Step 40 Coffin Bay - Elliston 254 km’s

Sunday 13th February

Drove out to Coffin Bay National Park before heading of to Streaky Bay and it was well worth the $8.50 entrance fee. Absolutely beautiful, with stunning views of the coastline and sand dunes. 

With the wind blowing it’s also very reminiscent of our time in Noordwijk - but instead of the sand piling up against the buildings it has buried the steps to the beach

With no access to the beach we admired the view from the top of the cliff. Honestly, we would have walked down all the steps (and back up again) if we could have. Although the beaches all look beautiful there are a lot of signs warning against swimming - little hints like dangerous rips, freak waves and drowning deaths have occurred in this area.

And I thought the shark attack sign wasn't very subtle

Had a pleasant lunch in MM just taking in the view and then headed on up the road.

We had originally intended heading on to Streaky Bay but after another quick perusal of the tourist books we decided that Elliston Bay at 200 odd km;s from our starting point seemed like a reasonable stop. 

Ended up doing a few extra kilometres because we when we got to Elliston I realised we had meant to turn off and check out Locks Well Beach. Now while it is famous for the number and size of the Salmon that are caught there every year I was more interested in it’s rating as a surf beach (and that it was named after a character from the TV show Lost. I was hoping I might find some enlightenment as to what the whole 8 series of the show was about, but I was disappointed). However, we weren’t disappointed with the view, absolutely spectacular and for once the tourist brochure had not oversold it. This is the coastline that we have come to see. Enjoyed a van express coffee and Jean Leary fruit cake while taking it all in.

Retraced our steps to Elliston and checked into the Top Tourist Park, in town. While there is not much to the town, the van park was very pleasant with large sites, concrete slab and very nice amenities.

 It’s a short walk over the dunes to the beach but unfortunately it’s still a bit breezy and cool for a swim so after a quick stroll we settled back in MM with King George Whiting and salad for tea.

Managed to get a couple of phone calls in during the afternoon but in the evening we lost reception on both the phones and internet so not sure what went on there. But I am using that as an excuse for the delay in publishing these last few blogs.

Step 39 Port Lincoln to Coffin Bay 46 km’s

Saturday 12th February

So, last night we replayed one of our favourite games of the trip so far:

         “Di, have you seen my keys?”

         “Last time I saw them they were on the table outside”

The game has variations of course, they all start with “Di have you seen my keys” but can end with “last time I saw them they were”: “on the bench”, “in the ignition”, “on the bed” and occasionally with “why don’t you pick a spot and put them in the same damned spot so you won’t keep losing them”. Enormously entertaining game anyway. Not quite as easy as it sounds because remember I normally only have 24 cubic metres of van to “lose them” in. Obviously this is not to be confused with the game from day 2 of the trip “Di, have you seen the  keys to the motorbike and trailer?” “Last time I saw them they were on the table at Vicki’s 300 kilometres back ”. Anyway this time I excelled myself because it was an all time record amount of time to find them - because they were inside the water cask on the bench. Yep, I managed to drop them through the handle opening at the top of the cask. If the cask hadn’t been nearly empty and Di hadn’t been pulling it apart to get the bag out, it could have been even longer to find.

Luckily we had a very short distance to travel today so we were able to go ahead with our plan to go into town and check out a few of the sights. First of these was the Makybe Diva statue. Aah yes, now you remember, three time winner of the Melbourne Cup (consecutively), Cox Plate Winner, two time Australian race horse of the year and her owner was a local Port Lincoln tuna fisherman. To be honest judging by the amount of cash he seemed to have even before she won the Cup(s) I’m guessing it’s a while since young Tony actually threw a line over the side of a boat, but I could be wrong. In a staggering piece of info (in the town brochure) it seems that the, life size,  statue is made of 4 tonnes of plasticine which was then brass coated. That is an enormous amount of play doh! 

NOTE: Animal update.  Now while we were expecting to see Makybe Diva in all her glory we were not expecting to see a couple taking their pet python out for a walk. But there you go, always expect the unexpected when you are traveling. While we didn’t get quite the reaction from our Di that we got with the giant lizard, let’s just say that neither of us was rushing over to pat the python.

Photo does not do this thing justice, probably due to my hand shaking. This thing was 6 foot long and as thick as my  arm!!

While out shopping Di got a craving for a meat pie and Steve for an Indian curry. Luckily there was a bakery and and Indian take away in close proximity - cravings satisfied.

