To 80-Mile Beach

Wednesday 21^st May 2008

Having successfully negotiated the dirt road yesterday we were buoyed up with confidence and ready to try another today which the landlady had said would cut a couple of hours off our trip. While I didn’t think we’d be able to achieve speeds that gave us that much of a saving (well, not with our trailer on tow, anyway) it certainly seemed to cut off a big chunk and we certainly didn’t need to get any closer to Port Hedland.

The road was very mild, except for one narrow part that wound through some wriggly hills, and decidedly uninteresting. The only thing I’d comment on is the level of rubbish beside the road that increased in quantity the closer we got to the turn off for an aboriginal community and diminished as we left it behind.

The 80 Mile Beach caravan park is enormous! But the grey-nomads haven’t fully arrived yet since it is still May so it was half-empty and really quite pleasant. Once again, the tape kept out a lot of unwanted (is it ever ‘wanted’?) dust – joy! I stuck on a couple of loads of washing while Paul and the girls investigated the beach but was disappointed to find that most of the clothes came out just as dirty as they’d gone in. I guess you can’t expect too much from machines that seem to be in constant use from the time the laundry opens until quiet time in the evening.

Paul and I set the girls up with a DVD (which meant there was no chance of them going anywhere or getting into any mischief) and took ourselves for a stroll along the beach just before sunset. The tide goes out a VERY long way – worse than Weston-Super-Mare! and there were thousands of small sea creatures – crabs, snails etc – wherever we tried to step. There was also a fantastic selection of shells, mostly white in colour but with some great shapes and designs. We watched the sun set into the silvery sea in spectacular fashion before heading back to the drudgery of dinner and bedtime routines.

Paul and the girls watched the next episode of the Young Ones which they are loving – Paul seems to know most of the script by heart which is lucky because there are constant questions from H and K as to what is going on – and it is a bit surreal in places!