Day 5 – 9 (Wed to Sun) – in Dongara

We originally booked into Dongara for 3 days but after the third day we extended for a further 3 days. Dongara is now a major crayfishing (lobster) spot in WA. It is a pretty little town that was a key trading and supply port to the Fremantle colony in the very early days of the Western Australian settlement when sailing ships plied the waters. The main street is lined with magnificent 102 year old Moreton Bay Fig trees.

The Seaspray Caravan Park at Dongara is very pleasant. It is right on the beach. The first night the owners put on 3 good sized Snapper so having some fresh fish was fantastic.

The Irwin River reaches the sea here and at present is blocked by a sand bar forming a nice lake that is great for birds. There were about a dozen black swans in the estuary. We wandered around the estuary and down to Port Denison which is about an 8km walk. Along the way we came across a large group of pink and gray galahs resting in the trees.

The weather in Dongara wasn’t very good. The strong winds continued and it was still cold. We had patches of sun on the last few days but most of the time it was cold and windy as you can see in the picture of Brian. Even though the weather was not very good we still had a great time. A lot of it was spent walking around town. We only used the car one day while at Dongara to pick up groceries and alcohol. Anne got a chance to get her sewing machine out and using it in the van has worked out pretty good. Brian has to perch on the end of the bed to use the computer which is not too bad so we will need to think up a few different options for that. You can see the laptop perched on the small bench just above the sewing machine.

On Monday we left Dongara for Kalbarri with a visit to Horrocks and Port Gregory on the way. We ended up staying at Horrocks.