The D'Entrecasteaux National Park

The low coastal scrub leans predominantly to the north, perhaps seeking warmer climes but actually because the prevailing southerly winds that blow from the great Southern Ocean demand it! There are days with no wind, apparently, but for sure we shall not see one . A break in the scrubby dune we have followed a little reveals a narrow road, "Walking Pace" declares the sign, winds between huts, humpy's, shacks, shanty's and lean-to's. Fibro, corrugated iron, cement board, raw timber all painted in varieties of blue, dark blue, light blue and differ hues of blue, oh, and fawn, white, grey and an occasional splash of red. Strangely all is quite picturesque as this strip of habitation inhabits the flat between the road dune and a larger dune on the ocean face.

The flat provides two parallel sandy gravel roads lined with small buildings along its length, pinched in the centre allowing for a campground of indistinct size and configuration. A toilet block here, water tank there, round topped electrical posts scattered like confetti, tyre tracks as roadways, sign says "Office open 7-9am and 5-7pm, other times park somewhere and pay later". A town with no pub, no supermarket, no café.....no Skinny Caffé Latte with "ethically sourced Arabica beans", hold ....no phone reception, no internet, no FaceBook telling what your friends had for breakfast or what is their latest ailments, fetishes nor poor attempts at recognition! Sounds like heaven, and so many, many people think that, as this sleeping hollow swells from a few dozen to over a thousand when the hoards invade.

Return through the dune and begins the blacktop, heading west towards the headland, the scattered clouds race the ocean whitecaps all running northward from the wind, seemingly all in harmony with the low scrub clinging to the steep headland slopes. The car doors need help against the consistent wind and slam shut when left to their own will. Dramatic coastline to both horizons boarded to the south with deep blue ocean, the north with multi shades of green and grey. A cool freshness from the Southern Ocean, both uncomfortable yet invigorating compels you to stay yet seek shelter. Like Irish coast, Alaskan coast, the North Sea, raw and splendid, this was the D'Entrecasteaux NP!