Saturday night at McIntyre Beach...

This was one of our only free weekends for a few weeks so we could have stayed home but if we did, Gus probably would have worked all day Saturday so we decided to head to our favourite little spot - McIntyre Beach.

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The weather was not great and as always it was fairly blowy...

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Clouds make for better pictures anyway...

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We came down that hill, towing Pearl...I just hope we get back up it!  

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I went for a little walk along the beach...it was tough going!

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There were dear little birds, not sure if they were sand pipers...they run very fast in a large group...

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I clambered up a rock to escape the incoming tide and just barely scraped my shin...it looks worse than it is.  I but Betadine on it and covered it with a bandaid.  I will keep an eye on it as there is bacteria in those rocks.

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Time for a snack and a wine.  For once the galley is neat and tidy...

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Gus was in charge of dinner - lamb cutlets, baked potato and sweet potato and salad.

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Dinner prep...

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He battled with the windy elements to cook the chops.  Plus he discovered we were very low on gas in all cylinders - oops forgot to check that!

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Delicious!

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There is very limited phone service so we had to hang up his phone to get reception...ingenious!

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Pity it was so overcast...

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This morning, four 4WDs came through, ripping up the beach as they went.  Only two made it to the other end of the beach, the third one nearly got stuck so he headed back.  That would have been fun to watch!

We packed up without it raining so that was good.  Now it’s home to repack Pearl, wash bedding, vacuum out a ton of sand, giving her a good clean ready for our next adventure when we go to Kangaroo Island after Easter.

This was our 44th night in Pearl since we got her in July 2016.

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Cheers until next time, 

Joolz xx

A weekend at Cockatoo Lake... Pt 2

Sunday dawned sunny and calm.  We are in for a cracker of a day!

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We went out and pulled the pots with success!  We’ve had a few teething problems with the outboard.  When in doubt... RTM! Read The Manual!  It is still revving too high when idling (we later found out that it needs resetting)...

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Glorious weather!

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Yabby success!

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First cook up...we’re definitely having yabby mornay for dinner! (We bought steak with us, just in case!)...

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Lunch was a triumph apart from the steak, again from Woolies...I reckon it was full of water.  Gus cooked it quickly on the hot barbecue grill but it was grey and tasteless when I sliced it to go on the Thai salad.  Bum!

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It was still enjoyable.  The salad had lettuce leaves, mint, coriander, chilli, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, red onion and mango. The dressing was fish sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and zest, chilli, chilli flakes and castor sugar.  The bottle of rosé had been knocking around in the camper wine rack since we went to Tasmania in September 2016 - it was fantastic! So much so that we went online and ordered 6 more bottles! 

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Across the lake, you can see other crowded camp sites...we prefer the quiet on this side of the lake.

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Another good haul...

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Bob and Suzi...

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Our camp...

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It was rather a hot day in the end. At one stage, we put our deck chairs in the water to cool off.  I went for a swim in the afternoon but the lake has a very muddy bottom and I kept thinking my toes might get nipped by a yabby! 

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We never tire of the Aussie bush.  The bird life is very noisy at the lake, always squarking cockies, cookaburras and other water birds.  Beautiful!

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Dinner was lovely.  Gus heated up the vol au vents in the BabyQ, I heated the sauce on the stove and added the yabbies...

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...and ta dah! Delicious yabby mornay...

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I had made golden syrup dumplings earlier in the evening - these were a very good camp dessert as they are just made in a saucepan.  When we wanted to eat them, I just reheated quickly then dolloped with cream! So good!

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I pre-measured the ingredients to take with us...

Monday morning, such a pity we have to go...but we are nearly out of water and our power is getting low so we must head home...

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We pulled the pots one last time and got this lot which I cooked when we got home. We got 63 in total.  We need more pots for next time! 

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Cherrs - Joolz xx

A weekend at Cockatoo Lake... Pt 1

With Ruby packed with our inflatable dinghy, we were off to Cockatoo Lake in search of yabbies!

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The outboard motor had to travel in the nosecone of Pearl...not ideal but for this first trip, the only solution.

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My menu plan for the weekend...

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Indian spices for the chicken...

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Sealed in a zip lock bag, ready for dinner...

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I made the mornay sauce, ready to receive yabbies!

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We stopped off at Fodder in Coonawarra on the way, for lunch...a delicious tasting platter...

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…then salt and pepper squid and a lovely fresh, straight out of their garden, tomato salad...

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...a flavour explosion!

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We got to Cockatoo Lake and the main camp area was swarming with people so we went around the other side and found our preferred spot was empty and waiting for us!   Score!

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We set up Pearl then it was time for a little G&T...

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Gus inflated Bob the boat...

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Ready to launch...

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We went out for a putter.  It has been very windy today so not ideal boating conditions on the lake, very choppy.  We set the yabby pots and hope to get a feed tomorrow...

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The Indian chicken was alright but a bit dry.  I blame the Woolies chicken tenderloins...otherwise, great flavour...

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Joolz xx