The last post (Part 6) ended with us in Geraldton on the West coast of WA on our way to Broome and eventually Darwin,
Everything had been going well (too well perhaps) when we ran into a couple of problems. Williams’s bike had been an on-going problem, then we had an electrical fire. We needed to go back to Perth to resolve both these issues. We then had two fairly severe low pressure systems which kept us grounded for a while firstly in Geraldton and then Carnarvon. Anyway eventually we got back on the road. We then began to realise just how big WA really is. You travel enormous distances and see nothing but red dust and scrub. This blog ends with us in Port Hedland after having spent 5 days in the Pilbara.
While on the road we sadly heard of the death of our friend David Osborne.
The last post finished in Geraldton after a particularly wet and windy couple of days. On the Saturday, Willy announced we were going back to Perth to collect his new e-bike and send his old one back to Sydney.
We started the drive back stopping in the Geraldton town centre to pick up the two new tyres for my bike,. When we started off again we got a faint wiff of burning. We checked and couldn’t see anything so assumed that it was from outside and we continued on.
About 2 hours later we switched on the heater and got a really strong wiff of burning. Eventually found that the wiring under the rear passenger seat, where most of the house electricals are centred was smoking and actually glowing red hot.
We managed to disconnect what looked like the offending wires and finished the journey into Perth
Peter and Paul had kindly offered to put us up on our original trip to Perth a week before but then we had already made arrangement to stay in the city. So this time, one week later we took them up on their kind offer and arrived in time for dinner – vegetarian for me and meat for Willy. What more could one ask?
Peter and Paul live in the old established seaside suburb of Cottesloe and have a house with an enormous grass verge – absolutely perfect for Marge.
As it was Saturday we couldn’t do much about Marge until the following Monday so we fired off a couple of emails to Avan in Sydney and spent a lovely relaxing weekend by the Sea.
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On the Sunday we went over to Fremantle and had a mooch around. It has a nice vibe, a mixture of the old port town with lots of restored building plus the university area. Had a beer at the Little Creatures brewery by the water followed by fish and chips.
Walked down the street with the art installation which at ground level looks like a series of random yellow stripes painted on the buildings and road. Once you view it from the steps of the old Lock-up it falls into place.
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On Monday we started getting Marge sorted – it was a warranty claim so involved the place we bought it from (Sydney), the manufacturer (Melbourne) and the prospective repairer (Perth). As luck would have it the despatch place for William’s bike was just around the corner from the Avan dealer so it all sort of fell into place. We had heard some horror stories of Avan’s after sales service but we couldn’t fault the service we received and everything was fixed and tested by mid-Monday afternoon.
Back to Peter and Paul in Cottesloe for dinner before setting off again on Tuesday.
Left Cottesloe mid-morning but didn’t actually get on the road to Geraldton (again) until early afternoon. We decided to break the journey at Julien Bay where we had stayed previously.
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About this time I decided it was time to switch to my new glasses, this is always problematic with graduated lenses as there are many differences between different lenses manufacturers. . After knocking over, in rapid succession, a bowl of soya sauce followed by a bottle of beer decided it was time to switch back to the old pair. Tried again the next morning and this resulting in coffee grounds all over the van.
Decided that they had to go back – there is no way I could drive in them and survive. Took them into Specsavers in Geraldton – looks like Perth got the prescription too strong so they are being remade. This time I will pick them up in Darwin.
One thing you notice outside Sydney is how friendly people are.. The people in Specsavers couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful which included squeezing me in for a complete new eye test on the spot. The chances of that in Sydney would have been nil. Also while I was trying to locate Specsavers using google maps on my phone, two people offered help. One person when I said I was looking for Specsaves remarked how ironic that was… We spent the night back at Figtree River campsite and had some local Red Emperor for diner which was absolutely delicious.
Next day (Thursday) in-spite of our best efforts didn’t manage to get away from Geraldton until after 1 o’clock. I have no idea where the days go to!
We decided to head straight for Shark Bay which was about 5 hours drive away. Fortunately the road are great only single track but dead straight and hardly any traffic other than fellow grey nomads.
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We stayed at Hamlin Bay Station which is an NGO dedicated to bush preservation and bush heritage. A national non-profit conserving biodiversity in Australia. It’s worth having a look at their website. They certainly seem to be doing a good job in land and animal conservation.
