Swamped

It’s amazing what passes for entertainment out in the sticks. On Sunday morning the Husband and I and a couple of friends drove down to Mairee Pool, a swimming spot on a river roughly thirty minutes south of Karratha. With the recent persistent rains we thought the river might be raging and be quite a spectacular sight. We piled into the work ute, drove down to the raised parking area, slathered on the sun cream and picked our way down the mud. I suppose that should have been our first indication that this wasn’t going to be as pleasant an outing as we’d hoped. There was mud everywhere, some baked hard in the sun, some still sticky, sloppy and wet. It gave off a strange, rather unpleasant smell, which only intensified as we neared the banks of the river.


When we reached the water, it was clear that none of was going to venture in it for a swim and it was not going to yield photo opportunities or awe-inspiring views. The water level was raised but it was calm, swamp-calm, and was the colour of a swamp too - brown with a yellowish foam at the edges where it was gently lapping the bank. Not quite the excitingly turbulent river that we expected, nor the crystal-clear pool that we had visited in October. However, we seemed to be the only ones who felt that way. Two families were already floating languidly on lilos and splashing about in the river and as we were leaving, another group of Aussies were piling out of their ute, ready to jump into the water with gusto. We none of us could understand their fervour for a stinky, muddy, brown expanse of stagnant water, especially when there are so many pristine beaches nearby. Was it really that they just wanted something different to do, or did they know something we didn’t? Perhaps the malodorous water contains some sort of health-promoting minerals or beauty-enhancing beneficial algae. Or perhaps they have just lived in Karratha too long.