Sun, 5th Nov, 2017 Bruce & Julie’s, Jurien Bay to Tuarts Reserve, NE of Cervantes, WA (Cervantes & Stromatolites)

7.30 am 23.4 degrees, sunny. As we were getting ready to leave a swarm of bees flew over us. Bruce said this has happened a few times, once into the van!!

Bruce & Julie gave us some Dhufish fillets, cooked crayfish and Bruce’s special fish paste. I know what we are having for dinner tonight.

We drove back into town to the dump point then down to the foreshore as the land breeze was keeping the sea looking perfect this morning. People were enjoying themselves and not getting blasted by the wind. We walked out onto the jetty. Certainly looks nice when the sea isn’t all whipped up. View over Favourite Island in the north, down the beach then to the south and Escape Island and Long Island out from the point.

We had a cuppa and watched the parachutists gently come down and land on the beach.

Got the TV going to watch the hour highlights of the V8s race yesterday in NZ. It rained so much they cancelled qualifying and the grid was worked out from the times they set in the two practices – pays to always do your best time. The rain held off for the race with NZ born Gizzy winning.

Continued south on the Indian Ocean Drive to Cervantes – great entrance sign.

Turned off the main road – great wind vane and information as we head into the township.

Drove down to Thirsty Point and found a space to park the truck and van. They aren’t missing anything with this sign. Not too friendly here to us nomads though the shire has allowed some 24 and 72 hour spots well inland but at least they are free.

Walked up to the lookout on top of a sand dune. Good view over Hansen Bay to the south then around to the west over Cervantes Islands then north over Ronsard Bay and around to Cervantes township.

Zoomed in on the islands.

Good info signs and a great aerial photo of Thirsty Point and Cervantes. You can Lake Thetis in the background where the stromatolites are growing.

Good time for a selfie.

Another sign about shells – that pretty purple one I got is called a Violet Snail Shell.

Decided to go looking for some more shells. The waves are eating away at the beach on the southern side of the point. Nearly looks inviting enough for a swim!!

Continued north around the point where the beach is littered with seagrass and no nice shells. Only found this one. A small island offshore.

Back to the van. Made some lunch and had it in the little shelter shed. The sea wind had come up making the iron on the roof rattle. Obviously the morning is the only time for beach going in WA!! Pretty flowered bush.

Drove back to the Hansen Bay dirt road and turned off to Lake Thetis to check out the stromatolites.

Followed the boardwalk down to the water’s edge. Interesting formations created by bacteria – Steve has his doubts!!

A few fish came to check us out.

Continued along the boardwalk to the next sign about birds – no birds here today!!

The boardwalk turned into a dirt track around the lake. Across the other side we found a platform and info about sand dunes. Needs redoing.

I thought the white we could see was salt but it was just foam blown up by the wind.

Continued down the track to the lookout over Hansen Bay. Oh no – stairs!!

More info boards and good views – looking east to sand dunes then south then west over the bay, Cervantes Islands, Thirsty Island, the township and finally Lake Thetis.

Drove back into town and then north to the boat ramp on Ronsard Bay. Not very nice here – the sea grass is banked up high.

Parked up so we could get TV reception to watch the V8s Sunday race. Great racing with Jamie winning today and Scotty second which makes them now only 30 points apart in the championship and there is only two more races at the new street circuit in Newcastle, NSW. Should be a great finish to the season in a couple of weeks.

Back through town to the Anchor from the 1897 wrecked Europa, found in 1986.

Headed back out of town. There is an ongoing art project by members of the community. This one was worth a photo.

Headed north-east into the Beekeepers Nature Reserve South. Our camp for the night is a 72 hour free area in Tuarts Reserve (named after the Tuart trees here)10km north east of town. Only a small area with a narrow drive in off the road but plenty enough for us.

