Francois Peron National Park

Today we have:

Travelled our ten thousandth kilometre.

Been away from home for eight weeks.

Crossed the 26^th Parallel.

Woke up at Hamelin Pool.

Went to sleep in Francois Peron National Park.

Fallen in love with Shark Bay Marine Park.

Entered Dutch Explorer Country.

This little bird greeted the day with us at Hamelin Pool Caravan Park

A beach of shells...not a grain of sand in sight.

Sunset at Big Lagoon, Francois Peron National Park.

Rock-Hopping the Murchison and Board-Walking Hamelin Pool

Where on earth is Hamelin Pool? You may well ask.

Once again we find ourselves in a remote part of Australia.

At around nine this morning we left the holiday park at Kalbarri, stopping to buy some fruit and other supplies before leaving town. (Didn't buy apples were nine dollars a kilogram!)

On the way out we ventured back into Kalbarri National Park and explored Hawks Head and Ross Graham Lookout. At the lookout we meandered towards the Murchison River to explore its colourful and majestic gorges and its rocky bed. After all the cold weather we experienced at Geraldton it's amazing how warm it is here. Even though Kalbarri is on the coast, these are still arid lands and a five minute walk was all it took before we began to feel the heat.

It was noon before we were heading north again, our next stop: Billabong Roadhouse. Here we had afternoon tea and filled up the petrol tank at one dollar and fifty four cents per litre.

LPG was priced at one dollar and ten cents so passed on that as did Honey Pie on the coffee which was four dollars and sixty cents a cup (for espresso that is actually made from a self-serve machine). Settled for tea made from the thermos and some gluten free choc-coated wafer biscuits.

As luck would have it, the Overlander Roadhouse, about forty five kilometres further along Highway One, sold unleaded at almost ten cents a litre cheaper and gas seven cents.

Approximately two hundred and ninety kilometres later we drove into Hamelin Pool Caravan Park which is located in a World Heritage Listed area, on the way to Monkey Mia.

After we'd paid for a night's fees for an unpowered site we realised that there is no town electricity here and therefore the park electricity is produced by a diesel generator - so guess what?

After some consultation with the park owners we found a spot that would be furthest away from the said generator but even as I write this, sitting up in the tent, I can hear the generator loud and clear. Oh dear.

Anyway, once we'd set up camp we wandered off to view the Stromatolites that grow in Hamelin Pool which is part of the Shark Bay Marine Park (that also includes Monkey Mia and Francois Peron National Park).

Along the walk we discovered an historic shell block quarry which in the past supplied compacted shell blocks for various buildings in the area.

A boardwalk took us to the stromatolites which are the largest, oldest display to be found anywhere in the world.

Stromatolites in Hamelin Pool.

And guess what? We were witness to yet another magnificent sunset, maybe the best one yet.

Oh, and Hamelin Pool is about eight hundred kilometres north of Perth.

It's amazing, birds really DO fly across the sky as the sun is setting!
These birds just appeared from nowhere.

How sweet it is.

Mega Spectacular Kalbarri

Our morning started with feeding of the pelicans across the road from our holiday park, had a good laugh when a seagull got between a pelican's beak and the fish the pelican was eating and ended with its head halfway down the pelican's gullet.  Glad to report that the seagull escaped unharmed!

Unfortunately, duty called and laundry had to be tended to before we started any serious sightseeing.
At the risk of repeating myself, how does one describe the wonders we were privileged to look upon today?
Photographs do not do this area justice. Those of us lucky to live in such wonderful places as the Blue Mountains would know what I mean. So I've kept it short today...just to say it was a long day, didn't see half what we wanted to, and even though we'd packed up our tent with the intent of moving to our next stop, ended up back in the same place tonight to set up camp.
A mega glorious sunset to end the day....

Sandstone Cliffs along the coastline in Kalbarri National Park.
We spotted our first whale for the trip along here today.

Nature's Window. Kalbarri National Park.  

Kalbarri Sunset...across the road from the fish and chip shop on the Murchison River.

Kalbarri and Deja Vu

Some days are a blur we just seem to do so much.

