Carnarvon, Hamelin Pool, Kalbarri

We arrived in Carnarvon on Sunday 28th August for a couple of nights. It is a quiet town surrounded by fruit plantations. Not only do they have lots of fresh fruit, but they also sell home made preserves and relishes, chocolate coated bananas and mangoes and flavoured ice creams. We went to a farmers stall and bought some lovely bananas, beans and cucumber. The bananas were 5 for $3 and they were lovely. I don't know if the prices have gone down on the east coast yet, but bananas are still pretty expensive in the supermarkets over here. The most we seen them for was $18.99 a kilo.

We went for train ride out on to the One Mile Jetty. It was a bit ricketty but the driver went pretty slow and I was glad when we got back to solid land.

We were relaxing back at camp in the afternoon and who should show up but Terry and Sue who we befriended ages ago on the Gibb River Road. So once again we had "Sundowner" drinks with them.

We headed out of Carnarvon on Tuesday and headed south towards Shark Bay. We decided to stay at Hamelin Pool which is at the south of Shark Bay. From there we could do a day trip up to Denham and Monkey Mia. On the way the wildflowers once again were incredible. They seem to be getting more colourful as we head south. It is like someone has got a bucket full of all mixed seeds and just thrown them to the wind for them to germinate wherever they land.

We stopped at White Bluff lookout which is on the eastern side of Shark Bay. It looks out over the sand flats towards Shark Bay. Someone has made a gnome village at the lookout and it appears that people add garden gnomes to it at different times.

Hamelin Pool is one of only a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites (the oldest living organisms on the planet) exist.The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as salty as usual sea water due to sea grass banks situated across the bays entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water. Stromatolites are composed of bacteria and algae, and animals that feed on these substances cannot tolerate such salty conditions. As a result stromatolites grow here undisturbed.

The caravan park at Hamelin Pool used to be an old telegraph station and consequently there is a lot of old buildings and machinery around the area

The beach at Hamelin Pool is made up of millions of small cockle shells which are up to 10 metres deep. These shells have set hard and in the past were used to make blocks to build some of the older buildings in the Shark Bay area. They are still used to maintain these old buildings and are still quarried when needed.

Blocks made from small shells

Quarry where they get shell blocks

It is now Wednesday and today we are going for a drive up to Monkey Mia and Denham. We stopped at a lookout on the way and took a photo of the Denham Channel looking over towards Shark Bay salt works.

Then on to Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia beach is actually part of the Monkey Mia Resort and we had to pay $6 each to spend any time at the resort. Apparently the dolpins had been in for 2 feeds already and the ranger was unsure if they would come in again. But we went in anyway. We took some photos from the jetty and could see the dolphins further out in the bay. After wandering through the shop for a while we came back outside and the dolphins had come into the beach chasing small fish. So we did get some photos.

We then went back to to Denham, stopping at a couple of places to take some photos of Dirk Hartog Island

Next we went to the Ocean Beach Aquarium. Ocean Beach Aquarium is an open air interactive aquarium containing big tanks with moray eels, turtles, rays, snapper, sharks, barramundi, lion fish, squid, lobster, cod and many other reef fish. We were there for a couple of hours and it was a very informative display.

Next we went to Eagle Bluff where we walked along the boardwalk and were able to see sharks and rays down in the water.

We stopped into a couple of free camp sites along Shark Bay to have a look.

Then to Shell Beach which was a bit disappointing as I expected there to be big shells like Eighty Mile Beach but no, the shells were tiny little things which have been crushed into shell grit.

The next day we just hung around camp and who should show up in the camp but Terry and Sue. Are they stalking us? They are staying at the Homestead up the road for a few nights. Ray helped a few people do some  repairs to their trailer and to their car. The good samaritan he is. One of the fellows he helped gave him a packet of fish and it was lovely. In the afternoon we saw a male emu and 8 little chicks. The female emu doesn't raise the babies, that is up to Dad. Ray followed them and took some photos.

During the early hours of Friday morning it rained a couple of times. This is the first rain we have had in 4 months. On our way to Kalbarri it rained on and off all the way sometimes very heavily. I know you are getting sick of me saying this but more brilliant wildflowers. banksia, grevilleas and bottle brushes everywhere and as far back from the road as the eye could see.

After setting up at Kalbarri we drove out to the Rainbow Jungle, which is a parrot breeding centre. Not only Australian parrots but South American ones also. All of the parrots have been bred in captivity and the cages they have are very large and they can fly freely.

The next day, Saturday we decided to go out to Kalbarri National Park. We went to a lookout where you looked down on the Murchson River and then Ray walked out to an area called Natures Window which framed a beautiful view of the river.

In the afternoon we went for a drive out to the Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs. The coastline is very rugged and the sea was quite rough so it made for some good photos.

Next stop is Geraldton where we are getting a couple of things fixed on the van.

