8TH JUNE 2013 – KIMBERLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Two nights out from Derby spent in freebies again, the first very large & had about 50 vans there, all parked on lovely hard surfaces. The second right on top of cliffs & what a beautiful view we all had, overlooking a small valley & out to the distant ranges blue in the distance. It was a little breezy which was a distinct advantage as we are now back in to higher temperatures & don’t expect them to go down from here on in. Between the two we visited Fitzroy Crossing, a small town with a population of about 1500, mostly aboriginal, & situated on the Fitzroy River. It has a visitors’ centre (not open because it was Sunday) which also contains the shire offices & the library, & also a supermarket, a caravan park, a Post Office, an Inn (1897), a police station, & a roadhouse. The supermarket, Roadhouse & Inn are run by the Aboriginal Community. The average temperature is 35.7C with a minimum of 19.2. The Fitzroy Valley contains some of the best cattle lands in the Kimberley.

Geikie Gorge

  20kms out of the town is the Geikie Gorge which we visit & take a one hour boat excursion on the Fitzroy River. The cliffs are magnificent & are what was once a Devonian reef so it is possible to find marine fossils in the rock faces which are full of colours & textures. Freshwater crocs inhabit the river & although we saw quite a lot of very small ones, I am sure some of the mamas & papas were around somewhere. A very wellspoken & well educated young Aboriginal woman was both pilot of our boat & commentator & we were all very impressed. Our tour started at 9.30am & it was delightful being out on the water but we were glad not to be doing a later tour as the temperature was rising quite quickly.

Spot the Croc

 

Colourul Cliffs

 

The third night & another very large freebie at Mary Pool, over a causeway to a lovely treeshaded area beside the Mary River. We were lucky to be there early & gain a possie looking over the water. It wasn’t long before it all became quite busy & we met up with people from previous stops. We are all so much ‘on the same page’ with our ages & situations in common so it isn’t hard to find a topic of conversation. In conversation with a nice couple we mentioned that we were intending to sell our van before returning to NZ, & much to our surprise they showed an interest. Later in the day they came to inspect it & seemed quite impressed, & as we are heading to the same place next we will have further contact with them. They went away armed with information about it so here’s hoping, though naturally we are not getting too excited yet. Between conversations our time was spent reading in the shade, or in my case chasing small birds trying to get photos in order to identify them. Some of them are so small it’s almost impossible. When driving we see quite large flocks of tiny ones & they are too quick to identify but I would guess they may be finches as I know they have quite a few of those in this area.

Red Dragonfly

 

 

Heading on now we reach Halls Creek, larger than Fitzroy Crossing & again a large population of aborigines.  Temperature was 27deg at 8.30am.  It's a pleasant enough place & we laughed about the large IGA store there was very well stocked & owned by Asians - just like NZ.  Fuel is now $1.84.

Further along the landscape was really nice, with orangy coloured grasses by the road & lots of trees & distant ranges & intermittent rock formations.  By 10am temperature rose to 30deg .  After a two hour drive from Hall's Creek we find our next overnighter called Spring Creek & we were lucky to get there early enough to get shade.  We meet up again with the couple interested in the van & sadly they had realised it wouldn't fit in the space back home.  We all agreed to drive out to the Bungle Bungles next day & leave our vans behind in the care of other vanners as the road out there is far too rough for towing.

 

 

 

 

4TH JUNE 2013 – BROOME & DERBY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Broome thankfully was fine & warm but with evidence of heavy rain overnight. The temperature was 16deg when we arrived, rising to 30 by the time we left at 3.30pm. It’s a nice town with a tropical feel centred around the pearling industry. There is a Chinatown so I guess that means there are lots of chinese there. There are tours of pearl farms, glitzy expensive pearl shops, cafes & not a lot that interested us. We did visit the famous Cable Beach which is supposed to be one of the eight most beautiful beaches in the world, & I guess if you just want to sit in the caravan park or on the beach for several days or more it would be OK.