Then it was off to satisfy MM’s cravings for Diesel and Di’s our cravings for another couple of wine casks and to resupply with Austar prawns, snapper and King George Whiting.

Editors note: I keep getting the feeling I would be more in tune with my fellow travellers if I took up fishing. On the other hand walking into the fishmongers and picking up the exact pieces of fish you fancy seems a whole lot easier and I wouldn’t be surprised cheaper too.

So there we go, finally on the road a little after one o’clock, looks like 45 kilometres was about all we could manage anyway. Lovely drive although still cool and a little windy (no I am not going to do a joke about the curry for lunch - grow up people). Got into Coffin Bay where we checked into the one and only caravan park. 

Having settled in, it was time for a walk along the “Oyster Trail”. Another walk along the waterfront. Each walk has had it’s own little signature. On this walk the houses were that close to the path at one stage we went in through the lounge and out the laundry of one house. (I may have exaggerated that a bit, but the houses were really, right on the path).

Honestly the path goes between the tree and the hous

If the signature of the walk was the proximity of the houses, the signature of the caravan park was poo. Now I’m no Steve Irwin, but I’m pretty sure it was Kangaroo (because bears poo in the woods - boom boom). Anyway there was a lot of poo. Surprisingly no kangaroos though - although they probably didn’t like it here because of the amount of poo that was on the ground.  But amazingly it was not a problem and the park was still very pleasant.

Step 38 Tumby Bay - Port Lincoln 60 km’s

Thursday 10th Feb

Got Skype call this morning from El before leaving and between us we managed to book our accomodation in Liverpool for the couple of nights when we first arrive as well as flights from Portugal to Dublin, so the European trip is starting to take shape now.

Back on this phase of the trip it was a quick 60 km drive into Port Lincoln. Eventually got into the Info Centre after (what seemed) a very long time trying to get parked in the Woolies car park. I am blaming the locals, it was nearly as bad as Chaddie at Christmas ! Picked up another load of brochures and booked in for a boat tour tomorrow that takes in the fishing marina, tuna farm and canals. Sounds good, but is only tentative at this stage pending the weather and a couple more bookings. We noticed that the Info Centre seemed to have a higher than expected concentration of American folk, this was explained later by the presence of a rather large cruise ship docked in the harbour. Apparently the first visit, not sure if that was just for this boat or the first time any cruise ship has docked here, but the local shopkeepers seemed pretty happy.

Then, for us,  it was off to one of the continuing highlights of the trip, supermarket shopping. Tried to stock up a bit in preparation for the more remote areas coming up as we cross the Nullarbor. Finished off the shopping expedition with a trip to Austar fish wholesalers. Now that really was a highlight. Seafood heaven. Ended up picking up some prawns (beheaded and shelled) for tonight and snapper for Di & Kingfish for Steve for tomorrow.

Checked into the Top Tourist Park, another Vicki & Herb recommendation. Sensational outlook over the jetty and water. Site could do with a bit of grass but the outlook more than makes up for that (and I am not talking about the 4 European backpackers just across from us. Well let’s say that  I’m not anyway).

View from MM

Settled in with a bit of a walk along the Parnkalla cliff top walk and a swim. Having been down towards the beach on my own earlier I had noticed a sign that to be honest didn’t make swimming sound all that inviting.

But having been for a walk and given it was really hot we decided we really needed to cool off. I had intended to mention the sign to Di, but I got distracted by a photo opportunity and quite innocently draped my towel on the nearest resting place

“Di, stop” I whispered shouted quite loudly.  

Fortuitously we both survived our refreshing and invigorating swim and we settled in with Wine O’clock. Another productive planning session sees us mapped out for the next few days so we were able to sit back and enjoy our prawns with chilli sauce and rice for tea.

Saturday 11th February

Bong

    Silence

Bong

Bong

    Silence 

Bong

   Check the time - 5:00 am

Can’t be Big Ben, we haven’t got to London yet

Bong

Is it something falling on the roof?

