Fitzgerald River NP is one of my favourite places to visit, so far on my journey. It is a large and remote park divided into eastern and isolated western sections by rugged ranges that plunge into the southern sea forming a wild and treacherous coast.
It is not surprising there were a large number of shipwrecks along this shore.
I had been to the west side of this park previously, so I thought I would check out the east side. The Four Mile Beach campground in this part of the park is totally civilised as it is pretty close to Hopetoun, a pleasant little town on the south coast. No dirt tacks here, with beautiful bitumen roads and even a hot shower. Which is lovely, but it is perhaps a bit too civilised for my liking (although a hot shower is nice to have…)
I spent a couple of days just chilling here (literally, as it was totally freezing at night). There is a nice walk along this beach to the next cove, known as Barrens Beach, which nestles underneath the rugged and imposing East Mount Barren. The view along this unforgiving coast from here, as shown in the main photo above, was totally spectacular.
My evening wine at this peaceful spot was shared with some sea lions gliding through the surf, which was wonderful to watch.
It is quite a long drive from one side of the park to the other because you have to go the long way around through the remote hinterland. There is a minor dirt road that offers a bit of a shortcut, so I set off along that. It turned out to be a pleasant drive through the centre of the park, which you usually don’t see if you stick to the main roads. This track had some corrugations but otherwise it was a nice drive.
This park is home to the spectacular Royal Hakea, which adds amazing colour to this park
My next stop was Mary River campground, which is about 80km from the main road, so fairly remote. I had stayed here before, during the summer and I came back because I liked it.
This spectacular place has everything you want to enjoy a visit here. The beautiful bay with crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, impressive mountains forming a backdrop to the turquois water, amazing cloud formations and all for $8 a night camping fee!
Oh, did I mention that there are whales, too?
It is actually a favourite hangout of migrating whales that have spent the summer feeding in Antarctica. Now, as it gets pretty cold down there, the whales head north to warmer waters to calf. And they enjoy having a bit of a rest and a frolic in the clear shallow waters of this bay.
And indeed there are whales! You do need to be patient, but every so often one of these giants of the deep whacks its tail on the surface or just lounges in the sun with a pectoral fin held aloft.
Whale tail… Splashing out to sea gives away these magnificent animals having fun in the sun
The whales are still a long way out, so the 2000mm zoom lens on my Nikon camera came in very handy here.
Just catching some rays…
Because the weather was so beautiful, many birds and insects were enjoying the sunshine.
Welcome Swallows were hanging out in a picnic shelter nearby.
New Holland Honeyeaters are noisy neighbours, constantly chattering in the coastal heath.
Beautiful butterflies were feeding on some early wildflowers
There were also some Western Grey kangaroos enjoying a morning feed in the campground. These guys are used to people; they were more interested in having a good scratch than worrying about me.
So, those are the nice bits. The nasty bit is that I discovered there are also feral bees here. Now, these bees are around many places, but I have never had a problem with them – until now. Suddenly I was attacked, totally out of the blue, while I was enjoying the view and these mongrels go for your face! I was stung by one kamikaze bee, just next to my left eye, which hurt like hell and inspired some very colourful language on my part!
Several other bees joined in the attack and I beat a hasty retreat from the lookout, but that put an end to my whale watching for the day. I withdrew to my camp, which was about a kilometre away, as I needed a mirror to see to remove the sting that was still stuck in me.
Luckily I am not allergic to bee stings but a liberal application of ‘Soov’ insect sting relief did absolutely nothing for pain respite. Eventually in the early evening I resorted to red wine, which actually worked wonderfully!
Sunsets at this beach are over the dunes and the last rays of the sun catch the spectacular hills across the bay.
As it was cloudy, I wasn’t expecting much of a show. But the sky didn’t disappoint, providing a splash of spectacular colour to compliment my red wine.
