THE PILBARA COAST

1^st July, 2012

We’re on the road again – continuing our journey north along the West Australian coast.  From now on we will be careful about where we swim as we are entering the realm of the saltwater crocodile and coming nose to nose with a ‘saltie’ is not high on our agenda.  Although the highway follows the coast we rarely see the ocean and in some instances the road is many kilometres from the water.  The terrain is very flat and covered with spinifex grass.  Large termite mounds dot the countryside and sometimes cluster together giving the impression of small mud teepee villages.  We pull up beside one of the mounds to get up close and personal.

A high rise termite mound

Wok has a good look around the termite mound and decides that running into one of these with your vehicle would not be a good thing.

Wok is dwarfed by this termite mound

It’s amazing to think that these tiny creatures can make such a wonderfully strong climate controlled home.  The landscape is slowly changing and rugged ridges and mesas can now be seen.

Sort of reminds one of the landscape in the American western movies

This part of West Australia is known as The Pilbara and is home to large mining and industry complexes producing iron ore, salt, copper, natural gas and fertilizers.  Referred to as the ‘engine room of the nation’, some of the world’s largest privately owned railways are located here and the region generates 25 percent of Australia’s national economy through exports, taxes and royalties.  We pass by many large mine sites and gas plants before leaving the highway at Devil Creek 60 kms south of Karratha and travel along a dusty dirt road to the coast.

Thank goodness the wind is blowing the dust away from us

At the end of the road is 40 Mile Beach Camp operated by the local shire council.  There are campsites spread out along the bay with most sites situated on the southern exposed point.  Knowing the unpredictable nature of the West Australia winds we check out a more protected spot about one kilometre to the north where there are ten well spaced sites just behind the sand dunes.  We are in luck!  A van has just vacated a prime spot right beside the dunes.  By the time the camp caretaker comes around late that afternoon we have well and truly settled in and pay a whole $45 to stay for seven nights.  The campsite is pretty basic with no power, water or toilets but does have a dump point and rubbish collection.  If we get desperate for water the Gas Plant at the highway turnoff has an outside water tap that the campers can use.  It may be bore water but it is fresh.  Our campsite neighbours tell us that the fishing is good so it looks like we will get in some more fishing practise.  In the morning we take a drive along the beach.

Driving along the beach at 40 Mile Beach Camp

We are surprised to see quite a few outcrops of Sturt Desert Peas.

Crimson with black raised centre Sturt Desert Pea

For some reason we always thought they grew in the desert (probably because of their name) but here along the sand dunes they seem to be quite at home.  Guess the growing conditions are very similar to the desert.

Crimson with red raised centre Sturt Desert Pea

There are four varieties of the Sturt Desert Pea and we are lucky enough to see two of them here - the crimson with black raised centres and the crimson with red raised centres.  There is also a white hybrid variety and crimson and white variegated which is less common.  Now that we know they are around we will keep our eyes peeled.  The wind is always a major topic of conversation amongst the campers over here and it appears there has been no break from the gusty conditions for two months.  Thankfully a couple of days later the wind drops and the ocean becomes like a millpond.

Aaahh ..... the serenity!!!!

We are enjoying ourselves just chilling out so decide to spend another week hiding away while the school holidays are in progress.  We get lots of time to go fishing and our technique must be improving as sometimes we actually catch something.  It is always fun to see what poor delusional fish is on the end of our lines and the following photos are of some that ended up as dinner.  We are still waiting for a really big one but in the meantime these will suffice.

Robyn with a Common Dart



Wok with a Queenfish



This one's a Flathead



And this one is a very sandy Yellowtail Bream

Time to move on.  Can’t believe how quickly those two weeks have gone.  Our last day spent at 40 Mile Beach is Warwick’s birthday and after breakfast he opts for a morning and afternoon of fishing.

Wok enjoying his birthday ... Just Fishin'

What a pleasant way to spend our last day here and it really doesn’t matter if we catch anything fishwise.  It’s just glorious!