Renee & Eamon came running in this morning to announce that it was RAINING. We have not seen any rain since we left Sydney some 80 days ago, and have been missing it. So the car and the van got a sprinkle of water for about 15 mins, not even enough for the ground to get wet, and it was all over - so sad!

The car's had a rattle on the front right for a week or so now, so Dad went and got it checked out. Seems that the work we got done in Broome didn't quite go far enough, and the RC joint needs to be replaced now. So we are staying an extra night here, which is fine as it's school holidays and there are plenty of kids around (mostly from Perth), so Renee & Eamon are well occupied. The wind remains as does the big surf and strong currents, so that makes it impossible to go snorkelling at this stage, so we drove out to some of the sites: firstly the shipwreck of the SS Mildura - a 1907 cattle ship visible from the shore - the crew swam to shore safely, however, most of the cattle drowned. A few men were beach fishing, but the only thing out in the water was lovely big turtles surfing a wave every now and then with the big swells.

Bondegi Beach is the main swimming beach - it was blowing a gale today, and the waves were rolling in one after the other. Next, we dropped into the Jurabi Turtle Centre which has lots of info on the turtles - we didn't see the real thing, as the turtles come up the beach at night time to lay their 100 or so eggs in the sand. Just up the road was the Vlamingh Lighthouse which provided a great view of the entire Exmouth area, including the vast Naval Communication Station 'Harold E Holt', The station has 13 tall radio towers, that provide very low frequency (VLF) radio transmission to US Navy and RAN ships and submarines in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean.

Then it was back to the van for some lunch and quiet time, while Dad went down the road for a massage. In the evening, a van pulled in with the Julie & Phil whom we've run into twice before at 80 Mile Beach and Tom Price with Bob the yellow bird! Also, here are the family we've run into at Karijini and Tom Price - so we don't feel lonely.

We did something different for dinner by eating Italian at Pinocchio's Restaurant just down the road - it was packed, and for good reason, as the food was great - Mum and Dad had spaghetti marinara, Renee had spaghetti bolognese, and Eamon had ham & pineapple pizza. Gelato for dessert, and we were more than satisfied.