22nd - 25th Nov Kalbarri

We booked into the Murchinson Caravan Park, no 3 for 2 or 4 for 3 deals going here, but we still get our 10% top tourist member discount here.  We settle in and venture out with Alana and Ian to Rainbow Jungle, the Australian Parrot Breeding Centre.  $13.50 pp entry and well worth the visit.  They have just about all imaginable parrots from the budgie, lorikeets, cockatoos to south american macaws.  These bigger birds have like a playground in their cages, chew ropes, logs, one even had a slippery slide.  I think that was only for show somehow.

Alana and I went a bit snap happy.  We enjoyed walking through the parrot free flight aviary, the largest in the country.  The grounds and cages all well kept and cared for.  This is Noodles a red headed gang gang.  Apparently a very good talker but was a little shy when we were there, his mate Kafuffles was camera shy.   They also have a great whale viewing tower, we are a little late for the whales, season ends November.

From there we took a bit of a drive out to Mushroom Rock, Red Bluff (yep another one) view from the lookout overlooking Red Bluff Beach.  Back to Blue Holes which is great for snorkelling.  Actually we met a guy along the way reckons the waters just south of Quobba Blowholes are the best ever for snorkelling even better than Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth.  We went for a gander through Eco Flora Estate, yep they have a nobs hill too.  Very big flash houses, but a big sign at the entry to estate saying In Hands of Receivers...........

Next day we join Alana and Ian for a trip out to the gorges in Kalbari National Park.  First stop Z Bend, though it is not so destinct from this angle.  A 500 metre stroll from the carpark to the look out tower 150 metres above the river.  All natural walkway, good to see. 

Yep we lashed out and bought us some fly nets, the best $13.00 spent.  No more digesting those pesky little flies for me! 

Sorry Darl, I ain't going there, not enough room for the both of us, reluctantly I take off my fly net hat for the pic.  This is a lookout on the way to Nature's Window.

Note I am not actually sitting on my Darl's chicken legs.  Can't wait for the matte sunscreen to be finished.  My Darl has a ghostly look about him.   Nature's Window, a natural rock arch that frames the upstream view and is a modest 400 metre walk from the carpark.  There is an 8 km loop walk from this point, takes a couple of hours for the fit, we opt not to take this option.  It is 38 deg in town today, the locals say the temp out in the National Park is up to 10 deg higher.  There is warnings everywhere about the dangers of heat exhaustion.  People have died out here from heat exhaustion, scary hairy.

We are the only 4 out here today donning the attractive fly nets and we are now getting the smirks and funny looks that we used to give people we come across.  Well bullie for them we ain't got flies buzzing around our face!   This shot taken at Ross Graham Lookout, named after a school teacher made a significant contribution to community and environment, died at 31 back in the 1960's.  We also visited Hawk's Head....

Wild flower season is just about over, starting end of winter and into spring.  A lot of the flowers have been and gone already but we still noticing quite a few still flowering, the fields are alive with these purple bushes.  Also, see some red, gold, yellow, white varieties very colorful.  Back at camp for the arvo, went for swim at Chinamen's beach, nice spot.

18th - 21st Nov - Denham, Shark Bay

On our way to Denham along the Brand Highway, past the Wooramel Roadhouse, there is a lookout on the right side, which I believe overlooks Shark Bay/Hamelin Pool.  It also overlooks the inland limestone ranges.  Nice spot for a photo.   There are also a couple of pyramids of rocks and a mound of rocks looks quite like a grave site which is covered with gnomes and notes from people of all corners of the globe. 

We can't help but leave our mark on one of the rocks on the pyramid before continuing the drive to Denham in Shark Bay world heritage area.   We keep running into Ian and Alana (Melb Cup Dampier), they have also booked into the same van park as us, Denham Seaside Tourist Park, the most westerly van park in WA.  We thought that pretty cool, as at $350 for a day trip to Steep Point (the most westerly point of Australia) we are not going to be making that trip.  Denham overlooks Dirk Hartog Island and Useless Loop on the mainland.  And is it BLOWING a gale.

There are several accommodation places out on the pennisular - Hamelin Pool, Nanga, Monkey Mia plus a few beach camp spots, which you need a permit for whichs allows you to camp for one night only (no return trips) - there is no toilet facilities or water at these camps.  If you don't have a chemical loo, make sure to take your spade.  Darl has found a riding buddy, Ian on his BMW.   We sent them off to check out Monkey Mia for our trip over their the next day.  Take your time boys, us girls are going down the street, check out the shops.

