Lovely park with individual sites for people separated by trees and quite a reasonable distance. No power or water of course, but clean toilets and bins etc that made it a pleasure to stay there, along with the incredibly friendly and helpful camp hosts.
The first afternoon we took the 2.5 klm (each way) walk to the Inlet itself. A pleasant walk that went up across the escarpment top and allowed us to surprise a couple of 'roos along the way. We were glad that the weather has cooled off somewhat, but with sun beaming down and the track being built from decomposed white limestone we worked up a sweat anyway.
That afternoon I left Karen with her book and I drove back to the inlet with my fishing rod in hand. The only bait I had was a slice or two of bread, but I thought I would give it a go. The bread only attracted tiny fish, but as I have half of our food supplies in the car fridge/freezer I thought I'd have a look to see what I could find.
Hmmm - lamb stir fry strips. I wonder . . . . . . Well, that was the key and (once defrosted) I was pulling in black bream virtually every cast. Only one was of a size worth taking, but I released it anyway. It was a lovely afternoon and the fact that I had to take a 4WD track out to the sand bar across the inlet to go fishing made it even more fun. It seems I have to do most of the 4WD stints alone as Karen gets all worried about damaging the (new) car and her constant worried words take all the fun out of it.
Perhaps one day when the car is a bit older.
That late afternoon we had a storm blow through that dropped a huge amount of water in just a few seconds. In fact, the water that was dropped on the awning didn't even have time to drain off before we were looking at a completely collapsing awning. I ended up standing outside, holding the awning up myself so it wouldn't rip off the side of the 'van.
I love a sunburned country, but we certainly had a drop of the flooding rains that evening!
Oddly enough, we didn't take any photos that day, so nothing to show for it.
We drove on from the NP and headed towards Raventhorpe, calling into Fitzy's Bush Camp for a night. What a jewel of a place this is - a new venture run by some very friendly people who charge very little for a lovely place to stay. They even have a resident emu (Milo) who struts about the place looking for someone to cadge food from.
They have some expansion plans for the future and want to add a licensed bar to the lovely little BBQ spot. This turned out to be place where we retreated to get away from the wind and where we met out neighbours - two caravans.
One couple, Tom and Georgie were particularly engaging and may turn out to be long term friends once we finish travelling. We'll see, but we'll definitely keep in touch.
No photos of this place either!
On the afternoon we arrived there we decided to take a trip down into Hopetoun and see what that place looks like. A lovely little town and we checked out the port area and then (shock, horror) the Port Hotel where we had a pleasant little drink and checked out their collection of shark jaws and pictures of sharks that had been caught and landed there. Some of them were huge!
(pic of the pub from phone to be inserted)
After a pleasant night at Fitzy's we headed off to spend some time in the Fitzgerald NP and we drove to the Hamersley Inlet camp site.
This cost us just $10 per night, and the facilities were pretty damned good. All new and clean and working smoothly.
We took a walk to the inlet itself and promised ourselves that we'd do the major walk across to the surf beach and along that to some rocky areas that sounded interesting, but before we went back for the night we thought we'd take a drive to Cave Point where we took in the view and watched a pod of dolphins with some of them (the young ones) leaping completely clear of the water. I love watching dolphins play like that!
These are the views when you first enter the NP.
As you walk out to Cave Point you get the following little bay on your right
Cave Point, so called because there is a cave right underneath the viewing platform, provides a stunning vista of coastline and the endless southern ocean.
We continued on to Miley's Beach and found that access to it was through a channel that the sea must sometimes flood. We ended up on a deserted beach with the wind in our hair and sun on our faces.
Magic.
Once we returned to the camp site we found Tom and Georgie looking for a spot to stay as well and they pulled in next to us. It was a pleasant evening's conversation. What a shame they are heading east while we go west.
The next morning we found it was raining steadily so we abandoned our walk to the surf beach and decided to leave. Tom and Georgie had left somewhat earlier than us so we trundled back towards Hopetoun where we stopped by to wash the van and then have a coffee.
We kept meeting people that we had met along the road here. Strange that they all decided to call in to Hopetoun at the same time!
