Net Wars

Today was a big day; its 10:15pm and the restaurant at the end of the world has just served up a very late okonomiyaki dinner. Today started with a brisk 45 minute walk from Spain Bay over the unusually dry track to Stephens Beach. The western end of Stephens was sheltered and yielded very little in the way of rubbish. Around halfway down the beach the usual microplastics and small rope pieces started appearing. After 3 hours on Stephens, the team embarked on a 20 minute walk through the mobile dune fields. Emerging through the boobyalla scrub, we arrived at Noyhener beach at 3pm for a 4 hour power cleaning session. We hadn't cleaned Noyhener for a number of years, and were greeted by multiple enormous trawlnets and countless microplastics. There was also a large stash of marine debris at the campsite, thanks to bushwalkers doing their bit while hiking the South West Circuit.

Volume wise, this was the biggest haul of the trip. Well over 500 kgs of trawl net were removed from this one beach, with multiple long trolley hauls in the pouring rain. This made for an extreme dinghy extraction in the large South Westerly swell - thanks to Dave's amazing skills on the tiller, everyone got home safely and (relatively) dry.

After 9 hours on land, the tired and bedraggled crew made their way East; rounding Southwest Cape escorted by many thousands of shearwaters and albatross. We left the count for the next day, to be completed after a good night's rest in the calm sanctuary of New Harbour.

P.s. The smurfette collected by Alby won the immunity item for the day!