21 February 2014 Coffin Bay to Port Broughton ~500km

Sorry Ella for this being very late. xo  did your postcard arrive?

Trust us to wake the earliest we have for a while on a leaving day, we were up and gone by 8:35am, and on our way to Port Broughton at the top of the Yorke Peninsula (with no r!)

Coffin Bay

To get back we had to drive back through Port Lincoln, so we decided as it was a clear day to go back up to the lookout at Winters Hill that Martin took us to about a week ago. The views weren’t disappointing this time, you get a great panorama of Boston Bay, Port  Lincoln and the valleys behind it all the way out to the Big Swamp.

Port Lincoln

Our next planned stop was Whyalla for fuel. It was a very easy drive up the east coast and we actually found a service station on the highway in Whyalla this time. At this point I should remind myself and everyone else to be very careful when towing a large caravan into a service station.  I was so busy looking for the diesel pump that I forgot about the amount of room I need to be able to swing the van around safely behind me. This is not good when there are fuel bowsers everywhere!! Anyway, I got out of the car and looked back to the van to see that I was about 20mm away from taking out a bowser! (well really only the protective metal guards around it!)  (Deb here, I am not goodat distance, but looked to me like there was only 2mm between the pole and the van!!)  Oooops J So I filled up and then had Deb guide me back a bit so I could straighten up and swing a bit wider to avoid everything. It looked like the copper filling up next me wasn’t all that amused, but he left us alone!  I the middle of all this Deb had taken Aiko off for a walk and a pee stop. Apparently as I was reversing the van she suddenly noticed Aiko spread eagled on the ground, worrying that something was wrong, she picked her up, only to have her pee all down her front!! We think while she was watching what I was doing, Deb may have inadvertently pulled Aiko over onto her belly while she was peeing, and this was what was “wrong” with her. I am sure we will see the funny side of all this eventually!! Lol.   (I didn’t mind the pee, I was so concerned for Aiko and at the same time I was supposed to be helping Greg who was sooo close to wiping out the rear of the van – it all turned out ok fortunately)

Back safely on the road, after gracefully manoeuvring out of the petrol station, we pulled over a few km out of town for a clean-up and lunch. At least with the van we had a place for Deb to clean-up and change, and the facilities for making lunch. After a very tasty chicken wrap, we were back on the road with Deb behind the wheel for the first time this trip. She drove for the next couple of hours, even through Port Augusta!! (Towns worry her when she is driving towing the van). I enjoyed taking in all the views and marvelling at the beauty of the Flinders Ranges. It was especially good to see that all the fires in the lower Flinders were finally out, all that rain last week did a world of good. We did hear that the CFS went from fight fires to sandbagging against floods within 24hrs!!

Flinders Ranges

Some time out of Port Augusta the wind picked up and caused driving to get a bit tougher. One section was particularly windy and caused the van to get a pretty good fishtail on it at the same time she was fixing the mirror after passing a truck). Deb handled it really well, but it shook her up a fair bit and it wasn’t long before she handed to driving back over to me. I was really proud of the way she dealt with the wind and the wild car movements.

Another hour and we were driving into Port Broughton at around 3:30pm. We checked in and were all set up by 4:30. According to the woman at reception there isn’t too much around if you haven’t got a boat. There aren’t many squid or whiting in close and the crabs are starting to go off the boil. She did say that they have been getting a few garish off the jetty. I rang mum and we are both glad to hear that her eyes are coming along well (one better than the other, but it’s getting there with time) and that Carmel is doing OK. Brian and Amy seem to be having a great time in Thailand, and we guess the same goes for Craig and his family.

I went out to give it a try at about 5:30. I got out to the end of the jetty just as 3 or 4 people with crab nets were coming in. So I was the only fool out there!! Yes, it was windy, low tide and the water looked horrid. Needless to say, that after 2hrs I gave up empty handed and came back for the night.

We have 2 full days here to just relax before we head home and get back into the swing of things again.