Day 55 12/08/2013 Cape Range NP.
It was REALLY windy in the night and it hadn't abated by morning. It took 30 minutes to boil water for our morning cup of tea! So....Plan C into action! We drove 10 minutes or so to Mandu Mandu Gorge. We enjoyed a one and a half hour walk, first along the gorge floor....and then up along the gorge rim. During the first section we saw a hawk fly out of a clump of bushes in front of us with a small snake in its talons. Then we spotted a couple of rock wallabies high up in the cliffs and later on when we were on the rim walk we saw a wedge-tailed eagle. Climbing up to the gorge rim was quite steep and a little tricky in the wind!
Next we went to the Visitor Centre where we able to get a cup of coffee from a Nespresso type machine. We had a look at the displays there and checked the weather forecast.....the wind is meant to ease.....fingers crossed....we are going on a boat trip tomorrow! Happily, when we left the Centre, the wind had dropped somewhat so we headed for Turquoise Bay to check out conditions there. Because the wind was coming from the east, the dunes were protecting the Bay and the conditions were almost perfect for snorkelling. Yay! So we had our lunch and headed into the water. The snorkelling was good and we saw lots of fish and some nice coral. The water was not very warm, but it was OK. After sitting on the beach for a while to warm up, I decided to snorkel again, and was rewarded by seeing a turtle and a rather large black-tipped reef shark...as well as lots more fish of course! We sat for a while on the beach and then headed back to camp, (only 5 minutes by car), but we took longer because we drove via the water tank to get a bucket full of (non-potable) water, so that we could wash the salt off! We organised ourselves for tomorrow....we have an early start....had happy hour again; cooked dinner etc.
It was a pleasant, non windy evening. Let's hope it stays that way!