Bong

Oh yeah, we left the fly screen hanging on the outside of MM when we went to bed last night. That would be the fishing weights we attached to weigh the curtain down, blowing in the (quite strong now) breeze and banging on the side of the van. Oh well I was getting up in 4 hours anyway, may as well go out and bring the flyscreen in now. What was that lesson about “no matter how still it is when you go to bed, always wind in the awning” it appears the appendix is “and bring in the flyscreen curtain”

Awaking at 8:30, refreshed, from the second part of my nights sleep,  Kendra from the info centre rang at 9:00 to say our boat  tour had been cancelled. The wind has really got up now so it’s not going ahead. Bit disappointing.

9:10 Cheryl from the info centre rang to say our boat  tour had been cancelled because the wind has really got up now. Even more  disappointing the second time around. 9:11 Cheryl from the Info Centre berates Kendra for telling Cheryl in the middle of our conversation, and not before, that Kendra had already called us with the news.

  

As well as the wind its a bit overcast and quite cool, not at all what we expected for this part of the trip at this time of the year. We were worried about it being too hot to be honest. Took the opportunity to catch up on a bit of mail. Even folded the bed up and put the table up, it’s really quite roomy in here when you do that. Still getting great views out of the windows (of the bay and jetty, not the backpackers).

Step 37 Cowell - Tumby Bay 125 km's

Tuesday 8th February.


Quick stop before leaving Cowell - The Aqa (that's how they spell it)  Oyster Farm/Factory to check out world famous Cowell Oysters Unfortunately they only do tours of the operation in the afternoons but the lady running the place kindly set us up in front of a video to show what goes on. Apparently the brothers who own/run this place have developed a system of baskets and catches that they are now exporting to the world. The system is specifically designed for the open water farming that they do here (as opposed to the estuary farming they do up in NSW). They have quite a thriving export business going and some of their systems in use in the USA survived Hurricane Katrina.

Before putting the hard sell on to buy some oysters the lady did give us a free taster. Given Steve's track record with sharp implements Di quickly declined the offer to take the oysters unopened and we watched, in awe, as the expert shucked away. (That's the correct terminology - it's not rude honest).

The oysters were tryploids of course. What do you mean what are tryploids? That's non-spawning oysters. They are specifically bred as non-spawning because there is no meat on an oyster during spawning season, so if they didn't have a non-spawning variety there would be no oysters to eat at this time of the year. Yep the oysters are spawning their little hearts out at the moment.
Am I fascinating and informative  or what ?

Looks like the Monopoly guy has retired too

Not far to Tumby Bay but we stopped at Arno Bay to check it out and have an Iced Coffee (supermarket variety, self serve in MM). While we were there we bumped into a cloggy couple that we had met in Gladstone a couple of nights ago, they too are heading for Perth but on a shorter schedule. They are really not happy with their Autobarn Campervan that they rented (for a start it wasn't clean when they picked it up and then the fridge broke down in the first week and they were told they would have to drive back over 300 km's to Melbourne to get it fixed). Not a good customer reference.

But for us, the scenery is improving, the beach at Arno Bay has white sand and the water is looking bluer.

Arrived in Tumby Bay before lunch so we ducked into the bakery before checking in to the Top Tourist Caravan Park.

Would you buy a used caravan park from this guy?

Now to be honest it was an interesting introduction to the town. The shop was quite crowded (a good sign) and when it was our turn to be served we were greeted by the lady behind the counter with
 "Hello ladies, what can I get you?"
What the?
Either the women visitors they get in here are EXTREMELY unattractive
or the size of my man boobs has got so large it distracted her from my face.
Anyway she quickly recovered, although I'm not sure I will.
I did ask whether the facial hair was any sort of give away, but she moved the conversation along. Quite quickly.
But she redeemed herself, as the blueberry scroll was worth the embarrassment. Not sure they are going to help with reducing the size of the man boobs but we did just share one between us. (Me and Di, not me and the bakery lady).

The beach is not quite as nice as Arno Bay (lot of seaweed around) but it's a nice outlook from the park and a nice jetty. Town is relatively big in a small seaside village kind of scale and the pubs look good.

Quiet afternoon for Steve but Di spent most of the afternoon on the phone because Wagstaff St has sprung a leak. Apparently the storm over the weekend caused a leak in Georgia's bedroom (previously known as our bedroom). Fair amount of water got in but it's in a limited area and much to Georgias relief it didn't affect the wardrobe and her clothes. Di had to liaise with the insurance company and estate agent to get things organised. Steve was very supportive, in a "not actually doing anything" sort of way.

