On April 24 we set off for Orleans Bay, about 85 km east of Esperance. Trace and the kids had the feeling once again that it was time to move on after their longest stay in one place. After nearly 2 weeks in the seaside town of Esperance they were itching for some new scenery and adventures. Strange what life on the road does to one’s sense of home. The caravan has become our home and it doesn’t matter all that much where we park it, whether it be the Flinders Ranges or Kalgoorlie, it’s always home. Anyway, the home was on the move and all were fairly pleased about it.
We thought that we’d go via Cape Le Grand NP to have a look at some campsites as we planned to spend a few days there on our way westward. Trace and I were enjoying the greenery of the vegetation, it was a welcome change after some of the drier areas we had visited over our last few weeks in South Australia. The landscape with it’s generous rainfall and fertile soils provides for excellent grazing and huge tracts of timber plantations. A striking feature of this landscape are the granite outcrops that rise dome-like from the earth, smooth and weathered by years of exposure to the elements. These form a backdrop to the dramatic and beautiful coastline that punctuates this geography. We were impressed with Cape Le Grand and decided where we’d prefer to stake a claim upon our return.
We had been recommended The Duke Caravan Park by several people we’d met and we weren’t disappointed. A grassed site set amongst trees, on the bay and with more of the stunning coastline we had seen at Cape Le Grand. Our evaluation of a good caravan park now includes not only a quiet, green patch with a few trees in a good location, it must also have some good biking areas for the kids, a playground, drinkable water and, of course, hot showers.
The Duke had all this, the only drawback were the number of quad-bikes parked about the place - we were a little worried about noise pollution and the possibility of hearing AC/DC at high decibels until unpleasant hours of the evening. In the end we were well protected by Wendy the owner of the Park who snuffed out any anti-social behaviour fairly quickly.
There was a good surf beach a 3km drive and OJ was very keen to get out on the surfboard we had purchased the day before. Unfortunately, my leg rope I had carted from Sydney snapped before he even got into the water. This was not enough to stop the little grommet, he was determined to ride the waves, and so he did. A nice gentle beach break to learn the basics, and it was to be the site of a daily surf during our stay at the Duke. OJ leant how to ride the whitewash taking tips from his old man, reluctantly at times, but by day 2 he was already standing and had a taste for it - and he's a goofy-footer!
Our first full day at Duke was Anzac Day it was a cracker. After a pancake brekkie, a leisurely morning was spent hanging out and doing a little baking. Trace and Rubes whipped up some flat Anzac biscuits minus the baking soda, but they were delicious nonetheless. OJ tried his hand at washing up for the second time in as many months, I got to work changing an inner tube on Jem’s bike, Jem got busy with some Lego and Rubes and OJ got to working on their bracelet making. This attracted the attention of a girl from the caravan next door, another Ruby from Perth, traveling with her parents, Melissa and Mark who we were to end up spending a few days with. Ruby was 6, and our Ruby enjoyed hanging out her, as did the boys.
After constant niggling from Oscar to get back in the surf, we finally returned to the beach to catch a few waves. This time I donned my wetsuit, limbered up my tight shoulders and paddled out to see what this foam board could do, or rather see what I could remember from my long forgotten surfing days. Oscar’s persistence and determination paid off and he was getting up more times than not. I was left several times cursing our lack of a leg rope and spent more time chasing the board in the shallows than actually standing on it.
Ruby’s dad, Mark, had caught a salmon that day and we took over a couple of homemade pizzas to throw into the smorgasbord of dinner that evening. The salmon was filleted and cooked up on the BBQ and was unexpectedly good, washed down with some cold beer by a warm fire. After a busy day in the sun the kids were exhausted and all slept well. Friday was spent much the same, in the afternoon we headed for the beach with Ruby in tow to try our hand at the surf once again, Oscar keen to display his surfing skills to young Ruby!
The weather which had been great for a few days was starting to turn, so we took a drive further east along the coast to Cape Arid NP for the day. Not long after we arrived the rain set in and our plan for a day out at the beach with supplies for a picnic and even try our hand at catching some tucker for tea was spoiled. The back up plan was to head for the tavern at Condingup - not a bad alternatively.
Our Rubes was sad to say goodbye to Ruby, Mark and Melissa, but before our farewells we exchanged details and hope to catch up with these wonderful people in Perth.
A few more rain soaked days at the Duke and it was time to move on.
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