BACK TO TRAVELLING!  FROM BEVERLEY TO ALBANY

It was with joy that Walter received a good health report from his Cardiologist in Perth at the end of January. It didn’t take us long to clean and pack up at Beverley and resume our travels!

We left Beverley on 25th January and headed South to Wave Rock. After 40˚heat the day dawned cold and showery! We arrived at the Wave Rock Caravan park in the afternoon and after we set up camp, planning to stay a few days we strolled around the area. We found a small zoo and bird park so we paid and wandered through it! It really was great and we were the only ones there.

The next day dawned sunny so we donned our walking shoes and headed up the path from the caravan park to view Wave Rock. It really is an incredible geological feature! After viewing the actual “wave rock” we walked further around to Hippo’s Yawn. The track meandered its way through the bush. At one stage we had a rather large brown snake sunning itself beside the track! It was so hot by the afternoon we headed for the pool with our books and stayed there for the rest of the day.

The next day we rose early and drove out the 18kms to another area known as Mulka’s Cave. There are 2 walks here, the first we undertook was the one up to the top of the range. You can view here other rocks that are in the makings also of a wave. The second walk was about 2 kms, more flat but was very interesting with good signage along the way. This was as area rich in aboriginal heritage and also has water holes in the rocks that they used to use and protect when on walkabouts. We were glad we did the walks early as by the time we arrived back at the start and Mulka’s Cave it was getting very warm. Another afternoon spent sitting around the pool!





As is had been a while since we had travelled any distance, we took it easy and only drove as far as Mungilup where we had a road side stop for the night before moving on to Esperance. Esperance is a beautiful place, turquoise clear water and white sands. The jetty is also fascinating with many opting to try their luck fishing from it as the sun is setting. At the end of the jetty is a sigh cleaning table and underneath, Sammy the sealion patrols each evening waiting for his dinner when those lucky enough to have caught fish toss him the scraps over the jetty!

One of the lovely drives around Esperance is the coastal drive. The road follows the many bays and passed the Wind Farm. The sheltered coves, white sands and rocky cliffs make this a very spectacular area. The circular route then comes back inland but pass the Pink Lake. Like near Kalbarri, this lake is tinged pink because of the Beta Carratine in the water.

We also took the cruise to Woodie Island. This island is one of the hundreds in the Recherche Archipelago. Only a half day cruise but you get to view the amazing coastling, cruise coast to other islands that are the home to the Australian Sea Lions and Cape Barren Geese and see dolphins and Sea Eagles in their own environment. Whilst on the island I took the chance to snorkel the clear waters of the bay whilst Walter hiked up to the lookout at the top of the island.

Caravan parks are not really “our thing” so then we drove 60kms east of Esperance to Cape Le Grand National Park. There are two camp areas in this park but our research made us choose the Le Grande beach camp. This is an amazing beach – 22 kms long – pure white sand and clear turquoise water. Our camp site was tucked away in the vegetation which gave us privacy and also shelter from the winds. We were only 150 metre walk to the beach and had a toilet and running water just opposite us. This is an amazing park as water is not a problem here, then even provide flush toilets and solar showers. There is a great camp kitchen too! As in many of WA’s National Parks there are Camp Hosts. Dinese and Mac were our camp hosts here and were a delightful couple and very willing to help out when help was needed.

First though we were saddened and devasted by the news that Fred (from Beverley) had passed away suddenly less than a week after we had left. Only 55 years of age and had such a zest for life. He apparently had a very severe heart attack. At the same time Walter wasn’t well again and was having problems breathing. After 3 days I packed him up and took him back into Esperance to the outpatients department where they then referred him to a local Doctor. Well, after X-Rays, Blood tests etc, they admitted him to Esperance hospital. At first they believed he may have had a number of blood clots so he had to have a CAT scan. Thank goodness this proved negative and found that he had fluid on his lung. Now he is on double the fluid tablets and he hasn’t had any further trouble.

After a week of recuperating he then felt well enough for us to tackle a couple of walks. The first one was from Hellfire Bay to Little Hellfire. Lovely walk (only about 40 minutes through the bush) to reach a delightful bay, again white sand and turquoise water. No one else there, just us. We both went for a swim and wandered down to the other end of the beach where we found a Rosenberg’s Goanna wandering around.

