Day 46 & 47 - Broome and beyond

The weather is HOT and humid, little wind and the tracks in the sand indicate snake heaven! We have arrived at Quandong Point on the Dampier Penisula.
Came through Broome yesterday and had a quick look around: restocked with groceries, gas, fuel and      a walk around the streets. Sat down to have a cuppa in one of the shopping malls and talked to a local of over 47 years. As you can well imagine she has seen a few changes to the place over this time. Her son owns the local mechanical business with tow trucks etc, her daughter owns the fish and chip shop ( best one in town according to Bobbi). It is very expensive here, as her daughter's shop rent is $6,000 per month. That sure is a lot of fish and chips!
Anyway, sitting in another car park doing the GLFC newsletter and who is parked next to us, only a couple from  Bairnsdale. After the usual conversation about "where do you come from?", it was established we were both from the same area. It just so happens it was the Montants who some may know. What a small world we live in!
We are now camped at Quandong Point and the boys are heading out this arvo to do some fishing from their boats. Denis is looking to catch a Spanish Mackerel, the others probably will target Blue Bone. We have neighbours here from Tambo Upper (told you, small world), who gave Bec and I a piece of Blue Bone fish last night. Fresh fish - very nice!
Well the washing is done, the kettle is on and time for a bit more reading I think, till next time adieu.
Denis and Doug were the only ones that actually braved the elements. Thank goodness for the surf life saving skills Denis had as a younger man, they were very much needed today! Doug had had his adrenalin  fix for his entire life I reckon! But, they actually caught some nice Blue Bone and a Coral trout so I guess the escapade was well worth it. It certainly was from a photographic point of view! The boys from Tambo Upper had to go and help the coming in of the boat  as they could sense an "interesting" coming in from the boys, and they were right on with nearly a breach of the boat at the actual exit of the beach. No harm done, but Doug will sleep very well tonight. Needless to says Paul and Rob (the photographer) stayed safely on land as the wind was a bit too much for their little tinny.

Day 44 - 46: Barn Hill

The weather is perfect, the water sapphire blue, the rocks burnt orange at sunset and the shrubbery becoming more tropical and lush: welcome to Barn Hill.
I'm sitting outside my camper overlooking the Indian Ocean, with a light sea breeze to keep the warmer temperature at bay. Denis and Bec have gone off for the day fishing, walking along the beach quite a few kms away. Today at least they took some drinks and nibbles!
Paul and Rob have just gone to launch the tinny and try their hands at catching a tuna that keeps teasing them by jumping as it chases bait fish, in the water, just in front of us.
Speaking of tuna a funny incident happened yesterday when Bec was in the water fishing. She was unaware that a school of Garfish was heading toward her when a couple of Tuna jumped out of the water after them, heading straight for Bec. The fright of these big fish hurling themselves toward Bec made Bec also hurl herself - but this time it was backward into the water! Oh for that movie camera (again).
This place is so nice we have decided to stay an extra day. This will also allow us the time to catch the shops and hopefully a polling place in Broome before heading to Cape Levique. (Doug is certainly happy as it means one less time he has to pack up his camper).
Well for now it is time for a stroll down the beach for a swim, so if you will excuse me........

Day 42 & 43 - Under water wonderland

We have just come in from fishing and walking the 'beach' and are now enjoying a beautiful sunset overlooking the beach at Cape Keraudren.
Don't let me fool you, the rest of the day was very ordinary with, yes you guessed it, more wind!
We travelled here yesterday and set up the camp. We were warned about the midges, but taking appropriate action we have avoided most of the nasty critters.
My title gives you a clue as to my favourite part of this place.Although the scenery is special, it is the underwater world that is truly awesome.  On low tide you can walk, for miles and the further out you go the better the underwater scenery. Corals, clams, crabs, octopus, sea slugs, turtles etc etc. different colours, different shapes.
You can't stand still for long before something moves, or squirts you: so even when you think everything is dormant take a closer look!
Now the fishing. Denis has produced again, this time with some nice Threadfin Salmon. Doug and Paul caught some Trevally, Robin and Bec - yet to score (here).
Well it certainly is a nice place to visit and I'm glad in one way we came now as most of the tourists have left. Apparently the place had over three hundred here two weeks ago!
I think tomorrow we head up north as we are past our halfway (time-wise) point. Still four hundred kms from Broome and then Cape Levique our furthest point. Till next time.....

