5TH APRIL 2013 – FOWLERS BAY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Today we turn off the main highway towards the coast for about 20kms, the first 14 being sealed, the remainder dirt which is very corrugated in places. Stu drives at a sedate pace which doesn’t seem to help much, so needless to say at our destination there is a certain amount of disarray in the van but nothing of consequence luckily. There is a caravan park which is small & tightly packed at the end of each day, however the owners are a very friendly youngish couple (by comparison) who have only been here 6/12’s & are obviously making great efforts to upgrade it. There is a ‘camp dog’ called Brutus who all the children adore & who attaches himself to anyone he takes a liking to & will follow them for miles down the beach if he takes the fancy. It turns out he doesn’t even belong at the camp but belongs to a neighbour. The camp fees are $28 which is more than we normally pay, but they have to generate their own power & have a bore for water. At first glance we are not too impressed by the beachfront, the quintessential long jetty for fishing & a long, long beach. Unfortunately the latter is covered by the same seaweed we have witnessed all the way up the coast which is not normal but has appeared in recent months. They will all be glad when they have a good sea to take it out again. It makes walking along the sand almost impossible due to it’s depth although it is dry & like garden mulch, (would be very good on MY garden). The area itself is very historic & has some buildings still remaining. Other than that most of the buildings seem to be deserted so we presume they are holiday homes.

Leave nothing but footprints

There is a huge headland at the end of the bay which we set out to explore next morning & get some photos, but the ‘piece de resistance’ are the amazing large sand dunes right behind the village.

Stu lost in the dunes
 

Blowin in the wind

Blowin in the wind
 

These wonderful white sandunes extend for quite some kilometres, certainly the largest we have seen though probably not the highest. We spent several hours walking among them, up & down, taking photos from every angle. Really great fun & some superb views out to sea etc. It’s easy to imagine getting disorientated. As if that wasn’t enough exercise we also walked to a large flat topped headland which also gave some awesome views. Almost everybody seems to be into fishing so we feel a bit the odd ones out. Next morning we set off for an exploration by car to another bay further along the coast. It’s all offroad & bumpy to say the least but that is what the Landcruiser is built for so without the caravan on the back it’s not a problem. It is obvious that there have been many vehicles here before with tracks through the dunes in all directions. This bay is a little more sheltered so not as much seaweed evident. On the way back to camp we realised there are a couple of small shallow lakes we had not noticed & the sun was shining on them in just the right direction. To our amazement they were pink! From one direction they were even pink & blue, so pretty & unusual. There was some sort of spongy algae on the edges so we presume they were the culprit which caused this phenomena. At sundown we were hoping to be presented with an outstanding sunset but it was not to be this time, though I must say the skies seem so much larger here & the stars are magnificent & seem so close. No colourful sunrise next morning either but can’t win them all! As it doesn’t rise till about 8am it’s not much effort to be in time.

Landcruiser in dunes
 

 

Pink Lake
 

Fowlers Bay from dunes