31st May 2009 Ocean Beach near Strahan.

I decided to take this shot too late. The car had already passed, so I had to use full zoom to catch it. It was a lazy shot and I wasn’t enthusiastic. But, it does show an aspect of beaches and people on the west coast of Tasmania.

We saw more people in vehicles on the beach than we saw on foot. Actually, I don’t remember seeing anyone on foot. We even saw big road bikes.

All this is ok. I imagine lots of pipis and other shell fish get squashed, but none of it compares to the damage of the four wheeler motorbikes. These things are the new environmental disaster for accessible coastline like this. You can see their tracks through the dunes everywhere. And everyone wants to make a new track.

In reality, they should be less damaging, because they are less weight distributed over larger area tyres. I imagine they could run over a pipi without squashing it. If they could just stay on the beach and existing tracks.

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We spent some time on the Ocean Beach, from one end to the other. It runs from Macquarie Heads near Strahan to the near side of Trial harbour to the North. We walked to Macquarie Heads and back starting close to Strahan, explored it around the Henty Dunes, and again at Trial Harbour.

The following photos were taken on the 31st May 2009 on the Macquarie heads walk.

Beach Silhouette

The Ocean Beach between Strahan and Macquarie Heads is shallow and fairly flat. There is a huge expanse of sand that water from the waves travels over slowly. In contrast, the beach at Trial Harbour is steep and deep; deep enough for Ships to anchor just off the beach and unload supplies.

The Beach Dance

The Beach Dance must have been performed by everyone who has walked along a beach with shoes on.

Here the water has already receded, leaving Wiebke with wet feet.

Fellow Enthusiast

Usually, if I am out with someone, I can lose myself working on a picture; they get bored. It is a nice surprise to look up after I have finished taking pictures from all angles and trying different settings to see Wiebke preoccupied with her own picture taking.

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31st May 2009, Ocean Beach Strahan.

We walked along the beach from Strahan to Hells Gates; about ten kilometres each way.

On a related note, four wheeler motorbikes are popular in this area; we saw signs of them everywhere we went on the west coast. Because of their wide tyres and relatively light weight they wouldn’t do much damage on the beach or the sand dunes, if they stayed on the sand. People have been riding them through the dunes at the back of the beach, destroying the grasses and shrubs. Once the growth is gone erosion sets in. Also, the less grassy, shrubby areas means there is less space for birds and wildlife to shelter. It is a pity that the people riding these things can’t stay on the sand. They are the cause of the most visible recent (last ten years or so) environmental damage in this area.

These sand sculptures were made by the water as it recedes back after a wave.

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I am still going through photos from our trip to Strahan, when I get the time.

These pictures are alongside the Henty River and nearby Ocean Beach. The Henty River runs parallel to Ocean Beach for about two and a half kilometres before running out to sea.

It was a bit of a hangover day for us. We didn’t have a lot of energy or enthusiasm, although I think Wiebke copped it worse than I.

The following pictures were all taken on the 1st June 2009.

Stomping birds.

I took this shot from the far side of the river. They aren’t seagulls. They were pushing their feet up and down on the spot to get at something in particular to eat. It looked pretty comical.

Survival skills.

I went through the motions of taking some photos, and eventually got into it. By this time, Wiebke had wandered off and managed to find a lounge chair to sleep on.

Henty River, with Ocean Beach in the background.

Wiebke is a black spot on the horizon, by now asleep in her chair.

The Henty River. The strip of sand in the background is the bank of the river and also part of the Ocean Beach.

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