Denham to Kalbarri

Shell Beach

It was an unusually quiet Blunderbuss that left Denham. I think we were all musing on our fantastic experiences there. Either that or it was communal anxiety over the bakery being closed and having nothing tasty for morning tea! We crossed over the 126th parallel - again - and stopped to view Shell Beach, comprised entirely of billions of tiny cockle shells, amassed over the last 4000 years.

The start of the 3.4km Project Eden fence

Project Eden's 2.4m high vermin proof electric fence starts on the beach there and goes across the narrow neck of the isthmus to the southern side. Eradication of wild goats, foxes, rabbits and feral cats is not yet complete, but the re-introduction of many rare native species has started. Bilbies and banded hare wallabies are apparently doing well there.

Ella gave us all a good scare as we drove on, yelling "BIG ROO". Dave braked, we all braced for the impact and when nothing happened asked "Where?" She said airily "Oh, back there. It's already dead." The next set of tyres may well come out of her pocket money! Wheat crops started to appear as we travelled further south and there were amazing fields of wildflowers through Kalbarri National Park.

The Murchison River meets the sea spectacularly
in Kalbarri

Kalbarri was windy - what a surprise! - and the surf was wild, crashing onto the rocky headland.

We got the van sorted and put the tent up quickly so the boys could listen to the Rugby semifinal. There is nothing like an All Blacks v. Wallabies game to divide the family - although the boys now all support the All Blacks. Ever pragmatic, they support the All Blacks and the Aussie cricket team for the best chances of victory! Ella got bored after the first try so I took her for a walk to prolong her lifespan. We watched in awe as the wild surf crashed onto the headland and the spray whipped along the beach.

View towards Kalbarri from Red Bluff -
named by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697

Next morning we drove the Kalbarri coastline, stopping at scenic points along the way. Red Bluff was used by the Dutch mariners in the 1600s to help them navigate the treacherous waters, as it was able to be seen many miles out to sea. We called in to most of the attractions along the 13km to the Park's southern boundary, but Natural Bridge was our favourite. We spotted a Humpback whale off the coast and watched it breaching - the classic belly-up splash. There were at least 5 whales travelling together and we watched, spell-bound, for an hour or so. The Kalbarri cliffs provide an amazing vantage point for spotting marine life. Lachie and Dave went off to try their luck fishing after lunch, and returned very quickly, having lost their sinkers and line in their first casts. The locals obviously know where to fish, but we are having trouble!

Spray forcing its way between the rocks

On our last day in Kalbarri water started falling from the sky. We had almost forgotten what rain was since leaving home! We drove out to the coast to see a couple of spots we missed the day before as the skies seemed clearer to the south. The rain, clouds and wind added more drama to the already dramatic coastline. The walk around Mushroom Rock was 3kms of fascinating coastline with interpretive panels along the way. The rock itself was magnificent and covered by hundreds of colourful crabs. Every now and again the swell sent a huge wave crashing through a split in the rocks, which of course had the boys climbing up to view it from on high. While they were there, they took the opportunity to help Mother Nature rearrange one of the rock layers ...

Further along were beautifully coloured layers of rocks, with what I thought were plants "dripping" over the edge. Closer inspection (and the interpretive information) revealed fossilised burrows from ancient wormlike creatures. The kids were very impressed.

Wildflowers bloom even on the sand!

The rain started again as we reached the carpark, so we drove out to the Murchison River section of Kalbarri National Park, hoping it would clear. Ross Graham Lookout was a fantastic vantage point and we climbed down to the river before the rain set in again. The kids enjoyed sheltering under overhanging cliffs and exploring small caves before paddling in the river.

Murchison River far below

Hawks Head was another wonderful lookout, but Marcus was too excited about finding the perfect stick to appreciate the view.

The triumphant stick hunter!

Lach was desperate to fish so we took him to the jetty in the late afternoon. An old fellow was next to him, catching yellow fin bream every time his hook hit the water. He had half a bucket of fish in no time, whilst we did not get a bite. He shared his "secret" bait recipe before he left: tuna oil, pollard, meat meal and prawns. Fishing in Haystack Creek is so much easier! A worm and a handline and you're done. I suggested it might be easier to just throw $20 notes into the water and that it would possibly be more fun as well, but it fell on deaf ears.

Onwards to Geraldton next.

Stay tuned ...

