GERALDTON TO NINGALOO REEF


Again time has flown! We left Geraldton and travelled a whole 23kms to Coronation Beach where we camped for 3 days. It isn’t a free camping area but only charges $10.00 per night. No power but pit toilets and a dump point. Weather was good but the fishing wasn’t. Too much weed being blown into the beach. What was great though was that the Crayfish boat anchored everyday to take its catch into Geraldton and so we were buying alive and still kicking Crayfish for $10 each. Very yummy!

After 3 days we travelled up to Northampton just for one night. Nice little town and we stayed in the caravan park which enabled us to get our washing done and fill the tanks with water. The road from there, towards Kalbarri passed the Pink Lake, quite an incredible sight. Hard to get a good photo though as there really wasn’t any close viewing points. We had planned to stay at Lucky Bay (a free camp) but when we saw it we were not impressed so went onto Kalbarri. No free camps around Kalbarri so we stayed in the Anchorage Caravan Park. Kalbarri is a very pretty place on where the Murchison River enters the ocean. Kalbarri National Park is also only 28kms form the town. In actual fact, Kalbarri sits in the middle of the National Park. The caravan park we stayed in overlooked the river, very pretty and we had some really lovely sunsets whilst there too. It is an easy place to spend time in. The coastal scenery is spectacular, and there are lots of walks around the area. We undertook a number of those including a Canoeing trip out to the gorges in the National Park. This tour included walks also to Natures Window and what is known as Z Bend. A figure Z cut into the landscape by water flowing through over millions of years, maybe not the Grand Canyon but pretty spectacular all the same.

We also drove out to the Hutt River Province and had an audience with Prince Leonard. He is well in his 80's now but definitely has all his marbles. He hasn't had to pay tax to the Aussie Govt since 1970! It was really interesting going through his Government buildings, having to get our Visa and Passport and sighting his own currency!

From Kalbarri we headed north, stopping firstly only 100kms away at a free camp beside the Murchison River, called Galena Bridge. Toilets, picnic tables and Dump Point. Then it was further north via the Overlander Roadhouse where we turned left and went to Hamelin Pool. This is where the Stomatolites are. One of the earliest life forms on the planet. It also was an early telegraph station. After 2 nights we headed towards Denham but stopping at Whalebone Beach for a free camp (1 night stay only allowed). Such a pretty spot before heading into Denham for 3 nights. From here (leaving the van in the Caravan Park, we went up to Monkey Mia for the day to feed the dolphins. Lovely spot and really interesting but they now chare $6.60 per person for the pleasure of going into it. It is part of the NP but even though we have an Annual pass for WA, this is not covered! Coming back we drove a short way into the Francis Peron NP to visit the old homestead where we read it had an artesian pool. We had taken lunch so decided as we had our swimmers this would be a great spot to stop for a while!

We had had contact with friends that we had crossed the Nullabor with and they planned to meet us and join up again. The original plan was to go and stay at Tamala Station but when we all found that the station had put up their costs to $13.30 per person per night (unpowered, unwatered and no fires) Lorraine did some researching and found another station property known as Carrarang Station, also on the shores of Shark Bay that offered camping. The costs here were only $5.00 per person per day and fires were allowed. It was another 40kms further along than Tamala but it was great. We (4 vans) actually could pitch camp right on the beach! We stayed for 2 weeks and it was great. A long way to go though to stock up for groceries if you needed too! It was 167kms to Denham (one way). The only other drawback was that the fish were not biting. Two of the vans have boats and none of us could catch a feed. We played plenty of cards, and had lots of great camp oven meals.

After Carrarang Station, we headed toward Carnarvon or a little bit south of there, to Bush Bay. Another free camp site with dump point but no other facilities. Only 30 kms to Carnarvon so it was easy enough to get good water and food supplies from there. The fruit and vegie markets there are fabulous. Garry & Lorraine also used to work for Sunland Caravans and they earn some money as they travel effecting caravan repairs. After our 2 week stint at Carrarang (longest we have ever stayed Off road in one period) we found that just 1 solar panel was not enough so with Gary's contacts, had another panel ordered to be picked up in Carnarvon and Gary then put it in place. Makes it so much better having full power charged up through the inverter each day. Whilst we were there Walter & I had an email from 2 couples we had travelled to Cape York with in 2006. Barb & Tony and Vic and Norma. It turned out they were now both travelling together and were at Denham. So when we told them where we were, they advised us they were coming our way, so we met up with them at the markets in Carnarvon and the following day all came out to Bush Bay for a BBQ.

