"Three girls, a man and a caravan".: Gladstone Campground

Gladstone Campground was to be our next camp for the next few days. Had heard good things about this place and it was cheap at $11 p.n. We made good time and arrived to bask in the beauty of this place by lunchtime. The road in was a corrugated dirt road that had seen the effects of the rain over the last week and to Marty's reluctance, we persisted and found ourselves quite chuffed with the campsite. It was a dirt campground that hugged the beach and overlooked the ocean. There were flushing toilet facilities and bore water for washing up, no showers.

Prior travellers mark on the road!!!

Great views from the van.....

When we pulled up we saw that Mark and Amanda were here, so in all accounts, this place should be interesting seeing its the first time we had seen each other since our bust up a few days ago in Nanga Bay. Sadly l think it might still be too early for both couples to let go of the events that had unfolded, Marty did his best to avoid them and when l went over to say hello, Mark was obviously still cranky while Amanda was being polite. Best thing though is the kids seem to have forgotten all about it and as soon as they saw each other, Boo and Meg were down on the beach and played with Charlotte and Jake for most of the day. They sat in the shallow waters and tried to catch the small fish circling around by hand. Was quite cute and funny to watch really, but l must say, l was impressed at how long it kept their attention.

Even though there was tension between the two sets of adults, Gladstone Campground itself lived up to its expectations. Such paradise with crystal clear waters and we had the best weather for a long time with beautiful blue skies and sun shining. Our camp was in an awesome prime position, overlooking the ocean and nearby beach. Just a look over to the left was an old jetty which had an awesome rustic antique look to it, behind all the safety signs to keep off that is.

Loved this old jetty!

The water was calm, with no huge pounding waves to listen to, just the gentle trickle of water. Was great to sit out on the beach chair under the awning and relax with the quiet surrounds and watching the pelicans fly in and try feed off the scraps from the fisherman.

We loved Gladstone so much that we camped four nights. Most days were spent the same, attending to school in the mornings then hanging out on the beach in the afternoons and trying to have a fish. I enjoyed my peace and quiet with lazing around in the shade of the awning catching up on some books and sipping on wine. There was minimal contact with Amanda and Mark, and when there was, it was all kept polite.

School time...

Both families took a stroll along the beach one day for Charlotte and Jake to show Boo and Meg the remains of a fresh dolphin caucus that had washed up on the beach. On the walk down it felt like we were walking amongst the fish cemetery with all decaying fish skeletons sprawled out on the sand. The decomposing dolphin remains left me feeling quite sad, l had to remind the girls how precious these creatures are as they tried to take a souvenir of their teeth with them, which thankfully they left with the poor dolphin.

R.I.P dolphin...

Was like Jurassic park on the beach!

So glad to have spent Mother's Day at such a marvelous spot with no material distractions to get int he way. Marty got up and cooked pancakes for us all, then l spent most of the day lazing around reading my book after a quick run in the morning. The girls and l enjoyed a game or two of Jenga with many laughs and squeals voiced as the wooden blocks tumbled. So great to have simple fun together. The girls made me beautiful cards with loving messages. We took a stroll on the beach together in the arvo and then as l once again relaxed into a book on the beach, the girls and Marty tried their hands at fishing again, with again, no luck! One of the best Mothers Days l have had in a long while, and one of the simplest.....

I was enjoying getting back into the running again, having found a beaut little track to do with not many hills and rocks to avoid. Unfortunately, whilst trying to keep my fitness up l sustained an injury one day whilst completing a workout doing step ups in the nearby pavilion. Came down hard and rolled my bloody ankle, was so angry with myself. Yelled out to Marty, who ran over to me in a bit of a panic, whoops, think l frightened him with my screeching. He helped me over to the caravan where l proceeded to ice my ankle for most of the morning, swelled and bruised up pretty quickly. Hoping that wont take long to recover and get back into the running. Not very good at being patient though......still managed an arvo walk up the beach!

Enjoying a splash

So all in all, not much to write for a four day stay, but god it was a good place. Hopefully will be many more of these relaxing cheap camps along the way up the North West coast of WA......here's some random pics from the stay.