During the early morning the wind picked up , whistling through the sheoaks , waking us slowly but it was still dark , so we drifted in & out of sleep , finally getting up at 7:30 . The skies were completely clouded over and it was a little cool .
Breakfast done we decided to head down to Yardie Creek and hopefully have a paddle in the kayak - if the wind had dropped !! Loaded the gear into the ute - paddles , lifejackets , snorkelling gear etc , etc .
Before we left we headed over to say goodbye to a few of the campers leaving today , well at 10 am we finally got on the road . Stopping at the Milyering Visitor Centre just down the road to get the weather forecast - it still looked good for the next few days !!
Reaching Yardie Creek , it was straight down to the boat ramp to check conditions , but unfortunately it was still blowing ,Darn it !! That plan was scuttled , so on to Plan B - back to the carpark and then a wander along the beach . Still a bit chilly as well , we walked around to the creek opening - there were 4 x 4WD’s waiting on the south side of the creek , waiting for Low tide so they could cross over . The creek has opened up to the lagoon since we were here last .
Off up the road a bit further , calling in to Osprey Bay - another 2 camp sites that have 49 sites . There’s a boat ramp - almost like a sand slot in amongst a small limestone cliff line .
We found some very small pink flowers at our next stop at Sandy Bay .
We stopped in at a couple of more places on our way back north - we decided that we have got one of the better campgrounds - most of the others seem to have no protection from the wind and are a bit exposed - not that our site is much better !!
Next stop was at Mandu Mandu Gorge . There is a 3.4 klm walk , that leads you up the dry white rocky creek bed for 1.7 klms , then you scale a steep section , through a bit of a rocky gully , then up again to the top of the next rise .
The cliffs have an unmistakable orange/red colouring , and glowed in the sun . Some random tourist came past and pointed out a rock wallaby . After he left we spotted another 3 rock wallabies !!
Finally we reached the end of the creek walk and sat down for a rest before starting the climb .
Views from up here were amazing , the dry creek bed snaking it’s way to the ocean , on the other side you could see the spinifex grass seemingly combed into lines on the ridge behind us .
From here there were more ups & downs , some quite steep & required concentration to get up & down safely . Getting closer to the edge at one point , we found another rock wallaby - this one and a couple of the others today have been the same - asleep !!! It wasn’t untill it heard us that it opened it’s eyes , then promptly closed them again !!
We looked back occasionally and much to our surprise the wallabies seemed to be giving us a send off , with 2 or 3 jumping along behind us .
The rocks have some curious colours here as well - it looks like someone has spilt cans of red & yellow paint , and it has formed a thick layer .
We made it back to the ute and headed for home . The wildlife wasn’t finished with us just yet though . The Australian coat of arms made an appearance as we drove home - 2 kangaroos , 1 Euro , and an emu . Throw in a couple of wedge tailed eagles and an osprey , and we’d seen enough for one day . Back for a beer and a chat before tea - what a good day we’ve had !!
Here's a pic of the lagoon behind us .
No comments:
Post a Comment