Beyond the Nullabor

Did a big drive today, about 620km. Lunch at Ceduna, walk along the jetty, then got into Kimba Roadhouse past a sea of canola crops, windmills, emus and kangaroos just on a beautiful sunset. Off again in the morning after a quick stop at a big galah! Kimba's claim to fame is to be the town halfway across Australia. Port Augusta saw a change of caravan tyres after Mark noted one was down to metal in one spot (oops!). We pull up at Port Wakefield for the night. It's a lovely little historical fishing town with some buildings dating back to the 1840s. 

STILL crossing the Nullabor...

Heading on, we make it by late arvo to the Nullabor Roadhouse and set up camp. Planned to drive to the Head of the Bight from there. That is where the Southern Right Whales come in calving season and stay until the calves are old enough to head back out to sea. In keeping with the pace of this trip we find out we have just under an hour to drive there and check out the whales before the gates shut! (who knew there'd be gates!)

We are literally running down the path to the viewing platform and are stopped in our tracks by the amazing sight of 6 whales and their calves (50m or so offshore). Not really a sight you can rush, just awesome.

Crossing the Nullabor

We get to the Balladonia Roadhouse and somehow we've chosen a roadhouse with a big screen TV (all the better to watch Pies v Eagles on...)

Next day's drive is about 6hrs to Eucla, the roadkill is just awful, one long stretch has a dead kangaroo at least every 100m. Interesting to note about 3 RFDS emergency airstrips within the Eyre Highway we are on. We stop at the Caiguna blowhole....inland? it is a hole in the rocks leading to a cave system which has cold air blowing out of it. We amuse ourselves for awhile throwing leaves down it and watching them float up again...

Leaving Eucla we check out the ruins of the old telegraph station (1877) and the huge sand hills. Samuel's boogie board is our toboggan and we have great fun racing down them. They are a sight to behold.

Leaving Esperance

Mark FINALLY finds his ideal wave (with time on his hands and a surfing buddy in tow). He gets out for an early morning paddle, duck dives under his first wave and snap! there goes his leg rope..He finds himself 100m offshore, alongside a rip, with his board 50m away about to smash onto some rocks, luckily his new BFF retrieves his board. Mark dejectedly makes his way back to the car to find...a near flat tyre! It is a slow trip back to Beaurepairs and his time is up.....I, on the otherhand, enjoyed a lovely walk along the esplanade. We pack up and check out the beautiful beaches one last time, then it's off along the Nullabor!

Esperance

Esperance is cold, wet, foggy and windy! We just have to imagine how good the beaches are through the haze...spend the first day having a long lunch at the Pier Hotel..

Day 2 is better, our park is on the Esplanade and the view of the water from our van is a ripper! We have some sunshine today and have a coffee while watching a pod of dolphins playing. Samuel and I skateboard and walk down the Esplanade while Mark drives the sports equipment and other two to a great foreshore park, bball court, a whale shaped climbing frame, maze, miniature railway etc.

We stop at the Tanker Jetty where “Sammy” the seal is meant to frolick, I see people having coffee on the foreshore and watching something, so we get closer and see what we think is a big dead seal laying on the seaweed....uuummm we aren’t sure, but he moves a flipper and he is very alive! Gorgeous, huge and lazy, gets up every now and again to move a metre or so, then lays back down with the effort. We are only a few metres away up on the bank and watch him for ages.

Samuel and Mark clash (literally) on the bball court later and we are fearful he (Samuel) has hurt his collarbone again. Bit of ice and he is on his way, lucky...no time for injuries on this trip.

A bit alarmed at a potential gas leak in the van but hopefully all is ok, c’mon van not long to go now, hang in there...

Wave Rock

Have just worked out we have travelled over 14,000kms in 77 days.

We got into Wave Rock Caravan Park (near Hyden) and were greeted with cold wind and rain! Not meant to be part of our trip...

The rock is amazing, a 15m high granite cliff, erosion over time has undercut the base and left a rounded overhang. Rainwater has dissolved minerals, adding to its colour.

Someone had kindly left a banged up surfboard for a “surf” shot. It’s the best wave of the trip for Mark so far..

Perth and a bit more Freo..

We waved goodbye to the Deed family as they headed off on their travels and we drove into Perth. Had lunch at Cottlesloe Beach (didn’t see any sharks) then went to Kings Park and checked out the view over Swan River back to the city from there. 