Another more ambitious walk was to the top of Frenchman’s Peak. This is 262 metres above sea level and is virtually a straight up rock face with an incredible cave at the peak and 360˚views of the National Park.

We had a great crowd camping there and that resulted in a few special nights! First we had an Italian night, then a curry night and followed by a Pizza night! Gosh, eating on the road is tough!

Over all we had 3 lovely weeks at Cape Le Grand before we felt it was time to move on. We began to head west along the coast and the first stop was Stokes Inlet National Park. This is a hidden gem only about 70kms form Esperance. We caught up with the camp hosts, John and Christine, who we met nearly 2 years ago just outside Sandstone when we camped the night. They (then) were heading up to Cape Range National Park to take up their first Camp Hosting appointment. Since then they have hosted in many of the WA’s National Parks including King Edward river in the north. They will be hosting at the Bungle Bungle NP later this year.

From Stokes Inlet we travelled on west to the Stirling Range NP. Just a small camp ground but the volunteer Ranger gave us a great site. Lovely Camp Hosts here too, Margaret and Ken. We took the Stirling Range drive, about 80 kms return trip right through the ranges. We hiked up to one lookout, quite a bit of a rock climb at the end, but the views were worth it! We had taken our picnic lunch so we found a nice spot among the ranges and gum trees to have this before returning. We opted out of the other walks as they are over 5-6 kms but all straight up the mountains. So instead we drove to the Bluff Knoll lookout (where one of the most popular walks begins) and looked at the views from there. The Stirling Ranges are spectacular in the Spring. They have over 1500 species of wild flowers, including 10 species of Mountain Bells, and only 2 are found outside of the park. There are also a huge variety of orchids found here too. Even though we were outside of the wild flower season, there was still quite a few species out.

The bird life here is also wonderful, kookaburras, Scarlet Robins, Red capped parrot, Carnaby (short billed) cockatoos, Grey Fantails and the amazingly coloured Splendid Fairy Wren. Very hard to get a decent photo though as they never stay still!

After 4 days (and some rain) we drove another 40 kms to the Porongurup Ranges and booked into the lovely caravan park there. These are only a small range but spectacular. These have a volcanic origin whereas the Stirling Ranges were once a part of an ocean. This means the vegetation is completely different. The Porongurups have huge jarrah, karri and marri trees and also many wild flowers but a different selection.

Walter and I decided to undertake one of the walks here, up past Tree in a Rock, then a 5.5km trail that took us right to the top of the range, via Nancy’s Peak and Morgan’s View. The views were spectacular! There are plenty of birds too, but many hard to see as they are high in the canopy. A number of Rufus Tree creepers and Twenty Eight parrots were visible.

We stayed a week as we found the Porongurup Wine Festival was to be held on the Sunday of the long weekend. There were 12 local wineries, a wok cooking competition and grape stomping! Live band entertainment and free wine tasting made for a very enjoyable day.



We left yesterday and now have arrived in Albany. So much to see and do here but today was a domestic day! Washing and cleaning! Tomorrow we shop and then begin the tourist bit!



So time now to sit back with my Porongurup Wine Festival Glass topped up with a nice local red, a bit of cheese before our roast dinner tonight!

Now we have started to discover Albany. After shopping and topping up our wine cellar, we took a drive around the coastal bay. Albany has a number of small suburbs set around the Princess Royal Harbour. Emu Point was delightful as was Bayonet Heads. We enjoyed a lovely coffee at the little coffee shop at Emu Point, whilst watching the children swim in the protect swimming enclosure and we delighted in the magnificent views in all directions. Across a very narrow isthmus of water is the Botanic Reserve. To get there though it is a much longer drive right around the bay!

We drove up to Mt Clarence and visited the ANZAC Memorial and one in particular to the Desert Mounted Troops including the Light Horse. It meant quite a lot to me as my Grandfather’s brother were in the Light Horse Brigade. From there a drive up to Mt. Adelaide and the Princess Royal Fort. This fort was built in the late 1800’s when there was a scare that either the French or the Russians might invade Australia! However, there has never been a shot fired in anger from these guns.

