Our trip to Otway was one of our shorter days, and was pretty uneventful. We had a bit of a time finding it, so we stopped a mailman and asked him for directions, and even then we couldn’t believe we were there when we saw the place. It looked like an abandoned storage area for old RVs and boats, and was tightly enclosed behind a locked, chain link, barbed wire fence. We were way too hot to go anywhere else, so I called the number we had (feeling pretty discouraged). They buzzed and through and told us to “come around”.
Feeling great trepidation, we cycled on through and came out on a beautiful park that looked like permanent RV and trailer sites that were used for holidays.
I was feeling the signs of heat exhaustion by the time we got to the campground, and it was only about 12:30. The campground itself, after our initial shock, was really pleasant, and the price was right – only $15! It was a primitive site, but it had laundry facilities and showers and bathrooms. It was waaaay too hot to get any work done, so we didn’t care about not having electric. We weren’t going to do anything anyway, in that mind-numbing heat.
We found out that the owners no longer accept campers, and only let us in because we said that we got their information from Adventure Cycling. Instead they have a steady clientele of permanent trailers who pay monthly, and use the place whenever they want. They live on the property and our campsite was simply pitching our tent on their expansive front lawn overlooking the Sound. It was really pretty and restful, with a beautiful view.
We needed shower and bathroom facilities, but that wasn’t one of the high points. The bathhouse had no air-conditioning, had a tin roof, concrete block walls without insulation, and faced the direct afternoon sun. It had had hours to get good and hot by the time we got there, and showers and toilet facilities were hot to the touch. By time we washed our hair and took a quick rinse and dried off, we were wet again, and there wasn’t much relief outside. After showers we simply pulled our shirts around on the ground like blankets, following the shade and reading our books.
At about sundown we saw a fisherman coming in, and after our experience in Bogue Sound we wanted to talk to him. He had caught flounder and shrimp, and lots of both. We watched him filet the flounder and de-head the shrimp. I had no idea how strange flounder looked! They start out normal, but as they grow, they lie on one side on the bottom, and the opposite side becomes dominant. The dominant side ends up much thicker (that’s where the fillet is) and both eyes migrate to that side. Pretty strange!
This fisherman could de-head those shrimp so fast it wasn’t even funny. As we watched him, he told us stories of a guy who could stand and talk and de-head up to 10 shrimp all at one time. He told us the guy would have both hands in the shrimp, with all fingers working constantly, and be de-heading and de-veining. Amazing… As a parting gift as he left, the fisherman gave us a huge bag of shrimp and a few flounder filets to cook that night for dinner. The flounder turned out really well, but the shrimp were not a success. We were clueless about how to cook them, and we lacked the proper pan for the number of shrimp we had, never mind not having ice or refrigeration of any kind. I’m afraid the birds had a great feast that night. (Note: Fifteen months later we now know how to de-head and de-vein and cook shrimp like old pros.)
Night was just fine, and morning was fine – we got up easily and got on the road. One good thing happened in the morning – we couldn’t get our stove going, so we improvised with leftover couscous, throwing in bits of chocolate, pecans, and dried cranberries. It was one of the best breakfasts we’ve ever had!