Penong: Port Sinclair, Cactus Beach and Lake MacDonnell

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Today started a bit slower, with a lazy breakfast, i enjoyed my honey crumpets, prior to having to bin the honey before we cross into Western Australia. 

The plan was to explore the Penong area a little.

We followed the Garmin which totally took uni the wrong direction , well maybe it just thought it was the fastest way to get there, unfortunately the local mining company were not so keen to let us travel through. So turning around and using my phones maps we headed back to town 

Travelling further down the street and turning at the HUGE sign that said Lake MacDonell and an image of a pink lake on it ..he he

We travelled for a while on dirt roads ,enjoying the views.

Just loved the image above the sand dunes (i think they are actually predominately gypsum as that is the local mining industry) looked like perfectly cooked meringue.

We stopped off briefly at Cactus beach, a very well known local surfing beach, with a plan to return on the way back at a spot closer to the surfing. But i thought the view was pretty spectacular.

We travelled onto Port Le Hunte Jetty, located on a small beach protected by the granite headland. The jetty built originally over 100 years ago was used mainly to ship wheat, with workers being required to carry the bags of grain the full length of the Jetty one at a time. Is now used mainly by local fisherman and crayfish boats.

The jetty has a large enclosed shark proof swimming area, the area always a favourite place with young people unfortunately was the site of a fatal great white shark attack on an 11 year old boy in the mid 70s

After the jetty we headed back to Cactus beach to watch the surfers, Cactus beach is a popular remote surfing spot located on the great Australian bight, its popularity is attributed to the reef creating two left hand and one right hand breaks. There is a lovely camping spot (we noticed a view vans in there) just beyond the dunes of the beach. Unfortunately Cactus Beach is famous for other less favourable reasons, with multiple shark attacks over the years with the most recent in 2000. But the surfers didnt seemed fazed and were having a great time. With a fairly decent audience on the beaches and cliffs  watching.

Heading back to town we crossed Lake MacDonnell. Lake MacDonell is just one of several pink lakes located in Southern Australia. The lake is famous as you drive  across it, there is a pink lake one side and a blue green lake on the other , quite a contrast. 

A pink lake occurs when a lake has a high salt content and a Algae called , Halobacterium salinarum, proliferates and produces beta carotene (the same pigment that makes carrots orange) The algae can literally turn the whole lake bubblegum pink , however the colouration of the lakes is very weather dependant requiring recent rainfall to encourage the algae to bloom.

We had a lovely quiet day , and now have Reggie and Ruby all packed and ready to cross the Nullabour.

Until the next blog

Travel safe

The Touring Knights

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