Day 53-55. 26th - 28th June 2024. Cervantes. Literally the Pinnacle of our trip.

The long drive in torrential rain was only broken by a stop in Geraldton on the way through. Thankfully, the rain eased enough for us to unhitch and do a walk around the town of Cervantes when we arrived. A short walk. A very short walk. The key attraction here is the beach covered in sea grass making a bit of a stench, and a restaurant called the “Lobster Shack”. Our lobster from the day before is hard to beat, so that wasn’t high on the agenda.

We knew that the next day was going to be very wet, and while the town isn’t great, being at a larger park with an ample games room for us to hide in was very welcome. The rain eased in the morning long enough for us to take a trip to the Pinnacles. The alien-like landscape is interesting to walk around, with a diverse set of shapes and colours in the formations. It is also interesting that they allow people to drive through amongst all the rock formations.

It really has been a thing in WA, but they really like to drive out into stuff. National Parks, Beaches, and frequently on the other side of the road into oncoming traffic to make sure they aren’t trapped behind someone doing the same speed as them. Not being used to driving on the beach, it jars the senses a bit for us. Particularly when they don’t get out of the car on the beach. I do get that sand in the bathers is not a lot of fun, but between your toes and paddling in the surf is. (Side note: the paddling in the surf at Cable Beach, Broome, was banned for 24 hours after a large croc was sighted there a couple of days ago. As we were there only two weeks ago, this is another near death experience – count is now up to 5.)

Speaking of utes, there are a lot of them. In the scriptures of the often referenced Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the alien from Betelgeuse who gets trapped on earth took the name Ford Prefect. This was the dominant car of the time and he mistook the dominant life force on the planet and thought it would be inconspicuous. If the book was rewritten now in northern WA, he would be White Ute. Especially in the mining areas of the Pilbara. Car after car looking the same and with magnetic signs with numbers stuck to the side presumably, for being able to tell the difference between all the clones. Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi have made a lot of money here selling utes, but were terrible in doing the upselling of the metallic colours and paint protection.

Other than the Pinnacles, we got a short walk at Hangover Bay – that is it’s real name, it wasn’t a stroll first thing in the morning. We also had a couple of visits to Jurien Bay. Jurien Bay is ultimately the nicer town that actually had shops, supermarket, and a much nicer beach. It would be first choice if we come this way again, but again, with the weather, the caravan park at Cervantes served us well.

The park also served up a random act of kindness that was greatly appreciated by Linda and I. We had spent hours in the games room hiding from the weather, then in the camp kitchen to cook tea. We met some people travelling from Belgium and France and I had noticed a larger family that at the end of the meal had enjoyed ice creams for dessert. As there were no shops within cooee open and the office closed, I asked one of the group while she washed the dishes if there was somewhere to get some or if they were their own secret stash. It turned out the group were all employees of the park that stay in vans and get together for meals. Alas, it was from their own secret stash. Disappointed, but happy enough with another glass of wine and a beer, we trod back to the van between storms to bunker down for the night. As we were packing up the van kitchen, out of nowhere, this angel of ice creams arrived out of the darkness and presented us with a vanilla drumstick each. It is the simple things and nice thoughts that make your day. A couple of times we have bought packs of 4 from the supermarket and handed off the other two to neighbours as it was still cheaper than buying two from the shop. It was nice to have that circle completed randomly.

Facilities: Other than an unexpected water outages while having a shave, the RAC parks have their gear in good order, and they don’t bother with shower curtains. 9/10.