Left Karijini, and stopped at Auski Roadhouse to fill up. Mark sent me in to pay and after the customer in front of me was served, I innocently came out with (and I am still questioning myself why?) ... "I've got gas". The saleswoman tried to stay professional until the guy next to her started to crack up and before I knew it they were all laughing at me...and me at myself!! My mouth just speaks too quick for my brain!! Feeling glad that I was the source of entertainment for the roadhouse and Mark and the kids, we set off for Port Hedland.
Did a grocery shop at Port Hedland and the Woolworths here had the oldest staff that I had ever come across. The average age without word of a lie was over 55, with most of the check-out chicks being sweet old grey haired grannies and the one at my register took about 10 minutes to process my trolley. It was like watching grass grow, she was sooooo slow!!!
On dusk we pulled in to the turnoff for 80 mile beach. Little kangaroos were everywhere on the road and I swear I saw the juices of one that hit our bull-bar, but must have just been its nervous sweat because Mark got out to look and there was no trace of it. We pulled in, felt completely overwhelmed by the humidity (we felt like we were struggling to even breathe) and set up in the dark. So glad we had our little desk fan to keep us cool (very grateful for small mercies!!)
With sunrise being around 5.30am and all our windows letting full light in, early morning waking was becoming the norm. The mornings were definitely the best time to do anything, so we went to check out the beach, which was only a stones throw away from our camp. We had heard the tides were big up this part of the world but nothing prepared me for what we saw when we came over the dunes. The tide was so far out it made the beach look massive, and their were shells everywhere you looked. The ocean looked so far away. Later that night, we went out to see low tide again and it was even further out that earlier that morning, we would approximate the distance out to be 1.5 -2km!!! We walked out onto the mud/sand flats, our thongs sticking in the sand that looked and felt like wet cement. It was the most awesome experience. Hermit crabs were crawling all over the sand, and the sun started to set and with its reflection on the mud flats, gave us our own version of the 'Staircase to the sun'.
The fishing was also a huge highlight of 80 mile beach. An hour before and after high tide, fishing right on the beach will almost guarantee you a great catch, but I'll let Mark fill you in on the details...Mark here - the fishing here was the best of the whole trip, particularly because you didn't need a boat to get good fish. My first go netted 2 black tip reef sharks and a blue salmon or threadfin salmon. I let the sharks go, not knowing if there was a size limit. Back at camp we had the salmon straight away...beautiful. After hearing the small sharks were in fact good eating and there was no size limit I was keen to get more because of the amount of meat you get. This time however, I lost 2 sharks and caught 4 blue salmon, one a bit small. So for tea that night we had salmon in 'Crumb in One', absolutley beautiful. Some people up here regard the salmon above Barramundi. We will be back to this place one day for sure.
We would have loved to stay longer here at 80 mile but the humidity was a killer, you couldn't swim in the ocean because of the stingers (box jellyfish), and there was no pool here to cool off, so we had no choice but to go. We could only have so many cold showers, which were great when under the water but the minute you got out you were sweating again... not good! So onwards to Broome, to seeing Mum and Dad (they are flying over from Ballarat to visit!) and a cold pool!
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