Cape Keraudren

6th October

This pretty little nature reserve, 150km north of Port Headland has a series of turquoise bays, with mangroves on the west side and 80 Mile Beach stretching as far as the eye can see on the east side.

 

 

Camping is right on the beach.

 

There is a lot of wildlife here!! When the sun goes down at night the sand beneath our chairs came alive with hermit crabs of every shape and size.

The birdlife is abundant. There are lovely flocks of seabirds. But also, these little fiches. We woke up one morning to what sounded like rain on the roof of the van, but it was actually dozens of the finches tapping as they drank the dew off the roof.

Unfortunately, the sand-flies are also prolific!!

Of interest is that Cape Keraudren marks the end of what was once the Rabbit Proof Fence, which was once the longest unbroken fence in the world.

 

The tides here vary dramatically, particularly at full moon, which is when we were there. The water was within a few metres of our campsite at high tide and about 300 metres out at low tide.

The beauty of the tides at this time of the month is that the full moon rising over the sand at low tide creates an illusion of a “staircase to the moon”. It can only be seen in a few places on the west coast and only a few days a month at certain times of the year, so were lucky to see it.