Coobowie…the other side of the gulf (of St. Vincent)

If you stand at any Adelaide beach and look across the sea you can (on a clear day) see the Yorke Peninsula and that's where Coobowie is.  My Mum's best friend Marie's family have a shack there (think rustic cottage) and we used to go to Coobwie every summer - just the mum's and their children.  (When we started there was just three children between them and by the time we finished there were eight.) 

For a lot of summers the shack had no electricity just propane, no bathroom, just an outside toilet and it was mostly one room with beds divided off by small cupboards.  We ate by lamplight, bathed in a metal baby bath and somebody had to empty the toilet when we left … and it's not as though the beach was the highlight - Coobowie is a gritty-shelly beach with lots of seaweed and long tides.  I can't believe this was the highlight of my Mother's year!

The old shack a million years ago ... I didn't take any photos this time but trust me ... the view is about the same!

But it's 55 years since I first went and at least 30 since I was last there so we offered to take Mum over to meet up with Marie and Alan.  There are two shacks now, and it's been so long that the new shack is now the old shack because the old shack has been spruced up. (The toilet is still outside but it's been spruced up to a flushing toilet and there is electricity - even internet!)  

Greg their oldest son is over to help out - it's tough inside the shack: Marie has dementia, Alan is fighting cancer and my Mum is getting forgetful. We talk for hours  and some of us remember the old times and most of us laugh and Joseph and I walk the 5kms into Edithburgh just like I used to do 50 years ago with Greg and his brother and the flies are still in our faces and on our backs, and it is still a hot walk . At Edithburgh, the concrete salt-water swimming pool on the beach is still there so we have a dip (it's cold!) and then it's an even hotter walk back!  Greg and Alan go fishing together (for the last time?) and catch some King George Whiting and we eat it for supper except joseph who eats the razor fish (that aren't fish) that Greg collected and it's a grand meal!

The pool at Edithburgh

Teeing off at Edithburgh golf course!

The putting green tar!

Inspite of the spiders (I'm sure some were red backs - maybe even funnel-webs!) in the outside toilet and the gritty beach and the seaweed, the stars are amazing and I'm glad we went to Coobowie!

Babysitting …

Something we looked forward to while being back in Adelaide was to babysit #1 grandson.  The second Friday of January 2013 was our first time. (Babysitting at night doesn't count because THEY put him to bed and then WE just sit and watch movies!)   

Unfortunately babysitting during the work week requires us being at the house at 7.00 a.m. - that's 7.00 a.m. in the morning - and even before retirement, when we were "hard at work" running the stores, 7.00 a.m. was not part of our daily routine.   Somehow we are on time and he waves goodbye to his Mum and then its just him and  us...

 Five minutes later the first buise appears … he falls and hits the table as he shows off his brand new walking steps. Of course there were no bruises when his OTHER grandparent babysat on Tuesday - he wasn't walking then!!

Luckily we have Simone's list of his daily routine to loosely follow … But WE have to go the park at 8.30 because it's too ridiculously hot after lunch and so then of course HE falls asleep on our walk for coffee and any other time the noise at the outdoor cafe would wake him,  but this time HE sleeps until 10.00 a.m.!!  So now he's awake when he should be going to sleep and he's hungry for lunch and it's not lunch time and i'm sure you can see where this is going … our day doesn't resemble Simone's list in the slightest.  Still we make it through with just a few injuries to report; a black eye (bruise has morphed into swollen black eye) a small cut and a slight (ever so slight) scalding. (note: the first lot of water out of the outside tap is scaldingly hot!!)  Of course there was no scalding when his OTHER grandparent babysat on Tuesday - it wasn't 39c that day!!  

Still, they have no choice -we get to do it all over again next week!  Hurrah!

Down at Victor ...

Turns out that other members of our Christmas Day celebrations did succumb to the dreaded gastro - but down at Victor Harbor, where we are almost on the beach, we were finished with it before the end of the year thank goodness.  That freed us up to do, what apparently you do, when you are "down at Victor " (certainly what you do, when you stay with the Fritschs'!)!  