Monkey Mia is a little resort spot a bit like Coral Bay.   Resort accommodation, van and camping ground.   All the water activities are available, from swimming, fishing to two up underwater boats and paddle boats and cruises.   But it is all about the dolphins, have to get there early, feeding time starts at about 8am to 12pm.  Two to three feeding sessions depending on how hungry the dolphins are.  This is special as they have a new 3 week old baby, Piper.   They all have names.   The handlers walk into water and select people from the crowd to have a go at feeding.

Alana and I are lucky as we both get picked out to have a go.   Special but my Darl is nowhere to be seen, so I don't get a photo.  There is about 25 dolphins in this bay, on the opposite side of pennisular to Denham.  It is no where as windy as over there.  Today 11 dolphins come in to feed.  The tip is hang around for all feeds as the crowd gets smaller each feed time so better the chances to get picked.  We booked the sunset cruise, so spend the day fishing, viewing one of the numerous documentaries available and did the glass bottom boat thing.  

The cruise was cancelled as the winds come up in arvo and it is far too dangerous to take the cat out.  So we have an early dinner there, nice tucker - mains $30+.   We'll try the cruise tomorrow night.   We spend a day touring around Denham and the outskirts.  40kms south to Shell Beach, this place is amazing.  Created naturally from hundreds of millions of tiny sea shells.  Compacted shell was once quarried for building blocks and used in some of the buildings around Denham.   Water is crystal clear here.

Eagle Bluff, has a 200 metre boardwalk on top of the cliff.  Great view from up here over to Useless Loop (where they have been mining salt since 1962 - the mine and township is closed to tourists, entry only by permit from mine manager).  From up here we get a birds eye view of the bay below which has a number of stingrays and sharks (Lemon and Nervous) swimming about.  Turtles also inhabit these waters but we didn't spot any today.  While the glass bottom boat wasn't expensive, we see more marine wildlife from the shore at Monkey Mia and here.  Some folks did day cruises Monkay Mia they also spotted dugongs.

Ocean Park is well worth a visit $19 pp, however a guided tour through the several acquariums is very informative and they do a feeding on every tour.    That's feed the fish, sharks, sting rays.  Can you make this critter out, it is a deadly stone fish, not the most attractive fish on the block.  They have a pond outside full of barra, red emporer, gropers.  Some of these fish have serious teeth happening.  The guide showed us his hands covered in scars where he had been bitten.  No shark bites though.

The winds at Denham are truly bad, the average is about 30 to 40 kph.  One day we stayed it was up to 59 kph.  A great test for the camper which stood up no worries.  We had to cook inside though.  We also went to the movies Saturday night, $10 entry for movie and a barby.  What a bargain and the movie was Red Dog, the Dampier legend.  We really enjoyed the movie which was funny and sad, based on a true story.   We managed to get the sunset cruise in, the winds not so bad, so off we went with Alana and Ian, drinks and nibblies BYO.  Still a bit rough and windy but we enjoyed the outing.

On our way out from Denham we stopped off at Hamelin Pool Caravan Park where you are able to access a walk to the shell quarry and the Stromatolites.   This is the old quarry which early settlers excavated with a cross cut saw, to build many buildings including several station homesteads and Denham church.  The only blocks taken from this quarry today are to maintain those historic buildings.

The living microbes that build Stromatolites in the highly saline waters of Hamelin Pool are similar to the earliest forms of life dating back 3000 million years.  Colonies of marine Stromatolites such as these have helped science gain a better understanding of the evolution of life on earth over the millennia.    By the way it wasn't as windy today, but the FLIES!!  We stayed at a great 24 hour camp at Galena Bridge (Murchinson River) flies were bad there too, at the end of the day, the tally was 5 nil, Ling's favour.  I am investing in a fly net first opportunity.....

16th - 17th Nov Carnarvon

We spend a couple of days in Carnarvon, first day was clean up day, we washed everything in sight from bike, car, clothes, sandshoes, tent.  2nd day we did some sight seeing.  We went out to the historic precinct, One Mile Jetty and Train Museum.  Only trouble was, some clever person had set fire to the jetty a couple of weeks ago and it was closed.  Well up to where the fire was we could still walk out there, which we did and my ever inquisitive Darl takes up a chat with the crane driver, workers there removing the debris in readiness to rebuild.

