The Limestone Coast

It wasn’t long after we left Millicent that we hit the Limestone Coast proper.  All the tourist brochures have the Limestone Coast stretching way inland to places like Coonawarra and Padthaway.  Considering the attraction of these destinations is obviously NOT surf and sand, seems a bit of a missed marketing opportunity.  Anyway, we decided coast meant coast and we were pleased to see the ocean again.

There are four seaside towns, Southend, Beachport, Robe and Kingston SE.  If you’re coming to the Limestone Coast, it is to RELAX.  There’s lots to do but no particular reason to.  All of them front onto long white sand beaches and I mean REALLY long. On a good day, the colour of the water is an impossible Agean blue.  We stopped off at Beachport and Robe for a quick look on our way to Kingston.  Robe is the new money town, sort of the Byron Bay of the Limestone Coast.  Bit like the prettiest girl in the group and she knows it. There are more café’s and restaurants in the main street than all the other towns combined.  Definitely worth it for a day trip, but we both snorted in derision as only free campers can and continued onto Kingston SE  (oh, it’s Kingston SE because there’s already a Kingston in Adelaide somewhere).

We’d seen The Granites on Google Earth, but ‘critical’ issues like TV and internet reception had not been confirmed.  After all, we were playing for the Ashes over the next few weeks.  So, we took the precaution of checking into the RV Park at Kingston SE for three nights.  It’s set up basically for overnighters and free campers with water, toilets and a dump point.  For the unwashed, dump points allow you to dispose of your accumulated toilet offerings in a way that minimises the visual trauma and maximises the fresh clean start.  So, for the huge sum of $5 a night, why not?

Tamika had plans for Xmas festivities.  She had her heart set on a seafood spread and the Southern rock lobster was top of the list. As luck would have it, a seafood place was just across the carpark.  A lobster and some king prawns were quickly placed on order.  Tamika had invested some serious dollars on a fire pit, rotisserie and assorted implements, so a ham and a pork roast were added to the menu.

Unfortunately, my one and only sun bake back at Johanna’s Beach had come back to bite me big time.  It looked like meningococcal or at least leprosy to me, but a quick trip to the docs, revealed just bad blistering fixed with anti-biotics and a powerful drying antiseptic cream.  We checked out The Granites anyway and decided we would make the jump. Now, the missing window story.  We have this normally methodical way of packing up the van between destinations, which includes locking down all the windows.  In the final walk around, I noticed the bathroom window still open, so I just closed it from the outside, meaning closed but not locked.  We were only going 15klm’s, she’ll be right I think.  What could possibly go wrong?

I found most of the window on the side of the road in the midst of a frantic back track after we reached The Granites.  An unexpected breeze from the back of the van led to an empty space once occupied by said window.  It seems the ONLY semi-trailer we passed had sucked the window out of the van.  Luckily gaffer tape is to RV owners as Windex is to Gus Portokalos.  It’s a patch up job and a costly error born out of laziness.  Replacement is around $280 plus install. Hard lesson learnt.

The day of our arrival at The Granites was a tourist brochure.  Beautiful blue glassy surf, sunny and a postcard blue sky.  Forty nine TV stations and heaps of internet.  Little did we know that the term “prevailing ocean breeze” was used so carelessly by the locals.  We were about to find out why.