Western Australia – Willy Kloven

April 27, 2018May 21, 2019

Snowtown (SA) to Albany (WA) Mar-Apr 2018 (Part 5)

At the end of the last post we were in Snowtown in South Australia. This post covers the trip from South Australia over the Nullabor to Albany in WA

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We left the campsite at Snowtown on Thursday morning – 21st March and as we needed some supplies went into the town. Not sure what it was like before the murders but the infamy doesn’t seem to have done much for it. Went to the local supermarket and got into a conversation with the really nice checkout lady. She wanted to travel and visit Bulgaria where her family was originally from. However her parents had been recently for a visit and decided that it was much too violent so returned to Snowtown. I sort of found this ironic.

While in Snowtown we couldn’t resist having a look at the bank where the bodies were found, normally neither of us is ghoulish but we just had to go and have a look. Thanks to Google it’s easy to find, right on the Main Street not far from the supermarket. We’ve attached the picture, obviously the locals are sick of people looking so if you look very carefully there’s a head with a pair of binocular staring back over the fence. I’m really surprised that the building has been pulled down. It’s not exactly of any architectural importance.

From Snowtown we headed north again for the Flinders Ranges, not much to see on the way. We stopped for a coffee in Melrose, the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges and at the base of Mount Remarkable. It happens to be another mountain bike centre. On the trip so far we have come across three mountain bike towns and all have been rather smart and much more go ahead than the normal country town.

Talking of bikes, Willy’s battery still has not been sent back to Adelaide so we still have to go back to Adelaide to collect it. That evening we end up at Warrens Gorge just on the perimeter of the Flinders Ranges.. Everywhere is incredibly dry really dusty and scrubby. We are the only people around so have our pick of sites – lots of kangaroos, a couple of really big grey ones, feral goats and a small herd of sheep wandering around.

On the Friday I do the Warren Gorge walk which is 5kms in a loop. Not particularly spectacular but easy walking mainly along dry creek beds.

William gets the hammocks out so we have a lazy couple of days under the stars in the hammocks.

On Saturday head further into the mountains. We start to panic a bit when we go through what looks like the last serious town before we hit the “outback” and there’s no fuel station. – We estimate that we have about 100Km worth of diesel on board.. We had booked a campsite in the national park so the choice was to go to the campsite hoping that when we leave we can find fuel, or go past the campsite to the next “town” and try and get fuel.

The only difference between the two option was that with the former I spend the next 2 days worrying about the fuel situation.

The next “town”, Parachilna is 20Km further on – there’s no 3G signal so we can’t look it up. Arrive in Parachilna, population of between 4 and 7, and home to the legendary Prairie Hotel. The Hotel is famous for it’s FMG (Feral Mixed Grill) This is supposed to be one of the top 100 gourmet experiences of Australia. I am assured it’s not roadkill!

To get fuel we get directed to a village 17kms off the main road. It’s on an unsealed road but we make it, and gorge ourself on slightly more expensive than normal diesel vowing never run low again.

As luck has it our fuel detour takes us quite close to our camping site, and we arrive about 5 in the evening. There’s one other van there so again nice and quiet right by the side of a dry river bed..

The campsite is about 30kms from the Wilpena Pound, a very strange geological structure. We spend most of Sunday climbing to the top of Olhseen Bagge peak which is about a 8 km round trip and gives a great view of the area. While up there relaxing I saw a beautiful wedge tailed eagle, unfortunately I was too slow with the phone to capture it.

On Monday 26th we head back to Adelaide, the battery was expected mid-week. We stop one night at Peterborough, a small railway town of no particular interest unless you’re are a steam buff. They have some old engines and carriages but that’s about it. The weather was starting to get really cold and had the van heating on for the first time.
Arrived back in Adelaide Tuesday 27th March (Easter Week) mid-afternoon. The countryside on the way down is very flat and dry dry until you reach the outskirts of Adelaide.

The bike battery has left Sydney but not yet arrived in Adelaide. Being a battery it has to come by road so who knows. We settle into the campsite, catch up with friends of Willy for dinner and spend the next 2 days mooching around and getting Marge done – there had been a Fiat recall.

Thursday and hallelujah the battery arrives so we can move on. This is great news as the campsite is totally full and we need to get away from the crowd.

Friday March 30th (Good Friday) we pack up and are on our way by 10:00 which is really early for us.

Our next known destination is Esperence WA so we have to go to Port Augusta which is really the central point for routes between WA and all other states. Both the Ghan and the Indian Pacific Railway routes go through Port Augusta and it is the major road route between East and West. Port Augusta is at the top of the Eyre Peninsula which is in itself a massive region for wheat and other crops. It’s low lying with very low rainfall so there is not a lot to see.

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Wilpena Pound – Mount Ohlssen Bagge
(this is the ridge we climbed)

We decide to take the Eyre Highway and set the Google Maps for Iron Knob and off we go stopping at Port Augusta (smelters and steel works) for some last minute provisions before hitting the outback.

Iron Knob is a truely unremarkable town which seems to be made up entirely of tin sheds and a campground which is not too bad. It has all the basic facilities and isn’t too busy. While we’re there someone with an identical van to our comes over for a chat. You end up hearing a few horror stories, and stuff you really don’t want to hear about but hopefully you’ll pick up some information that might be useful if something goes wrong.

