Day-tripping to Coogee Beach; Roy’s first  first sea dip in seven years; gratuitous Maldives flashback; back to Coogee; history of the shipwrecked Omeo; where to stay – then and now; feeling disloyal (again)

Is there no end to the magnificent beaches of Western Australia? I’d never even heard of Coogee Beach until a week ago. What’s more, this is supposed to be autumn – yet here we are, frolicking in the surf and bronzing our bods on the very eve of the annual collaboration between Lindt and the Easter Bunny.

Coogee camping and day-tripping

As part of granddaughter Mia’s 11th birthday celebrations – she was born on St Paddy’s Day – Carl and Carrie took the girls camping in Coogee last weekend. It’s a 50-minute drive south from where we live in Iluka, so Roy and I, plus daughter Blaire and grandson Sam, drove down to join them on the Saturday.

Coogee is popular, as you’d expect. But local authorities seem to have struck a careful balance with the amount of parking provided. There’s enough to allow a reasonable crowd of beachgoers, but not enough to seriously annoy the owners of the assortment of nice sea-view apartments that line the beachfront. Don’t take a chance by parking illegally, either: the rangers are said to be very active here.

This bridge (below) has steps with easy access straight into chest-deep water, from where it’s just 20 metres or so to the stern post of the Omeo. On a busy weekend like this one, there’s no time for shilly-shallying on the bottom step, nor for changing your mind about getting into the water.

That’s how Roy got to have his first salty swim in seven years. I asked him if he could remember when last we swam together in the sea. “Probably the Maldives”, he said.

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Maldives Angsana Flashback

A search through the travel archives revealed that our most recent trip to those islands was in 2014, in May – Roy’s birthday month – to review the two Angsana islands, Ihuru and its neighbour Vabbinfaru. So here’s an unashamedly nostalgic slide show of that trip.

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Back to Coogee

Coogee is described as a suburb of the city of Cockburn, just 7km from Perth’s port of Fremantle. For visitors, the main attraction is its recently established Coogee Maritime Trail. The highlight of this trail is the Omeo Shipwreck, which – being located in calm and shallow water just off the beach – is remarkably accessible and safe for snorkelling.

Though they share the same Indian Ocean, the Maldivian sea is like bathwater while that off Western Australian can be frankly cold. So, once you’ve taken the plunge and got used to the chilly temperature, it’s fun to watch others suffering.

Despite appeals for snorkellers to respect the shipwreck reef, there are those who either don’t know or don’t care what they’re doing: standing on the vulnerable structures, even climbing onto and jumping off them.

I only snorkelled the shipwreck itself, and that only briefly; but there are 55 structures to explore on this maritime trail, including art and other installations. These include various sculptures, a folding stock anchor, a replica cannon and more, together with educational underwater plaques.

Visibility wasn’t great with so many enthusiastic wannabe snorkellers, but before having my head kicked I did spy various stripy fish and a bigger spotted one. (I’m no ichthyologist.) But our old family friend Sean, who coincidentally happened to be camping at Coogee with his own family, said he saw plenty of varied life down there – including an octopus.

You can also get to the wreck site by wading through the water from Coogee beach – a long, long stretch of fine white sand that starts just 25 metres away. The beach has a shark-safe bathing area demarcated with yellow buoys and presided over by a manned surf rescue tower: especially welcome for families with children.

The Omeo’s History

Built in 1858 in Newcastle, England, the 605-ton steamer had a chequered history:

• For many years, it carried passengers and cargo between Melbourne, Adelaide and then New Zealand.
• In 1870, the Omeo was chartered to contractors in Darwin for part of the Overland Telegraph line linking Australia to Britain via Singapore.

  

• After 1880, it traded for many years in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, again carrying both cargo and passengers.
• Several collisions during its long working life included the unintentional demolition of Swanspit Lighthouse in Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia.

  

• In Fremantle, during the 1890s, the Omeo served as a floating coal warehouse servicing steamers from the Blue Star line.
• On 12 September 1905, the now abandoned Omeo came adrift from its moorings half a mile offshore in the Cockburn Sound, and drifted on to the beach. Recovery was uneconomical, so there it stayed. One of the ship’s two anchors was found and raised in 1993.
• When the current rocky groyne was constructed, the wreck became separated from the beach.

(For more, click here to visit the Western Australian Museum website.)

Where to stay in Coogee

I could happily spend a couple of nights here, like our family did, at Coogee Beach Holiday and Caravan Park – situated right alongside the beach. It’s $39 per night for a powered caravan site in this established and shady facility.

You can also hire a cabin in one of several configurations: the best for us would be the two-sleeper Superior One Bedroom Cabin (currently $142 per night).  At this price, I wouldn’t get too excited about the descriptive adjective “superior”; this cabin may be only slightly better than the rest of them, and they may not  be in the least bit wonderful.

But they are all vastly superior to the shacks and tents of Smelters Camp informal settlement, which existed on this spot from 1890s Gold Rush era until the late 1950s. According to history.cockburn.wa.gov.au, shanty huts in the dunes and on Coogee Beach were home to “returned soldiers, itinerant workers, and those who fell through the cracks of society.” I like to think we’d be following in their footsteps.

Coogee History

European settlement began in 1829, but the history of the Beeliar Nyungar Aborigines in this area is thought to go back 40,000 years.

Coogee was until recently a thriving industrial area, according to The Western Australian. Apart from an assortment of market gardeners, Port Coogee abattoirs provided meat to the Armed Forces during World War II; cattle were shipped in from the Kimberley and had to swim ashore. Other industries included the Fremantle Freezing Works and the Fremantle Power Station. They were all closed down in the 1990s and mostly demolished.

Development of the modern marina began in 2007, and Coogee now has a population of over 1,500.

Disloyalty

For someone like me who loves the sea so much, and who grew up on the great beaches of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal, not to mention the Cape Province to the south and Mozambique to the north, it feels almost disloyal to confess here that I’m not missing South Africa’s beaches.

And it’s not just the personal safety aspect. I’m discovering along this endless WA coastline a mesmerising series of utterly beautiful bays, beaches, rocky outcrops and picturesque islands lit with that iconic palette of crystal-white, turquoise and jade that deepens to indigo blue. It’s a seascape second to none other I’ve seen anywhere in the world.

In a couple of weeks’ time, Roy and I plan to head 900km north of Perth to Monkey Mia – a World Heritage Site that’s famous for up-close encounters with bottlenose dolphins and other marine life. With any luck, I’ll be able to lure Roy into salty waters once again! (Watch this space, as they say.)