18/10: You would be pleased to know that no spiritual encounters or anything spooky happened at Rame Head shelter. Ambles did encounter a pair of kangaroos with a young one hanging out by the toilet when he went during the night. We all slept in to 5.20am! But that was ok, we only had an easy 11.5km walk into Peaceful Bay. The morning was very overcast & cool when we left after 7am. Kangaroos not far out of camp, they even let us walk very close to them, they might be the ones that linger around the campsite.

 

 

 

The track today is easy, winds around dunes, little bump hills, wide flat sandy tracks through gorgeous abundant vegetation. So many flowers, very colourful. Lots of Yellows & Pinks with purple, blue, orange colours thrown in sporadically. Few orchids mainly wildflowers but lovely nevertheless. Then the track leads out onto a beach & we get the stunning ocean, the waves coming in pounding onto the jumble of big rocks. It is hard to walk fast, I meander along, stopping often to admire the ocean, the flowers, everything, stop & take photo after photo. Ambles is a real smart pants now he goes faster with no effort & leaves me behind but I don’t care, I’m enjoying every minute out here! Ha! And he said we were going to walk together from now on! Deb & Mel catch up to me & Mel greets me with, “Hi Jingle Bells!” I must have a new trail name now😆. On I go seeing Ambles far ahead as soon as I close the gap, I find something else to stop & admire. We clamber up Castle Rock but I can’t see why it is called that then across to Beautiful little Beach another interesting name for a little cove off the beach sheltered by rocks. I see more kangaroos but these hop away long before I get anywhere close to them.

 

 

 

I walk along the beach now only a kilometre out & catch up with Ambles whom took the hard way up above on very soft sand while I walked on the firmer sand by the shore, just means when a big wave comes in I quickly hot foot it away into the soft sand before my boots get washed over with the sea salty water. I was having a blast! We arrived in to Peaceful Bay about 11am. Here the only accommodation is being in your caravan or tent. So Ambles paid for a tent site & put orders in for fish n chips! Generally this is the menu besides a hamburger or nuggets, they are famous for their fish n chips. Armed with a coffee each, we set up our tent with the tent fly for the first time. Our tent looks very smart! Deb & Mel arrived not far behind us, Mel was happy, no problems with foot pain, even in the soft sand! Our tents are widely spaced apart from each other which feels odd after nights of bunching in together! We dine on Snapper & Chips with Coke. Tasted pretty awesome actually, been hearing so many great reviews from other hikers.

 

 

 

Even though today was on the cool side, with chilly winds blowing through, I set off for a swim by myself. Was so lovely, what bliss! So nice in the bay sheltered by the rough surf coming in. The clouds had cleared somewhat & the sun came out for a little while. I stayed in as long as possible enjoying a decent swim for a change. Being able to see the bottom also! When I started getting too cold, came out onto the sand that felt toasty warm between my toes. How lucky are we?! I really love today😊. Went for a hot shower in the ablutions block, actually lovely & hot! Felt so clean afterwards & celebrated with an ice cream. Ambles didn’t shower, was resting up in the tent before buying some bait & heading off to the jetty at 3pm, fishing rod in hand. Lucky I swam earlier as the afternoon became overcast & cooler. There is a few odd holidaymakers here but fairly quiet. Lucky we came in today as I reckon it will be busy here this weekend.

 

 

We have a couple of warm days coming, hard to believe as it has been so cold. I’ve got myself organised for tomorrow, picked up our resupply box from the store. My light food bag just gained some weight 😆.

 

 

After doing some quick clothes washing as my hanky in particular was in dire needs of a good wash, I joined Ambles on the jetty to see how he was going. Saw a big stingray swimming around down below & thought, lucky I didn’t see one when I was swimming earlier!!! He had caught one fish which wasn’t enough to feed 4 of us so threw it back in…..unfortunately the stingray gobbled him up. Ambles happy enough with his fishing, packed up & headed back. He was freezing cold anyway, losing his hands to frostbite😆, awfully cold out there on the jetty.

Off we go to dinner in our pjs as Mel says.😊 Had Hamburgers us & Mel, & fish n chips Deb, with more vino Ambles snuck into our cups. Well we were sitting outside the cafe. 😉 Magpies turned up eyeing off our chips so Ambles ran after them throwing his gloves at them to go away. More late Caravans turned up, it’s kind of cool hanging out with the ‘non hiking’ folk in the Campgrounds, something different.😊 A spot I would like to come back to. We called an early night heading back to our respective tents. We had two ducks waddle over to ours to check out Ambles & the tent. It’s feeling cold outside but lovely & warm inside our tent, so cosy! Time for shut eye – got a long hard day tomorrow.😏