Day 36 Saturday 19/7/2025 Darlington Beach, cool windy 11 – 18

Yesterday, when driving around the local coastal towns we missed one. That’s no surprise. There is a second part to Arrawarra, known as Arrawarra Headland and it is separated from the main town by a creek, it is quite a gem. The curve of the headland is protecting it from today’s brisk breeze. The houses mostly face north overlooking the sweep of beach, surfers are out picking up the waves, and between the beach and rocky headland there are indigenous fish traps. Something that I’ve been wanting to see for quite a while.

We’ve got kangaroos lazing behind the van again today. The wind is strengthening so Woody pulls the awning in. It’s a caravaning thing that when we’re in the van we’re regularly consulting the Willy Weather app for wind information. Ideally leaving the awning out gives us a bit more space and somewhere dry to leave shoes and chairs and sometimes the beer fridge. But when the weather is dodgy, the last thing we want is to be outside in our undies in the middle of the night wrestling with the awning. It’s no fun, not a pretty sight, and a shorty like me usually ends up doing a Mary Poppins.

Taking the bushland boardwalk, I notice that the walkway is littered with leaves that weren’t there yesterday. To my right is the answer. Poor old Mr. Turkey has built a love nest, a mound of leaf litter about 4 feet in height, to attract a female. Sadly, the love life of Brush Turkeys is a bit skewed. If he finds a mate, she will leave him as soon as the eggs are laid. He’ll be left to incubate them by controlling the temperature of the mound. Mrs.Turkey? She’ll be off with the next capable mound builder for another loveless coupling.

Tonight, we cook Naan bread pizzas in the air fryer. We settle in for an episode of Midsomer Murders and just as they are about to reveal the murderer, there’s a knock, knock, knock on the door. Thinking that it’s a neighbouring camper in a pickle we open the door and there’s nobody there. Woody grabs a torch and finds a sheepish little roo behind the van.

Accom: $47.00, Fuel: $36.02