb of French’s Forest. He calls it French’s Apartments. His conversation gets us thinking, if you had to choose another place to live where would it be? Then we met another chap in Streaky Bay who said that they came to Streaky Bay and never left. “It’s the community.” He said. We found that there … Continue reading Where else could you live?
The Burra Passport Tour is a wonderful concept and being able to pick and choose what historical sites to visit is a big plus. Up on the hill behind Redruth there is a small village of stone ruins known as … Continue reading Burra Passport Tour – Hampton Village
Guidebook in hand and still engrossed in the history of Burra we stop outside Smelter’s Home Hotel which for a time was operated by Woody’s ancestors in the nineteenth century. A tradesman pops out and suggests that we should meet the owner. Val is a charming lady who knows the history of the pub and of all its publicans. It is Australia’s oldest unrenovated hotel. In the early days when there was a death in the district the pub was used as a mortuary, which has to be better than using the butcher shop. Back when the miner’s dugouts in … Continue reading Burra Passport Tour – Smelter’s Home Hotel
Continuing our informative Passport Touring of Burra I’m intrigued by the stonework of the Redruth lockup. We find its replacement, the more austere Redruth gaol to be quite unnerving. You know that feeling when the hairs go up on the … Continue reading Burra Passport Tour – The Gaols
