Swan Valley 17 January 2007

Moved from our campsite back to the beach for breakfast. While enjoying the view, we had a visit from a council ranger who was checking that we were parking not camping! It’s camping if you go to sleep! Heather had a frank and open exchange of views with the ranger and they decided to agree to disagree on the issue of free camping.
Drove up the coast to Scarborough and Hillarys Boat Harbour. This is a very narrow strip of beach and void of headlands, giving it a monotonous feel. The sand is very soft and white and the water ranging from blues and greens. It blew up very windy which seems to be normal for this area. Hillarys Boat Harbour is a fairly new development and is a protected recreation water area and is surrounded by upmarket shops and restaurants. There are lots of new developments along the coast and it was difficult to even stop and park due to the tightness of these areas. We passed an interesting development site of about 10 acres. Instead of having to deal with a hilly site, the developers simply dug out about 20m of sand and ha presto – everyone has a level site to build on! On blocks with a slope, they use rock terracing to enclose each site to make it level and then backfill it with sand, which looks very ugly and unnatural. It is obvious this is the way they deal with ALL the land, as it is entirely composed of sand. Bet Colin wished he could do this in the mountains.
Ended our day in the Swan Valley and stayed the night next to an oval and over the road from a brewery! Watched McNaught’s comet against the silhouette of the trees and were thrilled with the brightness and size of the tail - even better than the first night.