The next day we move on to a Minnipa and camp at Pildappa Rock which is one of the many granite outcrops in this area. Pildappa is quite beautiful to look at with it’s magnificent wave forms – it’s easy to understand why these forms have such significance to the Aboriginals.

Pildappa Rock Wave – SA (no flies on me)

Pildappa is very climb-able and in fact we did a midnight trip up to the top to look at the stars – awesome!

There’s only one problem – FLIES. Fortunately we had bought nets before we arrived so after donning these, long trousers, long sleeved shirts and heaps of Deet we were relatively well protected, but even so they drive you crazy. Fortunately they go away once the sun goes down but during daylight especially when there’s no wind they unbearable.

We actually saw one couple walking around inside a large, double bed sized mosquito net.

We were intending to go further into the Gawler National Park but after the experience with the flies decide to move to the West coast of the Eyre Peninsula and head for Streaky Bay where there are a couple of good free campsites.

The site we choose is perched high on cliffs overlooking the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight. Apparently it’s a great whale watching location but unfortunately we are much too early in the year to catch any mammalian sea life.

After 2 days at the campsite on the cliffs, the wind, sand and dust gets just too much so we decide to move into a park in Streaky Bay where we stay for 2 nights. We take the opportunity to do the laundry and stock up on a few supplies. No point in getting too much fresh food as this has to be handed in to the Border Police when entering WA.

Streaky Bay itself is rather a nice little town the local hotel offers a regular bus service into town from the campsite and we go in on the first night for dinner. I have a very acceptable fish and chips whilst William goes for the rump steak.

Thursday 5th April – Time to start the great westward track across the Nullarbor. We leave the camp and set the satnav for Ceduna which is the last major town before heading down the Eyre Highway. Ceduna is approximately 500Kms from the WA border and 1,500kms from Norseman which is the first ‘major’ town on our way to Esperance(WA).

We’re in no particular hurry but aim for get to Esperance sometime on Monday which gives us 4 night stops on the way.

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Just before the Nullabor at Penong, Australia’s largest Windmill

The first day we travel to Yalata and stayed the night deep in the bush to get away from the road noise. Next day we move on to a rather nice free camp near Border Village (very original name) overlooking the Great Australian Bight and just 10kms from the WA Border,

**Head of the Bight – Whale Nursery – Nullarbor**

We got very confused with time zones – mainly because 3G was very varied. I remained on SA time while Willy ended up 3 hours ahead on WA time.

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Willy trying to coax an emu on the Nullarbor

Before crossing the border into WA we dumped all the fresh fruit and vegetables before being inspected by quarantine people who gave the van the once over.

From the border we drove for several hours and camped again in the scrub just outside Caiguna. Sunday 8th April drove to Norseman which is really the end of the crossing. From here you can turn right to Kalgoorlie, straight on to Perth or turn left to Esperance.

Spent the night at Norseman and left about 10.00 for Esperance. Called in at the local IGA for some fresh fruit but absolutely nothing – no fruit no vegetables! There was one other customer who was dressed in a burka which I found quite strange – I suppose I just wasn’t expecting to see someone in a burka in a very small outback town – great multiculturalism but certainly took me by surprise.

Arrived in Esperance about mid day and caught up with Tony and David, two friends from NSW who were also on the grey nomad track. They have been travelling for years, and have no plans to give it up.

Wednesday 11th April – decide to go East towards Cape Le Grand National Park. There is a campsite down on the beach which is small and very popular so decide to take a chance on getting a spot, if that doesn’t work the plan is to move to the next site at Lucky Bay.

Some last minute shopping and off we go. Unfortunately WA school holidays start on Friday 13th for 2 weeks so things could be tight.

Luck is with us and we manage to get the last spot at Cape Le Grand, it’s a great site about 20 spaces with lots of privacy between sites and about 2 minutes from the beach. Spend the next 3 nights here, we both do the walk to Frenchman’s Peak – so named by the British when exploring the areas as the top looks like a hat worn by french soldiers.

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Kite Flying at Cape Le Grand

Willy does it the day we arrive I do it the next day. The views and landscapes are stunning. It’s coastal and very flat but with some very large granite outcrops which have been shaped by the sea which once covered the whole area.

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Walking from Lucky Bay to Hellfire Bay

The beaches are of very soft white sand, they stretch for miles, only interrupted by outcrops forming headland. We spend some time one afternoon flying the kite on the beach – see the video…

On Saturday 14th we go and have a look at Lucky Bay which was our fall back option if we couldn’t get in at Cape Le Grand. There are several spots here so we decide to stay for a couple of nights.

This site turns out to be even better than Cape Le Grand having recently been upgraded. The sites are large and the surroundings are absolutely stunning. More walking in the bush and also along the beach. We stay for 2 nights and have then literally run out of cash so need to go back to Esperance and find an ATM.

Stayed overnight in Esperance – long enough to do the washing and pick up some supplies.

Tuesday 17th April – Left Esperance with no particular destination in mind – just westwards somewhere. Took the coastal road and ended up at a campsite in the Stokes National Park. It was a good site but the area wasn’t terribly inspiring quite flat and a bit scrubby.

The site had a couple of volunteer host rangers who announced that there was a “meet and greet” at 5 o’clock. This struck panic into both of us – having to meet a bunch of strangers. Anyway, after much deliberation we forced ourselves to go and quite enjoyed it. Heard one story about a couple who had been travelling around Australia for 23 years!

