17-21 September 2012 - Cape Keraudren

 

Came to stay overnight at Cape Keraudren Recreation Reserve, 170km north Port Headland but stayed 5 nights instead.  After driving in about 15km on a gravel road off the highway we came to this huge coastal area with a number of bush camping areas, all on the ocean or on a tidal creek.  There was loads of space and signs even ask campers to keep at least 12m between campsites. 

View from our van. During low tide, all that water would disappear.

Low tide

 


Self explanatory!  There are still a few remants of the fence visible as you wander around the area.


 

As it was turtle nesting season during our visits, there were also some sharks and crocs around, so we didn’t do any swimming in the open beach. Larry tried his hand at fishing just out from where we were camped.


Larry spent hours fishing.

The area has huge tides which meant rock pools became exposed which were safe for snorkeling so the girls tried out their new snorkeling gear. The low tides also exposed an underwater garden of coral, huge clams that spurt water when you touch them and a lot of different  types of seaweed.  Those reef shoes we'd been carting around the country finally got some use.

About to try out their new snorkelling gear.  The WA coast from here south is renowned for its clear waters and great snorkelling.  Except for the odd white pointer and rogue croc!

Now these giant clams were funky.  Up to a foot wide and if you touched it gently with your foot, it would shoot out a jet of water, so we learned not to lean over it at the same time!

 

Weird holey ground.  Hate to think what animals lived in each hole.  There were large areas of this stuff which made for challenging walking as you had to watch every step.

It was a chilled out, lazy couple of days and excellent value at $15 per night (2A + 2C). Maximum stay is 3 months and judging by some of the camps, I’d say that’s exactly how long some grey nomads stay for.   
 
Travel Tips: Three of the camping areas have clean drop toilets and two camping areas have dump points.   Midgies are bad in the mornings if there is a low tide and no breeze.  Mossie coils helped.   Full internet reception. The Ranger drove around every morning to collect fees.  There is untreated water available at the Rangers house or you can get treated water at nearby Pardoo Roadhouse for a RFDS donation.The home-made sausage rolls at Pardoo Roadhouse were pricey ($6) but excellent!

We've been doing lots of reading during the school hols.  Love this photo showing the old and the new - Larry with a regular book, Kate with the netbook, reading an e-book.

 AYear 6 English text, Somewhere around the Corner (Jackie French) has been read by all of us!