Cockle Beach House

09/03/2022

Photo marked with June 2006 on the back of it, but I think it was late 2005. Probably just when the film was developed.
The blue scope steel structure is well under way and the external pillars and internal brick walls are being built.

09/03/2022

June 2005
Biocycle installed. This Biocycle is rated for 70 persons. Its purpose is similar to that of a septic system. It treats waste water and effluent. The water from this system is then reticulated back onto the garden beds around the house and used to water plants. It is not used for the lawn areas.

04/03/2022

January 2004. Tanks around the house are in position and partially painted.
Tents set up to camp on the edge of the building site so we could work our butts off during the day and still have somewhere fly proof to eat our meals, sleep and refresh ourselves during such a heavy workload. Such humble beginnings.
God I miss that Mazda 929 - such an elegant looking car. She was such a beautiful car to drive. She was almost 30 when she died. But I don't miss her petrol bill travelling from and to. I saved a fortune when I eventually bought a hybrid.
Note: the lack of trees in the foreground and no native pines on the beach side.

04/03/2022

Pretty maids all in a row...
October 2003

04/03/2022

Judging by the tinge of green still on the ground I'd say this is about October 2003.
Tanks going into position. Earthworks happening on the shed.

02/03/2022

September 2003. Tanks being put into position.

02/03/2022

September 2003. Site earthworks commenced. No trees.

02/03/2022

September 2003. Tanks delivered

02/03/2022

Time for some memories.
April 2004. Ten rainwater tanks in position and painted. Each tank holds 5000 gallons (22,000 litres) For those of you who have been there notice the lack of vegetation on the block. Over the course of 16 years we planted 16,000 trees. We now estimate we have over 80,000 new trees.

02/11/2021

Another helicopter landing at Cockle Beach House. How cool!

18/10/2021

House and Helipad glowing in the late afternoon sunshine.

18/10/2021

We've updated the helipad with a new painted "H" and finished the rock surround. Thanks to my special boys. Nice job.

13/03/2021

Yesterday, 12th March 2021, Lyndon James Mathlin would have turned 100, were he still alive.
His ashes were launched off the coast of Cockle Beach on December 18th 2011 in a small model boat (that he had made during his octogenarian years) because he had spent many of his younger years as a fisherman in the Spencer Gulf.
December 18th, 2011 was the day of an enormous storm that took out the power on the entire Yorke Peninsula for about eight hours.
The storm passed at about 4pm. The clouds parted, and in my mind, formed the shapes of dolphins and swordfish happy to es**rt him to another world. The sun came out and a party of family and good friends headed down to the beach to ceremoniously see him off.
Later that night we spent time at a friend's home, sat around a bonfire and watched lightning flashes across the gulf that lit up the sky for hours. I always thought that it was Mum and Dad delighting in reuniting.
I've never seen that little boat wash up on the shore, but I do wonder if one of our guests ever found it. If so, now you know its history.
I miss you Dad. xx

02/02/2021

Hello my dear guests,
Your safety is important to me. When you enter my property you're asked to fill in the Covid-19 guest list. The purpose of this guest list is to comply with contact tracing if it's ever necessary.
We ask for your suburb on this form because we want to know where you're coming from and after all, you're staying in my house and I have a right to know who's been there.
In the case of the Parafield Gardens cluster last year, it's important for us to know whether we're at risk once you've left and we arrive to clean the house. Remember, we're dealing with things that you've touched.
The weekend following that lockdown we had some guests from Woodville, which could have had serious ramifications for us given the behaviour of the dude from the Woodville Pizza Bar. (I'd like to send the little turd the bill for the lost income that weekend, but, of course, we're all wearing losses during this pandemic.) We were able to contact those people ourselves to ensure no-one had been anywhere near the Pizza Bar, thus keeping ourselves and our future clients safe.
These new highly contagious COVID variants are a huge worry in a business like mine.
Please wash your hands immediately upon arrival and regularly during your stay.
Please be assured your information is kept securely🙂. I will not use it for marketing purposes. I will not contact you unless I need to. I will not sell it. I respect your right to your privacy, but you're staying in my house, so please respect my right to know who's been there and where you're from.
Kindest regards and thanks for choosing to stay at Cockle Beach House.

26/09/2020

Yay!!!! The new towels have arrived. 100% cotton. 100% Australian Made and Owned. That means our money stays here, is helping a Victorian company to stay on its feet during this terrible pandemic and supporting manufacturing in Australia. Lovely towels. Thanks to all our guests for supporting us and making this possible.🙂🙂🙂

14/07/2020

A year ago I bookmarked this company. A VERY slow summer of 2019, possibly through fear of bushfires, then this bloody virus put a halt to any further developments in terms of upgrading anything. But now, I have finally been able to order my new 100% Australian Made king towels, bathmats, flannels and hand towels from......wait for it.....drum roll.....Rialto Linen (https://www.rialtolinen.com.au/).