I finished “Bring up the Bodies” and swapped it for a John le Carr

Wednesday 18th April – left Benwenerup camping ground heading west towards Hopetoun which is a rather nice old port town . Had a look at the campsite and decided to continue on to Fitzgerald River National Park where we stopped for two the nights at Hamersley Inlet which happens to be a world acknowledged Biosphere….

The local vegetation is great with Banksia everywhere plus some Royal Hakea

which are really strange and magnificent. Another good campsite, lots of room, lots of privacy and nice clean loos. I did a walk to the coast which is about 2kms through the bush and William went looking for photo opportunities down by the lagoon.

On the way back from the sea I stopped to read an article by Richard Flanagan – here’s a link to it. It’s a beautifully written piece that articulates not only what’s wrong with our politics but also suggests how we could start to put them right. It’s a very moving piece – take time to read it especially with Anzac day coming up.

On a lighter note – something quite strange happened. On Tuesday night I had a dream about living in a dystopian world after Trump had decided to drop a bomb on someone. We were OK ‘cos we had the van and were fairly self sufficient’. However we needed fuel and when we went to a garage there was no electricity for the pumps. I impressed everyone by rewiring the pumps to Marge and got the fuel. Today when we pulled into a garage for fuel we couldn’t get any as the garage had no electricity! What with the stigmata episode and now this I think i may be developing new super natural powers….

Several warnings about snakes particularly about big Brown snakes and Vipers! Basically said that Brown snakes will only attack if you piss them off. William made the obvious comment about how I should stay away from them due to my ability to piss everybody off.

Must stop now about to start a Scrabble game….(Victory is mine)

On Friday 20th April left the Biosphere heading further along the coast towards Albany. Unfortunately there are few sealed roads in and out of the Biosphere so we had to go inland and ended up at Moingup Springs which is in the Sterling Ranges National Park.

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Bluff Knoll – A view from the top

There’s a walk – Bluff Knoll – about 16Kms from the campsite. It’s only a short walk but very steep and warns that this is one of the few places in WA to get snow. Apparently once you get near the top if there is any doubt about the weather don’t go any further….. We shall see

Well that went well, quite a strenuous 3km each way walk rising to 1,100 metres so steep all the way but well worth the effort for the magnificent 360 degree views from the top. Got back to the camp ground late afternoon and had a good read – Le Carre

After supper sat outside and watched a big electrical storm in the late evening. This is probably only the second storm we have seen since we’ve been away. The rain should make the farmers happy.

Sunday 22nd April – moved about 50Km further on to the Porongurup National Park. The weather is very autumnal with sun one minute and rain and wind the next so not a lot got done today. I did some blogging and William visiting a Winery and bought an extremely expensive bottle of Pinot Noir. The man opened up especially for him so he really had no choice. We were going to stay just the Sunday night but decided to stay another night and do one of the walks in the National Park. The countryside is very similar to the area around Cape Le Grand and Lucky Bay with big rounded rocks formed from Plutons. Plutons is a new scrabble word for us – first one to lay it down gets 50 points.

The Granite Skywalk - Porongurup National Park

Packed up from the Porongurup campsite and did the Granite Skywalk which is in the same National Park. It’s a 2.2Km steep walk to an enormous outcrop. The outcrop has been topped with a skywalk which was built by abseilers with parts dropped from helicopter, Clambering up to the first of the big boulders is quite tricky and well outside my comfort zone but managed it and pleased I did.

From the skywalk we headed into Albany on probably the worst day of the year for accomodation. Albany was a troop departure point during WW1 and, tomorrow being ANZAC day, it’s full of people in uniform with brass bands etc.

Apart from that it’s a really nice town with lots of old colonial buildings unfortunately none of them seem to be inhabited by barbers as I am in desperate need of a tidying up. Apparently I’m looking rather feral!

Do lots of shopping, including buying a Scrabble dictionary, and head out for the Cosy Corner free camping site about 25Km out of town, The place is really busy but they manage to squeeze us in which is no mean feat for a 8m van.

Managed to get a better site for Marge first thing in the morning, weather very mixed and rather cool.

We stayed at Cosy Corner for 2 nights. On Thursday 26th April we moved into Albany town for one night.

Friday 27th April we left Albany to continue our journey towards Perth. We have to be in Perth by May 10th (William’s Birthday) in time to meet Michael and get all the gifts and cards he will be bringing with him from our many friends in Sydney.

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May 25, 2018October 18, 2020

Albany (WA) to Geraldton (WA) Apr-May 2018(Part 6)

The previous post ended in Esperance/Denmark WA.

This post covers the travel adventures from Albany on the South coast of WA through to Geraldton on the West coast. This is about 1,200km however, with our side trips etc it was probably double that.

We have done 16,000km since we took off in December 2017

Before I start here’s something I missed from the previous post…..

While we were in Adelaide we caught up with some old friends of Willy – Paul, Rosanna and daughter Maddie.

While we were there Paul promised to write some music for me (not an offer you get every day) here it is and it’s called “Johns Blues”. I can only guess the reason for the title.

I only found out when the score arrived that William can’t read music. I therefore have no idea what “John’s Blues” sounds like but I bet it’s good – perhaps even sonnet like!

If anyone manages to record it please send me a copy. It’s written for the Saxophone if that helps.

Sunday 29th April – The last posting was from a lovely working farm campsite west of Denmark. The town is now famous as the film location for Tim Winton’s book – Breath.