Last night had a reasonable sleep at Drummond Cove Holiday Park. We stayed in a cabin again, due to the weather.

The park we stayed in is wedged between the highway and the ocean so we were expecting a noisy night. Thankfully the traffic stopped and started again at a civil hour. I was exhausted from not enough sleep the night before so it wasn't long before I was asleep.

It was almost eight o'clock when we woke this morning...I think that's got to be the latest we've ever got out of bed since the start of our trip.

The weather was grey but relatively warm so I was thinking that we might get more rain.

Carried out the usual routine, shower, breakfast, dishes, pack the car and head off.

We decided to go back into Geraldton but with no definite plans. Stopped for petrol and LPG on the way in then picked up some groceries at the Centro Shopping Centre before heading north again.

By this time the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue.

At Northampton we stopped for morning tea in a park opposite the caravan park.  While we were there we visited the Catholic Church of St Mary's then headed off to Horricks for a quick drive through the town. We'd heard about an Aboriginal Art Site so went looking for that but ended up on the wrong road due to lack of proper signage. Thanks to a local farmer, we were put on the right track and made our way to the vicinity of the Bowes River where we found a rather small cave with some distinctive cave art. 

Next stop Port Gregory to see yet another pink lake (Hutt Lagoon). This lake is pretty impressive – the pink colour is caused by beta carotene which is farmed at this lake.

Lunch at Port Gregory, looking out to the ocean while watching some crayfishermen load their catch onto a truck to be transported to Geraldton.

The new housing that is sprouting up in some West Australian remote towns we've visited is amazing. Not only did we see massive modern houses in Geraldton but also in small towns and villages such as Green Head, Horrocks, and even Port Gregory.

Up until we left Port Gregory, the countryside was that typical of farming land, mostly sheep and wheat.

That all changed when we reached Kalbarri National Park...suddenly the vegetation reverted to banksia and heath like plants, stunted from the salty ocean winds...and as we stopped at lookout after lookout I started to feel a bit of deja vu...Great Ocean Road, or perhaps Head of Bight?

Once more no words to describe the immensity and the intensity of the view before us.

Drove into Kalbarri, found a caravan park for the night, set up the tent before heading off for a walk up the street. As we were walking past the other caravans, camper vans, etcetera, Andrew says... "Is that the boys?"

“No”, I say, “that's a Queensland number plate”.

“Yes it is”, and Andrew goes off to check and lo and behold, it's Mark and Mal! The last time we saw 'The Boys' as we like to call them was at Esperance and as they were heading towards Albany and Margaret River, we thought that would be way ahead of us. It was a nice surprise to find them in Kalbarri and at the same caravan park as us.

We have a good old catch up before we pull ourselves away and head off just in time to catch another magic sunset.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

the rain fell in torrents...

And so we got very little sleep while the gale force winds shook the on-site-van we were staying in at Jurien Bay.

Even though most of the clouds had cleared by morning, the wind held steady and followed us to Green Head where we stopped for morning tea. Andrew braved the elements to video a wind surfer on the water at Green Head.

Cold and wind-blown at Dongara, we lunched at the Dongara Hotel (heritage listed and built in 1867). Our yummy burgers were so huge that we were happy to have toasty cheese melts for tea.

Attempts at doing beach-walks were hopeless so if we couldn't drive to the lookout/location, then we didn't go at all.

Around three o'clock this afternoon, we rolled into Geraldton, (about four hundred and thirty kilometres north of Perth, population of around thirty thousand).

Geraldton has an impressive port and there are many signs of modernisation of the buildings all around. Geraldton's trees are pretty impressive too...some are buffeted so constantly by the salty wind that new growth is burnt off on the windward side so that they grow with a lean.

In Geraldton, the wind had eased a little so we meandered along the foreshore and enjoyed afternoon coffee (well Andrew had espresso, and I had a Margaret River Citron Presse) at the new Dome Cafe which only opened in Geraldton yesterday to much media fanfare.

At dusk we drove up the hill to the HMAS Sydney II Memorial and witnessed yet another glorious sunset over the ocean and dodged a sun shower.