All the old Aussie brands (Dickies, Dri-glo, Canning Vale and others) are now made overseas and now more than ever, it's important to support our own. Not to mention the immense reduction in carbon miles travelled by buying locally made products.

I've been told they'll take about three - four weeks, but my greenish coloured towels are currently at the dyers'. I can't wait for them to arrive.

32 King towels, 32 flannels, 8 bath mats, 10 hand towels is not an inexpensive bill, but I think they will be long-lasting and good value.

Thanks to all you wonderful people who have spent time at Cockle Beach House in the past couple of months to make this support of another Aussie business possible.

The Rialto collection of fine bed linen brings together superb Italian jacquard fabrics in timeless, elegant designs and the luxury of superfine Egyptian cotton, woven to an exceptional 560 threads per 10 sq cm. It is the ultimate expression in bedroom sophistication

04/03/2020

I heard yesterday on the ABC Radio that some farmer (non-aboriginal) who runs a lease at Point Pearce, which is an Aboriginal community, has successfully applied for a permit to cull (read: kill, murder, annihilate...) up to 200 hundred Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats because they are a pest on his farm land. Bloody Hell!!!
Southern Hairy-nosed wombats are our State Fauna Emblem. This could put REAL pressure on the survival of the species.
Yesterday I called Quenten Agius at Aboriginal Cultural Tours (aboriginalculturaltourssa.com) and asked if I could help by re-homing some of them.
He's taken my number and hopefully will get back to me. I have 74 acres of re-vegetated scrub land. Wombats welcome.

08/05/2019

A very busy weekend. It seems the season has come to a big slow down so on Sunday I spent the day doing the annual cleaning of all the fans and cupboard tops. There are 15 fans in this house and six bedrooms with cupboard tops as well as the large kitchen/bar cupboards. That meant up and down a ladder at least 150 times. Took about 6 hours. Quads are obviously still in good shape.
Then on Monday I was blessed with amazingly calm weather.
The sea was like a mirror, perfectly reflecting the gentle grey skies and a great day to get up on the roof and clean the outside of the upper windows - the remaining job from cleaning the inside windows with my new scaffolding. Now I've removed all the cobwebs that were outside and only had to dispatch two nasty black spiders.
The only way to do the cleaning is to lie on my stomach with a bucket of water next to me and stretch my arms out to clean the windows then literally roll over 360 degrees to do the next section. Corrugated iron is very uncomfortable to lie on. So today I am completely back in touch with my oblique abdominal muscles and my triceps that I clearly haven't used for a while. Lactic acid buildup over 5 hours of work is very obvious to me today. In other words, I hurt. Who needs a gym when you can get a great workout cleaning a massive house! Job done! Feeling good.
The ONLY WAY water levels are substantially replenished on land is by RAIN. Now with all the window washing achieved, it's a bit like doing a rain dance. It worked. Tuesday morning (7/5/2019) started with very gentle drizzle that turned into something more worthwhile. Hearing the sound of the rain on the roof and the water running into the tanks was like an orchestra to me. I can't begin to tell you how much we need the rain. For those of you who've stayed there you'll know that the entire house, including the lavatories, operates exclusively on rainwater so not being wasteful of water is of paramount importance. This has been the driest summer we've had in years. It's also been the busiest, so to all my lovely guests thanks for being conservative with your water usage. Best wishes to you all. Annette

18/04/2019

Ah...Finally....
I didn't need to be told about it, but some of you may have noticed that parts of the very high ceiling which surrounds the upper windows had some staining on it, mostly caused by small speckles of mould.

As it turns out the original builders never sealed the tiny gap between the installation of the upper windows and the ceiling leaving the ceiling prone to a minute exposure to the moisture in the external air.

Nearly eight years ago - I was a lot younger then - I did a run around the ceiling foolishly standing on the very top step of the ladder, suspending a bucket of soapy water and washing every part of that ceiling whilst hanging onto the window ledge. I was a little more agile then, a lot braver and clearly a lot stupider, but since it was only a few weeks after my mum had passed away, my grieving attitude was pretty nonchalant. I knew it had to be done and I knew I was the only one who was going do it. I started it at lunchtime and finished it at 2am the next morning up and down a very tall ladder dozens of times. I think I was protected and suspended by angels. I hope I didn't exhaust them but I do thank them for protecting me from myself.

Well last week I fixed it!

I've purchased some really good lightweight scaffolding and I can now get up high and stand on a solid platform while washing that ceiling. I went around the entire 6m ceiling last week and also sealed that tiny gap between the upper windows and the ceiling. It only took me 10 hours this time. Job done.

The next section is to do the outside of those upper windows and I have a multitude of jobs for the use of that scaffolding so don't ask me if you can borrow it. :-)
Ps. New towels coming soon. Australian Made.

15/01/2019

See the big shed in the background? Tonight its roof will be covered in blessed solar panels as we move forward to our more sustainable energy future.

