Slow Lane Home

The Turquoise Coast was our final regional travels before we hit the Western Australian capital city of Perth. We took our time making our way down this section of coastline, mentally preparing ourselves for dealing with the crush of people.

It was a very nice part of the world to be exploring though.

Geraldton

We spent a few days in Geraldton and enjoyed our visit. It’s a decent sized regional town and had plenty to keep us entertained. We spent most of our time there taking it easy around the centre of town. We explored the waterfront, took in the HMAS Sydney II Memorial, found the Point Moore Lighthouse, made our way around a few local beaches and did some Christmas preparations. This included an amusing visit to their Christmas Market.

One highlight was the Museum, which had one of the most interesting displays and short hosted tour about the Batavia and other Dutch shipwrecks. It condensed 100s of years of Dutch East India Trading Company history and centuries of West Coast shipwrecks into 30mins. It can’t be bad when it kept the girls entertained.

Dongara

Dongara was great for a little quiet time. A small beachside settlement that seemed to be home to lots of professional and recreational fishers. We took it pretty easy there, either relaxing at the beach or park or exploring the area on bikes. It was nice to get back on the bikes after a break and there were plenty of shared paths that took in some of the best local spots.

We were able to ride to into Port Denison, along the ocean front and river before finding the quaint little main street. Heading a little further took us to the lookout, a playground and an alternative route back along the beach.

Jurien Bay

Jurien Bay was another lovely little coastal town. We used it as our base to explore the National Parks, but really enjoyed the local area. Our caravan park was within walking distance of the main beach, jetty and massive nature playground. We spent plenty of our afternoons and evenings there just relaxing. We also took in a few of the local attractions, with Sandy Cape and the Sea Lions being the two biggest.

Sandy Cape

Sandy Cape was a bit of an interesting one. We had set out to find the WW2 bunkers, having been given the directions “take the track to the right of the information sign, then take every left fork on the track”. Needless to say, there needed to be at least two rights at a fork as we did two big loops before giving up.

We managed to enjoy the day there otherwise. The beachfront campgrounds all looked pretty special, but were fully booked, and then evacuated due to the approaching fires. We spent a day on the beach, explored the sand dunes and lookout and swam. It was a nice day and felt like you were further from town than you really were.

Sea Lions

This has been one of the absolute best experience activities we have done so far. We had received so many recommendations to give it a go so we looked into it. We eventually found an operator that we liked and had bookings.

What an amazing day! A small boat took our little group to one of the islands where the sea lions grow their pups. The weather was so good, they took us to an island little further to get better sea lion interaction.

Dressed in wetsuits and with snorkelling gear in hand we jumped over the side to watch the sea lions swim. In our time in the water we all got to see them up close, swimming, ducking and diving in the water. They put on one hell of a show, playing it up for the people sharing their oceans. Hannah’s underwater camera even got a little bit of footage of the sea lions playing.

The ride back wasn’t as smooth, but it was a bit of a laugh. The boat was hitting the growing swells, surging over the waves. Christian continued his form, choosing a seat that got his lower half soaked. Even the skipper got wet when she mis-timed a wave.

Our time in Jurien Bay was put a little on edge by the bush fires though. They were burning very close to the town at one point, with the evacuation area only a few streets away.

Lesueur, Home of the Wildflowers

We had been enjoying the wildflowers throughout our whole journey so far. Kalbarri seemed to have more than anywhere we’d been until Lesueur. Lesueur is arguably the home of wildflower watching (in WA at least). The park is full of flowers almost year round, with the flowers changing with the seasons.

The park is setup really well for it, with an 18km drive loop (with stopping bays) which takes you through the best parts of the park. There are then a series of walks which take you through some of the different landscapes. 

We had missed the peak wildflower season, but there were still plenty of flowers on show. Kangaroo Paw was in flower which was a highlight, as was the Western Australian Christmas Tree. The bright orange flowers could be seen from a long way off.

We did one of the longer walks (the Lesueur Trail) that climbed up onto the summit of Mt Lesueur. We wanted to get a big view of the place. It was an interesting walk, we saw plenty of flowers, but as we began the climb ridiculously strong winds were buffeting us. Commence whinging form the kids, although to be fair it almost blew them over once or twice. From the top we got a glimpse of the park, which was great. We also spotted the fires that had started the previous night. They would continue to get progressively worse that day and hamper our travels a little.

The Pinnacles

The Pinnacles are one of the coolest, but also weirdest natural attractions we’ve seen so far. They are thousands of limestone pillars that emerge from the sand dunes. They are intricately detailed up close and there is a strong theory (but only a theory) about their formation which makes it even more interesting.

It’s a pretty relaxed place to visit with a drive loop taking you around the best of this bizarre landscape. You can then get out and walk around to explore these monoliths. Making the experience even more amazing is the shifting sands of the dunes are continuing to expose and re-cover the pinnacles.

Our time on the Turquoise Coast was nice. A little more low key compared to some of the other places, but that was a good thing.