There have only been one or two campers stopping each night, it is surprising that Crystal Springs is not more popular. It has water, toilets but no phone reception.
We have planned a couple of beach trips today. The first is the road near our camp site which leads to Long Point. It is 9 kms and is 4wd only. The track is sandy and the sand is very fine and very soft with no rain. There were a lot of soft sections ready to trap you. We managed to keep going and didn’t need to use the Maxx tracks.
National Parks have laid down rubber tracking on the more difficult sections.
Long Point is really spectacular and should have regular road access so that most people can see this place.
This was our first, wow ! point and it just got better. These are sand dunes covered in vegetation. They are some of the highest we have seen in our travels.
We were expecting just one area to visit, but there are three. Long Point, Little Long Point and Hush Hush Beach We chose to go to Long Point and explore that rocky headland.
The rubber tracking made easy driving, just wished it was in the other soft sections as we certainly chewed through some fuel there.
This is the left turn track to Long Point.
This was our first view of the coast. That is Chatham Island in the distance. The track down was quite steep and we were concerned about getting out, so I walked down and discovered that they had taken care of that with an alternate exit with rubber mats. So down came the 4WD.
Just one big piece of rock.
Long Point is quite deceptive. At first you see the rock but don’t realize just how big it is and how far it juts out until you walk over it. Just off the car park there is a small inlet and it is only the solid rock which has prevented this point from turning into an island as well.
I have no doubt that waves have been over the top of Long Point in large seas.
We went down to the beach and thought that the rock to the left was the point. It was not until we back tracked and took the track to the top of the point did we realize the enormity of everything. You will see the point from Mandalay Beach further down and will understand.
Waves are such time wasters, I spent far too much time trying to capture the “perfect” image I was seeing or rather I was imagining.
Time to get those legs pumping, after all the big tree climb awaits us tomorrow. Nothing like climbing sand dunes to tone you up.
Just in case you missed it, parked on the side of that cliff top is the 4WD – It is just above the rocks over to the left of the photo. Handy to have working brakes in this part of the country. They do have a safety barrier, it is a couple of logs across the ground.
There is no foot bridge across, we had to walk down and then up to this point. A foot bridge would be great :)
The view to the east and then the view out along the Long Point. We were about half way along the point at this time.
Hush Hush Beach is tucked between these headlands.
The view west to Little Long Point and in the far distance Mandalay Beach.
If you wonder why I thought that the waves break extremely high, near the top I saw a crab in a pool of water. I was probably 30 metres above the sea level.
Now we are finally out around the tip of the point. This rocky point has heaps of creatures surviving on the rock. We found scats of kangaroos, fox and plenty of lizards and bird life. There is lots of vegetation on the top, lots of places out of the wind and small shrubs for protection. Water lays in rock pools. There were a lot of animal pathways and resting shelters.
At the very tip of the point there are quite a few very large mostly submerged rocks as well.
The cars are still there, so we hike back to head back to camp for lunch and then the trip down to Mandalay Beach.
Mandalay Beach was the site of a 1911 shipwreck in 1911 of the Norwegian barque “Mandalay”. The Captain and crew survived and by a stroke of luck came across a local who fed them and guided them to Denmark. If the sailor who set out to find help had not stumbled across these people, they would have certainly perished.
This was certainly a different drive out and walk out to the beach – much easier.
There is a photo of the survivors and the ship in the background. The shipwreck can sometimes been seen at the beach.
The ship lays just down the beach where the water is closest to the shore.
This is the view to the east and Long Point and in the distance you can see just how far Long Point expands into the Southern Ocean.
The view to the west.
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