While at Hamlin Bay we went to look at the Stromatolites – the oldest living thing on earth – Three Billion years? They only exist in two places on earth. No idea where the other one is. This was also the debut for the new mountain bike – what a beauty she is.
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On Saturday we left to go further into the peninsular and ended up at Goulet Bay and parked on the beach. After several hours of worrying and after we started to get encircled by the encroaching sea we moved to higher ground and spent the night overlooking the beach. The weather was now getting decidedly warmer – we are only just South of the Tropic of Capricorn.
On Sunday went to Monkey Mia which was very disappointing. There’s a caravan park which is being rebuilt and the Monkey Mia complex which is a very shabby resort. Its claim to fame is a pod of Dolphins that arrive most morning to be fed. Arriving after lunch we had missed the dolphins but saw some turtles, rays and flat head(?) and that was about it.
Compared to other areas of WA Shark Bay was very disappointing. The free or council camping facilities are in great locations but due to a strong local caravan park lobby group, the regulations (no consecutive nights, no rubbish bins or facilities) make these sites almost unusable.
Not sure why other local businesses (super markets, cafes etc) don’t have the same lobby strength to encourage more visitors by opening up more camping areas with less restrictions. Considering Shark Bay is in a World Heritage Area, if business can’t survive without council help they must be doing something wrong. Certainly we wouldn’t make an effort to go back.
Monday 4th June – weather forecast is bad with storms forecast for the area. We decide to move on to Carnarvon which is the regional centre. Spend two nights waiting for the storms to pass, which they did, Marge lost a vent from the side of the van in the high winds. We managed to patch this and the plan is to pick up a new one in Port Hedland.
By Wednesday the weather was improving so we move further North heading for Exmouth. This is the Ningaloo area (Cape National Park) famous for swimming with Whale Sharks and is extremely popular with Grey Nomads.
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We pull into the Bullara Station Homestead and stay for 2 nights (Wed & Thursday) . This is a great site very quirky, loos and showers with no roofs, goats and sheep wandering around and incredibly green after the rain. From here we want to move to Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park.
Getting a booking in the Cape Range National Park is extremely difficult, we should have done it months ago but we’re not the greatest of planners. The National Parks go down to the shore so you are actually camping in sight of the reef. In the end we manage to get five nights in the National Park for the following week and in the interim we book four nights at the Yardi Homestead Caravan Park . They have a restaurant and William thinks it’s the best Fish & Chips ever. Battered Spanish Mackerel ?
Resident Bustard at Yardie Campsite
Marge requires some emergency repairs – the bed won’t raise – William to the rescue -wonderful having two handy men on board!. We also found a replacement for the vent that blew away in Carnarvon and I found a very practical and rather retro fly curtain. William does not like it. I think this is because (a) it works (his solution didn’t) and (b) it only cost $11.00.
On Sunday (June 10th) we book to go swimming with whale sharks. We were in two minds but after listening in on a conversation at the next table over dinner decide that it’s just too good to miss.
Sunday we go snorkling with Whale Sharks. William had a good time. He managed to see Whale Sharks on each of the three dives. I wasn’t so lucky.
We had been snorkling earlier and I was fine. The coral heads are not the largest but there’s plenty of fish lurking around. When it came to the Whale Sharks on the first attempt I got into the water OK and swam towards the Whale Sharks but as soon as I put my head under water, even with the snorkel on I had a panic attack. Thinking back this is probably the first time i have been in water where I couldn’t see the bottom and knew there was something very large lurking around underneath me – the brain just couldn’t handle this and I just froze.
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There’s a tender just behind the group so swam over to that and rested while the remainder of the group finished the dive. On the second dive (it’s co-ordinated with a spotter plane who directs the boat) I was fine except was in the wrong position however I got a great view of the shark as it swam underneath me but I wasn’t quick enough to turn and swim alongside.
By the time of the third dive, most of the group had dropped out due to either the cold or exhaustion. The cold was due to us having to wear stinger suits, blue bottles had been seen in the area several weeks ago. William (being a wussey Norwegian) had put on a wet suit after the first dive so he was OK. I dropped out and missed the last dive. William had a great view as there were only two people out of ten left in his group.
Seeing the whale shark, even fleetingly, was quite an experience. It has been described as “life changing”, if William is anything to go by they are not instantly life changing – we can but hope.