No one can visit Albany without a trip out to Frenchman’s Bay and Whale World. This is the site of the whaling station that operated for 26 years, closing in November 1978. It has been kept pretty well intact with even the triple expansion steam engine has been kept in working condition. Cleverly designed with the 4 huge tanks that were used to hold the whale oil, now converted as theatres. One of these is a 3-D experience on these giants of the sea. The others have features on sharks, one a hologram on the day in the life of a whaler, and one on the history of the area and the whaling station. Even one of the last whaling ships, the Cheyne 1V is moored here forever on dry land and you can walk through it and imagine how it must have been. There is also a great gallery featuring photos of the work on the station and the ships.



We took a picnic lunch with us so after spending quite a few hours here we drove to the small and beautiful Frenchman’s Bay for lunch. Great facilities and the flashest public toilets we have ever seen!

Then is was a drive back along the coast, popping into the different spots along the way. Places like Salmon Holes (great Salmon fishing here) Stoney Hill (another observation post particularly for W11) , then onto the Blowholes followed by Natural Bridge and the Gap. The day was overcast and a couple of times we had showers so it wasn’t the best for photography. Back into town for a drive around the port area. Quite a busy terminal with grain handling, fertilizer and wood chips. Quite a few ships have been in to be loaded whilst we have been here.

There is also a replica of the brig Amity, but again the light was failing. We may go back before we leave if we get a fine day for another go at taking its photo!

Albany has 2 markets each weekend. A Farmers Market on Saturdays and The Boat Sheds Markets on Sundays. The farmers market is great, such great fresh local fruit and vegies, bread and meat of all varieties: chicken, pork, beef and lamb. There is a Strawberry farm we found here on the outskirts of Albany and we have been buying the best strawberries, 1 kg for $3.00! At the markets, we also found fresh blueberries and raspberries too!

The Boatshed markets  are held on Sundays and feature fresh local seafood. This was another great market so we bought fresh Red Snapper, squid, oysters and mussels.  We have also been getting stuck into the beautiful fresh local strawberries from the strawberry farm!  $3.00 per kg!  Oh, life on the road is tough....

Until next time…

Rob & Walter – The Happy Travellers

THE END OF 2010 - PERTH AND BEVERLEY W.A.

Well, another year has passed and we are already into the end of the first week in 2011.





Following from our last blog, we are still in Beverley. Walter had his Triple heart By-pass at the end of November in Perth at the Mount Hospital. All appears successful but he still has lots of recovery to do. He has had the first check up with the surgeon the week before Christmas and he was happy with his progress so far. He has limitations on his driving and also what he can lift. Nothing over 5 kgs at this point at least for another 2 months. Walter has another appointment at the end of January with his Cardiologist and if he gets the OK then, we will commence travelling again.



Entrance to Kings Park


 Before we arrived in Beverley and whilst we had the van in Perth, Walter and I took a couple of sight seeing trips around Perth.  We did the Double Decker bus tour.  This took us up to Kings Park and around the city.  Kings Park is magnificent with its views out over the city.  We had lunch there before rejoining the bus and travelling around the CBD, including around Burswood the casino.  We also found that we could upgrade which gave us a reduced price on a trip the following day that took us on a ferry down the Swan river to Freemantle and then onto the Freemantle tram.  Similar conditions of being able to get off and on as you wish.

Maritime Museum Freemantle

  This trip was great, driving around Freemantle, passing the Maritime Museum where "Australia 2" the yacht that won the America's Cup is housed, the Freemantle Prison, the Markets, and the Seafood Marina and Round House (from the convict days).  It is a lovely trip cruising down the river, it takes about an hour and on the way home we were treated to a wine tasting!  Lovely Margaret River reds.....we were catching a bus back to the caravan park so having a couple of good reds wasn't a problem!



Photo from 1968 after Earthquake



Picnic on the Avon at Northam

Lorraine & Pete have been fantastic, allowing us to stay here in Beverley all this time. We have done a bit of sight seeing around Beverley prior to Walter’s op, including a trip out to Meckering where the whole town was demolished in an earthquake back in the sixties. Even today you can see where the ground was raised by about 2 metres over a 37 km section, buckling railway tracks and roads. We drove back around through Northam where we had a lovely picnic on the banks of the Avon River.



