We’ve discovered on Hidden Treasures that when I’m set a challenge there are familiar themes that come up. 

I try to please Ro by finding a sporting venue and I love a roadtrip and love a good fish burger.

There’s something else though that is regularly described in Hidden Treasures and we’ve put together a big Hidden Treasure program to talk about this one. 

To talk about walking on them, jumping off them, photographing them and catching things from them we brought in regular guest Ben Carlish from RecFish to help out, as we explore … jetties of Western Australia!

Below is the audio file from a great Hidden Treasure discussion…

Jetties! Where are they?  Why do we love them? Can we ever get me to stop talking about them?

Firstly, to my research and networks who have provided me with a number of how many jetties are in WA … approximately.  We could run this as a competition but I think I’m too excited about this number and just want to reveal it. 4300 jetties in WA!

For me, my school holidays in Rockingham are where my love of jetties began and it was two jetties in particular.  A jetty that is gone now but was just about one hundred metres west of the current jetty that serves the yacht club and dolphin cruise charters.  My brother Michael and I used to spend time throwing crab nets into the water and it was a well-lit jetty and we could look down and watch the crabs scuttle slowly across the bottom and into our nets.

The other jetty which was the original Palm Beach Jetty was as brilliant for fishing off as it was jumping off, sometimes not of your own choosing if the local bogans wouldn’t let you go past and there was only one way back to land.

Wherever I travel to if there’s a jetty I have to see what’s being caught and if I’m prepared, like I was on Wadjemup a few weeks ago, I’ll pack a squid line and see what’s in the depths off the end of the jetty.

I leave walking on a jetty when no one is on it and seeing the evidence of mighty fights with squid ink sprayed about the place.

The blue boatshed in Crawley is world famous for its insta worthiness and the Busselton jetty is also a very well-known tourism icon for Western Australia. 

I love the Point Walter jetty and I’m sure Ben knows more about this than me, but, in the river, how far out of the water our jetties sit depends on the tide and I’ve seen the Point Walter jetty barely visible and it’s great to walk on and feel like you’re walking on water.

There is a great jetty at the Bicton baths that goes right around the swimming area.

Remember the main jetty and the nearby fueling jetty over on Wadjemup.  At night time on the island these are great places to bring in a giant kraken as it squirts ink on the luxury boats moored around you. 

A rite of passage for little kids is to swim out the few metres out to the Matilda Bay jetty and jump off the end, crowning the achievement if you land on a big brown jelly.

Coogee Jetty is brilliant for jumping off and because it’s t-shaped you’ve got a few different areas to jump off with less risk of landing on anyone.

The Penguin Island jetty is creating great memories as a great hangout for Tom and I to catch squid at night and it’s where we have manly chats and childish farts in the darkness. 

Jetties are hidden treasures because you can do so much from them. You can be as active as life gets by hurling yourself off them. You can sit quietly and cast a line. You can solve the problems of the world with a mate or you can just walk out to see what’s at the end. Hidden treasure doesn’t get much better than a jetty.