Our planned trip out to Steep Point started at 0800 as we knew it was a long 4WD trip to get there over rough tracks and sand…. We had checked out the map and decided to tackle the journey along Useless Loop Road and turn off to Thunder Bay thus making our way up the left hand side of the peninsula to Steep Point aiming to see all the coastline….

Our camp for the night was at Shelter Bay – Blackie’s 1 and 2 campsites – a short drive back from Steep Point along the right-hand side of the peninsula – and from there we planned to drive that way back to Useless Loop Road thus covering pretty much all of the scenery…

We drove the 90 kms from Denham to the Steep Point turnoff …

and finally arrived at the section where the unsealed road began – we let the tyres down partially when we stopped at a clay pan as the road was somewhat corrugated already…the flies were horrendous, and Gordie was seen doing a rather random, awkward fly dance while Trev assisted with his tyre pressures…

A few of us took the opportunity to “find a bush”…. And behind a mound I found a large hole that clearly was home to a large marsupial ??? wombat???

The drive out was through some of the most barren and unforgiving land – it was difficult to imagine how anyone could live out here… let alone run a farm – but we passed the odd farmhouse and fenced off properties…

Further along Useless Loop Road was the turnoff to Useless Loop where there is a salt mine- the whole location is inaccessible to the public… The areas where water was collected to allow the acquisition of the salt were visible near where we stopped…

Just near the turnoff was the place that the NPWS indicated that tyre pressures should be decreased to 20psi Max ( we went to 18) so as to be able to make the 4WD journey out to the point.

The Titan had been rattling so much that Gordie had to get out the shifter and tighten the nuts on his driving lights – better safe than sorry as we had seen quite a lot of “spare parts” along the road already…

It was soon after that we hit the real 4WD track….

The trip out was 140kms of unsealed road, rocky areas, and sand tracks… which provided us with many laughs and spectacular scenery….

Trev could not help laughing at one point as we were bouncing over the sandy corrugations thinking of the Pearl and how the Wells were probably cursing the Lovedays for bringing the Princess out over such rough terrain….

Matt and Sharon in the back of the Ranger were having a great time…

Matt had attached his GoPro to our attachment on our front bullbar and captured some amazing footage on both days…

We stopped first at Thunder Bay – the swell was massive and the coastline so rugged, remote and wild….

Next stop Thunder Bay Blowholes – huge holes in the escarpment cliff area that you could walk around (carefully) – the wind blowing up them was incredible – no water today as the direction of the swell was not right however you could hear the seawater rushing below you in the caverns…

There were many small fissures and holes through out the area where sounds and wind were coming up (not due to any human interference although Trev thought Klaus was experiencing some more legendary rumblings) – the whole area must be undermined by the sea and full of subterranean caverns… we hoped that none would collapse as we walked around….

We drove through sandhills, over crests, narrow areas, rocky areas – the pictures tell the story….

The road was very rocky in parts and not always easy to distinguish… at one point it went very close to the cliff edge…

The next stop on the journey was Nor 6 a small memorial to the Nor shipwreck that happened off the coast nearby…

We finally arrived at Steep Point – the western most point of mainland Australia….

and of course took the mandatory group shots… the occasion must have been momentous because even Klaus managed to look excited!!

Of course Dave could not resist getting a pic of the Pearl in the iconic location… with Rose working the camera…flyhats and all…

The cliff area was very treacherous – sheer drop offs into deep water…

The Steep Point camp ground was deserted so Trev put up the drone and gave a different perspective to the point…

The drone went a bit rogue and Matt had to try and catch it to land it – but its obstacle avoidance managed to ensure it eluded him – Trev ended up manhandling it and bringing it into submission….

Dirk Hartog Island was visible with the surf at Surf Point looking good – from Gordon’s perspective he thought he saw the best left hander ever!!

We drove on to Shelter Bay….

…. and located our campsites – the Hunters, Wells and Bowyers were on one site, and the Weiss’s and ourselves were on the other.

Just as we arrived a turtle popped it’s head out of the clear water to check out what was going on..

We set up the tents – some appeared rather close to the high tide mark, but time would tell… the Hunters had opted to sleep in the back of the Titan and Gordie felt he had pole position closest to the sea…. A bit risky as far as everyone else thought anyway…

Gordie and Kerry had a struggle squeezing their 2 single airbeds into the Titan’s rear tray, but Trev was happy to jump in and assist ….

Each couple’s set up looked quite cosy….

The sunset arrived and Klaus threw in a line in a couple of places to no avail…. But if you were going to fish, this was the time and place…. If you didn’t give it a go now you never would….

We ate dinner together after having happy hour as the sun went down – there were some very happy moths that could not stop drinking Trev’s cider…

The almost full moon came up and the beach was beautiful in the moonlight – the stars were amazing and it was so quiet and peaceful listening to the ocean gently lapping the shore…

Trev shared a reading from Luke Chapter 9 and we spent some time discussing the section which was on the 3 different men who Jesus spoke to about the cost of following him…

We all hopped into our tents hoping for a good night’s sleep listening to the sounds of the sea….