Elliston to Coffin Bay

I started the day at Elliston.  I just moseyed towards the edge of the country, and tried to take in the majestic morning scenery presented to me.

Despite the beauty of the scene, some people just like standing at the edge of the land holding a big stick with a reel of nylon string connected to a dead fish and some lead.  They keep flicking it out into the breaking waves, and then reel the lead weight back in to the shore so they can do it all again.

I suppose it's as interesting as hitting a little round white ball with a metal stick trying to get it into a little hole in the ground.

I know I'm a pathetic city slicker.  I just can't imagine making a living by farming or growing animals for wool or for meat or something.  We're all a bit different, to coin a cliche.

Anyway, I was able to catch up with a chap who works with my daughter Joanna in the education field.  Chris, and his wife Sally, looked after me wonderfully this particular day.  I can tell you that Chris has a very good appreciation for red wine.

He needed some assistance from me looking after his herd of sheep.

Chris' son has a wonderful property overlooking Farm Beach.  How'd you like this view at your doorstep?  Very nice place to sip on the glass of red indeed.

Another view

Some Hooded Plovers came to visit.

I don't have anything to journal for the rest of that day.  Suffice to say, thank you Chris and Sally for your delightful company, and spending time to show me around your neck of the woods.

I booked Coffin Bay hotel for that evening - Chris dropped me off, and I had a very sound sleep that night.  Next morning, just, I booked in for an oyster tour at Oyster HQ, Coffin Bay.

Basically they provide you with waterproof overpants that allow you to walk through gushing water without getting a drop of moisture on your precious clothing.

Now be nice please.  My daughter-in-law Jess thought I might be pregnant!

She has a lot to learn!

So I managed to book in for the tour... here we are wading out to the lecture theatre:

Class is in session:

It was the most interesting class I've undertaken for a long time.

The lecturers were Irish, teaching us Aussies about what we've been doing here for over 150 years.

I don't have the time nor inclination to tell you what I learned, but I will tell you I learned how to shuck an oyster safely.  And I also now understand how they breathe, and how you kill the oyster when you disconnect it from the inside of the shell.

I can also tell you that Coffin Bay Oysters tasted very nicely indeed.  I didn't feel bad about killing the four oysters I ate either.

After my oyster tour, I just went on my own tour around Coffin Bay.

Next morning I went on a 7km run.  Here's my Strava map to prove it.

3.5Km along the Oyster trail, and then the same back again.

I drove out to the Avoid Bay track.  This is a national park, and again, very nice scenery.

In the next photo, if you look hard you will be able to see a bunch of surfers trying to catch a wave.  They had to wait quite some time!

So here's a bunch of people that like being in icy cold water holding on to a lump of wood while waves wash over them.  And every now and then, a wave pushes them towards the shore, and so then they have to push the lump of wood back out to sea so they can hang around in the icy water for longer.

In order not to die from being too cold, they purchase tight-fitting plastic suits that accentuate their ugliest body shape features.  It takes all sorts doesn't it?

After about 20 minutes, one of them stood up on their lump of wood as it pushed them towards the shoreline, while his mate just watched.

OMG.  This bloke took his family (wife, son, and daughter) down to the beach so they could watch him throw the lead weight into the water 50 times or more.

His partner had the right idea - she just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately she had to separate the fighting kids a few times, but the view was worth it.

Ahhh... I'm getting a sense of why the bloke was over there with the stick and nylon string.

Oh look... A view of Golden Island through the dunes.

Here's a pic of the walking track down to the beach (Almonta Beach).

Time for a closeup of the flowers.

Oooh... what's that in one of them?

An ant

Hopefully that will be important to one of the people reading this inane blog.

So back to being impressed with the scenery

I don't know what to say any more.

I know.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Another view of Golden Island

I don't know what came over me.  I decided to go for a walk along the beach.

Here's a pic of what was ahead of me.

Sand, water, and more sand.

I noticed there were flocks of birds keeping up with me as I walked.  

I took a close up... these ones are Red Necked Stints.

The stints don't have much of a red neck in Australia.  It's red in breeding plumage in Siberia.  Just before they leave on migration you can see their necks starting to turn.  In my photo, one of them is still a bit pronounced.

Some refuge under the dunes:

Here's a Pied Oyster Catcher.

Here's a pair of Sooty Oyster Catchers.

Walking back I noticed a set of footprints coming the other way again.

I walked some 8km (4km out, and 4 back) - hardly saw another soul during the walk.  I even went for a swim (without plastic wet-suit)... It was cold!  Not like the Gold Coast, at all.  I suppose the water just comes straight from Antarctica.  Feels like it, anyway.

On the way out of the park, I came across papa emu with his kids

Well.... that's Coffin Bay.

Tomorrow is another whole day... catch you later!