Black Kite Cable Bay Broome

 

Lifeguard setup Cable Bay (not busy)

 

  Unfortunately that’s not for us – we like to get out & involved with the environment. So it’s off to another freebie for the night where we met a couple with a van the same as ours, only the second one we have seen. We had a good time chatting to them & had happy hour joined by two guys who were doing all the offroad routes. They had been stuck every day in the last 4 days due to the rain even though they had the right rig & were just about to attempt the famous Gibb River Road which goes from Derby to Kunanurra a distance of approximately 600+ kms of red dirt road. There are a few basic camp sites but that is all , but I believe there is some awesome scenery to be seen. When we awoke next morning the area was once again a mushy mess & in the middle of it all was a very large red Brahmen bull enticed by the large pools of water which he was slurping up oblivious of all the cameras clicking around him. Once satisfied he moved quietly on though we feared he may be run down as he stopped in the middle of the road for a few minutes finally reaching the other side.

Brahmen Bull at rest area

 

     We left too, reaching the funny little town of Derby on King Sound, with quite a large population of aboriginal people. It’s major claim to fame is the jetty where it is possible to witness a 11m tidal range, the highest in Australia & second highest in the southern hemisphere & also the Boab (bottle) trees seen in this area. We made it our base for several days so that we could visit the attractions in this part of the Kimberley.

Large Boab tree Derby

Derby jetty

 

Pheasant Coucal at Campground Derby

 

Winjana Gorge

The second day in Derby was so wet it wasn’t worth thinking about doing any sightseeing, so a very lazy day was had by both Stu & I, reading, crosswords, sudoku etc. The camp was awash. We made the decision that next morning rain or shine we would risk driving out to Winjana Gorge & the Tunnel Creek Cave, 175kms each way, hoping the weather was better inland. As it happened on waking next morning the weather was much improved, so we left at 6.45am and the day got better & better as we drove. Winjana Gorge proved to be nice with a small creek running through what would be a very large river in the wet season & lovely high red & black cliffs.

Freshie at Winjana Gorge

 

Fruit Bats Winjana Gorge

  The massive rocks at the base were like pink rippled marble although they were the same rocks as on the cliffs. Those on the cliffs were very weatherbeaten thus the difference in colours. There were a number of fresh water crocs to be seen lazing near the edge of the creek, so we were able to get good shots of those. The highlight proved to be Tunnel Creek cave, a huge cavern almost 2kms long with water running through it some of which it was necessary to wade through.

Stu Tunnel Creek

  Entirely self guided & free, torches were of course necessary, & as someone who has never really liked being underground, this one I thoroughly enjoyed. No ducking heads, no enclosed spaces, just a big open cavern, certainly dark, but a lovely feeling to it & felt very adventurous. The opening at both ends looked brilliant in the sunshine giving the pools lovely shades & reflections. This cavern would have been used by the Aboriginal hero Jundermurra who fought the white man single handed but was eventually killed. It was made into a movie which I saw on TV not too long ago.

It was a long day, but on the way back to Derby Stu saw a python on the road which he couldn’t avoid, then saw another one about 5 minutes later on the roadside. The second one was about two metres long but not very round. I believe they were Olive Pythons. We also visited the Prison Boab Tree, an extremely old tree with a hollow inside, which was used in the early days to keep aboriginal prisoners in once they were captured & forced to work in the pearling industry.

 

 

 

2ND JUNE 2013 – PORT HEDLAND, MID WESTERN AUSTRALIA

A cold 12deg windy wet morning as we set off for Port Hedland. The scenery is beautiful with gigantic clouds of amazing shapes & the road bordered by spinifex with it’s mounded green base & long, straw coloured seed heads. Further along they become orange coloured from the dust all the road trains are spewing out as they drive past. Pulling into a roadhouse for fuel we are faced with long queues of caravans & roadtrains surrounded by a sea of red mushy mess of mud (tongue twister for today). The water just seems to lay on the surface instead of sinking in which is why it floods so easily. Most of these roadtrains have three trailers behind them, laden with equipment bound for the mines. There are more ‘oversized’ vehicles on the road than we have ever seen before & one was so wide that we had to entirely pull off the road & stop till it went past. Western Australia seems to be 90% mining & 10% tourists.

