Mole Creek - Here we come

Our first real stay was to be at a town called Mole Creek. We spent last night discussing how to get there with Nicole and Rob, and I was adamant that I was going the straightest, least winding, least hilly route, which was down the main freeway. Our van will be somewhere close to 2.2 tons when loaded and I am not a fan of stretching the car to its limits trying to drag the van up a 60 degree incline. 

We couldn't leave Devonport without spending some of the kids inheritance in the local Woolworths, and we did need to actually eat for the next few days, so we managed to lose a couple of hours filling all the empty trollies with enough food to solve Africa's starvation woes, and finally set off. 

I had studied Google maps and knew the way out of town and onto the freeway, so that was all I needed to get there. 

Apparently not. 

About 10 minutes into the drive, my amazing sense of direction started telling me I was going the wrong way.... I finally relented and had another look at maps and confirmed my thoughts. I now had 2 dilemmas- firstly admitting I took a wrong turn, and secondly having to tell Nicole and Rob that I wasn't following them down the freeway, but instead was heading deep into the bowels of going down the least straight, most winding, and most hilly route...  Bugger. 

The car certainly had its work cut out getting us to Mole Creek, and not just up the hills.... The funny thing about getting to the other side of a hill is that if you go up one side, you have to come down the other. Just as well my driving skills are as excellent as everything else I do, and I managed to get to the bottom with my brakes still working, the caravan still attached, and the car still running smoothly. Phew. 
We had found this little place (Mole Creek) on WikiCamps (which is our electronic camping bible..) when searching for somewhere different and a little inland bit turned out to be an amazing little park. There was a total of about 20 spots, half of them alongside a creek, and the other half across the dirt roadway. We managed to secure a double spot backing onto the creek and set about spreading ourselves out as much as we could. 

It is surprisingly hot here - the car temperature says 32, but I swear it feels closer to 38. As soon as I felt I could get away with sitting down with a beer, I grabbed my chair and plonked myself smack in the middle of the creek. The water temperature must have been all of 15 degrees, and it took about 2 minutes to cool down and almost want to get out... Almost. 

It doesn't get dark here until well after 9pm, so we took off around 5 o'clock for a local walk to the Mersey Valley lookout, and we weren't disappointed. Magnificent views for such a short walk (only 800m)

We were sitting up late having a drink or 3, as you do, and I kept getting up to watch the local brown trout in the creek launching themselves out at the moths trying their hardest to hover just above the water without being eaten, when I noticed a platypus fossicking in the shallows. It was getting darker by the minute, but not too dark to see and get a few happy snaps of this beautiful creature that is apparently super rare to see in the wild. 

Cheers to what looks like is going to be some good days ahead.