DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 132

A beautiful day today saw us heading south, with Cervantes being our target for the day.

We lost contact with the broad acre farming about 50km from Geraldton. The rolling grassed sand hills continued but this time there were some dairy cattle and sheep dotted around the pastures. There were plenty of "horizontal" trees along the way.

160814 Windblown trees south of Geraldton

Dongara/Port Denison was our first port of call. These are "twin" towns on either side of the Irwin River. The area's historical past was in evidence and we passed many sandstone buildings, some of which were restored but most of which were derelict.

160814 A restored home in Dongara

160814 Port Denison from the Fisherman's Memorial Lookout

160814 Looking south from the Fisherman's Memorial Lookout

160814 The mouth of the Irwin River between Port Denison and Dongara

160814 A lookout along the beach at Port Denison.
131 steps and our exercise for the day

Thirty kilometres from Dongara we left the Brand Highway and joined the Indian Ocean Drive which goes all the way to Perth, hugging the coastal sand dunes on the way. From this point on we were driving through undulating dunes covered with acacias of varying sizes but which were in varying degrees of adornment with flowers. It wasn't spectacular from a wildflower perspective.

Over time, fishing villages have developed near to safe harbour lagoons. These are home to some of the fishermen fishing for rock lobsters. However, because they are only a few hundred miles north of Perth, they are becoming places for holiday homes. The homes are very modern and some are very, very large. Leeman, Green Head and Jurien Bay are such villages and we visited each of them as we headed south. As ever, the water was sparkling clean and a sunny day did help its cause. It is no wonder this is called the Turquoise Coast.