Peter ready to shear

Peter, before retiring, was a shearer who was born and bred in the Beverley area. But even though he is retired, he is often asked to shear smaller flocks of sheep. Walter has been out with him twice to assist him prior to his op. Some of the merinos were huge, even giving Peter difficulty in dragging them to be shorn!


Merinos ready for shearing

Harvesting Barley at Beverley






Barley Fields at Beverley

 Beverley is a small town of about 1200 people on the wheat belt area of W.A. Grain crops just as wheat, barley, millet and canola stretch away over the hills on all sides of the town. Pete took both of us out one day to a property where a friend of his was harvesting barley. Like two kids, we both had a ride in the harvester as it made its way through the waving fields of barley. Only half the grain silos are opening this year though as this area is in the middle of severe drought. Ironic, when you look at how much water is flowing over the eastern states. The computerization of the harvester is quite amazing. It can tell you when the storage bin is full, how much tonnage per acre is coming off the field, and can control the height and width of the cutting blade

s.

Cottesloe Beach

Whilst Walter was in hospital in Perth, we left the van at Beverley and I stayed in a cabin in a caravan park there. Friends have been fantastic with both of us receiving a lot of support. I took the opportunity to explore a bit of Perth whilst I was there. I took many strolls through the lovely CBD, took a tour of the Perth Mint, walked up the Bell Tower and with Val (another lovely friend met whilst travelling in the Pilbara) visited the aquarium.

Another couple that we met whilst staying at Cape Range, Tony and Vicki, picked me up from Mount Hospital and took me out to their place at Cottesloe for lunch. After dining, then drove me around to Cottesloe Beach and up the beautiful coastline to Scarborough and Sorrento. On returning they then persuaded me to stop for tea before driving me home.


Christmas Day



Ham & cheese Croissants with Moet!

 Preparations for Christmas for us were minimal but we still had a great day. Noddy (Lorraine) and Pete’s two adult children, Kelly and Baydon came home from Perth for Christmas and we felt really included. Santa came in the form of a friend of Pete’s who also arrived from Cardwell in Queensland. Moet champagne and Ham and cheese croissants for breakfast after the parcels under the tree were opened. Like most Christmas’es, we went from eating one meal to another, Lunch was punch, more champagne, crayfish and prawns followed by pork, duck, turkey, chicken and all the salads. Desert came as fruit salad and pavolva and trifle. Most opted for afternoon naps, but Kelly, Noddy, myself and Baydon played games such as Scattergories!
Then of course tea at night was late and we polished off some of the leftovers.

Next day, Noddy and Pete were up early as they were leaving in their van for a 12 month trip to the eastern states following a week at Cape Ritche between Esperance and Albany.

We are currently looking after the house and chooks until we leave when a neighbour will take over.



Harem Gnomes at Gnomesville!

Before Christmas, we received a phone call from Hazell &  Bill, who we met initially at Cape Range N.P. when they were camp hosts there. We have become good friends and they rang us up to ask if we would like to come down and spend New Year with them at Australind (near Bunbury). We took up to offer and left on the Thursday morning 30th, and drove down through Brookton, Pingelly and Collie to get there. All new territory. They like us, are actually of “no fixed address” but stay at their son’s place over summer. He had flown to Rockhampton for holidays over Christmas (a water logged holiday as it has turned out). Lovely brick open plan home on 5 acres. Bill and Hazel gave us a tour around the lovely city of Bunbury and Australind on New Years Eve. Their other son lives in the property next door, so they came over for a BBQ and we all sat up to watch the Sydney fireworks and see the New Year in.




Next day, we packed up a picnic and Bill told us he was driving us out to Gnomesville! I had read about it in a couple of travel magazines but seeing it was amazing! Literally thousands of gnomes placed here by people from not only of Australia but from all over the world! We were only disappointed that we did not have a gnome with us to leave there. If we ever go back we are going to leave our little gnome there too!

