The elusive sand frog and the axe incident

Population:  45-ish

The boys and I went for our usual camping expedition last night on the beach about 100 meters from the homestead.  It’s just far enough away, and around a little bend, so you don’t see the house and it feels like you are a million miles away from anything.  But you can still wander down to the homestead if you get too hungry or need to use the loo.

Yesterday we set up camp and were just watching the fire burn down, when we saw a little movement in the sand.  It was a tiny sand frog that only exists on this island!!!  A very rare and very strange creature that burrows into the sand and can sleep for up to three years if there is no rain.  It’s croak is an odd squelching sound. 

This frog was feeling pretty sleepy.  We weren’t sure it was alive at first, but it did move a little and bat its eyes at us.

After running back to the homestead and showing our frog to everyone we could find, we set the frog free back in the sand dunes and settled next to the fire to roast our potatoes.

We get a view of the whole of the Bay from our campsite and we were noticing some very strange boat activity.  Someone going out in a kayak after dark and fetching the dingy from the mooring.  A mysterious boat that was traveling very fast, came to meet the dingy and then left.  Very curious indeed.

Once we got back to the homestead, we found out someone camping at the north end of the island had been chopping fire wood and missed.  The axe had gone into his shin right to the bone.  The Homestead had got a frantic call from his fishing buddies saying that he was drifting in and out of consciousness and they were having trouble stopping the bleeding.  Then the cell phone reception crapped out.

The camping sites are three hours drive from the homestead it was already getting to be late afternoon.  They contacted the flying doctors, but there was no way they could land at the island airstrip after dark.  They had called in a rescue boat.

From what I hear, the fishing buddies put $500 cash in the injured bloke’s pocket for the flight home, put him on the rescue boat, and went back to fishing.