Brisbane Trip Day 4: Newcastle -> Crowdy Bay National Park

The girls and I were up early enough to say goodbye to their cousins and uncle. I spent a bit of time organising things on the computer, then started packing up while the kids took advantage of having access to the internet and the Netflix. It was hot and steamy and I was sweating a LOT by the time I was halfway through packing. I’d taken a lot of stuff out of the trailer so that we could put the beach things close to the tailgate in case we wanted to grab snorkels or boogie boards at a beach while travelling – so it was a big job putting everything back in.

Eventually I had it all sorted and we drove up to see Tony’s Dad (near Raymond Terrace) for lunch. The kids played with the dog and the girls and I had a swim, we made our sandwiches and hung out for a while.

The next part of the drive was familiar to me as I used to come this way on my way to Uni at Armidale. After the Buckets Way it was less familiar although I have driven up this way several times. We saw nets that had been strung up high across the road between trees on either side, for animals to safely cross the highway - we'd never seen that before. Both sides of the highway were fenced so that animals couldn't run onto the road. At one place we saw a sign warning of wild horses and a bit further on we saw 3 or 4 grazing near the fence, it was pretty cool. It was a fairly easy drive up to Crowdy Bay National Park – I went in the northern entrance, near Laurieton, so that there was less unsealed road to drive on. The 6km in to Diamond Head Camping Ground was fairly corrugated at times, although not a problem to drive over, just very slow and uncomfortable. We arrived at the campground around 5, but the office had closed at 4.30, so we decided to head on to Kylie’s campground and come back in the morning to pay. The campground at Diamond Head looked like a caravan park, with gutters on the roads and designated sites; I wanted to go somewhere with more bush camping.

As I was checking out the office Liam saw a goanna walking through the campground – we watched it for a while (I saw it doing a poo) and laughed at the way the kangaroos seemed quite wary of it. We also got a glimpse of the ocean – the surf looked rough.

We drove over to Kylie’s Campground – more corrugations but not as many as on the main road in. The campground looked inviting and peaceful, and there weren’t many people there. We drove in to an area with no other campers, and debated about the best place to set up – there was a very inviting area under several trees, so I put the trailer in there. We decided to go and check out the beach before we did any more setting up – I was feeling quite tired and felt like a beach visit would rejuvenate me.

The beach here was gorgeous – a colourful headland at the northern end, then several rock formations in and along the edge of the water with the waves breaking over and around them. The surf was rough here too, it didn’t look safe at all for swimming. Some of the rocks were out of the waves at this point, so we clambered over them and looked for shapes in the rocks, watched the waves, and found a colony of crabs.

Back at the trailer we realised that there were huge numbers of mosquitoes under the trees, so I moved out into a cleared area. We set the tent up fairly quickly and easily. Amelie wasn’t happy, she didn’t like the bush camping area or the drop toilets or the beach and she really wanted to go somewhere else. After she’d had some food she cheered up and happily helped with the rest of the set up. Caitlin and Liam went for a bike ride and Liam came back finding it hard to breathe. It was extremely humid and I think that contributed to his asthma attack. He was quite worried by it, as he’s rarely had one off attacks – usually when he’s found it that hard to breathe nothing has helped until we have gone to the hospital. This time however he was able to alleviate it with ventolin and he gradually calmed down.

We had sandwiches for tea and headed to bed. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about whether this really was a good place to stay for a couple of nights, but figured I was tired and I often felt that way after a day of travel. We headed in to bed to read for a while, and just before I fell asleep it started pouring – we’d opened all the windows to cool the tent down a little so luckily I was still awake and could jump out and close them all.

Half-lap Day 101: Esperance

There was a fair amount of rain overnight, although the wind wasn’t too bad. It was cold and a bit hard to get out of bed, then everything was wet once we got outside. I spent a bit of time over in the kitchen, having a cup of tea and blogging and sorting out photos. Millie and Tony came over after a while so I could take Millie to the toilet. The three of us had our breakfast, and the other two had a bit of a sleep in. I had a lovely hot shower. Once everyone was up and had eaten we got ready to go out for the day. It was sunny by now and not quite as cold as it had been earlier in the morning. I handed our Census form in and then we set off to look around the area.