Coral Bay

We arrived in Coral Bay on Wednesday 24th August and today is Saturday 27th August and we have spent some part of every day on the beach. All there is at Coral Bay is 2 caravan parks, some backpacker accommodation, a few holiday homes and a couple of small shopping centres.... and of course the beautiful Ningaloo Reef and associated coral and clear water. The first thing we did after arriving was to go across the road to the shops and book a trip on a semi submersible boat to have a look at the reef.

The semi submersible is a boat with a very shallow draft. You walk down underneath the deck level and sit on benches in front of big windows and look out as the boat moves alongside the reef. In glass bottom boats you look down on the coral. In the semi submersible you go alongside the coral. We booked this for Thursday morning at 10am.



This is the semi submersible boat. You go down under the deck and under water to view the fish and coral

 It was quite amazing. The coral is hard coral, unlike the Barrier Reef which is soft coral. Hard coral does not have the colour but it does have amazing structure. There is some colour, such as blue and lavender but it is mainly greens and browns.



Cabbage coral




Fish in staghorn coral




Blue tipped coral




Lavender coral

 Some of the fish around the coral were spangled emperor, scissor fish, parrot fish, wrasse, leatherjacket, damselfish, trevally, mullet and angelfish. It was just incredible.

Spangled Emperor

We stopped out on the reef to feed the fish and there was a feeding frenzy around the boat.

It was quite windy when we got back so there was no snorkelling today.

On Friday we went for a drive out to the Coral Bay Marina. The colours around the marina were amazing from the different depths of the water. There is mostly a sandy bottom near to shore so the reflections of the sky make for great colour in the water.

While walking along the jetty we seen a huge groper. It was just cruising around under and around the jetty. He was very big, probably about 5 feet long and about 200kg. There were hundreds of bait fish swimming around him but keeping clear of his mouth.

We bought some more tiger prawns for tea and bought an extra kilo to put in the freezer for later.

We decided to check up on our accommodation in Perth and when we contacted them originally, they said we could store our van and car with them for $50 per week. When we rang up yesterday it turns out that our van and truck are too big to go into their storage facility so we could leave it on the site we would be staying on for $37 a night. When we worked that out including the nights we were going to stay there it worked out to be more than $800. A bit rich we thought. Now, someone had told us that you can camp at the Seventh Day Adventist camping area in Maida Vale in Perth, so we rang them up and they will store our van and truck for $4 a night. We will stay there for 2 nights before and 2 nights after for $30 per night. They have all of the amenities and power and water. They only have a couple of rules - no smoking and no alcohol. So we will have some alcohol free days but the price is right for the storage and it is only about $25 in a cab to the airport.

Now today is Saturday and our last day in Coral Bay. We went over to the beach this morning and snorkelled around amongst the beautiful fish. We saw a huge clam in the water and all of the little tropical fish were swimming around it. It is just like swimming in a huge fish tank. The fish are very safe here as the area off the front of the beach is a marine park and no fishing is allowed, so you have huge spangled emperor swimming around you. They say they are a beautiful eating fish so they can count themselves pretty lucky that they are in a protected zone.

Tomorrow we move on to Carnarvon for a couple of days.

Exmouth

We are now in Exmouth. We had a long drive from Karratha, about 560km so Saturday was a long day. We arrived in Exmouth about 3.30pm and set up the van. We didn't have much of a look around as it was getting late although we did notice that there is a lot of new building going on.

Exmouth was built to  to accommodate the Americans working at the US Naval Communication Station H E Holt. Today it still operates as the Australian Naval Communication Station. Apparently they are in the process of completely rebuilding the school as the classrooms were only small as per American schools. Now they are going to be like Aussie classrooms with lots of kids in each class!!!

Towers of Naval Communication Station

We woke up on Sunday morning to a cloudy day but it didn't take long to burn off to a lovely day. After breakfast we went and had a look at the shops which were pretty good. A couple of supermarkets, butchers (which has been the first one since Broome), surf shops, diving shops, jewellers, newsagent, PO and cafes. A quite lively place with lots of tourists.

We then drove out past the Naval Communication Station which is fairly high security and out to Bundegi Beach which is where the boat ramp is.

 Ray helped a few people launch their boats and I think he was secretly hoping they would ask him to go with them, but they didn't. There were heaps of fish in the water and also a few sea snakes.

Next stop, Vlamingh Head Lighthouse from where we had a great view north out of Exmouth Gulf and also south down along the western side of the Cape down to Cape Range National Park.

View north from lighthouse

View south from lighthouse

Next we drove out to look at the wreck of the SS Mildura which sunk off the coast in 1907. We were quite surprised to see most of the hull still intact and wedged up against the rocks, after more than 100 years. It is now a breeding place for sharks and contains a shark nursery.

