Well here we go - got to escape from Albany - school holidays are all but finished and everything is quietening down a bit , so we headed east - only about 80 kms , but may as well have been 280 .
Stopping at the little locality of Wellstead , there's a shop & fuel station , a few houses and a fire shed , also a very nice little campground located about 300m from the highway . What a good camp ground , gravel pads to setup on , most are drive through , so those that are doing overnighters are catered for . There's a couple of toilet/showers for use , you can get power but no water - unless you like salty bore water , but you can get water from across the road near the dump point .
There's a couple doing camp host duties - they are from Sanctuary Point , south coast NSW , and we have people in common .
We chose here because we could explore the coast from here . Wellstead is a fairly new locality in the scheme of things , farming has only been going since the 1970's , prior to that it was all bushland and fishing was the small industry here , or should I say , out on the coast about 18klms away . It was small scale dairy farming early on , that went to sheep then broad acre wheat & grain farming . A lot of the farms sold out to others in the area to create several large farms that used to be 5 or 6 smaller farms - therefore 5 or 6 families now own these properties , and have much larger land holdings .
After we arrived and set up , had some lunch , then headed out to Cape Riche for a look . The road out is gravel and reasonably well looked after , only a few minor sections of corrugations .
Driving over a hill , the view that opened before us was amazing , a large bay stretching of into the distance , beautifully coloured water & white sandy beaches - far to large to try & capture in photos .
Anyway this is the beach looking toward Cape Riche , not much out here apart from what you can see and a campground .
Off to the campground for a look , there's also a day use area with a covered area with 2 bbq's for use and tables & benches to sit on . Beside this shed is the boat launching area of the beach . We wandered down onto the beach and headed to the right over some seagrass and rocks & sand . The rocks seem to be vertically aligned and also had different bands of colour through them .
Going around the corner we found a large rock shelf and a few boulders a bit further over , sitting on the rocks were a couple of seagulls , next minute the gulls squawked a few times and a skink ( that's what they call them in WA ) shot up onto the rocks through the water , turned around at the top of the rock and looked back to where it had come from , it was joined by another one shortly after .
Well here's the culprit that sent the skinks running , look into the centre of the photo , it's not a stick , but a 5 foot long Dugite snake !! Certainly made us sit up and take notice , we were going to wander around the rocks to get round the corner - not today I'm afraid - we left that large slithery thing well alone !!
Speaking to a local about it later , he identified the snake for us , and was quite surprised that it was down right on the waterline chasing a meal , normally they don't expose themselves that much .
Here's some of the layers in the rocks .
About 1klm offshore is this small island , the locals go out and use the beach on it , as it's protected from the easterly winds . Apparently there's also fairy penguins on the island as well .
This is the view from the bbq shed - in it's previous life , it was the gutting shed for the local salmon fishermen . Much like the mullet fishermen on the east coast , when they used to spot a school of salmon in the bay below , they would whizz out in there boats with the net and round them up , and then bring them up to the shed to be cleaned & processed ready for market . It's a much quieter area now .
About 500m down the beach are some interesting cliffs , they seem to be capped by limestone , but have a softer layer , then a harder one etc etc etc .
Wellstead is only about 35klms from the Stirling Ranges , and Bluff Knoll can be seen on the right hand side . It's a different sight here in WA , it's generally flat for most of the state , but there's the Stirling Ranges , Porongorups a bit further to the south and East & West Mt Barren in Fitzgerald River NP to the east . They all stand out for kilometres and make a great viewpoint .
Back out to Cape Riche again today , we checked an old overflow camp area that isn't used anymore , then the estuary just beyond it , also the beach we were going round to before being interrupted by the dugite snake !! The tea trees are really quite thick , twisted and windblown .
This is the Eyre River Estuary , it hasn't flowed out to sea for about 3 years , so you can drive out onto it and gain access to the beach , if you so desire - we parked beside the estuary on some firm sand .
You can see the road coming into the campground at the top left of photo , that's where you get the enormous coastal vista from .
This is the island just offshore .
Aerial views are just great to show details you can't otherwise see - love my drone !!
It shows off the beautiful colours and textures of the landscape .
So after some lunch in the bbq shed we headed off back to the highway to our next destination half way around this huge bay to the east - Boat Harbour .
The track in is 18klms again , not quite as good as Cape Riche , but there's been trucks removing wheat the farms , so the road is a bit cut up . From the turn off to Boat Harbour , the track does get a bit narrower and rougher , before you get close and it becomes sandy . We made our way past the camphost's van - he's been there for the last 10 years !! - and checked out some campsites and the beach from up on a sand dune . Trevor has been camphorating here for the last 10 years , when you see his van you can see all the floats and bouys that have been washed ashore and he's collected .
We went to the western end of the beach to the other campground , there were about 8 cars there , mostly with rooftop tents . There's a day use area as well - this is the view from it .
We headed down to the right hand side and went for a climb over the rocks - keeping a close eye out for any unwelcome natives haha . There were a couple that went for a swim while we were there , but there was a cool wind blowing - wind chill would have been a major problem !
On our way out , we took a track to the left that led us up to the top of the hill on the western end , and wow , did we get the best view from up here . 4wd was required to get up here , the ute did it easily , some sandy bits , but mostly rocks and washed out track - worth the drive though 🤩.
From here we headed back down , and out , then chose to carry on to Pallinyup Inlet - a further 10 or 12 kms from our turnoff . The road started out good and had been flattened recently , well about 3klms of it before we found that stopped and the track began , generally single lane , sandy , rocky and lot's of obstacles to drive yourself around . It was slow going , but we made it to the beach . We found lots of these banksia's - gazillions of them in fact - although they look harsh and sharp , the flowers are surprisingly soft .
After our slog along the track, we came out to this magnificent view , only spoilt by a few fishing huts . This inlet /estuary also hasn't flowed out to sea since the flooding in 2017 .
There were a few people camping at the right hand end of the beach . With that we headed back to Wellstead , happy with what we've seen today and some 4wding as well .
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=10CS2n07HvI6HoZXuidg45LyVwmMWphqO&usp=sharing
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