Arno Bay

We arrived in the seaside village of Arno Bay yesterday and after setting Myrtle up, had another lazy afternoon. In 1863 this tiny village was originally called "Salt Creek Cove", then in 1882 the name was changed to "Bligh" after Capt. William Bligh. Then once again in 1940 the town had another name change to "Arno Bay". Back in the 1800's the town was a port that serviced local farming districts, importing super phosphate fertilisers and exporting locally grown cereal crops. Now it's main position is as a tourist fishing town. Hopefully it lives up to it's reputation and we have some luck in the fishing department. But not today as it's once again pretty windy. I think I have been caught by the fishing bug, I love grabbing my rod, setting it up (which I have just learned) and heading off to do a bit of angling.

This was a first - harvested, shucked and eaten with an hour!! Oh they tasted so nice :)

The Arno Bay Caravan Park is situated right on the foreshore overlooking the wharf. Last night it was so nice listening to the waves as they came crashing onto the shore. That's when it wasn't being interrupted by the guy in the van next to us snoring!! Boy he sure was loud!!

The view from Myrtle

This is a really lovely, clean caravan park. As you drive in there is a huge and beautiful rose garden with a sign "Belinda's Rose Garden" and park guests are invited to pick some roses to take into their vans. I couldn't resist these beautiful yellow roses. I'm not a huge rose fan but my late Mum and Dad had some beautiful roses and my Dad just loved yellow roses. The rose garden at Arno Bay is named after Steve the owners late wife Belinda who recently died from Asbestos related cancer. It's quite moving having her roses in Myrtle. There are even vases of roses in the amenities block.

They are not only beautiful but smell amazing

As we weren't going to get any fishing done we decided to head into Cowell to check it out. We also had to drive there to get petrol as the Arno Bay petrol bowser has been out of order since the earthquake two years ago. Cowell is a bit bigger than Arno Bay and had a really nice feel about it. There some lovely old restored buildings and from what I could tell they have a fairly production Art Group. They have started what they call "Crap Art" where, some lovely, some interesting painting are hung in the toilets around the town, from the public conveniences to the loo's in the pub. I love novel ideas like this.

The Visitor Centre is situated in a beautiful old building

The pub had some lovely stained glass.........

.........and a succulent pig on a spit for tonight dinner

The novel idea of "Crap Art".......

........ was a great idea

Yeah no cooking tonight. The caravan park had a Fish n' Chips night. For just $12.00 you got 2 pieces of local King George Whiting. 2 local prawns, home made chips and some yummy salads. It was quite a big meal - you can't beat $12.00