No travelling today so it was a relaxed start to the morning – everyone ate brekkie and then decided what activities they’d like to do …. Everyone fitting in around the promised (and famous) Gordie scones that were to be baked.

Rose and Dave had the jump on everyone leaving first for Albany to have a look around the shops and go to the ANZAC War Memorial.

Klaus, Beryl, Matt and Sharon opted to go into Albany for the day to visit the old Whaling Station and museum as well as the ANZAC memorial both of which we had seen last time we were in Albany.

Gordie and Kerry decided to stay in camp and enjoy a morning at the front beach (Perkins Beach)

Trev and I had planned to go to West Cape Howe National Park to visit the beaches there – first stop Shelley Beach…

We drove out through Cosy Corner and into the National Park – and hit the dirt road which was in good condition. There was quite a forest of tall gums – a real change from the scrubby coastal landscape we have spent a lot of time in over the last few days…

We arrived at Shelley Lookout on top of the bluff above Shelley Beach and the views along the coastline again were spectacular.

While looking down at the beach I noticed what I thought was a dark shape moving in the waters close to shore – sure enough it was a large shark circling a school of fish. I went back to the car and grabbed the zoom lens in the hope of capturing some pics – amazingly the shark was still there, and I got a couple of shots – it looked like a great white.

We then decided to hightail it down to the beach to see if we could put up the drone and get some shots close up.

Arriving in the carpark we met an Aboriginal Ranger who said it was OK to put up the drone… just beware of the wind (which was quite strong at this point).

I raced along the beach to the end where I had last seen the shark hoping to get some footage of it in the waves and met the second Aboriginal Ranger who I chatted with – he had seen 4 sharks in total and had been speaking to the fishos at the other end of Shelley Beach letting them know that the fish were all at the other end from where they were fishing (with the sharks) – but they did not believe him and had thought the shark was a whale… I showed the pic I took from the lookout to the ranger, and he agreed it looked like a white pointer.

Anyway, I stood on the beach and got some shots of the shark in the waves – it was unbelievably close to shore but still very difficult to see from the shore – and it swam on the bottom so its fin did not break the surface as far as I could see… incredible to think that such a big shark was so hard to see in the waves.

Trev put up the drone and followed it around for ages getting some great footage.

Shelley Beach was aptly named having myriads of small scallop shells all over the white sand.

The waves were quite big at times and the swell crashing on the rocks at the end of the beach made for some great photos. The beach itself was very picturesque…

A kite circled around the drone at one point, and I was concerned it wanted to attack the drone but it flew off after a quick look.

Trev landed the drone and we drove back to Cosy Corner Beach for a look – again a lovely beach with great picnic area and sheltered spots for swimming… although a little concerning as it was not far from Shelley Beach… and the sharks.

We drove back for lunch and met Gordie and Kerry just walking back from the beach where Gordie had been for a lengthy swim along the beach between Perkins and Cosy Corner…. Fortunately, the sharks were occupied at Shelley Beach!!

We ate some lunch and then while Gordon put on the scones, Trev and I went for a walk and had a swim down at Perkins Beach – the water was lovely and clear – and warmer than it was at Lucky Bay….

Arriving back at the campsite we could smell the tantalising odour of baking scones… Rose and Dave arrived back from their shopping trip just in time and we sat down to enjoy a cuppa and scones, jam and cream – the BEST SCONES EVER!

Rose filled us in on the latest installment in the Bluetoothgate/camera saga – they had been to Cameron’s Caravans, Jaycar, Supercheap Auto, Kmart and possibly others and still had no solution to the rear camera although Rose scored some great beach chairs (same as Klaus and Beryl) on special…. but Tina from Chapman’s as well as Elliot and others were still in contact and as always very helpful… seems the next link in the chain is Graham’s (or was that Greg??) Caravans at Perth who Violet reckons can help fix the Bluetooth fiasco (confused yet???)

The Weiss/ Bowyer contingent arrived back in camp but had missed out on the scones as they were best eaten warm and fresh – after the huge lunch they had eaten I am sure there was no room for scones!

Gordie and Trev went to collect firewood as it was a great evening for a fire – Gordie with his handsaw was not getting the job done quickly enough so Trev (who had ridden his bike out to do a broader search) grabbed his chainsaw- problem solved and great firewood obtained by them both.

Klaus and Beryl went for a walk down to the beach – and Klaus scored a beautiful paper nautilus which had washed up with its little octopus dead on the beach – in perfect condition!!

After another afternoon walk along the beach, we all had dinner then gathered round the campfire for coffee…

Trev and I set our alarms for 0300 as I was hoping to walk up to the lookout to take some night sky shots and hopefully see some of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower…