Tuesday January 9th, 2024. At East Bay Campground (no bathers, no worries)

We spent a lazy day, mostly sitting inside as it was more comfortable than out in the wind. It was cloudy in the morning, but lots of sunshine in the afternoon.

I cooked a chicken curry which we had for lunch, delicious, and as it has lots of vegetables in it, with a small pack of meat, it will provide for another couple of meals. I’ve been using the gas cooktop as Starlink does take quite a lot of power and we are just leaving it on all day until bed time. Still, the batteries haven’t gone below 80%.

We went for a walk at about 4.30 p.m. It was cloudy, with a few drops of rain as we were leaving, but we went anyway, and by the time we were a long way from camp the sun came out and it was quite warm. There were young people surfing when we set off, but they left as we walked along.

The tides move seaweed around from day to day and our ‘home’ beach had a lot of seaweed on the sand and in the water, even quite smelly, but further along the water was clear and enticing. So much so that I decided to go in, and leave all clothes on the sand so I didn’t have to walk back in wet things. It was surprisingly warm in the sun for drying off. Stephen then followed, and I took a few photos and a video of him. It would be good if he didn’t take photos of me because he was too gentlemanly, but it was more that he said he didn’t know how to operate my camera! A pity, I would have liked a record of it for private viewing.

We were a long way from the campground, though some people were on the beach a little way towards us. When we reached that spot and looked back it was likely that they could see what had happened, but nothing in detail. Whatever, it was well worth it.

We had toasted sandwiches and fruit for dinner. Before the meal we usually have a drink and some crisps, keeping the serving of chips small so that it doesn’t affect our appetite too much. That was the only time we sat outside yesterday.

WARNING! don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to know about our toileting arrangements.

Before we left home I had come up with an idea for coping with the East Bay drop toilet. So, we take an IGA shopping bag with toilet roll, gloves and sanitizer wipes so that we can at least wipe down the seat before we use the toilet. It does have an exhaust pipe, but nothing else to mitigate the primitive pile at the bottom of the hole. We have our own toilet, of course, but try to use the public toilet during the day to save room in the cassette. It also helps to not mix the products, so to speak, to produce a less smelly result. A capful of Portisol a day and all is good.

Yesterday morning our three neighbours on the left side packed up and went, and for a time there were vacant spaces. Then a bus came and managed to park in the end bay, with a smallish van coming in close enough that they must be friends. Much later in the day a young couple came and parked next to us with a roof top tent. By then the rest of the campground was filling up with vans, tents, and motorhomes. They use the day use only area as well as an area away from the beach. There is no camp host here, and even at Betty’s Beach campground, the next one along, where there is a camp host, they usually allow this to happen. By late morning there are usually some day use bays free.

We are always very interested in the people camping next to us on the door side as we will interact with them a little bit. So far it has been fine. We had a family with three children the first day, and that was lovely.