Then we headed further north, looking for that warm weather, spent one night at an overnight rest stop called Lynton creek. Lovely spot beside a dry creek bed, toilets and lovely camp fire areas before heading to Old Onslow. Old Onslow is the original site of Onslow before the river silted up and it was relocated to its current position. A number of the couples had been there before and said they planned to stay for a month as it is so pretty and the fishing is also pretty good. The camp sites are along the banks of the Ashburton River. It is fresh water where we are but about 2 kms further down there is a barrage across the river and it is salt water and the estuary going out to the sea from there. The guys have about 7 kms to the boat ramp. The fishing hasn't been too bad. They have caught some giant salmon and good mud crabs from the boats and I have caught thread-fin salmon, good sized bream, flathead, 3 really good sized Jew fish and catfish form the banks of the estuary. We have about 40kms to travel into Onslow where we get fresh supplies of drinking water and food. Two of the guys have "F" trucks and have pumps on them, so they have submersible pumps in the river, pumping up river water for showers and washing up. It is a bit brackish but fine for this. We stayed here 4 weeks, so peaceful and the bird life truly plentiful. Black swans cruised the river, alongside Pelicans and ducks. A Whistling kite family had its nest and a chick right across the river from us. Rainbow Bee eaters, Sacred King fishers, White plumed honey eaters, ospreys and sea eagles were seen regularly along with herons.

I celebrated my 60th birthday there. Camp cooked roast with vegies and Birthday cake and champagne!

We then went our separate ways, 3 couples going further north, one staying a bit longer and we headed south and west to Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef.

Our first sight of the reef was unbelievable! The water is so turquoise it is hard to believe it is real! We stayed 2 nights in Yardie Creek Caravan park as the National Park camp sites were totally full. To get in, we had to rise at 4.15am and line up at the Ranger Station to see what sites were available. We were second in line and got into Mesa Camp. Prices aren’t bad. With our concession card it only costs $4.50 per person per night! We had driven through the park the day before and had a look at each camping area to see what suited us. Mesa has large open sites where we could get plenty of sun for the solar panel. Many of the others were small and camped on top of each other. We plan to stay for the 28 days which is the longest stay you can have here. It makes it a very fair system. We have had plenty of wind the last 2 days but hope it will improve by Tuesday. We are going into Exmouth (about 50kms) to shop tomorrow and re-stock the grocery supplies. Then Tuesday we want to explore the many snorkelling areas, Lakeside, Turquoise Bay and the Oyster Stacks. No one seem to be catching fish at present, they say that a cold current came through about the middle of June which the experts say is the reason. We hope it changes whilst we are here!

The rain that fell in early July has contributed to many wild flowers now coming out. Western Australia is known for its wild flowers and here in Ningaloo there are already plenty to be found including the beautiful Sturts Desert Pea. However, the pea found here in the park is totally endemic to this area. It has an all red centre instead of the better known black centre. There are also lovely purple daisies, prostrate wattle, and a deep red pea flower. Most I have no idea of what they are!

Since writing this we have snorkelled Lakeside, Turquoise Bay and The Oyster Stacks. Lakeside is lovely, beautiful corals and lots of fish just like an aquarium! Even anemones with "Nemo's" swimming around. Turquoise Bay was also interesting but water a bit cloudy on the day we were there. The Oyster Stacks are something very special. Spectacular coral and so many and varied fish of all colours shapes and sizes! Water was crystal clear too. We will definitely be going back there again!

Tomorrow we will head into Exmouth to possibly book a dive trip for me and a snorkelling one for Walter, stock back up on drinking water and take a drive out to one of the other lookouts in the Cape Range that overlooks the reef.

We still have the Yardie Creek boat cruise to do, walk the Manu Manu Gorge and the Yardie Creek gorge and hunt for the elusive Black-footed Rock Wallabies! Plus all that fishing and snorkelling to keep doing! Time is just flying!

Until next time,

Cheers to you all for the Happy Travellers - Rob & Walter

PORT LINCOLN TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Gosh, how time has flown! It seems an age now since we were in Port Lincoln. So much to tell you all.