We drove through the town centre and along the foreshore, it has been done up nicely and we all wanted to come back later and have a better look at it. It looks like there are lots of islands offshore (it reminded us a bit of Albany) and there were large ships anchored in the harbour. We got petrol and then drove out of town towards Cape Le Grand National Park. The girl at the caravan park suggested we go and stay out there for a few days – we’d love to, if we had a bit more time (and the weather wasn’t quite so cold and windy).

We went straight to Lucky Bay, which she’d told me has the whitest sand in Australia. On the way we passed a very cool looking mountain, and a cove that looked wild and fascinating. The bay contained a big curved beach, with rocky headlands at both ends – on the far end the rocks extended a long way out across the mouth of the bay, so the water can only come into to the bay through the right hand side and on a bit of an angle. The surf looked pretty high, and the water was a deep blue out in the bay and a turquoise blue close to the shore. The sand was indeed very very white. It was a beautiful scene, even from the carpark. 

We walked down onto the beach and were surprised at the feel of the sand under our feet – like nothing we’d walked on so far. It felt most like we were walking on a hard crust of snow, and that underneath would be a deep pile of softness if we broke through the crust. At times it felt rubbery, or like we were walking on springy floorboards. The kids discovered that if they ran along it without lifting their feet it made a cool (and soon rather annoying) squeaking sand. I think there were a lot of air pockets in the sand, and the grains were extremely fine and rather wet, and that all contributed to the weird feel. When we picked it up in our hands it felt rubbery and quite a lot like kinetic sand that we play with at home. It was also like oobleck (which we make using cornflour and water).

We bounced around on the sand for a while and watched the waves, then started walking along the beach. As we walked further from the carpark the waves got bigger and rougher. Watching them crash in towards the beach, with the red rocks behind them, was pretty cool. The sound was exhilarating too. There were also waves crashing against the rocks in all directions around the edges of the bay. The kids wanted to get to the sand dunes further along the beach so they could slide down them. There were warning signs that the sand could collapse, so they were careful to pick only clear, sloped areas of sand once they started exploring in there. Tony walked part of the way along the beach with us and then sat to watch the waves.

The kids played in the dunes and on the sand (LiAM found a toy Hawks car buried in the sand in his digging ) and we saw various seagulls and other sea birds (some with a long red beak, who were poking their beaks into the sand to catch their dinner), and seaweed and lots of interesting plants and flowers on the dunes. We walked to the area that the kids had wanted to see, and they had a bit of a play there, before heading back, trying to beat the rain that was threatening from big black clouds that had rolled over. The wind had picked up a bit too and was blowing spray off the top of the breaking waves which looked very impressive. The clouds passed over us and out to sea and it was sunny by the time we got back to Tony and all walked the rest of the beach together. A sea eagle was soaring around above the bay. We dug in the sand a bit more and after much talk of swimming and temperature and so on, Caitlin decided to have a quick dip in the ocean. Everyone except me had waded in the waves, Tony thought it was the coldest water we’d come across yet, Caitlin said it was warmer than the pools in Karajini. She was pretty refreshed by her dip, and it was exciting for her to go in the ocean, even just the shallow water.

We headed back up to the car and she got dry, Millie and I walked over to the toilets and checked out the campground – there was a camp kitchen, and hot showers so we partially wished we had stayed here instead. It could have been very blowy if the wind was high, but it would have been much cheaper than staying in town… It doesn’t matter though, we made our decision based on what we knew and needed at the time, and we are happy with that.

We drove around to the wild looking cove we’d seen on the way in (Thistle Cove). There was large rock behind the picnic table, which overlooked the entrance to the cove, called Whistling Rock. We could hear the wind rushing through it, sometimes making a whooshing sound and sometimes more like a whistling. We sat in the shelter of this and another rock, and had our lunch overlooking the ocean. Down below us were smooth, large rocks with rounded sides (kind of like the side of large, flattish eggs). The water was breaking over these and then running off in streams, then mixing with the water that was coming in for the next wave, I could have watched it all day, it created the most amazing patterns and variations in the water. There were big waves breaking over the headland as well, and there was a large rectangular rock sticking out of the water below us which created huge splashes when the waves hit it.

