As we had to get to Karratha for the car to be serviced on 25th August, we had to reluctantly end our stay at Gambanan, an indigenous community east of Cape Leveque. We had been out fishing with the locals, listened to traditional stories of the area, and visited a pearl farm and a trochus hatchery. Ric had even tried his hand at traditional fishing – picking trevally up in your hands after the tide has gone out of the fish trap – where’s the sport in that? (Well let me tell you, those are very strong and wriggly.) He also caught a nice one trolling from the boat when we went out.
We stayed at Barn Hill Station the first night. Some of these far western stations have ocean frontages you wouldn’t believe. We drove along this gravel track and as we reached the coast we saw a long line of caravans and campers stretched along the water’s edge. When they run out of room, out comes the grader and clears a bit more along the shoreline to accommodate the extras. (photo).
The next day, we called in to Eighty Mile beach. It was low tide when we were there, so we saw this wide long expanse of exposed white beach covered in shells. Plenty of shell grit for the hens there Leonie. It was very windy. (photo).
That night’s stop over was at Cape Keraudren – the southern extremity of 80 Mile Beach. It is looked after by a very laconic ranger – who hadn’t had a day off since 14th March and who couldn’t get anything done because people kept coming in wanting to camp there – what a character! We would have liked to have spent a bit more time there and put the canoe in the creek that we camped at the mouth of. There were lots of fish jumping in the bay, chased by a large school of dolphins. At least they were getting a feed of the fish we would like to have a share of. Maybe next time!! (photo)
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