Monday, February 18, 2008

Augusta - Days 18 and 19


Since we were out of water and clean clothes we opted for a commercial campground to recharge. We picked the town of Augusta ( near the southern of the two capes) for no particular reason. We also picked Turners Caravan Park because it looked like it was relatively mass murderer free at first glance. Both decisions have turned out to be gold mines.

Augusta sits on a jut of land that has the Indian Ocean to the west, the Arctic Ocean to the south, and the Blackwood River mouth to the east. This is the most unspoiled of the coastal towns we’ve seen so far. Cervantes was also very nice, but this place has more of a genuine feel to it. There are still large tracks of farmland a few kms out of the town centre. The people are all very nice, the fishing is great and at first glance, the home prices seem like the place hasn’t been found out by real estate speculators yet. We’ve both decided we could live here…maybe a bit out of town. We might run a B&B and organic farm and go fishing on the days neither needed attending to.

The caravan park is nice as well. After Mandurah, we never book for two nights up front. After booking for the first night we opted to stay another. As our spot was reserved the second night we were forced to move over one spot and now occupy actual waterfront on the Blackwood River (not really a river at this point, but a coastal inlet.) There are dolphins in the bay that can be seen easily from the shore. As I was fishing last night I was standing on a rock that was sitting in about 8 inches of water. I noticed the water stirring nearby and watched dumbfounded as a stingray floated by within inches. I was kind of hoping he didn’t like prawns because I became a bit concerned about how I would land him if he took my bait…recollections of Steve Irwin still fresh and all.

We’re also blessed with a number of birds around here including a flock of pelicans that hang out and wait for fishermen to throw them fish scraps from cleaning, and a number of virtually tame ducks through out the park. I was happy to learn that at age 42, I’m still not too old to fart out loud and blame it on a duck.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to hear you two are doing well...it's been fun keeping up with the blog!

justin and Sam

Kissa said...

Hello my dear friends! So great to follow your Aussie journey - often causing bursts of spontaneous laughter. Bit concerned though that there appears to be way too much red hair, red wine and shaggin' waggin' activity (cystitis Glenny!?) going on. I do hope you make it this far. I think Gypsy would quite enjoy a Nimbin experience - I'll have rainbow paint and the "rockmelons" at the ready.
Lots of love, Kissa and family. xxxxx