Here is another reference to Capt Cook and his first landing in Aus in 1770. Everyone loves this spot and it is indeed beautifully sited on a peninsula. The oceanside claims to be the northernmost surf beach on the east coast; the inland/river side claims sunsets and lots of sand bars at low tide. Fishing is a major attraction but we couldn’t find a single seafood market.  We had a long drive from Carnarvon Gorge and arrived at the most popular caravan park in the area at twilight. In the morning we discovered the park is more like a campground, lacking some of the luxuries we take for granted like a concrete pad for our table and chairs (instead of dirt and sand), a sullage point to dispose of our grey water, a dump point for black water, internet, a bit of space around us, and a ban on use of our washing machine. The selling point is the absolute beachfront (as they say) which was fantastic for those with kayaks, canoes, lovers of sand in their bed.  The place was a beehive of activity from sunrise at 5:00am. We didn’t mind for a couple days but moved down the road after 2 nights. No we didn’t have absolute beachfront but we had the surf beach 800 metres down a track where we walked in the mornings.
We spent our time enjoying golf, hikes, sunsets (not sunrise) and one entire day of rain when we watched a couple DVDs. We also had one frustrating day cleaning up a flood from our washing machine, proving that life isn’t always perfect as retirees living on the road.

Fellow travelers always opine about their favorite stops on the road. The ones where they pull in for 2 nights and stay for 2 weeks. We arrived in Woodgate Beach planning to stay a week. After settling into our “full sun” site and having a cursory look, we weren’t sure we would be keen to stay so long. But it grew on us. The CP is across the street from a 16 km stretch of beach that has an 8km walking path lined with shady casurinas. The road is perfectly straight and every time we cross it there isn’t a car in sight as far as you can see. There is a cafe at the entry to our CP, a tiny grocery store, a real estate office, a bowls club, and one pub. After a few days we discovered a hardware store, pharmacy and slightly bigger grocery down a side street on the way out of town. There are a mixture of big homes and old shacks along the waterfront road but most have a sign saying they are holiday homes and things looked pretty quiet right now. The shoreline is steep at high tide so we haven’t been walking it in the morning but the path is always breezy and the color of the water is a brilliant blue. Bottom line: we loved the peaceful nature of this place. Still, we wanted to explore the region and took a couple day trips.