Geraldton

Well not much to report here, wet, cold and windy. We did however looked at the HMAS Sydney Memorial which sank at sea during a battle during World War 2, there were about 645 who died. It was a lovely memorial with birds symbolizing each soldier and a statue of a woman looking out to sea with a pained expression on her face, hoping the war ship would return.

I must say, as we have headed further down the coast the playgrounds have been very popular with our kids, lots of different equipment. The kids love to turn them into obstacle courses and see you can get through the course the quickest.

 

Cervantes (The Pinnacles)

From Geraldton we travelled along the coast and looked at most of the coastal towns, deciding to stay at Cervantes where the Pinnacles are. We travelled to the Pinnicales the following morning which were quite stunning in the natural light and very yellow sand. You can either walk through or drive a 4km track, we chose to drive due to the wind and rain.

From Cervantes and across to Gin Gin where we went to a Gravity and Science centre. We've ended our day at Rockingham south of Perth. This will be the base for our travels to Perth and Fremantle.

Kalbarri

Kalbarri is a quaint seaside town with many holiday units, holiday homes and three Caravan Parks, considering it’s a small town. You have Kalbarri National Park which we visited and had spectacular views from all lookouts. One walk we completed was called Natures Window, have you guessed yet? It’s a window within the rock formations, through the window you see the Murchison River and lovely red rock with shrubs. Another walk took us down to the river itself, while at the park it was quite warm, but as we returned to Kalbarri, windy once again.

Every morning on the Esplanade the resident pelicans are fed. We were able to walk over from our Caravan Park which was situated along the foreshore. At the beginning there was one lone pelican for breakfast, another one ventured over who was a female but the mean lone male pelican quickly shooed her away. He did not want any others sharing his brekky. During the feeding and the informative talk about the birds, four flew over the water, it was a lovely site because they are such large birds.

Ever since we left Coral Bay for Denham all we have had is wind, it hasn’t been too cold, but always windy. From Kalbarri we travelled south to Geraldton, rain, wind, rain, wind. That is all we have known as we moved down the west coast. From Geraldton to Cervantes, this is the base for the Pinnacles. Today we arrived at Rockingham south of Perth to 12 degrees and more of the same, rain and wind. The weather is looking up though Sunday 27 degrees and wait for it, Monday 34 degrees. We will be able to turn the heater off and put the air con on for a change. Very much looking forward to the warmer weather, crossing fingers for more heat and no wind or rain.

 

Denham and Monkey Mia

Monkey Mia is where we went to feed the dolphins, we waited about half an hour for them to come into the shallows. They apparently took their time because they may have been playing or catching a feed with a school of fish.

It was a perfect morning, no wind and the sun was shining. Unfortunately, the tide was out which makes the water a little murky and dolphins don’t always agree with that. Once they had arrived, buckets of fish were brought out for their feed. If you are one of the lucky ones to be chosen you were able to feed one of the five dolphins they feed. Three came in this morning, our dolphin wasn’t interested so we missed out on feeding her. They do bring their calves in but they are not fed, they need to be fed from their mothers and learn to hunt for themselves.

Later that morning we went on a cruise on a catamaran, to the black pearl farm and dugong spotting. We saw many dolphins, a few turtles and a couple of dugongs. Dugongs seem to eat and sleep most of the time, apart from when they come up for a breath. They are big fat brown lumps under the surface of the water. In the distance whales were spotted, so we went in chase of them, to see a mother and her calf gliding in and out throughout the water it was amazing.

That afternoon we drove back to windy Denham, boy does it blow here. Jumpers are coming out from under the bed, that is not a good sign. Now for the sights of Denham, we visited numerous lookouts, again the sand and water is stunning. Shell beach was great to see, it is covered in tiny little shells, and many people had written their names with them. We also went to the Aquarium where we were well informed about many different types of fish. They main event would have to of been the shark feeding, being able to see them up close and feeding.

Back to Denham where Jack is going to make his creation out of shells he collected from Eighty Mile Beach.