 

One of the many carring iron ore from the mine

 

Waiting for fuel at Roadhouse

 

Amazingly as we venture further we cross several creekbeds, still totally dry & full of young sapling trees which have obviously grown since the last flood. I guess the whole cycle will be repeated & they will all be washed away again. Such is the changing face of this land. The other gruesome sight is cattle who have been hit & the scavengers have cleaned them entirely out leaving just the hide looking like a ‘bag of bones’.

Rain gave us a breather once we reached Port Hedland which was mostly closed due to it being Sunday & long weekend holiday. However we went to purchase milk & bread at a small store which turned out to be like a Kiwi dairy, operated by a Maori woman. She imports lots of Kiwi goodies like Maketu pies, flounder, whitebait, bluff oysters etc for all the kiwis working in the surrounding mines. She was not impressed with the weather & the temperature of 17deg which was too much like NZ weather & most unusual for this time of year. The normal would be 25deg. Back on the road there are loads of mining vehicles driving toward us again – everything about Port Hedland is mining orientated – it is so ‘in your face’..

The rain caught up with us again by the time we found our overnighter which was situated beside a large river (yes, with water in it). There must have been about 50 vans parked & it was fairly muddy. By the next morning with all night rain, it was even worse & a couple of motorhomes got stuck. Some people decided they were going to stay put but we decided it may get better as we headed further north so took our leave. We had to rethink our options as many of the dirt roads we intended to travel on were closed. There were vans coming out of them which seemed to have had a very bad paint job as they were now red instead of white. With a shortage of water in these parts I don’t know how they would get them cleaned up again. We did see one poor couple in a roadside area trying to clean theirs with little success. The GPS at this stage is showing a totally straight line in the middle of nothing. About the only thing we see is a couple of very large birds in the middle of the road which I identify as Bustards (correct spelling), and some Brahmen cattle with their humpbacks & enormous saggy folds of flesh hanging under their chins. Do hope mine doesn’t reach that stage!!! The wind is now against us as well so we are chewing up fuel like a sponge soaks up water. Funnily enough the fuel is easier to get than good water. On reaching our next overnighter we had a good respite from the rain & had time to wander around watching birds & making phone calls to book a caravan park in Broome while we had a signal. Unfortunately it rained heavily again during the night so left for Broome at 7.30am, in two hours of heavy rain. The peak season starts here from June 1st & Broome is very expensive, $42-$52+ per site per night, so we changed our plans & decided to just spend the day there. It’s a bad start to their season, especially those little places off the main route on closed roads.

