Trip report - Dirk Hartog Island

Well I got back yesterday from 3 nights, 4 days in Dirk Hartog Island staying at the Eco Lodge with Kieran and Tory Wardle as our hosts.

wow wow wow !

www.dirkhartogisland.com/

If you want a winter kiting holiday destination then you should put DH on your list - it was simply fantastic.



DH is in Shark Bay, about 755 kms north of Perth. Its easily driveable in 1 day, although we did break the trip up by staying at Hamelin Station overnight to ensure we had an easy trip to the DH Barge the following morning. If you want to drive a 4WD is a must as Steep point and DH is accessed by sand tracks and unsealed roads. Otherwise you could drive a regular car to Denham and take a boat across to DH - Kieran and Tori the owners can help arrange this.

The Eco Lodge is truly a luxury experience all things considered. Tory is a trained chef and prepared 5 meals a day for the duration of our stay (breakfast, lunch & dinner + morning and afternoon tea). The seafood risotto followed by creme brulee for dessert was a standout . But if you wanted to take it down a notch there is a self contained villa (sleeps up to 14) or camp sites so all budgets and tastes are catered for. We took our 2 and 4 yo and as camping is not something we are set up for in our family, we took the easy option and "glamped" instead. Our accommodation is a renovated shearers quarters which included a games room for the kids, and a separate lounge / dining / bar for the adults (incl pool and table tennis). All we brought was our booze and kiting gear of course


I managed to kite every day of our stay, at the following spots. Like Perth, we had some S/Easterlies in the mornings with SW in the afternoon so a variety of spots was available. Most days were 19 degrees and sunny so it was a nice change from Perth.



Surf Point is a right hander that works with a prevailing SW'ly running almost parallel to the break. I rode it on a SE which meant is was cross off and loads of fun. It was pretty small when i was there but Im told catches the swell pretty well and can hold some size. The coastline to the north is cliffs so there are not a lot of other spots until the northern end that provide waves. The Homestead and in particular Tetrodon Loop both offer butter flat water that would suit TT and wakestyle riders.



3 nights / 4 days was just enough time to relax and realize how lucky we are to have this place on our doorstep. Next time i would bring more fishing gear to make use of any windless days but even then Kierean and Tory leant us some rods in anycase . I'm guessing the wind properly switches on from October but as a family friendly winter escape its definitely recommended.

Trip adviser : www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g4096381-d4096383-r228021585-Dirk_Hartog_Island_Eco_Lodge-Dirk_Hartog_Island_Western_Australia.html

Been going to dirky for 14 years , certainly one of my fave spots to visit, we caretook the island one year at Christmas , it's internationally renowned for its amazing fishing, as for kiting, the loop is a great flat water spot which works best in a swester, the razorback dunes are testament to how the wind funnels down to this spot, easterlies and westerlies aren't worth it, surf point can get insane in big swell and a swester, I wouldn't advise getting into trouble at this spot, homestead is ok from the east ,it's a very unique spot to visit and well worth a visit, Kieran and Tory do a great job, you can also fly over with Denham scenic flights, however any decent rain this time of year can make the airstrip unusable, doing the barge and taking your own 4x4 (decent) really opens up your possibilities,
if a keen surfer, urchin point produces insane waves,







The tuna was speared in 3 mtrs of water in front of homestead, George the 4 mtr tiger shark was just north of where your kite was parked, a mate( non kiter) counted 50 shark fins at tetradon , heaps of pinkys in close,
The whole shark bay region imho is a spectacular spot to visit

Looks fantastic, thanks for the report both of you!

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Phoney said..
Looks awesome but....water looks glassy smooth in all of your pics.. How many hours per day did the wind actually blow?

Believe me it blows
i went for 4 days once , did the crossing in that little dingy on the photo, never got under 20/25 knots for 20 days, I was stranded in paradise??
That's summer at dirk hartog, certain spots around here can look butter when its howling


Winter is a lottery in wa, but if you know the spots a strong easterly which is regular comes into play