Alaskan Dave Down Under: sundial

*WARNING!!! THIS IS A WARNING!!!*

*THIS WARNING IS STILL GOING ON!*

*LONG POST AHEAD WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!!!! So just load the page, go back to work for a few minutes, and THEN get started reading this post (once your bosses back is turned, of course).*

Well, we left Lucindale on our way to Kingston SE. On the way there we passed the horsie truck (again). We also drove past a small place called The Avenue. It is a "town". Basically there is a dirt road going off of the side road we were on.

What's so special about The Avenue? There's an emu farm! you can also buy emu meat. Steaks, roasts, mince (ground), etc. I really really wanted to go up to the farm and get some emu meat as I've heard good things about it; lean and tasty.

However there was another person in the car (perhaps, say, maybe... Wifey-Poo) who would not have a bar of it. NOT A CHANCE! Next time, I keep thinking, next time...

We pretty much zoomed right through Reedy Creek. I like the place. We saw one house, 2 dirt roads, a CFS building (Reedy Creek Country Fire Service), and a couple of acres of scrub land for sale. Just about my size.

We are now approaching Kingston SE and looking forward to a big ole giant lobster, a neato sundail, and who knows what else.

But first, let's look at where we are:

Perhaps this next map will help

Here is the view of YT that WP sees as we drive along

And this is what she sees when she looks forward

I'm not sure why, but she sure does look forward a lot.

We really like Kingston SE. Very laid back, friendly folk, nice and quiet... and only a short drive away from Reedy Creek! Kingston SE is known for it's crustaceans. Lobster and crab are it's speciality. If we lived there we would most definitely have a dory with loads of crab and lobster pots.

I imagine a conversation something like this:

YT: "Hi hon! I'm back and the boat's put away."

WP: "Great! How was it?" please GOD no more lobster

YT: "Beaut! Every pot was full of lobster and crab!"

WP: *sob* "Oh... that's just wonderful..."

YT: "Yeah, that's what I thought too!"

WP: sound of teeth grinding

YT: "Ya know, after a few years of eating lobster and crab everyday it does get a little tiresome."

WP: YA THINK!! "Well, if you say so dear."

YT: "So I was thinking of having something different tomorrow."

WP: Ahhhhhh, bliss... how I love my hubby! "What did you have in mind?"

YT: "Well, how's about I head over to the ponds behind Frank's place and get a whole mess of yabbies? Doesn't that sound good?"

...

YT: "Oh, you've got the cleaver out already! I'll just bring the buckets in and you can get started."

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Note to self: don't let WP read this post, it'd give her too many bad ideas.

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Before you get to see pics of a 60 foot tall lobster, how's about a really cool sundial?

It's even on it's own little island in the middle of town:

With a really cool bridge to get to it:

And the bridge (and sundail) have nifty sculptures courtesy of a local artist.

It's a sundial of Human Involvment!

There's a plate with a squished, elongated figure-eight in the middle of the rocks, and you stand on the in a specific location for what day of the year it is. When this was made, there were only 8 in the world. Although I'm sure there's more than 8 of them now.

It was made by a local artist, and on each of the granite hour blocks there is a carving of something local. Could be a crab, bird, plant, snail, basically whatever someone brought to him that day to carve.

Here's what it looks like:

And here's some of the carvings:

This is what you stand on:

Look! It works!

Of course, we had to adjust for daylight savings time.

Note the puffed out chest of YT. This is cus I was trying to suck my gut all the way in... My diaphram almost squeezed my lungs up past my epiglotis and I turned blue and passed out ten seconds after the picture was taken.

And now please meet Larry The Lobster!!!

Bye Larry

Larry was made in the early 1970's and by 1990 one of his front claws fell off. They did try to raise money to shore up the other one and fix the broken one, but it was better to rip the other one off. He has remained clawless since. I also heard there was a HUGE feast of lobster claw meat that lasted for a week!

Did you see the shot of the dude with the buzzcut laying on Larry? German tourist and he and some friends had rented a van to cruise around Oz.

Naturally, I had expected this to be a cool hippy van and that Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin wannabes would step out... Darn! No Ish, the van was NOT made of what you might think it should be made of.

There's a restaurant behind Larry. It's for sale. It also serves expensive, high-falootin' type grub. And very pricey wine and beer. It's only been open for a few years and is struggling. Personally, I'dve opened a fish n chips shack specializing in the local, fresh, catch of the day at a cheap price.

Next to Larry is a junk yard. Well, at least that's what I thought at first. Then I thought maybe I was back in Fairbanks looking at a typical house up there. Then I realised it's a museum. Of what I wasn't sure.

But they had something eyecatching out front:

Hmmmm, let's just zoom in a bit:

We then went on down to the beach to have lunch. And also to see a lighthouse. The lighthouse is atually on the national historic registry --or whatever it's called-- and supposed to be special for it's size and unique construction. I'm not too much into lighthouses, but we thought it'd be fun to go through. Turns out it's only open once a week for a few hours and that's only during school holidays, darn.

But here's a shot of it anyways:

It was very impressive and I would've liked to go through, oh well.

On to the huge, massive Kingston SE Yacht Club!

Happnin' place, eh?

They even have a few yachts

Personally, I prefer a lazer or a windsurfer, but beggars can't be chosers!

And to celebrate US "holiday" of 420

Please keep in mind the sailing class 420 has NOTHING to do with the Waldos!

There's a new, paved path that meanders through the dunes. Shall we go for a walk?

Then again, maybe not.

Let's go to the beach instead

Here's what I like about Kingston SE. Not only can you drive on the beach, but there's a posted speed limit for vehicles, AND it's only council bylaw 3! How's that for small town?

It's not the most picturesque of beaches...

HUGE field just shoreside of the dunes! I'll bet they have good parties here!

And now...

We finally get to meet the horsies!

Turns out that they take their horses to the Lucindale agri show each year (see last post) but the day before they drive them on down to Kingston SE so they can frolic in the surf, roll in the sand, eat the grass, and generally have a grand ole time. The horses, not the kids...

Yep, the daughter's riding bareback.

The dad has probably 10 generations of rural Aussie in him. And he sounded like it too! Friendly, outgoing, proud of the horses, and a rural Aussie accent ('strine) so thick it took me a minute of talking to him to figure out what he was saying --and I've been here 9 years now.