AMIABLE ARNO BAY

Fish farms accross the bay

Looking back at Jezabelle from the jetty.

Our 'million dollar' view.

Boardwalk thru' the mangroves.

Sunrise from the van.

Hi folks, how are things with you? We have had a wonderful time here at Arno Bay. We must have kissed a pixie, as we have had marvellous luck – we were given the best bay here. We have uninterrupted views of the bay and the modest waves break not more than 40 metres from the van. The sound of the waves at night, particularly, is just delicious.
Arno Bay is a delightful little spot and the van park here is brilliant. All the sites are grassed and spacious. The amenities are well maintained and plentiful but most importantly the owners, Belinda and Steve are just wonderful. They have a 12 year old son Nathan, who is just a chip off the old block and a refreshing change for a 12 year old boy, and a 2 year old son as well – I know, I know, 12 yo and 2 yo – just don’t go there with Belinda, she is well and truly cognisant of the fact that it is a BIG break – she tells everyone who asks that she could only speak to Steve through gritted teeth for the first two weeks after she found out she was pregnant. The delightful little boy is called Justin, as he was conceived “just in time”! As I said great couple, they do all the right things including a Thursday night ‘sausage sizzle’ and Sunday morning pancakes – all at minimal expense to the traveller and all funds go to the local and very pro-active Progress Association.

Geographically, Arno is also unusual, it is not what you would call a ‘pretty place’ being almost surrounded by mangrove flats. I have included a photo (I hope) of the mangroves. There is a very good boardwalk meandering thru’ the swamp so you can get a very good perspective on the unusual flora and fauna. If I remember correctly, Tumby has a similar set-up. Farm lands (largely wheat and sheep) butt up to the area and Cowell is only around 40 ks to the north if you need significant shopping etc. The town itself boasts a quite good little supermarket, local arts and crafts, a great old pub and cafe-come general stop shop. The cafe has a special they are famous for, called the Arno Burger – literally as big as a dinner plate – we are about to sample one between us for lunch today. The pub is a casual stroll from the park and runs a ‘Schnitzel Night’ on Wednesday evenings – heaps of different schnitzels (including a squid schnitzel) with a good range of toppings and great salads all for a mere $8 each. Sunday at the pub is ‘jug day’ – jugs for $11 and I suspect TBBITW just might force himself to try that out today as well.
There are sufficient things to do here to keep you amused for a reasonable period of time. The fishing is good, both from the boardwalk and the jetty. There are a couple of charters operating here as well, and they pretty much promise great catches of both snapper and King George Whiting. Cowell is a short drive as is the country town of Cleve. The coast between Cowell and Arno is interesting and dotted with ‘free parks’.

We have been much struck with the friendliness of the place. Mind you, as I said before, we have the best bay in the park. The fish cleaning table is just in front of us, and that pleases TBBITW enormously, as he has the chance of seeing what people are catching and of grabbing his trusty pole if he sees that the fish are biting. To access the jetty from the park, people must walk by our van – we have a great little fence between us and the pathway, it is just perfect for people to lean on while they have a chat with our very social Mr Haveachat (alias TBBITW). Truly, I had no idea what a social fella I was living with until we embarked on this odyssey. He went out to the fish cleaning table one day just to shuck some oysters, and no kidding, he had at least 8 people gathered around him just to chat and watch. As I have been ailing a little with the wonderful cold bug that TBBITW kindly passed on to me, I have not been as friendly as I might, and have occasionally looked out the window (while reading an un-puttable down book) to find that he is holding court with a whole collection of passers-by. Another benefit of being situated just in front of the fish-cleaning table is that while watching all the 'charter goers' cleaning their manifold fish the other night, the skipper of the charter boat very kindly gave us a really (no REALLY) good sized pan snapper for absolutely nothing - it went straight into our fry-pan and was absolutely delicious.

