The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 7 – Streaky Bay, Seals and Sceales

An early morning walk on th jetty is a refreshing start to the day.

Everywhere we go, the locals greet us with open arms.

The Streaky Bay Hotel, where we dined last night, was built in 1866,

Our destination today is Point Labatt, 51km south of Streaky Bay. It is the largest mainland colony of Australian sea lions in the world. The road to Point Labatt is a beautiful drive through mallee forest, ruby saltbush sandflats, huge sand dune systems and amazing aqua-coloured inlets.

A tail end (haha) of a mob of kangaroos crossing the road – we would rue the day if we hit one.

Sceales Bay Conservation Park protecting dunes and ruby saltbush salt plains.

A local (taking someone else’s dog for a walk) told us that Sceales Beach was Australia’s best beach and from what we saw today would not disagree.

Pied oystercatchers performed synchronised beach walking to an appreciative audience.

Sceale Bay also has, arguably, the best public toilet in Australia. It is called Camelot and is a loo with a view (literally) – the stone structure has a window looking out onto the fabulous beach.

The view out. One of travellers scored it 10/10 – incredibly clean too.

Singing honeyeater at Sceale Bay.

Baird Bay is seawater with a narrow passage linking it to the ocean.

Point Labatt is a headland with high limestone cliffs. A lookout has been built for safe viewing of the seals below.

No beach access is allowed for conservation reasons. In fact there appeared to be no safe way to access the beach with vertical crumbling limestone cliffs. The seals chose wisely. It is a santuary from both the terrestrial and marine worlds. Great white sharks are regularly seen here.

This large Australian sea lion colony is a breeding site with mothers suckling their young, sea lions lazing on rocks and sandy shores and seal lions entering and leaving the water.