Day 98 – 14/3/14 – Conto Campground WA

De was away on her ladies ‘weekend’ with Nana and Shelby so I was the chief cook and bottle washer for the weekend so, the boys had to pick up the slack and were soon doing De’s share of the work. School had been let slide so we got into it and the boys did a couple of solid hours of English and maths to catch up.

We packed the truck and headed out for a day of adventure. First stop was another kari forest but this one was a little unusual as there was almost NO undergrowth other than low ferns. The creamy trunks of the kari standing like soliders at attention was quite mysterious.

 

 

We drove into Hamelin Bay to have a look around and did the short walk to the headland. I had read about the local rays, that were supposed to be really friendly, but we didn’t spot any on the way out. As we got back there was a bloke in the water swishing his hand around and all of a sudden there was this huge ray swimming near him. I quickly headed back and got a handful of old pillies and we hit the beach. It wasn’t long before this monster was joined by a couple of his equally as big mates and I was feeling a tad anxious as I tried to get the pillie under his wings so it wasn’t pilfered by the learned sea gulls. I managed to get a few pats but boys weren’t too keen to close!

We headed to Cape Leuwin, which is famous for its lighthouse and the fact that it is where the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean meet.

We wondered throughout the keepers cottages and listened to the audio tour, which surprisingly the boys were very interested in. I had a bit of fun with a couple of pictures using perspective. Nothing new but something a bit different!

We had caught a few herring the day before so Jacko was keen to try and get a few more. We found a jetty not far from the cape and a super nice old guy Ed instructed us on how to catch fish using a blob,  breakfast cereal and a straw........Ok...a blob is a very heavy float that has a large hole through the centre of it. It works as a float but also as a weight so that you can cast it. The hole is stuffed with bran, that you would sprinkle on your breakfast, that has been soaked in an oily concoction, that works as a berley to attract the fish. At the end of a 2m leader you put a decent sized hook and then get a piece of ‘straw’ and thread it over the hook. Ed used white but the tackle shop said green was the best. We did our best but the fact that Ed was leaving indicated to me that they were off the chew and unfortunately I was right. We fished for about an hour with no success but it was an interesting experience all the same.

It was getting late so we headed back and after a game of cricket with some other kids who were from Melbourne we had a late dinner of sushi (De doesn’t like it) and we headed to bed after a great day.