Well, here we are having spent over 3 months exploring WA. When added to our 2023 trip we’ve clocked up 5 months living here. It has been so unbelievably good. So many highlights. Tonight we have said goodbye to Karen and Kieran and we will both leave as soon as it is light tomorrow – us directly to smash out the Nullarbor as quickly as we can, and the Scott’s to Esperance to top up supplies before they take a more leisurely route home (as you do when you are retired). Our plan is to throw anchors back out once we hit south eastern SA and spend a couple of weeks looking around there before heading back to normality.

For our last touristy day we planned one final coastal hike. We started by heading to Lucky Bay at 7am to see if the kangaroos were on the beach, but only found some on the stairs to the beach 🙂 . Then it was to Hellfire Bay for the 6km hike on granite around the coast to Thistle Cove where we finished at Whistling Rock. Karen and Kieran continued through to Lucky Bay while Bob and I did car shuffling to get both cars to Lucky Bay. The walk once again was gobsmackingly good. I’m so glad we made the effort. It started with a pod of dolphins playing in Hellfire Bay and then continued with so many different rugged rock formations and pounding water. In my happy place.

The plan was to take the cars onto the beach and enjoy a relaxed lunch and some downtime (which we’ve almost had none of this trip!) for the afternoon. Bob and I decided to pull out the 270 degree car awning for some shade. As it was a bit breezy we pegged down each leg as we unfurled it with a plan to rope it down once extended. Well a big gust of wind hit and snapped the hinges off two of the arms and wrapped the awning over the top of the car. Annoying. There was no way we could get it back over the top without damaging the vehicle with poles sticking out so 5 of us (a lovely tourist gave us a hand as well) managed to disconnect the awning from the roof and bind it back up before remounting it. Took half an hour but we only need to replace 2 $7 parts and it will work again with no damage to it or the car. Good outcome 🙂 .

Then we hit relax mode. After lunch I lay on the picnic rug and caught up on blogs of fellow travellers which I’ve been a bit behind on for the last few days, Bob had a sleep on the back gate of the car and I think Karen might have pumped out some zzzz as well. Around 2pm the Scott’s headed back to the van while Bob and I did a 5km walk to the end of the beach and back to finish off the day. Around 4 we returned to pack the van up ready for our early departure tomorrow. We met Karen and Kieran at the beach for the late afternoon before the wind chased us inside.

After dinner we met back at the Scott’s van so Karen and Bob could finalise the Canasta flogging of Kieran and I. Bizarrely, Bob has been on the winning team for the 2 games we’ve played in the last few weeks. Maybe he has actually started paying attention….

A big travel day tomorrow. Will update with progress then.