4 Stray Katz: Beagle Bay and Gnylmarung - a taste of life in the community

Beagle Bay, Dampier Peninsula, WA

Friday 22nd September

We spent one night at Beagle Bay visiting some friends we’d made on the road last year. They have moved up to Beagle Bay for a few years as Emily has taken a teaching role at the local school. It’s a huge change from their previous life on the Mornington Peninsula so we were very excited to hear how life has been for them since they moved up here in January. While Em finished up at school (it was the last day of term), Elia and the kids (Harry and Ned) thought they’d take us to Banana Wells to go fishing and crabbing but as we were about to leave an out of control fire that had been burning nearby started to approach the small community as the wind had changed. We spent about 45 minutes standing with the locals assessing the scene – there was a lot of smoke and the fire was only a few hundred metres from some of the houses. Thankfully the wind turned again and the ranger arrived so we felt safe leaving. The delay meant we missed the change of tide so the fishing was not as good as it could have been, however they got heaps of bites and Jackson pulled in a Fingermark that we ate whole that night. Elia also put the crab pots in a nearby creek and the kids were pretty excited to discover some crabs in them each time they checked. The crabs were undersize though so they were put back. Later that afternoon Emily took us to see the historic Beagle Bay church – famous for the alter which is decorated in pearl shell. It was stunning and a real testament to the ingenuity and creativeness of the local Aboriginal people who built the church for the missionaries, after only being given a postcard to show what to build! That night we enjoyed listening to Em and Elia explain their way of life up here whilst the kids had a great time playing and watching a movie together

We actually missed the turn off as we didn't see the cute homemade sign welcoming us to Beagle Bay

The bushfire just down the road from Em and Elia's house

Fishing at Banana Wells

Got one - the first mud crab (which was actually the only one they caught that was big enough to keep).

Beagle Bay church- just over the fence from the place Em and Elia are living in.

The stunning altar - decorated in locally found pearl and cowrie shells.

Gnylmarung

The next day we headed to a nearby camp on the Peninsula – one of Em and Elia’s favourites. The owners are from Beagle Bay and they keep a section of the campground for the local teachers to use. It was super hot by the time we arrived so after a quick set up we all headed down to the bay for a swim and the boys tried their luck fishing off the rocks. Elia had brought his boat but the wind had picked up so they decided to go on out on the boat the next morning instead. We spent the afternoon alternating between the water and a shady spot on the dunes. We had a great evening sitting around the campfire (quite far away though as it was still so warm that we didn’t want any of the heat from the fire, just the ambiance).

The next morning Elia, Daniel, Harry and Jackson left at 5.30am to go fishing out in the deeper water. Emilia and I went for an explore along the beach then we spent the morning relaxing at the beach with Em and Ned. The boys came back with a few feeds of fish, which they were very happy about. They forgot to tell us the most exciting part of their morning out until later that night though – they’d seen 5 dugongs! Three of them had actually swam above the water quite near the boat. I was so jealous as I’ve never seen a dugong up close- they were so lucky. That afternoon the kids went snorkelling around the rocks looking at the thousands of bait fish swimming in the shallow water. After watching the sunset over the ocean we had a feast of fresh fish for dinner before spending another night chatting around the campfire looking up at the starry sky.

We spent the morning at the beach before saying our goodbyes and heading to another beach side camp. It had been a great few days and we all really enjoyed catching up with Em, Elia, Harry and Ned.