80 Mile Beach 12th and 13th August

80 mile beach at low tide (it is just wet sand that you can see not water)

Kids posing for their sunset photo

Sunset first night at 80 mile beach

High tide at 80 mile (notice all the fisherman and ladies)

Kids enjoying the water at high tide (we had trouble trying to contain them to keep them out of the fisherman's way)

Sunset 2nd night (the beach is absolutely covered in shells)

Sunset 2nd night

Butterfly Louise made out of shells on the beach

Kids decided that they could have sand socks!!

On the beach

Well the plan was to have 3 nights here and really relax and catch up on all our blogs, postcards, diaries etc. It was a spot that had been recommended and we were really looking forward to it. When we arrived to begin with there were no more powered sites, so a non powered it would be and we decided to see how we went if we needed to move so as to charge all the batteries we would move. The second thing was it was soooo windy, it took us twice as long to set up the camper (that is without the awning) as everything kept getting blown away. The wind was so strong it was getting under the tent and really blowing a gale. It even ripped open the door at one stage. So we were getting a little agitated with each other but eventually we had it sorted and parked the car in a position that at least would allow us to cook out of majority of the wind. With the wind so strong and bad Strick and I were toying with the idea that we may not even survive two nights let alone 3. So it was decided to see how we went.
We went for a walk on the beach and collected some shells and saw the tide way out (too far to walk as you would have needed a picnic lunch). Believe it or not it wasn't as windy on the beach as it was at the park. We sat and watched the sunset before heading back to brave the winds to try and cook tea.
The wind seemed to settle through the night, only to start up again about 4am. We woke to rubbish having been blown around the park and really unless you had it nailed down it wouldn't still be there when you came back. I tried to do some washing (we decided to persevere for another night) and that was a task in itself to try and hang it out. Every time the kids went to the toilet they had to check that the washing was still on the line.
We went for another walk along the beach and visited it again at high tide to see that it was basically splashing the bottom of the sand dunes. The beach was literally lined with fisherman and fisherladies trying to catch a fish at the turn of the tide (it did appear that no one was having success). It was fascinating how much the tide can change the landscape.
The afternoon was spent catching up on diaries and writing postcards and Strick and I doing a little planning for the remainder of our trip. The kids played cards in the tent to get out of the wind and visited a little market by the other park residents and some of the money that was burning a hole in their pockets was spent on ice creams, drinks and lollies (oh and Jacob on some thongs as he left one of his thongs where we had lunch the day before).
Again we watched the sunset and thankfully the wind had settled a little more that night. It was interesting watching others that afternoon try and set up tents and camps as we had done only the day before and to think we would have given others a laugh.
If there wasn't the wind 80 mile beach, would be a fantastic place and one we would really enjoy. It is a place I would love to come back to when it isn't so windy and be able to explore it properly. The sunsets and shells were beautiful. Although it was nice we were looking forward to getting out of the wind the next day as we started to head inland to Karijini NP.