If you don't get up to swim across the bay at 6.00 a.m. like Jane does, or surf (or go out to check on the surf) as Barry does then you get up anyway to be company for Simone or Mischa who are up with Jasper, who is always up at that time.  Then when the swimmers and surfers return it's time to go the beach for a swim or walk along the beach into town for coffee.

An unusual photo of Jane and Barry Fritsch - sitting down!

For me the choice is obvious; swim or walk? the reward of a flat white wins. The walks can be either 4kms or 8 kms depending on whether you turn left or right and both are heaven unless you are the balls of my feet, in which case you find the sand just a tad abrasive. The sunburn on the back of my legs is a surprise because I wear a hat and long-sleeved shirt - urgh the sun is vicious - but I do one walk on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday and the coffee is good both times.

This is how far behind the other walkers I am! 

But you can see how beautiful the beach is!

You might sit down for lunch, but after a LIGHT lunch, you either go swimming or if you're not Australian you go birdwatching, or if you are me you agree (why?) to a 12+ km bike ride that is not along the nice flat beach but on roads and bike paths that include the odd hill or two.  I like my bike but I'm still getting used to the gears so the ride seems long… and this time It's not possible for the backs of my legs to get sunburnt but it IS possible for my knees and wrists to burn!  Who has ever had burnt wrists? Urgh the sun is vicious!

So by now I am sunburned or tanned over most of my body and I can't walk because the balls of my feet need to recover and by now the benefits of being at Victor "because it's not only beautiful but always 5-10 degrees cooler than the city", don't count because it's 42c even down here!  Thank goodness Jane suggested we sit out the heat at the movies and I find the movie (Life of Pi) so beautiful and enjoyable but I'm not sure if it's just because I'm relaxing  and sitting in a cool old theatre?

Eating outside on the front deck 

(note: that's not our van in the front - the Fritschs' have two of them!)

Then we did sit still long enough to celebrate the new year - out on the front deck with the other grandparents and  a lovely breeze and the beach just a short (for them) walk away.  Victor is a party town so we have music blaring from nearby parties and an endless stream of young partygoers streaming by in front of us, but we are very happy to be where we are; thankful in one way that 2012 is ended (it was a crazy year) and excited (joe) and curious (jill)  for what 2013 brings, because unlike last year, and other than our camper van trip out west, this year does not have an obvious path at all!

For a change of pace - cockling!  

You pull them out of the sand as the tide recedes (we cheated with a net that caught a lot more than you could pull out - there were thousands of them!).

They (not me) ate them the next day - after they the cockles had spat out sand from their shells - prepared much like muscles.

Happy 2013 - I hope it's a good year. It's going to be warm here for the first while  - that I know for sure!  After that ….

30 years later … Christmas with my family…

Finally we had finished our first Christmas shopping in 21 years, and we had our ham just like everybody else (in Adelaide anyway) and everybody else had been to their "work's Christmas doo" and it was Christmas Eve. 

But December 24, 2012 was a strange day; Mischa, Simone and Jasper all had gastro-enteritis!, it was sunny and warm (of course!) and we weren't exhausted counting the minutes until 5.00 p.m. when we could close the doors so we could go "home" and sit in our big black chairs and miss our kiddies.  

So - we walked Jasper down the street so M&S could sleep and we sat outside and had a flat white (like a ton of other people) and we watched people finishing-up their last-minute shopping in their shorts and t-shirts … and I think that's when I became "verklempt" and confused and couldn't understand why I was sad to be doing what I had wanted to do for the past 30 years! 

Jasper with his "baby chino" and if you look behind the man in the striped t-shirt you can see a busker with a santa hat singing

 ... but not a Christmas Carol - singing Nilsson Schmilsson!!

Later that night M&S rallied and we had a lovely raclette (fondu just doesn't work in the heat!) and we Skyped with Cassia & Pablo and  by Christmas Day i was happy that I was "home" with my crazy family.  

Raclette outside with a recovering Mischa and Simone

Christmas Day, the weather was perfect (27c) and we sat outside at David (my brother) and Anita's under the shade-cloth (no sunburn!) and enjoyed our turkey and ham and lamb and our Grant Burge sparkling burgandy and some Christmas pudding and my sister was very happy with her tickets for OVO and Jess and James looked after Jasper so well that except for Cass & Pablo and dear old Dad and Tony not being there it was prit'near perfect!