Ever the supportive husband I left Di to polish off the majority the oysters ( 9 to Steve's 3 to be precise). Yep to be honest , I'm afraid I am still not that sure about the whole oyster thing but as oysters go they were very good. I think the tryploid thing must have upset their other alleged side effects though. Enough said.

Mmm, which one will I have next?

Weather very pleasant although being right on the beach the breeze is getting up every now and then.

Given we have the Nullabor and WA coming up we decided that now would be a good idea to test the capability of the batteries on MM. There has been some conjecture that the salesman's assurance that "oh yeah, you'll get a couple of days off road with no power" may be a little suspect. The main problem being that we need the battery to keep the fridge going. Anyway in a blinding flash of logic it occurred to me that if we test the capability in a caravan park on a powered site, even if both the battery in the van part and the battery that starts the engine go flat we will be able to recharge. Amazing. So the good news (well for me and Di anyway) is that we ran the fridge and the lights for over 28 hours without any problems. If we were staying "off road" we would turn the fridge off overnight so that should be enough
 to keep us going for a couple of days easily.
See, it wasn't just a sales job - have faith people.

In an effort to work off the blueberry scroll (and crusty bread) we walked along the beach front into town and back after tea.


















Wednesday 9th Feb - Day 100


Yep, hard to believe but today is day 100 on the road. Might even be time to take the L plates off and move on up to P's

Beach views again

Straight after breakfast walked into town for another visit to the bakery and managed to pick up the scroll and a baguette without anymore "lady boy incidents".

I didn't know that - how many other fish wear shoes?

Another quiet day for Steve and in further proof that "a woman's work is never done" Di did 4 loads of washing and some Kaplan study. To be fair I have been encouraging Di to keep up to date with her work so she doesn't have these big days but sometimes she is just very hard to help. As always it's hard to sit around and just watch Di work, so I went out for a walk. Surprisingly just around the corner from the van park and after walking past a number of real old-fashioned beach shacks, discovered a new "suburb" with flash houses all with their own boat jetties. I ask again, who lives in these places????

Tumby Bay's version of Patterson Lakes

In the spirit of partnership that is our marriage, I did cook my award winning Penne Amatriciana for tea though.

Step 36 Gladstone - Cowell, Eyre Peninsula (319 km's)

Sunday 6^th February

Very cool this morning – 12 degrees. But at least it's fine and after about an hour on the Internet we are pretty sure that the roads are open and the weather is ok to head on through Ports Pirie & Augusta. Mind you a hundred kilometres to the north they are about to cop the tail end of Cyclone Yosi. In another example of our charmed life, there was a fork in the road yesterday and we went left, if we had gone right we would have hit the storms. The town of Quorn was completely isolated.

Di took the wheel this morning, so I let her drive.

I think it was just the way I was holding the camera but it does look like we were on two wheels in this photo

Port Pirie was a pleasant surprise quite a pretty, decent sized town. Not pretty enough and decent enough to stay though, so we continued on.

The roads leading into Port Augusta show the signs of the rain over the last couple of days. They also show the smells – bit pongy with the stale water. Luckily down by the marina it was much more pleasant and we managed to have lunch and a coffee in MM.

Driver swap after lunch and back on the road heading for Whyalla.

First stop in Whyalla the information Centre for our weekly fix of brochures and a photo opportunity at HMAS Whyalla. Described as the largest ship docked on dry land (2 kilometres from the water) they are clearly discounting the world famous submarine at Holbrook in NSW. Is there an obudsman for tourist attraction propoganda?

I think the Captain said Full ASTERN Midshipman

Second stop Hummock Hill lookout. Whyalla as you all know is famous for iron ore, steel mills and shipbuilding and the town shows the signs of this. Everything is coated in red dust. I wouldn't be surprised if the Prime Minister gets her hair colouring from visiting this place. 

Now speaking of visits, according to the plaque at the top of the hill, Betty  (known to some of you as Queen Elizabeth the Second) has visited Whyalla twice. To be honest, once shocks me, twice is beyond comprehension. I can only imagine the first was an accident and the second was the result of a conversation with Phil the Greek that went something like:

“Phil, we have an invitation to Whyalla, I think it was that place in Orrstralia that we visited that was all covered in red dust”

“Covered in red dust Bet? You must be joking, why would we go somewhere like that?”

