Sat, 30th Nov, 2019 Gladstone Bay Campground, Yaringa Station to Bush Bay Campground, south of Carnarvon, WA

6.45am 27 degrees, clear sky and light breeze. The water is still a long way out.

7am and the wind is back from the ESE. Don’t think we will be spending ‘days at the beach’ if this wind doesn’t settle.

Packed up and drove over to use the dump point. Fran and Richard came back with their truck to get some more goats. I chatted with her about the goats. They have been her for 14 years. They had a sheep station in Merridan – her father had sheep and her siblings have got sheep around Merridan too. The goats are sold on the domestic market – the meat very popular with the Mediterranean and Indian people. They also have fat-tailed sheep, grown for their meat not their wool. They sell them overseas to Mediterranean and Malaysian markets. The droughts over east have made their mutton sort after in WA now. She said they get a lot of fisherman here for the winter who stay for months and have been coming for years. I commented about the wind and heat and she said it is 10 degrees hotter at the station but they have a concrete tank that they use as their spa pool. The Overlander Roadhouse is the hottest spot in the area and Denham, the coolest.

A lady called out from the big fifth-wheeler parked nearby. Her husband had his hand stuck in the awning arms. We all ran over and Steve managed to jam a piece of wood in to prize the awning arms apart and he could get his hand out. He will have severe bruising but it doesn’t look like anything is broken. They thanked us very much.

We said goodbye and headed back out to the highway, passing more goats. Looking across to their station homestead hidden in the trees.

Crossed the Wooramel River which has a riverside retreat nearby. Dry river at the moment.

Red dirt and low scrub as we continue north with more goats by the road.

Nearing Boondallia we spotted some cattle near a water tank.

Turned off onto a corrugated road down to New Beach and Bush Bay. It is managed by Carnarvon Shire so is a bit cheaper and there are no facilities other than a couple of dump points.

Drove down to New Beach first. Two vans were parked out in the middle of the salt bushes well back from a line trees on the foreshore. We drove to the end where the water goes into trees, sort of mangrove –like.

We went back and around to Bush Beach campground where three other vans were parked. Checked out a big whale bone.

Chose a spot on some hard red road base, hoping we won’t get blasted by too much sand in this wind. Tide is well out.

A few willy willies zoomed around us, will be a mess if one hits us as all the windows and vents are open. Put the awning out short so it can cope with the wind and keep the afternoon sun of us.

Had lunch, 35 degrees.

I continued with my blog while Steve read.

The wind swung around to the south-west and it cooled off immediately. 2pm down to 30 degrees.

Had a cuppa and played some Dice, too windy for cards, while my laptop charged.

Did another couple of days with the wind whistling around the van. Didn’t get hit by any willy willies which was good.

I went for a walk along the beach. Not much to see other than dead seagrass and some fresh stuff just washing in with the incoming tide.

Steve sat outside for a while with the flies. Sand crabs started to move in and dig their holes so I gave him the camera.

The sun set was pretty – Steve’s photos. Funny how the sun is bent out of shape.

Dark clouds are building up in the north-east. BOM said there was a change of a storm.

8pm the wind just stopped.

Started up again but only lightly as we went to bed so we could hear the waves lapping the beach.