Then off to Drummond Cove for another night in a small cabin to avoid the gale force winds predicted for most of the west coast.

What a Beautiful Day-Nambung National Park

The cows stopped bellowing at around ten last night

Magpies greeted the sunrise and Andrew and I lounged in the sun leaving Waddi Farm Resort at around eleven.

Clouds were already starting to build up.

We arrived at Pinnacle Desert not really knowing what to expect. I certainly didn't expect hectares of pinnacles! Took a drive through the desert and set up our picnic chairs ready to have lunch...unfortunately, this was not to be!

No sooner had we made our lunch that it started to rain!

We sat in the car with our meal and managed to finish the drive without too much rain.

Next we decided to continue along the coast and drive to Jurien Bay...

Here comes the rain again....

By the time we arrived at Jurien Bay it had stopped raining, long enough for us to take a walk along the beach and watch the sun set.

Just as well we've booked into an on-site van 'cause it's raining again!

Waddi Farm

Woke at New Norcia Roadhouse to a cold 6.7oC, but brilliantly sunny, day.

Breakfast, as usual, was porridge cooked on the Trangia washed down with a cup of green tea for me and espresso coffee for Hun.
After breakfast I tried out the shower which I'd heard so much about the night before:
“Oh and did I tell you how tiny it is? Oh and did I tell you about the drips?”
So I was expecting something awful.
The room was exceptionally small, and I did have trouble shampooing my hair because my elbows kept banging the side of the shower recess, but going by past experiences of community showers, this one wasn't too bad. And yes there were drips, big drips that fell off the extra high ceiling. I wondered if stalactites would eventually form on the ceiling because it was obvious that these drips were of a permanent nature.
The floor of the cubicle was up to the standard of many of the other showers I've used over the past seven weeks, that is, gritty and brown with soil picked up on previous users' shoes and deposited on the wet floor.
I now keep our old newspapers, not only to help with starting campfires but also to use as disposable bath mats in muddy showers, especially when there are no mops provided in the ablution block.
Our camp was almost packed up by nine o'clock but we left the roof top tent up with flaps open to allow it to air out and for the heavy dew to dry off. (We'd managed to pick the shadiest spot in the caravan park.)
Towels, teatowels and blankets were hung out to dry before we set off to buy some freshly baked bread at the New Norcia gift shop. We were hoping for some rye sourdough but unfortunately, this is not baked at the monastery so had to settle for one fruit-and-nut and one rosemary-and-olive wheat loaf.
Over the past five or six years I have, to varying degrees of success, reduced my intake of wheat products. When I did this initially, I managed to reduce my wheat intake to zero and lost ten kilograms in two or three months.
Andrew also cut back on his wheat intake at the same time and found that his gastric reflux improved to the point that he could stop taking his medication.
But we are finding it increasingly difficult the further we travel north to purchase wheat-free bread. The closest we can get to this is rye sourdough which can sometimes be one hundred percent rye but not always.
The bread was still warm when we picked it up and we walked back to the tent to have a slice of fruit loaf spread with butter and accompanied with a cup of tea before we returned to the monastery to visit the museum and art gallery.
The monastery has a rich history dating back to the nineteenth century and houses an amazing collection of religious artworks and artifacts which I believe would be of interest to anyone wanting to learn about Australian pioneering history and the indigenous people of the area. The fact that it is religious based does not detract from its significance to Australian heritage. The artworks alone denote a unique collection dating back to the seventeenth century.
In the present the monastery faces huge financial challenges to maintain the town to the standard it is entitled to. Many of the buildings are heritage listed but it takes dollars to maintain such heritage. Monastic numbers are dwindling and as a result lay people have to be employed to carry out more and more duties at the monastery.
The amount of produce coming out of the monastery seems to be proportionate to the number of monks.
The Great Northern Highway was originally a track built by the monks for their own use. No one dreamed that it would one day become the main route north and today the use of the highway by up to four hundred trucks and road trains a day impacts on the many unique buildings on either side.
The two hour tour offered by the monastery is well worth every dollar. Our guide Ricki has been in the monastery's employ for nine years and proved to be a wealth of information regarding the history of the town. Not once was she stumped by questions asked from the gallery.
In the museum itself I will mention only two pieces: a monstrance c1870 which was presented to Bishop Rosendo Salvado OSO by Governor of Western Australia, Governor Weld (1869-1875) and a long case clock with John Ellicot clock movement donated to New Norcia c1857 by Queen Isabella II of Spain. I hope these tempt you enough to go and visit the place for yourself. Two days could be easily filled in at New Norcia.

