Salmon frenzy

We stay at Newland Head for a few days, near Waitpinga Beach, which is a haven for fishermen and surfers, and a danger to young or inexperienced swimmers. We find a spot to camp but it is very hilly here and the van slopes both sideways AND backwards, making it feel like you're in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory where reality is not what it seems!

In the above photo, you can see the dunes up and behind our van - the beach lies on the other side, past several more dunes. There is a rather steep walking track that punters can use to get to the water; we just used the car and drove the long way.

Eve tries her luck in the rough surf

The sand contains many potholes and sandbars so the waves are very unpredictable. Strong waves that head into shore hit a sandbar or pothole, and turn around and return out to sea. As they encounter another incoming wave, the two collide in a thundering clap and both waves turn vertically. It's a bit scary to watch but very exciting (especially if you're swimming in it!!)

We hear that the Aussie salmon swim in schools along the gutters of Waitpinga Beach. The sand is coarse and sinks quickly so the water is remarkably clear – a wave a metre high will surge along shallow water (maybe 30cm deep), and with the sun behind, you can see right through the wave. Later that evening we even spotted a whole school of salmon within a wave, just as the sun was setting.

There are a few fishermen out this evening; I guess they heard the same story as us – that 2 nights ago the salmon were in a feeding frenzy and were an easy catch on silver lures.

We find a gutter leading diagonally from the shore and start to cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve. Within a few short minutes I caught my first fish. Woo-hooing and skipping through the sand, I plonked that baby into our bucket and quickly re-cast for the next catch. That fish was the first in our little area, and there were many more to come. HC, our camping neighbour, bagged 18 salmon in the next 2 hours, and Jase even tried his popper with tremendous success – he caught a 43cm monster in no time and the lure proved so life-like, he had to shoo away albatrosses who kept swooping onto it!

Our other neighbours, Jason and Kieran, came down for a look and when Jason said he couldn’t fish because he lost his lure, I quickly grabbed one of our spares and ordered him to go grab his rod. He hurried back and before long caught the biggest of the lot – a 48cm salmon with a massive girth. He must have thanked us 10 times for lending him that lure!!

The first catch of the day. You can see the crazed footsteps where I RAN up the dunes with my fish.

Jase almost loses his prize



The day's catch

The day's feast!

Newland Head Conservation Park has a barbecue area - very popular on hot days

We also made fish burgers which were delicious

Happy Goolwa Cockle Day!

Firstly, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to Mal who celebrated his birthday a couple of days ago.
We hope you had a wonderful birthday Dadio, and wish you many more years of health and happiness!

Happy Goolwa Cockle Day!
The evening before Australia Day we drove along Goolwa Beach with a vague promise of catching some cockles (identical to Melbourne pipis).
We stopped about two kms from the main entrance to the beach and headed out into the water. Sure enough, you twist your feet into the water and hey presto! Hundreds, maybe thousands, no, maybe tens of thousands of cockles just waiting to be collected!

The water is rough out here but the cockles are aplenty!

Overnight we purged our catch to remove any unwanted sand or grit, and on Australia Day we supped (gorged) on our glorious catch. Here are the recipes......

Recipe #1

Cockle Penne

Recipe #2

Cockle Vol Au Vents

Recipe #3

Cockle Crepes

(by now the wine and the sangrias have gone down a treat...)

Recipe #4

Cockle Fritters

Happy Australia Day!!!

Oh, and to finish the day, our neighbour whose children have a yabby net in the nearby lagoon, asked us if we could please eat their giant yabby, as they have already eaten so many and couldn't bear another....

Umm... sure, we'll take it off your hands.......

Fish n Chip heaven

The best fish and chips I've ever eaten in my life.....

• 2 x barramundi
• 6 x chicken pieces
• 8 x crumbed garlic prawns
• Super-crunchy chips
• 3 x Dim sims (which we gave to the seagulls coz we were too full)

Oh heavenly and quaint are you
Hidden behind plain white-washed walls and gaudy red door
Crunchy juicy salty goodness;
Your drooling customers await this glorious feast
Patiently, and in an ordered queue
Even as the Closed sign is erected for the evening

Port Elliot "Rosietown"

Port Elliot seems to have forgotten that time exists. The old single-laned railway cuts through the little town and old tin verandahs will shade you as you walk down the maim street which is adorned with antique shops, flower beds and some interesting relics, like the old Council Chamber which is no bigger than a bedroom.

We believe that Jase's mum, Rosie, would love to live here. Between rusty fences containing garden bedsbrimming with cottage flowers, to the sandstone and tin structure of the buildings that occupy the area, and the ricketty little trainline that still serves a passenger steam train 3 times per day, we know Rosie would love it!

Victor Harbor & the Horse Tram

Beautiful clydesdales still pull this old tram along the Victor Harbor Causeway to Granite Island. It has a fascinating history which can be read here.

At walking pace, this enormous beautiful beast trudges along,

and it's easy for pedestrians to keep up

Plenty of room on top of the tram - great for taking photos

Time for a mugshot

The view from Granite Island is gorgeous

The waterbird feast

A large flock of seabirds has assembled on the water about 200m away from us. We grab the binoculars for a closer look. Very soon they are accompanied by successive flocks, now numbering in their hundreds, and soon the entire swarm is thousands in size. Over the next ten minutes they herd the fish close to the shore, right in front of us.

David Attenborough, you would be delighted to see this! And this view is all ours.

PS Don't forget, you can click on a photo to enlarge it....

Jase watches the first couple of flocks through the binoculars. I grab the SLR camera and attach the zoom to get a closer look too. Then I start to take photos of this spectacle.

The number of birds must be a thousand. This is becoming a swarm of birds.


All at once the birds start to fly in tight circles....

.....and then form a curved line

The splashing begins. They are scaring the fish to towards the shore.

The line is crescent-shaped and we witness their clever technique in action.

Pelicans move in and the line gets frantic as the feasting begins.

All too soon the spectacle is over and the birds take flight.....

....and disappear around the nearby hills