It was really hot when we arrived so we were thrilled to spend some time on the beach and to have a swim in the beautiful turquoise water. Sash and Zaz collected so many things from the beach that we started to feel that we were singlehandedly destroying the environment. Sash developed a passion for finding crab claws - he called them 'crabby' and made up little beds for them in the tree branches.
Bill enjoyed considerable squid success off the rocks there - so we ate like kings as Bill experimented with different ways of cooking and eating the squid. Kate went through the campsite boasting about Bill's ability to haul in squid in great numbers with the greatest of ease, and he soon attracted a gang of eager dudes hoping to learn his secrets. Naturally he struggled to catch anything from then on... Kate to keep her big mouth shut from now on! A massive crowd of French people set up camp next to us. We were amazed at their commitment to any form of fishing - it seemed that any time of day they could be seen storming down to the beach with rods, spears, knives, snorkels, nets, lights and various other forms of equipment. They were out with their rods and flippers at dawn and still spearing crabs at midnight. We actually didn't see them do anything else. Bill was sufficiently impressed at this level of passion and so swapped tips and stories with Jerome, Pierre and the rest.
We met a lovely family who were heading home to Brisbane after 12 months away - they had done a very similar trip to the one we have planned and were full of useful tips and advice. Their kids, Priya and James, were similar ages to ours so many happy hours were spent playing. Zara and Priya spent a day in our tent making beds for Priya's barbies and playing all sorts of other secret games. Kumar and Bill joined forces to battle the Razor fish (a bugger to get out of their shells - but sooo tasty!) and managed to get a big pile of them, plus heaps of crabs and squid. To celebrate, Kumar and Jill whipped up a fabulous paella which we ate ate their place (van) - was delicious!
There was much excitement at our camp over the imminent arrival of the Easter Bunny. Fears that it wouldn't find us in the National Park were assuaged by the memory of the Tooth Fairy finding us in the wild west of Tasmania. We boiled eggs, dyed them with crepe paper and then painted them with acrylic paints. They looked pretty cool and were well-received by most of the other campers when the kids donned their bunny ears and went around the campsite handing them out on Easter Sunday. Of course, the Easter Bunny was very generous and the kids spent a happy couple of days eating chocolate! Sash has been asking almost every day since when next Easter is. Ahhhh the interminable 12 months between the good times for children.
The first warm days were followed by some pretty crappy weather. A huge dust storm came up on Good Friday. Everything was covered with dust - inside and out. By the time we left, we had never seen our boxes and equipment so dirty. Bill's hair collected so much dust it began sticking straight up and Zara threatened to dye it blue and call him Marge Simpson. We are all getting steadily hairier - anyone who has seen pics of Bill recently will note the hairy face (Kate reckons he's a cross between Boris Becker and Bear Grylls...). For those of you who have witnessed Sash's hair at its most mop-like - you should see it now! Kate has been trimming fringes with blunt scissors to keep hair out of eyes - but we are all looking pretty odd already.
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