Bron Arrives and we go to Coral Bay

Hello dear blogsters.... and hello to Kay - Nic's friend - good to hear from you!

After a hoot of a night being entertained by the vietnam vets staying in the same park - we were awoken rather early by the french travellers in the park turning the tv on in the camp kitchen to watch the soccer..... they didn't really have much thought for the fact we were sleeping right next door!

We had a leisurely breakfast and then packed up. We headed out to look at the plantations around Carnarvon - they seem to grow just everything here! The plantations are all along the river, which is generally dry but is flowing at the moment after the rains. We were told the river generally only flows once a year.

The plantation crops are grown using some rather amazing innovation to save water - the roots of the plants are almost cocooned in a special plastic which holds in the moisture and warmth. They also grow under huge shade houses to protect against the wind and conserve moisture - very clever farming indeed! We enjoyed some home-made fruit ice-creams and bought some fruit, vegetables and jams.

After this, it was time to go to the airport to meet Bronwyn. Her plane was on time and it was great to finally have her join us (it didn't take long for her to strip her "cold weather gear" off and get into the lighter layers suited to this climate.

We drove on north, stopping at a road-side stop for lunch before heading off again. The landscape is just so lovely - green and lush after the rain!

We stopped off at the tropic of capricorn for some photos - interesting to note we will cross this again on the eastern side of Australia when we visit Longreach on the way home.

We pulled into Coral Bay at about 5.00 - a bit later than we generally like to stop. This lovely seaside village was buzzing with people - one caravan park was full and we were lucky to get the last couple of sites in the 2nd park. We also took the opportunity to plan for our next few days - tomorrow we will be going out deep sea fishing (we have the sea-sick pills ready for dad) and then hopefully Sunday we will go out to swim with the Whale sharks - they tell us there are plenty out there!

Tonight Uncle John cooked wonderful scallops, prawns and squid for dinner. We drank a toast to Bronwyn's arrival, and also to those absent (Aunty Helen and Pete) - they are both with us in our thoughts.

Well that's enough for today - tomorrow will be a big day and hopefully I will have some wonderful tales of our HUGE catches!