Day 41 - BBQ Galore!

Well after a fairly uneventful day of shopping, optometrists and checking out the place we came back to camp and finished the washing, read books, fixed UHFs and generally chilled out until..... the evening meal.
All was going well with 'happy hour', good discussion on the human race and working mothers etc, when it was decided we all needed to get tea organised. Doug, as usual was ahead of the group, having cooked and eaten his meal before we even thought about ours. A new haircut for Doug and new shoes, he is now ready for the next assault of the fishing journey.
Denis, on the other hand, may now be ready to take on the CFA as his BBQ went a bit 'wild' when cooking the chicken on the camp BBQ.
We were casually watching smoke (first) coming from the BBQ area, then some people making their way over to see what actually was happening, then flames coming from the BBQ area, then people taking the gas bottle off, THEN people taking the flaming BBQ into the open area. And flaming it was!
I'm not sure what happened to the chicken drum sticks, but I think they were certainly char-grilled.
Well I must admit sitting at our camper it certainly made interesting viewing, thankfully thinking we were not in amongst the activities.

Sorry about the quality, but it was the best I could get from a distance on short notice! I'm sure you can get the picture.

PS: Rob has also had an eventful time this evening when one of his 'deliveries' is in the caravan next to us. (Small world!)

Day 40 - Port Hedland

Well we have arrived in Port Hedland and are settled into a caravan park near a train line so Rob (the Doc) and Paul are feeling right at home!
We spent lunchtime down watching the big ships arrive ready for filling with iron, salt, manganese of whatever else goes out from here. Over 199 million tonnes for goods are exported from this port, so as you can imagine it is a bustling, busy port: let alone dirty and dusty. (Everything has that red colour about it, including buildings and cars).
Today and tomorrow will be catch up days for washing, shopping and hopefully I'll even find an optometrist to get my eyes checked. Not that I can tell anything, just that my doctor asked me to get them checked about halfway through our trip. (Apparently my pressures are a bit high at present).
Well after downloading all the photos from our trip and trying to upload some to this blog, time has slipped away and everyone else is having happy hour therefore I MUST go and be sociable! Ta, Tah.

Salt being mined at Port Headland (RIO TINTO owned)

Day 39 - Point Samson

"Money, money, must be funny in a rich man's world" so the song from ABBA goes and in this country up here it very aptly applies.
We went fishing yesterday morning and although it was very pleasant out on the water, much to our dismay not many fish were able to be caught. Rob caught some kind of emperor fish and a long tooth looking thing some called a herring. Turtles, sting rays and bird life all made life interesting and even the little fish we caught were pretty and unique with stripes and colours of all variety.
Then on return home it was time to tidy up and head down the road to Point Samson as Denis and Bec had arranged a lovely meal with Jeremy's in-laws - Russell and Yve, daughter Sam and son in law Jayden.
This is where we entered a whole other world of money! Most of the family work for Rio and the numbers they were quoting were staggering.

• $600,000 for block of land
• $2500 for rent per week
• $900 rent assistance
• $10,000 per train carriage of iron ore
• 167 carriages per train to go out to Cape Lambert loading onto massive ships off to China
• $385,000 a train driver's wage

As I said, money is is a whole other language from what we know. Russell did make comment that they live an unreal existence in this top end of Australia: all I can say is that's for sure. Anyway the hospitality was great and the company for the evening was interesting and made a nice break from the usual routine. It was a pity we couldn't catch up with Jeremy as unfortunately he was in hospital for the night ( or few days). Get better soon Jez.

Denis and Bec are to catch up in Port Headland our next stop, where we will stock up with supplies, washing, water and head further north tomorrow.