It was wind and occasionally some of our stuff tried to blow away so we had everything held down by heavier stuff. We watched some little birds and some crows hopping around on the rocks, interacting with each other and the wind and with us. The crow was very interested in our food. We went for a bit of a walk further down the rocks, and admired the hill on the far side of the cove – the rocks here are fairly smooth, with lots of vertical lines on them, possibly creases worn away by water running down. The bases of the rocks tend to be black where the ocean is beating up against them. The hill opposite us was mainly rock, with a little bit of plant coverage, and had a big cave about 2/3 of the way up. While we were looking around, LiAM said he’d found a fireplace – in under one of the rocks near us he’d noticed a gap, and looking under he’d seen a circle of rocks laid out, with sticks set up ready for a fire. We climbed over a small rock and past a bush to the other side of the large rock, and there was a larger opening that side – the kids went through the opening and there was a cave large enough for them to all sit in. There were even rocks placed around the fire pit to use as seats. It felt pretty exciting to be in there.

We packed up our lunch and then explored a little bit the other way form the carpark– I wanted to see the beach (the rocky bit we were sitting on cut off our view to the beach). From the top of the beach trail we could see back over to the mountain we’d driven past on our way in. The sun was shining on it and reflecting off the water running down its side – it looked like it was covered in snow, as the reflections were so white. We walked down the beach access path, through lots of bushes and wildflowers (including some we hadn’t seen before, yellow banksias I think). There was a rock overlooking the beach so I ran down to stand on that and then was ready to head back – the others kept walking down to the bottom of the rock to the edge of the beach itself.

There was a channel of water running out of the brush and down to the ocean. The water in it was clear but quite yellow, I’m assuming that was stains from the plants that surrounded it. The kids were playing along the edge of the channel, then Tony jumped across the channel and onto the main beach. The kids all soon followed, with various success at not landing in the water (none of them had shoes on so they weren’t worried about getting their feet wet anyway). The only way on to the beach was through or over the channel – I wasn’t sure if I could make the distance in a single jump and I really didn’t want to take my shoes off. I waited until the others were walking onto the beach and then I jumped – I made the distance easily although I did twist my ankle a little.

The sand here was white again and had a similar rubbery feeling to Lucky Bay. The waves were quite rough here as well, and once again it was cool watching them run along the side of the rocks and crash onto the shore. We walked along h beach a little way and compared footprints in the sand and investigated the plant life. Heading back I made the jump over the channel quite easily, then we climbed back up the rock (I’m doing a lot of walking on sloping rocks on this trip, not normally my thing, and I’m getting more confident), and headed back to the car.

On the way back to town we called in to see Le Grand Beach – it was much longer than the little bays we’d looked at and possibly more protected. The hills and rocks leading in to it were beautiful and impressive to look at – more of the smooth rock hillside, with vertical (squiggly) lines running down them. There was a good view of the mountain from here too, it had kind of a hooked rock at the top, it looked a bit like an eagle’s beak.

Back in town we drove past the foreshore again and the kids wanted to play on the playground. We decided to go and see Pink Lake first then come back. The lake was huge and quite pretty – unfortunately it wasn’t looking pink today. The pink and orange colours are caused by salt and bacteria, and I guess they need the right light and heat conditions to be seen. Back to the foreshore – Caitlin and LiAM went straight to the playground, Tony went to find some hot chips, and Millie and I checked out the fountain in the middle of the roundabout – it was made like a rock, with metal seals and birds sitting on it.

Millie went back to the playground and I watched the kids and the fading light over the harbour (the sun was getting close to setting). There was a port over to the right, and a few ships anchored out in front of us. We’d looked at the map and there were lots of islands outside of the harbour, they all looked very cool in the late afternoon light. There was a water slide on a pontoon not far from the foreshore – would be very cool to swim out to and play on when the weather is warmer. A passing family pointed out some dolphins to us – 2 dolphins swimming up and down the shore line, only a few metres from the edge. It was quite unexpected and very exciting to watch.

