Back to the coast for a while to get away from the flies that were driving us crazy . Port Denison was our choice for a few weeks . Well when the wind finally slowed enough , we got the bikes out and did some riding - we didn't have one day without winds , this is a very windy area . The locals have been telling us it's been the coldest & wettest winter for a long time , now it's a very windy spring !!
One day we headed to Geraldton to pick up some bit's & pieces that we needed , and called into a popular surfing spot called Flat Rocks - the surf wasn't working this day .
Back in Port Denison are the remnants of an old pier , the new pier is off to the right and has a crayfish processing plant . There are many cray boats operating from here , there's also a lot of boats in the industrial area - we counted 14 on trailers !
At the southern end of the harbour is an Obelisk that's used for navigating back to port , this is just outside the break wall , it would be great to snorkel here if the wind let up . The waves are breaking on one of the many limestone shelves along this coastline - one of the more treacherous coasts for boats .
The next shots are from the lookout between Port Denison and Dongara - quite a view !!
We drove down toward Leeman & Green Head for a look at some more spectacular coastline . This is Point Louise near Leeman .
This is the view from the northern end of Cliff Head Beach , there are campsites everywhere here - you can only stay for 72hrs though , the ranger does come round & check .
From there we headed to Lake Indoon , another free campsite , it's a nice lake about 400 meters across , the water level does fluctuate quite a bit apparently . The campsites are okay , but there are a lot of overhanging branches from large gumtrees that could cause some grief - they are certainly too low for us to get into some spots .
Off to Eneabba , a small village on the Brand Hwy , there's also a free camp here - it's an RV friendly town . Stopping to take a few photos of the wildflowers , we were nearly carried away by the flies , there were thousands of them !!
Another day we had a drive out toward Mingenew . We followed the water pipeline along for quite a way then turned toward Mt Horner . They used to get oil & gas from here , and there are many old oil rigs fenced off around the place . There is a gas field just to the south of Dongara that is still in use .
Pulling off the road near Mt Horner we drove up a track and found more wildflowers .
This is Mt Horner .
Back to the van and we had a dramatic sky for sunset today .
After a few weeks at Port Denison , we headed south to Cliff Head . The southern free camp was tucked in behind a small ridge with some reasonable sized trees . This is our view to Cliff Head and the beach .
Not a bad spot for the next 3 days .
Sunset turned it on for us as well .
Off to Leeman the next day , this is a private jetty beside the main public one . The seagulls were taking advantage of it to get out of the wind that's still blowing !!
From Leeman we headed out to Stockyard Gully , there's a cave out there that is worth having a look at . After driving off the bitumen onto a freshly graded gravel road , we thought we'd timed it perfectly , then that road turned 90 degrees and we were left with a 4wd track to the cave . It was very sandy in places and also very rocky on others , but we persevered with it and arrived at the walking track to the cave . A couple had just come back out , telling us we needed to have a torch as it's pitch black in there ! Fortunately we had 2 in the ute - one we found at Meekatharra on the way down , and another that we hadn't used for quite a while - batteries in both were a bit suspect , but we also had our phones as a last resort . The walking track takes you down to a creek bed that you follow for about 300m to the cave entrance . There are some impressive river gums here .
Near to the entrance there's quite an overhang , wild bees are building hives off the overhang , and they were massive !! There were 6 that we could see , here's a couple of them .
This is the cave entrance , and you could feel the cool air coming out of it about 10m away from it , the flies also disappeared at about this spot as well - double bonus !!
Wandering into the cave was like walking into a coolroom , fortunately it was 29 degrees outside and about 20 inside . Torches are definitely required , and although the batteries were low we found our way in . Not knowing what to expect we carried on deeper & deeper , thinking we'll go to the next corner and turn around . Well around the next few corners we finally started to see some light , so kept on going , the other end of the cave appeared . It was an easy walk on river sand the whole way , there was only one spot where there was some rock hanging down from the roof , that we had to dodge around . It was about 500m through the cave , so a pleasant walk .
Apparently stockmen used to use the caves for an overnight stop - there was usually water there - not today though . Back through the cave again and had lunch in the ute as there flies were crazy again - should've had it in the cave !!
We headed off to the north on another track that was full of sand & rock - definitely 4wd territory , coming out near Lake Indoon again .
Back to the van and I took this shot at full zoom and then enlarged it a bit , to find we had a gas drill rig in place - didn't know they were this low down the coast .
Sunset turned it on for us again each night , this is the 2nd night .
This is the last night - spectacular!!
Earlier today the wind hadn't started to blow really hard yet , so I got the drone out for some aerial shots .
This was us at the bottom of the photo .
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bp0fgiFGtd3ThhjSRKg0tbsHUbwnmiF1&usp=sharing
