We packed up and left in the morning and got only as far as
Denmark. There we found a power point in
a park, park with power (PWP), so pulled along side, plugged in the van battery
to charge and I sat on the laptop doing stuff and charging it. We saw a few people we knew and had a
chat. I went for a walk around town and
we left.
We didn’t get too far. We ended up at Parry Beach. This was
recommended to us by a few people; really we were following the crowd. We got there and for $10/nite we got flushing
toilets, warm showers, fantastic views; a great spot.
We set up to find Amanda and Martin there already and Paul and Louise pulled in behind us. Chat, chat, chat.
Mitchell and I went for a fish and Mitchell caught one sand
whiting, which we kept for bait.
That night we had a lovely campfire with visitors, very
nice. While sitting around the fire a young guy came by who had just caught a
big salmon off the beach. That was me, I was keen to fish. Everyone left as the
rain started to come in and I went to the toilet. ON my return I saw a fox,
right at the back of our van. I was nervous and excited all at one.
So, the next morning Mitchell and I went down the front for
a fish again to stock up on sand whiting for bait. We then went over to “Back
Beach”, where the young fella caught the salmon. I got a BIG SALMON on my line for about 10
seconds and it snapped my line. At the time and probably for the next day, I
was cranky. Really cranky. All I wanted
to do was go back and fish. You could see the fish swimming in the waves. We returned that afternoon but nothing.
That night we had another campfire and were joined by
Amanda, Paul and Louise. Very nice. This
WA time is really throwing us around though. We went off to bed at 10pm (QLD
TIME), while everyone was just getting started I bet.
The next morning I woke up early again (QLD time). The sun
wasn’t up again. So I waited for the sun to rise and Mitchell and I went off
again to Back Beach to catch that salmon that got away.
Funny story. I
thought I had a snag and then weed, as when I reeled my line in it was
heavy. Anyway, I spotted a shark and
Mitchell and I were watching it for a bit and then we called over this other
guy fishing to have a look too.
Mitchell and I decided to reel our lines in, in the
direction of the shark to try and catch it.
Unbeknown to me, I had already hooked it. The fella fishing next to us came over and
tried to help me land it. We got it all
the way to the edge of the water and the line snapped. I was still grinning from ear to ear. I was very excited, cranky I lost it, but
excited.
After chatting to the guy about the shark he reassured me it
would be nearly impossible to land the shark. It was a wobbygong shark, just
over a meter long. Apparently they are the only shark you cannot hold by the
tail as they can bend around and bite you.
He was standing in the water trying to get it on the sand. Anyway, we
tried our best. So now I can say at
least I have finally hooked two big fish from the beach. I have never done that
before. Although I still have thoughts on filling the freezer with shark!
I promised Rod I would only fish for one hour, so I returned
to camp after an hour and a half. My story blurred his vision of time and he
had packed everything up ready to go.
Well… a couple hours later we left.
LOL. We got chatting to Ash and
Jacinta, who have 3 girls. He is a mad
keen fisherman too, who caught a couple of sharks in the tinny. He gave us a couple big fillets of fresh
shark to take with us.
We did leave, didn’t get too far and stopped for lunch at
Walpole. The markets were just finishing
however I was able to pick up some vegetables.
We continued on to Pemberton and stayed at a free camp.
This was the day we were on Discover Downunder. We didn’t have reception so missed out on
seeing it ourselves, but got all the feedback.
We cooked up salt and pepper squid, fresh caught shark and chippies –
sensational!
In the morning we left at the crack of dawn and went and saw
Glouster Tree. Glouster Tree was once used as a fire tower. Standing 60+meters
high I was keen to climb the rungs to the top to the tower, but wasn’t brave
enough. The weather was closing in and
the rain started to fall. We drove and
drove all the way to Augusta.
We stopped at Augusta to have breakfast – bacon and eggs for
Mothers’ Day. The weather was crappy the
whole way. Reluctantly Rod drove out to
the water’s edge where the lighthouse was.
For $45 you could go into the compound and up the lighthouse. We
passed. On the way back we found this
most beautiful swimming spot, called “Granny’s Pool”. We also found a lovely park and a couple of
jetties, but we didn’t fish.
We left Augusta after grabbing a couple of groceries and
headed for Margaret River. WA does not
have many free camps so as a treat opted to stay at Big Valley Campground; a
sheep station 12kms out of Margaret River.
The outlook was absolutely beautiful, the facilities lovely and much
cheaper than the van parks.
So we pulled up and set up and chilled out for the afternoon
doing the washing, updating my budget and Rod checking the brakes.
At 5pm the boys got to go over and feed the little lamb a
bottle of milk. Very cute. A nice hot
shower and stirfry for dinner, a movie and we went to sleep.
In the morning we packed up, made pikelets, had showers and
left. Rod’s mate Splat told us of a spot
called Hamelin Bay where they feed stingrays.
So we headed off there. Unfortunately it was a little windy and the
wrong time of year. Although I did see a
couple I wasn’t prepared to go in the water and feed them.
Rod checked the brakes and bearings again and I went for a
walk along the water to the lookout. We ate our very yummy pikelets and
left.
Well, we did have a map highlighting all the tourist
attractions in the area that we/I wanted to see, however Rod used it to wipe
grease on – so we were winging it! Not good.
Out of everything we found two places: The Shell Museum and Margaret
River Cheese Factory.
Only I went into the Shell Museum. OMG. There were shells
literally everywhere. The colours in
them almost seemed fake but truly a pretty sight. We then went taste testing at the cheese
factory and bought a couple.
We plotted along and found a free camp just east of Capel,
parked up for the night, lit the fire and went to bed.
VIDEO: Shell Museum
VIDEO: Lamb feeding
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