Christmas on the Beach

Day 87 - Christmas on the Beach

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Found ways of coping with the weather. One evening the wind came up so suddenly it was as if someone had turned a switch on. Fortunately we had eaten and we all raced around tying things down and gathering up anything that might blow away and quickly retreated to our beds. Very interesting in our camper, being demounted we 'swayed' sickeningly and occasionally a giant gust would slam into us with such force, and I thought Ningaloo was bad :) Bill in the next camp clearing said the news reported gusts of 120km/hr. Maybe we didn't relieve quite that, but it wasn't nice.

In the morning, it had slackened off marginally, M tied the camper down with ropes, big sand pegs and thing off to the DMax. (A few days later heading up to Orbost for supplies he tried to drag the camper with us when he forgot to untie us, that after I asked twice if he had done it!!!)

Over in The Kids camp everything was covered in black sand, including Kerry's waxed surf board (thanks Ben for not putting it away). It was still too blowy to sit around, but discovered it was more sheltered closer to the beach just at the top of the steps/lookout. Ben moved his vehicle over, along with chairs, table and cooking stuff. Lunch and dinner enjoyed. The kids had set up the hammock and even spent half the night in it (until rain made them retreat back to the wind shaking camper.

Surrounded by forests there were plenty of scenic drives. We came across a massive tree stump that all bar me managed to conquer:) the views from fire look out to the coast were good. Little did we know the very area we drove through were shortly to be 'bush fired'.

A few friends of the Kids visited for a few days each. Both families with a couple of children. Some funny times and some (when are they going to go to bed times), I am getting old!! When M started burying one of them in the sand I was a little 'concerned'

The locals eventually got confident, by this I mean the iguanas! at least 3 that we could recognise, and one of them bigger than me. A bit disconcerting at first, but we got used to them. They would case the campsite every time we went down to the beach.

Eventually Ben put the boat in the water, and we had a few flathead on the menu, absolutely delicious. Next day bream, yum.

Our trip into Orbost to stock up on Christmas food was a treat. Salad was everyone's favourite, accompanied by steak and Ben's French fries, which were fantastic.

Christmas Day, not hot! but no wind or rain. We weren't complaining. Bubbles started early to accompany a cooked breakfast then some lovely birthday presents for me, it was a great day. The kiwi cake ticked all the boxes for me.

	Sheltering from the wind [Map]		Throw him to me! [Map]
	From the fire Lookout [Map]		Abelone [Map]
	Buried!! [Map]		Iguana [Map]
	Dinner, flathead [Map]		Birthday Cake [Map]
	Christmas Breakfast with bubbles [Map]		Christmas trim [Map]

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