It was now high time to say farewell to the city lights, so we packed up and headed west.
We were all longing to get back to a night sky full of stars, the freedom of scrambling along empty beaches and to falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves.
So when arrived (late as always) at Hopetoun (a small and very pretty
town through which you enter the east side of Fitzgerald National Park) we were
somewhat disappointed (to put it mildly!) to discover that half the roads into and around the park
are closed for ‘improvement works’. According to a friendly local at the town’s
playground, a grand improvement plan for the national park has become stuck
fast in messy political battles between the local government, traditional
landowners and commercial interests. As a result, large chunks of this fabulous national
park have remained inaccessible for THREE YEARS… And we thought Hobsons
Bay politics were bad… Hopetoun locals are understandably unimpressed because
tourism into the national park has always been an important source of income
for them. Fortunately (I suppose…) a nickel mine has opened up just down the
road which has led to the town tripling in size in just 18 months. So maybe they won’t
lose too much sleep over the road closures…
We were disgruntled but threw our
shoulders back and followed our noses to
a free campspot next to a local beach. Here we cooled our heals, ate
massaman curry and slept peacefully through another rainy night. Next day we headed to the west side of the park, stopping again in Hopetoun
to take full advantage of their fabulous playground, good coffee and picnic
tables for lunch and school. Eventually we found our way to Pt Ann (or St Mary’s Inlet) and it was well
worth it – another beautiful spot with wild beach and quiet inlet. The camping ground is inaccessible to caravans so there were only 2 other tents there and they were
right down the other end so we felt like we had the spot to ourselves. Heaven. We were also impressed with the drop toilets here (despite the appearance of a small black snake on the second day) – the building was made of
such a strong and lovely smelling wood that all not-so-lovely toilet smells
were almost completely overpowered. Ingenious! On the indelicate subject of pit toilets, Sash has developed a fascination with shining the torch down the toilet during after-dark visits and giving us lurid descriptions of what he spies - kind of funny for us but perhaps not so amusing for any other folk who are unlucky enough to overhear!
During our first day at Pt Ann we spent a lovely
afternoon fishing, running around the beach and building the biggest sandcastle
ever (forgot to take a pic so you’ll have to take my word on this). Next day,
Kate and Sash walked to Pt Ann and around the point. The walk goes along the
rabbit proof fence and then to several windy lookouts at which we ate apples
and muesli bars and tried to stop eachother from blowing over the side. We eagerly scanned the horizan eagerly for whales but knew in our
heart of hearts that it was too early. We have heard since that had we been in
Pt Ann in about 3 weeks time we would probably have seen about 40 whales at
this spot! A lovely walk even without the whales. Sash is quite keen on
spotting wildflowers and will not budge until Kate takes a photo of each and
every one. Hence, the pace is sometimes slow but we both enjoy our rambles and
chats.
Meanwhile back at
camp, Zara and Bill wagged school because they were busy preparing Mothers' Day
surprises for the next day… Peanut butter slice adorned with an ‘M’ made out of
cereal flakes (we have to use what’s available…), a heartbreakingly beautiful
card and poem, Zara’s famous homemade lemonade and plenty of cuddles! What more
could a mother ask for? Their loveliness was particularly sweet on a day when I can't help but feel
the loss of my own amazing mother.
We could have stayed much longe in this glorious spot but the Karri forrests of the South West were calling...
Aw, adorable!
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