Carnarvon to Council Estate

We are on the road by 7.30am saying goodbye to Carnarvon and Commiserations to those that are staying...... Heading South and three hours later we are in the catchment area of Shark Bay, I think it's time for a coffee, so instead of heading straight to the Stromatolites, we go to the 'Tea Room'. Now I just know you have a picture of a pretty oak beamed cottage in deepest Kent or Devon and are thinking, oh aren't they lucky to find such a lovely place miles from anywhere, in Australia. Yes had it been that image, we would have been BUT we are here where a run down broken homestead/caravan park is trying to survive with a hillbilly sitting out on the porch of a dilapidated building that resembled the house that Steptoe and Son lived in......... Bill Bryson had been there and commented on the place, they had extracts on the wall, only I'm not sure that they have quite understood that he was not overly complimentary......... Still the Coffee and Tea was okay but the cages outside with nothing living in was slightly off putting........ However under one of the many leaking water pipes we saw our first Budgerigar that was not flying, together with wrens and a collard parrot all drinking al fresco, it was what we didn't see but heard under the tree next to it, that kept us from getting too close......
So there we are standing in the shell quarry, thinking this looks a lot like the beach between El Arenal and the Port at Javea, only whiter, only where here they cut out blocks of shells that have been compressed and use them as building blocks. Not that impressed so onward to the Stromatolites, which for those of you that don't know are things that grow....... They are alledged to be the oldest living known organism on this planet, basically they are a micro bacterial mat, made up from microbes which react with other organisms and make my brain hurt.......... Needless to say we took a photo and moved on to Shell Beach, where as you can see we took another photo...... Shell Beach is made up from not just millions but trillions/zillions of a certain type of cockle shell, this beach is 30ft deep and 110kms long, it's one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from shells with apparently 40,000 shells in a sq meter and one in my sandal, ouch!
Almost time for lunch, so we stop at Eagle Bluff, unfortunately the tide is out, so we drink tea and eat cucumber and cheese sandwiches with our little fingers sticking out, whilst the sea comes in and attempts to join us. Out again and see sharks, shovel nose rays, sting rays all now coming in underneath us to feed, oh if you could have heard the squeals of delight, obviously not from me as I'm much to macho but needless to say we both want to return........
Now in February I booked up to stay in Monkey Mia resort for the new Year period, I booked it because of the festive season, the Australian School holidays and it looked nice. Good job as it happens as when we get there it is obviously busy, only after checking in as we drive to our site, it looks like we are on some grotty council estate, it's a tip, with cars, trailers, boats, vans, tents parked all over the place and in our little bit, the men from 29 sites to use, 1 urinal, 2 toilets and 3 showers, OMG what have I done, I have now got to sit crossed legged until we go out tomorrow.......... Of course it's also got nothing to do with photo no 5, which is two feet from our front door......
This is depressing me I say, let's go for a walk, it's hot, it's sandy, and it's not the Côte d'Azur so into the bar, where after talking to two women travelling on their own and three pints of "Fat Yak" pale ale, we return to listen to the child telling his mother in the site in front of us, to shut up as she is being too bossy.......... Bite lip, turn TV on and listen to static and wait for 'Camp Quiet Time' as obviously they will all obey the rules........ We have decided, we are not real campers, we are playing at it and using it for a purpose, as I listen to the children screaming outside now as I type and watch people walk through our site to get to wherever, we decide we have been spoilt so far by having the campsites almost to ourselves, long may it continue...........