SUNDAY 15 AUGUST     CARNARVON

After breakfast, I did a heap of washing – three loads! That had built up since way back in the Pilbara.

John played Scroungers bowls at the caravan park. Not much joy.

L phoned. Our old cat. Tarz, was put down today. L’s sister came to help, because L was upset by it all. She’d known Tarz for the three years now that she’d lived at our place. She had treated the cat very reverentially – buried her in a box, with flowers, and a 24 hour candle. She took photos to send us. The cat was about 15 years old – not a bad innings for a Russian Blue. But we would miss her pronounced personality about the place.

Flowers from our garden in the old cat’s grave

Apparently, the remaining cat seemed to know what was going on, and showed signs of missing her. We were sad. She had originally lived at the house behind John and “adopted” him. When we married and he was moving, her original owners gave her to us as a wedding present.

The other cat – the old tabby – was a Mother’s Day present, as a kitten,  from my children. One should always be suspicious of a boxed present that requires air holes in the lid!

All alone now

More TV Olympics watching.

THURSDAY 12 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

The morning dawned on a pleasant day, despite the ant activity.

We had a last walk on the beach. Walked right around past Neds again. Saw turtles bobbing up in the sea, to breathe and watched for them for ages.

Looking back towards Mesa Camp from around near Neds Camp

The mesa at Mesa Camp

Back at camp, packed up the outside stuff. There was a little lizard under the Chescold fridge. I moved him to a bush.

Took the awning roof down.

We went and had a farewell drink with the campground hosts. They had been great – not obtrusive, but friendly. They kept the place really clean.

I think this system of campground hosts is a great one. The ones we have encountered are grey nomads like ourselves. Thus, they are sympathetic to what campers want. In return for their supervision and cleaning work – which do not take all that long – they get a free site in a great place.

Our eleven days of not doing much at Mesa had made us rested and relaxed – excellent place for that.

WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

Last night’s late arrivals left early this morning. Cheap free-loaders! Karma would catch up with them – somewhere, somehow……

There was no wind this morning. Most unusual.

There were plenty of birds around this camp. Wrens, butcher bird, zebra finches, mostly. A large egret came to fish, most days, in the pool in the inlet near our van. Sometimes it was joined by a grey heron.

It was lovely to sit outside the van, in the mornings, and just look out at the view – very serene, even if the wind was blowing.

Every day there was the morning routine, of those packing up to depart, and those who were queued at the gate, coming in just after 8am to pick sites. Some days, there was movement between sites, as we did.

Today, unusually, two sites remained empty after the morning rush. We had no radio or TV out there, but thought the weather report might be adverse, which could explain the lack of campers.

There were clouds building up – this could mean a really brilliant sunset, regardless of what comes next.

Cloud building up….

Clouds over the Cape Range

The ants were mounding up around their entrance holes, which was always an ominous sign!

Ant weather forecast

TUESDAY 10 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

This was our 13th wedding anniversary.

We stayed at camp.

Mesa Camp from the beach

It was windy again, but that had dropped by evening.

After lunch, we went for a  long walk, right along the beach, past Neds Camp area. The sand was a bit soft, even at low tide, for really easy walking, but it was pleasant exercise anyway.

Sand, sea and reef

John had been spending a lot of time playing computer games. He would run the generator, after tea, to keep the batteries powered up, to charge the laptop through the inverter. He would then turn the genset off at 8.50pm – just before curfew. He then had some playing time left before the laptop closed down due to low battery power.

Tonight, a vehicle with a rooftop tent arrived about 10pm, and set up at the entrance to the campground. Naughty! We were the only campers awake to see it. They would have had an interesting drive from wherever, dodging all the kangaroos on the roads.

SUNDAY 8 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

Another drive back into Exmouth.

We had to be at the Bowls Club by 10am to play Versatility Bowls: two games of mixed fours, interspersed with pairs games, so that everyone played a total of three games. We won the first Fours game. John and I won our pairs game. The two men who made up our four, lost their pairs game, then we were annihilated in the last Fours game. John was Skip in that last game, and we played on a different green.

It was a long day!

We got back to camp in the daylight, but still had to keep watch for the kangaroos that came out to graze in the late afternoon.

It had been extremely windy when we left the camp in the morning. That had come up during the night. It dropped later in the day, but by then a tent had been shredded in the wind, and the people had to leave.

Back in ’97, we’d made the decision to have an old fashioned  sail track awning, rather than a roll out one, so that we would feel more secure about going away from camp on windy days. It was more of a pain to put up and down, but days like this one made it worth while!

Old-fashioned awning

SATURDAY 7 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

It was a very pleasant day. There was almost no wind at all.

John fished. I walked and read.

The area under the van awning was quite stony and uneven. John decided to remedy that. He raked and scraped the stones to one side, then spread a bucket of sand,  from down by the little creek, over the smaller stones that were left. Then he rolled and smoothed the top, using his poly pipe fishing rod holder. The result was rather like cement, and fine underfoot after the shade cloth matting was put back over it. Quite ingenious.

Concreting a floor

I was reminded yesterday, as we were driving around the top of the Cape, to Exmouth, that it was there we picked up the phone call from son, back in October 2000, that signalled our long trip would be curtailed, and we would have to go home. The extreme disappointment I’d felt at that, was still strong. So it was not a place that held fond memories for me.

FRIDAY 6 AUGUST     MESA CAMP

We drove into Exmouth again, in the late morning. Bought lunch in there. John had a pasty and a sausage roll. I had a spinach and ricotta roll.

Refuelled – $1.24cpl.

John played Scroungers bowls at the local club. I walked around the shops, then went and watched the bowls. John got into the play off for runner up. He lost, but did not finish until 5.15pm.

We then rushed to the Library to try to access the internet. It did not work. Then we had to do a bit of shopping for perishable foods.

So, it was dark as we were driving back to camp. There were lots and lots of kangaroos out and about, so it was a slow and cautious drive – followed by quite a late tea.

The outlook from our camp