It is quite a good set up, when open, a tram runs visitors out to the end or you can walk to the end, both at a price ($7 tram $4 walk).  There is a tram kiosk, a Lighthouse museum (closed) and a railway museum which was open so we spent a bit of time here looking around.  The museum also incorporated a sheep shearing history display which was quite interesting.  This pic of jetting taken from the water tank tower.  As you can see the hand rail, straight as a dog's hind leg, actually the rail track looked a bit wobbly too. The jetty was constructed in 1897 and in 1900 was the first port to export livestock.

This is the anchor of the Korean Star a vessel grounded in May 1988 at Cape Cuvier by a tropical cyclone (Herbie), also off Quobba Station coast line.  The rescue of all crew was completed in 45 minutes by flying fox, soon after the vessel broke into two.

Darl likes this place, he has fun playing with all the machinery.  This old timer (a blitz truck with lifting gear) is not going too far, note the steel blocks in the background holding down the roof of the shed.

We went down to the working jetty, all the fishing trawlers are now in for a break during these windy months.   Then off to the Gascoyne Hotel Est 1900 for a quiet drink.   Ended up having a beer with Duncan, what a character - a pommie professional roo shooter, who is leaving tomorrow to go donKEE shooting.  He's done the buffalo tours in NT, he plays the sax, is going to buy a multi million $ home on the canal and loves anything in a skirt, and that was just the fist 5 minutes.  

After lunch we did the Gascoyne Food trail, though only a handful of farms are now open.  But we manage to buy some fresh vegies, they even grow grapes here.  The Gascoyne agricultural area supplies 70 per cent of WA's fruit and vege.  Bananas and mangoes are big here.   We are getting good deals now, stayed at Wintersun van park 3 nights for price of 2 and as we are top tourist members get a further discount. So averages $20 a night.  The amenities are best we have come across, have smell nice in them and piped music.  Something about the trees here, they all seem to have a bit of a lean too.......

15th Nov - Quobba Blowholes

On our way out today, we stop off at the HMAS Sydney II Cairn which sank after a battle with the German HSK Kormoran on 19/11/41 (70th anniversary this year in couple days time). Both ships sank, 80 survivors on the Kormoran, however the 645 crew of the Sydney all perished off the Quobba Station coast.

Thar she blows!  Now this is what a blowhole looks like, the noise of the water gushing through the holes was deafening. 

There is a free camp further past the blow holes, we didn't take the drive but have since been told there are some good vantage points and scenic outlooks down around the camp area, so if you ever visit the blow holes, continue down for a look see.

 

The sign could not make it any clearer, this at the cross road, for the blowholes, Quobba station.   In fact during our visit to the area, we find a couple of memorials, one for a fisherman taken at the blowholes, washed off the rocks.  Another at Red Bluff for a young surfer passed only a few years ago, his memorial had his wet suit stuck under a rock, obviously taken in the surf. 

14th Nov - Another Bike Adventure

We (or my Darl) decides that we will do the trip to Red Bluff, only 60kms away, on the Suzi.  The dirt road is not that bad if it's like the 8kms we did to get to Quobba Homestead.  Off we go, packed lunch, curried egg and lettuce sangas today, wonder how they will travel over the corrugations.  These cliffs are very popular for fishermen.   I think serious fishermen, you gotta know what you are doing to fish off these rocks.  The road not too bad, UNTIL, the last 10kms, it is rocky, lumpy, sandy but we make it into Red Bluff, it is really quite spectacular, sometimes the photos don't do justice.

One of the attractions at Red Bluff is the caves at the end of the bay.   We have to report to reception and they advise not to hang around in there as the cave is very unstable due to the last rains they had.   It is pretty awesome walking around there though seeing all the shells, marine life fossilised into the cliffs, don't worry we didn't hang around in there too long.  The wind is blowing and the flies!   I have never ever seen so many flies and they loved us to bits.

