For me, while Michael recovered from a sore chest after a heavy gym session on Friday, today started with a run along the Wadandi Trail, to get another look at the lovely forest with all its jungle sounds and wildlife.
Run complete, we tucked into some bacon and eggs for breakfast to set us up for a day at the beach down in Hamelin Bay.
After a 30-min drive past stunning trees, glorious countryside and many a cow, we pulled up at the most stunning of beaches.
Honestly, you could spend all day taking photos of this beach and the ridiculous colours of the water, sky and sand. I pinched myself several times and kept dipping my feet in. The water was fairly cold as it’s near the southern ocean here, but once you’re in it’s not so bad, if you can put out of your mind the fact that massive stingrays probably aren’t far away…
We looked for said stingrays but didn’t see any, so we headed further down the beach where there were fewer people and it’s quite windy there, so once I got out, it was a bit of a shiver fest until I managed to find some shelter and wrap myself in my towel for a bit.
By this point we were pretty hungry again, so bought some immediate sustenance in the form of crisps from the holiday park kiosk by the beach, then headed to Augusta for something more substantial.
Many places were unfortunately closed, as it was a Sunday, and the one promising place by the water was shut for a private (and somewhat noisy function) but we managed to get ourselves some fresh squid and a bronzie fish burger from the local BP service station. They actually do really good food by reputation as the truck drivers here use them regularly as pit stops between their vast driving routes!
The squid was delicious, but Michael’s bronzie burger was a strange experience. Imagine eating cod with no flavour… hard to get your head round, but also hard to get your teeth round as it happens.
Anyway, armed with our deep fried “picnic” food we sat ourselves down by the estuary just inside Finders Bay, where seagulls, eagles and pelicans like to pick up their dinner, either assisted by casual fishermen, or simply by flying over the shallow water and seeing what’s available beneath the surface.
This spot provided ample opportunities for bird watching and filming and just admiring the amazingly calm water.
After we’d eaten our fill and donated the flavourless fish to a hungry-looking gull, we walked around the bay to see where the sea of Flinders Bay meets the Blackwood River.
You could visibly see the currents moving against each other and it put the fear of God in us – definitely not a place for a swim!!!
It was about 3pm at this point, and we hadn’t seen any stingrays earlier, so we decided to head back to Hamelin Bay in case our luck might change… and that it did…
Despite several signs instructing people not to get near to, feed or touch the rays, humans are idiots and before long a big group of people showed up (presumably from the holiday park behind the beach and started throwing seafood in the water for the rays and trying to touch them.
We kept a safe distance and just tried to admire them when they came close… and they did!
We soon tired of the humans being idiots and decided to head home via the supermarket to grab some dinner, consisting of salmon, veg and potatoes for our last night at the River Resort villa.
Had a nice chat with Mum and Dad before bed and then it was time to pass out. Another successful day completed!
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