Collecting shells at Eighty Mile Beach

Well just as I thought the weather was going to clear in Port Headland it decided against it.  At least the worst of it was whilst I was inside doing Hamish’s on-air lesson and Jason was outside packing up.  Once the lesson was done we hitched on and I ran the key back to the office, of course silly me only had one of the two keys so I needed to go back to the car and grab the other key.  As I was going back I realised Jason was trying to move the caravan.  I had told him to wait for me so I could guide him out so I started jogging back (let’s be honest I am not a runner) and then I saw the caravan jolt up and down. 

For a minute my heart was in my mouth as there was a tree and power box behind us and I was worried he might have hit one of them.  There was no damage to the caravan.  All he had done was reverse over the wheel chock that he hadn’t taken out.  That is what I normally do when we are ready to pull out.  A fellow traveller had come and asked him how much longer we would be and he just thought he would speed up the process.  A lesson learnt, don’t rush these things as he had removed the front chock and knew he had to go forwards but instead went backwards.  All is good and eventually we were out of the park.  It wasn’t like we could go any faster anyway as there were two other caravans that were hitching on and we had to wait for them anyway.

Turning into Eighty Mile Beach.

So we drove 40 odd km down the road and pulled over into a rest area to do Hamish’s reading lesson.  Then it was back on the road to the Eighty Mile Beach caravan park.  It was only 254km but the last 10km was dirt road and we didn’t really know what to expect there.  We had a quick stop at the Pardoo service station to fuel up, stretch our legs before getting back on the road.  I was a bit worried as we were leaving Port Headland about going on the dirt road after all the rain we had experienced, but by the time we got to the turn off it was clear they hadn’t had the same amount of rain here.

A caravan turned off just before us but we pulled over to open up our little dust hatch and then got back on the road.  The first 2km or so was really good.  I thought I had been stupid for being worried, and then we hit the really rough corrugations which slowed us right down and of course another caravan and motorhome caught up to us.  Obviously being an on road caravan we need to take these things slowly and we felt every little bump of it.  At least the last 2km returned to being good again!  We had radioed the people behind us to say go around but they opted to stay behind us.  When at reception I apologised and they just told me how they find a bit more speed helps you guide over them.  I agree with the car it does, but our caravan doesn’t have the same rugged set up.

Whilst I was checking in Jason was going to take off the Hayman Reece bars but he had trouble finding the black bar we need.  Due to all the bouncing it had moved about half way down the tunnel boot so took a bit more effort to retrieve.  Eventually we got there and had an easy site to reverse into.  Still didn’t stop some fellow nomads from telling me that Jason needed to go more forwards.  I know they are just being helpful but we do know what we are doing and maybe after ten attempts of getting it wrong offer to help.   We however got it first go.

Ian and Gwen had seen Jason on check in and told us that they were releasing baby turtles back into the wild at 1:30 so we pretty much plugged in the power, put down the legs and went to see the turtles.  They were so cute and about 3 months old.  The tracking devices looked so big on them.  We hung around there for about an hour and even had a quick walk to the beach but eventually we gave up on seeing them being released as we were starving for lunch.  We had some food, finished setting up the van and then Jason headed off fishing with Ian.

Ready to go back into the wild.

The kids loved the pile of dirt.

Please let me out.

This boat with wheels was cool.

I looked after the kids which was easy as just at Jason headed out another van rocked up with three kids, so whilst the parents set up their van, I setup the outside of ours and got out the toy tub for all the kids to play with.  I made myself a nice cold drink and sat down and thought that we would really like this place.  My serenity was broken though when Jason came back and asked how much school had we done!  That went down like a lead brick as here I was proud for setting up outside and had two kids to watch. 

Having a play on the beach.

Making some creation.

Oh well I guess you live and learn and I think Jason learnt something that day!  The next day we really tried to focus on school as we were quite a bit behind as we had been really slack the day before and whilst we were in Port Headland.  The problem was with kids beside us Hamish would rather play with them then do school.  I think we were of the same attitude to, but still we managed to get there and were going well until the afternoon.  Just before lunch we went for a walk down to the beach to collect a few shells, but by now the sun was really out and it was getting quite warm so we didn’t stay there too long.

Some of the shell creations people had on display.

The two shell animals that were given to the kids.

The idea was that we could make some shell animals as a lady had kindly given the kid’s one each that she had made.  Now I know ours won’t be anywhere near as good as that but I thought we could at least try.  Still having strong glue out with five kids around was getting quite messy.  I sometimes wonder what on earth I was thinking.  After lunch it was a little bit more school and then we had a rest for a while.  I mean there was State of Origin on that night!  At least we didn’t have to worry about dinner as the caravan park runs different things on different days and today was $6 burgers and $4 chips. 

