MORE OF DOVER - PART 3 - (FROM THE WHARF TO THE PARK) (15 -18 NOVEMBER 2017)

Now, just where the hell were we....it's been a number of days since I sat at the keyboard. Ah, yes, making our way around the Dover foreshore. 





In my last we had reached the wharf, so I'll take up the story from there with this 'refresher' shot of the far end of the wharf taken from Bayview Road (including a couple of the private boat sheds on the foreshore).

The wharf itself and associated infrastructure extends out from the car park on the point which pokes out into Esperance Bay.

A quick reminder is probably in order.

I'll return to the wharf shortly, but first let's complete the walk around the foreshore and back to our base. From the car park at the head of the jetty, the unsealed Esplanade 

took us past the Dover Sailing Club building

to a walking track which runs parallel to the roadway through a grassed park area.

Not too far further on the path leads to a paved area in which this rather odd looking statute commanded our attention.

Obviously designed to represent a sail,

the plaque at the base of this quite arresting memorial told the story.

Beyond this the foreshore path took us to the foot bridge

which crossed the creek

as it waters empty into the sea at this point through the white sands of the beach.

From here we could look back at the road bridge across which we had rambled at the beginning of this venture around the town.

The foreshore park beyond the footbridge was home to a gym station, pubic BBQ and very well appointed toilets.

A children's playground (immediately opposite the entrance to the caravan park) completed the recreational picture.......

...apart from the beach itself, seen here looking back towards the wharf

and here in the other direction. These soft white sands and the clear waters of Esperance Bay were the playground of many on the days it was not teeming down.

So let me conclude this foreshore frolic with a closer look at the Dover wharf.

Apart from the various fishing vessels which make this their base, unloading their catches and reprovisioning before again heading out to sea,

this quite reasonable sized tug (which I suspect is used by the salmon farm to move pens) can often be seen at the end mooring.

The far end of the jetty provided a good spot from which to look back over the beach in front of our park

but I had other things on my mind. As I walked back towards the seafood processing shed I detected some activity.

Sure enough, local farmed oysters were being cleaned and packed for market. The chap hard at work here was more than obliging, and responded immediately to my enquiry about the purchase of seafood by ringing his boss who was at another location.

Now for Liz and me, oysters are not our thing, but crays certainly are. Were there any on offer here for purchase direct from the processors?  Indeed there were!  By the time I had galloped back to our camp to acquire the necessary coin of the realm and had returned post haste in the Cruiser with an esky at the ready, the owner was on site. 

I soon returned to base rejoicing with two frozen crays bought for the ridiculous price of $45 per kilo (the going rate for freshly cooked cray was $100-120 a kilo). Now admittedly they had been caught some time ago, but I had a plan. Crayfish mornay was now on the menu......and although it took a bit of effort I can modestly report that the result, when I finally got around to cooking it, was sensational! 

Let me take leave of the wharf area with a final photo, one which has made the top ten in my 'great signs we have seen' list. As I wandered past this rather old Toyota waggon (belonging to a local fisherman) I spotted the sign on the rear window.

What a classic.....a sense of humour to go with sensational seafood!

In my next (and last for this town!) we take a look at the Dover CBD (such as it is) and complete our look at Esperance Bay with a walk around the southern foreshore.