2^nd September: Cervantes

We came southward past Greenough and the leaning trees and Dongara and Moreton Bay figs Anyone who thinks otherwise, hasn't travelled this land at all the sand dune country around Jurien Bay and Cervantes. The roadside was a mass of flowering wattles and we are forced to remember that green and gold are rightly our national colours.!

We stopped at Leeman for morning tea where we found a park on the beach near the jetty. Obviously, a fishing village with many commercial boats in the harbour. There was no wind and the sea was flat and glassy, something we haven't seen over here anywhere.

We moved on to Jurien Bay,another fishing village but much larger. Lots of new large modern brick houses side by side with little old fibre fishing shacks! There is a large,rock-walled port, protecting the fleet as well as a new jetty and playground in town. A very nice place to spend a holiday which it is obvious many people do as tourism id the second industry with the nice white beaches and torquoise water! It was especially attractive as the wind was not blowing and the sea was gently rolling in. 

 

At Cervantes, they had us booked in for December.(Is my speech so unclear?) But there was plenty of room and so we set up camp . We're on grass! There is a small salty lake near here called Lake Thetis (after a ship that was wrecked off this coast). This is the second site we have found for stromatolites. These are a little different probably because there is no tide to contend with. There is no colour as they are all pale yellow, they are much larger, and there are many more of them! Apparently, there are many more ancient ones buried under the drifting sand dunes and it was obvious that the lake level had dropped substantially over the thousands of years as the northern side of the lake, there were a number of dead ones further up the shore. An interesting place especially with the board walk around the lake where we could view the masses of low wattles that turned the heath yellow.

Lake Thetis

A stromatolite

 The beautiful heathlands

There are a number of lookouts around here and we climbed all of them to catch views of the coastline and the heath behind. The beaches are narrow behind tall dunes and covered with “beach whack” - seaweed and seagrass which is the foodsource of many little creatures that the small fish in the shallows eat! And I just passed these piles of rotting weed as a smelly mess! There are a number of small, low, flat islands off the coast and these protect the beaches from big seas and provide the sea lions that live here in the Jurien Bay Marine Park a breeding and fishing place. 20% of Australia's sea lion live here. So far we haven't caught sight of any but you can catch an eco tour to see them. The Park stretches all along this coast but fishing, especially for the Red Lobster – a feature of this area, is still permitted in certain places.

This little lighthousewas built for the CWA as a memorial to all the men who have been lost at sea.  It is made of large bolts, nuts and washers and there is a light up in the top.