We left the town around 2.45 p.m. and travelled one hundred and twenty one kilometres to Waddi Farm Resort to camp for the night before heading to the coast.
Enquired at reception regarding a camp site and were told that the ablution block has no hot water but we were welcome to stay if we were prepared to use the bathroom in one of the cabins. We didn't have a problem with that, the price was right so here we are, camped at Waddi Farm Resort, it is now 9.2 o C, a clear sky, with the odd bird call, (the birds in the Western Australian outback seem to stay up later than in any other place we've been, but on the other hand are awfully subdued at dawn.)
Waddi Farm was originally an emu farm. Emus are no longer farmed here, but there are endless undulating hills dotted with grass trees as well as the odd grey kangaroo.

Dinner; sausages with corn on the cob, steamed carrot and peas under the stars.
As per the usual practice, it's early to bed and hopefully early to rise.
We are hoping for a quiet night but won't be surprised if it's not. Last night, the trucks and road trains were frequent after about five in the morning. There was a irregularity in the road conveniently positioned just in front of the roadhouse, which meant regular use of exhaust brakes by most of the trucks.
We are finding that quiet camp sites are far and few between and I can count the number of quiet nights we've had so far, while camping, on two fingers.
Is that a cow or three I can hear, mooing in the distance? Oh, did I mention that we're travelling through farming country?

New Norcia

New Norcia Hotel

Whoa, it's cold in the tent tonight.

Our last camp was at Cape Le Grande National Park, well over a week ago. The temperature that night stayed above tweleve degrees centigrade.

We left David's this morning, at about ten o'clock, then stopped off at Subiaco to do a little bit of grocery shopping before our departure for the north of the state.

We'd looked up Farmer Jack a few days ago and found the store at Crossways, checked it out and liked it so went back today. It took both of us a while to click our brains into gear after our break from travel.

Picked up a handful of groceries, bought some contreau and tangerine pate as well as a packet of some thinely sliced pastrimi and a cryovac packed cooked chicken from Deli Delights. The pate would go well with the rye sourdough we'd bought from the market yesterday and which we planned to have for lunch later in the day.

Also found a butcher shop that sold gourmet sausages and bought two lots to freeze and to use later this week or even next week.

As we drove out of the shopping centre car park, the sun was shining – a nice change after two days of rain.

Felt a bit sad to be leaving David, it was good being around him, even though he's very busy with work at the moment. Hopefully we'll see him again at Christmas time.

As we drove towards the outskirts of the city, I couldn't help noticing how much Perth has changed since our last visit, over Christmas/New Year 2004/2005. The city has certainly grown and matured a lot in that short space of time with a price to pay for the maturation. Eating out is expensive, even though a lot of the Western Australian produced food is very reasonably priced, this does not seem to flow on to the food service industry.

Fresh fish is expensive, as is meat. Housing prices seem to have not only caught up with Sydney prices but overtaken them as well. None the less, Perthians seem to love gourmet food, eating out, football (AFL), and keeping up with fashion.

It wasn't long before we were driving through Swan Valley, pleasant countryside, spotted with vineyards, wineries, cafes and surprise surprise, free chocolate tasting at the Margaret River Chocolate Shop. Couldn't by pass this place! Purchased some chocolate coated honeycomb, River Gum honey, some yummy tasting onion and thyme marmalade (which we decided would go superbly with our pate and sourdough) and some Dutch cocoa. At the coffe shop, Andrew had an espresso while I nibbled on some of the honeycomb.