Typical Australian Christmas Tree with host Anita and Joseph's nose (he's allays sticking it in!)

My mum in the shade with Mischa and Jasper's empty highchair!

Typical Christmas table!

Prit'near perfect, except that later that night I came down with gastro, then my sister, then James & Jess. Then we drove down to Victor Harbor to spend time with Mischa and Simone at her parent's beach house and then her Dad came down with gastro, then Joseph, then Jane (her mum) and then her Dad's brother and then … well we are still waiting because I've never known anything so rampant and I'm sure it isn't finished being passed along.  

I can't believe I waited 30 years for this!

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus …

The Sunday before Christmas was 42c in Adelaide. 

 It was the day we had to leave the Caravan park at the beach which would have been sad had we not been lucky enough to have the use of Simone's parent's house in town (while they were at their beach-house) with it's a/c.  Packing up the van when it's already 32c at 8.00 a.m. in the VICIOUS sun isn't fun either but before we even hopped out of bed there was a text message from Cirque du Soleil to ask how we enjoyed OVO last Friday night?   Er … the tickets I bought for my sister were for NExT Friday night … weren't they?  Ooops - no they weren't - I had bought them for the wrong Friday!!!  We only had two gifts to buy for my family (secret Santa or Kris Kringle - whatever it's called); one from each of us -  so I needed to fix this so as not to look like the ditsy sister (that we all know I am).  

So after we packed up the van (in the heat) I drove to Le Chapiteau which in Adelaide is in the middle of a dusty parkland. By now it's up to 37C and while I wait for it to open, I sit in the car cooking because there was a horrid hot dusty wind blowing outside and there is no shade and I don't want to pollute the atmosphere… I was at boiling point when they didn't open on time and after alerting the security guard to open the gates I was ready to march right up to the box office and be very cross.  But the girls at the box office were very nice and they were from Montreal and Toronto and they said it was absolutely no problem that I mixed up the tickets and they would just reassign them for next Friday night and was there anything else they could do for me? So I said no, and blessed them and wished them a merry Christmas (it was the least I could do) and promised to write to Monsieur Laliberté and recommend them for saint-hood and I got back into my (er Simone's) sweltering car and realized it is true … there is a Santa Claus Virginia.  

But I also knew what else was true - that if those girls were Australian or Cirque du Soleil wasn't Canadian I would never have had those tickets changed … if not at all, certainly not so easily.  Australian retailers/companies (in general) just don't think like that…

This sun is VICIOUS .. wear your rashie!

We've enjoyed being so close to the beach at Semaphore -my old neighbourhood beach (well 15 min-drive neighbourhood beach).  

Enjoying the beach using thongs to protect my head from the vicious sun and swat dies away from my face.

 There is a nice bike path along the beach and Semaphore Road has become a great eating and shopping strip - similar perhaps to the way Hintonburg has been reborn? 

The walk home from shopping on Semaphore Road

So as part of being back home and sharing in family duties we offered to entertain our niece and nephew - James (9) and Jess (8).  It's pretty easy looking after them when you have a great pool at the caravan park or you can hop over the sand dunes to a fairly pristine (save for the odd bit of seaweed) beach.  So that's what we did on a not-so hot day just before Christmas.  The kiddies did endless handstands and dives in the pool and all of them required being "marked" out of ten - and that was my job and I did a pretty good job of it I must say.  Also, part of my responsibilities was to check to make sure they were wearing sunscreen and I did that and they assured me they were … good job Jill!  

There were both 9's - don't know how their feet didn't get sunburnt!!

What I didn't realize on that day, but I do now, is that in the 30 years I've been gone the sun is now a LOT hotter-I've declared it VICIOUS.   It will sizzle you in seconds … and that's what happened to Jess and me!  Jess's sunscreen washed off (duh - any responsible adult knows that!) and I wasn't even wearing any!  I was pretty sure her mum or dad would say that it was no problem, she turns brown right away, but no such luck!  Her dad was in trouble for not sending over her "rashie" so I was off the hook for 50% of the burn. And as part of my punishment I also had a decent burn but adding it to my already "summer-in-Canada some-sun-in-Europe" tan it wasn't as bad as Jess'.  Hers was sore and peeled and well lets just say … I don't think I'll be asked to baby-sit them anymore.