We  then had 1kg of fresh prawns for lunch, which were very nice and then went and had a look at Town Beach and Pebbly Beach.We collected some shells at Town Beach.

 We saw heaps of whales frolicking off the coast, breaching and fluking. Great fun to watch.
On Monday we woke up to a horrible morning. It was cloudy and really foggy with lots of moisture in the air. We still decided to go to Cape Range National Park, hoping the weather would improve. By the time we got over to the west side of the Cape, the cloud had lifted and it turned out to be a lovely day. We stopped at South T Bone Beach first and walked along the beach and out to the rocks. You could see the inside edge of Ningaloo Reef. We couldn't believe it was so close.

Next stop was Turquoise Bay and you could see how it got its name. We had bought some snorkels and goggles in Broome and I had my first go at snorkelling. It was fantastic.

 The fish were just swimming around my legs looking for food as I stirred up the sand with my feet. Ray swam out to the coral and could see some larger fish, leather jackets and long nose emperors just nosing around the reef.
We then went to Trealla Beach to have lunch and while there we could see the whale shark boat out on the reef with the spotter plane circling above.

Next, out to Mesa Camp and Ned's Camp, two beautiful camp spots in the National Park. We intended staying at Mesa Camp before we had our van problems but it turned out that Neds camp was better. While looking at Neds Camp we bumped into Col and Kim who had been on the Horizontal Falls trip with us. We knew it was them as they drive a Winnebago "Longreach" and tow a Landcruiser on a trailer behind it. Quite unique. It truly was a wonderful day today.

We even took a photo of Sturts Desert peas with red centres which are unique to the Exmouth area.

Ospreys nesting at Cape Range National Park

Whale shark model in Exmouth

Now it is Tuesday and today is domestic duties day. Washing and around camp. we went for a walk on the beach and collected some more shells and tomorrow we move on to Coral Bay.

Still in Karratha

Well, it is Tuesday and we are still in Karratha. We are waiting for a tap to put in the van and apparently it won't be here until Thursday, so we bit the bullet and decided to stay until Saturday when we will go straight to Exmouth. It is a bit far but if we get away early we should be there by mid afternoon.

Rick and Lorraine arrived on Sunday afternoon for the night. They had come from Eighty Mile Beach and  had a booking at Point Samson from Monday and decided to come into Karratha to spend the night. They are spending a few days at Point Samson as there is a good mobile phone signal as they will have a new grandchild some time today hopefully.

We had a few drinks and dinner and a good catch up.

Here is a photo of the 4 of us which Rick took while we were at Derby.

On Monday we drove out to Hearsons Cove, near Dampier in the late afternoon to watch "Staircase to the Moon". It was lovely to see. The rising moon was very orange.

Last night we had a few drops of rain. Not enough to wet the ground but it is the first rain we have had since before we left home 3 months ago. Today (Tuesday) I had a much needed hair cut and then we headed back out to Dampier to have a look at the Red Dog statue. You probably know that the movie Red Dog has just been released and it was filmed all around the Pilbara region.

While out there we saw the gas ship coming into the gas plant at Dampier.

On Wednesday we decided to go for a drive around the area. We drove north towards Cape Lambert. Cape Lambert is another iron ore loading facility, but we couldn't get in as access was restricted to employees. As we were so close to Point Samson, we decided to drop in on Rick and Lorraine.They now have a new granddaughter, Madeline Patricia and Mum and baby are both very well. While we were having coffee with them, Tony and Chris pulled into the spot next door. The world is definitely getting smaller. We introduced them to each other, then we continued on our travels.

Next stop was Wickham and from here we were able to drive on a public access road through a work site and end up at Port Walcott, which is just around the headland from Cape Lambert. The work site was very busy with iron ore trains, road trains and all manner of work vehicles.

Port Walcott

Three engines pulling iron ore train

 

Iron ore train

We got some lunch at Wickham and drove out to Cossack. Cossack was an important industrial port around 1872 and the old buildings have been preserved. It was also the centre of the pearling industry in the late 1800's until that was moved to Broome.

Cossack from the Tien Tsien Lookout

The old Schoolhouse

The Lighthouse

Ship loading at Cape Lambert. Point Samson is in the foreground.

Settlers Beach, Cossack

Next stop was Cleaverville, which is a beautiful bush camping spot on the coast about 30km north of Karratha. There are lovely camp sites spread out along the dunes and there were about 100 caravans and campers set up. Probably worth a stay next time we are here.

Then back to Karratha where we had pre dinner drinks with Terry and Sue. (We met them crossing the Pentecost River)

It is now Friday. Our spare part didn't arrive so Ray has done a bush fix on the problem which will do us until we get to Gerladton. We are going to Exmouth tomorrow where we have booked in for 4 nights. it will be nice to have a change of scenery after 10 days in Karratha.

I will blog again from Exmouth.