Perth

This is only going to be a very short Blog. We arrived in Perth last Thursday and it has rained every day since. We went out to the Swan Valley on Friday morning and visited the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and then went for a drive to Whiteman Park. Bit wet though.

We originally set up in a caravan park in Forestfield and were joined by Rick and Lorraine on the Friday and Peter, Cheryl and Rachael Edler came to stay for the weekend also. Peter and Cheryl used to live across the road from us and Peter used to work with Rick and Ray, so the friendship goes back for a long time. Peter is currently working in Perth for a while for Billiton so it was a good chance to catch up. We had a few drinks together and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Sunday we all went seperate ways. The Edlers went home, Rick and Lorraine were going down to a caravan park at Fremantle and Ray and I headed to the Adventist Park at Maida Vale. It is a nice park with lots of trees but the weather was atrocious on Sunday. It poured and blew like crazy all day so we just set up camp and stayed in for the day.

Today, Monday we went to the Belmont Shopping Centre to get a birthday present for Emma, which we will be posting home as soon as we come back to Perth.(We promised to send her a parcel for her birthday). Then we came back to camp to get ourselves organised to fly home tomorrow. The caravan and truck are going to be stored for 2 weeks so we have to make sure all of the perishables are out of the fridge. The caravan fridge will still be running on solar but just in case something happens we will get the perishables out and eaten.

We fly out at 10.30am tomorrow and get into Sydney at 4.30pm. Allan has kindly offered to come and pick us up. My Mum turns 80 on Friday and all of the family are going to Hyams Beach for the weekend to celebrate. Lee is coming down from Lennox Head and we are all looking forward to getting together.

I will Blog again when we resume our travels after 4th October.

Jurien Bay

We arrived in Jurien Bay on Friday and decided to stay here for 4 nights. The weather is cooler down here but the wind doesn't seem to be as strong as it was in Geraldton. On the way here we stopped at a couple of nice spots. One was called Big Freshwater Point and it looked as if it is used as a refuelling point for the crayfish boats as there was a big marine refuelling tank right on the beach. The rocks were alive with roosting cormorants.

There are fishermans shacks on the beach for about 40km along the coast.

Jurien Bay is a very pretty place. There is a wonderful brick wall surrounded by wildflowers which welcomes you to the town.

 Like most seaside towns in this area it has a large crayfish fishing fleet which operates from November until May. It also has a lot of Perth people who come here for weekends as it is only 220km from Perth.

The next day, Saturday, we headed back out of Jurien Bay and went north to a village called Greenhead just to have a look around. On the way into Greenhead we turned off towards Milligan Island, but before we got there we followed a sign to Point Louise Lookout. It was very pretty with views looking over a bay towards Greenhead.

Next stop was a bay called Billy Goat Bay where we watched a large flock of crested terns fighting over rock space.

Then we finally fund Milligans Island. It was very close to the shore and looked as if it was a nesting spot for sea birds.

Then we drove out to a scenic lookout (no name) and took some more pictures.

The west coast certainly has a spectacular coastline. Lovely white sand beaches and beautiful turquoise water.

We finally got to Greenhead which is really a small fishing village with lots of holiday homes and a small crayfish fleet.

After leaving we stopped at another lookout, Grigsons Lookout, which gave a much better view of the whole area.

The next day, Sunday we decided to go to Cervantes and then down to The Pinnacles, then cut back inland and up the Brand Highway and back across to Jurien Bay again.
On the way to Cervantes we stopped at Molar Hill Lookout which looks out over the coast between Jurien Bay and Cervantes.

We then went into Cervantes which is another small fishing village with a lot of huge WA mansions on the outskirts. I reckon some might be holiday homes. They are pretty big.
We went to yet another lookout, this one called Hansen Bay Lookout. We had to climb a fair few steps but the view from the top was worth it.

Looking back down to the truck from Hansens Lookout

Next stop, The Nambung National Park and The Pinnacles. First we walked up to a viewing area which looked out over part of the Pinnacles and then we drove around the Park. It is only 4km but it took us well over an hour. The Pinnacles are limestone pillars which were created from ancient shells. Over the years natural processes have combined to remove surrounding material to result in the limestone pinnacles jutting out of the sand. They range in size from a few centimetres up to over 3 metres high. They look like an ancient village. Parts look like Stonehenge and tombstones.

Ray thought this pinnacle looked like a ghost



This looked like Pinnacle headstones


Then we drove inland to a place called Badgingarra, saw some more wildflowers and drove back to Jurien Bay.

Acorn Banksia

We are having a quiet day today, Monday, and are heading south to Ledge Point tomorrow. Ledge Point is only about 130km north of Perth. We will be in Perth on Thursday.

Geraldton

Before I go into detail about Geraldton, let me tell you it is the windiest, coldest place we have been to on this holiday so far. The locals tell us it is windy every day and it just changes in intensity. The  weather has been sunny but you can't sit outside and enjoy it as you get blown away.

We arrived here on Sunday 4th September and it took us a while to set up as the first site they gave us had someone on it already, the second site we couldn't fit on and the third one was just right. A bit like the story of the three bears.
The next day we had the van booked in for some repairs so we dropped it off about 8.30am. We then went for a drive around the local beaches and points of interest.

We got a phone call from the van repair place to say that the water tank needed replacing so we now have a new water tank. But the toilet couldn't be fixed without a new part which needed to come from Melbourne so we came back to the caravan park for another few days.

The next day, Tuesday we decided to go for a drive. We drove south from Geraldton down to the entrance of the Greenough River. As the wind was up, there was quite a good surf running and there were a few brave people out there catching waves.

Next stop was The Leaning Tree. Because of the strong winds some of the trees actually turn and grow horizontally. Quite a weird phenomenon.

We then went to a hisoric village in Greenough but it was too windy to walk around.
So next we drove to Mullawa which is the main town in the wildflower area. On the way we stopped at Alinta Wind Farm, which is the biggest wind turbine farm in Australia. 54 wind turbines producing enough energy to power 60,000 homes annually. It's good to see that wind is good for something.

Next stop was Ellendale Pool which is surrounded by a pretty gorge and those wildflowers again.

Then Mullawa which I found a bit of a disappointment as there were only a few wildflowers around.

On Wednesday we had another quiet day. We drove into town and the cruise ship "Sea Princess" was anchored in the bay and ferrying passengers in to the dock at Geraldton for them to have a look around. Apparently about 20 cruise ships stop in Geraldton each year. It beats me why, unless all the passengers love that wind.

Now to today. We got a phone call from the van repairers. The part we need isn't sold as an individual thing , we have to buy a new base unit There is only one in Australia at present and that is in Queensland so it is being shipped to the Dometic offices in Perth and we will pick it up there next week. We had to pay for it in advance as well as the cost of shipping but hopefully this will be the end.

So we are leaving Geraldton tomorrow to head to Jurien Bay for 4 nights. From there we will be able to go to Cervantes and to The Pinnacles. Ray is looking forward to that. If any of you like Billy Connelly, when he did his show of travelling around Australia, he did a great show at the Pinnacles. He actually did a streak around some of the pillars. I hope Ray doesn't want to do that!!!
I will do some more Blog from Jurien Bay and let you know what happens.

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.