Day 5 - Sunday 8 July - Shells and the big wide blue

Day 5

Sunday

8 July 2018

Hamelin Outback Station  - Shell Beach – Nanga Bay

Completed book 2 – How to Bee By Bren MacDibble. This will be an easy novel to read to my kiddies. 

Lazy Sundays, I love them! I was awake by 730 and happy to read for a while, almost completing my book. Paul and I had both had iinet phone coverage during the night (the weather must have provided a decent amount of skipping through the atmosphere for the signal to carry) so we did a quick check in on our devices. By 8.30am we were ready to roll out and see the day. It was cold. I went for a shower and returned for breakfast. I spent some time on the computer before 10am arrived and we made our way onto the road. 

We drove for about 40min to Shell Beach. We parked and joined the other tourists making their way to the crunchy beach surface. The water was a vivid aqua, set off by the white reflecting from the shell surfaces. We walked a distance up the beach to be away from the others and were rewarded with a much thicker shell bed. It was here that we could see that while the shells appear white, there are varying colours of yellow, orange, brown, pink and purple along with many different shapes and textures. 

The tourist literature varies in its estimation, but from what we can gather the shell beach ranges in length from 70 – 120km and is 10m deep. 4000 fragum cockles(fraggles as we termed them) per 1m square, inhabit the sea bed. The shells created by these marine inhabitants are white and small, fan shaped creations. 

I threw off the thongs and carved my feet into the shell grit, massaging the soles of my feet, what a delight! We sat in the shells contemplating the view before us, it truly was magnificent and for once we had no reason to rush off. I got busy taking fancy photos, finishing off with a shell angel and then we were ready to head on.

We returned south, collecting a stray pool noodle along the way, before turning right towards Nanga Bay. 3km up the road and we found the resort / caravan park and pulled up. We signed in at reception and then drove the car down to the front. We walked the remainder onto the beach, taking in the beautiful blue and green hues of the flat water. Serenity. Every now and then I dipped my feet in, but the water was bitterly cold and made my feet sting, so I wasn’t keen on staying in for too long. 

After walking in one direction, we returned to the starting point. Paul collected the car and brought it out onto the beach to join the 4WD and boat trailers. We set out the chairs and then made up our salad rolls to have for lunch. Bliss. 

With the afternoon came the sun, the warmth and more people, many launching boats to go fishing. We packed our things away and walked the opposite end of the beach, finding it completely isolated, our own paradise to be enjoyed and we did, with nothing to do but sit and watch the world go by. I was on the lookout for any sign of life in the water, but other than seagulls, saw none. This was despite the water being so crystal clear. 

After enjoying our moment of paradise, we made our way back to the main beach, which was now overrun with more people ready to enjoy the afternoon sun. We returned to the car and then went for a wander around the ‘resort’. If we were to come back to Shark Bay we would definitely stay here. 

After enjoying an ice cream, we decided it was time to make our way back to Hamelin Station, arriving back just after 3. Just as we pulled in, so did a number of transformer like camper trailers. We were having fun calling the race to set up, sitting outside enjoying our drinks and running commentary. 

With the wind missing in action, it was lovely sitting outside under the awning, chatting to the new neighbours and just taking it all in. What a life! I did however get too much sun and my legs were soon turning pink. 

We took off for a wander around the homestead, making our way down the entrance road, if you can call it that, and then further up the red dirt track. We marvelled at how green everything was, Paul busy telling me this isn’t the norm. The contrasts of the orange, green and blue was truly beautiful. 

We watched the animal tracks, as we wandered. Picking out kangaroo, lizards, birds and spotting the tell-tale, crescent shaped holes of scorpions. Other than what has been left behind we saw no sign of life, though there were plenty of birds flitting about. 

We returned to the van, ready to make dinner. I began loading the photos as the same time and then we ate, before sitting outside to enjoy the night sky. It was the first night the wind had disappeared and it was actually quite pleasant sitting in the dark, contemplating the universe and how small and insignificant things really are on our rock. 

With the philosophising done, we retreated to the van ready for bed.