052 - Sandy Cape (Jurien Bay) (18/5/17)

Our site at Sandy Cape as modelled by The Rock Truck and Evie Moo

So after trying our new coffee maker for the first time (not bad… needs refinement) we jumped in the truck and headed back towards Jurien Bay. Like we said, 25km is nothing more than a school run these days, and happy to do that to check something out.

We figured we could head into Jurien, spend the morning there before heading back to our beautiful little patch of the world for the afternoon.

So I took off down the jetty at Jurien Bay whilst B and the kids played checkers (or draughts depending on your origin). I was lucky enough to hit the jetty as the local high school was finishing up some kind of fishing lesson (note a subject available at Centralian College) and was lucky enough to be thrown the left over bait that they didn’t want. Score!

I've no idea who was winning or who won, but I couldn't hear them arguing so I was happy.

Either way, it was pretty blowy on the day so I set about removing the bay of “blowies” one by one, or sometime by two depending on the rig on the line.

Soon enough I was joined by the boys (Evie stayed in the playground) and another random travelling family who I leant our fishing gear to. B in the meantime decided to try out the “snorkel trail” around the old jetty. Didn’t even realise there was such a thing until I read about it on Rottnest…

What's this? Not a cartwheel? Still, a variation on an Upside Down Moo I suppose.

James and I talking about how many different types of fish there are off the jetty.

"One James. Just one."

Part of our haul...

Not only a great shot, but a functional location too...

Final tally was 21 blowies that no longer pester the waters around Jurien Bay. Which, is kind of like saying that there is 500 less flies in the world. Whilst a lot, really makes sweet buggar all difference.

So we left the jetty and the snorkel trail happy but uninspired and decided to drive across to Cervantes. B and I had hoped to score a Lobster Roll for lunch from the famous Lobster Shack, but alas, they didn’t have any. I was alittle confused on this matter, and wanted to question the girl behind the counter about it, but I could see that she was simply the messenger from “back of house” and thought better of it.

So a quick pitstop via the supermarket for some hotdog rolls and we cooked up some hot dogs for lunch. Double score!

Following lunch, B took the older kids down to the beach whilst I took a somewhat distracted and agitated James for a walk. Not sure what his story was, but I think his petrol tickets were a little low which causes him to go a little ‘silly’. Still, we went on a great walk and had a brilliant chat about all manner of things. Another beaut little Dad and Bob time…

Whilst on our walk we found a rotunda atop a lookout over Sandy Cape. It had the following two memorials on them. Not sure who Carol, Cherie and Howard are, but hey, you're memory is now living on through this blog.

Before retiring for the evening, I tried my hand at fishing off the rocks at the end of the bay. Again fruitless (as were the guys before me) but it was a very nice 45min of quiet just watching the water and taking a moment to digest this trip.

I’ve found it’s important to take moments here and there, to remove the noise and distractions and remind yourself where you are, what you are doing and why you are doing it. Life is quite constant and everchanging for us, as you can imagine, and it’s very easy to lose focus. Find yourself distracted, frustrated or perhaps even worse, taking it all for granted. So I do like to grab a moment when I can and take stock. Most of the time it’s in the evening when the others have retired for the day, but at this point, I could do it spinning a lure at imaginary fish in the water below me.

Surely, out there somewhere, is a fish who wants to eat my lure...

The view back around to our campground. Was a little windier than it looks in a still digital photo.

Back to camp, and after sourcing some wood from the camp hosts, I lit a fire “old school” style for the kids, kindling and all. A few bull ants had the kids worried, but in the end, the strength of toasted marshmellows won them over.

As it should.

Evie doing some homework before dinner. It's not a bad classroom is it?

Sam, ever the conservative practical man (like myself) decided he didn't want to run the risk of a bull ant crawling over him whilst eating dinner around the fire. I told him he was more than welcome to sit somewhere else. So he did. I love his stoic independence and stubbornness at times.

And yet... back he came. Like the Pied Pipe with marshmellows B and I could be...