Alan & Lyn's Huge Adventure: A Drive to Ruin 23/10/15

Prepared early for our big days drive , we hit the road after emptying tanks at 9:15am . The drive was planned to take us south from Kalbarri , past sand dunes stretching into the distance , whales breaching in the ocean , and past industry before the wind picked up .
Not sure how much lunch to pack , fortunately we had the fridge behind us , away we went . The road was busier today , with quite a bit of traffic , we must have passed at least 15 cars , and were overtaken by a good 5 !!
The day rolled on , as we did also , we eventually found our destination at Lynton Station . We were greeted by Vic - the Caretaker , who gave us a potted history of the station and the Convict Hiring Station - yes you read correctly , you could hire your own personal convict , or several , to work for you !! Then proceeded to give us a rundown on the local area , what to see and where to go , we remembered about 10% of what he told us !!
After such a long drive , we decided to have a Bbq lunch - we'd come at least 64 klms today !!
Lunch complete and some running repairs , we headed off to Port Gregory - 6klms up the road . First we had to get past Hutt Lagoon - commonly known as Pink Lake - and boy was it PINK !!!

Carrying on , we found our way into Port Gregory - not too hard , there's only a couple of streets , and the main road leads you straight to the beach and jetty!! There were a couple of crayfish boats moored , and no other boats - must have been out fishing !

There is a fringing reef no more than 500m away from the beach , giving a sheltered coral lagoon . Its the most southerly coral reef on the mainland of WA .
It was originally to be used as a freight port , to export the lead from the lead smelter east of Kalbarri - Kalbarri was too dangerous to get in & out of The Murchison River . Port Gregory also suffered in that respect , with several ship wrecks happening when they were trying to get into either of the 2 access channels . It was also used to bring stores from Fremantle , to service the Convict Hiring Station - at least until they stopped it .
There is a pole & platform just above the sand dunes behind the beach , that an Osprey has utilised for a nesting site .

There must have been young ones in the nest , as one was at the nest and the other was on the beach having a feed on a fish , until we got too close and it flew up to the nest with half a fish in it's talons .
After walking about 500m down the beach , we came back , picking up an old juice carton and a piece of wire braid with an old fish hook attached and deposited them in the bin !
Back to the ute and we headed back past the pink lake - the road follows the western edge for a couple of klms , and drove south for about 15klms . Not finding too much , we turned and headed back to look at the Convict Hiring Station Ruins . The Station only ran for 3 years , from 1853 to 1856 . Not being entirely successful , it was decided to scrap it and return the convicts to Fremantle Gaol - it was too far to keep stocked with food & supplies .
In the time it ran , they built a gaol , hospital , officers quarters , Magistrates Quarters , bakehouse , lime kiln , blacksmiths shop and the Lynton Barn , Flour Mill and Sanford's Homestead . The buildings have all been given to WA State Govt and are slowly being restored , as much as is possible.

The Gaol

The Hospital

Magistrates house behind and officers quarters in ruins

Sanford's House , and flour mill ( the round building LHS of photo )

In Sanford's House , the kitchen and servants quarters were on the bottom floor - no internal stairs , and the main living and sleeping area above . The roof has been restored , all the doors and windows are originals , with some sandstone work being done to repair damage . We are parked about 200m from it , not far from an old thunder box !!

Most of the day was nearly done , so we sat down and enjoyed some cheese & biscuits and a beer . We took a walk up to Sanford's House closer to sundown to watch the sun set over the dunes near Port Gregory . We could also whales breaching out to sea again - at least the spray from when they hit the water . The view from up on the verandah is pretty good , you get to see the ocean , the sand dunes , pink lake and some nice flat fields in front , and sunset every day !!