29th MAY 2013 – PILBARA, NORTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Breaking camp from Cape Range National Park it was straight back to Exmouth where Stu spent time looking for a place with tyres for the Landcruiser. With luck we found some & just as well as two of the four were well down & getting to the stage of being illegal. While he delivered the car I spent time filling the water tanks with the free water at the Visitor Centre then we did some grocery shopping . All achieved by the time the car was ready & because it was then lunchtime we ate & finally left at 2pm, very late for us leaving one place for another. It was a long flat drive which became quite boring by the time we reached our chosen overnighter which was beside a VERY dry riverbed. There were quite a few cattle wandering around near us enticed by some pools of water left by recent rain. On the road at our usual time next morning we had a large flock of Corella cockatoos fly right at the car & unfortunately at least one was hit. It was a lovely drive with pretty mountain ridges which looked quite purplish in the distance, some with tabletops quite typical of the Pilbara region. It seems there are either cloudless blue skies or amazing cloud formations & on this day it is the latter. There doesn’t seem to be any wildlife apart from birds or straying cattle now & again. The landscape is so vast & just seems to go on & on forever. There is also a distinct lack of traffic unless they are all behind us. One thing which surprises us is seeing hoons ‘drifting’ patterns on the road in a couple of places. Seems incomprehensible so far in the outback. We reach the small mining community of Paraburdoo which is very busy with trucks & utes everywhere, all covered with red dust & their neon yellow stripes & flags on top of the vehicles identifying them. This is the airport from which all the mine workers from here & Tom Price town fly home on their days off & holidays & there are 46 flights a week go out by Qantas alone. Stu was not pleased to have to follow a convoy of mine vehicles for 10kms as we left. Tonight we have to pay for a caravan park at Tom Price & were dismayed to be told it was $28 unpowered & $42 powered! You can guess which we took. Because we do so many kms the batteries stay well charged for our needs & of course we have our solar panel as well. Only for the fact that Stu has booked a mine tour at 9am next day, we would have continued onto the Karajini National Park. This was a Rio Tinto mine, one of many in the area. It was much quieter than he expected after having visited the one in Westport where his daughter works. The ore is removed & crushed, then loaded onto trains over 2kms long, the value of the load being worth 3 million dollars per train & there are 3 trains per day which to go to the port of Dampier headed for China. Tom Price was only built in 1963, named after an American who was instrumental in convincing the mining companies that it was worth mining here. He also played a major role in lobbying the State & Federal Governments to allow mining to proceed & for the ore to be exported. In 1962 he returned to the States at age 71 & sadly died of a heart attack only two hours after being advised of the very rich ore deposits discovered on the mountain here. It is a small town & totally mining orientated as you can imagine, but I thought for a young family with no children or starting a family it was a great way to get a start in life. It has all the amenities possible like swimming pool, parks & playgrounds, cinema, recreation centre, gokarts, nice schools, golf club, hospital, doctor, dentist, etc. The houses mostly are quite nice brick homes, with some really lovely ones with gorgeous green lawns & gardens which apparently belong to the doctors, dentists & mine bosses I daresay. The population is 5000. And to get away from it all they have the Karajini National Park only 80kms away & that is we headed too.

On the short drive to the N.P we called in to look at a free overnight area called RIP. Thinking it was a weird name I had told Stu I didn’t know if I would like to stay there as we would either have a very good nights rest or never leave. On arrival we were very surprised to find that it was surrounded by rocks with either written memoriams on the rocks or in some cases professionally made plaques, some with flowers & a few with wreaths placed there this last Anzac Day I would guess. It was quite moving.

Saturday 1st June – can’t believe we have been away so long. Time is flying by indeed & here we are at another destination which we hope will live up to expectations. The usual NP rules, no pets which Stu says cuts out half the nomad population as so many of them have dogs here in Oz. We are given a huge site & as fate would have it only two sites away from our expat kiwi friends who have been here 3 nights & leave next morning.

Dales Gorge

Fortescue Falls

 

Rock face Dales Gorge

 

 

  We take the bull by the horns & hit the first of many walking trails, this one taking us along the rim of the gorge, & next morning we retrace our steps & head down to the bottom of the gorge itself. There are waterfalls (not large at this time) but nevertheless very pretty, & the rock formations are amazing, stacked like layer after layer of red granite. Although the weather is overcast & windy up top, at the bottom it is still & warmer. We are surprised at one of the pools (with proper swimming pool steps,) to find some mining guys on their day off actually swimming. They told us how warm it was which we took with a grain of salt, but it actually was very warm. Unfortunately we didn’t come prepared but I’m sure a lot of the young ones wouldn’t let that stop them. Next day, after much umming & aahing as to whether it would be worth it, we drove 60kms of red dirt road to a group of 4 other gorges. And worth it indeed!

Joffie Falls

  The first call was Joffre Falls which we admired from a lookout high above, a semi-circular ampitheatre which must be totally spectacular during rain. Even so it did have water coming down it. But the second gorge was the most adventurous & most beautiful. We had a very rocky path & several ladders to climb down to start & there were quite a few young people down there. After a short walk we discovered we had to remove our shoes & roll up our trousers as high as possible to walk through a thigh high pool through a fairly narrow opening in the amazing cliffs. One young lady stripped down to her knickers only on the bottom, & another young german girl ended up with very wet jeans too narrow in the leg to roll up far. After sliding down some slippery rocks, she later removed them.

