Stuck in Cocklebiddy

Written in pen and paper on 23 February 2015 Twilight Cove Campsite

We adventured to Twilight Cove, today was for fishing and visiting the bird observatory, after the car was attacked by many a tree branch and many were moved by Marco and I singing, “Move, branch, get out the way!” We had also had to stop at one stage because the intuitive driving to stop us blowing the tyres on a rogue floor branch meant Marco slamming on the breaks and doing a handbrake stop. All well and good until you consider the roof rack jerked forward with the momentum over the windscreen by about half a metre. We ended up pulling it back as best we could and securing it through the car with the ropes we had available, each of us occasionally pulling on the one behind the seats to check if it was taut or not. Nobody wants their bags flying off and being left for the dingoes; when does a Dingo wear underpants and Hawaiian shirts? 

 

After the palaver we made it to just before the sand. It was time to hit the 4wd, but the lights weren’t working and we couldn’t hear it engaging, then we realised that the air con had also stopped working, in my opinion more important in this 31-degree heat! Marco, or should I say Tinkerbell, decided to solve the problem by trying to take the dash apart after concluding all fuses were fine. This took a while and my assistance was unnecessary, so I made sandwiches for us both. A while later he gave up and stick it all back together (I had every faith in using all screws.)

 

We had to go back, we couldn’t do the sand without 4wd engaged, we reached Cocklebiddy at dark, Marco carried on trying to find the issue with the car, eventually discovering it was the relay fuse all along!

The following morning we took the roof rack off the car and rearranged the fuses. We tried engaging 4wd just to blow a second fuse, so we had to disconnect the secondary battery and try and find another fuse not in use, as the roadhouse had no 10Ah fuses. We gave ourselves one hour to get everything complete, including the roof rack, so we could get on our way, this was at 9am... at 3pm we finished.

We’d had to saw wood and screw the rack back together and move all the twigs and… you get the idea. It was a long day in the sun so we treated ourselves to lunch (ok, tea) at the roadhouse and a couple of games of pool; I almost won for a change instead of a straight annihilation. It was too late to leave so we stayed at the roadhouse. Hot shower in the morning, huzzah! Then on our way to Twlight Cove, again, with our new and improved roof rack, will it last the distance?

Roof rack test No.1! We made it unscathed to Twilight Cove, parked up on the sand and walked down to greet the sea. You get so spoilt for beaches in WA (as I’ve said before) so I didn’t go in the sea, too choppy and cold but we did see a Sealion! It got scared, must have been Marco’s face, and went in the sea. There was some odd things washed up on the beach, one was a jar of, what appeared to be, coffee that Marco stupidly opened and managed to get all up his legs and over his feet, I could do nothing but laugh and hand that poor boy a wet wipe.

 

March flies, march flies everywhere, biting any bare flesh, at least they’re easy to smack! Marco went to do some fishing with his newly repaired rod; it had been battered by the trees whilst on the roof rack and snapped in two, at least we had wood and tape to stick it back together. The magical tape, we’ve used it to fix the roof rack feet to wood, the car wind protector, the wheel guard, the tears in the tyres and last but not least, Marco’s glasses (and more recently his flip flops). So, off he went to fish, dancing to the sea, spinning and waving his arms like a fairy to discourage march flies.

 

Again he caught no fish, what a poor hunter-gatherer. After giving up with fishing, i.e. running out of bait, we went to the campsite, cooked dinner and played cards; I learnt a new Italian game and almost won. We watched Frozen on my laptop before sleep (which Marco enjoyed, yoohoo!). We’ll make it to the bird observatory… eventually.