As an added bonus we also saw a Blue Whale – apparently this is extremely rare and for most of the crew on the boat this was their first sighting.
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On Friday morning June 15th we moved to Messa Beach which is at the North end of the peninsular not far from Exmouth. It’s quite a busy campsite almost on the beach.
On the way we did the Mandu Mandu walk which follows the rocky gorge creek bed and then climbs to the top of the gorge and back to the car park. It’s about 3 kms return.
From there we checked into the Messa beach campsite and spent 2 very relaxing days (Friday & Saturday). During the day the sun is very hot but temperatures drop dramatically at night. Cloudless skies which provide some amazing star gazing.
Next stop was Coral Bay which is South but sort of on the way to The Pilbara. Book in for 2 nights at one of the two very expensive sites. Spend the afternoon snorkelling on the one large coral head about 200 metres off shore. Again get another bit of a panic attack – starting to think this may be because I’m not really a very strong swimmer and perhaps this is just too much….
Out for dinner, fish and chips followed by Mississippi Mud Pie…. The weather forecast was bad and they weren’t wrong, spent the next two days sheltering from torrential tropical downpours. Marge, fortunately, is very waterproof…
From Coral Bay we went back to Exmouth for one night, it’s not exactly on way the but has much better facilities for shopping and fresh water. In Exmouth I realised I had left my wallet in the restaurant in Coral Bay so next day back to Coral Bay – this is getting monotonous.
We eventually start heading for The Pilbara on Tuesday June 19th – the roads had been closed for several days because of the all the rain. We decided to take the inland route via Tom Price into The Karijini National Park. The journey is about 600Kms, the roads are good, if anything too straight and boredom is a serious issue.
There is nothing to see just red dirt and scrub. It’s all very very flat. We stop for one night at the Geralia Station and one night at the Cheela station. One is a working cattle station, the other has been turned into a conservation area. Both have good facilities and a good atmosphere with the campsite host usually lighting a fire early evening as a bit of a get to meet your fellow campers. The campfire conversation invariably leads to where are “our wives”. So far no one has keeled over from shock.
On Friday we reach Tom Price, a remarkably nice little mining (Rio Tinto) town with a Coles (in this area, well stocked supermarkets are more important than any structure manmade or natural). . The town has several nice sculptures of kangaroos, one which is just the right size and dimension to push a Coles supermarket trolley
William rides his bike up to the top of Mount Nameless, it’s a very steep, 4WD track. He makes it there and back in one piece.
From Tom Price we go to Hamersley Gorge – this is about 40 kms away and most of it on unsealed roads. The roads turn out to be OK, you just have to take them slowly. The campsite is good almost empty and very close to the gorge . We end up staying 2 nights Saturday & Sunday June 23rd & 24th
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Monday 25th June we return to Tom Price for laundry and to stock up before the trip into the Kirijini National Park where we are meeting up with David and Tony at Dales Campsite.
Left Tom Price and arrived at Dales Campsite on Tuesday 26th which was rather lucky with school holidays starting on the Thursday. It’s a nice campground large and we were allocated a good site.
The main attraction is Dales Gorge which is 500m from the campsite. There’s a very steep climb down into the gorge and then an easier climb up via some man made stairs. Within the gorge there are three pools which in warmer weather are popular for swimming but it was a bit too cold for us
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On the Thursday we go to Hancock Gorge which involves 30Kms of unsealed road but well worth the effort. Parts of the gorge here are quite spectacular, some parts are walkable other parts require wading through knee high water with some very slippery rock. That we gave that a miss to.
David and Tony arrived at the campsite on Thursday, (they are there for a month as camp volunteers) we had dinner with them on Friday prior to our moving-on on Sunday (July 1st) for Port Hedland.
Odds and Sods
- I finished “A man call Ove” – it’ a very gentle book, bit of a tear jerker in parts, good for the world we live in….
- Started a new book “Small Island” by Andrea Levy, another foray into fiction. Finished it, it’s relevant with the “Windrush” saga and hostile environment in the UK
- Marge is up to 20,000Kms
- After all these years of driving in Australia, I didn’t realise that if you want the vehicle behind to overtake you turn your right blinker on (not the left as in other LHD countries) – this does not make any sense to me.