Off we go , further upwards , but more east than north - we didn't want to get wet . We're at the point in the west where you have too go east to go any further north .
Heading for a campsite we'd stayed at 2 years ago , was a great memory , and it didn't disappoint .
The highway took us through some great views , chocolate topped hills , white quartz outcrops , vast plains and the start of some wildflowers coming to life .
This one is the cockroach plant , not so much a flower but a seed pod , coloured orange with brown seeds , and really stands out .
The characteristic red sand is never far away , this dune glowed in the sunshine drawing your attention to it .
Not much further up the road was our campsite for the night - Yule River . It's part of a property , cattle wandering through and lot's of different campsites with or without shade . We took a walk down and through the coolabah trees and to the dry river bed .
One tree stood out with it's distinctive bark and leaves . It's similar to the Batwing tree we'd seen over in Queensland previously . The leaves on this one looking a bit like boomerangs .
The sun had set and left a nice wash of colour over the van .
Next day we headed for Port Hedland , iron ore capital of Australia , still as busy as ever , road trains with 4 and 5 trailers buzzed up & down the highway , trains with more carriages than you want to count , conveyor belts transporting the precious ore to the port where it is loaded into the 16 or 17 ships moored at the docks - this place is 24/7 all year , it just doesn't stop .
On the western side pot the port is Finucane Island , a boat ramp and several spots to fish / whale watch from . You'd think that all the ship traffic would scare the whales , turtles and dolphins away , but no they're still here , and lot's of them - we counted at least 8 whales moving past , slapping fins and tails .
Wildflowers grow in the limestone rock that forms the coast here .
Then we have the intense sunsets , shame about the powerlines , but that's all part & parcel of Port Hedland .
After catching up with Garry & Linda again ( we've seen more of them since they left Queensland than we had before ) we headed east again , this time was to Cape Keraudren ( pronounced Croydon by the locals ) . Well weren't we taken by surprise , 13klms off the highway but only 4 klms of gravel road , we paid our fees and headed off to find a campsite . Driving past the Cootenbrand Creek turnoff ( thought there might be too many midges down amongst the mangroves ) we found Sandy Beach . We were doubly lucky to catch it very close to high tide , and our first views were of this beautifully coloured water stretching out to the horizon . It is the western end of the 80 Mile Beach Conservation Park , and 80 Mile Beach starts on the eastern side of Cootenbrand Creek .
This was to be our view for 3 days , tough hey !!
After setting up we got into swimmers and headed down the beach as the tide was escaping .
The outgoing tide revealed some of the rocks , before more sand and more rock shelves . The tide was 7metres high and when it's out it's about 2 kilometres out to the waters edge !!
Next day we headed off to look around the creek and the cape . This was the tidal flow in Cootenbrand Creek . There's a spot where you can camp for about 6 or 7 vans , very close to the creek . There's also vehicle access to the beach - not that there's much beach to drive on .
Then out to the cape and also the end of the rabbit proof fence . It stretches from Starvation Harbour on the south coast of WA , 1,837 klms and ends here at Cape Keraudren .
This is part of Boat Ramp Bay and looks magnificent at high tide .
But quite different at low tide .
At low tide I went for a walk , checking out rock pools and the many rocky outcrops - this one was a favourite spot for this sea eagle .
The bigger pools don't have much life until you look closer , octopus like making pretty patterns on the sandy base .
Small round mesh looking balls were all over the sand - some type of seaweed .
This is where we were parked up with 22 others .
Sunsets were pretty special out here as well .
Looks like someone went berserk with a boring machine - the limestone rocks , as you can see are very porous , with plants growing in the small amounts of dirt gathered in the holes .
With all this paradise around us , it would be easy to get carried away with it all , fortunately for us the midges kept us very grounded - Lyn got smashed by them , with over 28 bites on the back of her neck in a space no bigger than your ear !!! I also got many bites , but no where near as many .
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jglG6ZfhwtFgUZg-1jL6GNmaXPR6b2O2&usp=sharing
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