Kalbarri, Denham, Exmouth, Millstream NP

On to Kalbarri for a look around at the national park. Very interesting because you have a combination of spectacular river gorges as well as dramatic coastline. Visited the natural window which was very cool.

Kalbarri Coastline

Then onto Denham. On the way called into look at the stromatolites – oldest living things on earth. These are estimated to be 6000 years old. Stromatolites are the things that started producing oxygen so all other life could start growing. If you look close you can see bubbles on the water – oxygen being produced.

And also close by is Shell beach. These tiny white shells are up to 9m deep in places. The water here is super salty, and the shells so white it is almost painful to look at without your sunnies.

Went to Monkey Mia for a look at the dolphins and then did a trip up to Cape Peron. Cape Peron is beautiful. We went to a lookout and saw manta rays, sharks, turtles and some big fish in the bays. Very beautiful. Had lunch and spent a good part of the day here. Had the beaches mostly to ourselves.... where is every one else – sucked into Monkey Mia waiting for an opportunity to feed the dolphins with 500 others no doubt! Did a bit of a snorkel and and fishing in the afternoon.

Onto Exmouth (Ningaloo Reef) - “WOW”, what a place. Beautiful beaches , great coral, heaps of snorkelling.

Main highlight was the swim with the Whale sharks- absolutely awesome, swimming with a 7m animal. Jasmine and Jeremy had an absolutely fantastic time and we all agreed that we would definitely do this again. Turquoise Bay (pictured) was beautiful. Couldn't get out of the water. Didn’t really want to leave Ningaloo area and which we could have stayed for a few months !!

Then onto the Millstream/Chichester national park. Went to the Python pool for a swim and explored the national park. This National park is near to Karijini and is really lovely. Our campsite was next to one of the pools created by a bulging of the Fortesque River. Heaps of bird life and a really relaxing spot. It is so green here. Lots of beautiful flowers – mulga mulga, Sturt desert peas wattles, coolibah trees and snappy gums all make a really picturesque landscape.

Then onto Tom Price. On the way there you see some great scenery as you approach and cut through the Hamersley ranges

Heading off into Karijini National Park for about 4 days and reports are we should see some great gorges, do a heap of fantastic walks and swim in a few of the water holes.

The Gibb river road is still closed but should open by mid May, which will suit us well. They have had lots of rain outside the rainy season up here. The roads should make for interesting driving.

We are all having a great time still..... bit difficult at times to get mobile coverage and internet connection. We are now getting into the parts of WA that we really came to see. So far we haven't been disappointed.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Till next time.

Perth / Freemantle

Nice city - Kings Park is really something else. It has a great outlook over the city.

Spent one day at Rottnest Island which was great. Spent time cruising around the island and did a snorkel at one of the bays. A really lovely place. Heaps of people here – we went on a Tuesday which is the cheap fare day and also it was the public holiday for Anzac day.

After leaving Perth we headed north and on the way stopped in to look at “the Pinacles”, awesome rock formations. Kids thought that they were great. There is thousand of these things stuck out here- really unusual.

Margaret River - Easter

Easter weekend is in the Margaret River area - staying at a farm/caravan park in Cowaramup about 12kms north of Margaret River. Great location - close to the beaches and wineries. Foodie heaven here - have bought lots of cheese, breads, wine, chocolate and sweets. Breweries galore much to Tony's delight! I love it here - could live here too!
While we are in this area we have climbed the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse - tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia, and explored Jewel cave. This area is thick with caves - about 100 of them - and very impressive. We told the kids we were going to look at a cave and they thought we meant something on the surface - they were blown away when we ventured underground and saw all the staligmites etc and tree roots from the giant Karri trees dangling 20m below into the cave looking for water.


We walked the Bussleton Jetty - a 1.8km long jetty. Great town but too many people -I guess that what you have to expect at Easter.

So heading off to Fremantle tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great Easter and so long for now.

Southern Forests

From Hyden we went back down the coast to Albany. Got bogged at a free camp - interesting with the camper on the back....but managed to save ourselves!
Albany is a really quaint coastal town. The highlights were the natural bridge and the gap. These are enormous granite formations made when the bit of land that became Antarctica seperated from Australia
(Gondwana)-very impressive.
The beaches around here are of course great-most of the time we are the only ones on them.
From Albany through Denmark ( elephant rocks and greens pool - very beautiful) then headed into the Great Forests of the South West - wow these forests are breathtaking. The karri trees are up to 75m high and the Tingle trees can grow 150m high and 28m in girth and one we saw - 'grandma tingle' was 500yrs old. They are one of the 3 tallest tree species in the world. One feels insignificant when amongst them.In the Valley of the Giants( the forests) there is a tree top walk which we really loved. They have built a 45m high walkway that sits amongst the treetops and swings. It is a great perspective to be looking down at the forest floor and to be a eye level with some of the tree tops rather than looking up.


