We got up a little earlier this morning and said farewell to Rod and Jenny, who were returning to work at Karratha. We chatted to them for about 30 minutes and exchanged phone numbers. When we returned to the van, the girls had tidied up for us and hung up home made father’s day cards for me. I scored lots of big kisses and hugs and a $40 voucher to spend at Tackle World in Exmouth. Sue made me a beautiful breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, and a nice hot cup of tea.
It was our last day at Pilgramunna too, so after breakfast we packed up ready to leave for Osprey Bay camp site. It was a big tide this morning and as we left, wave surges pushed water down through the camp site along the roadway, making a water crossing necessary. It was only 4 inches deep though.
Our last morning at Pilgramunna - the water crossing is just visible
A closer shot of "Our Creek"
We arrived at Osprey, which is perched on 5m high cliffs above the beach, to a howling south-westerly. Waves were breaking over the rocks and throwing spray into the air. We set up camp without drama and settled back to enjoy the view over lunch. Sue schooled the girls during the afternoon, while I drove back to Pilgramunna to pick up the tinnie. Later we enjoyed a 5 star happy hour overlooking Ningaloo Reef.
The windblown girls & our first sunset at Osprey
We drove to the Visitors Centre at Exmouth and asked where we could find an auto electrician. I was concerned we weren’t getting charge to the second car battery and an analysis by the sparky confirmed this. Apparently Toyota’s computer control doesn’t allow the alternator to send enough charge through the relay to trip it, and therefore charge the second battery. While we had smoko at the café across the road, the sparky removed the relay and fitted a manual switch in it's place. This would enable me to send charge to the second battery while driving and then turn the switch off overnight, so our fridge wouldn’t flatten the main battery.
We picked the car up and headed off to the Potshot Hotel for lunch. Again we plugged into power and took care of some emails, etc. Then we went into town to pick up some groceries, water and fuel, and put a load of washing on at the laundromat.
We returned home to Osprey and had happy hour.
The girls built a racetrack (?) before dinner . . . .
Osprey - Cape Range NP - 4 September 2102
We woke to an overcast day, which actually became rain, the first we'd had since Queensland, but it was only a short, light shower. It did produce a beautiful double rainbow out over the reef, of which we took many photos.
A double rainbow over Ningaloo
We were very concerned about the amount of charge we were getting from our solar set up, especially on such an overcast day, and so decided to head into Exmouth again and do some research on generators. We priced them at Auto Pro and at the auto electrician's. The cheapest they had to suit our needs was $1500, a lot more than we wanted to spend.
We went to Graces Tavern, the other pub in town, and had possibly the world’s best steak sandwich for lunch. We spent the next few hours researching generators online, reading many reviews and forums. We tried ringing our friend Cal, to see how his new generator was performing. He was busy driving and promised to call back later.
When Cal called back, he gave me the drum on his $650 generator, which apart from being a third of the price, had twice the power output of those we had priced in town. We ordered one immediately, and arranged for it to be sent to the Exmouth Post Office from Sydney.
We also spoke with Cal about the possibility of spending some time together in Cape Range. Our schedule at the time would have seen us cross paths somewhere north and only very briefly. After some discussion, we decided to re-jig things and have about a week or so with Cal, Paula & their boys later in the month. We would leave the park from Osprey, have a few days at Yardie Homestead and then spend the next 4 days at Coral Bay, before returning for our second 6 day pre-booked stay at Pilgramunna. Then we would meet them at Mesa campground.
A very grateful kangaroo with a juicy carrot, courtesy of our next door neighbour at Osprey
Osprey - Cape Range NP - 5 September 2012
Following a windy night, we woke to an equally windy morning. After breakfast the girls did their journals and then we did some school work with them.
The next bay to our north is called Sandy Bay, so we decided to go for a walk and check it out. We saw many turtles and fish from the shore along the way. Sandy Bay is a beautiful sandy bay, as you would expect, and is protected from the south westerly wind. A great place for a swim. There were many groups on the beach doing just that, and a couple fishing as well. We saw one guy pick up a nice whiting. As we arrived back at camp, we saw a pod of dolphins feeding about 200m offshore from our van.
We had some lunch and spent a lazy afternoon at the van. Georgia and I grabbed a couple of rods and cast some lures from the rocks without success.
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