Sandy Cape
We stopped in at Green Head village and picked up a few essentials from the servo come general store and headed south to Sandy Cape. Again, it was $20 per night maximum four nights, which is understandable because spending weeks here, as it turned out, would be easy as. The camp ground occupies a good slice of the coast. Some areas are 2WD and some are 4WD, and the road in from the highway was black top for all but the last kilometre. The camp sites were set in clusters separated by sand dunes and coastal heath and after a drive by, we found a spot close to the beach.
As I write this, the strong southerlies are whipping the sands off the dune tops. We are huddled like Bedouins in our caravan and even the open lee side windows are a portal for the grains to enter and coat every available surface. Why pay for dermabrasion, when a walk along the beach will give you the same result? Luckily on days like this, Jurien Bay is only 12 minutes away but we were content to stay indoors.
We had arrived the day the fire broke out in National Park near Cervantes, about 30klm from where we were and even from that far away, you could see the towers of smoke in the sky. About 2pm on the second afternoon, we get a knock on the door from the ranger “You must prepare to evacuate at short notice. The fires broken containment lines and you might have to leave in a hurry! ” Now you’d think by the urgency in his voice, that we were in some sort of imminent danger. I had to duck into Jurien Bay, and left Tamika thinking, “I hope I can get back.” So imagine the disbelief when I got to the top of a ridge half way into town and saw this way off in the distance.
What danger?? The fire front was a good 20klms from where we were staying!! What made it worse was the sight of a line of vans exiting the park, spooked by the dire warnings, most having already paid upfront for their stay. I managed to convince one carload of unhappy campers to turn around and Tamika was relieved that the situation had been grossly exaggerated.
The next day, the winds eased enough to do some exploring. There is a boardwalk and observation deck on the tip of the cape. I can only assume that they are waiting on more funds, as it ends abruptly mid-dune, so some climbing and hoisting was required to get onto it.
The cape itself is surrounded by ancient coral reefs, littered with sink holes and fissures that make for excellent snorkeling. The need to climb down to the rock shelf, 10 metres below, may have doomed this adventure but I found access from the adjoining beach and came back the next day to explore. While it wasn’t the riot of colour we had been used to, swimming down into the coral platform surrounded by fish and ribbons of seaweed certainly was just as rewarding.
Life is definitely a beach at Sandy Cape. Literally a stone’s throw from the campground, the whole scene is sub-tropically idyllic. Even the waves slapping the white sands, is straight out of Castaway. Mornings are definitely the time to laze around on the beach feeling sorry for the ‘burb dwellers. The water is refreshing and we found ourselves dipping several times a day.
On our one but last day, I took a run out to Stockyard Gully Caves, located 50klm north of Jurien Bay. You can get there from Jurien Bay along Cockle Shell Gully Rd, or from Green Head via Coorow-Green Head Rd. The last 5klm was definitely low range 4WD. It was mostly sand with the occasional rock climb. I didn’t need to reduce tyre pressure, just kept the revs up. There was parking area and toilets and the walk down to the creek bed was an easy stroll.
Stockyard Gully Cave is only one of a perhaps a hundred caves scoured out from ancient coral reefs across the plateau. There are three caves within easy walking distance. The first one is about 100 metres along the creek bed. There are a few boulders at the entrance to clamber over but it’s an amazing experience. The cave is actually a level sandy walk-through of about 200 metres. You’ll definitely need a good torch. Of course, I had left mine back at the van on the dining table where I wouldn’t forget it. The phone torch made the walk through the pitch black, that much more…apprehensive.
There are another two caves at the opposite end of the gully. The first is partially fenced off with a warning about falling rocks and the roof does look fractured. But I figured that provided a didn’t start co-eeeing , I could still walk through, reassured by other footprints leading me on.
This led me to the third cave, which was even bigger again, disappearing into darkness. Bearing in mind I was on my own, I took a bit of convincing from my ego to venture in. I followed it around bends and behind boulders until in the dim, I could see no further than a high rock wall. My ego had clearly scampered back to the entrance and I followed suite. Despite the warnings, the bees and cave bats were no problem or nowhere to be seen. So as my thrill is NOT aggravating the wildlife, the only thing I needed was some insect repellent.
We were very reluctant to leave Sandy Cape, going for one last quick swim after we had packed everything up and hitched the van. Our time was up, we had pre-booked a caravan park in Perth and we had to push on.