Day 38 - Cleaverville

What started off being a quiet benign sort of day has turned into an awesome one thanks to some real 4WDing, some nice water and some good company (albeit the company is becoming a bit paranoid about what goes in the blog).
Some people believe what goes on the camping trip should stay on the camping trip but I beg to differ. If the story is good enough, print it!
We camped overnight in a free camp site and moved early this morning to Cleaverville a Nature Reserve on the beach near Point Samson and Karatha.
Denis and Bec called in with some of the family (Courtney and kids), and went for a walk along the beach/rocks. Jet collected some lovely big clam shells. Mum was impressed!???!
Denis and Bec had their own adventure last night as when going to bed, the camper toppled over, as They had forgotten to put the legs down! When Denis says "help me Bec, Bec replies I can't" you see poor Bec was upside down at the end of the camper. Oh for a movie camera! (See what grandchildren do to you!)
This arvo Doug and Rob, Paul and I went for a drive. Initially it was to find a boat ramp, but instead we found some interesting rock formations - real volcanic stuff, zebra rocks and other fascinating relics of the past. (No, not just Doug and Rob)! Then the way back home became a 4WD experience as we went over the top of the mountains, down into the gullies and back finally to flat land. Only a little bit of slipping on rocks, a few white knuckles and the occasional OMG and we were back.
Then we followed the road to the boat ramp and found the most marvellous waterway I've seen this trip, so far. Tomorrow we investigate further with boats, fishing rods and swimmers. Can't wait!
Well enough excitement for the day so see you another time.
PS - An atheist gets into a 4WD and crosses himself, what does this mean?
You have to love us humans; a never ending source of amusement!

Day 34 - 37: The Pilbara and beyond

Hello from far north-west WA; some call it the Pilbara! It feels like we've been around the world and back again as we headed inland to escape the wind ( you might remember), and have now found a nice area to camp the night outside Karratha, on the side of a creek bed, with lovely trees but unfortunately just a few mozzies as well.
Since my last report we have seen some of Karagini NP and walked some, of the Dales Gorge. You may have noticed I said 'some' gorges as actually I only did one as some of the boys decided we really didn't need to see anymore, especially when it required taking your vehicle off-road and heaven forbid, get it dirty ( like every other vehicle around here).
We did meet up with Di and Alan Thomas from Bairnsdale who have also been travelling the outback, only in the reverse direction to us. Great to see them, but because we talked too long, also saw the beautiful Ferny Pool ( which the others didn't), Paul didn't want to hold the group up any further, so we had to ascend the gorge and walk the rim. The others made their way along the bottom,  which I wanted to do, but time didn't permit???.?
So this morning it was up and out of the park going onto Dampier to see Red Dog, big boats and Karratha where the mining industry is in full swing. I have never seen so many  'dongers'' where the fly in: fly out miners are accommodated during their shifts. I just wonder what will happen if and when the mining industry declines? Will these towns survive and if so what will be their reason for being here? Big prices they may make now, but what does the future hold?
Meanwhile back in the Karijini NP we had another film night, this time it was 'Australia' we put on and boy did we pull the crowd! It was three deep at times, all the vans (well almost) were there and seemed to enjoy themselves, even the family from Israel. As we were too late arriving to get into the real camp area, they put us in the overflow area, so we had the place to ourselves with ten other campers, tents and vans.
We were requested, by some of the others the next night, if we could put on another movie? All the boys were fired up until a gentleman came and explained "he couldn't talk to his partner, over the loud sound from the movie!", so the minority won - no movie. Damm!
Well we are to go back on the coast again tomorrow and take a chance on the wind not being there??.? To do some fishing (maybe again). We have lost Bec and Denis for the night as they went off to see their family up here at Point Samson. Maybe they will join us tomorrow on the coast or maybe Bec will want to stay with her grandchildren a bit longer. We will have to see what eventuates. Till then......
PS - We dropped Elaine off at Parabadoo to catch a flight home today as she was not enjoying the red dust enough and missing her grandchildren too much as well. Happy travelling Elaine; thanks for the snorkelling lesson though.