About 1.30 p.m. we found an attractive looking park at Bullsbrook...Wally Jones Park I think it's called. It has toilets, bubblers, picnic tables, shade and a funny looking rusty metal cow (perhaps it's a bull?) with a wind up tail that turns a cog inside the animal's body - which can viewed through a perspex window shaped like the spot on a cow. While we were having lunch a painter turned up, presumably to paint the cow/bull, but we weren't there long enough to see any of the results.

Next stop would be New Norcia.

New Norcia is in the Avon Valley.

New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia.

New Norcia is where we planned to spend the night.

New Norcia is where I'm writing this blog.

New Norcia is where we had dinner tonight, in the New Norcia Hotel.

Everything in New Norcis is owned by the Benedictene Monks, yes, even the hotel and the roadhouse.

Our camp site cost us seven dollars, that's right seven dollars for the night. We have the use of public toilets and the shower at the roadhouse. We could have cooked tea tonight but the menu at the hotel dining room was very reasonalbly priced and the meal we had was of a high standard.

Honey Pie had Green Thai Beef Curry and I had Chicken Breast Tandori, both served with jasmine rice. Yum, the chicken breast (three generous portions) was melt in your mouth, and served with mango cutney and cucmumber raita.

Bread is baked at the monastry each day and sold through the gift shop and the roadhouse. We're hoping we'll be able to purchase some sourdough to have for lunch tomorrow and the next day.

At eleven tomorrow morning we plan to join a tour of the town as well as visit the museum and art gallery.

As yet we haven't decided which route we'll take after we leave New Norcia. We can continue on to Morowa, Perenjori, Yalgoo then to Geraldton, following the Monsignor Hawes Trail or do a coast trip and cut across via Moora to the Nambung National Park. But we don't have to make a decision tonight....

I found this beautiful rose growing in the rose garden out front of the New Norcia Hotel. The rain had destroyed all the other roses, as it had done in Subiaco over the weekend.

Perth, Well Jolimont Actually for a bit of R & R

We have spent the past eight days in Jolimont, in the city of Subiaco with our eldest son David.

Subiaco has a population of fifteen thousand and is approximately five kilometres from the Perth central business district.

We've enjoyed eating out in 'Subi', as the locals call it, as well as shopping and walking, and trying out the local pubs and coffee shops.

This is our third trip to Perth so we weren't desperate to do heaps of sightseeing. We re-visited Swan River, Kings Park (which has received extensive damage from the recent hail storm), and the CBD. (We walked into Murray Street Mall from Jolimont one afternoon then caught the train back to Subiaco.)

Another afternoon we visited Jackie, in Palmyra, a past co-worker I've had heaps of telephone conversations with over the last ten years but hadn't met until Thursday just gone! I'd done the same with Joanne in Melbourne... got such a buzz out of meeting these two great ladies, wonderful to meet you both after all this time!

Stopped off at Fremantle after Palmyra for coffee and a walk along the waterfront.

The glistening water of the Swan River at Fremantle.

David's Vegetable Patch inside his courtyard.

In the time we have been here I've watched its rapid growth! Must be all the wet weather we've had. (Again).

I will remember Jolimont for its fabulous roses, leafy trees and fragrant gardens and Subiaco for its shopping, especially the weekend markets.

Tomorrow is another day. It's time to say goodbye to our son and to make our way up north.

We've had a great week recharging our batteries, catching up with family and friends as well as catching up with the mundane things in life, you know, like paying bills, checking emails, banking, shopping, laundry, and other miscellaneous activities which are a part of modern day living and enables us to be able to do a multitude of things, such as keep a blog.

Hyden, Wave Rock

And a good time was had by all!

At Hyden, we decided to stay in a cabin again as it was wet, windy and cold. As you can see we were well rugged up against the cold and wet.

Wave Rock is four kilometres out of Hyden, so we stayed at Wave Rock Cabins and Caravan Park. There is also a resort at the rock. Accommodation here is not cheap, neither is it exceptional. But after the initial shock of the rawness of the place we found that there is much more to see at Hyden besides Wave Rock. The rock is just how I imagined it to be. Other amazing rock formations included Hippos Yawn, (don't you think it looks just like a hippo?) and Mulka's Cave.

