Shark Bay and Blowholes

I imagine the countless wrecks along this rugged coastline of ours; laying silent beneath the ocean. Ships carved and constructed with detailed precision. The hopes of scientists, of explorers once riding high upon them.  And the fears of families left for months and years behind in their homelands.  Imagine the darkness and slow decay deep beneath the waves, the remnant treasures and the ordinary things; a shoe, a watch, a pair of glasses.  Who knows what can withstand the years within the ocean's depths. 

We visit the Sydney II Australian navy warship memorial.  Over 600 Australian soldiers went down with the ship during an unexpected battle with a German ship, the Kormoran during World War II. The Kormoran had sailed disguised as an Dutch Allied ship and the Sydney II ventured too closely to the Kormoran before realising its identity. The Kormoran too,  suffered in the battle and sank within a few hours. All those precious lives. 

I read Peter Fitzsimmons' Batavia during our travels along the WA coast. Many drowned as the Dutch East India company's Batavia became disoriented and was wrecked along the rocky coastline during a storm. Even more were slaughtered by their own countrymen on the tiny islands off the coast of Geraldton.  It describes such a terrible state of hellish anarchy amongst the stranded explorers one could almost mistake it for fiction. I wonder about the two banished sailors finally abandoned to their fate on the mainland as judgement for their sins. Where did they go... tiny men wandering in this colossal country? Did they find food and water enough to survive amongst the indigenous peoples? 

This coastline is rugged, harsh and treacherous. Still, with it's own unique beauty. The Quobba Blowholes are explosive and magnificent. A little way north we stop at a deserted beach with friends.  We wander along coarse white sand scattered with bleached white coral. A shelf of flat reef protects us from the huge swell.  We spot whales breaching out to sea; unafraid of its power.  

We camp at Big Lagoon, accessed by rough road north of Denham. The fishing fails to live up to (admittedly high) expectations but clever husband manages a generous meal of mullet which he jags using lures. We drive further north to the top of Cape Peron through old station country.  We fish and walk sanddunes along the coast past a colony of Pied Cormorants (I looked that up!). We reach Skip Jack Point where we linger scanning for dolphin and dugong, manta ray and whale. We're in luck with the dolphin. Not so much the latter. It's plain to see why this coastline fascinated explorers though many clearly paid a high price for their adventures. 

View from my travelling window.  Big Lagoon.