From there we took the bikes (40kms) to the Valley of the Giants which has an interesting forest-walk around some ancient Red Tingle Trees some of which are over 400 years old. They only grow in a very small area around Walpole with some growing to 80 meters. Most have hollowed out trunks due to forest fires but survive on a relatively thin membrane that exits under the bark and keeps the upper part nourished.

Tingle Trees - WA

On the way back back from the tingle tree we stopped at the Dinosaur, Reptile & Bird Park.

Birds at the Dinosaur Park

Two Parrots - WA	Parrot - WA	Cockatoo - WA

Hello Darlin’

Next day we left the farm campsite we heading West toward Pemberton (mountain bike country) which is about 2 hours drive just stopping on the way to see more, even bigger Tingle trees.

Arriving in Pemberton we found a campsite 8km outside the town at Big Brook Dam in the Warren National Park. Another really nice park totally surrounded by tall trees and next door to an Arboretum. Just down the path is a dam and great cycling tacks into the town,

Unfortunately the weather turned wet and quite cold, however there were some sunny breaks and we made it over to The Gloucester Tree which is two kms on the other side of town.

The Gloucester Tree is 50m tall and studded with what look like short reinforcing bars, these protrude about one metre from the trunk and provide a “stairway” to a platform high above the canopy.

Me climbing the Gloucester Tree

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Looking down from the top of the Gloucester Tree

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William coming down Gloucester Tree

William did it straight away, I however took a bit more convincing but eventually did the climb. I found it rather scary, the only protection is a wire mesh that runs at the back of you following the curve of the steps. It would help if you fell backwards, but one missed step would be disastrous as there is nothing between you and the ground except these reinforcing bars. Anyway we both made it safely up and down.

I spent the evening finishing Breath which I thoroughly enjoyed while William went mingling with the other campers until it was too cold even with a campfire to stay outside. One of the co-minglers was a “Bee man” who worked for farmers taking bee hives from place to place. In this particular area mainly used by avocado farmers. Not sure how the discussion went but William is no longer keen on keeping bees.

Wednesday May 2nd – No improvement in the weather raining one minute sun the next with a very cold wind. We drove to Augusta which is on the far SW point of WA – where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. We stayed one night at a rather forlorn campsite. There was nothing particularly wrong with it except it looked very much “work in progress” with lots of partially finished bits and pieces. It was also rather expensive….

William did some more mingling and bumped into a guy who brewed his own “liquor” or rather made his own ethanol and then added flavouring. The outcome of that was I drove the next day when we went to see the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and the Jewel Caves both of which were well worth a visit.

Apparently the lighthouse location is the basis for “The Light Between the Oceans” it’s where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. great spot but must be savage on a bad day.

After the Lighthouse Tour we went and had a look at the Jewel Cave. The Leeuwin Naturliste Park was created to preserve the regions natural beauty including the many caves that stretch along the coast. The worry was that any disturbance to the surface would have a detrimental effect on the underground caverns. Great thinking lets hope it survives….

Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, NP, WA — Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP, WA

View from the Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP, WA — View from the Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, NP, WA

Looking down from the top — Looking Down from the Top

Some fellow travellers had recommended a campsite in the Leeuwin Naturliste Park at a place called Boronup so we decided to try that. It was great, these campsites just keep getting better and better. Looks like the WA government have spent lots of money on tourism – certainly the parks and park facilities are top notch . Leaves NSW for dead!

The fire ban has now been lifted so last night had a big roaring fire. I sent a picture to our pyromaniacal friend (you know who you are) who was quite jealous. Sat and watched possums and bandicoots – they seem to be oblivious to flashlights.

Saturday 5th May – Headed in to Margaret River , it’s somewhat as expected , a wealthy country town full of art & craft shops. Arrived at the caravan park which is just 1km outside the town so we’re off into town for dinner tonight. Japanese which gets a very good review – we shall see. It was excellent a ix course chefs choice. The place is called Mici’s Open Kitchen.

Earlier in the day Willy went mountain bike riding (Margaret River is a big centre for MB’s) and it looks like the mountain came of better than Willy. He has one very bent front wheel and a sore shoulder (same one as last time).. Oh well at least he’s still alive.

The campsite had free wifi so I downloaded and listened to an old podcast of Late Night Live with Richard Adams. As usual his interviews were most interesting (I know I live in an echo chamber) but he had an interview with Johann Hari who has just written a book on the causes and remedies for depression. Here’s link to it – it really is most interesting

Sunday 7th May – weather terrible very wet with high gusts. So bad we had to get up in the night and put the awning in.

With William’s very sore arm after the mountain bike accident we decide to head straight to Perth rather than taking the planed 4 days. That way he can go to hospital on Monday to see if there is any serious damage.

We travel as far as Lake Brockman which is about 50 Kms south of Perth and stay the night in Logue Brook Campground – again a newly developed camp ground with good facilities. We more or less have the place to ourselves. Monday 8th May – travel into Perth and stay at the closest campsite to the city. Cities and Motorhomes are a bad mix, the camp sites are usually expensive and not particularly good. This one was no exception. We stayed 2 nights.

Willy went to have his shoulder looked at on the Tuesday – nothing broken according to the X-rays so just a matter of time and rest. I went and had a look around Perth. It’s a great city for cycling with purpose built, completely seperate bike paths right into the city centre. On the Wednesday we moved the van to the Adventist Caravan park where we stay one night before putting the van in their storage area while we move into the city. We had booked a serviced apartment for 4 days.

