Flamin' galah, figs and cheese

Day One - Ceduna. The drive to Ceduna was long. But it feels great to be back on the road again.

Daph and Ern love marvelling at the stuff that small towns do to entertain passers-by, attempting to make their tiny sleepy towns seem more interesting.

Iron knob, apart from having a funny name (Daph: “I’ll give YOU an iron knob”), appears to be the capital of classic car graveyards. Every house has the carcasses of at least thirty old cars that they will restore one day. Ern surmises that they are the remnants of miners’ past.

Then Kimba, which is apparently halfway across Australia (obviously depending on where you start) and is home to some fabulous silo art, and a larger-than-life Big Flamin' Galah[1].

The rest of the trip was broken up with eighties music singalongs, and Ern’s favourite game... “Would you rather?”

Ern makes Daph decide between two favourite things if given the difficult choice of having to go without one of them for the rest of her life. Daph tapped out when having to choose between Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet.

We arrived at the Shelly Beach caravan park in Ceduna, where Daph had to sign her life away on a COVID-19 questionnaire, stating that they have a legitimate reason to be camping and are not just sneakily having an illegal holiday. The place is almost empty, apart from a few genuine Grey Nomads with no fixed abode. So, we have a full reign of the fabulous fruit and veggie garden and the deserted beach.

Daph: *After receiving the site map at check-in, “Ooh. They have grapes and figs in the garden. Figs would be lovely with some cheese.”

Daph: *On finding the van site, “Ooh, the garden is right there. We should get some figs to have with cheese.”

Daph: “Let’s go for a walk on the beach, then on the way back we’ll get some figs to have with cheese.”

Ern: “How excited are you about figs and cheese?!”

Daph comes to the realisation that being cooped up for so long has given her an overzealous approach to the simple things in life, like an excited kid in a candy store. Daph also had high hopes of sitting out in her bikini all day and soaking up some Vitamin D when she saw the weather forecast was hot and sunny.

In reality, it is blowing a gale outside, and we are sitting in the Kombi eating an abundance of figs and cheese.

[1] An eight-metre-tall pink and grey cockatoo made of fibreglass. Australia loves making BIG statues of all things synonymous with this country... The Big Prawn, The Big Mango, The Big Bogan…