Last night was probably the worst nights sleep of the trip. It blew and blew and blew all night. I think the fly has stretched a bit and this combined with a stripped bolt on the camper pole inside resulted in an awful flapping that was probably keeping everybody including us awake. After several attempts to pacify it we decided to get up in the middle of the night and take it off. This would be no mean feat with the wind and the area of fly that would catch the wind but by some fluke we managed to get it down the side of the camper in one quick sliding motion and then rolled up and put away.

There was still considerable flapping of the canvas but I pacified some of it with our cushions jammed in strategic places. This morning I found that I had not clipped all the studs around the outside making the tension on the canvas very poor and adding to the problem. After a slowish start we still managed to get on the road by 8:30 and headed out of Exmouth. We drove down the coast and turned off into Coral Bay.

Coral Bay is a fantastic spot with good facilities and beautiful crystal clear blue water. Fish every where around the boat ramps. Like Exmouth you can see the reef just off shore but it is a bit further out here. Coral bay has 2 large caravan parks and a bakery plus a few other bits and pieces. The place is just a tourist destination and there were plenty of them. Booking a spot in the caravan parks is advisable. The place seemed quite family friendly with the beach just across the road from the caravan parks and there were heaps of families on them. I doubt you would get a quiet time here but we will have to come back and give Exmouth and down the coast a better go next time (we planned this next trip in the car while driving, coming across via the Len beadle route from the back of Uluru, then down the coast).

Baitfish – Coral bay jetty

More fish

and more fish!

View over the jetty out to the reef

We needed to keep moving so reluctantly headed back out to the highway and after a while crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again. This line marks the transition from tropical climates to more temperate climates as the temperature forecasts dropped a good few degrees below here (low to mid 20’s). We dropped into Carnarvon and had lunch in a park back from the water after the local sand flies attacked Sharon near all the mangroves at the 1 mile jetty. We might have walked out but the $4ea or $7ea on the train and the need to move on killed that idea. A quick shop and top up of fuel and we headed down the highway again.

Tropic of Capricorn a car length away

The cloud was building to the west and we pulled up in a free roadside stop about 80Km south of Carnarvon. After driving around it a few times we settled on a campsite and a guy from the north coast camped at the other end came down for a chat, yep camped near more Tassies! Just as I got the camper setup it started to rain!!!!!! The rain did not last to long but who knows what will transpire after I complete this blog. I have done a few bush modifications to the fly and the tensioning straps as we really need it on when it’s wet so we will see how tonight goes as it’s forecast to be windy and the possibility of a thunderstorm or two, welcome back to the temperate zone!

You may wonder why the title has 13 – 666 in it. Well we were in campsite 13 at Exmouth, we had a black car, it was Friday the 13th and the local AM radio station is on 666khz and to top it off the first leg of our journey was 66.6Km so cross your fingers we make it to tomorrow unscathed!