Kayaking Monkey Mia

Kayaking at Monkey Mia was keenly anticipated by all, so there were no worries getting everyone up. In fact, Lachlan and Jackson were up so early that they got some fishing in before we left. Lachie caught a puffer fish, which ballooned on the jetty before deflating in a bucket of water. They were excited to see a spanish dancer twisting its way through the water to its internal flamenco! Another boy fishing near them caught a squid and gave Jackson a lesson in making squid rings. We are eagerly anticipating the results of his new-found expertise! He managed to bring up a squid jig on one of his casts, so there are no excuses now.

Red Bluff

We got our kayaks organised and were soon in the bay, being buffetted by the winds. It was more like sailing than paddling and we were constantly battling the wind's intention of sending us out of the bay and across the Indian Ocean! We sought the relative shelter of Red Bluff and although the wind was no less fierce, we had a snack and waited on the beach for the wind to drop. Three other adult canoeists passed by and were struggling to make any headway back to Monkey Mia. I confess I was getting pretty worried - although we had enough food to last us for about a fortnight! In Biggles speak it was a case of "By Jove, chaps, we're in a bit of a tight spot, what!"

Jackson and Marcus catching up!

By mid-afternoon the wind had mercifully dropped and we started to really enjoy the paddling. The water was nearing high tide and the ocean life we saw was incredible. An enormous loggerhead turtle was sailing along with his flipper in the air; we saw a school of 16 sting rays, dolphins, sea snakes, another turtle, fish, cormorants catching and eating large fish, plus many shovel nosed rays. Jackson and Marcus saw a sea snake eating another sea snake.

Cockle Count

We pulled in to another little bay, where Lachie was soon chatting to a fisherman. While we helped Marcus do a cockle count, Lachie availed himself of the fisherman's spare rod and caught a fish!

The last photo from our backup camera, which was
drowned in a pool of water shortly afterwards!

Our paddle ended with a few races and a spectacular dive from Jackson trying to catch Dave and Ella's kayak.

The kids were really tired today, so we had a quiet day at the campsite. I managed to rescue the photos from the drowned camera at a photo booth and Dave played guitar nearly all day. He may not be so happy tomorrow, depending upon the Rugby result!

Stay tuned ...

Carnarvon - Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Salt pans from a lookout along the highway

We left Carnarvon on Tuesday, driving back out into the red plains occasionally spotting dazzling white salt and terracotta coloured clay pans.  We crossed the 126th parallel just before lunch, leaving the North West behind us. We were vigilant in looking for the Shark Bay turnoff, after the attendant at Wooramel Roadhouse told us that many people miss it and end up there.

A snapshot from 3.5 billion years ago (minus the birds!)

The Hamelin Pool stromatolites were our first port of call. Hamelin Pool is home to the most diverse and abundant examples of living stromatolites in the world. These creatures are a timecapsule of what life on Earth was like over 3500 million years ago; a time when no other complex creatures were present on the planet. Stromatolites dominated the earth for 2 billion years, producing enough oxygen through photosynthesis to allow the development of us, amongst other things! Although they weren't exactly gorgeous, it was awe-inspiring to contemplate them and the job they did!

Coquina was cut using cross-cut saws -
will cross children work?

The hyper-saline bay is also home to a tiny cockle which obviously thrives there, given the piles of shells which form dunes along the beach. Over time the shells were compacted to form Coquina, which was cut into blocks and used as a building material. The quarry is a heritage listed site now, but blocks are occasionally cut to repair historical buildings here.

As we drove up towards Denham, we zig-zagged back over the 126th parallel again, which was no-where near as exciting as the scenery. Bright green shrubs, red sand dunes, dazzling white shell beaches, green and azure water ... incredibly beautiful. We were a bit worried about getting a site as WA families are still on school holidays, but we found a home at Denham in Australia's most Westerly Caravan Park. The kids disappeared into the shell dunes behind the park as soon as we were set up and only reappeared to walk down along the waterfront to get fish and chips!

For Tender - huon pine boat with chequered history including
a number of sinkings!

Sunset on the waterfront in Denham

Another "You wouldn't want to
drop your favourite teddy down
there!" moment

Our first port of call the next day was the excellent Shark Bay Information Centre. We spent a very interesting couple of hours there and the kids were so reluctant to leave the attendant said we could come back over the next few days. Eagle Bluff was a short drive out of town and, as the name suggests, was perched high up over the bay. Feeling slightly voyeuristic, we spied on the sharks, stingrays, schools of fish and birds far below!  Ocean Park was another incredibly interesting place, where we spent 2 hours with a marine biologist guide sharing his knowledge and passion for all things marine with us. He had some timely comments to make on fishing for food vs. sport, legal limits and breeding stock, which Lachie listened to intently.