Jan & Stu Hancock Gorge

 

Kermits Pool Hancock Gorge

 

Jan coming out of the Grge

 

   The next part was called the Spider, as it was necessary to place a leg either side on opposing cliff sides & walk along with alternate movements of hands & legs. Of course we were the only silly ‘oldies’ to attempt it, & it got even harder on the next bit edging along little ledges, sometimes on our bottoms. At the end it was just stunning, high cliff faces like polished granite, pools etc. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely & felt so proud we had perservered. Must admit if we hadn’t seen the young ones doing it we wouldn’t have thought it possible. And we even survived to tell the tale! We did visit a couple of other lookouts & thought they would be an anticlimax after our adventure, but the last one was stunning too with four gorges coming together at one point. Again would be spectacular after heavy rain. We both thought it was the highlight of our trip so far.

Oxer lookout (4 gorges converge)

 

22ND MAY 2013 - EXMOUTH, & CAPE RANGE NATIONAL PARK, NTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Headed to Exmouth early to stock up with the necessities of life & have a quick look around, but enroute we saw 1000’s of large red termite nests about 1mtr round the base & 1mtr high ending in a pointed top which made them look like a city of tents in the red desert & at one point we saw some red sheep, who matched the surroundings well. Also passed the very large RAAF base & ‘civil’ airport situated next to each other. Exmouth is a comparitively new town established in 1967 as a support town for the Naval Communication Station, a joint Australian & USA Government venture. Despite being hard hit by tropical cyclone Vance in March 1999 it soon bounce back better than ever. It is also in the record books for a record wind gust speed for the Australian mainland of 267km p.h. Despite this Exmouth has year round almost perfect weather with no wet season. It’s main attraction is the Ningaloo Marine Park which stretches 260kms along the coastline from Coral Bay to Exmouth. The reef system and surrounding waters are home to 220 recorded species of coral & 500 species of temperate & tropical fish. The might whale shark can be seen from April to June, along with Dugons, Manta Rays, dolphins & humpback whales & turtles.

Exmouth turns out to be much smaller than we had expected but very busy with two caravan parks absolutely ‘chocker’. This coming weekend is their ‘Whale Shark Festival’ as it is a this time that the Whale Sharks start to return to the area. They are the world’s biggest species of fish & can grow up to 12m long & the Ningaloo Reef is one of the only places they regularly appear in large numbers for the mass coral spawning. The chance to snorkel with these gentle giants is a chance in a lifetime but naturally it is expensive & one needs to be a confident swimmer & snorkeller & I don’t feel I am either these days through lack of practice. Humpback whales also appear here from June to November & many of the females give birth in these warmer waters, so we are hopeful of a sighting before we leave the coast. Manta Rays are in the area all year round but in more prolific numbers between May & October & right here on the beaches we will visit in the next few days, turtles have their nesting season around November. As you can tell it is a very special environment & I wish I were richer & younger in order to really experience it. It is a diver’s heaven. Historically Exmouth is quite interesting as there was a secret base here during WWII. It also was the site of the first significant oil flow on the mainland of Australia at Rough Range.

