Michael & Laura, the owners of Gracetown Caravan Park were so friendly & helpful. Michael does free pick ups & drop offs for hikers & had arranged to drop us off at Huzzas Carpark back in Gracetown this morning after 8am. The Caravan Park & the tiny town of Gracetown had grown on us. We liked the good vibes here & the people. We had a simple breakfast & packed up ready to hit the track again. Hoisting the backpack on was becoming second nature & easy now.

Michael dropped us off & was chatting about his life. He had been running the Caravan Park for 15 years & loving it. Couldn’t go back to the city – too stressful & many city drivers so angry on the roads. Mr D was mentioning the helicopters we keep seeing. One had come over at Moses Rock Campsite seeming to be looking at us, so Mr D gave the people inside a wave. Michael said they are always up there looking for sharks as there is so many surfers out in the ocean. When they spot a shark, they tell people to get out of the water. And that’s what happened just last week when two surfers got bitten by the same shark. They ignored the warning to get out of the water & the rest is history. Michael gets annoyed as the media doesn’t put that in. They get cancellations at the Caravan Park, Laura asks them why, & they say because of the shark sightings & attacks. Gracetown has another sad history as we walked pass the memorial site that morning. Back in 1996, a group of adults & children were caught when the cliff face gave way, trapping & killing them under a pile of large rocks sand & dirt. They were just sitting & watching a surf sporting event – you wouldn’t expect an avalanche of rocks onto you, scary & very sad.

We met an early morning hiker – he marched pass on a mission with his big backpack. Mr D gave a cheery greeting & got a mumbled unenthusiastic hello back. The man didn’t stop, just kept going. Obviously he was not enjoying his walk so far. I assumed he must of camped out on the beach as the Caravan Park was the only accommodation in Gracetown & we were the only hikers that stayed there last night. We made our way back on the sand dune hills working out where the track markers were. The surf was up again, this whole area a Mecca for surfers as more were out on the water catching the waves. A lone husky dog followed us a short way, his owner busy surfing.

We made our way to Left Handers – a real surfie dudes paradise. There were so many of them in the water. More were using the C2C track to access the beach further south & would pass us barefoot with their surfboards & long hair blowing in the breeze. Today was a very short walk, in no matter of time, we were off the beach dunes & heading inland, passing Ellensbrook Homestead, a famous building with historic significance. There it became 1km along easy paved walkway to Ellensbrook Campsite, passing Meekadarabee falls which at this time of year was non existent. There wasn’t much water around hence the falls had all dried up from last winter & spring.

Laura had offered Mr D a choice to have a rest day at the Caravan Park & then take 17kms to Prevelly the next day. But he was keen to work out setting up the tent properly & looking forward to camping out again. So we arrived at the Campsite just before 11.30am having done only 8kms. Mr D was feeling faint which he put down to being dehydrated, not drinking enough water & walking under the hot sun. So we had a leisurely afternoon, setting up the tent properly so we look like pros now but no one came along & saw our proud handiwork. I visited the homestead as it was all open to just wander through & read the history. Then I had a lay down & Mr D relaxed reading his book. There were new sprouts of Lily plants coming up everywhere & I could imagine in Winter & Spring this area would be beautiful the ground a carpet of white lilies. The water tank & toilet was 100 meters away next to the track. The only man made items in our Campsite were two picnic tables.

We ate early before dark, our delicious dehydrated meal from Campers Pantry, an Australian company with an added mashed potato packet. Wasn’t the same as a meal in a restaurant, but tasted good enough. Then we got stuck into the vino. Mr D couldn’t finish his after 2 cups, saying he had enough of drinking red wine & gone off it! He went on further to say, “That’s it! I’m not carrying any more vino again on these hikes! It is added weight & I can go without the wine anyway!” We hit our sleeping bags at 7.30pm. It was dark, we were tired & there wasn’t anything to do but sleep anyway! We weren’t allowed to make a campfire as it’s banned in the Campsites. Mr D was very upset about this as he loves to build a campfire in the evenings. Our only company, the nocturnal animals rustling in the bushes.