Day 25 - Sunday 22 January - Coastal scenery

DAY 25

SUNDAY

22 January 2017 – New Zealand 86 V Wildcats 82. Not another loss!

Streaky Bay

7.30am and feeling refreshed and finally like I am in the correct time zone. I got up, leaving Paul to continue resting. I wandered along the shoreline, the water returning to the bay on the new tide. It was still, tranquil and quiet and I enjoyed every second.

I returned to the van to have breakfast. Paul continued to sleep, so I took all my things outside and enjoyed the view while catching up on computer bits. He finally surface at 9am and was complaining about being the local blood bank for the mozzie population.

Once revived with a shower and having had food we opted to head out, completing the Cape Bauer Loop Drive. While it was overcast and the sky felt heavy with impending rain, it remained dry, though somewhat muggy.

Our first stop on the coastal scenic drive was Hallys Beach. From the car park there was a boardwalk and steps to follow down the steep embankment. The boardwalk was under repair, so we are unable to reach the beach, but this didn’t faze us. The views from the platforms were stunning; rugged coastline, long rolling surf and white sands stretching for miles with not a sole around.

We continued our journey in the car to the Whistling Rocks and Blowholes. As we arrived the other groups left, including the fisheries inspectors so we had the place to ourselves once again. This time the boardwalk and stairs lead us to viewing platforms where we could watch the blowholes sprouting the water and hear the roar as it pushed air and water up through the holes in the limestone coast.

As we made to leave, more groups arrived, perfect timing. One group were our current neighbours who have a staffy traveling with them. This time dad was carrying the dog down the steps, as it won’t walk on gaps in wood. It was certainly a funny sight.

Back in the car, we followed the road along the coast watching the seas laid out before us.  We made a quick stop at the boat jetty, before winding our way back towards the caravan park, stopping just short to have lunch at a picnic table.  The sky was looking ominous, heavy with expectant rain. While threatening in its look, we didn’t receive any here.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the cool aircon of the van, enjoying our books and chilling out. By 330pm we were ready to head on to the pub to check out the NBL again. We settled in with a drink and watched the final quarter of the Cairns v Illawarra match. Cairns did us a favour beating Illawarra, now it was the Cats turn to beat NZ. Unfortunately it was a bit of a shambles and Cats didn’t play to their best, going down by 4pts in the end. Bum.

Before leaving, we filled up on a dozen oysters and then made our way back to the van for dinner proper. I needed to get out and walk again, so we made our way to the foreshore and walked in knee deep, bath water until a wayward blue crab, with pincers out, crossed my path and then it was off to the shallows.

We counted 7 of good size and 3 little ones. They are easily caught in this bay with rake like implements used to scoop them up. Certainly wouldn’t be hard to get a feed here. We also saw a small ray and a fish. Plenty of life swimming by.

The sky turned a lovely pinky purple shade by 9pm; reflected off the clouds and onto the rippling water. It was postcard picture stuff.  We returned to the van to read for a bit before heading for bedding.