Slew, bump, wheeee!

It was cold when we woke up this morning so it was grab a jumper the minute we got out of bed.  A bit of a shock to our system but I suppose it is acclimatising us for Perth where today the forecast is for a chilly 15 degrees with gusty winds and hail.   Looking forward to that!  Not!!

As it was cool and breezy we decided to give getting in the water a miss.  The water would have been clear and not cold but it was a bit choppy and it would certainly be chilly getting out again and have the southerly hitting your wet skin!  Instead we chose to have a slow start with tea and toast and another dose of Olympic hockey watching (think the download limit's coping a beating!) and watched the Kookaburras cop a beating from Spain - our trapping skills were a bit below par and the Spaniards scored an arsey early goal and then spent the rest of the game in heavy tagging and defense so the Aussies really never seemed to find their mojo.  So another loss.  Perhaps we should stop watching!

We wandered up to the shops later in the morning to do a little grocery shopping and then sat outside the bakery and had early lunch of sausage rolls and pastries.  As were sitting there we read the sign for the beach buggy tours so went into enquire and then booked onto a 12.30pm tour.  It ended up just being us and the guide (in his own separate buggy) so off we went out onto the dunes.  The guide quickly worked out that Larry knew how to handle the buggy so we were soon going flat chat through the dunes, slewing round corners, flying over hills and bouncing Jenny right off her seat over corrugations.  We stopped on top of a cliff to look out over the reef and the water whilst the guide (I think Andrew?) told us all about it and all about the different types of whales and other marine life.  As we were standing there a whale breached just over the back of the reef so that was pretty cool.  Apparently there are numerous pods of orcas off the reef at the moment and that is driving the humpback whales closer to shore to calve.  Andrew had been lucky to see one born on the weekend just off Maud's Landing (slightly north of Coral Bay).

Hopped back in the buggys for a bit more hammering through the dunes until we got to the Turtle Cliffs.  It being so breezy and choppy Andrew thought we might be lucky to see any turtles but we actually saw at least half a dozen feeding in the shallows with a couple popping their heads up to have a good look at us.  They were mostly loggerhead turtles as green turtles are pretty rare to see this time of year.

Another drive/slew/spin through the dunes and then down on the beach for a whizz along the shoreline and up to Five Fingers Beach which is named for the seven fingers of coral that form a pattern (go figure).   It's apparently a really good snorkelling site but there was only one brave soul trying it out today.  Apparently there can be a few hundred snorkelling here during the school holidays!  It looked really good as there is lots of reef right near the shore so we will definitely try it out in the future (not this time though as we leave tomorrow).

Another hurtle through the sand dunes and as we had a bit of time up our sleeve cos it was just us and Larry had been speedy, we got to go up and down the big sand dune a couple of times.  Wheee!

Back to base and then back to the van for a rest and then started to tidy and pack up the van ready for an early start tomorrow.  We will either go to Quobba or Red Bluff but still haven't decided which so you'll also have to wait and see!