Tony returned with a hot chicken and chips from Red Rooster, and we sat at a picnic table and ate as the sun set. Caitlin and I went for a walk to find an exercise equipment park she’d seen further down the foreshore, we had a bit of a play there which was highly amusing. We joined the others back in the playground and all had a play – 5 of us on a large seasaw thing which was fun until I started to feel sick. We walked out towards the breakwall, having a bit of a play on a large and beautiful sculpture of a whale’s tail. We all wandered out to the end of the breakwall and sat and watched the lights on the harbour and listened to the water lapping against the rocks. The kids put on a bit of a stunt/ gymnastics show for us, then we walked back down to the exercise park and everyone had a go on the equipment.

Eventually we headed back to the car and then to the caravan park. I’d dressed quite warmly for the day, with multiple layers, and at times had been too hot. I was comfortable at the foreshore – when we got back to the tent though the temperature was much much colder and I didn’t seem to have enough clothes on. It also didn’t seem to make much sense that it was colder here than at the beach. The girls and Tony all went to have showers, and LiAM and I got the hot water bottles ready, did the dishes and watched some TV. We all watched the Olympics for a short while and then headed off to bed, possibly the coldest it has been inside the tent yet so we all wore beanies and socks and lots of clothes to bed, and listened to a chapter of Inheritance.

Half-lap Day 95: Kalbarri -> Cliff Head North

It wasn’t too cold this morning and although it was quite cloudy it wasn’t raining. We’d all slept a little later than usual due to our late night, so got up and started getting ready to leave as soon as we could. We are getting so much more efficient at packing up, so it’s not stressful at all. When the kids got up they went to see the goats, and our neighbours were up by now as well so took all of the kids into the pen to pat them. There was a little bit of rain on and off as we packed up, nothing heavy, it just meant we did things in a slightly different order so that the important things stayed dry.

While we were packing a couple with a young child drove past on their way out with their camper trailer. They hit a bump near our tent and one of the wheels fell off their trailer. I was impressed at how well they coped – they just got out and figured out what they needed to do to fix it, with the help of the guy across from us, and then went into town to get the parts they needed. Our neighbours and we were very thankful that nothing like that had happened to us, and that this had happened at low speed in the campground and not when they were somewhere more dangerous.

We were packed up by 9.30, then Tony went up to the kitchen to make a coffee and get breakfast for the younger 2 kids. We chatted more to our new friends and the kids played a bit more totem tennis and barrel walking, we said goodbye to all the animals, and our friends, and finally reluctantly left the station. Caitlin had briefly seen one of the station kids in the morning and been able to say goodbye to them as well. If we didn’t have a deadline to be home in a couple of weeks we definitely would have stayed longer here, we all really loved it. It was so peaceful down near the river, our campsite was flat and not too rocky or sandy, having the animals around was exciting and always interesting, the camp kitchen and lounge area was the best we have seen on our trip, and the location was great, we would have loved to have spent more time in the National Park as well.

We drove in to Kalbarri and got fuel, and could see the river winding past the town and then meeting the sea. The water was calm and flat in the river, then at the mouth there were waves going in every direction, it looked crazily tumultuous. There were big, thick grey clouds in the sky now and it was a lot windier near the coast. We drove up to Red Bluff, which was the main place I had wanted to see in this area (before I knew about Nature’s Window). It was a little walk from the carpark to the top of the cliff, there were a few lookouts along the way before reaching the bluff. It was obviously pouring rain out to sea, and the ocean was a deep, dark grey. The waves were pounding on the bottom of the cliff, splashing over the rock and churning into white water, with a turquoise blue colour just behind the break and as the water rushed back out. I love the sound and the feel of waves breaking onto rocks, and Millie was surprised when I said ‘I love cliffs’, then asked everyone to be careful where they were sitting at the top of the cliff. There was a great spot to sit and watch, where the bluff sloped down for a while so it wasn’t sheer, so I didn’t have any vertigo, but I still wanted to make sure everyone watched their step. I explained that I love how cliffs look and feel and my fear of heights doesn’t get in the way of that, I just need people to be careful. We walked out to the end of the bluff and looked at more waves crashing onto different rocks. It was quite magnificent. We could also look back and see the green ampitheatre type area we’d admired from the road into Murchison House Station. On the walk back to the car we admire lots of wildflowers either side of the path.

