Dongara Irwin Inlet Trail

Accessed the beach from our accommodation via 1km of 4WD track, then along the beach to Seaspray Cafe for elevenses/lunch.

The Greek lady who owns the cafe lived in Singapore where she ran a fish and chip restaurant called Red Emperor. She also had another eatery in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, but lost it all, all $1.6 million when 9/11 happened, and many expats were recalled from SE Asia. We spoke Singlish, accent and all lah. She remarked about the mess kids are allowed to leave behind, and we decided that she should have a Messy Kids Surcharge. There was a single young lady in the table next to us who joined in this conversation, and being a teacher, she spoke with informed authority about "kids today". Greek lady then sat down and told us about her traumatic experience of being kidnapped in Singapore, and held in her apartment for 2 weeks until her big hunky Kiwi boyfriend came to her rescue and almost threw the kidnapper off the 16th storey balcony 😱. She screamed for boyfriend to not throw kidnapper, neighbours all gathered, and police attended. Unfortunately, boyfriend and her did not work out as she went loopy (her words) after the ordeal. We also heard of her Singapore friend who married a Texan oil tycoon who died from a massive stroke 2 days after she visited them. A most interesting lady, to say the least.

We needed the long walk along the peaceful Irwin Inlet back to the accommodation to get over that experience and stories at the cafe.Read more