It was a pleasant temperature overnight –
we kept the windows open although did need a blanket. We were all up early as
we wanted to do the walk again at sunrise. Yesterday another family had arrived
in a motorhome and came around to everyone saying that they’d be cooking
pancakes in the morning and we could order some if we wanted to. We’d thought about buying some pancakes for
the kids, but the timing didn’t work out with a sunrise walk (they were cooking
from 7 til 8, and sunrise is at about 7.30) so we gave the pancakes a miss (we
can cook some ourselves when we get to a town and can buy some eggs).
The sky was a very promising red colour as
we set off on the walk, but there were a lot of clouds low to the horizon so we
only got sporadic splashes of sunlight on the rocks as we walked. It was still
beautiful, and so cool to see the rocks become clearer as the light increased.
I walked ahead with the older 2 this time and Millie and Tony followed. I took
so many photos though that I was often pretty slow. When we reached the highest
part of the walk we could see across to the escarpment and it took our breath
away – a long cliff of the beehive type rocks, quite incredible. We hadn’t see
it last night because the sun was behind the escarpment and the cliffs were in
shadow. We sat up there for a while and soaked up the view.
Yesterday on the walk Tony’s phone had
changed to Western Australian time, so we figured he must have got a little bit
of signal on the high ground. He really wanted to put his footy tips in before
the weekend, so he climbed up a bit higher to see if he could get signal this
morning. He occasionally got 1 bar of signal but not enough to do anything
useful. And when he came back down his phone was back on Northern Territory
time…
Back to camp to have breakfast, and Tony
set up a tarp on our awning poles so that we had some shade. Our tent hadn’t
got as much morning shade as we’d hoped, and the awning wouldn’t help given the
angle of the sun, so having a free standing shade shelter worked better, we
could move the chairs and tables as the shade shifted. We decided to stay here
for a 2nd night, it was such a beautiful and peaceful place (and
only $7.70 a night) and everyone was happy to just hang out for the day.
We had a very relaxed morning and played
cards until we were hungry for lunch. I read several chapters of Brisingr while
the kids listened and played on the iPad. The kids spent a lot of the afternoon
playing with the kids from the pancake-cooking family. They were 7 and 5 and
really loved playing with Caitlin and LiAM in particular. They climbed the
rocks, painted boab nuts and leaves, crushed the boab nut powder and tried to
roast the seeds, played role playing games, played with LiAM’s water pistol,
and all had a really lovely time. Tony went for another walk, with my phone
this time, to see if he could get phone signal, again with no luck. Caitlin
rode her bike around the campsite road. LiAM and Millie looked at the ants and
birds and plants and explored our immediate area in detail. I spent a lot of
time reading and doing puzzles. Tony and I spent some time starting to figure
out where we are going from here and what places we want to see. It was another
very hot day and it was nice not to have to be anywhere or do anything much.
As the sun got lower in the sky Tony lit
the fire again. Caitlin and Millie and I went to the end of the campground to
watch the bright red sunset on the cliffs. We had rissoles and pasta for tea,
very nice sitting around the campfire. It wasn’t cold enough to need a fire for
warmth, but had cooled down enough so that it wasn’t uncomfortable in front of
the fire. After tea the kids roasted some marshmallows, then we headed for bed
(Caitlin in the tent again) and read more Brisingr.
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