View from Red Bluff

As we drove further through the National Park (the park follows the coastline here for a while) it started to rain, really heavily for a while. We’d wanted to look at more of the coastal sights but didn’t know how that would go in this downpour – then we came out the other side and it was still overcast but no longer raining. We could even see some lighter patches of sky moving northwards towards us. We drove out to the carpark for Island Rock. Millie wasn’t keen to get out of the car to see anything else, so she stayed and the rest of us wandered down to the lookout. There was a rock coming up out of the water that would once have been part of the cliff, but the adjoining rock had been eroded away. It felt and looked a lot like areas of the Great Ocean Road. While we were at the lookout our friends from last night arrived. We looked at the view with them, then the mums and kids all walked to the next lookout, and the dads drove the cars and trailers to the next carpark to meet us there.

Island Rock

LiAM walked with the 5 year old and chatted to him more about Star Wars and other stories, and they looked at the views and birds. Caitlin walked with the mum and the 3 year old, helping to keep him from running along these paths (a boardwalk) that came close to the cliff edges at times, without any fences. Caitlin was impressed that I was able to walk along there without any trouble – I was fine as long as I stayed on the path and didn’t go right to the edge. As we walked we had a changing view of Island Rock, then the next attraction was the Natural Bridge – an arch in the rock, reaching out into the sea. It was very cool as well, especially when the big waves hit it and we could see the spray splashing back through the arch.

Natural Bridge

While we were admiring the view and talking about how it would have formed, we saw dolphin fins. They disappeared and reappeared a few times, then we saw that it was a pod of about 14. One of them leaped out of the water and they swam around for a while, surfacing and ducking under, obviously fishing. Once they had moved out of sight we headed back along the path, stopping at one more lookout over Island Rock, where Tony and Millie joined us. (Tony had popped down to the Bridge lookout then gone back to the car to be with Millie). Millie was sad to have missed the dolphins – I saw them briefly again but she missed them. We watched the waves for a while, then went back to the Bridge lookout and watched there – with no luck. I’m glad she saw the view, though it was disappointing that she missed her favourite animal.

dolphins

Island Rock from the other side

Back at the car we had some sandwiches, then continued driving south. The countryside was quite green and pretty, all farmland here, dotted with windmills. The next town we reached was Geraldton, which seemed very full of traffic after so long only seeing smaller, remote towns. It felt a lot like Newcastle, with a large industrial looking port to the south of the main town (I hadn’t realised that was there), and lots of very old buildings, with a new, modern precinct along the foreshore. I had heard about a fantastic playground near the foreshore, with games as well as play equipment, so we headed there for the kids to play while I went to the shops. There were some deep parking spots nearby, so we unhitched the trailer to make it easier for me to navigate a shopping centre carpark, and Tony took the kids to the playground. They said it was awesome, lots of things to do and a great place to hang out. I tried to find a new carseat for Millie, with no luck, but did get her some new thongs. I stocked up on food for the next couple of days, then headed back to get the trailer and the rest of the family.

We hitched up again and stopped at KFC on our way out and bought a small $1 chips each, a nice way to tide us over until dinner. We continued south for another hour or so, trying to get as far south as we could while keeping in mind that the sun was getting lower in the sky and we didn’t want to set up after dark. A little way south of Dongara we pulled into a 72 hour rest area at Cliff Head North. I’d been worried that we wouldn’t be able to find the turnoff or that the road in would be hard to navigate – the sign was obvious on the highway, and we turned into the rest area and were greeting with the ocean only a couple of hundred metres along a straight, wide access road. The water looked silky and was starting to turn orange and blue as the sun approached the horizon. It was so beautiful, and had been rather easy to find! There were several caravans set up there on either side of the road, and we were thinking of setting up at the last space towards the water – our tent would have come a fair way out on to the road though and I was concerned that if the caravans behind us wanted to leave first in the morning, they might not have room to turn around. There were a lot of puddles on the ground and there didn’t seem to be anywhere else suitable. We wandered down a track leading off the cleared area, talked briefly to a couple who had their caravan in a campsite down there, and found a large campsite, close to the shore, with enough dry, flat area for us to put our tent. Tony drove down and we spent a bit of time figuring out the best orientation for the tent (I wanted a bit of shelter if it got windy, we needed to avoid a couple of rocks, and the slight slope works better if the tent is sloping up not down. We eventually got it figured out and set up as the sun slipped over the horizon.

