We left Streaky and drove to Coffin Bay via the Talia Caves and the Bath Tub where we had to find the tree ladder down and peak through the hole to the wild sea. Nathanial got attacked by an angry bee so we got out of the Tub quickly and charged into Elliston bakery for some lunch and a skate at the skatepark. I think we have seen every skatepark in Australia now!
Then we did the sculpture drive, felt the magic, and went to check Anxious bay and the renowned surfspot Blackwater. Nothing happening though so Woodley and Nathanial got a lift with some cyclist and Kirst and Arch grabbed some spare thongs and we sped off to Coffin Bay.
At Coffin we hit the national park looking for surf again at a place called Flat Rock. More howling onshores though and we ended up on a beautiful beach with endless white sand, had a soccer match, caught up with a lost baby sea lion, and did some dune surfing.
Arch finished his lizard wire and wool sculpture too, he is nearly ready to start his own gallery! The caravan park was ok but there wasn't much going on in the town so luckily we were camped next to the playground which the boys loved, we had a fish on the pier but there were only crabs interested in our bait and we had 9 holes of golf and all the boys played well. From Coffin Bay we went to Port Lincoln to swim with the tuna which the boys loved.
Arch had a tuna spa and we all got to feed the tuna as well. We then went to Cafe Del Giorno for some amazing devilled scallops and the boys had their 500th icecream for the trip (absolute bargain at $4 each). We said hi to the statue of Makybe Diva, had a walk on the pier with all the schoolies, and the headed off for a night at Wyalla.
We glamped there because we were leaving early and arrived late and had a nice walk through the water at sunset chasing and catching big sand crabs. The boys went back and caught one in the morning and cooked it up for brekky then we packed up and headed off to Port a Gutter for a foul lunch and arrived in Adelaide in the late arvo.
Now the title of this blog sounds like the Mormons have gone corporate, but you have got it all wrong. The wonderful family that invited us to stay in the beautiful Adelaide Hills on their 10 acre property (more glamping) are called the McNaughtons. It is just Neil has a Down Syndrome student who calls him Mr McMormon and so now that is who he is - in our eyes anyway. We had a magic 4 days with the McMormons - playing on the farm and staying up late have lots of laughs over a Warwick Capper; walking through Glenelg and seeing a really SPEEECIALLL house owned by Bruce McABrainy, that's what his Downs Syndrome mate Denis Cometti calls him, and getting our 500th icecream for the trip (dipped in chocolate sauce too); having a barbee and a splash at Southport; going to the Adelaide Museum and seeing all the animals (including a stuffed lion whose tailed moved everytime I wasn't looking) and then having a play in the National Park. We also got pumped in archery but got up in soccer and the chin up contest- go the Hallies. Thanks you guys for making Adelaide SSSPPPPeeeccciiiaallll.
On the way out we planned to meet up with Paul and Karen thinking there would be only one Westfield shopping centre near a Big 4 caravan park in Adelaide, but we were VERY mistaken and ended up on opposite sides of the city, so we grabbed some lunch and moved on. Our rendezvous had to wait a few days, in Port Elliot, just past Victor Harbor. We were looking forward to a surf down there and camped right near the water again thinking of the blissful sounds of the ocean to fall asleep to. Little did we know that the great southern ocean had other ideas keeping us awake for 3 nights in a row trying to pound the mighty Goldstream Storm into oblivion with winds and rain direct from the icecaps. Arch is up the top of the tree behind our camper testing the winds.
We got to have some good bike rides though, checked out the whale museum, went over to Granite Island, had a mini golf comp with Paul and Karen, hit the skatepark, went to Goolwa beach to collect cockles for fishing and Paul cooked up a beautiful pasta with them in, and the boys caught a couple of fish with Paul while Kirst and I went to the pictures.
We also found a good cafe in Victor Harbor that did quality coffees. Middleton Beach was the place to surf but it finally served up some decent little waves as we were leaving.
So we convoyed to Robe with P & K stopping at the big lobster in Kingston for a seafood lunch and then found a nice caravan park on a heritage site by a lake with lots of protection from the wind, and after setting up found another species of lizard- the good ole blue tongue.
The weather in Robe was sheizen but we still managed to get down the beach for a surf- we drove onto Long Beach parked the car, put on some music, had a picnic lunch, then Wooz went fishing, Nathanial made little sand castles with faces and the rest of us surfed with Arch finding the groove again quite quickly.
The waves were only tiny but it was good to get wet again. Then we had a fish with Paul on the pier the next day with not much luck so I took the boys to the skatepark for a bit before we drove down the sandy tracks to the back beach. It reminded me of Gunna down there and the surf was ok but it was late in the day and we didn't have our boards. We did manage to help some guys who were bogged on the beach before we left though. We had some quality storms last night and slept in until there was finally sunshine, bit of a wind chill though. Then we had a brekky cook up and played cards (including Flo's game) and Arch cleaned us all up. We followed this with 9 holes of golf playing ambrose with Arch and me vs Kirst and Paul and Arch's luck continued winning double or nothing for a double scoop icecream on Paul. Not a bad day at the office for the young buck. Tomorrow we head back to our home state for the first day of summer. First stop- Port Fairy.
