Horrocks Beach, WA

 Our first stop North was going to be a recommended place called Ellendale Pool just East of Geraldton. We got up nice and early and had plenty of time to go to town and doing the chores, however when we got there it wasn't the best place to camp with kids, and the water was very high and swampy. After some lunch and getting a feel for the place we decided to keep driving. Thank goodness we got up early and there was plenty of time left in the day. And we also had fun crossing the little creek crossing.

 Another stroke of luck was earlier that day, when Kylie was at the supermarket, Saul meet a man at the boat ramp while they were filling up the water tanks and he recommended another little town North called Horrocks - a quiet little fishing town. Previously we had never heard of this place and knew nothing of it, so this tip was much appreciated and came with very good timing. 

We quickly rang the only caravan park in Horrocks because it was the Thursday before a long weekend (Western Australia Day - do we have a Victoria Day??) and things were very busy. They had space for us, AND they were a TAWK park. (Travelling Australia With Kids - which is a group we joined before leaving on our trip, and these parks give you 2 nights free for the kids.)

Driving into the surrounding towns we could see a lot of damage caused by the cyclone a few months earlier. Lots of houses missing roofs, fences down or bent, and one very large, very new looking shed full of hay twisted into a ball. (wish we got a photo of that one!) and Saul introduced the kids to paddymelons.

First impressions of the town were very good and continued to grow. Our first taste of WA beach sunsets, a very relaxed feel in the town, where locals ride around town with their 4 wheel motorbikes and their dogs on the back, just chillin. The kids saw a playground but it was all fenced off, so we thought it was broken from the cyclone, but some local kids told them that it is brand new and it opens tomorrow. By chance, we happened to be going for a walk the next morning when the fence was being taken down, so the Zebbies were the first kids to play on the brand new pirate playgound. We stayed 4 days at Horrocks and we were at the playground every one of those days.

The kids had loads of fun this weekend because there where kids everywhere. They were constantly on their bikes and riding down the big hill on the footpath next the caravan park or riding laps of the caravan park.

Not far from town is a beach near a river inlet and we went to look at it one day. There were a few people there fishing and Saul was chatting to some of them and we decided to come back the next day and have a go at surf fishing. We caught some Dart, which are a funny looking flat diamond shaped fish. We also found some special shells to put in our shell buckets.

Not far from town in the other direction is Little Bay, which has good fishing and we caught some little Whiting. There is also a huge sand dune to climb - they even had a rope for the top half to help you climb.

We had our first go at snorkeling here as well. It was probably a bit too cold (about 22 degrees, with a bit of wind) but it was fun. 

The other thing the area is know for is the Osprey population. Ospreys are a bird of prey in the hawk family. There were 3 -4 of them that would come in each evening and sit on the powerlines. Very impressive looking birds.

A little bit further north is Port Gregory which is home to another Pink Lake. This one is actually pink. Photos don't really do it justice. And we were a little bit concerned about what tourists had been doing  given there were a few of these signs in the area!! 🤔

On our last night we cooked up the fish we caught and ordered some chips and potato cakes from the local shop (the general store which is the only shop in town). They were delicious and I think everyone in town had fish n chips that night because it took us about an 1&1/2 hours to get our chips.