Kingston to Coorong

Eve's office
Welcome to my office!!! I have been extremely busy working for YCS Paraplanning but when my office has this view, I don't really mind.....



Kingston
Kingston is a small town whose main attractions are a large goofy looking lighthouse and The Big Lobster, one of those fibreglass monstrosities that adorn so many rural towns. We stay the night in the caravan park and enjoy a seafood platter in the Royal Mail Hotel with a couple of bottles of local Sauv Blanc.

If you look carefully you can see our caravan... can you spot it??

The Granites
We decide to spend the night at the Granites. What is the Granites, I hear you ask? Well, they are 3 boulders on the beach. Not very exciting. We are soon greeted by John and Pauline with their dog Millie, who we had met at Penola. “This is OUR kind of camping,” declares Pauline, who has been travelling now for 5 years in a Winnebago which tows a small car behind it. What a life! “Yes, we’ve been far too busy,” says John with a yawn, “and i haven’t had a chance to spend a day reading for ages!” Actually we have met many couples now; the roads here are swarming with caravans and rigs much like ours; and we feel a sense of security knowing that wherever we stop, there is a very strong chance we will be accompanied by a couple in their 50s or 60s doing the same thing as us.
Although we had hoped to light a small campfire this evening, the wind forbids it. It’s a full moon tonight, which rises over our caravan with the sun setting behind across the water. It’s a quite a sight.

The moon rises over the van and car....

...while the sun sets over the other side.

Waking up at the Granites
Jase dashes down to the beach to assess the water and rushes back to the caravan declaring it will be a good day for fishing. Groggy from a good night’s sleep, we dress, pack our essentials (sunscreen, chapstick, stingose, water, camera, phone, sultanas, potato chips, water) and drive the car down to the water where we swiftly set up the boat.

Zooom! And we’re off!

Plonk! And our bait is in the water!

Whooooosh! ...that’s the sound of the boat being pulled violently out to sea. Although the water is just a little choppy, the wind is ferocious and i can feel it blow the boat around. Every time we cast a line into the water it is instantly 20m behind the boat, so we realise, with a sense of “Oh bloody hell!” that we have no right to put a little boat like this out into the coastal water.
“Safety first” is absolutely our rule, so 5 minutes after taking off, we turn around and head back. The ocean doesn’t want us, and the feeling is mutual!

The Coorong
We pack our gear and drive to The Coorong, on the southwest coast 300km from Adelaide. It’s really so hot today. You can either drink or swim, so we do both. The water here is murky and the ground underfoot is sludgy, but it’s just so nice being able to swim and get some relief from the heat. There are children splashing in the water closeby and some children are paddling in a canoe while parents look on. The water is extremely salty; you are quite bouyant and float easily on the water’s surface, but it stings your eyes should you rub them by accident! After our paddle we are entertained by a glorious sunset and endless glasses of sangria (a delightful mix of red wine, lemonade, orange juice, vodka and campari).

The view from the caravan is unbelievable

Can you spot the van?

It feels like we are the only people on the planet...see the van to the right of the water...

Sunset view from the van

Our first morning at the Coorong
We wake at 3am to a terrible howling wind which provides gusts and mini-tornadoes. We batten down the hatches and return to bed but by 6am we realise the wind is here to stay, so we get up to face it. The rest of the campers pack and leave. We stick it out.

Trees are horizontal.

The river (which usually resembles a lake) is so choppy the waves have white caps.
Birds who attempt to fly get pulled into the gusts and shoot across the sky in somersaults.
The Bureau of Meteorology states that the gale force wind is a result of a very high pressure front moving across the bight, and will affect all eastern or southern coastal areas for today before moving further east.

By dinner time I’m a bit over it but there is hope that it will dissipate by morning.