Day 31 - 33 ( I think, starting to lose track of days) Exmouth & Niingaloo

Well yesterday would have to be one of my best days on the trip. After the wind finally abated, we had the chance to explore Yardie Gorge, where beautiful colours of the gorge made for spectacular photography ( I hope). Then back to Turquoise Bay to try my hand at snorkelling in the gorgeous water and along the Niingaloo reef. Thanks to Elaine, I eventually got the right idea and the hang of snorkelling enjoying the underwater world provided by nature. Blue, striped, large, small, starfish, you name it it was there. Rob and Bec even seeing a reef shark!
After returning back to the Yardie Creek Homestead CP, we set up the projector again and invited all the immediate neighbours to a showing of Red Dog. Even though I have seen it before ( as most of us had), one couple who had just come from Dampier had not see the movie, but the real statue instead, thought it was fabulous.
We have now left the camp and are doing some exploration of Exmouth. There is certainly much construction here at present, with building marinas, homes etc. all very impressive but quite out of our price range. The cheapest block I saw in the real estate was $200,000. We are now heading inland (I think) to Karagini NP, for  hopefully some reprieve from the wind. WA they tell me now stands for Windy Aye! I can believe it.
Well until next time......

Day 29 & 30 - Bushy Bay and 14 mile beach

Wind, wind and more wind for the last 2 days, straight off the water, then off the land. No shelter, no facilities - you have got to love camping!
It's not all bad though, as Denis caught a lovely big Golden Trevally which was shared one night for tea and Doug entertained us once more with his hijinks. Well to be honest it was Elaine, more than Doug, but all the same it happened when they we both out together exploring the 4wd tracks at Bushy Bay. Going over a salt pan the first time the car got through, but on coming back down she went into the quagmire of black squishy sand. Elaine hitched a ride back to camp to get some help to tow them out, so Paul went down, but he also on a different path, got bogged.
Rob just happened to be on the radio to see what was happening and heard the cry for "help, we're all bogged, can you come and get us out!" So, after sorting out which car to take ( they were getting limited now), Rob took his car. On arriving to the pitiful site of 2 cars bogged, Rob tied onto Paul's unit and dragged him out quite easily, then it was on to Doug's car, a bit messier.
After all snatch straps and the winch were used it was time to drag Doug's car out and believe me it took several goes to be able to get it on clear ground. Black mud was the new look on everyone's feet, snatch straps etc and not even soap would remove the revolting stuff. Rob literally had to exfoliate his with sand to come clean.
After all these shenanigans, we went to 14 mile beach to camp for a few days. Nice water just below the Ningaloo reef, but with not many fish to be had, no services, wind, and swimming was limited due to tiger sharks - well we think we will continue onto Exmouth via Coral Bay for a look and then find a camp more inland away from the water for a while and let the wind die down. The locals tell us we will have the wind on the coast up until net Friday, so fishing is a bit useless at present.
My lovely husband had bought me a nice cappuccino now, so I'll sign off. Stay tuned for the next instalment, hopefully without inclement weather.

Day 27 & 28 - Kalbarri and Bushy Bay

Well we are now over the 26 parallel and officially in the North Western Australia. Our camp for the night is right on the beach ( well 50 ft off actually, 'cause the tide comes in and floods the sites otherwise). There is no shelter and we are hopefully of fish, but that doesn't look all that hopefully either.
Our trip here encompassed passing through Kalbarri and staying out at Murchison Station homestead, camped on the river banks. We finally caught up with Kaye and Shane, who looked well after finishing their stay of work recently at Denham. They are now off to Ledge Point CP to be assistant managers there, so life for these two is never dull. The disappointing part is they kept saying "have you seen this; have you seen that, you must see....." Unfortunately because of the amount of travel to get to a warmer climate our 'sightseeing' is a bit curtailed. Nevertheless, I am hopefully we will slow down shortly and some real tourist activities will begin.
Now to the little saga about our 'home wrecker' Bec McG. Well this so called nice person, stole a home from two love birds back at Nobby's head. On going to the toilet one day, Bec happened upon a 'deserted' nest ( so we thought). Bec was going to surprise her grandchildren in Karatha with it - "Linda has one, the kids will love it!"
Elaine that night goes to the toilet  and finds these poor lonely little swallows huddled up on the opposite corner of the nest place and on reporting back to camp, the big, bad Beccy, had to hand it back.
The following night the two love birds had settled either side of the nest, but were unsure if it might disappear again. We left the next day so hopefully they may have ventured back into their rightful place.
Needless to say poor Bec has shown complete remorse about the situation, but we are keeping her well away from any nest we find in the future. Old habits might die hard, so we can never be sure.

