Port MacDonnell

It was a windy, wet and cold day today and so when Warren suggested we try out the local seafood that was on offer, I was out the door.

We went to a cafe on the waterfront. Warren suggested that we take a walk out the jetty but with the door being almost wrenched from our hands as we left, and the rain was coming down we went for a drive instead. Driving along the coast road, we called in here.

Getting fifty metres down the track, the heavens opened again and it was cold! we headed back to the car and went out to Adam Lindsay Gordon's cottage.

With a closed sign on it.

Using the GPS, we found there was a martine museum in town.

A mural on a building in the main street, too cold and wet to find out more.

This was one of the exhibits just inside the door, an outdoor wooden dunny complete with a red back spider on the seat. 

I have been to many museum but this one was very different, it had small alcoves featuring one aspect of the area. It has had many and varied industries such as soap making, tanning, beer making, boat making and of course cray fishing/lobster catching.

One exhibit was on rabbits and their fur and making akrubra hats 

In amongst these was an area dedicated to churches in the district and this beautiful pipe organ, it is the small I have ever seen, not that I am any sort of expert but it was stunning. There was also the damn, I cant think of the word but where the minister delivers his sermon from, lectern? and a church pew.

As someone walked into this alcove, the Lord's Prayer played softly. In many of the alcove, there was music or speeches about the display.

Caravan Park

We are at this caravan park for five nights, time to stop and smell the roses for awhile and Warren wants to do some fishing, although by his own omission, he is a crap fisherman but he still tries every now and then.

Our van is parked in a small bay surrounded by coastal trees and bushes, this serves as a wind break and a bit of privacy from the other vans as well. two vans and cars fit into these bays.

We would normally have the awning out and we did have it out but the wind was up and it was blustery so the awning was rolled up when I took the pic. The beach is just over the back over a sand rise.

We have a gate pass to come in and out of the gates, its a swipe card. There is also a code for the toilet and shower.

Thank goodness there is a larger written card on the door as often the first trip of a morning is completed without ones glasses. Also thank goodness it is a very easy number to remember, Warren's has an easier number. 

A ten cent piece is losing its monetary value but not so here.

Here inside the park a ten cent coin gets one a hot shower for seven minutes. I dont begrudge paying for a hot shower at all but finding a ten cent coin can be a bit difficult. Luckily Warren had a few in his tennis bag. I paid for some bakery items yesterday by cash and yahoo, got a coin back in my change. I said to Warren that there was my shower for the morning. I am sure that we would be able to exchange coins at the office but just haven't done it yet.

Fritz!!!

We drove into Mt Gambier today to visit a sister in law who is in hospital here. We thought that we probably should take something so went a couple of blocks to a large supermarket area. We selected a crossword book and a magazine and then asked if there was a hair dresser around. I had missed my appointment to get my hair cut before leaving as my hairdresser who works from home on her own, had broken her ankle and couldn't even stand so my hair was a bit woolly and so was Warren's. Yes, there was one and they could fit us in at 11.30, an hour away. Had coffee and did pick up some groceries as we had the fridge in the car that we could turn on. Yay, we are in Sth Aussie and that meant fritz! Warren went and queued to buy some.

Trust me there is nothing like "our" fritz, it has peppers and spices in it and is quite a strong taste with an orange skin around it.

Shopping done we went back to hairdressers and I dont know how come but it was almost 1.30 pm before we left the centre. There was a book store closing down and all books were out for $6.

Hospital visit done, we then went to a Telestra shop to find out how to apply for Telestra air. I hate going there as I always feel dumb when they start talking about all the stuff they talk about.

Tonight for dinner we had fritz and salad stuff and gee it was nice. He had done well by buying quite a large piece so we will have fritz for a bit I may even cook some for breakfast as a change, from memory it curls up just right to add an egg into the middle.

I do like my fritz and it is about five years since the last time I had some so I am going to make up for it.

Quarrantine

Heading towards South Australia the trees were getting larger and then we saw quarantine signs.Damn, we had forgotten about this. It is illegal to take fruit,vegetables, wood or grape vines into Sth Aussie.

A couple of kms further on, there was a bin to place these items in. We had cabbage, potatoes tomatoes and apples on board. We did think about continuing on but couldn't do it so we stopped and sent our fresh F $ V down in the depths of the bin. We did eat an apple each before going on.

Two other cars stopped and deposited  as well while we were there. We are at a small coastal town paying $25 a night for a few nights while we check out the surrounds. This is reported as the Crayfish (Lobster) capital so may have to try one while we are here. There is a place in town that sells cooked ones

South Australians do tend to have some different words such as a stobbie pole for electricity pole, fritz for devon (although fritz is much tastier than devon just ask any Sth Aussie)

Portland

Driving west from Warrnambool, we were heading to Portland but there was a turn off about 4 kms out of Portland. I suggested that we go in and see about morning tea. I wanted to see  what it was like these days. Portland was one of the places that we stayed in on our honeymoon. Nope, didn't recognize anything.

We realised that it was Australia Day and a public holiday but was lucky enough to find a French Bakery open for business. We got morning tea but opted to stay in the car as it was so cold and windy.

I did take a photo of the docks though. We thought this was wheat at first then decided it was wood chip.

A beautiful church overlooking the docks and alongside was a college.

A Fixing Day.

Warren was invited to see Andrew's place of work today (well, actually we were both invited but I thought it was more a boys thing so I stayed back). They had a couple of hours going through helicopters and stuff.

He came home and decided to fix things. The drip tray in the fridge falls out when we are travelling so he took it apart and glued it in place then he adjusted the broom rack so that stays in place. I thought I had better do something and so I mended my cardigan, it has had a small hole in it for some months, always intended to fix it but only thought about it when I wanted to wear it. When I packed it to bring (its black so will go with everything)I noticed that there was a second hole.I had bought a small sewing kit to bring along so I darned the holes, not the best looking darns but at least I cant see daylight through it anymore.

After a day of doing not much, we took a walk on the beach, after putting on jumpers, hard to believe that we are in the middle of summer.

The water was cold, there were people out in the water and this guy.

Allenford Cheese

We visited here this morning and found that there were two museums/displays attached. The first one was mainly on dairy equipment.

Warren trying his hand at turning the milk separator that we both used when we were much younger. I am also surprised to see such a thing in a museum but I was about eight so over fifty (gulp) years ago.

The main thing here is a milk cooler just off centre left, the milk would go thru a strainer and then over the stainless steel coils.

I just had to take a photo of this, we had one and it took pride of place between the kitchen/dining room and the lounge so it could be listened to which ever room one was in. A radio but it was always referred to as "the wireless"

After wandering thru here and another collection of engines, we went in to the cafe and had cheese tastings. Lunch was quiche for me and warren had a ham and cheese sandwich. We bought some of their products before leaving. have to keep in mind that we have a very small fridge. 

We were at the break water this afternoon and saw where the movie Oddball was made.

The sea was so blue.