PERTH – After the service, the priest sprinkles the boats with holy water – a ritual aimed at ensuring a good catch and a safe return.
Only then does the festival begin in Two Rocks, 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia. The bagpipes, Sicilian mandolins and knights’ jousting competitions date back to the inhabitants’ European origins. Steaks sizzle on grills, and fishing boats take visitors out for trips on the Indian Ocean.
The annual blessing of the fleet also marks the start of the hard- working fishing season which provides a healthy income for the predominantly Catholic crayfishermen on this stretch of the coast.
Crayfish, small, lobster-like crustaceans, are caught in special baskets between November and June.
Anyone who travels north along the coast during this period, will always meet good-humoured, barefoot crayfishermen in the harbour pubs, relaxing over live music, games of pool and cold beers after a good day’s catch.
The landscape either side of Brand Highway north from Two Rocks, is mainly pasture and arable land, apart from the seven national parks. The most famous of these is Nambung National Park with its bizarre sandstone rock formations called the Pinnacles.
Bus loads of tourists are chauffeured through this mysterious region each day. But the grandiose sand dunes along the coast of the park get less attention. You can walk for miles here on deserted beaches, swimming and sunbathing in the calm bays.
Further along Brand Highway past Dongara and Geraldton you reach Kalbarri National Park. The Murchison River has cut a swathe through the rocks here and created a winding gorge 80 kilometres (50 miles) long.
High above the steep cliffs there is a cave which is an ideal place to camp for the night.
When you awake at sunrise you will be treated to a fantastic kaleidoscope of colours in the different layers of stone. Kalbarri is home to 850 different species of wild flowers, the best of which blossom in October.
North of Geraldton the distances between towns grow larger, and vehicles become more seldom. This is when you really get a feel for the sheer expanse of Western Australia. The road is an endless line through flat bush country and you will have to keep a close eye on your fuel gauge because fuel stations are also few and far between in this region.
A magical attraction for all visitors to Western Australia is the remote district around Shark Bay, famous for the dolphins that come to the beach near Monkey Mia here nearly every day.
They let people stroke them and feed them. The phenomenon has existed since the 1960s when fishermen are said to have attracted them with fish rations. No one knows why they continue to seek out human contact – it is unlikely to be just because of the herrings they are fed.
At a latitude of 23 degrees south of the equator you cross the Tropic of Capricorn. This is where the world of termites’ nests begin. They are so large that they look like the scattered mud huts of an African village.
A dusty downhill gravel road forks off here to Ningaloo Marine Park, a favourite spot for divers. Ningaloo Reef is tiny compared to the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of the continent, but the underwater world here is just as varied. The water is a warm 28 degrees Celsius, and the coral garden stretches up quite close to the beach.
Exmouth marks the furthest point of this journey along the western Australian coast. The town attracted world-wide attention on March 22, 1999 when cyclone Vance hit it with winds of up to 267 kilometres (165 miles) per hour, leaving devastation in its wake.
Exmouth was practically wiped out. Thanks to a good early warning system, most inhabitants were taken to safety in time.
A fisherman whose boat was smashed to pieces in the harbour, talked of the storm in the pub one evening, saying laconically: “The greatest power out here is nature.” After a short pause he added: “Oh and sometimes God too, otherwise we’d have no need of our priests.”