"Road Signs" on the way to Ocean Park

Ella fell in love with a turtle she promptly named Ted, so we have another soft toy adding to the menagerie in the Blunderbuss.

Tired Ted!

We were up early this morning to drive the 25kms to Monkey Mia for our dolphin experience. It was cool and cloudy, which coupled with the low tide meant that the dolphins were none too keen to come to shore on time. The Rangers said it was only occasionally that none came in ... we were thinking our luck was out for quite some time. Eventually Puck came in with her 2 year old calf and swam along the crowded shore a few times before eating her fish reward.

OK, where's my fish?

The kids had spied paddle boats, so after a squizz at the information centre to learn more about the bottle-nosed dolphins, we hired a paddle boat for an hour. It was still pretty cool, so the kids went out first before Dave braved the water to join them. They made him work hard to board, paddling away as he tried to swim to them! While they were out in the water, 5 dolphins started cavorting around in the water. I watched them chasing fish and playing from the shore when they suddenly turned towards the paddle boat and swam around Dave and the kids for about 10 minutes. It was the quietest 10 minutes that paddle boat has ever witnessed, I'll warrant!

We had a picnic lunch at Little Lagoon which was by consensus the most picturesque lunch spot. It is an almost circular lagoon which is linked to the bay. The shallow waters mean hypersalinity and not much lives there, but it was stunningly beautiful. An emu came and stood in the water while we watched, wondering what on earth it was doing!

Gun shearing team ready for action

Another short drive saw us at Francois Peron National Park, which used to be Peron Sheep Station until the WA government took over the lease and declared the Park in 1993. Being without 4WD we could only reach the Peron Homestead Historical Precinct, but we happily occupied ourselves in the 1950s style sheep station buildings. We were all amazed at the unusual procedures at shearing time. The low, shrubby country here prevented the sheep being mustered - or even seen, for that matter. The station hands had to trap the sheep as they came in to drink at the troughs and then run them for up to 2 days through a laneway to the shearing shed! It took a couple of months to trap and shear them all! Although cooking in the caravan drives me nuts at times, I am certainly glad I am not required to feed shearing teams from a corrugated iron shed and a coal range.

Lachie and Jackson went out fishing when we got back to camp. Jackson was delighted to have caught his second ever fish (his first a trout in NZ a few years ago) and Lachie was pleased to add another to his tally.

Tomorrow we hire ocean kayaks for the day and we plan to paddle to Red Bluff from Monkey Mia, hopefully surrounded by dolphins! I'd better join the others and catch some zeds as it will be a big day!

Stay tuned ...

A couple more days in Carnarvon

Saturday night was a bloody awful, blustery night and very little sleep was had (for the third night in a row ... Windy Always!). Despite every tent peg and guy rope we had being pressed into service, the tent was busily employed all night, noisily snapping and whipping to the whim of the elements. Sunday dawned a cool, windy day and we decided to go for a day trip out to the Blowholes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have another trip highlight. Imagine, if you will, a rocky, remote and desolate coastline being pounded by an angry blue-green sea. Add a strong gale carrying the sea spray for metres inland, "King Waves Kill" warnings (always adds spice with Ella!) and holes in the rocky platforms spewing out columns of seawater 20-25 metres into the air. It was utterly exhilarating and none of us wanted to leave. (Except for Ella, who was convinced that the next wave would be the rogue wave that would kill us all!) Just as we were about to go, eagle-eyed Lachie spotted a pod of whales, so we watched them breaching and we're sure they were playing hide and seek! Marcus and Jackson decided to try some of the salt that had crystallised in the rock crevices ... it was obviously delicious!

Blowholes put on a spectacular display!

The bay was peppered with corrugated constructions

A little further south was Point Quobba campground with about 30 crazy beach shacks and a bay, protected by a reef. We had intended to snorkel, but it was freezing, so Marcus and Jackson dug holes in the sand for a couple of hours. Dave and Lachie, sheltered from the wind in the van, listened to the Rugby quarter final. Ella and I wandered along the beach and the rocky headland, taking photos and collecting shells until it was time to go.

We couldn't resist the lure of the Blowholes again. They were even better with the stronger afternoon swell and the seawater rushed through with a loud, gutteral sound that made us all cheer. All except Ella, who was on her Killer Wave Vigil and was co-ercing us to return to the van. The boys got a little too close and were soaked, at which point Ella disappeared into the Blunderbuss!

