006 - Whyalla to Port Lincoln

It was time to bid goodbye on ol’ Steel City. We won’t get far on our journey if we set up camp at the first town we come too!

Truth be told, Whyalla impressed me more than I thought. It was a relaxed place, approachable, with good honest people. I think 4 days was probably one day too many but the carrot of pancakes put on by the staff at the park was too much to fight. And in the end, an extra hour thanks to daylight savings as well, and no regrets for hanging around for one more day.

Whyalla turned out another clear (and windy) morning for us. This was the most spectacular of them I would think.

Saying goodbye and exchanging details with our new road trip buddies Matt, Ellen, Sapphire, Charlotte and Tom with the chance of catching them the other side of the Nullabor we headed off.

I’m not sure what was in those pancakes but I’m sure it must have had some phernergen or sedative in it because around 30min into our journey I was out of Car Cricket partners and any conversation makers…

…and then conveniently 20min out of our destination everyone was awake and fresh eyed. I should point out Sam was awake the whole time, just had his nose in a new book. And anyone  who knows Sam, that once he has a new book, well, he might as well be a statue because he becomes non-responsive.

I wonder how many dots in the middle of the road we'll pass on this journey.

Our destination was Tumby Bay, around 220km down the road. A leirsurely stroll pretty much by recent standards. Once we got there, the RV park we had lined up proved to be the most optimistically measured “1km out of town” I’ve ever seen. We had plans to simply stop, remain hooked up and walk into town for a fish or whatever, but decided that despite the nice looking stop, we’d press on to Port Lincoln.

And how glad are we that we did.

Only another 30min down the road, a fresh and vibrant feeling town met us, not too far away from a Great Ocean Rd town, but with the fishing and grain shipping facilities dominating the coastline. I’m really looking forward to exploring the town tomorrow before heading down to the jetty for a fish.

We arrived at Port Lincoln Tourist Park to find all the powered sites taken by the Nomads who are far more shrewd than us. Plenty of room up in the non-powered section though if we wanted it apparently. So we decided to take it and quite glad we did as we were met with a great spot overlooking Boston Bay and Boston Island. Not overly flat, but we levelled up as best we could and even managed to park near enough to a tap to hook up the water so we can use our facilities should we want to.

It's a pretty handy spot and am going to enjoy breakkie in the sun watching it. Hopefully it'll be pleasant enough to sit outside!!

On our afternoon stroll down to the jetty at the bottom of the park. Apparently reasonably squid and salmon can be caught off here. I'll give it a crack tomorrow and if I can find something you know they must be here in swarms

Evie was fascinated by this piece of granite. I'm not sure what it was that set it apart from the other 27,000 pieces making up the breakwater, but she pleaded for a photo and want to know if it was going on the blog. I assured her it was. And here it is. Enjoy...

Not sure what James was making of all the latin words for the local fauna, but it caught his eye. And my camera lens.

Sam and his footy. If we are off somewhere, it's with him.

Look carefully and you'll spot all three kids. And a footy...

It’s even more exposed to the elements than our spot in Whyalla, so we are expecting another couple of blowy days, but all things considered it keeps the van aired out and stopping the build up of stinky James’s smell.

We toured around for the park and nearby coastline for an hour or so before retiring to the van for a quiet ale while the kids played. Soon enough the evening routine was upon us and we had dinner and chucked the kids in bed.

We’re still getting used to being on top of each other (metaphorically and unfortunately actually at times) but I think we’ll work through it well enough. Normally it seems to be a balance of removing one kid from the equation and letting the other parent manage the remaining two. For example tonight I took Moo off to do the dishes whilst B got the boys ready for bed.

Like our life in a normal house though, it takes flexibility and adaptability, just a crapload more tolerance (on my behalf).

So we’re now off-grid for a night or two, so you might need to bear with me on the blog update as the ol’ laptop doesn’t get great return from its battery life. Still I’ll be taking notes and pics here and there and will update where I can. Might even just roll on the tablet or phone as at least that can charge from the 12V socket.

It’s nice to have a new view out the window.

A contemplative Evie, eating her sanga for lunch.

I was sitting having a quiet drink in the sun on the off side of the van, out of the wind. Heard a giggle and was met with this cheeky fella. Our predictions are proving correct at the moment in that he's probably the most difficult and easiest to manage out of the 3. He's certainly enjoying it all though... as we all are.