Had a last look at Fremantle today and a tour of the Fremantle prison. It was built in the 1850s by 10,000 convicts they shipped in for a labour force in the colony. It only closed in 1991 as a maximum security facility. It was well worth the visit, all three kids were asked to participate as the tour guide gave his commentary and they were very compliant! They were amazed at the tiny cells and the gallows. Also to hear 5 schools in Perth still use the cane for discipline!!

Fremantle and Friends

Took the coast road down to Fremantle, beautiful drive, lovely and sunny, shame we have missed it all driving. We are booked in at Coogee Beach Caravan Park and greet the Deed family when we arrive! They have just started their trip and we have managed to cross paths which is great. The kids have a ball hanging out together and we love seeing their familiar faces.

We head into Freo to check out the market and spend a happy few hours soaking up the bustling atmosphere. The WA Maritime Museum was next. It was a special visit, as Mark’s Oma and Opa have their names listed on a “Welcome Wall” there. It is a series of commemorative panels outside on the wharf listing many immigrants names, date they arrived (1958) and which ship they came on (The Castel Felice). Great to see an important part of his family history.

We met the Deed family for dinner and had a yummy fish and chip meal down on the harbour. The kids were v impressed by the massive fish tanks in the restaurant.

Pinnacle Desert – Nambung NP

Dumped the van at the Pinnacles Caravan Park, Cervantes, and drove a few kms along to the Pinnacle Desert. We were happy to see you could drive around the whole national park and view the Pinnacles from the comfort of your car – now we are really getting lazy.. Amazing to see, one theory is they were formed from shell grit blown inland, compacted and turned into limestone 500,000 years ago and uncovered from beneath the dunes about 6,000 years ago.

Port Denison

Drove to the foreshore park in Geraldton, kid’s spied a half court basketball court and worked out some energy on it. Waterpark not open much to Charlie’s dismay. Dropped into my Uncle Rob & Aunty Hayley’s place for lunch. A yummy lunch in a real house!

Got into Port Denison late arvo (chosen for proximity to surf beach) where Mark had a chance to catch some waves with a couple of dolphins swimming nearby. Ella can’t believe her luck, at the back of our van is another half court, overlooking the surf beach this time..great spot.

Kalbarri - Coronation Beach

Stopped in at the Ocean Park Aquarium on the way out to get one more fix of marine life. Big open tanks with sharks, turtles, stonefish, rays, lionfish etc.  A guide takes you around which makes it more interesting and we all loved “Bob” the loggerhead turtle with one flipper.

Got to about 20kms short of Kalbarri and felt a pang of homesickness, the landscape had changed...the first rolling green hills and grey clouds that we’ve seen since we left home!

The weather is cooler now and almost too cold for a swim! So we hire a tinnie for an hour and cruise down the Murchison River. We get back, and our kids are reunited with two families we met at the Bungle Bungles along with another one from Halls Creek. It seems the park with the jumping pillow has brought us all together...

We make our way out to Kalbarri National Park and walk down into “Nature’s Window”, a rock formation that forms a “window”. As usual, I am fascinated with the different coloured layers of rock and take far too many photos (many of which I won’t bore you with here..) The next stop was the “Z bend” walk  where the Murchison River does a Z shaped bend at the bottom of a gorge. Ella has declared she is “over” gorges now and lucky for her I think this could be the last one. I, on the other hand can’t get enough of them.

Heading out of Kalbarri and down the coast road there are a plethora of scenic spots within a few kms of each other. Natural Bridge and Island Rock were a few pretty speccy ones formed from limestone cliffs eroded over time.

Lunch at Port Gregory, a tiny place with a massive PINK lake! The bacteria in the water turns it that colour and it is pretty smelly. We arrive at Coronation Beach for an overnight camp, Mark & Samuel go fishing and Ella, Charlie & I make rum balls instead.

Monkey Mia

Drove the 25kms to Monkey Mia from Denham just in time to race down to the water’s edge for the second dolphin feed. Most people have wandered off from the first one so there aren’t many here. I could sit here all day (in fact I nearly have) and watch these creatures in their natural environment, it’s v exciting spotting them coming in to shore. They are quite moving to see, and I get a feeling of calmness just being near them.

