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Published: October 31st 2009
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Day 183 - Cape Range National Park
A quick birthday shout out is in order today, Happy Birthday Tirion Hallett - grand daughter of Wayne, Darryl's Brother! So does that make little Tirion our great neice?! We don't know, but we do hope you have a really lovely day! Oh my goodness it’s so awesome here, it really makes us feel blessed to be waking up to such fantastic scenery.
I keep waking up really early here so head off again for a good walk. The morning sky looks really angry today though and I wonder if there’s a storm brewing. Bel is already off for a run and although I know she would love the company I will only slow her down which doesn’t seem fair so I let her do her own thing at her own pace and will practise until I can keep up! Instead I head in the opposite direction with Simone who is the only other person up and about!
It’s a beautiful walk with vibrant colours but no sign of the turtle tracks we were hoping to find, looks like we will have to go further up the coast at high
tide for that!
We’re walking in the opposite direction to yesterday (we’re heading south) and the conversation spans all sorts but then Simone tells me about a website called
Geocaching where people bury ‘treasure’ for others to find. The basics are that you log on to the website wherever you are in the world you look to see if someone else has buried something nearby. The website gives you the GPS co-ordinates and then all you need to do is follow them! It sounds like great fun so we’ll definitely have a go at that when we return home to the UK as well as over here.
We reach the rocky outcrop and the view is stunning, why don’t I ever bring the camera?! I needn’t have worried as when we got back to camp and told Nige of the awesome colours he picked up his camera and started to head out there himself! Darryl went too with our camera to give it a go with some arty shots! They followed literally in our footsteps as they had no idea how far we went and they find it’s quite a walk so by the time they got out
there the morning sun rays had disappeared which changed the colouring completely but they still enjoyed it.
While they were gone I sat with Lachie while he did some school work and then helped Zali with some colouring. If I could re-train for another role right now I’d be split between a National Park Ranger and a Primary School Teacher. Having said that I’d need to work on my spelling and grammar for the later!
When everyone returned we drove out to Turquoise Bay and this time tackled the ocean drift loop. It was awesome and even Zali had a go this time with our ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming’ Dory (Finding Nemo) approach! Bel is fantastic with Zali in the water, every now and then she just pushes Zali’s face downwards so she can see all the fish beneath her and she comes back up with a “Wow” and is now even looking herself! Every one of the adults saw sharks except me, I must be looking in the opposite direction every time! Darryl saw a Wobbegong which is a type of shark which has very tiger-like colouring and was a very good spot from Dar.
The others saw three black tip reef sharks which were circling around and there were heaps of new fish today, so many colours and different patterns it’s all amazing.
As we’re standing back on the beach I spot something in the water near the shoreline, it’s a turtle and he doesn’t look well. He’s coming up for air every couple of minutes which is really unusual so Bel goes to check it out. The turtle’s shell is covered in algae, it’s not looking good. Bel calls across the beach for any turtle experts but nobody puts their hands up although a lady does suggest that she shouldn’t pick it up in case she has bacteria on her hands and pass it on. Bel follows the turtle through the water and it heads straight for Nige so he gives it the once over and deems it sea worthy but for how long we’ll never know. Good luck ‘Turtle Dude’!
The current is pretty strong around the drift loop, it doesn’t take long from the start to the end and you need to make sure you’re back on the beach before the sandbar or you’ll head straight out into the
open water of the ocean. It’s a fantastic spot though and these wildlife encounters make it so special.
Back to camp we go and the boys eventually make journey down to the shoreline for another spot of fishing! We call out happy thoughts for the fishermen, after being called ‘Fish Witches’ in the previous days we decided not to go and watch this time just in case we curse the attempt!
Instead the kids go playing in the sand dunes and I watch Bel make the biggest damper loaf in history! What a laugh! Good job Darryl wasn’t around to see his kitchen in such disarray! With the bread making underway we spent the rest of our valuable time reading, playing guitar and watching the sun go down whilst the boys fished with the sharks, the bull rays and the turtles!
We’ve been ‘off air’ for a while now so went to the public phone box at the visitor centre to give Mum and Dad Kettle a call as Dad has an appointment in the morning that we wanted to wish him luck with. I’d badly underestimated how quickly the phone would swallow the credit from the
phone card we’d purchased - it was a very, very quick call in the end but great to hear that everything is ok back home. The last words we heard Mum say was that fellow bloggers Kangaroojack had been successful in their mission to find a Cassowary! How fabulous, at least we know they do still exist!
Love to everyone
Dar and Sar
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