Thursday – 10th May – “B” day and time to meet Michael. For some reason I let myself be talked into taking the bikes into town. It was a 7km ride to the nearest railway station along what had to be the most dangerous road imaginable, narrow with extremely heavy vehicles and very poor verges. Any way we made it and checked into the apartment. Had dinner with Michael and Peter at an extremely noisey Vietnamese restrauant – food was good and company even better – some things never change..

Friday -I decide to get new glasses. I managed to sit on my existing glasses in Albany and had them fixed but they no longer fold. Therefore it’s only a matter of time before I break them again so off we go to Specsavers…

During the test went through the usual “is 1 better than 2 etc etc” when most of the time there’ s no real difference. What made this session more interesting was rather than the normal grunt from the optician the response was something like “awesome”, “tremendous” “fabulous” this made a big difference as you really felt you are getting the answers right.

In the afternoon went to see Peter and Paul and went to their local fish’n chip shop at Cottesloe beach for dinner – good fish and chips. Went drinking afterwards and saw a pretty bad drag show – that was by accident not planning.

Saturday – sock shopping, and coffee down by the river (Perth is quite lovely) then went out to dinner with Michael to a middle eastern restaurant which was exceptionally good. Sunday cycled over to Cottesloe and then went Mexican for dinner – not so good.

We both liked Perth. It reminded me of Willesden I think because of all the office blocks where the cleaners seem to have forgotten to switch the lights off. It’s seems to be a bit of a frontier place but very liveable.

Monday 14th May – William went to pick up the van from the Adventist Park while I packed up and checked out of the hotel. After having checked out I got an e-mail from the hotel asking where the TV remote control was. They eventually found it in the laundry which was quite fortuitous as I had left a bundle of washing the in wardrobe. So a win:win situation plus i got a $60 breakfast voucher. The receptionist was very apologetic a lovely Afro-Australian man.

As the glasses won’t be ready for at least 5 days we decide to hang around the Perth area for a few more days. In addition to the glasses we are considering replacing my bike. It’s really not suitable for the off-road conditions and Willy wants an upgrade. It looks like I shall inherit his old bike and he’ll get the new one. Apparently this will fix his falling off problem as the new bike as much better suspension.

We ended up in a bike shop north of Perth so decided to go to Burns Beach for the night. Stayed 2 nights and having Marge checked over tomorrow before the big trip North. First scheduled service is 40,000km which sounds an awful lot of kms without being looked at. I can remember when the first services was 1,000 miles and no travelling above 30mph as you were “running in”.

Picked up Marge and headed South to check out a bike shop, ended up in Bunbury which has it’s own residential pod of dolphins -just our luck and they had decided to go out for the day so didn’t manage to see them.

Spent the night in a place called Capel, didn’t intend to stay there but we suddenly got a warning symbol (oil can + !). Of course it’s not in the book so no idea about severity so decided to stop at the nearest site. Spoke to the garage the next morning who said – bring it back – so back to the garage which was North of Perth..

After several hours the garage couldn’t find anything wrong, nor could they find an explanation of the symbol. We sincerely hope it’s OK as there are no Fiat service centres between here and Townsville which is 7,000 kms away. It was too late to start heading North so went back to the Burns Beach site for the Friday night.

From there we start heading North heading for Geraldton which is about 400kms away . Stopped the first 2 night) at Julien Bay, Sandy Cape needless to say another great spot. The place was full when we arrived so got put in a reserved space right on the beach where we stayed until we left on Monday morning. It’s a beautiful spot even had an Emu running around on the beach.

From there we travelled to Seven Mile Beach where we watched pods of Dolphins while cooking dinner Then on the Tuesday 22nd May moved on to Geraldton.

Geraldton (22nd May – 26th May) has a spot in the town for self contained motor homes, it free and handy for the town centre but is really just a car park by the grain terminal. We decide to stop there for one night – there’s a 24 hour limit.

I visit the museum arriving at 14.45 for a 15:00 close so it’s back again tomorrow. It looks really interesting and seems to specialise in Dutch ship wrecks of which there are many on this coast. There’s also an interesting section on HMS Sydney which was sunk off the coast during WWII with no survivors.

Next day we move to free camping area just outside of the town but as the forecast is for high winds and lots of rain we decide to move back into Geraldton so we can get power and water – this time we move to a site right next to the beach.

The wind started about 4pm on Thursday, this was followed by heavy rain which lasted most of the night and most of Friday. Fortunately Marge was a good match for mother nature and apart from some rocking we survived to tell the tale.

Odds and Sods….

Regarding the bike saga – there has been progress(?). The Sydney shop where William bought his bike has agreed to take it back with a partial refund. They just can’t supply parts. So William ends up with a new dual suspension mountain bike and I get two new tyres. Apparently this is a really good solution and hence a trip back to Perth to pick up the new bike.

I have given up reading news for four weeks. I get so depressed, especially with Australian politics that it make me feel physically sick. So I’ve gone cold turkey on news and spending my time working on cryptic crosswords.

A great personal achievement – I actually managed to finish “Thomas Cromwell” by Tracy Borman – this was my 4th attempt. Have started on “A man called Ove” – that should provide some light relief.

Hope you enjoyed the latest post…

July 1, 2018October 18, 2020

Geraldton (WA) to Port Hedland (WA) – May-June 2018 (Part 7)

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.

