Time at James Price Point (JPP)

My good mate Watto and I decided to spend a day visiting this spectacular destination on the Dampier peninsula. We got away fairly early and turned onto the road to the Dampier peninsula and JPP. When we left the bitumen and rode onto the red dirt the immediate impact was sensory. The color of the sky and the landscape changed and became more vivid. One also noticed immediately that the bush was dry. Much of West Australia is enduring a prolonged dry spell.

James Price Point shot to prominence when Woodside Petroleum wanted to level hundreds of acres here to build a harbor and gas refinery. It caused an international outcry and many hundreds of people involved themselves to either protest, camp and obstruct at the site, lobby politicians or collect signatures to send to their local members of Parliament. Even Sea Shepherd was  involved.

As you can see from the pics this place has stunning colors, has a thriving marine life and is close to the breeding ground of Southern Right Whales. At the southern end of this area turtles emerge during winter to lay their eggs on the beach at night, see pic.  Beautiful reefs exist just 50 meters from the beach where a multitude of shells live. I have seen massive clams, textile cones and many cowries when I dived there 2 years ago.

And this is the area that politics and business were happy to sacrifice for profit when there are alternate options available!!!

On this visit, my third, there are  signs still standing, maintained by dedicated protesters / campers who come here year after year to relax, soak in the natural beauty and just chill. I am sure they keep an eye on things too.

As this was my first visit in two years it was interesting to see the changes from the heyday of the protests. The major camp at the turnoff to JPP had totally disappeared. The smaller camp 2km from the coast had fallen into neglect. It had been used by campers during the winter season but was empty now. Campers fill this area during the winter months year after year. At JPP itself a few campers remained. By end of September it is getting quite hot already and the winter campers, who came to enjoy the benign weather, had gone back south over the last month.

We saw a Fish Eagle sitting in the tree and it was in no way concerned by us. The aboriginal elder / spokesperson (Janet) was no longer at JPP. She had left the place months earlier to return to Broome to live with family. I have included pics of the great spot she had used for years. Only a broken down panel van remains.

Our friend Dave still remains. He has been coming here for 9 years I think. He still rates this as one of the top spots in this area. See pics of his camp. He is known for finding dinosaur footprints amongst the rocks at low tide. There are some really good fishing spots in this area. Dave manages to catch a feed quite often.

We drove north along the coast on the gravel road to explore more of JPP. Pics of some of the stunning coastline below. At low tide many reefs emerge from the water and reveal great fishing spots. There is vehicle access to a great beach which leads to the next rocky point 9 km up north.

Also see this link:   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=144528419227958&set=ms.c.eJw9ybkRACAMA7CNOOw43%7E%3B6LUQQodYLkLJlXK2gL1%7E%3BQAez%7E_zyWzP73k8Y74OgNsQCw%7E-%7E-.bps.a.105255276488606.1073741827.100010124012478&type=3

Unfortunately I had to head back home after two more days. It was great to catch up, catch some fish and recharge my batteries.

Travelling with dogs:  We were happy to have our two Spoodles with us. They enjoy travelling and can be considered seasoned travellers. They do not present any problems and are easy to look after on a trip. They are Coffee set dogs used to going for a coffee and settling down under the table. They always order the same thing, a ‘doggy-chino’ no no, only joking, but this may be a business opportunity, a bit like a ‘baby chino’. (:-)) The only burden has been getting the sand out of them after we spent a few hours on the beach.

Coffee dogs

Coffee Dogs.. me included

Views from Cowie Beach

Fisherman returning

We had discovered a beautiful and secluded cove when we did our escarpment walk and spent some more time there in the last few days.The locals call it Cowie Beach. It is located just inside the start of Rivoli bay. See pics above.

The cliff face above Cowie beach looked like an underground cave with one wall collapsed or ripped off. When you look at the pictures below and zoom in you can clearly see stalectites and in some instances the corresponding stalegmites.

Stalectites at the cliff above Cowie beach

Stalectites at the cliff above Cowie beach

In Robe we came across a new delicious Marlborough Sav Blanc called Babich. Dawn came across some more of this wine when we were in Millicent and we consumed this on the beach at sunset, truly magic.

Babich Sav Blanc

Our second visit to Beachport revealed an attractive town. It comes across as modern, clean and organised. There is adequate signage everywhere. Large trees make for an eye-pleasing skyline. There are two good looking caravan parks with grassy sites. There also are some well-maintained stone buildings, one being the local hotel. We traveled along the Bowman scenic drive that took us out of Beachport past some spectacular seascapes. See pics

Work on Beachport boat launching facility

The Hotel

I wanted to compare the infrastructure work being done at Beachport to what was not happening at Southend. Some brochures call these two towns ‘sister towns’ as they are connected by 15 km of beach. They are at opposite ends of Rivoli Bay. However the two towns look as if they are being treated very unequally. At Beachport there is so much evidence of investment in infrastructure, just like we had seen in so many coastal towns in South Australia. Sea walls have been built and the slipway is being beefed up to make it withstand the spring tides. At Southend the sea has been allowed to wash away dunes and beach to the point where houses and cabins are now unsafe and are partially dangling in the air or perching on a precipice just shy of subsiding onto the beach. There is no evidence of any recent work being done here. Even the groynes that had been built only a few years ago are being destroyed by the sea. The neglect of conservation for this town is visible to all.

Southend beach erosion

Sorry sight at Southend

Southend: sea is about to claim a cabin

I am left wondering why this neglect is happening. In 5 weeks of touring South Australia this is the only town we have come across where no infrastructure work has been done recently. On my return home I am going to make a few phone calls to try and understand why this is so.

On the 13^th of November we travelled home, a mere 485km. Along the way we passed through Hamilton, just south of the Grampians. They always look spectacular from a distance. That got us thinking… A long weekend visiting the Grampians? Exploring plenty of 4wdrive tracks? That may be on the cards for the next trip (J)

Grampians in the distance

We are at the end of the trip and have done some 4500 km. The Southwest of this state, from Port Augusta east and south, this state is beautiful, vibrant and progressing. The South Australians are some of the friendliest people I have met in this great country of ours.

Come to think of It, we have just scratched the surface of a small patch of this massive and sensational Australia. It has many varied and diverse landscapes and seascapes across its face. We are geographically and topographically so diverse it will take a lifetime to see it all. What a challenge!