 

 

 

Coral Bay

What an exceptional place, just what I like, relaxing… Here we snorkeled, swam, read and relaxed. We went on a snorkel tour, here we were able to snorkel in two locations. The first was amazing, Marc and Ned spotted a turtle and a reef shark and swam along with them. We spotted quite a few turtles, they are quite cute when they pop out of the water for a breath.

One outstanding thing to do at Coral Bay is to ride the quad bikes. We rode through the sand dunes and along the beach, to watch a special sunset. Jack and I were together and we became bogged at the base of a hill. It was a slow ride to the top, but we made it with a lot of jumping and rocking the bike back and forth. It was quite funny if you had been there.

Overall, a place I would love to visit again, we secured a first row beach front site which made it extra special. Thanks to Vince and Donna the bottle of wine went down well while watching another exceptional sunset.

Exmouth

Now, this is a must see, the water is clear and displays beautiful shades of blues and greens. One side is the bay where many go fishing, the other side is the beach with amazing snorkeling and again crisp white sand and clear water. You could easily spend a week here, next time we will be more equipped for off road camping. We will definitely camp in Cape Range National Park, there are many beach sections along here.

Emu’s are common here, you need to be very careful when driving through Cape Range National Park. The park itself is the start of the Ningaloo marine area, our favorite spot was Turquoise Bay. We met many of our travelling friends here and had a wonderful time. Apart from snorkeling, one of the fun parts was hopping in the water at one end then drifting down a couple of hundred metres to the other.

The boys went on a half day fishing adventure and came home with zilch, nothing, zero. Could not believe it, sharks kept eating their snags.

One of the other highlights was a massive sand dune, you could see it from quite a distance away. The backdrop of the blue sky made it look picturesque. The kids had a great time climbing it and surfing down the other side.

Tom Price

While at Tom Price we booked a tour through the Rio Tinto Mine. Here we saw big boys’ toys, enormous Tonka trucks and excavators. We saw one of the larger iron ore pits, which they have been mining since 1963, back then there was 15 to 20 years worth of mining. They are still mining today and say they have another 15 to 20 years left, who knows… We saw a train being loaded, it was two and a half kms long, and worth about $2 million dollars a load, four trains were loaded daily.

Tom Price is a town outside Karrijini National Park where we stayed. Our first visit included a different walk to what we have been used to. We started off strolling through the park, walking through water waist high. Continued onto the Spider Walk, where we walked through a narrow gorge over slippery rocks holding onto both sides of the gorge. The next section was called the Handrail, here we held onto a handrail and carefully walked down the rail. It was like a fireman’s poll, but you climbed slow and steady. At the end was the pool, unfortunately in a very long time we had to endure a 23 degree cool day. The weather the following days picked up so we were happy again.

We had a visit from a relative of Marc’s come over for dinner, Vince works in the mines. It was lovely to see a familiar face, we were able to catch up and have an enjoyable night.

Back to Karrijini, this time to the Circular Pool, the next couple of walks was not long but were steep, walking down to the bottom of the gorge. We did not swim here for there were leeches in the water. Back for lunch and onto our walk to Fortescue Falls, it was a large pool with a waterfall and a natural seating area around the pool, due to the rock formation. Here we were able to swim and enjoy the environment over lunch.

 

 

Eighty Mile Beach

All that is here is a quaint caravan park behind the sand dunes of Eighty Mile Beach and intriguing residents.  One who walks around with a parrot on her shoulder and the other guy in his 70’s wearing a sailor’s cap and short white shorts with a white t-shirt to complement his attire.

After we set up camp yesterday we managed an hour at the beach before we headed back for dinner, while there the kids had a play in the sand and began their collection of shells. You see many people walking along the shore with a bag in their hand and their head down. I haven’t found out what they do with them yet, but it is addictive to try and find that unique shell?

