Moving camp and more exploration

Thursday 8^th May 2008

We got our Camp Host to radio through and book us a spot in our chosen site – Mesa Camp. It should be a bit more sheltered than Osprey Bay, it is closer to town and all the places we still have to visit and, from Katie’s point of view, very important, it is where Hannah is staying.

There are thirteen bays and Paul reckons it’s just a glorified carpark but there are some trees, there’s a beautiful beach just over the dunes and it seems friendlier to be close to others. Hannah’s family was indeed here and our spot was right next door so Katie was soon in and out of their van and bringing Hannah and Gemma into ours.

Once we were set up (by 9:30, I might add – so that’s pack up, travel and re-setting up in just over 2 hours!) we ambled into town with Holly in the front seat as DJ with the Ipod, got the girls some sausage rolls to sustain them and headed out to Charles Knife Rd which leads up to the Carter Lookout. It is a stunning drive up onto the range past some outstanding views of cliffs and gorges that, if they were in the US would be a major attraction in their own right instead of just a small side trip hardly anyone has heard of. The lookout itself was nothing to write home about but if we’d have been equipped (and able) it would have been great to do the walk that started there and looped around the gorge – next time!

Back in town the howling gale had dropped off and the heat was setting in so we found the library/telecentre where it was cool and quiet and Paul did some ‘stuff’ on the internet, I caught up on some diary writing while loading one of the CD books from the library onto my laptop, Holly read Asterix and Katie read and played with some of the toys. We were all happy and all cool!

We then checked out the wreck of the SS Mildura at the very point of Cape, looked in at Dunes (the surf beach) which had no surf today and settled on our own beach back at Mesa Camp for a refreshing dip.

After dinner (yes, we cooked for ourselves yet again) the girls settled down in Hannah’s van to watch Happy Feet on dvd while Lindsay and Richard came round to us for a natter and generously shared their beers (we had done some shopping for them earlier so they didn’t have to go into town – well, it was about 50kms away).