Honeymoon Pool

We travelled on up through a beautiful forest road and stopped to see a King Jarrah tree on the way to Wellington Dam. We had our picnic there and enjoyed the cool breeze as it came off the water. Water levels are way down but that didn’t stop a huge influx of New Year campers there. Then we drove onto Honeymoon Pool. Again, being New Year's day it was packed. It is a beautiful place but Bill told us if you come out of school holidays you can have the whole place to yourselves. Great swimming hole, fresh water, and the National Park has made a lovely timber deck and safe steps down into the water.

In the Pool with Lena & Mark

Time to leave, but we decided to drive home via Mandurah and drop into other friends that we had met at Nine Mile. When we arrived, Lena and Arthur insisted we stay so we had another 2 nights ways. They also took on the role of tour guide and drove us around Mandurah , the waterfront and down around the estuaries. Both days were very hot at around the 40˚C mark. Arthur had put up a small pool, so we sat in it to keep cool, with a glass of champagne! We then headed back to Beverley where we are beginning the “spring clean” before we start travelling again.

We hope you all had a safe and Happy Christmas and New Year and that 2011 treats you all kindly.

Rob & Walter





THE AMAZING PILBARA
The Pilbara is located about 1,600 kilometres north of Perth. The region covers roughly 500,000 sq kilometres and is bordered by the Gascoyne Region in the south, the Kimberley region in the north, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Northern Territory border to the east. It covers some amazing contrasting landscapes, from beautiful Ningaloo Reef, to the gorges of Karijini National Park.

It’s the colours of the Pilbara that capture artist’s and photographers imaginations! Winter is the best time to visit these areas.
As you can see from our last update we started at Ningaloo, but then we moved onto Karijini. We camped at Dales Camp Ground. Dales is divided into quite a number of different camping areas, some have generators and some haven’t. We camped at Bungarra which is a generator site. Some areas had been burnt out by a bushfire earlier in the year but our site was lovely.

We began by heading to Dales Gorge the first day packing our lunch in our back pack and going to the viewing area over Circular Pool. What a sight! 100 metres down this amazing turquoise pool and running creek amongst red rock gorge walls. We then made our way down the cliff face and walked up along the creek to reach Circular Pool. Some very brave back packers tried swimming in it! Freezing cold! We then retraced our steps but then went further and trekked along the creek bed for about 3 kilometres down to Fortesque Falls. All along the creek the views blew us away, in some places it looked like a Japanese garden with the little waterfalls, long grasses all flanked by the amazing red gorge walls. We had lunch perched on rocks admiring this incredible vista. Fern Pool was another area further along but we decided to leave it to another day. Then we had to climb, albeit slowly, up the steps out of the gorge, a long way up!

The next day we decided to go back down the cliff, taking lunch again and swimmers, this time to Fern Pool. Easier climbing down to the top of Fortesque Falls, then took the track off to the right covering about 300 metres to the pool. This is another breath taking sight. This turquoise pool complete with two waterfalls, dripping ferns and surrounded by huge fig and paper bark tree and even has a timber deck and steps into it for swimmers. A swim was definitely on the cards as it was a lovely warm day before we had lunch. We also had taken our books with us so we sat and read before having another swim before walking back and climbing up the cliff face again!

Karijini gorges varying in depth but the patterns and colours of the ancient rock – rich ochre’s, reds and blues are spectacular. We then decided to drive about 40kms to another gorge, this one not so well known, called Kalimba. It was not as steep into the gorge but beautiful. We criss-crossed the creek making our way down to as far as we could before retracing our steps back up to the waterfall. Another swim and shower under the waterfall!

We drove further out to Weano & Hancock Gorges to go to the lookout. This lookout actually is where 5 gorges intersect. If you are afraid of heights this lookout is not for you! You look down over 100 metres into the narrow gorges, each with its running creek and waterfalls. It is mind blowing! There are a number of hikes to take here but we decided to undertake these on another day. The Karijini experience is all about adventure but caution is needed as quite a few people have been killed at Karijini. The rocks can be slippery and the water is freezing even in summer.

We were planning on leaving and heading further north to Millstream National Park so we thought we better pop back into Tom Price (98kms away) to stock up on food before we left. There is no phone reception at Karijini so we had not been in contact with anyone. Just as we drove into Tom Price to shop and get the laundry done, my phone rang and it was my brother Ian and his partner Anna. They were in Port Hedland and were going to come down and join us.

