Wharf Rapid Bay

Second Valley

HMAS Hobart Memorial Lady Bay

Half Century Old Beach Houses Lady Bay

2/5/2012 - Because the weather was still pretty bad we decided to move along up the coast  to Normanville.  It was a shame to leave Rapid Bay because the campground is great but with a bit of luck we may be able to call in again on the way back home or on another one of our trips.  We packed up and drove over to the jetty at the bay and went for a walk along the new one.  The remnants of the old buildings left from the limestone mine were  still up on the hill and you could see where the conveyor belt would have come down the hill and gone out on the old jetty.  The old jetty was in bad shape and parts of it had collapsed.  Pa read that a worm had got into the wooden pilings and eaten them.  The wind was strong and it was freezing cold.  There were a couple at the end of the jetty fishing for squid but it was too cold even for that.  We stopped back at the beach at the campground and as we couldn't get any shells from the beach we decided to collect some pebbles.  After we did that we headed out and called into Second Valley.  It is a lovely little spot with a few houses and a caravan park.  The park had a lot of permanent vans, not a lot of tourist sites but was nice and close to the jetty.  We went for a walk out on the jetty and could  see ink marks where quite a few squid have been caught. We kept moving and stopped at a lookout where there was a memorial for the HMAS Hobart that was decommissioned in 2002 and sunk off the coast there.  The anchor from the ship was at the lookout and was facing out to sea where the ship had sunk. Then it was on to Normanville.  As we drove into town there were a few shops, a nice old pub, supermarket and bakery.  We found the Jetty Caravan Park and booked in for the night.  The lady who was managing the park was very friendly and told us she was originally from Gympie.  The park looks really nice, neat and clean.  They even play the radio through speakers in the toilet blocks. We set the van up and went back down town to stock up on food and get a bit of reading material.  Came back had lunch and did the washing.  We stayed cooped up in the van for the rest of the afternoon because it was too cold to do anything else.  Next week is supposed to be much nicer and warmer.  Gee,  I hope so.  We will be on the Yorke Peninsular by then.