There is no swimming here as Marc found out after the fact, sea snakes frequent the area. Campers would either fish from the beach or walk along with a bag in their hand and heads down, it was quite a different sight and something that grew on you. Before you knew it, you were strolling along the beach fossicking for shells, even Marc got in on the act. He has collected enough shells, has even bought glue to make a duck with his shells. Make sure you ask to have a look when we arrive home.

 

Port Headland

Not much to report, a typical mining town, many mining cars on the road, busily going about their daily duties, they remind me of ants scurrying here and there. We did visit the port and watched the tugs move a loaded ship out to sea…  If you want to come and live here, you only need to fork out $3,000 for a three bedroom, shanty shack a week. We were put on the fence line of the caravan park and viewed the lovely industrial town under lights.

On our way to Tom Price, through part of the mining area of Western Australia were many four carriage road trains and again, mining vehicles. Many hills and winding roads with lovely mountain terrain as scenery.

Broome

On Sunday 2 September we went to see the staircase to the moon. Unfortunately it was not as impressive as the brochures show you, However, it has probably been better other times. You can only view this phenomenon when there is a full moon, and the dates and times are marked on the calendar. We waited and waited in anticipation for the moon to appear, as it did is was deep blood orange in colour, steps started to appear, but stopped. Oh well, maybe another day.

Broome

Broome, the beach was very pretty, especially from a camel. Yes, we rode camels on the beach at Cable Beach. I haven’t taken too much notice in the past, these animals are quite large, including their feet and heads. Getting up on a camel is quite easy, it’s coming down that makes you think twice. They come down with a thud, first their front legs followed quickly by their back legs, you need to hold on tight and lean back. On the way down the camel jerks you back and forth a few times before the camel is finally sitting. The walk along the beach was awesome and the photos say it all.

Evie and I shared a camel and his name was Wun, he is 12 years old and is a softie at heart. Wun is one of the larger ones of the group. He came from Curtin Springs, which is near Uluru. Adventurer’s catch, train and walk them up to Broome.

Jack and Ned were on Kubul, he is 26 years old and is the boss, he was walked across from the east coast. On arrival he had a fight with the other boss at the time and won, he is getting on in age, but is still the dominant male.

 

Cape Laveque Day 2

This morning we enjoyed a flight in a Cessna over the Buccaneer Archipelago and Horizontal Falls.

Off to the beach for yet another swim until this afternoon when we go on a glass bottom boat. This was a very exhilarating trip, not only did we see fish and coral we also saw Humpback Whales frolicking in the water. You can only go so close to them but if they come to the boat all the better for us, although it can be a little too confronting when they are right beside you. The size of these wonderful creatures is astounding, we have all heard how large they are but when you are in a boat that is smaller than the whale it is a bit concerning. The skipper placed a microphone in the water so we can hear the whales chat to each other. It was quite funny, one whale seen us from the distance and quickly made their way towards us eating the microphone and all.

All in all Cape Laveque has been one of the most outstanding places to visit, many things to see and do.

 

Cape Laveque

Wow, what a pristine part of Australia, as soon as we arrived I was in awe of the scenery. The red rocks, crisp white sand and turquoise warm water. In one day I took 200 photo’s, I couldn’t stop snapping.

Upon arrival our Safari Tent was not ready so we walked along the beach on the west side of Cape Laveque where there are deep bright red coloured rocks backing up against pure white soft sand. This is where the Qantas add was filmed, with the children singing I Still Call Australia Home standing on the red rocks. From here we went to the east side for a swim. The rocks were not as red but with the colour of the water and sand, perfect for many more photos. Along this stretch of beach were half a dozen Beach Huts, completely open with a roof and three sides. With a little more camping gear this would be quite a unique way of staying here, maybe next time… By this time our tent was ready, we are at the base of the light house poking through the trees looking out over east beach.

That afternoon we drove along the beach for yet another swim and to watch the beautiful sunset with a glass of sparking, cheese and dip. While also watching the tide go out a very long way. We then settled in to a beautiful BBQ dinner of steak and fresh. That night we left the shutters on the tent open so we could wake up to the sunrise over the water.