Day Twenty Six - August 1st, 2013
Town of Seventeen Seventy
Had a little sleep in until 8.45, and pottered about making some jam on toast for brekie. We hadn't skyped Elly's mum Loraine (hi mummy B - we know you're reading!) since she had left Manly, so spent a good half an hour catching up, despite it being 1am UK time!
We had seen some walking tracks up the hill from the campsite, and got ready for a serious hike. Five bottles of water filled, and sufficient layers of sunscreen for my olive-y and Elliot's freckle-y skin applied, and we set off. We made it to Cook's Monument - pretty self explanatory, a cairn erected in honour of his landings in 1770 - and carried on up the hill. Once we had made it to the tracks, we quickly discovered it was merely a short ramble rather than the epic hike we had anticipated and hoped for. Beautiful views just the same, and we stumbled upon the anchor of The Countess Russell, who ran aground in 1873.
We came back to the campsite slightly disgruntled that we had only walked for little over an hour, but managed to spot an extremely large goanna scrambling up a tree. I had no idea they could climb like that! We had an early lunch (left over spaghetti for Elly and plain couscous for me. Definitely feeling like a student again, and after the wonderful meals I used to eat at St George's, basic food seems harder to pallet these days). Anyway, we were excited to have a proper 'beach day' and set off for Agnes Water. On the way we found a campsite set back from the road. Only $6 each a night and totally cool - just basic facilities (loos but no showers), and we were captivated. Definitely 4x4 territory, and we felt right at home. We'll be looking out for more gems like this on our trip.
The sun was out in full force and I immediately settled in with my book for a good tanning sesh. Elly, constantly wooed by the ocean, practically ran in for a surf. Our perfect afternoon! I could be lazy without appearing so to Elliot as he is ensconced in the surf. We went to the IGA on the way home and stocked up on veggies for our curry tonight.
Despite the walk being slightly disappointing, it was a rather menacing hill that we climbed, so we set out again, this time to tackle it at a run. I managed it twice before calling it a day and coming back for a shower. Elly packed the car while I looked on the map/in the Lonely Planet to see where we might stop tomorrow. We're still not sure, but will assess again once we're on the road.
Supper took an age to cook, the hot plates at the campsite are not very good. In fact, this is the worst camp kitchen so far! The French girls occupying the one table were interrupted by a possum who brashly helped himself to their meal, whist they were eating! Clearly startled by this novel creature, they shrieked and ate the rest of their meal stood up inside the kitchen. We opted to eat ours in the car to avoid the same fate.
Bed time now. I am being forced into listening to the entire Gulliver's Travels movie with Jack Black because the site next to us feels the need to have it at full volume. You know what they say, "if you know it through a tent, you know it too well".