Rubic's Cube Loo - Geraldton — Rubic’s Cube Loo – Geraldton

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


Campsite - Shark Bay, WA	Pelican - Monkey Mia, WA	Pelicans - Monkey Mia - WA

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.


Bullara Station Camp Site, WA	The Bottle Tree, Bullara Station, WA	Rescued Joeys - Bullara Station Camp Site, WA

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 - New Fly Curtain — **Marge – New Fly Curtain**

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.


Whale Shark, Ingaloo, WA	Willy and Whale Shark - Ingaloo, WA	Blue Whale, Ingaloo, WA

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.


Sea Eagle, Yardie Creek, WA	Bird in Tree with Nest - WA	Sea Eagle, Yardie Creek, WA

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


Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Fern Pool - The Pilbara - WA

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


Hancock Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Weano Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA

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.

July 5, 2018October 17, 2020

Port Hedland (WA) to Darwin (NT) July/Aug 2018 (Part 8)

The previous posting was from Port Hedland before we started the long treck North to Broome and beyond. We are now in Darwin and have been here for three weeks after having decided to extend our stay to see some of the Darwin Festival shows. The adventure continues to go well. We have now been away from Sydney for almost 8 months. From here we will go to Kakadu, back to Katherine and then on to N. Qld or down to Ayres Rock….. (We are as decisive as ever).

We stay in Port Hedland for one night which quite honestly was one night too many, We had been told to avoid the place. The park we wanted to stay was full and they recommended we try the “Black Rock” park. The name should have been a warning. It could have been a set location for “Breaking Bad” – anyway we survived and got out early the next morning.

I have started reading Paul Theroux – The Pillars of Hercules (A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean) so if you notice a change in blogging style that may be the reason. He tends to play the people rather than the places…. Half a paragraph on his visit to Barcelona – has to fill the book up with something…..

Our destination was Broome which is about 600km from Port Hedland. This has to be the most boring 600km road, leaves the Nullabour for dead. We stay one night at Eighty Mile Beach, which as the name implies is a beach 80 miles long. It’s a beach with no redeeming feature except the usual white powdery sand and crystal clear blue waters and brilliant sunsets. William has become very cynical about sunsets, refusing to photograph them and if there’s one thing WA does well it’s sunsets…

Next day we arrive in Broome. Again we had heard very mixed reports with many hardened travellers hating the commercialisation of the place “I remember it 30 years ago when it was a fishing village full of pearl divers etc etc” and other who really enjoyed it.

We were both looking forward being able to go out and get a decent cup of coffee without the layer of red dust. On the way in we saw what looked like some nuclear explosion but turned out to be burn-off somewhere near Broome.


Cloud Over Broome, WA	Cable Beach - Broome, WA	Camels on the Beach - Broome, WA

We check into a caravan park on the Cable Beach side of town; as they say in “The Castle” it’s handy for the airport. We seem to be rather near the flight path. Not a great deal to do so we basically mooch around. In the evening we go into town and plan on going to the movies.

Camels on Cable Beach, Broome, WA

Broome has the world’s oldest operating “garden cinema” it really is quite lovely and whats more they are showing “Breath” so should be the perfect setting. However when we go into town, the place is almost deserted. We end up having a not very good Thai meal and giving the cinema a miss. I managed to get the time wrong and also we feel rather unsure about leaving the bikes locked up while in the cinema. We both get chased by a dog on the way back to the van. All in all not the greatest advert for Broome. I think the residents of the very upmarket hotels and resorts don’t leave their compounds at night – that’s the way it feels.

On the Monday sign up for a trip to Cape Leveque. Before we left Sydney several people had said that this was a must. Cape Leveque or Koolijaman is at the very top of the Dampier Peninsular, 200km North of Broome. The road is being sealed but that’s still 2-3 years away so it’s 80k of unsealed followed by 120Km of sealed. No way that Marge would make that.

It is interesting to see how Aboriginal place names are being used more and more. This has to be good. It reminds me of Wales in the 1960’s when Welsh started to make a come back – now the Welsh name is first on signposts! Don’t think i’ll be around when Aboriginal becomes the first name – not with the current governments’ outright rejection of the Uluru Statement.


Cape Leveque, WA	Church on the way to Cape Leveque, WA	Turtle, Fish Nursery, Cape Leveque, WA

To travel up the Dampier Peninsular, you need permission from the native title holders and there is a charge which goes towards the communities. There are several different peoples each managing a different community. On the way up we visited Beagle Bay (so much for my knowledge of aboriginal place names) which has had a missionary presence for many years. and therefore a church the alter of which is inlaid with mother of pearl, many of the images are obviously based on aboriginals people rather than the usual western figures.

The area is famous for pearling so there’s a trip to a pearl farm which was surprisingly interesting – the tour was given by a New Zealander who talking about “chupping your tuth” when testing for pearls.. There’s also a visit to a fish nursery which is run by the community – I see my first stone fish. Wouldn’t like to meet one in the wild…

The final stop is Koolijaman itself which is rather beautiful especially the west side. If you remember the old QF advert with a choir on a red beach – this is where it was filmed.

