The day started slowly as it had blown a gale all night….and was still blowing and the skies were overcast…. Everyone took their time having brekkie then we all met in the Hunter van for devotions led by Trev on Mark…. everyone that is except for Rose and Dave who unusually had slept in. Seems Dave had been bitten by several March flies the day prior – the bites had blown up and were very itchy, so he took a Phenergan to help him sleep – which worked extremely well – and resulted in a Phenergan hangover for most of today….

After much discussion it was decided to have an easy day as the weather was so foul and we had a couple of long driving days coming up. Some of us walked up to the local art Gallery and café “Studio Surf” which looked great on the internet but was disappointingly closed when we arrived. We continued our walk around the Marion Bay area – some unique and interesting houses most of which looked like holiday homes.

Along the beachfront the tide was up, and the wind was relentless – there was a wreck – the “Willyama” which was just visible above the water not far from shore – another boat that had been a victim of this savage coastline. The Willyama had been carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle to Port Pirie in 1907 when it ran aground in Marion Bay.

We had a look around the west end of the beach and then headed back to the vans for lunch.

The afternoon was spent reading, blogging, repairing (Branch and McGyver were at it again – this time putting in a more “permanent” temporary repair to the Loveday water tank bracket) ….

Gordie went out to see if there was some surf and despite the wind had another good surf at Pondalowie – with Phil and the dolphins again!

The Marion Bay Caravan Park has a fantastic camp kitchen so we decided to cook our roast dinner in the large oven there and have dinner together out of the howling wind – an added bonus was the TV so Dave could watch his beloved Swannies play…

The roast dinner was delicious, and Beryl made a legendary apple crumble for dessert – not a crumb was left!!

The wind had picked up even more – it felt cyclonic and so we all hibernated in the vans and tried to sleep – the wind was rocking the vans all night – sleep was only intermittent for some of us….