So next day as early as 9.30 am they arrived and got the camp site right next to us! So as they wanted to hike Dales Gorge, I went and did it again with them and included Fern Pool. We then planned with them to drive out to Hammersley Gorge. We packed up lunch and lots of water and left early the next day to drive the 90kms out to this gorge. Again we hiked down the mountain, sometimes feeling like a couple of mountain goats, marveling at the rock formations and the emerald coloured rock pools and waterfalls. Our daily shower under the waterfall and swim before having lunch and hiking out again.

Then we decided that the following day was going to be one of adventure! The walks in Karijini are graded, with 1 being the easiest and 6 being the most difficult. In fact a Graded 6 in Karijini means you have to have a guide and be experienced in abseiling and rock climbing! We all decided that we would drive out to Weano Gorge and walk it and include Handrail Pool which is a Grade 5 walk!
The first part of the walk down into the gorge and along the creek is beautiful and only a Grade 3. It is when you get down to a certain point (where you also have the option of climbing out of the gorge) that you have to wade through the water, climb along rock ledges and enter a very narrow gorge with the creek running through the centre of it. The gorge towers above you and in some areas you only have a slight glimpse of sunlight about 75 metres above you! You then get to an area where there is a Handrail! It runs along the rock wall and then disappears down over the waterfall! You climb down this to get down into the cavern and pool. We all achieved this and sat around the pool with our lunch. We all did look at what we achieved and then though, Jeepers! We have to climb out of here now! As it was it wasn’t as hard as it looked and when we got back and reached the top the exhilaration we all felt at achieving this was awesome.

We didn’t get to walk all the gorges in Karijini, there were still Joffre, Know, Hancock and Red Gorges! We decided to leave these for someone else!

We then packed up (Ian and Anna decided to come with us to Millstream) and headed north. We travelled up through Wittenoom (where the asbestos mining was) and then headed up the red dirt Pilbara road. We took our time and decided to stay at Mt Florance Station (which takes campers) about half way up. This is a 330,000 acre property. What a surprise when we got in there! Beautiful grass camping sites, solar showers and a free washing machine! They even had a lovely campfire area with a big pile of timber! So nice we decided to stay another night! Also Anna and I had an invitation to go with the station guys the next day on cattle muster. So we headed out the next day to muster cattle only about 20kms from the homestead. So utes, trail bikes and quad bikes were the order of the day! It had been so dry out here that they had to muster up the cattle with calves and take the calves off the mums as they just didn’t have enough milk to feed them. It involved a lot of “paddock bashing” going over very rough ground and creek beds chasing animals that just did not want to go the way we were mustering them! It was such fun. We arrived back at camp by about 6 p.m. for a shower and then tea that the boys had cooked on the campfire in the camp oven!

Next day saw us head off again to Millstream. We managed to get our vans into the Crossing Pool camp site right on the backs of the beautiful Fortesque River. The only drawback was that it also the home during the day for hundreds of Blue Eyed Corellas! The boys were not impressed to have the corellas defecating all over their cars! The river was also good for a swim but the water was very cold!

We spent three nights here and so on the second day we undertook the walk from Crossing Pool to the Homestead (6.8 kms return). Whilst we were at the Homestead we also walked to the Water lily Ponds (another 1.75 km return). The day was getting pretty warm by the time we made it back to camp! Whilst here we also caught up with Sue & Tina whom we had met at Mt Florance.  The girls were great and took both Anna & I for a kayak up the river.  Amazing to see its beauty from this angle.  Thanks girls!

We all left Millstream and headed to Karratha where we spent 2 days washing and cleaning everything! That Pilbara red dust was in everything, cars, caravans and clothes. We all went out to dinner that evening after a hard days work to the Chinese restaurant.  Next day it was time that Ian and Anna and ourselves parted company! They were heading south to catch up with their friends and we were going further north and out to Marble Bar.
Whilst we were in Port Hedland staying at the Golf Club overflow, we went on the BHP Billiton Iron Ore tour. Now this is really “big boy’s toys”! Amazing to see the scope of BHP’s operation, not just in iron ore but manganese and salt too! We also sat by the harbour watching the huge freighters being loaded and being shunted around what is pretty small space and narrow inlet! Most were from China, and Taiwan.