There was an oil rig out on the horizon which in the daylight looked like a large bird perched on the water, then was just a huge orange light glowing out to sea once it got dark. Our site was separated from the ocean only by a beach of seaweed. We could hear and see low waves breaking against the seaweed, it felt very cool to be so close to the ocean. We had our dinner (rissoles and eggs and bread rolls) and got ready for bed. I walked back down to the toilets and they were pretty gross – they had the buckets with disinfectant and brushes for washing out the bowl before and after use (most Western Australian national parks and rest stops have these, and they’ve meant clean and non-smelly drop toilets so far) – but in this case the water in the buckets was dirty and disgusting, so the brush couldn’t clean the toilet bowl so they were gross as well. We decided to do bush wees for the remainder of our stay here – easy enough because we were in such a secluded spot, we could see the top of the caravan nearest us and otherwise were completely alone.

The night became quite cool, so we rugged up a bit and sat looking at the stars and listening to the ocean, before heading in to bed to read for a while. Thee was light in the sky from Geraldton, quite bright to the north, so the stars weren’t as showy as further north, but we still had a great view of the milky way.

Half-lap Day 86: Cape Range National Park

The wind picked up a bit overnight and kept us awake at various stages. The tent held it’s own though, it flapped around a lot but nothing budged. Once again I woke up after sunrise, and headed down to the beach with my cup of tea. I walked along the rocky beach and got to the point where the Mandu Creek comes out to the ocean – it’s dry now, and has left a wide bed of sand and rocks and driftwood. From there I had a good view of the osprey nest further along the rocky shore – one osprey was sitting on top of the nest, and a couple of seagulls started dive bombing the next. Another adult osprey suddenly stood up from within the nest, and the 2 of them screeched at the seagulls until the gulls gave up.

Back at the tent I started to get everyone’s breakfast ready, and to get things organised to pack up. We didn’t get started particularly early (because of our restless night, no one woke up early or easily) but the pack up went pretty smoothly. We chatted a bit to our neighbours and the kids watched the corellas who had descended on the campground. These ones were whiter and cleaner looking than the ones we’d seen in Tom Price. It was tempting to feed them to have them come closer, but we resisted. The kids also found it hard not to collect the amazing shells and rocks around us, but with this being a Sanctuary Zone we weren’t allowed to take anything from the area.

We’d been a bit worried that the jockey wheel might be stuck in the dirt now that the wind had dried out the ground a little, but when we went to turn the trailer around it moved quite easily. We were ready to go by just after 11, and drove the short distance down through the National Park to the North Kurrajong campground. Technically we aren’t supposed to set up until 12, and it was only 11.15 – but our campsite was empty so we backed in there and Caitlin and I went for a wander to check out the beach and see if we could find the campground hosts (the bigger campgrounds have hosts – volunteers who camp here for a week or a month or more, and liaise with the campers, help keep the campground neat and tidy and running well, and are full of information about the local area. North Mandu only had 5 campsites and had no host, this is a bigger area (about 10 sites) and does have a host, right next to our site). We found a couple painting the tables overlooking the beach, and asked if they were the hosts. They were national parks volunteers, but not our hosts. They said it would be fine to set up as long as our site was empty. We chatted to them for a while about places to see from here down to Perth, and things to do within the Park here.

The beach here was very different from North Mandu. We had walked up to the top of the sand dunes, which were much higher here, and gave us a great view across the beach, the lagoon, the reef and the ocean. It was even easier to spot whales from here because of the height. The water was a deep blue, and we could see patches of rock and coral in the clear shallower water within the reef. The sand was white and inviting, it looked like a great place to swim.

This site was much bigger than our last one (12m by 7m) so it was easy to simply back the trailer in to the right spot and set it up from there. The wind was still coming mainly from the east so we set up with the tent on the eastern side, and finally got it right, our annex and living area was protected from the wind! Once the tent was up and the kids had had a bit of an explore we had some lunch, and in the meantime our camp hosts had arrived back at their site and came over to introduce themselves (and make sure we were in the right campground and site).