Anyway, we headed west and back into that strong Westerly breeze and aimed our bonnet at Bremer Bay where we stopped in a van park that was full of Peppermint trees, but which seemed a comfortable place.
It only takes one look at the town to realise that fishing is the go here. Everything is focused on the angler, but that's OK if you like it and we do. The only other thing of note is the Bremer Bay Resort which is the town's pub. We decided to have dinner there and we both had a burger with a decent WA chardonnay (for Kazza) and a Fat Yak pale ale for me.
Next day we went to explore the peninsula and check out the beaches and boy are they pretty.
Bremer Bay is so pretty we decided to hang around for a little longer than the two nights we had originally thought we'd do. There is quite a lot to do and see here.
So, on day three we reckoned we had done enough touring around and, despite there being lots to do, we had a quiet day instead with only visits to the museum and the pub to break things up.
One of the things for sale at the museum was a selection of home made conserves including one made (obviously) just for me!
On day 4 here we aimed the Pajero at the western end of the Fitzgerald NP and headed in - what a disaster of a road! The corrugations were shaking the car to pieces and when I looked across at Karen she was bouncing in the seat and almost hitting the roof.
There were some compensations in the form of groves of these weird plants:
We persisted, but instead of getting better they got worse.
So we checked the map and found a 4WD track that would take us out of the place and avoid the drive back on those awful corrugations. This track was rough and, at times, tough, but nothing the Pajero couldn't handle so despite the deep mud filled ruts and water crossings we drove on through and found ourselves at the eastern end of the sand bar that blocks the Bremer Bay inlet.
I was worried about this as the sand in the area is talcum powder fine and I expected to be digging and using the Maxtrax to get across, but it turned out to be hard packed sand (whiter than white) that was so solid under the wheels we barely left a track.
Home to the van and happy, but it was a muddy Pajero we parked on the grass.
Day 5 and we had a lie in. Once we managed to get vertical and breakfasted we thought wed do a little fishing down at the boat ramp.
Fishing there was turning up lots of fish, but they were all tiddlers like this one and I was just throwing them all back.
So, on day three we reckoned we had done enough touring around and, despite there being lots to do, we had a quiet day instead with only visits to the museum and the pub to break things up.
One of the things for sale at the museum was a selection of home made conserves including one made (obviously) just for me!
On day 4 here we aimed the Pajero at the western end of the Fitzgerald NP and headed in - what a disaster of a road! The corrugations were shaking the car to pieces and when I looked across at Karen she was bouncing in the seat and almost hitting the roof.
There were some compensations in the form of groves of these weird plants:
We persisted, but instead of getting better they got worse.
So we checked the map and found a 4WD track that would take us out of the place and avoid the drive back on those awful corrugations. This track was rough and, at times, tough, but nothing the Pajero couldn't handle so despite the deep mud filled ruts and water crossings we drove on through and found ourselves at the eastern end of the sand bar that blocks the Bremer Bay inlet.
I was worried about this as the sand in the area is talcum powder fine and I expected to be digging and using the Maxtrax to get across, but it turned out to be hard packed sand (whiter than white) that was so solid under the wheels we barely left a track.
Home to the van and happy, but it was a muddy Pajero we parked on the grass.
Fishing there was turning up lots of fish, but they were all tiddlers like this one and I was just throwing them all back.
Then Karen spotted a shoal of small fish all leaping out of the water so I dropped the paternoster rig and tied on a barra lure. I chucked it out and it was hit immediately by an Australian salmon. Of course, as I was using just three kilo line it tugged for a few seconds and then bit through it and ran off with my lure.
I changed reels for one with stronger line and tied on a popper (surface lure) and flicked it out and there were immediately a number of salmon chasing it and one bit it and took off.
The reel was screaming and I then lifted and wound to get the line back.
Eventually, after about a ten minute fight with the fish leaping out of the water and going on strong runs, I pulled it onto the deck. About 80cm in length it was a good fish.
We filleted it on the spot (well, some kind young bloke offered to do it for me so I accepted) and it is going to be dinner.
I know that these fish are not prized table fish, but we'll give it a go.
Wow looks fantastic Joe, proper jell!
ReplyDelete