Gismo Queen and her King

Day 7 - Monday 3 January 2021 - Smithton to Arthur River

 Today was time to turn south and head to some of the wilder parts of the north west coast. Arthur River is only an hour from Smithton so we were set up in a Parks campsite by 11am. It was a bit windier than Smithton but our caravans were in a little hollow and when the sun came out, it was actually quite pleasant.

After lunch we headed to the lookout known as the “Edge of the World” and that’s where we discovered what windy was. An awesomely rugged piece of coastline, with 20,000 kilometres of ocean before the next piece of land. We read these beautiful words as we stood there, the threat of being blown away very real! We were also quite amazed at the volume of driftwood washed up on the beach. Parks and Wildlife say it can be collected for firewood, as wood can’t be taken from the forests. However, there is enough to build a village of houses, some metres tall in places.

Where the river meets the ocean is also quite interesting as the river water is very brown and brackish whereas the seas is a glorious blue. You can drive on the beach from the river around the mouth and along the ocean beach.

We then headed north to a couple of lookouts, one at Bluff Point with a little lighthouse (currently occupied by a swarm of bees!) and then to Greens Point, as I wanted to check out the campground that I had considered for this trip. It is tiny and I’m not sure we would have fitted anyway. But what a beauitful beach! In the distance I could see the southern collection of wind turbines at Woolnorth. I went for a walk along the beach, enjoying the fact my footprints were the first in the sand further around the the point.

Back to camp for dinner and and we rounded out the day with a walk along the beach. It was cold and windy but quite invigorating. And ruggedly beautiful.

posted by Tracey @ 7:58 pm