During our trip, we've be doing a lot of shopping at Woolworths (we usually shop at Coles) and they've had a promotion of Australian Animal cards, where for every $20 spent, children get 4 cards. There are 108 to collect, so the kids from all 3 families spent some time comparing and swapping cards, so Renee & Eamon are only missing 6 cards! The Hargreaves family left today for Denham, but we exchanged details and are hoping to catch up with them over the next 10 days or even back in NSW. Joe, Trudy, Zoe and Sam are here for another night and the kids of the park owners are also hanging out, so everyone's happy.

Dad dropped the car off at Hoppy's so they could check out the driveshaft, while Mum organised a Budget hire car through NRMA Road Service Premium Care. We picked up a Mitsubishi Outlander and we spent the day driving to the local sights: firstly Babbage Island with its Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keeper's House which is now a museum - it was very well furnished with lots of old utensils and furnishings in the kitchen. Nearby was the old 1 mile jetty and we caught the coffee-pot train with Terry the driver. Unfortunately, you can no longer go all the way to the end to the seats and information gazebo, as a fire destroyed part of the jetty a few years ago, so a bit of an abrupt end - anyway we took a few photos, and jumped back on the train for the reverse journey back to the start!

Back in the car, and we drove over to Pelican Point, and then over the opposite side to harbour side. Nothing too much to see and we were a little disappointed with the options for lunch as it was a perfect day for seafood overlooking some water. We settled on seafood in the Gascoyne Hotel which was very tasty, and the drinks were cold. Later we drove to the South and North Plantations which are on either side of the (very wide but dry) Gascoyne River. Lots of banana trees, mango trees, tomato vines and numerous other plantations with a variety of vegetables. We stopped at a couple of places only as it's between seasons at the moment. We stocked up at woolies (and more cards) and finally got back well overdue for a beer, and in time to say bye to Trudy who's going to Melbourne for a few days for a conference (poor thing!).

The prognosis on the car is that another CV shaft has to be trucked up from Perth, and installed tomorrow, so Mum got NRMA to book another night's accommodation here at the caravan park, as it's likely we won't be leaving until lunchtime. We enjoyed a quiet evening with Renee & Eamon playing with the other kids, while Mum organised a time for her & Eamon to visit Lucy the hairdresser in the park tomorrow, and Dad had a couple of beers with Joe.