We went for a walk out to the point of the bluff.  This is a popular place for surfies.  So much so that there is a number of surf boards hidden in the rocks and some wet suits.  I guess that is so they don't have to cart them back and forth.  There is a lone surfer out there when we are out there, he catches a few waves.     There is an eco-retreat here, with options of beach huts, luxury retreats or camping - vans, tents etc.    Fishing, swimming, surfing, relaxing all options to enjoy your stay here.  We could have climbed to the top of the bluff but the receptionist said there were heaps of snakes about at the moment.

We opt to go for a swim instead or attempted to.  We looked at the surf for a bit, me ready with my kick board, but we decide it is way too rough and deep for me, but my darl goes in for a dump or two.  I still manage to get sand in my cozzies in the shallows.   We had lunch and the sangas travelled pretty well considering.   We took this pic just before we set off back to our camp at Quobba, yeah I just realised that the tripod must have been a bit wonky, that was the 2nd attempt as the 1st the camera got blown over with the wind, nice pic of the sky. 

Not far from leaving Red Bluff, we took a tumble off the Suzi into the sand again, this time to the right.  Darl not too worried, no injuries to report and now the handle bars are even.   It is so nice to get back to the homestead.   A number of campers have rocked in for the night, a bus, a van, 2 whizz bangs and 2 troopies.  We went for a bit of a wander round the homestead, up to the windmill and old water tank made of sandstone bricks and water trough.   There are a lot of animal tracks around in the sand, roos, rabbits, probably foxes.  We enjoy our stay here, but it will be nice to get back to Carnarvon and clean the sand blown car, bike and tent.

13th Nov - Quobba Station

Quobba Station is one of the states most spectacular coastal stations with 80kms of rugged coastline.  This is a fishing mecca, surfing is popular too.  At the homestead, accommodation options include Sand Dune Chalets, various cottages (were old farm buildings), shearers quarters, caravan and camping sites.  We settle in to our windy patch, partially sheltered by some trees and take a wander down the beach for a couple hours.  400 metres of unspoilt beach front, no fishing, no taking oysters, octypus or any marine life for that matter. 

 I've never seen a beach like it actually.   It is covered in clam shells, I do a bit of shell fossicking.  The waves break over the reef which is covered in oysters.   We are the only people to camp tonight.   The amenities (ablutions, we not sure where that word come from) are practically brand new and clean.  The old farm buildings, now accommodation rooms are rustic and basic, if the walls could talk.........

Check the tin shed in the background this is the camp kitchen, well we call it the camp shelter cause all there is in there is table, chairs and a sink with cold water.   Nothing else, zip - we move our cooking gear in there, it's nice to have a shelter out of the wind to cook in.    This is a working sheep station, they only run demaras meat sheep now(10000 head). No shearing going on here these days as these sheep are hairy not woolly.   The eastern border of the property is Lake McLeod where Rio Tinto are operating a salt mine there and consequently mine access roads run through Quobba Station.

12th Nov - Coral Bay - Minilya

We are checking out in good time this morning, the incentive of a $30 key bond refund works wonders.  We call in to Coral Bay, a resort town at the bottom of the Ningaloo National Marine Park.  A nice calm bay ideal for snorkelling, well I just had to give it a go, pretty little thang! Muffin tops are in you know. After a couple of goes gagging, I nearly threw in the towel, but persisted some more and once I got the breathing down pat (it helps) I was off, though Darl didn't allow me to go too far out of his sight.  PS note the noodle is close by.

We decide not to stay here and continue on to Minilya Creek free camp.  In the Camps 6 it shows as a day stop only, but it is actually an overnight camp.  Huge area, lots of bins, BBQ's, tables etc.  We set up by the river banks under some nice gum trees and go for a walk along the river bed.  Huge river gums here, must be hundreds years old.  Also a colony of corella's live here in the trees.  So many birds that we notice a bit of corella road kill, those trucks don't stop for anyone or anything!

 There is a road house on the other side of the bridge and we take the treddlies up to see if the bar is open, but there is no bar, so we checked out the machinery and treddled back to camp.  A few other campers rock in, 2 vans, 2 whizz bangs.  We thought the corellas on the other side of the river, but no, they start coming in to roost for the night and they are awfully close to our camp, a bit too close, but we are just out of the drop zone.

 We cook inside the tent as it is blowing a gale outside.   Note we have all the essentials, the light, the cooker, the wine glass and the beer cooler.   We got the annex in each corner for stability as we are anchored down by rocks again tonight.    In the morning there is no pressure to get out by 10am so we take our time having brekky, packing up.    We're off to Quobba Station today for a couple of nights.

