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Published: February 28th 2010
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Day 295 - Moulting Bay (St Helens)
The first thing that sprung to my mind this morning was the conversation I’d had with a fellow camper when we arrived here yesterday afternoon. The lady camped opposite us had said ‘I hope the generator doesn’t bother you too much’ to which I’d replied that I’m sure it would be fine and at the end of the day they were here first and perfectly entitled to run a generator if they needed to. Generators don’t bother us in the slightest. We’ve become accustomed to their drone through our many years of drag racing. Last night however they obviously disturbed others and quite late on in the evening another camper came over looking for the source of the noise. We explained it wasn’t us and pointed in the direction of the ‘disturbance’. The lady wasn’t impressed but didn’t seem keen on trying to resolve the situation herself so stood in her pyjamas having a bit of a groan about people who come away camping in the bush with a generator just so they can watch TV. What this conversation did do was successfully heighten my subconscious to the drone and the generator kept
me awake til gone mid-night! Hmmm, perhaps I should have included a time limit in my earlier conversation with the generators owners! Ah well, at least Darryl wasn’t disturbed, he slept like a baby!
Jane was disturbed by noises in the night too, but of a different kind! Camping in the bush is great, admittedly we’re only on the edge of the bush and very close to civilisation but the wallabies don’t know that. She woke Tony up to go investigate as it sounded like somebody was trying to break into the caravan but it was just the ‘natives’ searching for some easy food.
Regardless of all that we were still up early to get a walk under our belts before Jane & Tony went off to meet a friend. The cool morning made it easy and the track to Dora Point was nice and straight forward, although of course it wasn’t flat! Nothing is in Tasmania!
The walk before breakfast was good fun, it delivered us to a view point further around the bay and on the way back into camp we met our first ever Moodle! A 4 month old Maltese Poodle cross puppy. He
was just gorgeous, completely adorable and totally out of control. His actual name is Taz but had it been our choice we think we would have simply stuck with Moodle!
Tony and Jane went off on their visit so while they were gone we headed into town looking for a regulator for the gas supply to the caravan. We’ve had a problem for a while now where the grill on the cooker is almost impossible to light, the gas rings aren’t as powerful as they used to be and now the fridge isn’t working properly when on gas. Dar’s not 100% sure but thinks a new regulator might cure the problem.
Now when someone walks into a hardware store and asks the chap behind the counter ‘Do you know anything about caravan fridges mate’ it’s a fairly large subject to confidently answer ‘Yes’ to. Imagine Darryl’s surprise therefore when he takes the conversation further only to find that no, the chap actually knows naff all about why one might not be working properly when switched onto gas! Luckily the chap did know that they stocked regulators so Dar at least left with what he came for.
Next
stop were the free showers at the wharf. What a result these are, especially if you’re coming into town anyway. It’s not often we’re treated to free hot showers anywhere so good on you St Helens for looking after your passing travellers.
Back at camp I started work on the blogs and Dar fitted the new gas regulator. It was a huge success and nearly singed his eyebrows as proof we are now back ‘cooking on gas’!
With perfect timing Tony & Jane returned. They’d enjoyed a great catch up with Dave, an old school friend of Tony’s best mate - you never really have to know anyone in Australia, you just need to know somebody who knows somebody else! Anyway turns out that Dave lives in a fabulous house overlooking Binalong Bay, grows his own veggies and bakes his own cakes of which a slice was sent ‘home’ for us to enjoy which we did!
The four of us bundled into the cruiser and headed out for a bit of an exploration around the local area. The first place we went was Binalong Bay so we could see Dave’s house but rather embarrassingly he was stood
in the front garden, spotted the car and waved out! Tony & Jane’s undercover sleuthing skills were instantly thrown into question.
However, we did manage to check out the rather attractive naked lady that greets you when driving into Binalong Bay then Jane remembered seeing a naked man in a front garden somewhere so we went looking for that aswell! With all this naked lady / man chat we were getting quite excitable so when a young group of surfers started stripping off their wet suits and a couple of scantily clad ladies wandered along the beach, Darryl and Jane’s cameras went snap happy! Good on you both, great photos!!
We drove out to the Bay of Fires which was beautiful and then along to Humbug Point. The sea was putting on a really good show for us today. How much fun can you have by just watching the sea crash onto rocks - we were spell bound for ages! By the time we got back Jane’s pedometer read 14487 steps which isn’t bad at all, it should be just enough to work off the extra homemade (by Jane) Anzac biscuits we’re scoffing!
There was a bit
of down time back at camp so I grabbed the guitar for a short practice, it’s getting better but not quite good enough for a public performance so I remain in the caravan behind close doors.
Dar was on good form tonight and did the ‘Tunnel Creek’ story which involved a full on demonstration with the flash light we used to find our way through the water filled area in the early hours of the morning when we were touring Western Australia. He tells the story well, Tony and Jane are rolling around with laughter and at least I didn’t need to take a torch with me tonight when I went to the dunny - it was lit up like a Christmas Tree from 200 metres away!!
The generators were pretty quiet tonight, a few more people have arrived but it’s only bush noise from 10pm onward. We’re on the move again tomorrow, Freycinet here we come!
Dar and Sar
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