By Adrian
Leaving Laverton we opted to head to the coast rather than an inland route through the wheat belt. Our route took us west to Leonora and north to Leinster for the night before we could turn west for the coast.
Leinster was our first mining town catering almost exclusively to fly-in fly-out workforce from the local mines. It worked well for an overnight stop: $20 for a powered site, wide variety of food at the pub, and no reason to linger in the morning.
A visit to Mt Magnet was mandatory to acquire a Mt Magnet fridge magnet for Fi’s fridge magnet collection. Grids on the road announced the start of ‘sheep’ country. We spotted an occasional lonely sheep searching for feed where once there had been grasses. Now devoid of ground cover plants we had perhaps found the Australian desert.
Our habit of searching Wiki Camps for an appropriate overnight stop near Geraldton revealed a highly rated farm stay with a tour of the animals. It turned out they rescued injured and unwanted animals from ostriches to kangaroos. They all expected us to feed them and we spent a pleasant morning learning about their background whilst handing out breakfast.
The coast beckoned and after passing a pink lake we bypassed Kalbarri which was recovering from a recent blow, and made for Denham on the edge of the Francois Peron National Park. Unpowered sites are often ‘a field down the back’ but here we had absolute beach front with an uninterrupted view of our first sunset over the ocean.
Our tour the next day was with ‘Capes’, a local man who had grown up in the area when it was a goat farm and later helped the area gain National Heritage listing. After a short drive and introduction to the area we kayaked through the shallow turquoise waters of “Big Lagoon”, stopping to identify animal tracks, take in the views and learn how the native animals were returning to the area as in the invaders were being removed. Who knew that echidna tracks head away from their destination?
We spent the day like this, kayaking and learning about the area. We saw sharks, rays and fish, and the odd kangaroo. We went for a cooling swim in the turquoise before working out kayaking muscles and getting back to land for a fresh cook up of locally caught snapper and salad. Each time we landed we were introduced to the country as its not good to surprise the country.
The next day was moving-on day and we headed back down the peninsula stopping in at the beach made of shells. Next stop Coral Bay and Ningaloo Reef.
