Cape Keraudren

---

16th June 2012

We spent some time this morning visiting the displays and shop at the Comet Gold Mine in Marble Bar. We then went to Doolena Gorge for morning tea. It's a scenic spot between two red cliffs, with pelicans, black swans and other water birds.



We had lunch at the DeGrey River crossing. This appears to be a very popular campground, there were a lot of caravans camped there. (The fact that it is free is no doubt a factor). There was quite a bit of water in the river and Alex and Mike had a quick swim.



We continued to Cape Keraudren, a coastal reserve about 180 km from Port Hedland. It is very flat and open land with low lying vegetation (very wide horizons here). We are camped at the Boat Ramp campground. There are lovely ocean views and luckily no wind yet. We had a nice walk on the beach while the tide was out. Alex and Kyle enjoyed picking up and patting sea cucumbers (the sea cucumbers may however not have appreciated the attention all that much!). Alex, Kyle and Mike also talked to some people fishing and got some advice on the local conditions. Happily, becoming vegetarian in 2008 has provided me with a welcome "get out of fishing free" card.



17th June 2012

Well turns out the "get out of fishing free" card only applies to one's own fishing, not helping kids fish. Got to start reading the fine print. It was windy this morning, which kept upsetting our three way fridge's gas operation, until Mike rigged up some shadecloth and parked the car as a windbreak. The tide was in, so we went down to a sheltered rock ledge, out of the wind, for some fishing. Alex caught a small bream and we let it go.



After lunch we went for a walk on Sandy Beach. The tide was going out, and the turquoise water, sand and rocks reached forever. Later, we came back to the Boat Ramp side and as the tide was almost completely out, we walked out to the edge with fishing rods and some oysters for a bit more fishing. Kyle caught a small bream (off his own cast), and Mike caught two cod, all of which were a bit small so we put them back. There were a number of turtles swimming nearby which kept bopping their heads up to have a look around. On the way out we also saw a blue-ringed octopus. Another "lucky to see, luckier not to step on" experience.

---