Then we headed south east to Marble Bar. We stopped firstly for two nights and Dolena Gorge, only 40kms out of Marble Bar. No running water but very pretty. Marble Bar was fascinating. The name Marble Bar was given it by early prospectors who took the Jasper Ridge running through the creek as Marble. It is apparently even more spectacular just after rain as it is a stunning bright blue, red and white. When we saw it, it was more grey red and white but still amazing. Gold is also in “dem thar hills”! The Comet Gold mine is also an old mine but the company that owns it is about to open it up again. We also drove out about 35 kms to the incredible “Invisible Airfield”. In the WW11, it was one of the top secret air bases in Australia, being home to the US 380 Bomber squadron and an Aussie contingent too! The long runways are still drivable and you are able to wander around the old foundations of the hospital and admin buildings. Apparently the Japanese kept trying to find it but never found it. The bomber squadrons used to fly from Marble Bar to Surabaya and return on bombing runs.
Then we being quite adventurous, headed out along the bitumen mining road, 170 kms east to Woodie Woodie Mine. Our target was Carrawine Gorge. This is on private property but open for free camping. To our amazement it had running water and the most incredible bird life we had seen for ages. We had a lovely grassed camp site on the side of the river, overlooking the sheer 100 metre gorge walls on the other side. We had a whole week camped in this oasis. Whilst we were there, Walter & I identified 32 different species of birds that we saw! Goodness how many we didn’t ID! We met some other lovely people camped there, Martin & Val from Glen Forrest near Perth, to name names. We also took a drive further down the road towards Woodie Woodie then turning left towards Nullagine. Our goal was to locate and visit a place called Eel Pool (or Running Water). We had directions on how to find the 4WD track off the road. We found the track in (about 3 kms) to the car park. Then there was a further track of 500m to the pool. The first part was OK but the last 500m was the roughest 4WD we have ever undertaken. However, the pool was delightful. Artesian water about 27º seeping through the walls of the creek! The tree roots of the paper barks looked like something out of Lord of the Rings!

.Then when the water and the food were nearly gone we headed back to Marble Bar & Port Hedland to stock up before going south down the inland highway.

We camped a lot off road on the way down including a lovely spot at Munjina Gorge before stopping at Newman in a caravan park for two nights. One of the goals for Walter was to undertake the Iron Ore mine tour in Newman. This is the biggest iron ore mine in the world. We had to don all the safety gear including goggles and hard hat to undertake this bus tour. Walter has now added a piece of iron ore to his rock collection.

It had been quite hot whilst in Newman so it was more than a shock when we only travelled about 250 kms further south and the temperature plummeted to 15 degrees! We had to go digging for the jumpers! We travelled further south down through Meekatharra, Cue and Mount Magnet before turning west again to head to Pindar. Now this is a tiny place, only an old stone B & B (which used to be the pub). They offered a place for free camping (at the old sports ground) and we set up camp there as we wanted to find the well known and rare Wreath Flowers. We drove around (with the info they offered) and found these incredible plants. So beautiful and unusual. Then it was into Geraldton and back to Kalbarri for a longer time than first expected as Walter could not get into his Cardiologist until 1st October. This enabled me to go back on the Ambo roster for St John Ambulance again. Lovely also catching up with such good friends.

His appointment on the 1st, led to us heading back down to Perth for more tests after staying a couple of days at Dongara with Lorraine & Gary. Great to also catch up with Klaus & Carmen and Mary whilst there. It did look a bit like a caravan park with us all there!
Walter’s Angiogram in Perth did not have good results so is now waiting for a Double heart by-pass in Perth. We have not got a date yet so we are in a “holding pattern”.Whilst there we did explore Perth and Fremantle, including Kings Park. WE left on the Saturday, spending two nights at a little rest stop called Noble Falls before going through to York and Beverley. Beverley is where Noddy & Pete Smith live so now we are camped in their yard until we go back to Perth.