We have just learned that to swim with the whale sharks costs $400 per person!!! We’ll give that a miss I think. The area is also WA’s most prestigious game fishing destination. Naturally the caravan parks here are extremely busy & expensive but we are more interested in staying in the Cape Range National Park which stretches about 80-100 kms along the coast. There are 16 camping spots set up within the coastal section of the park with lovely clean toilets but no water or power, so it is imperative to be self contained. At only $14 per night it is lovely with all sites right behind the sand dunes to the beach. We had booked in for 4 nights but this in itself proved to be difficult as it is only possible to book online & must be done 48 hours in advance. Our problem was that we hadn’t had internet for some days so had to wait till we did. That meant that once we had booked we had to fill in two nights somewhere which was how we ended up in the farmstay, then another night in a caravan park just before the National Park entry. The latter was a real ‘boatie camp’ being situated quite near to the only boat ramp & was really busy. On arrival there as Stu was backing into the site our ‘neighbour to be’ on the site right behind us, leapt out to guide him into the space despite the fact that it was not a difficult one & I was standing there to do so anyway. Well, what a bossy boots! He told Stu in no uncertain terms when to ‘right hand down, left hand down, stand on your head’ etc. Had him going backwards & forwards & poor Stu was red in the face with both embarrassment & annoyance. At the end he stated that HE could have got us straighter. I just laughed it off but we certainly didn’t get into conversation with him. Nevertheless, we had to listen to him ordering others around at the top of his voice. You do meet some ‘interesting’ people - so thank goodness we were only there for one night. Next to his site also backing onto us was this huge brand new looking boat, two huge motors & a fabulous slide-on caravan which went onto a brand new looking truck which matched. The slide-on had custom-made awnings all around it & I would have loved to have seen inside. On the door of the truck was the name ‘WA RV’ & also on the back of the van, so our assumption was that he owned the RV company. The money the whole outfit must have cost??? We were happy to leave the loud & wealthy next morning & head for the quiet simplicity of the National Park.

Mandu mandu Gorge

 

After settling into our site we explored the beach & in the afternoon donned our walking boots to walk the Munda Munda Gorge close by. An enjoyable walk which took about us about an hour despite the sign which said to allow 2 hours. It wanders along the base of the gorge over beautiful coloured smooth rocks, predominantly all shades of pink, and also white, cream & grey. It then ascends to the top of the red rocked gorge, a little more challenging in that it is a climb up & a bit of a scramble down again, but all in all quite a moderate walk. It was made more pleasant by the overcast day which for me at least means it was not too hot. The next day after a windy night, it was a lovely 28deg, so we drove to the end of the camping sites to Yardie Creek, with a beautiful beach & another gorge walk to keep us fit. This one proves to be much prettier & interesting with a river running through it & we were lucky to spot grey, blackfooted rock wallabies clambering along the cliff faces. How they manage it is amazing. These are not very common, only seen in a couple of places throughout Australia I believe. On the way back to camp we poked into the other campsites down this end of the park, mainly looking for our expat kiwi friends we have been meeting up with here & there, the ones with the motorhome. We did find them & spent an hour or so with them.

Yardie Creek

 

 

Black footed rock wallaby at Yardie Creek

Yardie Creek

 

 

Overnight from out of nowhere we had very heavy rain & wind. We didn’t realise until the morning how much rain until we drove down to some of the snorkelling sites & found a couple of roads & campsites closed. Apart from that everything else looked as if there was no rain at all. We spent an hour or so touring the snorkelling sites but the sea was a little too rough & there weren’t people snorkelling, so we didn’t attempt it either.  However, by next morning we struck it right & had a lovely morning of snorkelling at what is called the 'drift loop'.  This means starting up at the top of the beach & letting the current bring you down while watching the lovely marine life as you go.  The current is really strong but we had hired 'flippers' which makes it all so much easier.   It's important to check where you are now & again, but being cautious we ensured we didn't venture out too far & still enjoyed the experience.   It's all within a large lagoon surrounded by the Ningaloo Reef, so we both felt quite secure, though a fisherman told us later that out by the reef itself there are lots of reef sharks???  Apparently they are quite harmless but glad  I didn't know at the time.  After a break for lunch we had a second attempt but it wasn't as nice as the morning due to the change of tide.
 

