Tueday 12 December –
Streaky Bay
Thank goodness for air con. We certainly made the right decision to continue our drive on from Kimba yesterday. If we had spent the night there, we would have sweltered. Thankfully we had plenty of respite from the heat and the air con was turned off in the night.
I was awake at 630am needing the loo and returned for an hour of sleep before taking the time to read. We did eventually peel ourselves out of bed at 830am happy to get into breakfast. I had a shower noticing the definite spike in the temp. Paul had been busy putting the washing on and hanging it. It wasn’t going to take long to dry today.
We were glad to be back in oyster country and keen to collect some for dinner. We had a card for Evans Oysters and after ringing them and finding they were back at the shed with the fresh morning catch. We took the car off the trailer and zipped up to the shed. Happy with the size and $11/doz price tag, we came away with 6 dozen.
We drove from the shed to town so we could fill the car with fuel, pick up groceries and some drinks. We were wary about picking up too many vegetables, as we will have the quarantine border crossing to deal with and don’t want to be throwing money away. We also wanted the car filled, as we had a warning light pop up on the van yesterday saying check engine and get to a Fiat dealer, so at least if the van breaks down, we still have transport.
When we returned, we put the car back on, unpacked our groceries and then went for a walk. We followed the fitness path around the bay. The flies were out in force, buzzing annoyingly around our faces. We continued our walk to a house we could see on the point and then turned back. We spotted a sandy brown snake slither across the path and duck away through the scrubby bush close to the water.
We returned to the washing which was now dry and brought it to the van. Paul got busy shucking oysters while I did some net surfing before I put lunch together. When we were done, we took out the collection of board games and had a bit of fun playing a few of them.
We finished playing just as a willie willie came bustling through the park. It whipped up sand and dust and sent rippling, violent waves through others’ awnings. Thankfully ours wasn’t out, but of door was open, so sand was blasted into the van, before the door was slammed shut. I then set about cleaning up the mess that had been created.
I watched a couple of episodes of A Place to Call Home while also writing up today’s blog, all the while trying to stay cool. The water from the cold tap wasn’t helping though, coming out hotter than the hot tap.
When I went to the loo, I found our thongs missing, casualties of the willie willie. I did eventually locate them blown through the undercarriage of the van. We were over feeling a little swampy but this time, so we gathered our drinks and made way for the games room where the air con was cranked to 22 and I could watch the news. It was quite pleasant in there until a family turned up to play with the noisy basketball machine. We persevered through the commotion and feeling guilty they decided it was best to leave.
We hung around until just after 6pm, heading back to the van to cook up 2doz oysters for dinner and they were delicious. Once we had finished our meal, we returned to the games room for cooling respite. I left Paul to it, to go and take a photo of the water as it was like glass and it was difficult to determine where it ended and the sky began. It was just divine.
When I returned to Paul he was just being kicked out. Seems the games room shuts at 7pm. Damn it. Without the cool of the aircon, there was nothing else to do than grab the camera and go for a walk in the water. The water depth is exceptionally shallow for quite a distance off shore. We were able to wade along in calf deep, bath water for as far as we wanted.
The evening was very balmy and was probably still 35 degrees. The water was flat and still, making it easy to make out the disturbances of the dolphins that were cruising the bay. We combined the stairs and wandered the path. I remained shoeless, as my feet were suffering from thong blisters that were too painful and couldn’t sustain the rub of the rubber any longer, 3 blisters already popping up.
We made it all the way into town, walking the jetty to the very end and wishing we had our bathers on to take advantage of the swim cage. Paul thought about going in in just his boxers but then changed his mind. We talked to a guy who was busy baiting crab pots, pulling one in during our chat.
Feeling parched, we stopped in at the pub for a pint. My coke went down in only a few gulps. Paul bought a crap Lager so he could do the same.
We made our way back to the van as the sun began to fade. Beautiful mauves, dusty pinks and silvery grey clouds were left behind, leaving magical reflections across the water. I took advantage of the gorgeous colours and lights with me camera. When we were here in January the sky had been lit on fire with bright oranges, reds, pinks and yellows, this was a muted version but still spectacular.
We wandered in the warm water once again, so many other tourists had their chairs out on the sand taking in the evening warmth and retreating light.
We made it back to the van which was lovely and cool, after leaving the air con on while we were gone. I set about finishing off the blog and Paul read before heading for a shower. I went for one too, hen Paul returned, enjoying the chance to cool off. It had been 39 today and was still very warm.
Once I was back, we retreated to bed to read for a short while then it was off to sleep.
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