Jeff and Sonia, a couple of nomads we met over the campfire
the last two nights, were a couple we had struck a real synergy with. They’d
been out at Steep Point (most westerly part of the Australian mainland) and
told of a pretty arduous day on the tracks. It was this information that
decided our course of action for today…
Once again we bundled the kids into the car early and we headed
out Francois Peron National Park. Remember that one? The place with a hot tub?
Our intention was to head out and explore that area, do some bush bashing,
walking and fishing before ending with another dip in that awesome hot tub!
We got out to Peron Homestead with little to no fuss and
began to air down. Whilst I was dropping the pressures, I was consulted by a Scandinavian
backpacker who enquired as to “what are you going down to?”. I looked over at
his beat up Subaru (which I should have expected as it is quite the backpacker
vehicle of choice) and wondered if I might be seeing them up on the track
somewhere…
Still I offered him my advice (which is usually “start at 25 and see
how you go”) and headed off. The track has an station where you can air up and
down which I thought was cool, with information about the importance of tyre
pressures. Was pretty cool.
James pretty excited about the 4WDing... Evie.. not so much.
You know they take their tracks seriously when they give a full run down on air pressures prior to hitting the tracks. Not to mention full air compressor facilities. Was an excellent feature...
Without wanting to create a list, but yet in the interest of
catching up on my blog posting, I’ll summarise the day into the following highlights,
with supporting information.
Red dust roads
The sand up on the point is an amazing colour of red. Not
quite Red Centre red, but more rustic if that makes sense. It was quite unique
and whilst quite sandy in parts and corrugated in other, was nothing the Rock
Truck couldn’t cope with.
It did get quite boggy at times and I realised that I might
need to work on my sand driving a little, but we made it through unimpeded or
unhindered so I must have been doing something right. Whilst I still think I
prefer 4WD amongst hardened mountain tracks, sand driving was pretty cool and
modern 4WD are more than capable of both with the right approach and technique.
Yep... looks like the weather will be touch and go today... Note the colour of the sand...
Coming out of Skipjack Point carpark with track going off into the distance. Note the colour of the sand...
Somewhere on the tracks... Note, again the different colour of sand.
Going to try and post a few more vids over the journey and see how we go..
Georges
Our first stop of the day, and the first introduction of red/orange sands reaching water line, the unique feature of the Peron Peninsula. If wasn’t
much of a beach, but ironically probably the pick of the fishing spots had we
chucked a line in. Highlight of this spot was the weirdest crab the kids and I
had ever seen….
Not much beach here, but the colours were unique to me...
See.. can you see the weird crab?
There he is!
Skipjack Point
What turned out to be probably the highlight of the day for
most, was the stop at Skipjack Point, just near the top of the Francois Peron
NP. Here a outlook and boardwalk had been constructed above the cliff top
enable visitors a chance to watch was pretty much a real life aquarium pass
below them. Thankfully B had put the binoculars in the car and we were able to
put them to good use spotting an array of sharks, turles, sting rays and possibly
a dugong (although we think it could have been some blobby seaweed). Such a
brilliant spot, made even better by the amazing land formations that met the
ocean with a colour extravaganza. I simply hadn’t seen anything like this. Reds
into blues, interspersed with yellows and whites in parts. It was such a change
to anything I’d ever seen.
Another impressive boardwalk/lookout constructed right where you'd want it.
I'm not sure how many colours of sand and dirt there are here, but there are a lot.
This has smashed it's way into my Top 10 pics of the trip. I love just so many things about this place.
Evie trying to spot 'her' stingray. I'm not sure actually if it's in the shot, but it's there somewhere. Or so she assures me...
The boys looking a little further out to sea for some of the bigger sharks...
Cape Peron
From there a short jaunt around to Cape Peron where B, the boys and I jumped out
to have a look. Evie was having one of her moments so decided to hang in the
car, much to her loss….