Drenched by a sudden wind change

Today we went down to One Mile Jetty to fulfil Lachlan's fishing wishes. We walked out to the end of the jetty and fished for most of the day. Lachie had an epic 10 minute battle with a large fish. He brought him close enough for all the fishermen to admire the big silver flash before the fish won his bid for freedom. He then caught a yellow fin bream which he returned to the water, and the rest of us happily fed 2 bags of prawns to the fish. Ella is casting well left-handed! The most exciting moment was seeing a dugong surface and swim alongside the jetty. Sadly, she was looking for her calf which was eaten 2 weeks ago by a 14 foot tiger shark. We did not find out about the shark until after Jackson and Marcus had spent most of their time balancing on the beams underneath the jetty!

We are halfway along the jetty,
 but Lachie's line is already wet!

We took the train back to shore from the end of the jetty. The lady driving was mystified as to why her train horn echoed behind her head, until she saw Marcus with his harmonica replying to the "toot" and she just about split her sides laughing! They then did a bit of duelling train horn and harmonica as we rumbled back to shore.

Jackson spent the late afternoon making wire sculptures of fishermen, and unlike us, they all caught something!

We are heading further south tomorrow to Denham and Monkey Mia, where we will hopefully add more dolphins to our sighting tally.

Stay tuned ...

Busking in Carnarvon

 One Mile Jetty at Carnarvon

Apart from crossing the Tropic of Capricorn for the fourth time, the trip from Cape Range National Park to Carnarvon was without event. This is a HUGE state with not much in the top half except hidden coastline and deserts of the Great and Little varieties. The kids got really excited just outside Carnarvon where the water from the Gascoyne River allows agriculture. "BANANAS!" they shouted. And indeed there were. Bananas, tomatoes, fruit, corn, market gardens ... Truly exciting after all the nothing! The Gascoyne River is interesting in itself. It is WA's longest river (760kms!) and an "upside down" river, in that it flows normally for 120 or so days, and the rest of the time flows under the dry river bed.

We happily set up camp in a fairly empty campground and went for a drive along the Fascine Waterfront. The first thing you notice about Carnarvon is the wide streets. They were up to 40m wide to allow the camel trains to turn. Lachlan was very keen to have a look at One Mile Jetty. He was even more excited than about the bananas! "Can we go fishing here?" we all chorused as it came into sight.

I made several phone calls to organise busking at the Growers Markets on Saturday. We have permission, but the Council didn't seem to quite be able to remember what to do about licences. We will just turn up and hope the officious Ranger from Alice Springs is not here! We tried to busk in Broome, but after about 8 phone calls and several emails were not returned, we gave up. We got a very pleasant email as we arrived in Carnarvon welcoming us to busk in Broome ... just 1000 kms and 2 weeks too late!

Next morning, we caught up on Marcus's belated birthday breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and grilled tomatoes. As you can see, he was pretty pleased!

After a music practice under the shady trees at camp, we drove to the Dish - a huge communication satellite dish which helped put man on the moon in 1969. We also drove along the HMAS Sydney II Memorial Drive, an avenue of 645 plaques and palms honouring the greatest single Australian maritime loss of lives during the Second World War. "Small Boat Harbour" was full of not-so-small fishing vessels, with one up in dry dock as well, which made it easier to understand how much of the ship was actually under water.

Church fleet at Small Boat Harbour

Lachie and Jackson rode the skateboard and ripstik for a while as we wandered along the waterfront and across the footbridge to a tram station in the middle of the red sand dunes! The tram used to run from the jetty back in to town, but has only historical interest now.

Tram station in the middle of the dunes

Marcus has been encouraging us all to follow his lead and speak in "Bigglesworth". Dave has been hitting his head with monotonous regularity when exiting the caravan, and usually lets loose a string of profanities which sends Ella, our self-appointed Language Police, into indignant apoplexy. However, this morning he outdid himself with a heartfelt "By Gad! That hurt!" which had us all in fits of laughter.

A grubby bunny

Ella lost another tooth this morning, so we can now add Bunny Faces to our busking repertoire! Although the markets were only small, busking went very well ... the acoustics were excellent and most of the crowd stayed for the set. We were given free coffees from vendors and an old fellow in his wheelchair bought sausages for all the kids! The lady in charge invited us back next season. A tempting offer, but it's a bloody long drive!

The kids wanted to have a "blob day" after returning from busking after lunch, so we decided to prolong our stay here in Carnarvon and happily obliged. Lachlan was not so happy to find that our definition of "blobbing" did not include fishing, but tomorrow is another day!

Stay tuned ...

