Feeling Stoked

Not only did we enjoy our lovely view at breakfast, with the morning sun illuminating the bay and the moored boats with an orange hue, we were entertained by 3 playful galahs who seem to live in the old gum tree in our front yard this morning.

We stopped and looked at a unique garden near Kingscote this morning on our way out and about. They had a range of homemade statues / sculptures, many with humorous signs.

After driving to Vivonne Bay area for the last two days, we set off in a different direction today – along the north coast to Stokes Bay. The drive was pleasant and as we approached the northern coast the green rolling hills – and we’re talking a vivid green, were covered in yellow daisies. All of this contrasting nicely with a blue sky with the scattering of rather dramatic clouds.

We drove into Stokes Bay which only seems to consist of a bunch of holiday homes, a camp ground and a kiosk. After parking the car we were entertained by this sign which greets visitors:

Like Miranda and her school friends wandering off for a picnic at Hanging Rock, we wandered off between the rocks, not sure what we’d encounter on the other side. 

We didn’t take a picnic as we wanted to be back before the tide started coming in as it can flood the cave. It was a short but interesting walk through the ‘cave’ which was actually constructed by some locals in the 1960's using pick axes and a bit of dynamite so that they would not have to climb over the top of the headland to reach the beach!

On the other side we were greeted by a wonderful sweeping bay, with a clear sandy lagoon, protected by rocks. Further round, the beach is meant to have a severe rip, but the lagoon looked very inviting – well maybe on a warmer day! We encountered a brief but heavy rain shower as we walked along the beach. 

We wandered round the bay and explored the rocky areas to the east of the beach. 

Looking back the other way again presented us with a range of contrasting colours – various browns and greys in the rocks, some orange lichen, turquoise waters, white surf, green rolling hills, yellow daisies, blue sky and white and grey clouds. Magic!

Once we found our way back through the cave safe and sound we had lunch in the picnic shelter. Met a couple of local pelicans out on the rocks as well. They allowed us to get quite close which made for some nice photos:

Not sure what these birds are, but love their hair styles!

Later in the day, once we were back at American River we took a 1.5 km walk along the water front to the old fish cannery – which were a couple of stone ruins of once was a fish cannery.