DAY 151 & 152 – COFFIN BAY

We had big plans for Coffin Bay….

Steve was keen to do a heap of fishing there and we wanted to explore the Coffin Bay National Park…. In the end none of that happened….

 

When we arrived it was 37 degrees… dreadfully hot… in fact too hot to spend much time out doors at all.  As Steve was booking us into the caravan park, I received visit from this Superb Blue Wren... Initially he hopped onto the windscreen wiper in front of me and I was so in awe of seeing him there it took a couple of minutes for it to register that I needed to take a photo... By the time I got the camera out he had hopped onto the car mirror and turned his head just as I clicked my camera....  

By the time we had set up the van, we were really feeling the heat, so the aircon went on and we had an afternoon nap before heading out later in the afternoon. 

The plan was to go for a little drive and get our bearings around the town, and then have a BBQ dinner on the beach front…

Ian and Kathy had already headed out before us for an explore.  We checked out the boat ramp and then headed around to the National Park, and on the way we drove down every dirt road that led to the beach.

These guys were all sitting at the boat ramp

This area is noted for all the kangaroos and emus that abound here, and we certainly saw plenty of them.

Emus on the beach down at the water's edge

For the first time ever, we saw emus down on the beach at the water’s edge.  They were everywhere, we passed several on our way into the National Park and then saw a few more when we were driving back into Coffin Bay.  They were quite friendly too and didn’t seem to afraid of the cars. 

  

As we drove into town we met Ian and Kathy coming out from the boat ramp.  They had just been down there and seen several rather large fish around the pontoon and Ian was heading back up to the shop to pick up some bait.  He was keen to have a bit of a fish…

You didn’t need to ask Steve twice, and even though initially he hadn’t planned to do any fishing this afternoon, he was definitely keen to chuck in a line with the others. 

I meanwhile, sat in the car and Face-timed with the grandies before walking down to the beach to see how they were all fairing.    

Steve had a good time catching a heap of Australian Herring or (Johnny Ruffs) as they are called in South Australia.  He caught enough for a good feed.  Ian wasn’t quite as lucky but he did manage to catch hi first King George Whiting so he was happy also.  

They were still fishing at 8pm at night…. I think they actually fished till almost sunset which was around 8.30pm.  Then it was time to head back into the BBQ area near the jetty at Coffin Bay to cook our steak for dinner.

 

Jetty at Coffin Bay at Sunset

By now there was a lovely cool evening breeze and it was so nice being outdoors.  We haven’t managed to do this a lot in the evenings as it is usually way too cold or windy, so we made the most of it tonight…

We enjoyed a lovely BBQ dinner down on the waterfront and it was after 9.30pm before we headed back home

 The plan for day two of our stay at Coffin Bay was to get up early and the boys would have a fish and then we would head up into the National Park for the day.  Well we woke to rain, wind and the cold the following morning so most of our day was spent in our vans… There was a sudden temperature drop today from 37degrees yesterday to 17degrees today.    I miss our beautiful Queensland weather…

We never did make it up into the national park.   It was way too wet and cold to do anything but hibernate.  I can’t say that it was a bad thing, it certainly allowed me to catch up a little on my blog writing and publishing and I finally got to do a bit of reading and playing of suduko which I really haven’t had too much time to do these holidays….

Ian and Kathy decided that it was the perfect weather to go get some hot chips for lunch, so they grabbed a bag of chips and we all shared lunch together in the warmth of our vans…

Steve and I did duck out after lunch to visit the Post Office and Newsagency to grab a couple of postcards and try and get a birthday card for Ian…. We had planned to walk as it was literally just across the road, but just as we were able to set off, we could see another big shower of rain was about to fall, so in the end we took the car…

We managed to get a couple of post cards, but couldn’t find a suitable birthday card.  We went to the Post Office first, and they had plenty of cards for females  and the few males cards they had were not appropriate at all.  We thought we would head into Coffin Bay more and go to the general store and newsagency, only to find out that when we got there, even though they are a newsagency, they do not sell cards and told us to go to the Post Office. 

We did talk about playing a game but in the end, we all ended up having a nap… Well it was raining, and it was cold so it was perfect weather for snuggling and napping…

So pleased we had the warm of our vans and not tents like some poor folk in the park…

Good thing Steve ended up doing a bit of fishing last night because he certainly didn’t get to do the fishing he planned to do in Coffin Bay today.   He did duck back down to the boat ramp again after 5pm when the rain eased off and caught another feed of Johnny Ruffs.

I must admit it has been nice having a break from the camera the last couple of days also.....

 The park around here though is full of kangaroos.  As I came back from my shower this evening, there were 7 kangaroos just out from under our awning.  Some big fellows as well.  They weren't very photogenic though as most of them hopped away as soon as I bought out my camera..... the wildlife is pretty incredible around here....

Tomorrow we move on again… Port Lincoln here we come….