As usual, we have made some wonderful new friends here, one enterprising young couple (read around 40 years old) came in towing a van that resembled a space pod. The erstwhile young bloke had built it himself – I was so impressed that I came over all mum-like and started boasting to anyone who would listen as to what a clever bloke he was – and he certainly was. One of the stand-out characters we met here was Jim. Jim for the four footed fans amongst you, is a beautiful border collie cross with attitude. He really probably could benefit from a spot of time on the psych’s couch – he is a tad confused about whether to bite or befriend and when really pressed will do both. Regardless of his rather startling tendencies to taste everyone who comes within a bull’s roar of him, he is a dog with character plus – one of those dogs who talks to his people all the time. We had his people (both delightful too) over for drinkies, and Jim who was very indignant indeed at being left behind, managed to drag his kennel a good part of the way between our vans in order to part of the party. We were sad to see him and his mum and dad leave this morning.

Parting with new-found friends is one of the down-sides of this lifestyle – you no sooner make friends than you seem to be parting with them too. Of course, this is ameliorated somewhat by the magic of emails as we are able to stay in touch with most of our new friends now, while on the road. We don’t often meet people who are not ‘on-line’ while travelling.
My over-riding guilt at leaving my aged mother at home alone, has been accentuated by hearing last night that she is unwell – she has picked up a bad bug which has apparently gone to her chest – as she was supposed to be having small but important procedure on Monday to lift her eye-lid a little, she is very distressed. She was so concerned last night that she was considering calling a locum, but also scared to, as she was afraid he would put her into hospital – the fear then being, what would happen to her mad wombat (read – Sparky the over-fed Staffie) and her house. Of course, these problems could have been over-come, but that wasn’t going to ease her mind at the time. After speaking to her this morning, and after she has had thankfully a good night’s sleep, she now plans to go ahead with the op tomorrow, doubtless telling many porkies to the Dr and nursing staff in the process about her general state of health. I know it is pointless to worry, and being there for her would not really make that much ‘real’ difference in the end, except to make her feel a little happier – but as much as I know that it is very, very hard for her, it does take the edge of our enjoyment a little as well, just worrying about what we should do. Does that sound selfish? I worry that it does.
Ah well, we did know when we left ‘home’ that we would have the odd problem and worry and that things can go pear-shaped, here’s hoping that this is just a small glitch and that things will be OK.

On a much more minor, but practical note, we have a couple of small probs with the van. Poor Jezabelle has sprung a leak, just around the kitchen sky-light. TBBITW thought that he had fixed the matter, but at the last small shower we had here, the drip kept dripping in! He is still engaged in determining where the water is coming from – it’s not a biggie, but does need to be fixed. We had quite a big blow here the other afternoon and Mr “I can do this myself” collapsed the awning, in what sounded to me like gale force winds. I was having a shower at the time and was not outside to assist. Needless to say, we ‘broke a frets’ – his way of saying we broke a thingamajig which we don’t know the proper name of. The handyman that he is (or isn’t) has since applied several glue-like substances which we hope will hold us until we reach Darwin. Once again, not a biggie, but will have to be fixed. In amongst that, his computer has been playing up and the globes in the van keep blowing. Other than that, all is good.

We only intended staying here for 3 days, but due initially to my bug, then to the sheer pleasure of being here, we extended our stay to 14 days. From here we plan to go to Nutbush (a park just out of Whyalla) and then up the centre to Alice and then eventually Darwin. Whether we turn left or right then is in the lap of the gods at this time.

Weather report???! Oh, well the cold has really caught up with us here – we have been spoilt most of the time with crisp evenings and glorious clear blue days, but just lately the nights have been dropping down to around the 4 – 6 degree mark and it is indeed chilly when your feet first hit the floor in the mornings. We have seen a bit of cloud and just a little rain (they need heaps here) and today is just plain gloomy. So onwards and upwards to warmer climes!

Until next time – your long winded friend – Steph
Laugh, love and be happy until next time.