Broome

Broome was great. Some people we have met along the way hate Broome -not sure why??? We had an adventure packed time here. We did a fishing charter onthe spur of the moment. So much fun. Jeremy and I spewed for the first few hours, but that didn't stop us catching fish. Around lunch the wind died off and the sea became calm,we stopped spewing and the fishing took off. We had a ball. Tony had a big one on, he was bringing it in and a huge bronze whaler(shark) about 2.5m long launched itself fully out of the water and just ripped the fish off the line. It all happened about 20m from the boat - what an amazing sight. This happened about 4 times. We caught heaps of fish but threw most back- there is only so much you can store/eat. It was a lot of fun. Tuna jumping out of the water, sea snakes - great day.

Relaxing on Cable Beach and watching the kids in the distance. What a beautiful place. We didn't really want to leave.

The obligatory sunset camel ride on cable beach - a camel ride is always fun!

Horizontal waterfall

The trip to the horizontal waterfalls was great. The kids were very excited - sea plane etc. Once we landed inTalbot bay we got on a speed boat and went through one of the horizontal waterfalls. The first one ( in the distance of the photo below) is about 20m wide and the current and whirl pools created by this one were amazing. The second one is 7m wide and was about 2.5m high- it can get up to 5m on really big king tides. The guide wouldn't take us over that one. He said he has been over it when it was about that size and it scared the pants off him. When at it's peak, water pours through at a rate of 1 million liters per minute. Pretty amazing. An impressive sight. THe next morning when the 7m wide one was a bit tamer (1m) we went through it on the speed boat. This boat has 2 x 300HP motors and is very fast. Very exhilarating. The kids couldn't stop screaming!

 The photo below is the bay just after sunrise. It is a very remote and beautiful place. The houseboat we stayed on was very nice and the stars at night were of course spectacular. They were even burning off so the hills in the distance were ablaze and reflecting on the water. Would do this again.

Local lemon sharks - they have a shark cage that you can swim in  to get a closer look.

 

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.