Today’s plan was to snorkel the Oyster Stacks – a few large piles of rocks in the water, which are covered in oyster shells – which can only be done at high tides, because the coral is so close to the surface that it would be damaged if people snorkeled in shallow water (and people would be more likely to get hurt on the coral too). The window for snorkeling today was 12.30 until 4. By the time we got organised and drove up there, it was 2pm, which gave us a good couple of hours.

There were a lot of people along the shore and lots snorkeling in the water. It was a trickier spot to get into the water than Turquoise Bay – you could climb down rocks into clear, shallow water with a sandy bottom, but getting down the rocks was a little tricky. Further to the south the rocks were low enough that we could just walk in, but the swell made this not quite as easy as it looked, and the current was stronger in this area. We chose to go in at the low rocks. Walking across the rocks to get to the water, there were lots of little rockpools, and many of them had crabs in them. At first we were quite excited, then realised that they all seemed to be dead – they must have been stranded in the rock pools when the tide went out and perhaps the water became too hot?

Tony went in first, then once we were ready I took LiAM, Caitlin and Millie in. We’d heard that here you could see fish as soon as you entered the water and that was true, the coral and pretty fish were right near the shoreline. We swam around in the area between the last 2 oyster stacks and saw so many fish, and lots of coral, it was really beautiful. There were lots of parrot fish, and rainbow fish, angel fish, blue damsels, ocean trout, and so many others. Millie swam really well again and was quite confident directing me to where she wanted to go. Having looked at the fish book last night we all recognised more fish too, and also saw some we didn’t remember seeing yesterday. I found it a bit of work to get back to shore again, the current was strongish and I had to kick pretty hard to swim across it while holding Millie’s hand. I had put waterproof band aids on the blisters on my toes – when I came out and took my flippers off, the bandaids came off as well! I didn’t realise until I was out of the water, so they are in the ocean somewhere – I hope that they don’t hurt any of the fish or other creatures.

Tony, Caitlin and LiAM snorkeled over to the other oyster stacks. They said that the current was much weaker over that way (we’d heard that too) and that the fish around the stacks were incredible. They also saw an octopus. Once they got out I went for a snorkel by myself and went to explore the stacks. The number of fish here was so much more than those just swimming around in the coral. There were caves and gaps in the rocks, which were all full of fish swimming in and out. Under the northernmost stack there was an overhang, and under that ledge were 30 or 40 large fish, just hanging out. It was very cool. On the way back I saw a large group of crocodile longtoms.

When I got back to shore LiAM wanted to come in with me and swim on his own. He and I went back to the stacks, saw the large fish again, and he showed me the octopus. While we watched it came up off the bottom and swam towards some coral, so cool to see all it’s legs pushed out behind us. It nestled up against the coral and we looked around at some fish, when we looked back we couldn’t see the octopus. When we looked really closely we found it’s eye, and then could see it’s outline against the coral – if we hadn’t known it was there, the camoflauge would have hidden it entirely. It was amazing how quickly it changed colour and blended in to its environment.

Caitlin joined us as we headed back to shore (much easier swimming across the current when I had two hands available) and we went back out to the stacks. We didn’t see the octopus this time but saw lots more amazing fish. It’s cool having the 3 of us swimming together as we all see different things and point them out to each other, so we each see more than when we go alone. Swimming back to shore I saw what looked like a sucker in a hole on the bottom, and swam back around to look, Caitlin following me – there was an octopus curled up in this little hole in the rocks, we couldn’t see much of him but it was pretty cool. Right near the edge I saw an eye in a hole and was able so show LiAM this time as well – another octopus in a hole, amazing how we could swim right over so many things and not know they were there, unless you happen to look the right way.

Millie and Tony came in for one last snorkel before the water got too shallow. Swimming around with LiAM and Millie, we saw the octopus closest to the shore had come out of his hole, and was sitting on the ocean floor. LiAM and I got a good look, Millie was having a bit of trouble with the swell so close to shore and wasn’t sure what we were looking at, so didn’t see the octopus. We had another quick look around and then reluctantly got out. Every time I am in the water snorkeling there is no other place I want to be, I could stay in there for hours and never get sick of looking at the fish going about their business, and the incredible looking coral.

