After the long voyage back from Antarctica, two weeks were spent readjusting in Melbourne before making the move back up the Hume highway to Canberra. One week passed in the office, in which the mass of emails which had accumulated after 5 months were deleted. The effort of settling back into Canberra was made easier by the beautiful autumn colours in the trees of the park that is the ACT. There wasn't much of a chance to get comfortable in Canberra as the people in the office re-enforced my belief that they can't stand the sight of me by sending me straight back into the field, which brings us to the main feature of this entry.
Ceduna, in the almost forgotten state of South Australia, is a charming little seaside country town, tucked away on the Eastern edge of the Great Australian Bite and serves as the last town before the drive West across the Nullaboor. Getting to Ceduna involved a flight to Adelaide where one night was spent and a brief visit was made to the CBD of the city of churches. Although it was dark and I only managed a short walk through the mall and along the edge of the park, I got a good vibe from the town and can imagine it may be a nice place to visit again in the future, perhaps when the sun is out. A light aircraft was taken to Ceduna and it was straight to work, performing a small survey and repairing a GPS station sitting in a sheep paddock surrounded by malee scrub. Over three days all the work was successfully completed and time was made to visit the sights of Ceduna.
Ceduna is a classic country/fishing town. No points for guessing that the favourite pass time for the locals is fishing. They love it. They get out on the pier or in a tinny and go fishing or squidding. Ceduna prides itself on the quality and quantity of King George Whiting in their waters, and with good reason. I didn't drop a line but went out of my way to visit the fish and chip shop with whiting on my mind. The fish was pretty bloody good and made the trip to Ceduna all worthwhile. A point of note on fish and chip shops. A real fish and chip shop wraps the fish and chips in paper and that is it. There are no cardboard boxes in the equation. These fish and chip shops who serve the fish and chips in a cardboard box and paper bag are rubbish. I am severely disappointed if the fish and chips arrive in a cardboard box. Fish and chips should come in layers and layers of paper. It should be like playing pass the parcel when unwrapping the fish and chips. Sorry for the rant but it is one of few things I feel passionately about. I also believe the national authority on fish and chip shops should come to an agreement on how much minimum chips really is. Sometimes minimum chips is a bare handful while other times minimum chips is more than me and five friends can possibly eat.
The Ceduna Foreshore Hotel has your standard country town pub and bistro. The locals seem to lash out maybe once a week and drop by the bistro for tea with friends. Particularly, on $9 roast dinner nights. The bakery was sufficient but will not rate on my country town bakery rankings list which is slowly growing, with judging categories for pies, dounuts, slices and carrot cake. The locals we interacted with were friendly, helpful and keen to chat with the visitors from the East coast. We walked out to the end of the pier at Ceduna. We also walked to the end of the pier at Smoky Bay, 40km to the East, and at Glenelg back in Adelaide. I'm not sure what it is with walking to the end of piers. Maybe there is something about walking a long way out over the water. I guess it is a bit like when people are asked why they climb mountains and they reply 'because it was there'.
A short visit was made to Glenelg, a beachside suburb of Adelaide, on the return journey back to Adelaide and then Canberra. The Glenelg mall seemed to be a popular spot with plenty of bars, and eating spots, recent developments and also gave the impression of being another potentially attractive spot in the daylight.Ceduna was a great place to visit after being away from Australia for four months. I particularly enjoyed running along the coast to the nearby town of Thevenard, working in the dusty paddocks, driving along the dirt tracks through the malee scrub and gazing out over the wide open landscape.
