Our last three days at Perlubie Beach have been so relaxing but we thought we should get out and see some sights. After breakfast we did a bit of school, which also included the fitness challenge the kids took part in. all the kids loved it. we had to set up six different exercise activities and the kids had to do there best time or amount in each (ie. skipping rope, running round a rock, sit up, etc). Best thing is that they didn't compete with one another so much because the next day we would do it all over again and see if they could improve in their own performance. Great fun to watch and it allowed Boo to complete her schooling without being away from the other kids.
So after all the schooling was done we decided to head into Streaky Bay and have a look around. It is such a lovely little beach town, great to stroll around and soak up the calmness of the place. Unfortunately it didn't last long as the kids decided to go a little burko, which then led to me vocalising a little louder, which then resulted in Streaky Bay not being so quiet anymore!!! We took a walk out to the end of the pier, the water is so inviting, crystal clear, pity it was a little cool. We also called into the local servo in town that had the replica of the record breaking shark that was caught in he bay. The 1520 kg shark was caught in April 1990 by a young local fisherman after a 5 and a quarter hour struggle. The mature female shark was estimated to be 16 to 18 years old, and originally held the world record fir biggest white pointer shark caught until hey found put he bloke caught it with using a seal as bait he'd shot earlier.
After educating ourselves, we took off out of town to check out the 'Murphy's Haystacks". Didn't take long, only about half an hour or so. We got out and headed into the paddock, walking up to these sporadic formed granite rocks, called 'Murphy's Haystacks'. They obtained their name because a traveller in a coach saw the formation in the distance. He asked how a farmer could produce so much hay. As the farm was on a property owned by a man called Murphy, the rocks became known as Murphy's Haystacks. So love the ionic stories of Australian landmarks!! Anyway, the kids were off and racing, climbing all up over the granite rocks and thru tunnels in between the rocks. So peaceful!! Marty and Mat even strikes a pose for some photos, quite funny how they think they look sexy flexing their muscles.... We spent about half an hour or more exploring the rocks. At the end of the trail we came across one that even had a beehive up the top of the rock. Looked so cool. But we had to head off as the Ellis's were expected to arrive at camp soon and we didn't want to miss Dan parking his van on the beach.
When we arrived back at camp, the Ellis's were already parked and half set up. We'd missed it, but it was uneventful, so we didn't miss much. The rest of the day was spent sitting around swapping travelling stories and having a few laughs whilst we didn't hear boo out of the kids. They were happy off playing cricket on the beach or hunting for more poppies in the sand. Pity the weather turned crap later in the arvo but we half expected it seeing the Ellis's hold the curse of bringing crap weather with them!!! Lol..
The following day Meg and l were definitely over the head cold and just in time cause it was Will Ellis's birthday. We started the day off with heading up to the sand dunes after breaky with everyone packing the boogie boards. The sun was out in full blast so climbing the dunes were a bit exhausting. The kids had a blast jumping over the dunes and sliding down or standing on their boards and 'surfing the dune'. Was totally fun until they had to climb back up with Boo totally suffering the poor thing. Nikki ended up getting involved and sliding Meg down on the board holding the string. Was a classic moment when she fell forward into the dune then recovered and stood up with sand all down her numb crack and her cleavage. Don't know how but she must have rolled at some stage to have covered the back and front of herself with sand!!! I just pitied her for the sand chaffing that could potentially happen... The best fine boarding by far was from Wil Cronan. He was such a date devil and jumped over the edge, ride the dune with so much speed that he took out a small bush on the way down. I was wondering why he was coughing and spluttering so much hat l looked through my photos to see a picture of him with a mouthful if sand and parts of ambush being spat out!!! Totally classic photo. Dan even decided to have a crack after watching Wil, and he too did well. After an hour or so we were all so hot, even us spectators were sweating. Most of the kids decided to swim back with Nikki whilst the rest if us smart ones jumped in the car and drive back to the vans. We were all changed and in the ocean having a dip and out dried off by the time they all got back. We could hear the kids all screaming for a mile away and we all laughed that it was Nikki and not us having to put up with it. When she got back though, it wasn't the noise that annoyed her so much but that she didn't realise how far it was to get back. Wasn't long before she grabbed a beer and chilled l can tell you. By early arvo we had all settled back into routine position under the sun shelter huts. Kaz had made a cake for Will which all the kids were excited about seeing cakes were a big treat these days. Totally delicious!! I think Will had a great day gor his birthday!! Unfortunately he good weather didn't last long and the wind and clouds came in. I was over being huddled under the hut trying to keep warm so we all had an early night in the van.
Next morning we got out to see that the tide had been up a bit more than usual. Luckily not enough to drag the chairs out to sea!! It was also raining which really sucked as it was pack up day too. Really crap packing up in the rain but rain with sand is worst. We were all done in good time with bit too much sand everywhere, next stop Cactus Beach at Point Sinclair...... Pity we had to leave, could have stayed at the piece of paradise forever, and we probably would have stayed longer if the weather wasn't getting so bad. Plus the water in the rainwater tanks ran out yesterday, so that was just the decider really. I will never forget this magnificent spot though, unbelievable!!!
One funny story l forgot to share with our time here was that there are all these big black beetles around here and they mostly come out at night. Their dumb things really as when you go to the toilet you watch them and they walk straight into the wall and head butt it and then keep doing it all over again. Anyway, early in our stay at Perlubie Beach Nikki, Mat, Marty and l were sitting around when one of these beetles appeared. I asked Marty casually if he knew what they were and he stated so casually back "their Mexican fighting beetles of course". Of course naive me thought this was true and responded "Wow l wonder how they got to Australia". We everyone erupted with laughter, at my expense, then l eventually came round to knowing Marty took me for another ride. So for our whole time spent at Perlubie Beach the beetles were known as 'Mexican fighting beetles'. The dumb blonde strikes again, lol...

Bell Xxx