We dried off and drove back to our campsite. The sun was low in the sky now and made the ranges an amazing colour. Back at camp I wanted to try snorkeling off our beach, Caitlin was going to come with me then started chatting to a guy with a guitar, also from Victoria, so I went in by myself. There were a couple of fishermen on the floor (this part of the park is not a sanctuary, so fishing is allowed) and I didn’t go far out, so I felt safe enough snorkeling by myself. The water was cloudy near the shore, and fairly shallow as the tide was on it’s way out. I could see some submerged rocks just out from the point at the southern end of our beach, so I went to check them out. There were fish around, not lots but several angel fish and blue damsels and other little fish. It was hard to swim close enough to the rocks without getting in to very shallow water, so I just had a quick look around and then headed back to shore, feeling quite exhileratied and happy that I’d checked it out. Tony came down to the beach to have a look, and we had a bit of a chat then he went back to camp and I explored the rocks on foot, out of the water. There was another little beach just past the rocks to the south, and at the point where the rocks met the sand there were lots of completely moss covered rocks, low in the water and now being exposed by the low tide. I wandered around for a while and took lots of photos, very enjoyable.

Back at our tent we discussed our day with the camp hosts, and they invited us up to the tables overlooking the beach for happy hour – most of the campers head up there each evening to watch the sunset. We grabbed some drinks and went up to join the others. Our hosts were there, as well as the guy that Caitlin had been talking to, and his partner. There was another family there, with 4 kids – friends of the people we’d been next to at North Mandu, and that family had told each of us about each other, and we’d seen them briefly at the oyster stacks that afternoon. We started chatting, they are from Newcastle so it was cool to discuss a place we both knew well. It turns out that they are also homeschoolers – only the 2^nd full time homeschooling family we’ve met on our trip! We talked for ages, and all our kids played on the beach together (theirs are aged between 6 and 10. LiAM and the 10yo boy got on well, and Millie and the 6yo girl did as well. Caitlin and the other boys joined in whatever games were going on). All the other campers enjoyed watching so many kids play together on the beach, obviously having a lot of fun.

The sunset was magnificent, one of the best we’ve seen. As the sun approached the horizon we saw dolphins swimming through the lagoon. Caitlin raced down to the beach to show Millie, who looked up just in time to see one leap out of the water – we could tell she’d seen it because of the very excited dance she did on the edge of the water. We watched them swim past for ages, leaping out of the water and obviously playing together. Once they had moved on and the sun was down, the clouds kept getting more and more orange and spectacular, it was a wonderful sight and quite nice to share it with everyone else who was there.

Once it was dark we headed back down to the tent and Tony cooked some dinner – a tuna and rice dish, wrapped in rice paper rolls. We looked at the fish book some more and I finished setting up the beds. We were all feeling pretty relaxed and tired and happy. LiAM dropped some food on the ground and then saw a little shape run past his chair. A little while later another shape ran across our carpet. We turned more lights on and after a while saw a little furry mouse-like animal scamper out from under a chair, then ran back in when it saw us looking at it. Over the next half an hour or so we had about 4 of these guys scampering and hopping around our camp – they were so cute, with big round ears, plump little bodies and incredibly long tails. Sometimes they ran on all fours and sometimes they hopped. One of them found a big crust of bread behind a chair and hopped out with it – Caitlin could only see the bread and said it was hilarious to see this crust hopping across the ground. I scared the little guy by chasing him and he dropped the crust (I didn’t want him eating it) and soon after that they all disappeared. I wasn’t sure what they were called, but we were positive they were little native marsupials.

It was a clear night and as more people turned off their lights in their vans we could see more and more stars – probably the most we’ve seen anywhere. We could clearly see the milky way all the way down to the horizon, that rarely happens. We’d noticed here that the ocean seems so much bigger, with low headlands the view to north and south of the ocean is massive, and it was the same with the sky – with the dunes and the ranges being so low, there is nothing to block the horizon and it felt like we were in a huge dome, with the ceiling covered in stars. We saw lots of shooting stars too – I only saw a couple, but Tony and Caitlin saw 8 or 9. It was a beautiful night. Tony sat in a chair behind our tent, away from all the lights, and watched the sky for ages.

Eventually we headed in to bed and read for a while then dropped off to sleep.