Big Lagoon

As sheltered as we could get at Big Lagoon

A slow start this morning.  Trying to get a few school work items out of the way and hiding inside from the strong wind.  Grant cooked a big batch of pancakes on the free barbecue, and finally we gathered ourselves together and decided to get out for a walk around the Big Lagoon.

The tide was out and we had fun exploring the shallow water, until we saw a reef shark swimming along the edge.  Walking on the sand was fine after that!

Oskar and Cooper loved to run through the foam

The big sand dunes cut down a bit of the wind as we walked up the beach.  Grant found an injured baby bunny rabbit cowering on the sand.  He decided it must have been dropped there by an eagle, or something like that, and we moved it to the shade of a bush to let it die peacefully.  the kids couldn't believe he needed a second opinion on whether it was a bunny or a bilby.  But when I went to school we were never taught about Bilbies.  Don't things change.  Everyone thought the bunny was very cute, but Grant got a bit carried away with his 'death to feral animals' speech.

We stopped for a very small picnic and endeavoured to snorkel, but decided it was too cold and choppy.  On the walk back we saw several stingrays right at the waters' edge, that shark again, and a big blue sponge.

We had a few fellow campers last night but they have all gone, and we have the campsite to ourselves.  All alone, apart from the huge orange and black wasps.  They were in the toilet water when we arrived yesterday, dead and floating.  (in western Australia the drop toilets often have a bucket of disinfectant water beside them with a loo brush to use inside the toilet before and after.  It works very well.  Except when people think it's for washing their hands, or pouring down the toilet.). I thought that it was just a one-off thing, these wasps visiting the toilet, but no.  During daylight hours the wasps camped out at the toilet, drinking from that disinfectant bucket, and scaring us to death.  The children took to all going together when someone needed the loo, and banging on the corrugated iron walls and generally making a loud noise to scare the wasps away, while someone sat in a very vulnerable spot!  I just went after dark...

The wasps also liked it just outside our van.  So we stayed inside.  Dominic and Joseph declared war at one point and took the two fly swats for some batting practice.  Dom was a good shot, but there seemed to be an endless supply of wasps, so they gave it up.  Not sure if the wasps are a protected species. (they may actually be hornets...)

We fished off rocks about the centre of this picture

Late this afternoon we went back out to the lake to try fishing.  My freezer was stuffed and overflowing with squid, and I wanted it used.  It was very windy, however the tide was coming in and the fish were biting.  Everyone had a great time with all the nibbles and bites we got.  We went through a lot of squid!  I think in the end, though, we had two fish to cook, so I had to make something else for dinner to supplement!  Grant cooked it on the free barbecue and everyone sat around in the bank away from the whirling sand, and picked bits off the bones.

 

We find this the best way to cook fish and share it! The pizza tray came in handy after all!

While we were fishing, after the sun had gone down and the light was fading, I saw all these dark dorsal fins out deeper in the lagoon.  At first I thought it was a group of sharks, but then I realized it was a pod of dolphins, playing and blowing water into the air.

We had a great time, but it was lovely to be back in the shelter of the van when we'd finished.  It feels like a real battle against the elements here.

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Vicki