Monkey Island

Perhaps the best thing about living in a bus is that even when life is almost normal; your husband has a job, you’re busy teaching your son during the week and keeping the domestic side of life ticking over. The best thing is that the minute friday night rolls around you can crank the old bus into life and head off for anywhere your heart desires for the next two days. Well anywhere within a couple of hours drive! But luckily for us being based in Gore that leaves us with plenty of options to choose from. Now sometimes choosing a destination can take a while, reading about the pro’s and con’s of each spot, weighing your options. But sometimes it can be as simple as reading the name Monkey Island, smiling at such a name given to a beach side spot in a country that isn’t home to any monkeys at all and deciding that finding out why it had that particular name was a priority in your life.

As we made our way out to Riverton and along the coast it was a perfect evening. We hadn’t been at a beach in about six weeks and it was the best feeling to see sea and sand again as we neared our destination. Monkey Island is a freedom camping spot and open to people in tents to so was really busy by the time we arrived. We nabbed one of the last spots with relief before heading down to check out the beach. Monkey Island which gives the spot it’s moniker is a small little island accessible by foot at low tide and by a short swim at other times. Luckily for us it was low tide and the sun was preparing to set so a short stroll across the beach, a clamber over a few rocks and up a few steps gave us the perfect vantage point to take in the sunset.

The next morning Oliver was up early, the beach was calling to him so we left Wayne to have a bit more sleep while we went for a bit of a walk on the beach. There were a couple of brave tourists taking a brief morning swim but apart from that the beach was ours as we tested the water, explored the little creeks that made their way out to the ocean and enjoyed the feeling of sand between our toes. Once I lured Oliver back to the bus he only really paused long enough to eat some breakfast, change into his togs and drag Wayne out of bed so he could take him back to the beach. When I joined them they had settled in beside the top of the creek, Oliver had his spade and a few little toys to play with in the sand. Wayne had found a log to sit on. Apart from a quick dash to move the bus to a beach side spot once some of the previous nights campers left that’s where we spent our whole morning. Oliver dug and paddled in the water, we chatted, relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful spot. Then just to add to the perfection of the whole place we saw a group of dolphins swimming and jumping just off shore. They swam and played for about 15 minutes where we could see them.

Convincing Oliver to leave this beach behind for a bit in the afternoon was not easy, but with the promise of other beaches to explore he got in the car for the short drive to see the nearby gemstone beach and cozy nook. These two beaches are both just a few minutes drive in either direction from Monkey Island. While Monkey Island is smooth sandy and sheltered enough to make it a great beach for kids to play at, gemstone beach is slightly more exposed with glorious windswept cliffs, a rocky stream to fossick in and when we were there a few hopeful surfers. The aptly named Cozy Nook is a small, sleepy little bay with a few fishing cottages, a long drop, a rocky beach and perfectly blue waters.

We returned back to the bus with enough day left to take the plunge and have our first swim of the summer. For me it was a short, freezing affair. I’m not sure how but the boys spent a good few hours swimming and playing in the water. By the time we had a BBQ and tucked our tired little boy into bed it felt like our summer had officially started. The next day we spent a lot of the day much the same way we had spent saturday, stretching our wonderful weekend out just a little bit longer before we headed back to Gore for another week of work, school and the bustle of everyday life. But now with a few more photo’s to add to our growing collection, a few more golden memories to smile over and as always, more adventures to plan.