A few more ‘not self-contained’ vehicles arrived – hence the toilet paper in the bush. If they could only take it with them we wouldn’t have the problem of the shires closing down these free areas. We always drain our water onto a plant or catch it in a bucket and water the plants. It is the toilet issues that cause all the problems rather than dropping shower water. Steve is going to put a grey water tank under the van now as so many places now say ‘fully self-contained’.

No TV so back to the hard drive for a movie after a game of 3 to Kings. Steve nearly won!!

Enjoyed the Dhufish for dinner.

Sat, 4th Nov, 2017 Bruce & Julie’s, Jurien Bay, WA

Sunny morning – warming up quickly. Sent Paul a happy birthday text.

Rang Rick and Kaylene for a chat. They have decided to cancel the trip over here as Rick won’t have enough time to recover from this next operation. Such a shame but his back is the important thing now.

Steve helped Bruce with some mechanical repairs to his bus. I used Julie’s nice big washing machine and the washing dried quickly in the hot sun.

The sea wind came back after lunch – cooling things off again.

Had a nice BBQ dinner and chatting.

NO PHOTOS TODAY.

Fri, 3rd Nov, 2017 Wandoo Reserve, east of Jurien Bay to Bruce & Julie’s, Jurien Bay, WA (Jurien Bay)

8am 20.2 degrees with thin cloud.

Sky cleared as we headed back to the coast into Jurien Bay. Nice entrance into town.

Stopped at the IGA for some fresh fruit and vegies then around to Bruce and Julie’s place to park up. Backed into the high shed beside the house.

Chatted for the morning. After lunch the wind picked up again as we headed in to check out the beach etc. Should have gone to the beach in the morning!!

First we went back up the road we came in on to the only hill around where the water tanks are and the Lions Club had built a shade shelter as a lookout. The dirt road up though hasn’t been used for a while as it was quite rough. Jurien Bay, which the town is named after, was named on 1^st July, 1801, by the French expedition under Captain Baudin. The name honours Charles Marie Vicomte Jurien, 1763-1836, a French naval administrator. A reserve for Shipping and Landing was declared here in 1887. A church was built here for the Church of England in 1931 but was later demolished by the Army in early 1942 because it was of landmark value (of possible aid to a Japanese landing). Continued use of the area by campers and fishermen led to the Government gazetting a townsite in 1956. It is the centre of lobster fishing industry. The lookout is a long way back from the coast so the view wasn’t that great. Looking over the town and then over Favourite Island.

Back to the north end of the foreshore. There is a 6.5km pathway along the foreshore but no esplanade road as such. We drove into the new marina first – nice sheltered swimming area. Brought jumpers as the wind is strong and very cold again!!

Next stop was where the original jetty (built 1885) was. Over the years the foreshore as moved towards the ocean burying the remains of the jetty. No sign of any parts of the jetty but the plaque on this rock states this is the where the jetty was – a long way from the water.

We walked down to the beach and got blown backwards – you can see how strong it is by the windsock.

Found a few of these small purple shells. So pretty.

Drove around to the next park area by the beach where another jetty has been made into a snorkel trail. A really good idea.

Walked around to the new jetty reading the information about the Marine Park. Interesting to note that female sea lions only breed on the island where they were born.

More info about the snorkel trail and the foreshore.

Great photos of a sea eagle and chick.

The sun dial has a good motto.

Didn’t venture onto the jetty as we would have been blown off it.

Drove further south to Island Point. Another sign showing how the land has crept to the sea. I thought the sea was rising!!

Walked out to the point for a quick photo as we were getting sandblasted. Looking across to Escape Island then north to Long Island.

We have noticed the wheelie bins have these bases to keep them upright. With the wind that blows here we can understand why they need them.

Back for drinks with Bruce and Julie then a yummy dinner of WA rock lobster – Bruce says they call them crayfish but they had to market them as rock lobsters for the Americans. Julie also did some snapper. I must admit I enjoyed the crayfish as she did it with a nice sauce. At least I have been trying different seafood now.

The wind whistled through the garage so we closed up the van as it cooled off. Down to 14 tonight but should be 30 degrees top tomorrow.