Cape Keraudren and Cleaverville
Cape Keraudren is “famous” for being the northern end of the Rabbit Proof Fence that runs some 1834km from Starvation Bay down on the southern coast of WA. Built in the early 1900s to keep rabbits and Melbournians from over running WA and spoiling it for the residents. In it’s day it was the longest single fence in the world .
We were joined for a few days by G&T , no not a Kate alcoholic bender but Georgia and Tyler our buddies from Barn Hill.We had a few hoots and scoops with them.
Drone footage and a few photos -follow the link
Tyler and I spent an hour or so harvesting rock oysters at the spot where the fence enters the sea. With a claw hammer and butter knife each we got into a rhythm and managed a fair amount each. Probably about a tenth of the size of a small commercial oyster but they tasted so good . I had plans to cook with them but they didn’t last long enough.
We were lucky enough to be able to get signal from a view point near our van to watch the first British and Irish Lions test against South Africa.
Fishing was not bad with some blue nose threadfin and trevallys . Caught my first of what turned out to be 7 wolf herring . Super silvery colour but the plaudits end there , slimy , smelly and have teeth like Janet Street Porter that extend beyond their mouths. Sorry for the poor pictures but we were in a hurry to get them back in the water .
Kate found her favourite Gin of all time(Larios from Spain) in a remote roadhouse . We haven’t been able to source this in Australia before. I asked the owner why he stocked it and he told me that his licence only allowed 700ml bottles and this was the only one he could get !
Onto Cleaverville which is in between Point Samson Karatha and Dampier all in existence due to mining/moving iron ore. Despite the industrial background its an amazing place with pristine beaches and typically rugged Pilbarra rocky coastline .
Again our time with G&T overlapped which was brilliant , we had a couple of days together at the campsite then we met up at a craft brewery in Karatha where Tyler taught me how to drink pints …..
The wind really got up up each day and made everything lust a little more difficult . Fishing was good with catches of school mackerel supplemented with queenfish and Mangrove Jack . On a couple of calm days my lure was followed in by Spanish Mackerel between 1.5 and 2 m long . Definitely the biggest fish i’ve seen apart from sharks however they just weren’t interested enough to get on the hook so are still on my bucket list . They are marvellous creatures and move so quickly it takes your breathe away .
Keeva made a cute little mate too
Kate and I had a nice little day out to the Mermaid pub in Dampier to sample their sparkling and Swan Draught.
We decided to go for a drive on a particularly windy day . Ended up driving along the edge of a salt pan . The track petered out so i tried to hang a Uey and found a nice soft spot ! Time to put the winch through its paces . Compared to shovel and recovery tracks it was a breeze .
