The day had come at last... we were on our way north out of Perth to begin our adventures up the west coast of Australia. I suspect I may have been a little harsh in my criticisms of the capital of the West. Many areas of suburban Perth are most amenable to quality living....it was just that we were not in one of them! And there is no doubt that the Swan River is an absolute gem. But enough of that...we were off.
We created our own little bit of traffic noise and made our way along a previously travelled route through the northern beach suburbs, past Yanchep and Two Rocks and out into the open countryside. This was new territory from now on (and it is still a buzz!). Two highway options presented....the coastal Indian Ocean Highway or the more inland major highway to the north, The Brand. These actually join just south of Geraldton.
We chose the more coastal route, which itself runs through the northern wheatbelt districts for some distance.
And in many of the open fields, stands of 'blackboys' are thick.
Within an hour or so the countryside began to change. The wheatbelt paddocks gave way to sandy hills, and as this sign passed by we knew we were well into the coastal country north of Perth.
We cannot stay at Lancelin....the caravan park there is not pet friendly, but we had heard much of this little seaside town and decided to poke our noses in for a peek in any event.
This is certainly sand hill country....the gleaming white sand of this part of the coast. And, as we later discovered, much of it is on the move.
Off the highway we turned and made our way along the Lancelin entrance road from where we could see the ubiquitous seafront Norfolk Island pines proclaiming the presence of the town.
This was a whistle stop visit. A quick stop on the Esplanade under the rather glowering sky which had been our meteorological companion since we left Perth
gave us the chance to look out over the small harbour in this cray fishing and tourist town.
An inshore reef runs along the coastline for many kilometres in this part of WA, and here in Lancelin its presence but a little distance from the beach was clearly evident. These reefs are habitat 'mecca' for the western rock lobster and most of the towns and villages along this coast host cray boats in varying numbers.
I have since learnt that there is no closed season over here....cray fisherman are constrained only by the limits of their allotted quotas which means that fresh specimens of this tasty crustacean are available throughout the year....apart from the vast majority of the bigger ones which are all flown off (live) to China and South-east Asian markets where, as is the case in South Australia, the ridiculous prices they fetch make the home market equally expensive.
We left Lancelin by way of the main street
where I was amused to see the name bestowed on the local 7 day convenience store. We rather suspect 'Have a Chat' sets to tone for the general pace of life here in Lancelin.
Next stop, Cervantes. About 100 kms to go. Thick coastal heath lined both sides of the highway out of Lancelin,
and it was not long before we were surprised to come to a stretch of low hills,
and even more surprised to pass a small local wind farm.
There were patches of irrigated pastures on the slopes of the hillsides off to our east, but in no time at all we had traversed this productive oasis and, as the highway again veered westwards, at last we were presented with the vista we had come to find.....
the sand hill lined shoreline of the Indian Ocean. What a change from the noise and bustle of Perth. We were relaxing more and more by the minute!
And the sand hills were not restricted to the shore. This long, dazzlingly white ridge of shifting grains was on the other side of the highway. We had sighted it some distance away, and it is so white we initially thought it to be a low cloud formation. It was not until we were much closer that its true nature became apparent. This is spectacular scenery indeed.
Just under three hours out of Perth and the clever multi-panelled 'Cervantes' sign on the left of the highway heralded our arrival at the town in which we had chosen to spend the next nine days. Unfortunately we then have to vacate in favour of those who have booked the park out in its entirety over Easter.
But we were not quite there just yet. Two kilometres to go.
And here we were. We were to discover that this rather rustic sign of welcome is typical of this delightful small fishing and tourist town.
The dry verges of the entrance road suddenly became a short splash of bright bougainvillea colour
as we passed the local oval.
Beyond the oval, just before we veered of Seville Street into Aragon Street, we came across the local service station which stands at the junction. If we had been in any doubt as to the fact that this is a 'cray' town, the sign on the 'servo' dispelled that. How often does a service station offer 'crayfish meals' (and it is BYO after 1700!)
Cervantes certainly relies heavily on, and caters well for, the tourist trade. And why would it not? It is the closest town to that extraordinary natural phenomenon, The Pinnacles, a mere 15 kms away. Much more of them later.
We drove on down Aragon Street past the impressively large Pinnacles Motel,
and the Cervantes Country Club on the opposite side of the road
before reaching the grassy, tree lined Cervantes Memorial Park.
A few more metres and we had arrived. The Cervantes Pinnacles Caravan Park looked to be
as well set up and accommodating as the website had promised....and as I have often lamented, this is unusual. The office building also houses the 'Seashells Cafe', an establishment which later that day provided me with a more than acceptable hamburger lunch, but, typically for WA, at a price....$18.00!
But for now it was check in and off down the roadway past some of the myriad of on-site vans which abound in this park,
past the fish cleaning station (which I am pleased to say I later graced on more than one occasion, scaling knife in hand)
Sadly for us, given the fact that the park owners have gone to great lengths recently to re-establish many beautifully grassed sites, our van was too long to be accommodated on one of them...we were allocated one of the two park 'drive-through' sites which are still bare, rocky and sandy.
Mind you, this is only a drive through if there is no-one in the site behind. After some time spent in a futile effort to back on (the large tree at the front of the site and the proximity of the amenities block on the narrow roadway made this impossible), I was about to take another approach when we were told that the post at the rear of our site could be removed. Fortunately the site behind us was unoccupied...a quick circuit and I was able to drive on. Getting off may be tricky but that's in the future.
With our big C-Gear anti sand floor down, the shade cloth up, we were soon settled, although bashing tent pegs through the limestone rocks of the front of the site was a challenge!
I will actually put up with quite a bit to be right on the beach but sheltered from the worst of the wind...and here in Cervantes that is exactly the case. More of the park, the beach, the town and fishing in the next bulletin.
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