THURSDAY 5 FEBRUARY     NELSON

Today was the day to fit in all the things I’d wanted to do here, but hadn’t yet tackled!

Bought diesel at Nelson again this morning. Still 78cpl. We could probably have gotten it cheaper somewhere like Mt Gambier, but tell ourselves it is good to support the local businesses. The truth is, we didn’t think of it then!

Today we went exploring in a different direction – in the Portland direction. I really wanted to visit Swan Lake – another place I’ve heard of in connection with school outdoor education trips, but not been to.

As we drove down the track from the highway, John realized from the signs that there was a 4WD track through the sandhills, to the beach. I knew that dune buggies did a lot of driving on the dunes here, but hadn’t known about “proper” vehicles doing it.

We started up the first sandy slope – and soon stopped short! Vivid memories of the Hilux battling to manage the much easier sand tracks around Coffin Bay came to my mind. But John got out, let down the tyres (which he should have done before we started up), and we then churned on, really quite easily, right through to the beach. It was a deep sand, steeply sloping dune track about 2kms long – mainly for dune buggies.

John was really thrilled with his Great White Truck! We decided that having normal AT tyres on the Truck, rather than the fat ones of the Hilux, may have been an advantage.

We walked a little on the beach, but the sand was deep, so it was not great walking.

Retraced our way through the dunes, then stopped by the grassy camping area behind the dunes to pump up the tyres again. Having the inbuilt air compressor is a boon for this sort of thing.

Drove around to look at Swan Lake. This lake has been formed by the big sand dunes blocking a little creek. Despite the name, it was not all that attractive – and there were no swans! It was quite low in water. We thought the camping area rather desolate.

Back to the highway; closer to Nelson, we took the unsealed road to Lake Monibeong. This is the largest one of a series of lakes and swamps at the back of the large Discovery Bay sand dunes.

We continued on the track to the parking area beyond the lake, then took the walking track to the beach, and along this to Suttons Rocks. It was about a 3km round trip, by the time we did some beach walking too. There were some steep gradients for John to manage, but he got there. Absolutely vicious mobs of March flies swarmed around us as we walked – which was a great incentive not to stand still. They disappeared once we reached the beach, mostly.

Drove back to Lake Monibeong. This big lake was quite attractive – much nicer than Swan Lake. The camp area was nicer than that at Swan Lake, but still did not appeal that much to me.

We had lunch at the picnic area here. While we were eating, John put his bait trap in the water, and caught some little bait fish.

Drove back to Nelson and to the Estuary Beach car park. Walked the Livingstone Island Nature Walk, a loop walk around through the salt marsh area. Walked about 2kms.

The water in the estuary seems even higher now than it did the other day. It is right across the road now in two places – last time we drove down here it was only partly over. I guess there is still water coming down the Glenelg, though there has not been much rain in its catchment area, for quite some time. Local opinion is divided on how soon the bar at the river’s mouth will breach and allow the river to drain out to sea again, but most seem to think it will be soon.

We drove out to Sapling Creek again, so John could fish. Here, too, the river was noticeably higher than the other day. There were only little fish biting on John’s bait. We could see lots of baby bream – they ate any scraps thrown in the water and nibbled on bait when we dangled it in the river.

After a very full, but wonderful day, it was another late tea. Soup, toasted cheese, Xmas pudding and ice cream.

John had a sore upper back and shoulder area, today. He was worried that it might be a sign of blood clots in his lungs again, since he is no longer on the warfarin. However, it seems muscular to me – from all the bowling and/or bouncing and jarring it about on the rough track we rode yesterday. But we shall monitor it carefully.