We are on holiday!

Monday 15th August 2022

We had a nice relaxed morning – I cooked pancakes and bacon for breakfast, then Richie took the kids to the playground while I prepared lunch. Around 10:30 we headed to the beach – by then it was quite windy, so bringing the snorkeling gear was probably a little optimistic! The sea was much rougher with the incoming tide, and quite powerful! I abandoned all snorkeling plans, and sat on the beach with Otis while Richie braved the ocean to swim with Bonnie.

The difference between low and high tide here is 10m, and it moves fast! We quickly abandoned the first sandcastle – the kids built a fortress around it that was flattened in seconds. We moved further up the beach, where Otis set to building a series of longdrop toilets in the sand! 😂 A sign of the times I suppose!

Richie went off to try fishing again. He had been told the change of tides was the best time. Interestingly there were few people at the beach all morning, until just before high tide, when droves of people marched onto the beach with their fishing rods! Meanwhile the kids second lot of sand sculptures, including the longdrops, were swallowed by the tide. In my rush to drag our beach tent further up to dry land I didn’t realise Otis dropped two of his little toy diggers in the water around the rocks. His cries of distress drew quite the crowd, and a fabulous search and rescue team were able to recover all lost vehicles! ✨👍

The rest of the morning was spent carefully supervising the kids in the incoming tide as it surged around the rocks – apparently the most appealing place to play at the time, and dragging our beach tent further and further up the sand, each time thinking the tide surely wouldn’t get any higher! 🙄 Eventually the kids realised they were hungry and we settled in for our lunch. We watched the fishers trooping back, some with some impressive Spanish Mackerel in their possession. However Richie came back a short while later with no fish. The kids had one more quick swim, then back to the tent for some shade and a coffee!

We had seen signs up around the place for an afternoon craft session that Bonnie was really keen to go to – a bring your own activity, sit and chat with other travelers. Bonnie brought along her craft supplies and as expected sat with a group of older travellers who were working on various projects. There was one young girl there though – a nine year old whose parents worked at the campground, and she lives there with her 6 other siblings….all home schooled! 😳 The two girls worked away on crafty things for a while, and I chatted to the other ladies. Richie stayed at the campsite with Otis, and got him to draw on his back. Which is his way of getting a massage and a lie down while looking after a busy four year old!

We headed back to the beach just before sunset – the ocean at a much lower tide was much more peaceful, and we should have been there earlier with the snorkeling gear, but never mind. We explored some of the cliffs along the beach, and rockpools big enough for the kids to swim in!

There is a Sicilian pizza chef on site, so we ordered the kids a pizza for their dinner, and had that on the beach with g&ts for the grown ups. Richie headed off fishing again, and the kids and I carefully made our way back up the cliff in the fading light.

By the time the kids were showered and ready for bed, Richie arrived back at camp with a shark! The kids fell asleep, then Richie and I had fresh shark for dinner! We will have to get through it quickly so that Richie can fish again soon – the fridge and freezer are at capacity at the moment!