We woke to a beautiful day today although the southerly breeze had a chill to it. It reached 20 degrees so we were in raptures after yesterday's buffeting. We were ready to go, fuelled by our beautiful dinner of Saint George Whiting last night.
Today we left the van at the park and headed south from Streaky Bay to do the Westall Way Loop Drive and then further south to Sceale Bay and finally to Point Labatt.
Highlights today were the rugged coastline and the sea lions at Point Labatt.
The coastline comprises sandy beaches, limestone cliffs of varying heights overlaying a granite base eg The Granites and Smooth Pool and in some places, brilliant white sand eg Yanerbie Sand Dunes.
 |
| 071014 Tractor Beach with sea grass covering the sand |
 |
| 071014 High Cliff |
 |
| 071014 Looking north from High Cliff |
 |
| 071014 The Granites - a fine point surf was running today |
 |
| 071014 Point Westall - we went right to its end |
 |
| 071014 Point Westall looking north |
 |
| 071014 Looking across to Speed Point from Point Westall |
 |
| 071014 Looking south from Point Westall |
 |
| 071014 Cliffs north of Point Westall closer up |
 |
| 071014 The two lane highway to start the road to Point Westall |
 |
| 071014 The bumpy road on Point Westall - low range trip |
 |
| 071014 The tip of Point Westall |
 |
| 071014 Smooth Pool |
 |
| 071014 Yanerbie Sand Dunes - mostly the sand has been cream coloured |
 |
| 071014 Point Speed - our lunchtime view |
Behind the coast there were low flat areas which formed quite large salt lakes.
Baird Bay, inland from the Calca Peninsula, is huge and very shallow. It provided many beautiful views of the turquoise water, so common when the clean, clear water and the white sands combine.
 |
| 071014 A very shallow Baird Bay |
 |
| 071014 More of Baird Bay |
The sea was much more placid than yesterday and several surfers were riding the point surf at The Granites.
 |
| 071014 Surfing at The Granites |
It was great to see a colony of sea lions sunning themselves on the beach at Point Labatt. We could not get near them. The cliffs are quite high there. It is a breeding colony, the largest in Australia, and there were some young ones there.
 |
071014 From the top of a very high Point Labatt.
Australian sea lions , are the specks dead centre |
 |
| 071014 RHS of Point Labatt |
 |
| 071014 South from Cape Labatt |
 |
| 071014 An Australian Sea Lion at Cape Labatt |
 |
| 071014 More sea lions basking in the sun at Cape Labatt |
 |
| 071014 Mother sea lion and pup at Cape Labatt |
Our day finished with a visit to Murphy's Haystacks. These are inselbergs* of a pink granite spreading haphazardly about in a field of wheat.
 |
| 071014 Murphy's Haystacks - an example of an inselberg |
 |
| 071014 More of Murphy's Haystacks |
*An inselberg is an isolated hill, knob, ridge, outcrop, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
|
Today's trivia: Local legend says that Murphy's Hay Stacks acquired its name from an Irish agricultural expert who saw this landmark in the distance whilst travelling on a coach. Apparently the learned Irish gentleman was very impressed and informed his fellow passengers that the farmer must have harrowed his land to produce such a great abundance of hay! Well, by now you must have guessed it! The original farmer of the land was a Mr. Murphy and to this day the landmark is known as Murphy's Hay Stacks.
We have passed so much wheat this trip we thought a picture might be worth a thousand words.
 |
071014 Wheat at Murphy's Haystacks
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment