December 6th & 7th, 2011- Horrocks Beach Cottages- Horrocks

Tuesday morning we packed up and said our goodbyes to Kalbarri about 9am. Very nice place and we would definitely come again. We travelled the short distance South along the coast to Horrocks. We stopped at the Lynton Station for a quick tour of the homestead and mill. Built in 1853 and somewhat restored. Also had a memorabilia collection in a barn which we enjoyed. Had a beautiful view of the ocean and Pink Lake. Checkout the angle of the trees on the driveway into the Station. Think they get a bit of wind from the West on a regular basis??

Arrived in Horrocks before lunch and checked into the Horrocks Beach Cottages. Fairly basic but roomy and clean. The owner Colin surprised us with a couple of local crayfish that he had caught this morning. Lovely surprise and a great customer service. We met up with Di and Terry who were checked in at the caravan park across the road from our cottages.

 

Di, Sandra, and I went for a nice walk along the beach. Horrocks is a fairly small place with limited facilities and primarily designed for fisherman and holiday getaways. After lunch we took a drive down to the mouth of the Bowes River. The river was currently cutoff from the ocean by sand but looks like will be a good fishing spot. We will give it a try tomorrow. Terry and I had planned to go down to the wharf for a fish late in the afternoon but when we got there half a dozen others had already had the same idea. Pretty windy and pounding waves so we didn't feel the need to jostle for space on the small wharf. Sandra and I enjoyed our two lovely crayfish for dinner with salad. They were wonderful!. Thanks again Colin.

I was up early on Wednesday morning (5:30am) to meet Terry down on the wharf for a fish. Terry must have thought better about getting up so early as he was no where to be seen. I came home and crawled back into bed. Can't say I was that disappointed. After breakfast Terry and I took a drive back out to Bowes River to have a fish. You wouldn't believe it but two people were fishing in the exact spot we had picked out the day before. It was a nice deep channel with less wave activity. Terry cursed a bit before we tried our luck a bit further down the beach. Eventually the other two packed up and we took over the spot. I caught a decent size Taylor which we will have for dinner. We spent a couple of hours attempting to catch a few more with no luck. The surf was quite inconsistent and we both got caught with a big wave a couple of times. Girls did a bunch of laundry and Sandra dyed Di's hair.
We had a relaxing afternoon before Di and Terry came over for dinner. Used the fish I had caught and had a bunch of garlic prawns we had been saving along with salad. Yum!

All in all Horrocks wouldn't be my first choice for a vacation as limited facilities and very expensive at grocery store. Would highly recommend Kalbarri over Horrocks for all but the most dedicated fishermen.