We got the tip that fuel is expensive between Exmouth and Carnarvon so the jerry cans come in handy for a refuel along the way.   

11th Nov - Exmouth East Coast

Today we are exploring the East coast of Exmouth, the gulf side.  While heading down south, we pass a car flashing lights, we think it is the cops and my Darl slows down and puts on his seat belt.   But it was a huge wedge tail eagle in the middle of the right lane, feasting on some road kill, awesome but I miss the shot again. We head down to start at the bottom and work our way back to town, first stop is Learmonth jetty, where we find Bill and Sylvia out fishing.  Lots of bream, mostly undersize, but a few elusive big ones swimming around.  While we there, Bill snags a shovel nose shark.

What a bargain, we got a bit of entertainment out of this stop, the shark put up a good fight and won in the end, with a snapped line.  Bill and Sylvia live 6 months in Perth and 6 months in Exmouth, have been doing it for years, good on them.  They gave us some good advice on what lies ahead price wise with fuel and food between here and Carnarvon.

We continue back to Exmouth and into Charles Knife Road Canyons, an awesome trek along the ridges of the range up to the Thomas Carter Lookout.  A few kms of bitumen but in the most part, a gravel road, not too bad, but the road up to lookout was one of those 4WD experiences again.  The poor old ute getting another workout and almost reached boiling point.  There are several lookouts along the way all providing stunning views.   Couldn't help this one, of the face, almost see two there if you use your imagination.

This view looking back into the gulf.  Airport to the right of the pic.  What a picture perfect day, it was a warm one though.   We almost spent 2 hours here, by the time we did a couple little walks and stopped at just about all the view points.

Making our way back to Exmouth next stop is Shothole Canyon Road, leading to a picnic area.  The canyon was named after the shotholes left by seismographic explosions during oil searches in the 1950's.   This is a drive through the gorge floor.

The colours and formations are quite spectacular.  We enjoyed our day out sight seeing.  We also visited Pebble Beach and Krait memorial and had a look at the new man made canal estate near the new looking mariner.    A lot of new homes being built here.  We have been told this is going to be base of the fly in fly out staff for Panawonica and Tom Price mines.....  Last night in town, we have been on the road for 5 months today, so treat ourselves to a nice feed of fish and chips at Blue Lips in the shopping centre.  One serve is 2 pieces of fish, so does us nicely.

10th Nov - Exmouth West Coast

Unbeknown to us, Exmouth has a RAAF base.  In the mid 60's the Naval Communication Base was established (in agreement between Australia and USA) and renamed Naval Communication station Harold E Holt in honour of the late Prime Minister.   Today it continues to play vital role in secure operation of Aust submarine fleet.  US Navy also maintains involvement through continued use of the VLF communcation and they contribute to operational and upgrades cost.  We notice AFP getting around town.  We think a bit of secret squirrel business goes on here.....

Not something we are used to seeing at lighthouse lookouts, this is a restored WWII relic, marking the site occupied by the RAAF air warning radar station in Feb 1943 for the defence of the USN naval base at Exmouth (Potshot) which operated until destroyed by cyclone in 1945.  This is a day to run into new acquaintances, Ash and Nina here again at the lookout.   Also met up with Tony and Lisa (Swiss couple) we keep bumping in to along our way.  Both these couples told us about the turtles at Trisel.  So we set of in search of them.

We didn't have to search far, as soon as we got onto the beach we set eyes on several large turtles beached up on the sand.  These are all females as they tend to beach themselves during the day to get away from the males, who just swim around off shore, waiting to pounce on the females when they get back into the water.....  Off shore we saw numerous turtles swimming about, we lost count of how many we saw.   We return later that night to watch the females nesting, it is awesome to see them digging their nesting holes.  On the way home lots of roos but we manage to avoid hitting any,thank goodness.

My Darl finds another mate, an emu wanders into the camping ground in search of water.   So my Darl obliges and can not help himself and gives the emu a slice of bread.   Poor emu had a struggle to get it down.  Darl! I am sure we shouldn't be feeding the emus, and I was right.  A notice in the tourist book clearly states all animals are wild and must not be fed by tourists.  Back at camp we run into Lyn and Bill, from Dampier (Melb Cup), staying here also, so we enjoy catching up and a couple of happy hours with them.