Friday, 23 August 2013                                                                                                    80kms

We woke to not a breath of wind. I was beginning to doubt B.O.M, so I checked it again and Willy Weather. They both said it was going to be windy…. We didn’t start to pack up as we were considering pulling the boat back off the roof and staying. However, before long the wind started, and it didn’t take long until it was blowing!

Packing up in the wind was terrible. The kid’s bed end was blowing out while we were packing it down. Their bedding blew off the mattress, out under the canvas and onto the ground behind the van. Then the awning ripped out of my hands, flipped over the van sending a pole flying into the sand dunes, snapping another and ripping one of the brackets out of the wall of the van. Not Happy Jan!!! After wrestling the awning and the kids bed, and got the van down, Nath had to walk on the roof to get it to shut. We then had to dig out a big hole to get the car down to the height of the hitch as the sand has moved that much while we have been here.

Pete, Karen and Annalea left first heading north to Broome. We said goodbye to Peter and Sandy and headed to the homestead to drop off the keys. On the way we saw a sand storm blowing over the sand dunes. There is a lot of sand on the move today.

The crest to the homestead still had the Wow factor even if it was wind chopped. We then headed south along the coast track which leaves from Coral Bay in the south to Cape Range National Park in the north, as the name might suggest, along the coast. We saw lots of breathtaking spots along the way. This coastline definitely has a spectacular beauty.

We finally made it to 9 Mile after a couple of stops. $60 for the week camping fee, awesome. We managed to score a spot down on the point. Apparently one van pulled out of here this morning and now the 3 of us have squeezed into it. While we were setting up camp the wind started to pick up. We got the boats off, had some lunch and ran out of water in the tank.

We headed out in the boats to have a look around in the afternoon. We caught 2 box puffer fish instead of squid. One completely engulfed the squid jig, it was not pretty, bent the spikes out of shape. Headed back to camp with nothing. L Trish, Al and Holly caught 3 squid, lucky people.

We emptied the bladder into the tank so now we have water again and schooled Elokin in the late afternoon. We also met our neighbours Bruce and Elaine.

All of the kids went chasing crabs in the dark tonight. There are sand and ghost crabs everywhere. We have been warned to put everything with rubber, plastic and foam up off the ground where the crabs can’t get them as they will put holes in it. This includes the end of the rods and they tear them to pieces.

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.