We left Port Lincoln and travelled to Coffin Bay. Such a pretty spot! Our main goal was to undertake the drives into Coffin Bay National Park. The coastline around this area is stunning! The first day we drove out to the park we just followed the bitumen road which takes you to Point Avoid. The rocky cliffs and white sand beaches are truly beautiful. The other 4WD track requires travelling along Seven Mile beach which can only be undertaken at low tide. We decided that we would try and extend our stay by another day to enable us to drive right up to Point Isaac and camp overnight (tent) and then drive back the following day, giving us plenty of time to explore. However this wasn’t possible as the Caravan Park had booked out our site so we have to move on on the day we planned to drive back. So instead we rose very early to drive the track so that we were on Seven Mile beach 1 ½ before low tide, explore Point Isaac and return down the beach to the road track 1 ½ hours after full low tide! We saw emus along the way and amazing scenery. Really enjoyed it even though it was a bit rushed.

The oysters here at Coffin Bay had to be seen (and tasted) to be believed. If anyone had said to us that either of us could not eat a dozen oysters we would have laughed at them! But here they were so big, (you got 2 bites out of each oyster) we could only get through 8 each at the most.

We left Coffin Bay at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula and headed north and west towards Streaky Bay. But before we reached there we called at Talia Caves. This is an area of limestone with caves that have been hollowed out by the wind and waves.
From there we went onto Murphy’s Haystacks. These are amazing rock formations sitting in the middle of a paddock. A guy called Murphy used to own the land and grew hay, these rocks sat in the middle of his paddock so the locals named them Murphy’s Haystacks. Geologically they are about 150,000,000 million years old.

Baird Bay was our next stop where we planned to spend a couple of days as it was here we were able to swim with the Endangered Australian Sea Lion. Baird Bay has only 6 houses and 5 permanent residents. There are no shops or communication but it sits on the prettiest bay. There is a small camping area with pit toilets and good camp kitchen but no power or water. There is a small rain water tank for drinking water. Volunteers from this small community look after it and it is immaculate and also has a viewing platform to view the bay.

We had to be down at the water by 8.30 am and don our short legged wet suits. Taking our mask and snorkel (no fins) we headed out by boat to the end of the bay. There is a rocky reef across the entrance to the bay protecting the bay from those big ‘biteys”! The sea lion colony is also within this protected area and here this colony of sea lions has its home. The colony has been growing as the mums have been pupping here. You are dropped into the water out from the shore and you have to let the sea lions come to you! In fact as soon as they saw the boat pull up, they were in the water and swimming out to us. There are less than 12,000 of these creatures left in the wild so it is a heartening thought to realise that this colony is growing. They were the most curious creatures, so inquisitive. I took my underwater camera with me and had it on video so did get some pretty special footage. We spent a good 2 hours in the water with them. It was one of those special lifetime experiences.

Then we trundled onto Streaky Bay. Another very pretty little seaside town. We spent a week here going for drives around the area. Sceales Bay, the Whistling Rocks, sea lions frolicking in the surf, more incredible rock formations and cliffs along a stunning coastline. We met a lovely lady called El (short for Eleanor and her 11 year old son Ben. They are also travelling Australia in a comby known as Roaming Paws. El does Dog Grooming on her travels.

Ceduna then beckoned so on we went further around the Eyre Peninsula. Last stop really, shopping wise, before crossing the Nullabor. Ceduna was a lovely town. We stayed at Shelly Beach Caravan Park about 3 kms out of town but they were great sites and great people staying there. We met up with many people but three couples we became good friends with. Henry and Zeny (from Gosford), Klaus & Carmen from Buderim and Garry and Lorraine from near Brisbane. They were all keen fishermen (and women) and supplied us regularly with King George Whiting. They also talked us into staying longer to go back to Streaky Bay for the day for the Streaky Bay Cup! Gary does caravan repairs whilst he and Lorraine are on the road and Klaus sells satellite TV. Well we now have satellite TV and Gary sold us some new LED lights for the bedroom.

Streaky Bay races were fantastic! We all visited the local OP shop and purchased something to wear to the races. I now have a lovely hat ($2) El bought me some roses to go onto it. We travelled down with Klaus and Carmen leaving the vans in Ceduna. We had breakfast at the M'ocean Café before heading out to the track. The first race one of the horses dumped his rider even before he got onto the track, it raced off onto the track, jumped the fence and headed out over the hills! It was hysterically funny! The officials tried for half an hour to catch it before starting the rest of the horses! We had a little sweep going between us and came out at the end of the day winning a small amount. It was worth going for.

