D46 - Ningaloo Station #2 - Coral Bay, Australia
Coral Bay, Australia
Fancy that! Ole mate's generator is still going this morning. Just can't escape civilisation, it seems. At least his batteries should be good to power Las Vegas tonight! I am probably just jealous that he has one and I don't? Anyway, good luck to him. Instead of leaving our solar panel on the roof of the car and facing it north as usual, I've decided to remove it thus reducing the number of times we have to move the car, to follow the sun through the northern sky. It comes off very easily, with four locking mechanisms which take about 3 minutes. Learning from today is to avoid placing the panels directly onto sand, so as to keep it out of the locks, otherwise they will prove difficult to turn in time. Either way, the panel is working well. About midday, the regulator was reading 14.4 volts in the battery and 14.6 volts for the photovoltaic system. At the time it was putting in a little over 11 amps, which was full sun, and a bit of red dirt still on the top panel, with an occasional whispy cloud going past. As soon as the generator has stopped next door, the silence is great! Even though the wind is in your ear, there are no other vehicles driving past, no music, and no dumping waves, etc. It's very relaxing to Be Still in your own mind. I need to practice this a little more. And it's as if we have nothing to do, which is another great opportunity to Be Still and "recharge". ANNALEISE is keen to do some sun baking, so off she goes down the beach. She is reading for about an hour before I have an opportunity to join her. Not sure what the heck I was doing in that time, but it must have been something? There are squillions of whales breaching throughout the day, visible from 1-2k offshore. As we headed around the point late in the afternoon, to find a track to the old lighthouse, built in 1909, the whales are more easily seen some hundreds of metres from the shoreline. There has been a sailing boat following them up the coast this afternoon, and is now anchored inside the reef. The whales seem precariously close to the reef, yet don't seem too bothered as their height out of the water testify. Gee whiz, silly me! I forgot to mention that we found a good quality screwdriver on the dirt road the other day too. I needed to include that for those who are particularly interested. Probably none of you! But, I am, mostly because it surprises me what needles a person finds in a haystack. That brings the kitty to 1 x screwdriver, 1 x leatherman, 1 x SD card (will try to return to owner overseas) and a number of other smaller items or coins. Now I am hoping we can see or find a huge gold nugget during our trip to pay off the extra fuel we've had to burn. Oh, that's what I was doing while Annaleise was reading down the beach... Reviewing our itinerary, as below. We were planning to head directly east from this area, through the Gibson Desert, to Uluru, and back home. i think that may be quite boring for both of us now, as we have seen a lot of desert and outback scenery. Maybe its time for a sea change, and then a few other little extra goodies along the way toward Perth, if we have the time? The itinerary may need to be adapted as time goes, depending upon our speed during return to Queensland. We'll plan for another oil change down around Perth somewhere before the assault back toward home. Not sure of the exact kilometres yet, but I think it's close to the 10,000k mark now. Will have a look at odometer tomorrow for some planning. After returning from the beach, we sat in the sun a little more, playing some Hillclimb (me - I have now progressed to the Super Diesel), and Annaleise being the more responsible person, continued with her book about "The Warrior Diet", which I bought to read in conjunction with some other study I've been doing about life, longevity, health, etc. She has picked up a heap of good information about enzyme loading during the day (green tea, water, vegetables, berries and fruit), and then the main eating phase in the evening, of subtle tastes of fruit & vegetables first, then proteins, and to finish off with high quality fats such as avocados, linseed, krill oils, cheese, nuts, etc, and then if you're still hungry, some carbs. During our eating, Annaleise reminds me that if we feel more thirsty than hungry, it's time to cease eating, have a break for 20-30 minutes, and if still hungry, to continue with the meal. Probably very similar to the Okinawan's and their health (satiety). It's a good reminder. She also has me eating carrots raw, of which I am actually enjoying. We shall have to buy a heap more, and organic if possible. The taste should be particularly nice too. The enjoyment is probably because of my improvement in taste over the past 6 months, as a result of my intermittent fasting and sugar reduction. Although, I have definitely blown the sugar bag wide open over the past couple of weeks though, as I've had some chocolate, cereal and some coke. And I can feel the difference too. Not a clean feeling like when sugar free. Clean in the sense of lean, sharp, light and sparkling sensation inside around gut, not to mention muscles feeling different. A carrot is much more satisfying than those other suckers. Anyway, my diet continues to improve as time progresses. Unfortunately, I have had to consume some Carafate over the past few days, which has definitely helped my stomach (thanks dad for that tip - old school). I am almost brand new again. These holidays must be very stressful hey? I've looked through a few more photographs on the external hard drive, so will upload a couple more pictures soon. We cracked open the cryovaced meat we bought in Derby and had steak and avocado for dinner sprinkled with linseeds. Annaleise reckons the steak was especially good after not having had it for a fortnight. It's late and I am still up journaling. A storm is brewing somewhere! The wind has increased dramatically and the big sucker black clouds have rolled overhead. It's starting to spit rain. Wake up Annaleise in a soft voice. Wake up Annaleise in a slightly louder voice, the second time. I need you to give me a hard to roll out the awning to cover the swag ready for some heavy rain through the night. She springs up! I move the car around to position it next to the swag. Then off with the Velcro straps holding the awning firmly in place. I've already removed my end, and Annaleise is a little neglectful to hold the spears in place (on top of awning) when removing the second and last Velcro strap. Whack! I cope a spear in the mouth that gives me a small fat lip and opens the inside of my mouth due to teeth edges. Not happy Jan! We've got the awning pegged down so it won't blow away during the night. The gale continues throughout the night, and is uneventful. No rain. All smoke and mirrors! Was good practice though. Last time we had to do something like that quickly in the middle of the night, was a couple of years ago near Birdsville, and I lost my pillow as it got blown off a cliff. So, we were blessed this time. The neighbours copped a battering during the night. They were out early the next morning hammering more pegs into the ground. Apparently there are storms heading up the coast line. We'll have to suffer a little wet weather it seems. A bridge down near Perth was washed away, said to be a large wooden pilon bridge with a heavy cement deck. 100mm in a matter of hours. Very unseasonal. Look out! 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