Over the Sea to Woody Island

Today I left Mum, Dad and Uncle John behind and ventured out on a day-long cruise to Woody Island. I had to be at the boat at 8.30 am (which required actually getting out of bed!). The boat was a beautiful catamaran (good for a nice smooth ride across the waves) and there were about 60 people aboard.

First we motored around the port and looked at the huge ships and beautiful facilities. This is the deepest port in the southern half of Australia - and it needs to be to let the huge bulk carriers in. There were three ships there this morning - one of them was a massive ore carrier - one of the biggest in the world. It carries 280 000 tonnes of ore at any one time. They were loading it today - they can load at a rate of 3 000 tonnes an hour (do your maths, that's a long time to load a boat).

After looking at the port, we motored around to look at some of the beautiful beaches of Esperance. The beaches are pristine with gorgeous turquoise waters. The water is this colour because of the pure white sand on the floor of the sea here.We continued on to look at some of the islands and wildlife. There are over 150 islands in this archepelago. It wasn't long before we saw seal lions and Australian fur seals basking on the rocks. We got in quite close for a look.

Then came what I thought was one of the real highlights of the day. The Cat slowed and suddenly there was a beautiful white bellied sea eagle soaring above us. One of the crew stood out the front and whistled to the bird before throwing a fish into the sea for it. The eagle swooped right in front of us and then flew off with his "catch". What a magnificent sight!Finally we arrived at Woody Island - which is about 16 km from the mainland. After a lovely morning tea (hmmmm chocolate cake) we went for a bushwalk over the island. I managed this ok, but must have looked a little white by the time I got to the top - an old lady stopped to ask if I was ok (how embarrassing). The views from the top of the Island were magnificent.

We climbed back down and I decided to go for a swim. The southern ocean waters are certainly refreshing!!!! But it was a hot day and I soon got used to the water temperature - the water was crystal clear and I could see fish swimming around my feet.

After this, it was lunch time - we had a yummy bbq lunch with heaps of salads and platters of fresh fruit to finish off. After lunch we went out in a glass bottomed boat and saw some truly magnificent fish. (Paddy quite enjoyed this).Following this there was time for some snorkling (I really enjoyed this - the water was so clear and there were many ledges with fish everywhere) and I sat and dried in the warm sun and did some painting. Finally, it was time to board the boat again and head for home. Paddy really enjoyed having a go at sitting in the "Captain Kirk" chair and driving the boat!Finally.... an addition to yesterday's little story about the swag!

The next day an Oztrail knight came galloping in on his computer steed with an offer to replace all poles at no cost. These should arrive within a week to one of our campsites. Ah Oztrail, perhaps you may have redeemed yourself after all.

Hi to everyone at home - in answer to some questions:

1. No, mum didnt find her camera - it has disappeared into the void and she has made an insurance claim. Hopefully she will have a shiny new one this week.

2. I am feeling better and stronger every day. Mum gave me my vitamin B injection yesterday (and it didnt even hurt - well done mum).

3. Dad and Uncle John are still losing things every day and usually finding them again fortunately.