After this we all headed further west to Fowlers Bay. Just a small spot but we were told the fishing was fantastic! It might have been the week before but it blew a gale and we didn’t even catch a cold! Carmen caught one squid.

Then it was the trek across the mighty Nullabor. We planned to spend a couple of nights camping off road before crossing the border and going through the Quarantine gate. No fresh fruit or vegetables, nuts in shells or honey are allowed through. We froze, peeled or cooked everything we had to stop it being confiscated. We found some lovely camping spots and had campfires most nights.

At the border we passed inspection and entered WA. It was Easter so we found a lovely camping spot and decided to stay 2 nights there. Another purchase the group persuaded us to buy in Ceduna was a Breadmaker. So with solar panels on the van, I could use the Inverter to make the dough and then shape it and cook it in the gas oven. So we had fresh bread all the way! So on Easter Saturday I decided I would give making our own fresh Easter Buns a go! They were a hit for Easter Sunday!

Carmen and Lorraine cooked dinner Sunday evening, Gary presided over the camp fire and we helped collect wood. What a menu we had!

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup
(on a red curry base)

Roast Duck & Quail
(Served with a Cointreau & mandarin Sauce)
Red Cabbage & Potato Dumplings
Honey seeded mustard carrots & Beans

Homemade Chocolate Muffins
(with an Easter egg inside)
Piped with chocolate
Not bad for the desert!

At Cocklebiddy, Walter and I left the van locked up at the roadhouse and travelled the 35kms of 4WD track to the Eyre Bird Observatory. This was one of the early Eyre Telegraph Stations. It is run by volunteers on 3 monthly stints. We were served a lovely homemade morning tea and then given a tour of the old house and museum. It is also a B & B and you can stay there. It is so nice that when we come back to the south in the summer we plan to go and stay a few days. All around the house are bird bathes and hides. There have been over 250 species of birds identified in the area, along the shore and in the dense Mallee scrub. We drove back, hitched up the van and travelled on to our next camp site where we caught up once again with the others.

We came off the Nullabor into Norseman, then made the decision to go on towards Kalgoorlie. We camped at Lake Douglas about 10kms out. We went Yabbying there and again had great campfires. Then we all went our different ways, with the other 2 couples going towards Perth and we went into a Caravan Park in Boulder (suburb of Kalgoorlie).
It took us nearly the week to clean and get all the red dust (and dead flies) out of the van. Curtains were washed and became white again!

Kalgoorlie is an interesting place with its main industry still being gold mining. It has lovely buildings (very similar to Charters Towers). One original facet of Kal though, is its Red Light area. They are still the original bordellos and still working! You can even undertake tours of these working bordellos!

The main attraction now in Kal is what is known as the Super Pit! In the 1980’s Alan Bond began purchasing all the privately owned leases. He never completed it all but KGCM (Kalgoorlie Gold Consolidated Mining) completed it and now have excavated the most extraordinary large open cut. It is over 1 km long and when completed it will be 680 metres deep. You can watch the blasting from their lookout. (You can't get it in one photo!

We also had a tour over the old Boulder Town Hall. Dame Nellie Melba sang there and the stage curtain is known as the Goatcher curtain. It was hand painted by Phillip Goatcher in 1904 and is the only one of its kind left in the world. It is a beautiful work of art.

We left Kalgoorlie on the 22nd April and headed north up the Gold Discovery trail. This goes through Menzies, Lenora, and Leinster before turning west to Sandstone, Mount Magnet and Geraldton. The road is all completely sealed. We planned to camp off road over this trip but the first night saw us in Lenora Caravan Park as it poured rain, over 10ml and on red soil country it is not wise to get off the bitumen or you could be there until it dries out! Outside Lenora is the ghost town of Gwalia, a remnant of old gold workings. It is fascinating to walk through the old houses, with many looking like people just walked out!