We end up staying in Broome until Wednesday 11th July. I visited the museum and the Japanese Cemetery. The contrast between the Japanese Cemetery and the other areas (Anglican, Catholic, Malay and Muslim) was amazing. The Japanese was exactly has you would expect it to be neat, orderly, freshly racked gravel while the other areas were overgrown with rubbish everywhere. If I had a choice I think I’d go the Japanese bit but then it probably just re-enforces the “scattering to the wind” the way to go.

We leave Broome mid-day Wednesday for Derby which is about 200km from Broome on the Northern Highway. We are now far into the Kimberly’s.


Prison Baobab Tree, Derby, WA	Peacock - Derby, WA	Japanese Cemetery - Broome, WA

There are two roads across to Darwin, the Northern Highway and the Gibbs River Road. Unfortunately the GRR is 4WD only so at least that one less decision we have to make.

Stay 2 nights in Derby long enough to check out the Jetty. Derby (it’s a “e” not an “a”) was a cattle exporting port but that stopped many years ago. Earlier it played a large part in “Blackbirding”, capturing native aboriginals for labour in the pearling industry. It still has a port which moves concentrated zinc and copper and also has the second highest tidal movement in the world – 11 metres.

The campsite at Derby had two resident white peacock. We thought they must be albinos but apparently they are bred as white peacocks. Think it must be terrible to be a peacock and then turn out all white. Have a look at the video, the peacock is a young chick (Andrew) practising scaring off birds.

Perhaps the name is a clue to why he’s so ineffectual.

From Derby we move on Friday July 13th and stay overnight at Lake Ellerdale campsite about 50km short of Fitzroy Crossing. The camping area is on one side of a lake. After we parked and looked across to the other side of the lake we could see a very large crocodile lazing under a tree being annoyed by a crow. William assures me that fresh water crocs are harmless – but there is no one swimming.

Sometime while we were there the farmer obviously herded some cows into the same area so the next day we were visited by beautiful brown brahman cows. They were incredible inquisitive and very gentle if a little on the slobbery side.


Brahman Cow, Ellerdale, WA	Mother and Calf, Ellerdale, WA	Bower Bird displaying his skills, WA

Whilst in Derby we had visited the Norval Art Gallery and on the way out we stopped at the Mowanjum Arts Centre. They are both galleries/workshop for indigenous artists. A favourite figure in the painting is “The Wandjina“. The Wandjina are spirits believed in by several of the aboriginal groups living in the Kimberleys. Think we may pick up a bit of aboriginal art on our way. It’s much too easy to be cynical about Aboriginal art, but then when you consider there are cave paintings of the same spirits dating back some 35,000 years you realise just how different and enduring aboriginal culture really is.

It’s terrible to admit but I’ve never really been interested in aboriginal culture. Now, having spent some time in this part of WA where there are very strong aboriginal communities you begin understand just how rich and ancient their culture is. I think it’s so important Indigenous Australians are accepted as the first Australians and we give them a way of having input into the way Australian society develops if not they will remain as marginalised as ever.

We stay two nights at Lake Ellerdale campsite then moved on to Ngumban Cliff for one night on Sunday 15th July. These are all free camps. We pass through Fitzroy Crossing and stop to get some fuel and also some odds and ends from the supermarket.

I had an image of these towns being places to avoid or at least get through as quickly as possible. They are in fact surprising hospitable, yes there are problems for all to see, but they seem to be diverse communities working together. Obviously the grey nomads are important for their communities survival. The tourist information centres are always incredibly helpful and normally a good source of local information and also fresh water. $9 for 100 litres – seems good value to me.

From Ngumban Cliffs we move on to another free camping site at Mary Pool in the Mueller Ranges. This was on the site of an almost dried up creek with the most prolific bird life. There was a Bower Bird complete with display area of all things blue. They are incredibly tame – William got some good shots of the male showing his collection. William also managed to find a spot for his hammock near the creek and made a video selfie – worth looking/listening at/to if just for the sounds of the birdlife.

From Mary Pool we moved for two nights to the Purnululu National Park. This NP is the home of the Bungle Bungles. There’s no way you can actually get to the BB’s without a 4WD and then it’s a bit iffy. We booked a day tour from the campsite and took in two absolutely tremendous sites – Cathederal Gorge and Echinda Chasm.


Cathederal Gorge, Purnululu National Park WA	Cathederal Gorge, Purnululu National Park WA	Echidna Chasam, Purnululu National Park WA

The only downer was that the area is dry (as in no alcohol) so poor William was a little distraught. The strongest thing you can buy is light beer with an alcohol percents of 2.4%. Personally can’t see anything wrong with that!


The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA	The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA	The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA

Next stop on Thursday July 19th was Wyndham which is on Cambridge Gulf which I think is part of the Ord River system. We are now well into very nasty salt water crocodile country. The campsite, which is very good, is on a creek!

William is so overjoyed to find a bottle shop that he manages to lose his wallet. We didn’t discover this until we were back at the camp ground. After turning the van upside down (William never loses anything) decide it must be at the bottle shop. Back we go and apparently he dropped it as he was getting into the van. A local found it and handed it into the man from the bottle shop – it was complete with credit cards and cash. Sort of restores your faith in people….


Crocodile (Stuffed), Wyndham, WA	Old Machinery, Wyndham, WA	The Tailor, Wyndham, WA

We spend 2 nights at Wyndham and the only crocodile we saw was in a pie that William bought on the way out. I managed to fulfill a fifty year old dream in the pie shop when I was able to say to the person behind the counter – “one crocodile pie and make it snappy” . Unfortunately she was hard of hearing but the customer next to me found it hilarious as did I.

