For the first time this trip we awoke to the sound of raindrops falling on our “Winnie”. Sadly the beautiful sunny weather of yesterday gone. We had booked an Eco Boat Tour of the Bay of Fire for early this morning and we were not sure that we wanted to go now.
We set off anyway to park in a scenic spot overlooking the ocean to cook breakfast before the launch. This ended up to be in the carpark of the eco tour centre. It was beautiful albeit wet and Sue was proud that she was still dressed in her slippers even after moving and cooking bacon and eggs on bagels. Richard was not so lucky as he had to get the bikes in out of the rain, stow them and turn off the gas.
While we were eating we received the call to say that the tour was off which saved us from having to decide whether to go in the wet or not.
So after a leisurely start to the day with beautiful breakfast beach view we took off southward bound down the Great Eastern Drive.
Instead of lush green pastures and sheep the landscape changed to rugged gnarly Australian bush quite dry due to the first rain for months arriving this morning and brown almost dead undergrowth everywhere.
We followed the coast until we came to a turn off for St Mary where we went winding up to great gumtree lined road shelf cut into the rock with cliffs beside us. The road was narrow and the drivers patient.
We weren’t really sure what to expect there – we found a sleepy little town with a few quirky coffee shops. We chose The Bank’s Tea House after walking the main centre block and were delighted to find a barrister who cared about his coffee and some home made goodies. The owner’s wife serenaded us with her songs while she worked and was forthcoming with her philosophy on all things life! It was most entertaining as we and another couple were the only customers. They also allowed us to start charging my laptop as it was almost flat and we were unsure about where we were staying that night and whether it would have power.
To continue south we had a choice to continue back to the highway through Elephant Pass. We consulted the barrister and he helped us to decide to backtrack as to continue would be much windier and with no centre lines. Too hard in a van such as this.
So we did!
At the bottom along the coast road we came across a massive winery/resort/brewery/distillery/conference centre/restaurant with 180 degree views overlooking the bay at Iron House Point We of course stopped, managed to get a little more charge on my laptop and also not to buy any more wine/spirits.
As we were driving the weather was continuing to clear and although still crispy cool the sun was occasionally peeking out.
Our next destination was Bisherno. We were deciding whether to stay there or continue. Already we had discussed that this seemed to be a perfect place for a seafood lunch and planned to find somewhere scenic to eat it. Signs to a local fresh seafood takeaway cafe, The Gulch, appeared at every turn and we felt compelled to follow them. This took us down to the dock where we found a hole in the wall counter, freezing cold, but with friendly service and beautiful fresh seafood. 
We had parked our van higher up intentionally navigating it to have scenic views from the dining windows. Another scenic meal. Sue threw together some salad, avocado and parmesan topped with our beautiful local olive oil together with our perch, scallops, prawns and calamari we felt like we were eating rich.
We felt that Bisherno had a little more to offer us so we went to the information centre to find out what we could do there and possible camping spots and whether we should continue closer to the Frecyinet National Park.
The lass there also told us about the Bisherno rock walk around the headland to the blow holes. After arranging for the laptop to finish charging while we are out, we were off!
The huge granite rocks were still spattered with the orange lichen and we enjoyed what was created as the first bi-centenary project for the community in 1988. Well done Bicherno. We eventually found the blowholes and enjoyed photographing them. This place is also another little penguin viewing place and full of arts and crafts and a hill high enough o have a lookout. A lively little town. We contemplated staying there until we visited the Sea View Caravan Park and were uninspired with the layout and lack of sea views so decided to continue the 25 mins down to the free camping at Friendly Beaches in the National Park. Back to the Visitors Centre to buy our national park pass and ending up booking another boat tour for the morning – this time around Wineglass Bay.
Boy are we glad that we continued down to the beaches. We found a little camping spot in Cosy Corner, complete with friendly, resident paddy melon kangaroo with joey in her pouch and 164 degree views over the white sands of the friendly beaches and looking up towards Friendly Point. 
As a bonus we had eco toilets near by and beach access as well. Some of the sites were a little higher on the cliffs and with no views or amenities close by. Score!
Our final meal of the day preceded by happy hour was overlooking the bay sitting snug in the warmth of our van.
No power, no internet, no one knows where we are….officially off the grid.