It's taken a long time to be able to afford to get here following on from a period of job loss, business closure, unemployment and mortgage hardship but with the past two years of successful bookings and a lot of hard work we have finally been able to get the job done.

We have other projects in mind for the future sustainability of this fabulous property and for its continuous improvement in service to our clients and will continue to work through our list of priorities; the next one being a full upgrade of linen with 10 new King bed sheets already purchased and bathroom linen currently being researched as we'd like to buy Australian Made towels, bath mats and flannels, etc.

But for now, I'd like to send a sincere thank you to all of our past and future customers for helping us to achieve this significant milestone. Thank you very much for supporting Cockle Beach House.😀

17/12/2017

Hardwicke Bay Cafe & Takeaway

Great to see the Hardwicke Bay Shop is open again. I'm posting this to let our guests know...

**FREE PIZZAS**

I am glad to announce that this weeks free pizzas are going to Traci Slater. Next weeks competition will be starting below.

So here at the Bay Café we have decided that we like to give things away for free, to do this we are going to give away 3 pizzas every week for the next 3 weeks. We are on week 2 of this giveaway so don't miss out!

To enter into the draw to win a pizza pack worth $45 all you have to do is like our page here at The Bay Café and Takeaway, like this post and tag a friend to let others know of this awesome opportunity.

Once a week we will be making a new post and selecting a new winner at random for this giveaway. So make sure you get in quickly so you don’t miss out.

*WIN 2 TRADITIONAL PIZZAS, 1 GARLIC AND HERB PIZZA AND A 1.25L DRINK*

This deal will include the opportunity to upgrade to gourmet pizzas for just $3 each.

Upon ordering pizzas we request that winners quote this endorsement and during collection be prepared to produce identification.

Get in before Thursday at 12-noon (21-12-2017) to win the second round of free pizzas.

Good luck all…

15/08/2017

Cockle Beach House – Luxury Yorke Peninsula accommodation

I've updated our website with some really stunning photos. Go check them out at http://www.cocklebeachhouse.com.au
Please like and share my website.😀😀😀

Relax This fabulous house is situated on the beachfront at Cockle Beach on 74 acres of natural and replanted vegetation with almost 2kms of coast at your doorstep. Secluded and peaceful, come and enjoy the stunning views across Hardwicke Bay, past Point Turton and all the way to Corny Point.

24/11/2016

Cockle Beach House – Luxury Yorke Peninsula accommodation

Welcome to our first promotion on Facebook. 24/11/2016
We’re offering a 30% discount for the first booking, a 15% discount for callers 2 to 9 and a huge 50% discount on the 10th booking - all with a minimum 2 night stay at luxurious Cockle Beach House on the Yorke Peninsula (sleeps 14 comfortably).
Here’s how it works:
1. Visit our website http://cocklebeachhouse.com.au to get a great look at this gorgeous house.
2. Check out the tariffs page to see what it is going to cost you at the appropriate time of year and then take off a minimum 15%.
3. Call 0417 809 433 to make your booking.
4. Mention this ad and you will be given a caller number for this promotion.
As bookings come in and we receive a 50% deposit payment for your booking, your promotion number will be recorded in order of receipt. For example, if you’re caller number 1 and you book and pay a 50% deposit promptly you will remain number 1. If you’re caller number 4 and you’re the first to pay your deposit you will become number 1 and receive the 30% discount. And so on until we reach the 10th deposit paid caller who will receive the 50% discount. Bookings are subject to availability and DO NOT include Christmas week or Easter. However, all other public holidays and school holidays are up for grabs so don’t delay. Remember: late summer and autumn are the most wonderful time of year on the Yorke Peninsula. Please like and share this ad with all your friends. They might be lucky enough to be coming with you.

Relax This fabulous house is situated on the beachfront at Cockle Beach on 74 acres of natural and replanted vegetation with almost 2kms of coast at your doorstep. Secluded and peaceful, come and enjoy the stunning views across Hardwicke Bay, past Point Turton and all the way to Corny Point.

12/11/2016

Another sunset in paradise.

03/11/2016

How's this for champagne at sunset? Sitting up in the sandhills watching the sun go down and also watching the bubbles go down. Baby fish skim the water and the bird life is wonderful to watch. Mr Proud and Mr Ponder also skied in on their wave-boards and observed this glorious scenery.

03/11/2016

Twilight at a function at Cockle Beach House. Guests arriving shortly...
Please like and share my post.

07/10/2016

Table set for 24 for lunch using inside as well as front verandah. Gorgeous day. Fabulous weather and a calm sea view.

07/10/2016

Verandah table set for a banquet by the beach.

06/10/2016

Yorke Peninsula

Yorke Peninsula

A new television commercial will begin airing from today for Yorke Peninsula. One of a new collection of South Australian tourism ads, they will be shown on Channel 7, 7TWO & 7mate throughout the Olympics coverage.

09/05/2016

Cockle Beach House