meander

after a good night's sleep in AR we got up, cooked breakfast and set off quickly (it still took us 2 hours!). today was mostly riding on dirt roads down to the south coast. the roads aren't in great condition with a lot of ruts and pot holes. while kai's trailer has suspension it is quite rudimentary and can't handle riding at any speed over the ruts (and neither can our backs or panniers). so we were zig zagging finding the smoothest path and riding in the gutter when it wasn't too sandy. for most of today we still managed to average about 15km/h but slowed down during the last 8km in the cape gantheuame conservation park. as we rode along the road we spotted a white bellied sea eagle searching for food in the bushes beside the sea. it was a wonderful sight.

it is gorgeous here, and we are finally getting away from the tourist bustle elsewhere on the island. there are only two other cars camped here tonight. in fact, the couple who were camped here before us have been fishing here for some days, and gave us 18 mullet fillets which made a fantastic dinner! we fried them in olive oil and garlic and they had a salty freshness. we almost felt like taking up fishing. ha!

we are now camped on the dunes just above the beach which looks out east over the sea. there is a clear sky full of stars above us and we are comfortably rugged up against the cold while we nerd and read our books in our comfy chairs. (however the network coverage only seems to work if i hold the laptop at a certain angle - not quite paradise then!)

we plan to spend a whole day here before slowly making our way to vivonne bay via murray lagoon and seal bay (to show kai the seals).

both here and american river have had lots of birds. kai has loved watching them and is learning more and more different birds' names. his favourites seem to be penguins and pelicans. as the sun set this evening, flocks of small birds flew all around above us (i assume picking off insects). it was simply magical watching them as the sky turned from blue to orange then darker blue.