Sunrise one morning.

Starting to really come up.

Looking back towards the caravan park.

They even had a market on from 2pm to 4pm.  There were only about 6 stalls but still it was a nice little walk.  We did manage to buy two second hand books for the kids, shells of 80 mile beach poster, and a handtowel and of course a replacement oven mitt for the one I had set on fire!  Later in the afternoon Jason went out fishing again as our neighbours had come back with a few so off he went.  I made the very bad decision to finish off the school lesson Jason was half way through. 

Kayla giving herself a tan.

Kayla checking out the markets.

Looking back at the caravan park.

Yep I should know better than to try and do school at witching hour and with two kids to look after.  Hamish was half way through his sentence (and trust me this takes a long time) and Kayla grabs a pencil and scribbles all over it.  Meaning we have to start again!  I lost my cool and then had Kayla screaming and Hamish crying, it was a real disaster.  Never again am I going to let us get behind in school again as it isn’t worth it and I hate it when I lose my cool.  It isn’t good for Hamish’s schooling and well I am pretty sure everyone in the caravan park could hear Kayla’s meltdown.  Thankfully I convinced them both to have a shower to prepare for the night and that seemed to calm them down, then I popped on a dvd.

A different look with the clouds all around.

So yes Eighty Mile Beach really seems to be the place where we are learning lessons the hard way and it has not been as relaxing as I thought.  It is funny how we can rock up to a free camp and the kids are happily playing with rocks, but we rock up to a caravan park with no playground or pool and they are bored.  They also can’t swim in the ocean as there are sharks.  Ian even nearly caught one so other than shells and other kids there isn’t a lot for them to do.

We started to make our way over to the reception area to get the burger and chips for dinner but didn’t quite make it as we ran into Ian and Gwen on the way and detoured to watch the sunset.  Finally we got to have the yummy burgers and chips and the kids were happy running around playing.  It felt like order was restored.  Then it was onto Mike and Wendy’s caravan to watch the State of Origin and barrack for Queensland.  I honestly thought that you would hear more cheering from the respective NSW and QLD teams but there mustn’t have been that many of us around.  Still it was a close game and I was so happy when we came out on top.

Now we just need to make sure we have TV reception for the next game.  I guess if it was really bad and we didn’t have reception we could make friends with a NSW supporter who has a satellite dish!  Our last day at Eighty Mile Beach was a huge improvement on the others.  This could have a lot to do with the fact that we finally got on top of everything again, or the yummy pikelets our neighbours brought around.  Mind you we need to stock up on quite a few school supplies when we get to Broome as we are out of black ink and the stapler has died, not to mention we are running our craft supplies dry. 

Collecting shells.

On the hunt for some more.

Jason giving the car a good clean.  I am supervising!!!

Still we had a nice relaxing day and even took the Pajero driving on the beach.  Yes you heard me right, for the first time the Pajero set its tyres on the beach.  Mind you Jason then spent forever washing underneath afterwards!  Still it was well worth it and while it was a bit interesting in some parts it was quite easy considering we never even let the tyres down.  We hadn’t bothered as no one else had.  The idea was to search for some bigger shells but we didn’t find any.  That is probably a blessing in disguise as really where on earth were we going to store them for the next 5 or so months!

So she is right at home on the sand too.

Admiring the view.

Driving along the beach.

After our drive collecting some shells we returned back for some lunch and a bit more school.  Our next door neighbours returned home not long after we had finished lunch and when they had finished their lunch they invited us over for a craft session with the shells and a hot glue gun.  I am now addicted and I will be adding a hot glue gun to my shopping list in Broome.  It will make the craft work with Hamish so much easier.  We then sat around their caravan all afternoon just chatting away and it was interesting to hear their different stories.

After a while we returned to the van to finish off a bit more school and Jason wanted to take the kids fishing.  So off they headed and I took the opportunity to finish posting a blog and prepare Hamish’s school work to be emailed off.  It is a pity that Kayla really wasn’t into fishing much as it wasn’t long at all until they were back (fishless of course).  So we decided to pour ourselves a drink and head over the sand dune to watch the sunset.  We made it just in time and managed to  get a few quick photos and try and stop the kids from getting in everyone else’s photos before heading back to the van. 

As we are leaving tomorrow we had our normal routine of getting the kids showered and fed and into bed as soon as possible so we could still pack up outside and get everything ready for our departure tomorrow!  We will be slow on the road out again so need to get a head start on those nomads so we don’t hold them up too much!