Van Morrison: Days like this

If I could take a photo of what is directly in front of me, it wouldn't do it justice.

Not one bit.
Not even for a second.

Because in front of me is the bay at Robe, South Australia. And it spans 180 degrees around me.
You can't even capture that with a panoramic setting on a camera.
I've tried.

Forgive me for momentarily sounding like a tourist write-up, but there is aqua blue water for miles and glistening sunsets and far off, faraway in the distance is some white sand wrapping the edge of this bay - forming what is known as Long Beach.

This is what just a fraction of it looks like:

We've arrived and said we would stay 1 day. It's now been 4 days already and we plan to stay another few days before making a slow ascent to Adelaide. The beautiful weather is hard to farewell and the simple, peaceful location makes it feel ridiculous to leave.

But Robe isn't all we've done in this last week.

We started this week at Port Fairy, a lovely sounding name that conjures visions of fairies and magical beachside fabulousness.
But Port Fairy insisted on being overcast.
The whole time.

We went for a walk along the beach and the foreshores shivering in the wind, but were mostly relegated to Morrie and games of yatzee to pass the hours.

Port Fairy is, I imagine, I really pretty town when the sun shining.
In fact, my mum sent me some pics of her visit there, as a sort of 'cheer me up' intention when we were there, of her sunny visit to Port Fairy. Like, the postcards - it has seen better days than these.

Also, no need to be alarmed, just FYI - the town is based on a lie.

There are no fucking fairies.

But what I did discover in the rain, at Port Fairy, is that my proximity to these nomads of grey are bringing out some sort of weird old like person in me.

I've been wearing my raincoat jacket.
Alot.

I wear instead of jumper some days.

It's grey and some sort of purple colour and it does NOT look amazing.

It does come in handy when we're in the rain, getting Van Morrison prepped for bump-out or settled for bump-in which is how I came to wearing it in the first place. I had packed it for emergencies only and it has become a regular.

It's aged me thirty years.

I guess if nothing else, it helps me fit in.

We high-tailed it outta Port Fairy, our last taste of Victoria and headed inland to Mt Gambier in South Australia.

There's a super massive Blue Lake there - it's like vibrant royal blue. And that's all.

It was also a super place for getting some supplies and eating out, but aside from the Blue Lake, not much else happening.

We did discover a stray cat in the caravan park, an Abyssinian and this little kitteh was so cute -  it was all about cuddles and clawing at my shoulder.

The cat made me miss my Kiki so very much.
So it was tres exciting to call Mandy, Ray, Bree and Monique - most fabulous cat-sitters and see little Kiki on Skype soon after!

We day-tripped out to the Coonawarra wine region - to a town called Penola.

There were fairies here, the Cabernet Sauvignon fairies and their delicious fruity treats.

What's even more fabulous about this wine region is that every cellar door is a little driveway off the main road.

Yes, the main road.

You can literally drive straight and turn off at each left in one direction and then drive straight back the other way with more left hand turn-offs.

We discovered that 2008 was a good year, went over budget with wine selections and I designated Husband Man as driver.

When we got home I was in a red wine haze. It was fabulous.
For me.

While at Penola, we told a lady of our intention to travel to Robe next. She suggested the Sea-Vu caravan park and the next day, we packed up and headed to Robe.

We were allocated a spot with a good view, but Husband Man's reversing skills were not tip top on this day (see original site in below pic under that nice tree there).
So we got into a different site, still with good view and settled in with some wine and cheese.

It wasn't long before we were chatting to our friendly neighbours and the van park filled up.

Two months ago, I wasn't interested in striking up friendships with annoying neighbours. The idea of it really seemed pointless, everyone was always moving out or moving on.

I've spent a good 10 years in Sydney avoiding small talk with the freaks that live next door, with exception of Hot Stuart, a guy that lived next door to me and my mate Gareth for a time. He was some sort of model and was always smiling and walking around without a shirt on - how was I meant to ignore that?

My general (unfounded) dislike towards neighbours has been slowly slipping away - it all started with Mal and Sue at Mallacoota. Here at Robe we've been hangin out with Linda and John from the Mornington Peninsula in a van to our left and Greg and Kath from Wonthaggi in a van to our right. We also met a couple from Ballarat.

I have socialising evidence when everyone pulled up a chair in front of Van Morrison for a chilly evening drink:

Aside from much lazing about and acting like we're on holidays we've gone on massive walks, been fishing and wandered the town.

We also went to Beachport for a day trip.
We walked to the end of the 700 metre jetty and went for a tourist drive to see the beaches.

I've been swimming in the ocean at Robe in the late afternoons - cause it's so damn pretty - much to the horror of some of the fellow caravaners parked nearby who let me know exactly what they thought.

Apparently the water here comes straight off a current from the antarctic and is the coldest in the area. But I'm still splashin about in there like a lunatic. Admittedly, it took a little while to warm up and it wasn't all that long until I realised I couldn't feel my feet.

But it was all worth it to warm myself up afterward in the afternoon sun and wait for the magic of the sunset on days like this.

So as you can see, it's not that easy to depart this little seaside town, that we've indeed got a mighty big crush on.