Mallacoota Day 2...walking, fishing, a campfire and fish dinner

A pleasant cool night, and our very comfortable pillow top innerspring mattress, meant that we both slept very well. The three men were ready to go fishing before 9.30, and, with packed lunches, told me not to expect to see them again much before dark.
My sister Judy and I went off for a pleasant return stroll to Bastion Point along the bush tracks around the inlet and then to the supermarket to buy a few necessary ingredients for our dinner tonight. I also took the camera and photographed our van and its position in the waterfront sites.
On my return and having had a coffee I retired to the outside shaded by awning and shade cloth walls to read parts of the weekend newspaper that I hadn’t had time to read at home. Before long I found my eyes were just too heavy to continue…this life is seriously exhausting, hard work…and I had to have a short Nana nap! Too bad about my mouth falling open or my embarrassingly loud snoring! It was just a very short rest (I think) and I was able to continue reading, then to lunch and check up on emails and spend a bit of time online. Thankfully my wifi is working beautifully and can be powered using one of the laptop USB ports so there’s no problems using it as often as I wish.
In the next few days I will have a look at routes, roads, and places we will pass through once we leave here and head for Ceduna. Yet to discuss preferences of the other three so I am not going to make any decisions.
There was a potato salad to prepare for our shared dinner but otherwise I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon reading and observing the bird and human life on the water…ever changing and interesting. Whenever a fisherman returns with a catch, the pelicans arrive; first one, and then by some strange silent pelican communication, hordes more circle and land like sea planes, legs extended to glide, hit the water and quickly join the bickering, splashing group. They grunt and jostle aggressively for the frames and heads, huge beaks agape in unison like synchronised swimmers and are great photographic subject matter. Apparently, recently a small dog, was running around the cleaning tables near the jetty here and was taken by a pelican and it’s been the talk of the town! A warning to have dogs on leads perhaps!
With no sight of the fisherman, late afternoon I walked up the hill to my sister’s van and we did what sisters who are close do, talked and sorted dinner prep. There was a final walk down to the water not long before dark where we found John and Barry filleting flathead furiously.
A long and pleasant evening was spent around the campfire, sharing stories and jokes, with lots of laughs, and delicious fresh crumbed fillets of flathead, salads and bread rolls from the local bakery. The men complained of exhaustion from hours spent wading the shallow flats, argued (of course) about the biggest catch of the day and discussed the plans for tomorrows fishing. (John with a 65cm flattie, returned to the water as per the rules, was the winner!)
It was so good to be outside and look up to the stars…and start to think about the yet to be experienced camps along our route across the Nullarbor with only the sounds and lights of our camp.
We bid everyone goodnight and wandered back down the hill while overhead the flying foxes feasted in the blossoms of the trees. Another still, clear night and comfortable sleeping conditions. I can feel myself relaxing by the hour….