The most consistent one is “Nicky” so called as she has several nicks in her dorsal fin from a shark attack. Ella gets chosen to feed her and she has a huge smile on her face, as this was her top place to visit on her “wish list” for this trip. She is so interested that she spends time taking notes about the various dolphins from the info board.

Mark also gets picked out to feed (must be the colourful t-shirts they are wearing...) and (luckily) he takes Samuel with him.

We spend the arvo on the beach, dolphin spotting, having a little swim and trying not to step on the sting ray, blue swimmer crab and sea slugs in a few metres of water. Hired a 2 seater glass bottom “boat” for 1/2hr which we take the kids for a spin in and see a turtle in the seagrass.

Somehow ended up having dinner at the “Monkey Bar” where the Pies v Swans was on TV (at least they had 80s music on the jukebox) and Pies won luckily!

Next morn we had one more quick look at the dolphin feed (lots of people this time as main one of the day) and Ella and Samuel were both chosen together to feed! (some people have all the luck). Charlie was a bit over the whole dolphin thing by this stage, happier to look for shells.

Denham

Drove off from our overnight roadhouse stopover.....note to Mark...remove cup of tea from bullbar BEFORE taking off....we had a flying stainless steel cup whiz past the window!

Stopped in at the historical Hammelin Telegraph Station (1884) and just behind it are the stromatolites – colonies of micro-organisms that resemble the oldest forms of life on earth, around 3.5 billion years ago. These ones are about 3,000 years old (apparently takes 100yrs to grow 5cm) and they grow there partly because of the high salinity of the undisturbed waters. (Have to say still not that exciting to look at....)

Walked through the shell quarry nearby, which was where they carved out blocks of compacted shells to build with.

A bit further on was Shell Beach where the “sand” consists of the same shells (cockle) about 5m deep, surprisingly not that rough to walk on. Stopped at an awesome lookout before Denham called Eagle Bluff where we saw a few small sharks gliding through the water.

Arrived at Denham to spend the night and Mark pointed out the “Heritage Resort” that he had done some carpentry on 20+ years before on HIS trip. (Pleased to see all still standing J)

Coral Bay

Drive off bound for Coral Bay today, stop at the lighthouse on the way and spot about four whales out to sea. Mark is keen for a surf so we pull up at “the Dunes” not far away, and he spends a happy hour surfing with a few turtles and sees a humpback whale whacking its fin on the surface of the water 100m away from him.

 Arrive at Coral Bay and it’s a beautiful place, our park is right opposite the beach.  We have bought the kids fins now and they can’t believe the difference, much more confident in the water. With the tide in there is a huge shallow, crystal clear area that is perfect for Charlie to swim in. We see mini sting-rays, a clam, and many other things. There is a “fish feeding” time at 3.30pm and a school of large spangled emporers swim around everyone’s legs to get their feed. Samuel especially, thinks it’s hilarious and opens his legs so they can swim through and brush past. Charlie however, spends the duration in Ella’s arms...

We go on a glass bottom boat tour and are all facinated with the marine life we see. Samuel spots a black tipped reef shark (tour guide said he hadn't seen one in months), also a few trumpetfish, more clams, sea cucumbers and lots of parrotfish. No turtles and still hoping to see a dugong, but we can't be too fussy..

Cape Range NP - Turquoise Bay

Have heard nearby Turquoise Bay is a great place for kids to snorkel so we head in to spend the day there. Just beautiful, the water really is turquoise and the wind has dropped today, so great conditions.

The reef is about 30m offshore and we venture out. Not many others in wetsuits (spot the Victorians!). Around the corner we find a “drift” area. You have to swim out to get to the reef, then the strong current drifts you along while you check out the scenery underwater. The only catch is swimming back to shore at the right spot to avoid getting swept out to sea...Ella and Samuel thought it was the best fun and Ella was much more impressed with today’s viewing; blue-barred parrotfish, neon damsal, keyhole angelfish, red firefish, moorish idol, orange spotted surgeonfish (yes, a fellow camper lent the kids a fish identification chart!)

Another "happy hour" at sunset (I know life's tough!) and it's our last night here. A red kangaroo is hopping around in the dark looking for water around the campsites, they get pretty desperate we hear, one even drank a bucket of napisan someone had left out, can't imagine that would've ended well.