Heading For the Sea

 ....as usual we are massively out in middle of nowhere and wifi or in fact any signal is not easy to come by so quick post with pictures... it may not be very tidy but then gain neither are we - although living in a van demands some discipline

so, quite wordy  this one and really not alot happening just being chilled and enjoying the heat and sunshine - 

continuing our trip in land....while it was cool in the morning we walked around the loop to Hippos Yawn - massive boulder which - yes - resembles a hippo yawning... pretty impressive.  still no sign of any Kangaroos!!! Next we checked out of the camping and made short drive to Mulkas Cave.   This is a large natural cave sited in a 'hump' quite near Wave Rock its famous be cause it has over 450 very old cave paintings .  It was gloriously cool in there ... fred went off to climb the lump of granite rock but it was too hot for me so I thought I would come back to the van and paint - I set it all up but the 2 million flies dive bombing me flies were seriously pesky and I just had to give up in the end and sit in the van with the windows open (fly screened)- this is the big downside of some bits of the outback - just in case you think its all good fun, red rock, and gorgeous gum trees.  

We drove for miles and miles - everywhere is so vast even in this little corner...heading for the nearest coast...and eventually stopped to have a coffee at the Kings Lake Roadhouse... classic aussie place huge with 80's rock playing on MTV friendly enough though let me charge the lappie. there wasnt much else going on at Kings lake - a tractor museum which didnt look very thrilling and we did take off down a road Fred saw on the map as it appear to ahve a huge massive salt pan on it -  but in fact only a small bit of it was actual salt the rest was salt and alot of scrub - so we turned around and headed off down the everlasting highway...  It felt like a long drive and it was evident we werent going to get to the coast before dusk so we opted to stay in a forest layby for the night.  still no Kangas even though this looked really promising.... 

finally got to the coast.  A wee place called hopetoun - nice enough and a useful library - always use the library if you can. of course it needs to be open - its  a bank holiday here and i'm posting this sat on the step outside the closed library!!!!

Bush camping for the next three nights at Hamesley inlet bush camp.  We also discovered a mountain to be walked up - and we are finally near the sea.  The sea is quite choppy but also very turquoise in place sand beaches are white sand but there is a hooly blowing-  and the temperatures have dropped considerably which tbh is a relief.  We bought a national parks pass so we can just go in and out of all the various parks with no fuss.

   

No Kangas yet!!!  The forecast was for a cooler cloudy day so decided today would be a good day to climb mount Barren - we had spotted it from the village and the librarian had assured us it wasnt hard and there was plenty of car parking.... both forcast and library were wrong - there are one or two clouds in the sky but the temperature at 10 am was 32 degrees hardly cooler but we thought we would go anyway - there was plenty parking and and a few other mad souls doing the walk and we set off - there was a very clear path but it was a bit scrabley and got more so as it got higher - Fred went on ahead I went at me own pace very slow... but the heat was too much for me and every step I took up i realise was going to be one to go down - no shade at all and Fred had the water.   I set my sights on on a rock a bit higher and decided thats where I would turn around... coming down, was, just as - if not more, perilous so I took it steady and was very relieved to reach the shade of the van and escape the sun... I had only been out about an hour.  

I took alot of pictures of the local fauna - its fascinating and quite different to what we have been driving through - there are still endless gum trees of various variety s but now there are stunning bottle brush trees and every stage of there development is different- from what seems to be a bud which grows into and almost perfect ball and then ovals up a bit before the flowers open all the way down and it changes shape again - then it seems to go a  bit brown and dead looking and then beautiful seed pods appear-   quite amazing - there are also these really tall 'cabbage' trees beautiful shaped leaves and really interesting markings these will be my siesta studies.  i didn't get chance to do much painting as Fred arrived sweaty knackered and very hot - we discussed camping - sorted in and then went for a little explore at the next lay by - the views are stunning the water looks so amazing white sands and completely turquoise sea slowly getting deeper towards the horizon - there still quite a breeze and while the waves are not enormous they are very white and very evident.

there was a beach sign porsed on the way back to camp so we went to have a look - the whole day weather couldnt have been more different than yesterday - when we were in Hopetoun the sea while still very blue was very choppy and not at all inviting - noone was swimming and it felt almost chilly - today the sun beat don on this stunning bright white sand and the sea was sooooooooo alluring I took my skirt of and sat in ti - it was so refreshing and ever when some of the waves were so big I nearly got washed away - yes slight exaggeration - it was so incredibly pleasant to be sat in the sea and cool for the first time that day.... of course there is a price to pay - the amount of sand in my knickers and clothes was unbelievable and I had stand in the car park and take of all the sandy stuff and try and have a good shake about - worth every grain-