Dirk who??
- chockings59
- Oct 30, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 8, 2024
Friday morning and we were on the barge heading to Dirk Hartog Island at 6.15. We were the first car and van taken over to the island. Pete reversed off the barge, we headed up the beach over the sand dune and into the rising sun .... then along the narrow single laned track (about 24km) to Homestead Bay campground where we had a site booked for 7 nights.
The island sits within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, is about 80 kilometers long and between 3 and 15 kms wide. There are six designated camping locations around the island, facilities ranging from nothing to very basic, most of which are located on either the eastern or northern sides of the island. The numbers allowed on to the island at any one time is limited to 8 vehicles.
The island is full of history with the first European being Dirk Hartog in 1616, followed by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697. Hartog climbed a cliff and nailed a pewter plate with the details of his arrival into a cleft in one of the rocks, this plate was removed by de Vlamingh who replaced the plate with one of his own. The new plate contained the details of both his and Hartog’s visits to the island. The original plate is now on display in Amsterdam, de Vlamingh’s original plate is in the Maritime Museum in Freemantle.
Dampier arrived in 1669, de St Alouran in 1772 and de Freycinet in 1818. In 1869 the first pastoral lease was given to Louis von Bibra who established sheep on the island. Since then, there have been many lease holders on the island, the length of tenure ranging from twelve months to forty years.
Our campground has 14 sites but as we were the only ones checking-in we had the choice of sites. We decided on a site that we thought was sheltered (the forecast for the next 3 days was for 50-60kmh wind gusts), not far from the camp kitchen and the amenities block. We also had our own shaded gazebo situated between the van and the beach. We thought this would be mighty fine for the next week. We also set up the full annex on the van, so we had plenty of shade for the warm days, the forecast was for day temperatures up to 37 degrees.
Saturday morning the wind was blowing so we decided to make the 60km trek to the top of the island, visit Inscription Point (where the plates were placed) and call in at a couple of other bays along the way.
Tracks on the island vary from sandy – light to deep, corrugations – not bad ... to bad and exposed rock, so our trip that totaled about 140kms took us most of the day. We visited Notch Point and Sandy Bay both on the eastern side of the island before venturing over to the Quoin Head on the west side. We thought the east side of the island was windy, we soon found out it was really nothing compared to the west. Pete took photos of the rugged coastline but was a bit challenged trying to stay in one spot. The cliffs are about 300 meters high; the car was parked about 500 meters from the edge of the cliff and we were getting spray from the waves on the car!
We ventured to Inscription Point which is where the lighthouse is and a rebuilt version of the lighthouse keepers house - which is very grand and very remote perched on top of cliffs. A wander around, lots of historical information to read and were lucky enough to see some whales playing not too far from shore. We were not able to stay long as it was starting to get late and we wanted to get back across the massive open sand dunes before it got dark. The little orange marker flags were going to be a challenge in the dark! (not to mention the deep sand)...
We arrived back at camp to find the wind had ripped one of our 500mm sand pegs out and most of the annex was flapping about in the wind. A hasty takedown of the annex and packing things away was followed by a very well-earned G&T.
Due to the lack of annex (shade) and the forecast for the gale force to continue (in fact get worse) we decided to reduce our stay and leave the island early heading off on Tuesday. Before we left we went to the bottom of the island to the Blowholes – man ... does that thing roar - it is seriously loud and scary!
We headed to Surf Point and saw about a dozen or so sharks (called "nervous sharks") cruising a few metres from us in very shallow water all about 1m long.
Tuesday morning, we were up before the sun (4am) to pack up then drive in the dark along the narrow sandy track to get to the barge. We left this wild and beautiful island at 6am. It was a stunning sunrise but a little rough, with waves splashing over the car and the van as we headed on the barge back to Shelter Bay.
We are now in Kalbarri, yes time to wash (again) and start to remove the sand that seems to have gotten in everywhere. This morning we went out to Kalbarri Skywalk overlooking the magnificent Murchison Gorge…wow! We are heading back out later to get some photos at sunset…stay tuned for the next edition!
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