Native Crested Pidgeon


 

21ST MAY 2013 – CARNARVON & POINT QUOBBA, NORTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Waking once again to a lovely sunny morning & cloudless blue sky which makes one appreciate being alive. Good overnight site which could have taken lots more vans, so we were surprised that it wasn’t crowded. All the better for us. En route there are lots of wandering sheep, goats & cattle, a few already hit by trucks I suspect, together with the usual sad array of dead roos. We had heard trucks tooting before we left so this explained why. Apparently it’s quite normal as there are signs warning traffic of the possibility. Nearing Carnarvon the area becomes prolific with market gardens which seems odd among the flat, arid landscape. Surprisingly this area supplies more than half of WA’s bananas & about 70% of Perth’s winter vegetables. It’s mild climate & pest free status plus the fertile land near the Gasgoyne River results in production of top quality fruit & vegies. We were hoping to purchase some, but didn’t realise we had to go off on another road to the right area to buy direct from the producers as we were heading on to Point Quobba for a couple of nights. We pass over a large riverbed of total sand & totally devoid of moisture. There isn’t a sign of wildlife or anything on the landscape except low brush. We have decided that WA is just one enormous sandpit for people like us to play in with our matchbox- like cars on the long flat roads. It seems even flatter than the Nullabor but with flat topped ‘mesas’ in the distance. Along the way we found a very pink lake, caused by a certain algae. Back at Fowlers Bay we had witnessed the same thing but much paler. Water is extremely limited up here & there are warning signs all over the place to make sure you have water or turn back.

On arrival at Point Quobba we are delighted to find what we believed was the last site as it is apparently very popular, not only because it is only $5.50 per site per night, but is right near the beach. We later discover the sites continue a couple of kms along the dunes. Most of the campsites are protected from the prevailing winds by the sand dunes which is a blessing as there is a souwesterly today. This proves to be a great advantage when we visit the blowholes a short walk from camp as they are really performing well today with spectacular waves coming in from the sea. It is quite exhilarating & I am definitely not alone in taking a profuse number of photos. Next morning we are visited by a couple from Queensland who we became acquainted with way back, then caught a glimpse of them in Perth in the same camp but couldn’t catch up with them. They unfortunately had big problems with their brand new motorhome & had to go into a cabin for 8 days, while we were looking for them in their motorhome.

At Quobba

Blowhole at Quobba

An afternoon was spent driving further along the coast to Cape Cuviere, all dirt road & pretty rough in places. We can only do that sort of thing when the caravan is safely parked somewhere & we do enjoy the freedom of doing so, one of the advantages of caravan versus motorhome. Did lots of beachcombing & fossicking, finding some lovely big shells & a few pretty small ones, lots of coral in large chunks & small, & a few colourful crabs in rock pools over the edges of the cliffs. We are always very careful with the cliffs here as the rocks often look as they could just snap off. A lot of it is very flat, stacked rock but in this particular area it is volcanic & pimply slabs of orange rock. Looks as though it would be extremely hard to walk over but in fact it is OK. On the way back to camp a large Perentie lizard peered at us from the side of the road. Stuart was going too fast to stop so sorry, no photo.

Janice on a cliff edge at Cape Cuvier

Colourful crab in rock pool

 

After two nights we hit the road again, this time heading further north towards Exmouth. The landscape changes a little with quite a few large sand pans which would flood with good rain. Lots of goats with long tails, many colours & patterns. Also a large number of wedgetailed eagles which I so wish I was able to capture with the camera. They are really beautiful large birds though must admit I wouldn’t like to be attacked by one.

There are great road cleaning gangs here who clear away the roadkill. They are most efficient, no leaning on shovels here! Most of them are clad in black & are supervised by a big fierce looking fellow who does the big bits, followed on by the common men who clean up the scrappy bits. They are called Wedgies & Crows! Lots of boats are evident on the road today – we are sure almost every Aussie male must be born with a fishing rod in his hand. With or without a boat they are always fishing, sometimes accompanied by the little wife to carry the bucket or spare rod.