From Lenora we passed by Leinster and headed west, looking for a camp site that we were told about by a fellow camper. It was supposed to be a lookout so we were looking for a “raised” area. We kept travelling through flat country and when our GPS readings told us we were there, we still could not see where this “lookout was! There was a parking bay so we decided we had had enough travel anyway for one day so pulled in. To our absolute amazement, when you drove right into the camp area it was on top of a breakaway! (For those overseas, not knowing what a breakaway is, it is like a cliff that drops away to the valley below. It was an amazing view, red rocks, limestone and an endless plain. It is known as Peter Denny Lookout. For anyone travelling that road, it is a must stop and see! It was so nice we decided to stay for 2 nights. Stars were like diamonds, we had shooting stars and satellites too! We viewed this panorama whilst sitting around our new fire pot (with its “Aztec” design.

Travelling on again, we went through the lovely old gold mining village of Sandstone. We took the Sandstone Heritage drive (in the van) and viewed the old Contradiction Well, used to provide water for Cobb & Co coaches, and travelling prospectors and pastoralists. Then it was the old Stamper that crushed to gold ore. This is now in a fairly derelict state. A few more kilometres down the track was a beautiful natural formation known as The London Bridge. In the gold days, the miners and town’s folk used to travel out on a wagon for picnics. Like most mining communities an important aspect of a town was its brewery. Sandstone being no exception had a brewery set up by an enterprising Irishman. It operated quite successfully for a number of years until the railway was put through from Mount Magnet. Then beer began flowing into town from a number of other sources so it wasn’t long before this brewery closed down. Nothing much is left from it now bar the foundations and the made tunnel in the rock for the cellar that kept the beer cool.

The streets of Sandstone were very tidy and lined with flowers. There is a park currently “a work in progress” showing off a number of old mining relics and a history of the pastoralists. Garden beds are currently being planned and you can see it will be a lovely place when completed. The town itself still has a number of interesting heritage buildings, including a lovely old pub and the General Store that was the old Post Office and still operates as such today. It will celebrate its 100th birthday this month.

After our tour of Sandstone we moved onto Mount Magnet, about 158 kms before stopping again for the night. We used the booklet from Jan Holland to find this camping spot, known as The Granites. It was a lovely spot and very interesting. Another big breakaway with lots of caves, some with aboriginal painting. We arrive late in the day on Sunday of the Anzac weekend, only to find a sign stating “ No Camping – Shire Patrolled”. Well it was too late to find anything else so we thought we would risk it. Didn’t think council workers would patrol on a long weekend holiday!

We found a lovely spot and camped all by ourselves, never saw another person and left early next morning leaving no trace of being there!

We had a journey of about 258kms the next day to a roadside rest spot only 80kms from Geraldton.

We arrived in Geraldton at the Sunset Beach Caravan Park which is on the northern end of the city and right on the beach. Lovely spot. We opted to stay a week here as we had arranged for our mail to be sent here.

It’s a beautiful city of 33,000 people with barmy weather. We have had an average of 25-30 degrees most days but always with a lovely soft sea breeze. We have driven all around the waterfront and even north to Coronation Beach about 20kms away. Coastline is lovely and there is often Kite surfers and wind boards scooting around in the waves in front of the park. We often take our wine up there and watch the magnificent sunsets over the Indian Ocean.

One special tour we did was to the fairly new Memorial to the HMAS Sydney 11. There are tours each day at 10.30am run by volunteers. Without going with the tour guide we would not have realised or understood the amazing symbolism of the construction. It has to be one of the most moving memorials I have ever visited. The HMAS Sydney was lost at sea in 1941 after a battle with the German raider KormoranV. with the loss of 645 men.

The Memorial has a stele – portraying the bow of the ship, unturned propellers – a sign of a ship lost at sea, and a cupola featuring 645 seagulls. These seagulls are a British tradition which signifies the returning souls of sailors. Within the roof of the cupola there is an anchor holding eternal flames, as port and starboard lights. Both these were lit from the Eternal Flame at the Canberra War museum. There is also a bronze figure of a woman staring out to sea, waiting for her man to return.

Whilst we have been in Geraldton, the huge and lovely Sun Princess cruise ship came into the harbour. Incredible sight.

Well Tuesday we will leave here and head to Coronation Beach for a few days before heading further north, most likely first to Kalbarri. So much to see.!

I know this is a very long screed, but until Geraldton we have not had a lot of internet coverage or time!

Until next time,

The Happy Travellers

Rob & Walter