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After the last couple of days of nonstop rain, we awoke to clear blue skies this morning and headed off with Laurie and Lauren to make the most of it at another of the local national parks; West Cape Howe.
Our first turn into the park took us along a potholed dirt track through the forest towards a clearing by the water called Frenchman's Bay. Above us was a lookout area above the water's edge that promised uninterrupted vistas all around us, and all that was between us and the panoramic views was the near vertical slope in front of us! We were a bit apprehensive about tackling such a climb with a fully loaded car, but Fergal proved his might as the four wheel drive made short work of the type of journey that defeated Bruce on a few occasions.
When we got to the top we parked up and took a walk to the edge of the lookout and came across two large rock platforms that jutted out above the floor hundreds of metres below from where we could see out across the shoreline for miles in every direction. We soon realised the purpose of these apparently misplaced stone slabs as the wind howled around us from below - they are used by hand gliders who jump from here out into the path of the wind. Typical, the one day we weren't carrying out gliders with us!!
Once we had taking in the views from our elevated position we headed back along the slope and down further to the beach itself. We were the only ones down on the beach and we stood for a while watching the waves crash onto the unspoilt sand of the sweeping bay with only a few seagulls as distractions. There were a couple of camping spots just metres from the sand across from the beach that would be fantastic in the summer at just $4 a night, but not at this time of year - We very much like our electric heater at night at the moment!
Our next stop in the park was at one of the area maps were we sought out some four wheel drive terrain to tackle. However, we were soon thwarted in our endeavours as we found that the tracks had been gated shut due to the recent downpours. Probably just as well!
We headed back out along the main road until we found another entrance that would lead us to a different area within the park. This road was far smoother than our previous attempts and we were soon high above another cove with turquoise waters lapping against the white sandy beach. Further along the path there was a lookout station above the rocks below where we stayed or a while watching the waves below, until the weather began to take a turn for the worse. Pretty soon the wind had picked up dramatically and the waves were breaking against the cliff with so much force that we were getting soaked by the spray and we had to leave for drier ground.
When we got back to the campsite we were pleased to find that the sun was still out and the evening was yet to set in and we headed off to hunt for our dinner among the rocks at the far end of the beach. Laurie had said that he had seem some crustaceans on the rocks a few days back that apparently were some form of shellfish that were considered a delicacy in these parts, although we had to admit we had never heard of them. Soon enough however, we were climbing over the rocks in hot pursuit of this promised delight. After a while Laurie disappeared down into the shallow rock pools (and almost completely as one wave almost caught him unawares and took him out to sea) and began to pry some shells off of the rocks. By the time he had finished we had enough for a taster each and we headed back to the camp kitchen, although not before we had both fallen on our asses on the slippery rocks! It was only after dinner that we found out that not only is it illegal to take these fish from the open waters, but if they aren't cooked properly they can be quite dangerous to eat!
We whiled away the rest of the night playing a mammoth game of monopoly and enjoying the chocolate cakes that had been brought for us by the group of caravaners that have become our new found carers!
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