We spent the next few days exploring this area -Walpole national park and its inlets and river systems amongst the forests. The trees are so beautiful we couldn't stop looking at them.

 

Hyden - Wave Rock

Well, my lifetime dream of seeing Wave Rock has come true -I feel truly fulfilled now....

Great little town and campsite at Wave Rock. Also the surrounding area is very interesting- aboriginal cave paintings and a rock that looks like a hippo yawning.

Cape Le Grand

Arrived in Cape Le Grand National Park at 6pm, hoping that we would get a spot at Lucky Bay campsite. The gods must have been on our side - one spot left. What an absolutely beautiful place. The coast line here has to be seen to be believed. The sand is as white as snow, and the water is turquoise blue. It is sooooo spectacular. Every bend you go around it gets even better. We could have stayed a month - some people were. There are 2 campsites in the NP - Lucky  Bay - which is fairly small and set out more like a caravan park and then there is Le Grand Beach Camp site which has sites that are just clearings off the track through the campsite. Both really nice.
We stayed here 3 nights. We climbed Frenchmans Peak - a mountain about 250m high -information says gentle slope but it just about killed me climbing it (being the elite athlete I am!). A few caves on the way to the summit and then amazing vista at the top. You can see the whole coastline and countryside.

The kids met a few other kids and had a movie night with them, played on the beach , swam in the freezing water. I could hardly put my feet in it but they swam in it for hours. The wildlife is very friendly here- kangaroos sniffing around looking for food.

  Hellfire Bay -Cape Le Grand NP

 Frenchmans peak-the way up

Frenchmans peak -cavern

Frenchmans Peak - at the summit

 Lucky Bay -Cape Le Grand NP

 Le Grand Beach

 After Cape Le Grand we went to Esperance and took a boat tour to the Bay of Isles - and stopped at Woody Island. On the way we saw dolphins very close to the boat, sea lions, white breasted sea eagles( with fish in tallons see below). Once we were on the island we did a glass bottom boat tour. The day was perfect, the ocean calm, sky blue. Our only regret was not staying on the island overnight. Was reasonably priced and would have been fantastic. This was a great cruise - we saw heaps of wildlife and the sea lion antics were fantastic.

Twilight Beach - Esperance

 

 

We have loved this part of WA. Would recommend it to anyone and would come back in a heartbeat.

Till next time.....

From Broken Hill

From Broken Hill to Port Augusta. Not much here -just stayed the night and headed for Ceduna. The caravan park we wanted to stay in on the beach was full so ended up at the Airport one which wasn't that bad.
It was freezing at Ceduna - a cold wind blowing in from  Antarctica. Had fish and chips on the beach despite the cold wind.... walked along the jetty at sunset.

From Ceduna we started the trip accross the Nullabor. Stopped in at the Head of the Great Australian Bight. Really spectacular and dramatic scenery. There are a few stops along the Nullabor where you can look at the bight - some are closed due to crumbling edges. Took lots of photos. The Nullabor Plain is treeless - just low shrubs which was different to what I imagined. I thought it would be a great plain of dirt. One stretch is the longest bit of straight road in Australia- 146.6klms. Just endless straightness - I think if it was any longer it might just do your head in. Never travelled in a straight line for such a long time - all very excited at the first curve in the road.

We camped a couple of nights in the bush along the Nullabour, just inside the WA border. Camp fires at both much to the kids enjoyment. No marshmellows - bit of an oversight there.

We are now in Kalgoolie. Took a drive to the Super pit lookout. It is sooooo big. The trucks that carry the rock/dirt are enormous (see photo) but in the Pit they look like matchbox toys. Each truck is worth $5M and they have 40 of them in this mine, each tyre is worth $36K. Another piece of machinery they have is worth $10M and there are 4 of these. Amazing dollars. The town is full of fancy cars- mostly all new.
We also went to the mining hall of fame. Went down 36 meters to an underground mine and learnt the history of the mine from a colourful ex miner - very entertaining. What a crap job. Dusty, dirty, dark as dog guts. chipping away for gold- those early miners really did suffer from gold fever. I think I would last about 20 seconds down there.

Heading to Esperance tomorrow and will stay at Cape Le Grande National park which according to the Grey nomads (of which we have had a lot of contact) is great.

Talk soon