Half way Day

Catch of the day at 1 Mile Jetty

Thursday 6th October, the day we reached Carnarvon, was the half way point of our trip.

We have been travelling in the Blunderbuss, towing the faithful old Jayco for 102 days. All of the kids are still alive, although it is touch and go some days. Dave and I are still talking to each other most of the time.

Some (more) travelling trivia for you:
Kilometres travelled ... 17180 (to Carnarvon)
Litres of petrol used ... 2163.5
Cost of said petrol ... $4386.50
Dearest petrol so far ... $2.14 per litre
Cheapest petrol so far ... $1.43 per litre
Number of loads of washing ... 28
Cost of all the washing ... $92
Number of teeth lost on trip ... 2 (Ella)
Tooth Fairy visits ... 2
Number of times the kids have done the dishes without whinging ... 1. Maybe 2
Near misses with Road Trains ... 1 - although every one scares the hell out of us
Music Rehearsals ... on-going
Average number of phone calls to organise a busking outing ... 5 and several emails as well
Busks so far ... 3 (Mindil x2, Carnavon)
Donations from busking ... $543
Unsuccessful attempts to busk ... 4
Number of times I have reversed the rig ... 0
Number of times I intend to reverse the rig ... 0

Highlights of the trip thus far:
Canoeing Katherine Gorge
Busking and ABC Radio in Darwin
Snorkelling at Ningaloo and Coral Bay
Ormiston Gorge
Uluru
Fishing
Charters Towers truckstop (kids)
Lowlights of the trip thus far:
Sandflies, mossies and flies
Hitting the roadkill roo and the live wallaby
The broken chassis
Charters Towers truckstop (Dave)
Long days in the vehicle with grumpy occupants
UHT milk (Lachlan!)
38 degrees
The sticky accordion key which meant Jackson was photographed with a pink ukulele for Australian Geographic!

Stay tuned ...

Snorkelling at Coral Bay

The remains of the jetty where MV Krait and Z Special Forces
departed on their mission to Singapore

Leaving Exmouth, we stopped to visit the cairn marking the departure point of Operation Jaywick, where MV Krait and the Z Special Force left for Singapore in 1943. There was not much left of the jetty but we enjoyed seeing where the Zed's slathered on their Helena Rubinstein makeup (Mid-brown, I believe!), popped on their sarongs and left to wreak havoc on the Japanese fleet in their small fishing boat!

Back out onto the "red road". I just don't know what those early settlers were thinking, taking a direct route through the vast plains and not following the coast! Coral Bay wasn't far and we were soon catching another glimpse of the Indian Ocean.

First glimpse of Coral Bay - WA School holidays!

The campground was full. It was packed. There were KIDS everywhere. Quite a shock to our systems as we have been enjoying our first ever holidays not aligned to school holidays! Grey nomads don't make nearly as much noise as families! It was really tight getting into our site - guys came running at the sound of our reversing beeper. At first I thought they were being friendly, but then I realised they wanted to make sure we didn't reverse into their fancy boats! Dave worked his usual reversing magic into the site and we set up quickly. The kids all know their set-up jobs now and if everyone is on the ball it doesn't take long.

We did a much-needed cleanup to get Ned's Camp out of the Blunderbuss and caravan before a walk along the windy beach.

The kids had a great time in the camp playground the next morning, along with all the other inmates. Dave took the kids snorkelling for a couple of hours as I had succumbed to a virus and was feeling horrible. They loved the snorkelling and said the coral was like a vegetable garden, but came back very cold due to the howling gale. Someone told us that WA stands for Windy Always and so far we would have to agree!

Porker-faced pair!

Things soon warmed up with a few games of Texas Hold'em Poker ... even Ella is in on the act now and is working on her "porker face"! Sometimes she forgets the names of the cards, but we all know what she means when she has "a pair of As".

Lachie woke us the next morning to tell us he was off to the playground. It was very early! After playground time, we wrote some postcards and got our gear ready to go snorkelling again. I wasn't feeling great, but didn't want to miss out on our last chance to snorkel at Coral Bay. The wind was a little less ferocious, thankfully, and we enjoyed a couple of hours at the bay. The fish were prolific and the coral was different again from Ningaloo. One patch was exactly like cabbages - I could see why the kids called it a veggie garden! More card games and poker rounded off the day.

Goodbye to Coral Bay

Lachlan was again up very early to get to the playground. He was begging us to stay another day to play some more there! However, there was still a lot more of WA to experience, so we packed up and after having morning tea overlooking the bay, left to travel to Carnarvon.
Stay tuned ...