Day 144 15th September 2014 Monday. Up and ready at 7.45am. It was very overcast this morning and so I left to climb Frenchman Peak which is a 3km return walk along the track from the car park, up the gentle east slope of the peak, to the summit. Gentle east slope was like Ayres Rock and was very challenging in places. Must say the views from the top were good and would have been much better if it was not overcast. You could see to the bays and the blue waters. Just below the top is a large cavern that opens all the way through and it too offered fantastic views. I took some selfies at the top to prove I had been there. The climb back down was much easier and all told it took 1 hour 15 min. I didn’t see anyone else until I was near the bottom and a couple of Germans were starting the climb. When I got back to camp I went for a walk out to the rocks at the start of the beach and climbed up over the hill along the trail from Lucky Bay to Thistle Bay for a view from the top. When I got back we decided to pack a lunch and drive to Cape Le Grand to look at the bay there. It was disappointing. The beach goes all the way to Wylie Bay near Esperance and is 22km long and you can 4WD all the way along. There was a lot of seaweed on the beach and again as it is overcast perhaps the ocean was not showing its best colour. We drove through the campsite here and all agreed that Lucky Bay was the better option as we may not have got our vans into the small sites. We then drove back to Rositter Bay and this was sheltered but covered in seaweed from top to the sea. On the way back to camp we stopped to watch some whales that were in Lucky Bay near the shore. As we had an overhead view we could see them but they were not being very adventurous. We had our packed lunch when we got back. At around 2pm dad and I were again heading down the beach to our spot. Dad got the first big one at 70cm and then I got a 39cm one that just happened to be on the line when I went to wind it in. Didn’t really realise it was there. I then caught a big one as I was winding the big surf rod in. It grabbed the bait and the fight was on. This one just kept going up and down the beach and dad was running around winding the other lines in to avoid any tangles. Finally got him onto the beach and he too was 71cm. After an hour we didn’t get any more bites. Again we gave the 2 big fish away and dad kept the smaller one for tea. Everyone again gathered around to see what we had caught. Found that the caravan batteries were depleted so ran the generator for 2 hours. Not sure what is causing this but could be the water pump that when powered is running continuously. Must ensure I turn it off when not needing water. Also the battery in the car is running low so I ran the 4WD for an hour to try and give it a boost.