Hippos Yawn

My Attila The Hun at Mulka's Cave.

There are also lots of walks in the area of Wave Rock and its surrounds.

Other attractions which we visited over the two days included the Wildflower Shoppe and Country Kitchen (which serves the yummiest Devonshire Teas), Pioneer Town, The Toy Soldier Collection, Wave Rock Wildlife Park and The Lace Place.

The Lace Place is an extensive collection of lace articles (previously owned by Margaret Blackburn) with some pieces dating from the sixteen hundreds and include handmade lace, bobbin lace, knitted and crocheted lace.

Maltese Bobbin Lace

Two completely hand embroidered

lace frocks

Following are my two most favourite inhabitants of the Wildlife Park.

On Saturday 15th May we left Hyden and made our way to Perth. We stopped at Corrigin for a picnic lunch and York for afternoon tea doing a bit more sightseeing on the way, namely at the rabbit proof fence and an amazing lake called Pink Lake both in the Shire of Quairading.

Pink Lake

Arrived Jolimont after dark, thank God for Global Positioning Systems!

After Cape Le Grande National Park

We made it back to Esperance Thursday afternoon for fish and chips.

Filled up with LPG (89c per litre) and prepared to leave for Stokes Inlet. While Andrew was filling up I was listening to the news on the radio and the weather report came on. A gale force wind warning was issued for the coast between Bremmer Bay and Israelite Bay. Isn't that where we're going? Check the map...there it is, Stokes Inlet, slap bang in the middle!

Just to make sure - log on to the internet on the mobile phone, sure enough...there it is, high priority. Quick change of plan...we certainly don't want a repeat of Wilson's Promontory so decide to head inland instead and leave this beautiful part of the country.

So Ravensthorpe it is - for a night stopover, then to Hyden to visit Wave Rock, something I've dreamed of doing since seeing a photograph of the rock in some obscure travel book when I was about eight years of age. Ahhh, if only it could be that simple.

Well before we arrived in Ravensthorpe it started to rain. After a little while longer, the rain became torrential. After an even longer while, the torrential rain was accompanied by wind. Soon after that and we were treated to the best electrical show I have seen in my life. It was storm to make any vampire movie proud!

When we arrived in Ravensthorpe, it was dark, wet and wild so headed for the first caravan park to seek shelter in any accommodation available. Tonight there was no way we'd be setting up the tent, even if we'd planned to.

The less said about our stay in the park the better, it was cheap, it was a roof over our head, we were dry and the ablution block was one of the better ones we'd used so far.

We were grateful for all that.

It rained all night except for about one hour's reprieve and it was still raining when we drove out past the kinky plant pots before eight that morning. Checked with the 'receptionist' that no roads were closed due to flooding and aimed our car towards Hyden.

Cape Le Grande National Park

Sunrise at Cape Le Grande Campsite with glow from a bushfire burning in Esperance (Pink Lake vicinity).

On Thursday 13th May were up and out of bed

(yes we do have a bed in our roof top tent!) by six thirty

Overcast, and threatening rain. Porridge cooked in the camp kitchen, with green tea for me and coffee for Andrew. Packed up the tent with the intention of doing a section of the Mount Le Grand walk, visit other beaches in the area, drive back to Esperance for lunch and then continue on to Stokes Inlet campsite in the Stokes National Park for the night.

Tried out the solar powered showers which were fine, despite warnings of hot water shortages.

Walked as far as we were comfortable along the Mount Le Grande walk, that is until it turned into a mountain goat trail, then returned to the car. We'd encountered some light showers on the mountain and by the time we were back at the car its peak was shrouded in misty cloud.

What amazing scenery, how does one fit into such a space, the spectacular views we saw that morning?

We visited such places as Lucky Bay, Hellfire Bay, Whistling Rock and Frenchman's Peak.

I'll post a few random photographs and let you drool.

Whistling Rock

Imagine this to be a hundred times better in real life and you'll not even be close to how it looks in reality.

Frenchman's Peak