From Wyndham we took off for Lake Argyle which is just in WA and part of the Ord River irrigation system. We spent two nights at a free camp in a gorge on the river bank about 10k from the dam itself.


	Jabiru & Brolgas - Lake Argyle, WA	Lake Argyle, WA

Crossing the border into to NT the roads seem to deteriorate and the speed limit increases to 130kph rather than 110kph. We decide to stay two nights at a bush camp at Zebra Rock Mines. We had heard about it and wanted to do the evening bird watching trip.


Zebra Rock Camp, Lake Argyle, NT	Zebra Rock Camp, Lake Argyle, NT

The trip was great, saw lots of wading birds, including Jabirus, Sea Eagles and Brolgas plus lots and lots of crocodiles.

The only down side was the racist tour guide who happened to own the lease on the Zebra Rock Mine deposit. He was racist everyone including Australians. However, he was very much in touch with the environment and was keen to keep the small deposits of Zebra Rock, which is globally unique to this area, in the ground for future generations.

On Monday 25th July we left heading for Darwin stopping one night at Timber Creek. From Timber Creek we moved to Katherine again for just one night. There were a couple of things to do in Katherine but think we were both feeling a bit “Gorged Out” after all the gorges we had seen both in the Pilbara and The Kimberleys so decided to keep going on to Darwin.

On the way we managed to crack the windscreen – this is what happens when you take the scenic route. The road was sealed but had some very bad dips and we (or rather I) missed a bad dip and grounded the suspension. We’ve done it before but this time was obviously harder. As far as we know there’s no other damage.

Fortunately it’s covered by insurance and whats more we are allowed one claim per 12 months when the access is ignored and the no claims bonus isn’t affected. So hopefully we will get it fixed in Darwin within a couple of days at no cost.

We decided to stop at Humpty Do for a couple of nights at a rather nice park in the bush, nothing to do so just relaxed. From Humpty Do on Monday 30th July we moved into a park nearer to Darwin – the park was about 8km from the CBD with a cycle path all the way into the city. Went into Darwin a couple of times and visited the Museum and Art Gallery of NT which was OK except the main exhibition of indigenous was closed. Cycled around the coast line of the city and went to the movies to see “The Breaker Uppers” – I quite enjoyed it, William enjoyed it very much. If your’re into quirky New Zealand humour this could be the movie from you.

I finished “Dirt Music” several times having to re-read the last chapter a couple of times. Checking with Google my confusion over the ending is OK – I’m not yet completely gaga. It’s a good read, especially with it being set in the region we had just left, it covers the area from Perth through the Kimberleys which made Winton’s description of the countryside that much more real. Think I will leave Tim Winton alone for a while. I had picked up a copy of “Of Mice & Men” at the same time as I got the Tim Winton so will re-read that.

When we arrived in Darwin late July we discovered that The Darwin Festival was starting on August 9th. The program is good with several things we want to see. We book for Australia Dance Theatre, Sam Simmons and a Cabaret – Limbo on the 9th, 10th & 11th August. That gives us a week so we decided to go to the Lichfield National Park for several days and then return to Darwin for the festival on the 9th.

Stay 2 nights at Florence Falls and then another 2 nights at Wangi Falls. Both are great swimming holes complete with waterfalls and only fresh water crocs which you never see. Apparently if one does attack, you deserve it because you must have been doing something wrong.

As we leave we do the lower and upper Cascades Walk which again is really nice following the stream to some small plug pools so we managed to get one to ourselves.

Can thoroughly recommend the Lichfield National Park, the only problem being the heat. Marge was registering 47º in the sun. This is really too hot to walk, the evenings are just OK but the swimming pools and campsites are great.


Pool for two, Upper Cascade, Lichfield NP, NT	Pool for One, Upper Cascade, Lichfield NP, NT	Florence Falls, NT

Finished “Of Mice and Men” – it’s a great short story. Think I have read it before but really enjoyed it. Swapped it for “My family and other Animals” by Gerald Durrell.

The scrabble situation has deteriorated, lost three games in a row. The biggest mistake I made was buying the scrabble dictionary. I’m not sure whats happened but there seems to be hundreds of new words since the last time I played. I have several problems; (a) William will ask me how to spell a word and I tell him so challenges are few and far between cos it’s like challenging myself. (b) He always gets “v” and “w” mixed up so I can’t penalise him on those as English is his second language, (c) he guesses and frequently the word exists in the scrabble dictionary, these are words that I would never have considered using. So all in all it’s not good.

From Litchfield National Park we moved back towards Darwin staying at the AAOK park which is sort of OK, but had the best value for money restaurant we have seen for a long time. Flathead and chips $12 and really good too. From there we head back to Darwin and go back to the same camp we stayed at before – will stay until after the visits to the Darwin Festival.

We stay in Darwin from Thursday 9th Aug until Tuesday 14th August and visit the Darwin Festival seeing The Australian Dance Co (Modern Dance with an Aboriginal theme and music, Sam Simmonds (comedy) and Limbo (circus/cabaret). Sam Simmonds is decidedly weird so William enjoyed much more than me….

Looks like there may be a change of plan. We can’t decide wether to head East (Mount Isa & Cairns) after Kakadu or head South and do Uluru and Kings Canyon. The later is a 2,000km detour but we do have time….We don’t have to be in Cairns until early October.