A cloudy day! The temperature has dropped quite significantly but it is still warm. Unlike yesterday which was sunny by afternoon, the sun doesn’t manage to break through and the wide doesn’t drop until late afternoon. It’s perfect weather, though, for a walk through Mandu Mandu Gorge 14km along the coastal road. Another walk classed as moderately difficult, the two-hour trail winds its’s way along the rocky, white creek bed deep into this sheer sided gorge. A steep scramble leads up onto the gorge rim and more superb views of the coast, the surrounding country as well as down into the gorge itself. The return along the top involves more scrambles up and down several smaller tributary valleys cut deep into the hills. It’s on these sort of walks that we are glad of the cloud cover to provide protection from the glare of the sun.
On the drive back to camp we take a look at
Sandy Bay – a curved stretch of white sand- and Pilgramunna – a rocky little cove popular with the boating fraternity. At Pilgrammunna we get stuck in the sand, which looked quite firm but turns out to be deceptively soft and we need a push to get free.
Back at Lakeside for lunch and then a spot of fishing while I blog a while. Until Andy comes rushing back from the beach to report a pod of dolphins just a few metres off shore. This sends people rushing to the waters edge to get a glimpse of themas they arc gracefully through the water for a few minutes before disappearing out to sea. By mid afternoon the wind has dropped and the water is wonderfully calm and crystal clear. Time for a spot of snorkeling. The water is a bit chillier than the 30 degrees we are used to, so we don’t stay in long, but we do see some colorful parrot fish, a manta ray and several tiny electric blue fish. Red Bell Jellyfish are around in these waters so it’s necessary to keep an wary eye out. There stings are not as severe as the box jelly fish which is out of season at the moment, but are still best avoided.
On the walk back to the campground we spot three or four huge manta rays with their long tails basking in the shallows only a couple of feet from us.