As the weather was pleasant and we felt like exploring a nearby area which we hadn't previously visited we decided to go to Wingan Inlet on 17 September. Here is the route we took. According to Google maps this is 85.6 km and should take 1:39, depending on traffic. We felt it unlikely there would be any traffic issues once we turned off the Princes Highway
The road from the Highway to the campground was 35 km, with occasional distances painted on the trunks of trees. The road was in quite good condition so I trundled along at about 80kph. I noticed a marker for the Wingan Link Track and thought that if it was open it would cut off quite a bit of distance.
This water trough was a nice touch at the campground. Presumably it is gravity fed from a creek somewhere. A sign did say not potable.
We decided to take a walk to the beach (and once we got there, along the beach). The walk was rather good, with omly a few bits of timber across it to be inconvenient.
As we walked along close to the water we were surprised to see a bloke fishing in the Inlet. He seemed surprised to see us as well! At the end of the track we had a good view out to the Skerries.
They were well endowed with seals!
Also a few Black-faced Cormorants - arrowed. (Later I noticed a lot of Silver Gulls and Cormorants roosting on the rocks, but didn't take a photo.)
While looking out the fisherman came past us. He chatted for a while - probably hadn't had anyone to talk to for a few days! He had been working in the ski fields. but that job had run out so he was off to his next work, in Melbourne. He was headed to the mouth of the Inlet where he had caught some Salmon on the Saturday.
This is Rame Head. The walking track goes over the ridge on the inland side. It was named by Cook as it resembled a feature on Plymouth Harbour. From Google Earth it appears to be 71m high - but looks a fair bit more than that.
Some of the rocks at the end of the beach.
There were a lot of empty shells washed up at the end of the beach and some live shells on the rocks. The arrow points to a large, live, Triton just in the water. The iNaturalist system has identified the shell as
Charonia lampas (
Knobbed Triton Snail).
There were a lot of Oysters and Sea Anemones on the rocks visible as low(ish) tide.
A cache of washed up, and largely broken, shells.
A selection of shells laid out below a notice. This would probably piss-off Parks as the shells had been moved from where the ocean had dumped them.
I have submitted this to iNaturalist which as frequently happens proposed an African species. It is some form of everlasting but I can't sort out which! The iNaturalist system has confirmed
Coronidium elatum White paper daisy.
This puzzled us as the flowers were the colour of Indigophora but appeared to be growing on a vine rather than a shrub. There I unravelled the vine a little and there were Indigphora leaves.
Back at the picnic area I spoke to some people about the Wingan Link Track. They assured me it was open and the crossing of the river was on a big concrete bridge! Here is the view from the middle of the Bridge, looking upstream.
The blue line in this shows the route back along the Link Track. The red dashes show roughly the way we came. The green dashes are the Link Track itself. It took 22 minutes for that section. According t Google Maps the way back was 81.6km (so saved 4km) but would take 1:36 (adding 7 minutes). It was certainly slower driving on the track: 40-50kph as it was rather narrow with lots of blind corners: also a lot of fallen branches which made loud bangs on the underside of the car. West Wingan Rd is the go when we return!