Day 24 - 26: Pinnicles and Nobbys Head

A quick hello while we are refuelling and re-watering at Geraldton.
We have had a lovely couple of days of sunshine and even broke out the shorts and t/shits. Some went swimming, but it isn't quite warm enough for me yet.
The Pinnicles were very interesting and quite beautiful. The scientists are still out on their theory as to why they are there, but one theory is it is petrified from Turat trees many 1000's of years ago.
Continuing on the Indian Coast Rd ( very pretty drive along the coast), we came to a free camp called Nobby's Head. Great place to camp with only 50 mt to the beach. White sand, with the water sheltered by the reef about 4 mile out. The boys (Denis and Doug) put their boats in and went fishing. Alas, Denis came back with nought, Doug the same.  Paul and Rob went fishing ( this time with bait, not just lures) and came back with fish. Not sure what they were, but at least they were fish. Some of it tasted okay on the BBQ that night, but some was meant to stay in the water, I think.
Elaine, Doug, Denis and Rob all went swimming and found lobsters! Unfortunately we think  it was out of season.
Woke up this morning to the wind getting up (one more time), and at 6:00am we had Denis asking Paul for his anchor as Doug's boat was drifting quite badly. The boys 'secured' the boat, so they thought on the seaweed, only to find the seaweed had disappeared along with boat now under water!
All this before breakfast made for entertainment to some back-packers as we winched, dug, rolled, bucketed, the boat to higher and safer ground.
After all the excitement it was then time to pack up and hit the road again. Heading into Geraldton, some crazy trees, growing at right angles made for some fantastic photo moments. Must be horribly windy at times along here is all I can say.
Oh, the other thing is that I have finally got some 'dirt' on Bec McG. She is a home wreaker; but I will keep that one till a bit later. Paul is in doing the shopping, so goodness knows what he is getting and how much it will cost. Had better run. Talk soon.

Check carefully on top of the crest: is this the home wreaker? or is it just Nobby's Head?

Day 22 & 23 - Sunshine at last!

Yesterday proved to be an exciting day  in more ways than one. Firstly, we caught the public transport and I must admit it all went pretty well, especially for those 'senior' members amongst us as public transport for seniors after 9:00am is free until 3:00pm each week day (at least). Quite pleasant trip into Perth taking us a small amount of time. Unfortunately none of us really knew where we were going, so when we got to the last stop, we were unaware we were the last ones sitting. The bus driver then politely said " this is the last stop"!
Well after high-tailing it out of there we then went to the main bus terminal and caught the next one to Freemantle. This was the longest 16 kms I've ever put in as we stopped ( so it seemed) every 50 mts to pick up someone or drop them off. We finally arrived in Freemantle about an hour later, just in time to meet up with Denis and Bec, who had already dropped their trailer off  for repairs to the window. A bite of lunch, quick look around the port and streets, then back on the bus again. This time the bus made good time as it was replacing a train (which were mostly out of service due to maintenance). But connection to the next bus was a bit more leg work, finally arriving back at camp about 3:00 pm. Whew, what a day on public transport. How people do this day in, day out is beyond me. It must be meditation to some I guess, but to me it seems a waste of time.
Now to the evening when we caught up with friends John and Marlyn Cordery after 32 years! Once again it was like yesterday we saw these couple and the conversation went well into the night before calling it quits. As per when we last saw them, little had changed: Marlyn is a great cook, John likes and knows his wine, so you could say it was a thoroughly enjoyable night. The only dampener on the night was unfortunately we could not help celebrate Doug's 70th birthday properly. We will have to wait until we can have a big fire at a free camp, before Paul can blow up his balloons and string his streamers to really celebrate.
Today we spent time at Kings Park in the middle of Perth. What a fabulous place! Spending only an hour or two was certainly not enough time, but the feel of the place was enough to whet the appetite for another time.
Heading up the highway and we have settled for the night in Cervantes which is near the Pinnicles, which hopefully we will get to see in the morning. Massive sand dunes seem to be the main focas in this area: the sand drift must be amazing. It looks like I imagine the Sahara. Once again time is getting away and so must I, so until we meet again......
Bad luck about Geelong not winning tonight. Sorry Baz!