Windy Harbour:

We left Pemberton and passed through some more green pastures and lots more forests. We were planning on staying in a free campsite along the way but when we arrived it wasn’t very nice. It was a beautiful calm day and we were only 50 kms from Windy Harbour so we decided to go there even though we would have to back track a little way.

On the way the road was lined with some massive trees until we came near the coast and then you get the coastal vegetation which consists of a thick mass of smaller bushes, hardy plants, grass trees and wildflowers. Windy Harbour is on the magnificent Southern Ocean with its
deep blue sea, crashing waves and rugged cliffs in the D’Entrecastreux National Park. It consists of a village of holiday huts and the camping area – no shops. Vantage points all along the cliff tops reveal some magnificent scenery. We set up the van and then went for a drive.
The road took us past some interesting wildflowers. Some banksias – one with a curly leaf and another variety had huge yellow Banksia flowers on it which start off like a yellow candle and end up a browny colour when they die off. There were lots of grass trees with interesting shapes.

We came to Cathedral Rock in a beautiful beach with clear water. The colour on the rock was impressive. Unfortunately the bush flies were very bothersome which made walking unpleasant but there are many cliff top walks in the area.

We then went to the lighthouse which is on Point D’Entrecastreaux which looks out over a small flat green island and a huge expanse of sea. A circular walk takes you to a hollowed out limestone rock so you can see the sea through the “window.” Around the other side of the walk you can see right down the coast. These lookouts are high above the cliffs so you can see a long way.
Then onto another lookout high above Salmon Beach where you could see the surf rolling onto the sand in white frothy lines and you can feel the power of the sea. This area is well renowned for salmon fishing.
A lot of seaweed and sea grass seems to wash up onto the beaches here and Windy Harbour was especially thick with it –and smelly.
We really enjoyed our stop off in this stunning part of WA.
From here we headed to Walpole on a beautiful day. It was quite hot. I had to do massive loads of washing which seemed to take ages. The flies were troublesome again so we were happy to stay inside and catch up on emails and showers.