Whilst standing eating my lunch during my rest stop in Wickepin I noticed an old wagon. It dates from the late 19th Century and was constructed from native timbers by the local blacksmith. The wagon was used to transport grain from Wickepin to York approximately 180km north. There the grain was either sold or exchanged for grist or flour. A return trip took approximately 10 days.
The other interesting building was the railway station which I forgot to photograph. Actually it wasn’t the building that caught my attention but the fact that Wickepin had a railway connection. Then I realised “of course the town would have a railway connection!” A hundred years ago the railway would have been the principle way of moving people and freight. These days the remaining active rural rail lines would only carry seasonal freight; primarily grain; from rural silos to the coast for export.
My route took me further SE passing through Lake Grace and Lake King (both large salt lakes) to reach Ravensthorpe where I joined the South Coast Highway some 200km west of Esperance. My final destination, Cape Arid; was another 160km east of Esperance and I started to realise I might run out of daylight before reaching it.
I pulled over at a rest area 60km west of Esperance to stretch my legs noticing three caravans of “grey nomads” had set themselves up for the night. I was tempted, but realised the rest area was adjacent to the highway and would be subject to the noise of passing road trains (heavily loaded lorries) during the night. Not a good place to sleep! Ten kilometres east of Esperance I made a mistake was misled by the gps! It had decided to take me the shortest route to Cape Arid along remote unsealed roads. If I had ignored her or done some checking, I would have realised it would be possible to continue for a further 135km on bitumen. This would have been both safer and faster.
Driving on remote gravel roads at nigh has additional hazards. Primarily wildlife and after a couple of close calls with suicidal kangaroos I decided I was too tired to continue stopping beside the road before raising the trailer clamshell tent and crawling into my sleeping bag.
I woke just before dawn and decided to continue on to Cape Arid deferring breakfast until my arrival. After finding a suitable campsite I set up the trailer.
Next task was to empty three of the 20ltr jerry cans full of diesel into the Isuzu. The two yellow jerry cans you can see on the front of the trailer in the photo above can be locked onto the trailer. However three of the cans can’t and as I intended to leave the campsite unattended the unsecured valuable fuel was better travelling with me. Sausages and eggs for breakfast. My first meal since breakfast yesterday.
After cleaning up I decided to fly the drone to get an idea of the surrounding country. I’m still very nervous about flying the drone. Not only is it valuable, but I have a preference for wanting to watch it rather than the image on the display. The flight confirmed my preferred fishing location should be the beach. Fishing from the rocks has additional hazards and I didn’t come equipped with a life jacket should I be swept away by a rogue wave. That’s probably slightly dramatic. If I was washed off the rocks a shark would probably get me before the life jacket saved me
I drove down the track to the beach where there was a ford
Tyre marks suggested other vehicles had crossed here however I was reluctant to simply follow their tracks. Instead I removed my shoes and socks before wading across checking the depth and feeling whether the base was firm with my feet. I also checked the angle of entry as I didn’t want the engine air intake to be submerged drowning the engine. It was quite probable previous vehicles had been fitted with a snorkel.
Having satisfied myself that the risks were acceptable I crossed and drove 2km up the beach before finding a suitable fishing spot.
The fish are all mine!
After four hours I had my first fish
A reasonably sized herring that had committed suicide by foul hooking itself on my line. After a solid day of fishing I’d caught three herring and gone through a full bag of bait. Perhaps there was a reason why I was the only person on the beach??????
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