“I'm sure we did Phil, remember, the Corgis had asthma for months afterwards”

“Oh, I remember, surely it wasn't that bad, Bet”

“ You're right Phil, it can't have been, let's accept that invitation then and go and unveil the new plaque for the colonials. You know how they love a good plaque. Just don't mention the cricket this time”.

I wouldn't lie to you - Betty was here!

Anyway, despite the royal connection and the alleged possibility of seeing dolphins frolicking in the harbour we decided to move on.

Ended up checking in to the Cowell Foreshore Caravan Park on the recommendation of Vicki & Herb. Checked in for two nights. Site is not bad, all gravel, but it's a nice park right on the foreshore. Scrubby tidal flats, but only a short walk to town and out to the jetty. Weather has warmed up and cleared up so it's all very pleasant.

Sunset was magnificent – as you can see in the photo below.

After the sunset we watched a DVD about crossing the Nullabor from one of the Caravan magazines. It had some magnificent scenery but the production and storyline was hardly up to the Charlie & Ewan, Long Way Round series so we turned it off and went back to NCIS.

After watching the DVD the van was really rocking tonight – but I think that's only because the wind got up outside.

Monday 7^th February

Had a pleasant breakfast outside in the sunshine this morning. Also got much more information than we were really looking for, thanks to overhearing a conversation across the way. Now honestly we didn't want to hear the conversation but we just couldn't get away without the potential of ending up IN the conversation. Anyway we now know the effects of clogged arteries, hospital recovery times (standard and infection affected) , the sad and death ridden history of the Black family of Queensland, the economic health of rural Australia and most importantly the need to get packed up and moved on without making eye contact with your neighbours on a caravan park. 

Before lunch it was time for a walk out to the end of the jetty and through town and after lunch it was time for Steve to catch up on blogging and Di to catch up on her Financial Planning studies.

Mark the Commercial Hotel in your gastronomic atlas!

Big finish to the day with dinner at the pub. Vicki and Herb had recommended the seafood platter and it did not disappoint. All local seafood including oysters, King George Whiting, prawns, crab spring rolls and mussels and Steve had the Singapore Chili prawns. All washed down with an Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc – definitely going to have to get a job when we get back, to afford the lifestyle to which I would like to become re-accustomed.

Albatross!

Step 35 Adelaide - Clare Valley - Gladstone SA (216km's)

Saturday 5th February

Given we had “done” the Yorke Peninsula we had decided to head for Clare tonight so after a quick stop at the Telstra shop to try and sort out Internet connection we headed out of town. 

The drive out to the North was much more attractive than the drive West but the weather has certainly changed. It's overcast, quite cool and we have had spots of rain.

Not sure how many trains go through here in a day - but we got stuck at the crossing

As we approached Clare the cause of the rain became apparent – there is an outdoor concert on tonight. We had started to see signs advertising the INXS Day on the Green Concert tonight and our first thought was “I wonder if there are any tickets left?” As we got closer we passed the rapidly filling Annies Lane bush camping site. We then arrived at the rather congested Clare Caravan Park and realised that even if we could find a site it probably wasn't going to be a pleasant stay. Particularly if some of the crowd haven't realised that Michael Hutchence is dead or that INXS have had in excess of 5 lead singers. Anyway discretion always the better part of valour we moved on.

Next caravan park was at a little place called Gladstone – no not Gladstone Queensland. Along the way the storm clouds have been brewing and for the last hundred kilometres or so there have been large puddles bside the road. When we checked in the lady at reception told us that it rained heavily overnight but further down the road at Port Pirie and Port Augusta they have had even more and some roads are cut. 

We booked in for one night but may have to rethink that tomorrow depending on road conditions. The good news is that this is the cheapest park for the trip, at $20, and it is very pleasant and practically empty. Mind you the town is not exactly a bustling metropolis and it is a bit off the beaten track. 

I've noticed that no matter how small the town, they always have at least two pubs.
I think it's in case you get barred from one you at least have somewhere else to go 

Nonetheless I did have a very pleasant walk around and took in the sights, including the Gladstone Jail that now offers overnight budget accommodation. It used to be free to stay here but there was a 1 to 5 year minimum booking.

Watched the two part first episode of NCIS Series 3 before going to bed – good news Gibbs got retribution.

Step 34 Marions Bay - Adelaide CBD (again) 427 km's including tour of west coast Eyre Peninsula

Friday 4^th February

“Knock knock”

“Who's there”

“The dunny man, your dunnys done”

Yep Loo lotto followers it's that time of the week again. To be honest we probably could have lasted another day but in deference to the guests at the hotel we will be parking outside tonight we decided to go in empty.