Now I bet by now you are saying to yourself "what is a "rashie""? (where does the " go?)  Most children (those who have responsible carers anyway) wear them when swimming because they cut out upto 80% of the suns rays, and if Jess had been wearing hers there would have been no burn at all. They are light-weight and dry quickly  and Joseph needs to get one but I think I would melt in one and besides - I have my (cancer) tan already!

                               There should be a photo of a rashie here but Jess didn't bring hers and Joseph doesn't have his yet!! 

OK - but where does the WORD "rashie" come from?  Turns out it was invented by surfers to wear to prevent them getting rashes from the sand that sticks to their board wax…. and if you don't know by now, Aussies have a slang word for just about everything so the "rashie" was born.  It morphed from surfers into general use and seriously I hear mother's all over the caravan park telling their children to wear their "rashie" -it's as common as  putting on your thongs or your bathers.

All of this to remind me that I've been way for a long time

Life around THE VAN

There are no photos in this post - sorry  ...

We can leave the van setup in the caravan park, with water and power connected and alongside our "ensuite" shower/toilet because we have the use of Simone's old car to drive around in everyday … and we've been driving a lot. There is an awing that rolls out over the sliding door where we sit at our folding table on our folding chairs and gaze at our brand new BabyQ.   We drove across town one night (more on driving in Adelaide to come) to get a deal on the Webber Q to find out that late-night shopping at that store ends at 7.00 p.m. It was so far across town that arriving ten minutes after closing wasn't going to stop Joseph, so we have our cute little BBQ that has a thermometer for baking and a pizza stone, for pizzas I guess, but so far the only thing we've cooked on it is IKEA meatballs!   That's because we've been driving all over town!

We've bought and returned; folding chairs that broke two days later, a folding table that was broken before we used it, another folding chair because we took the wrong box, and countless IKEA items because we thought we needed them but didn't and on said trips bought more things that we found out we did need. We had to drive the van across town to have the leaking (like really leaking) hose fixed because apparently it wasn't connected properly in the first place. Across the other side of town for a proper drinking-water hose to replace the garden hose that is not for drinking water and then across another side of town to buy the fittings because the people who sold the hose didn't have them!!  This on top of visit to friends that we haven't seen for ages and with my family living on the opposite side of town from Mischa and Simone and we've been driving a lot.

We have beautiful new bikes that ride like a dream. Mine with a clip-on basket that we bought all the way from Copenhagen and Joseph's with a huge basket on the back. Caravan Park #1 was an easy ride into town on a bike path along "the river" and over to Mischa's on quiet roads and we did both a few times.  Now we are at Caravan Park #2 which is almost on the beach, which is on the other side of town from Caravan Park #1 and with a bicycle path along the top of the beach that goes for miles.  After being in Copenhagen we certainly are even more convinced that Adelaide could and should have more bike paths.  Apparently the new mayor thinks the same way and we saw a job for the city advertised  to manage a "walking and biking project". Cassia - come quickly - they need you!!

But, if you aren't riding your lovely bikes along those few bike paths then you are on the road (with or without painted bike lanes) with the crazy drivers.  They are crazy because there are only three small freeways and none of them are connected!! One is in the hills, one on the far outskirts of town taking traffic even further out of town and one that goes south only one direction at a time (according to traffic needs).  In the middle everybody drives at exactly the speed limit because there is photo radar all over town.  This has reduced road fatalities but it's BORING. It makes people accelerate as fast as possible to try and get in front and they won't let anybody in lest they lose the front position or lose precious inches that could be the difference between making or missing the traffic lights.  There are a LOT of traffic lights … and it's HOT waiting at traffic lights - even with air conditioning! Two or three-lane roads drive you crazy because they aren't really; the second or third lane can have cars parked so you either have to swerve slightly (depending on how well it is parked) or close your eyes and hope you judge the distance properly.  

It drives us crazy and as soon as we have finished returning everything, and as soon as we've finished our Christmas shopping (yikes!) and visiting and driving to Victor after Christmas, well THEN we'll be riding our bikes more!