There’s a song I know with a line about a “gathering storm”. It’s a slow and gentle song, with a subtle hint that this is the calm before the storm. That’s how it was as we started our ‘beach run’. This is where you use the beach for a road.

We left Esperance for Cape Le Grande. By driving along the beach for 20km, it saves doing over 50km on the road. It started out sunny (had been all day), but out the back window, it didn’t look so flash.

We managed 10km before having to let the tyres down. This happens a lot faster with the whole team on the job.

The storm came in to shore and lashed the coast for the final 5km. We got sandblasted.

And just in case you’re wondering – it was an outgoing tide.

The camping ground here at Lucky Bay (a somewhat cheesy name) is not very nice. Essentially, it’s like camping in a car park. In fact it’s just like the three tier car park in Jan Juc, for those local readers – only with a dirt surface. Every guide, article or tourist brochure says this beach has the whitest sand in Australia. Well that’s your ticket to a full camping ground. Gotta see that. The showers (2) are solar heated – so I was pleased that the sun shone brightly before the storm hit. On a brighter note, the locals here are the kangaroos – together with joeys.

Where did he go?

Tonight was the preliminary final between Geelong and Hawthorn. Now most of the number plates in the camping ground were from the eastern states, and there were many radios tuned to the match – including ours. There were lots of cheers and boos throughout the match coming from the various groups gathered to listen. Our tent had sad faces after the game.