Despite not making the trip into the National Park at Marions Bay we did encounter some of the local fauna on the way

It would seem the South and West coasts of the Yorke are a little more attractive than the West coast. Whiter sand and bluer water. But the tide goes out a long long way and it seems to be a very shallow drop.

Yep, that's a tractor - about 400 meters out to sea from the high tide mark

At Point Thurton it seems that it's mandatory to have: a large shed (or two); a boat (or two); a tractor (to get your boat(s) to and from the water) and three (or six) large water tanks.

Yep, the sheds are bigger than the houses.

Lunch at the Minlaton bakery was an almost obligatory Cornish Pastie.

Informational note: This part of the peninsula is known as the Copper Coast and in the 1800's many Cornish miners came here to work in the mines. They still maintain their Cornish heritage and all the local bakeries specialise in Cornish Pasties

Informational Note 2: There is no corn in a cornish pastie. Actually there's no cornish miners in a cornish pastie either. I think it all has to do with their origins Cornwall. (there is no corn in a Cornwall either).

Port Victoria - Home of the Windjammers, the multi masted sailing ships that sailed to England via Cape Horn & from England via the Roaring 40's. Amazingly they were  still plying their trade in the 1940's

Stopped for a quick break at Moonta Bay and afternoon tea. The Moonta Bay Caravan Park is actually right on the beach and is a potentially a reasonable spot to stop on a return visit.

Di took the wheel for the trip back to Adelaide and Steve took a valium. All in all the trip back wasn't too bad and the Friday night traffic as we got closer to Adelaide could have been worse. 

If Di is driving, then Steve is navigating right? Dublin ???

Given Marita was not arriving until 8:00 we made our way to the Ti Tree Plaza shopping centre with the plan of grabbing some nibblies at the supermarket and a quick bite at the food court. The plan was foiled because Adelaide shuts at 6:00 on Fridays. Well at least the shops and food court were closed, the supermarket was open.

Packing the nibblies and an overnight bag it was off to the hotel in MM. Parking was a little scarce by the hotel but we managed to get parked on the other side of the park and ventured down the road to Hungry Jacks for a quick bite. Now I don't want to appear uppity

but

The clientel were interesting to say the least:

       the girls from the local “Ho's R Us” on their break

       two older guys who may or may not have escaped from a somewhere

       a guy wearing a “free hugs” t-shirt trying to engage the security guard in an intellectual discussion      

       about the implied humour and wit of the message on his t-shirt

the fact there was a security guard in a fast food place at 6:30pm was interesting in itself

but the burgers and fries were nice

Arriving at the hotel before Marita, we managed to check in with no problems and took full advantage of the facilities and revelled in the luxury of showering without thongs on.

Also managed to move MM to the front of the hotel, which  allowed us to check on Herb's repair job on the roof. Nice work Herb.

Despite the Do Not Disturb sign we had placed on the door Marita burst through the door not long after we had settled in. Luckily for Marita's mental health the days of the Do Not Disturb sign actually meaning something are passed.

With the cheese and biccies, Sparkling Shiraz (from Padthaway Estate); Shiraz, Baileys and chocolates suitably consumed and with the clock ticking three hours past our normal bed time Toodles and us toodled off to bed.

Editors Note: I did request that Marita might like to bring her trolley dolly friends back to a party in her room but: one was her boss and that didn't seem appropriate; one had gone off to stay with family; and the male attendant didn't fancy me from the photo she showed him. Oh well at least my fantasy of staying in a penthouse suite in Vegas with twins came true. Albeit not quite the way I imagined it.

Saturday 5^th February

In a sign of the relative consumption of the goodies last night, Di awoke with a craving for Panadol and Steve & Marita did not. Or maybe it was just that Di didn't cope with sleeping in an air conditioned room. Enough said.

View from our balcony

Buffet breakfast in the hotel set us up nicely for the day and the cappuccinos finished it off beautifully. Marita nearly missed her pick up for the airport when the fire alarm went off while she was up in the room grabbing her bags. She did miss out on the 6 hunky firemen in reception.

Before she left we got to meet the rest of the crew in reception before they left and the male attendant is now kicking himself for not coming to the party back at Marita's room last night.