We moved from Coffin Bay after two lovely days there and headed around the peninsula to Port Lincoln.  We had read about a fish factory doing tours and tasting and was drawn to it.  I know this whole trip is not about fish but we are both getting into it.  Although we are not yet catching enough to eat most of the time we are having good fun trying!!!

We went to the fish place and were given a great tour by Matt, he explained all about the fishing rules in Port Lincoln and then showed us round the factory.  He was a great tour guide, unfortunately for everyone else it was his last day there so no one else will enjoy his tour.  He showed us the different types of fish that come through the factory.  I hadn’t realised how big tuna is, the one in the picture is only 14 kg and they get them in up to 100kgs they must be huge.  He showed us the oyster room, he raved about how great fresh oysters are.  He opened one for everyone and we all had a taste.  I took mine and chewed – yuk it was like eating a chewy salty piece of gristle not my cup of tea – thank you.  We also went into the filleting room, this was interesting and we got some tips on how to do it – although they did make it look easy.  We had a really good time and learnt lots of things.

 

We headed out of town towards Tumby Bay and on slightly further to a wonderful site on Cape Hardy.  Here it is a free camp with no facilities but you are only a stone through from a white sandy beach.  We met some lovely people at this camp and they were gem hunters.  They were so enthusiastic about what they did and they gave us some tips and hints if we got round to doing any gem hunting ourselves.  We had a delightful couple of hours taking with them it was just great being with some like minded people.

 

We did some fishing and had a lovely swim in the sea, the water was blue and clear and was even not too cold!

On Sunday it was Mothers Day back in the UK but not here in Oz, theirs is in May.  We heard from both the girls but it was hard being away from them.  We miss them terribly but it is lovely when we can speak and text them.  We visited the Uniting Church in Tumby Bay and were not inspired by the service.  The hymns were played at a dirge speed and just was not our cup of tea.  After the service Bob took me out for a lovely Mothers Day lunch at the Tumby Bay Hotel.  The bar was deserted and we were quite concerned that the food might be the same but once we had gone through to the dining room ( which was huge and had lots of people in it) we weren’t too worried.  We had a lovely meal there, thank you very much Tumby Bay.

After three days at Cape Hardy the wind had really got up and we felt it was time to move on again.  We headed north towards Cowell and met a lovely artist Johanna in the tourist information.  There was an art exhibition on and Johanna didn’t tell us she was one of the artists on display. She gave us some advice about the route we should take back to Adelaide and we admired her handiwork.  We headed up the coast past Whyalla and headed towards Point Lowly.  We had had good reviews about this site but when we got there, there were lots and lots of other people and we just didn’t feel it was for us, so carried on up the coast to Port Fitzgerald.  Here we went up a dirt track which takes you round the coast.  We found a lovely spot just next to the road right next to the sea, it was beautiful and we were the only ones there!!! Until later when the bugs came out!!! there were tiny little flies everywhere, it was hot so we needed the windows open but even with the bug screens down they get through, so we were not too happy.  We would have stayed another day but couldn’t bear the bugs.

As per Johanna’s advice we headed past Port Augusta to Quorn.  Quorn is a very old fashioned town, apparently it has been in many films.  Then through Wilmington where we spent a very nice evening in Stony Creek Bush camp, very friendly owners and we got washing done and filled up with water.  Next morning headed off to Melrose where we stopped (on Johanna’s advice again) for a lovely ice cream, locally made in Laura.  On through Laura and Yacka then it all went pear shaped!!!

Heading out of Yacka (it is just some houses I don’t think anything else there) a funny noise came from below the car.  Going on about 100 yards we pulled over, luckily off the road.  Bob put the car into drive but it wouldn’t engage – help.  We called the RACQ and they sent out a mechanic, amazing he was with us in under an hour.  Touring a a caravan means that you have everything you need with on board so we weren’t too worried about being in the middle of nowhere as we had all the supplies we needed for at least a couple of days.  Bob the mechanic said he couldn’t help and we would need to be towed.  We called the garage onto two towns away but they couldn’t do anything for 3 weeks!!!  Called RACQ back again and they were brilliant.  They arranged for a tow truck to come and we found somewhere who might be able to help in Gawler which is north of Adelaide.  We had to get back to Adelaide by Thursday evening as our friends from Toowoomba are flying in to spend 3 weeks with us travelling up to Darwin – help.  Nick who owns the farm opposite to where we broke down came out and offered to tow us off the road and into his yard.  He said we could stay here or leave the van here and also gave us power.  He was brilliant – thank you Nick and Bec for your hospitality.  Philip the tow truck man arrived and we headed with the car – we left the van at Nicks yard and drove towards Gawler.  All the way Philip was trying to help us get round our problem, he calling people to find out how long and how expensive things would be – he was great.  On route we decided that it would be better get Philip to look at it and stay locally rather than getting down to Gawler and then having to try to sort things out.  Philip took us to his garage – sorted us out with a hire car, arranged to collect the van the next day, sort out where we could stay while the car was being mended, he was great. At the end of the day we didn’t know whether we would need a new gear box or what, we just had to wait for the following day for the verdict.

 

The following day the news was not great – we needed a new gear box and it would take until Monday to get it sorted.   Philip came and picked up the caravan as promised and installed us into the Clare caravan park and Bob headed off to Adelaide to pick up Mick, Veronica, Sam and Abbey.  They had had a good flight but when they got to Adelaide one of their bags was still in Brisbane.  They all arrived very tired at about 10.30pm and set up their tents next to our van.  It was lovely having them with us.

Veronica spent the next morning being passed from pillar to post to try and find her bag and get it couriered up to Clare – the other alternative was we drove back to Adelaide (2 hours min and back again another 2 hours)  Luckily she found some nice person who found her bag, put it on the next flight and even got it to us the following day, which was good as it had all their blow up mattresses in the bag so they only had two uncomfortable  nights!!!

 

 

We decided we had to make the most of the time we were here in Clare, so went to Minatron to their maze.  We had a great time in the maze and then they had some games which we could all play in the courtyard. Abbey won the mammoth game of snakes and ladders.  We used the bouncy pillow and pool but the pillow was slightly deflated so it made it difficult to jump on.  We also hired bikes and rode up the Riesling trail.  Phil introduced Veronica to Geocaching and we found 8 in one day.  If you don’t know what it is look it up on Geocaching.com.  It is a great thing to do and it helps you visit places you might not have visited normally.  It is like treasure hunting and it is very addictive.

 

On Monday we were all on edge waiting for the news that the car was fixed.  We did shopping for the next few days and waited for the call.  We visited Spring Gully National Park where we had a lovely walk and found a couple more geocaches.