At one of the roadhouses we are very pleased to find some stalls, one of them selling fresh fruit & veg from Carnarvon. I am trying to eat more fruit so it was great to get oranges, apples, bananas & tomatoes. The landscape is very flat again with a 360deg horizon of totally cloudless blue sky. We saw a sign telling us we were crossing the Tropic of Capricorn 22.5deg south of the equator. Stu tells me Paparoa would be about 37deg, which explains why it is so much warmer here most of the year. We reach Coral Bay for lunch & have a refreshing swim in lovely clear water with a white sandy bottom (NO, not mine)! At this particular bay a sad thing happened several days before we arrived – a couple in their 40’s were snorkelling out near the reef & drowned. People saw them floating from the beach (including their two sons 13 & 10), & assumed they were still snorkelling, then the husband disappeared beneath the water & didn’t resurface so it was then obvious that something was not right. At this stage no-one is sure what happened but we were told by a local it could have been one of the jellyfish stingers who are not usually around at this time. We felt really sad as we visited the beach there & it has made me a bit unsure about snorkelling which we were intending to do within the next few days as this is the home of the great Ningaloo Reef. Would be OK if we had ‘stinger suits’ but we haven’t so we will see.

Demara Sheep!
 

Our next night is spent at a station homestead again & this one is really nice & also reasonably priced. The couple who own it are delightful & are 3rd generation. The atmosphere is very relaxed with chooks, horses, dogs & a few pet sheep wandering around. And speaking of sheep, I mentioned earlier about goats with long tails. We have just discovered they were a variety of sheep called Damara (not sure of spelling). They sure look like goats & have coarse hair which is no good for anything but the meat is excellent. I took some photos of the pet ones here at Ballara Station who were so friendly they would invite themselves into your van if you are not careful. One young black & white one was so funny & a couple of French boys at the camp had him jumping & cavorting all over the place. We actually bought some meat from the farm but I do hope it wasn’t from cuties like him!

20TH MAY 2013 – SHARK BAY, NORTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Another day, – what wonders will we experience? Our journey today takes us to Shark Bay Marine Park, which covers 1500 kms of coastline, making it the largest marine embayment in Australia. The shallow waters support more than 320 species of fish, turtles, dugongs, dolphins,& manta rays. It is also has the longest wildflower season in WA, but sadly we are too early for that. First stop after leaving camp is Shell Beach, a stretch of unique Australian coastline comprised of countless millions of tiny cockle-like shells, quite fragile & crumbly. Scientists are puzzled as to why these molluscs grow so quickly & profusely in this area.

Shell Beach

Stromatolites!

 

 

  The shell build up is 8-9 metres deep. Further along is Hamelin Pool which is the site of another unique feature called ‘stromatolites’. This site is one of only a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites exist. They are the oldest living organisms on the planet which resemble rocky like lumps in the very clear water but are really quite spongy. They date back 3.5 billion years & are examples of the oldest & simplest forms of life on earth. The water in Hamelin pool is twice as saline as usual seawater which means that few predators & competitors can survive allowing the microbes to grow at a rate of .3mm per year, so examples up to a metre high are very, very old.
They are protected by a viewing platform over the site. When they die they become hard & rocklike.

Eagle Bluff

Caravan at Eagle Bluff

 Other attractions nearby were Eagle Bluff, with a 100mtr walkway along the ridge of the cliff face. It is sometimes possible to view sharks, turtles, rays & large fish in the shallow waters below but we were not blessed with their presence. On the historical side, an island just off the coast called Dirk Hartog Island was the site of the first recorded landing on Australian soil by Europeans. It is possible to stay over there but I’m sure would be very expensive. Probably the most popular attraction is the National Park reserve of Monkey Mia where wild dolphins come several times each day to be hand fed a small amount of fish & interact with humans. Touching is not allowed. There are lots of boat tours , camel treks etc available also & snorkelling is popular. We are saving that for further up the coast at Ningaloo reef where it will be warmer water. The only town on Shark Bay is Denham where the caravan parks are $40+ per night & full to overflowing. Hence we stayed where we did & drove in & did the sights for the day, heading out later in the day towards Carnarvon to a free overnighter. We have the feeling we will be digging deeper in our pockets as we head further north if we can’t find more freebies, but time will tell.