Here we were able to access the shoreline that we had been
seeing from Skipjack Point (or at least the piece around the Cape from it).
Here we could touch and feel the red vs. white vs. blue of the landscape. Like
any cape, it was pretty turbulent and strong currents were evident everywhere,
with even small blow holes being in the light rock at the shoreline.
And just when I thought more colours couldn't be introduced into the coastline, this purple hue of rocks turned up to create another colour-scape. Here at the cape was different in that there was more than one colour of sand.
A shot back towards the Cape itself. Decided not to walk over there given the wind and intermittent swell.
Sam's "Red Hands in White Sand" painting
James's "White Hands in Red Sand"
Bottle Bay
Our lunch stop over, a nice enough beach but quite windy.
Evie and I had a lunch ‘date’ as we tried to work out a few little frustrations
and issues. Plus, we wanted to get away from the ‘stinky boys’. It was a nice
little lunch.
Sometimes I forget just how young Evie is, as when you look at her, she seems so grown up. Here in this shot, you'd never think she was 7 (nearly 8). I suppose in this trip there are so many things happening, so many experiences, all facets more concentrated than they'd otherwise be. This must be extremely hard on a passionate and free spirit like Moo.
Salt Lake Photos
I’ve learnt on this trip not to take the landscape for
granted and even in this red sand extravaganza, it can still change
dramatically. On the way to another bay, we took one of the tracks across the
salt lake of Lake Montbazin. An amazing contrast to the dunes and tracks we had been on.
At a push we could have been piloting a lunar module it was so desolate, notwithstanding
the salt shrub. As we stopped to look at the difference of the lake, I threw
the kids up on to the roof rack which kept them laughing and provided for a
couple of ripper shots.
"B, can you remind me to wash the truck when we get the chance?"
(That's salt for those wondering...)
I do wish B was in this shot, but then, maybe it wouldn't be the same. I really like the individual poses of everyone.
Just to clarify, Sam is standing behind the other two. But yes... Evie we think has had another growth spurt whilst on the trip.
And just like that, the tracks change colour...
Herald Bight
After crossing the lake and traversing a very rough sand
track, we crested a dune and were met with quite the amazing beach at Herald
Bite. Here the sand was a dark grey colour up to the water before morphing into
white. Getting on to the beach proved to be quite hazardous and I nearly
managed to get bogged simply turning around in the incredibly soft sand. Still
I managed to self rescue and park up over the dune with the pride intact but a
little bruised. So we walked around on this amazing beach for 15-20min or so
and admired the sheer clarity of the water.
I've seen some clear water in my time, but this was the best. Absolutely pristine...
Fascinating....
Hot Tub
Oh yes.. .I wasn’t bypassing this. A little more tolerable
today due to the later arrival time, but as a result, had to share with a few
other travellers who I doubt appreciated the noise the kids bring to a situation
like this… Still, I loved it again, and once again felt a lot better for it.
Eagle Bluff
One of the gents around the fire suggested stopping at Eagle
Bluff on the way home. Whilst not anything amazing, the boardwalk gave another
brilliant opportunity to reinforce just how quickly the colours and landscapes
could change around here. Here sheer white rock walls crashed down into the
ocean with very little red sand evident. Surely a geologists paradise this
joint?
Where's my red sand coastline gone??
A nice comparison between coast and then vastness of inland dunes and shrubs
Dinner with messy chicken on the BBQ at the camp kitchen as
we swapped tales with other families there. There’s no doubt one of my
favourite parts of the trip is the chance to talk to others also on the road,
particularly families. You get some cool tips and recommendations, as well as a
little reinforcement that you aren’t completely crazy for taking on a trip like
this!!!
Another great day out exploring Shark Bay World Heritage
area.
Even managed to tick off this big fella off on our Wildlife Bingo sheet on the way home. Poor guy couldn't scale the sides of the dirt road so basically decided that he'd make his own way and just burrowed into the roadside... An amazing creature and certainly the biggest echidna I've ever seen.
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