An early morning walk on the beach revealed an amazing amount of wildlife. Ray and Caleb pointed out Blue Spotted Sting Rays, we saw a family of kangaroos sunning themselves at the rocks on the beach, actually on the sand. We had never seen kangaroos on the sand before, always on grass or dirt. They simply watched us walk past. Numerous rocks were lifted as we looked for crabs, finding many while Caleb named them. He couldn’t find those that he named yesterday though.
We had an early lunch and ventured out to Yardie Creek, which was further into the National Park. The gorge was a short walk which was nice because the flies were desperately annoying. The back pack Ray was carrying had hundreds on it catching a lift.
We saw some fish in the river so Ray decided to fish. 30 minutes later he had only had 2 nibbles. Needless to say we left and stopped off at Sandy Bay. It was overcast and Ray was determined to fish while I read and the boys snorkelled. I am actually feeling very sorry for Ray because 2 hours later he was still empty handed. Aaron hit the jackpot while snorkelling though and found a pair of ladies Ray Ban sunglasses in the water. They aren’t too water damaged so I claimed them. Nice!
After deciding to stay another night in this paradise (while Ray was at the Rangers station paying) I discovered mid shower that we were out of water.
We were ok for drinking water but nothing was left for washing dishes or bodies. The dump toilet has no tap either so we needed to get water from the only tap in the park. (Even the visitors information centre has dump toilets and no taps for hand washing.) Ewww! Bring plenty of hand sanitizer and wipes.
On the drive in we noticed a sign with a tap on it. None of the books or information that we have, mention water being available so we crossed our fingers, found as many water carrying containers as we could, and set off for the tap.
We came across fresh water, good enough to drink, and a couple of emus who thought so too. They were very unconcerned at our presence, very intent on getting their fill of water. We will filled with relief as well as water knowing that we could shower off the hot, sticky day after adventuring and being lathered in sunscreen.
The Christmas advent calendar tonight said to enjoy a Christmas dessert and use Christmas serviettes. So, after a dinner of beans and eggs on toast (we scored a double yolk) we enjoyed chocolate Yule logs that I had hidden in the fridge.
I played Ray the “Master” in Checkers and although it really hurt my brain , I actually beat him – twice! Beginners luck I’m told. Whatever!