Pemberton 13&14 Oct 15

Beedelup NP 13/10/15

Beedelup suspension bridge

Our first stop today was the Beedelup Falls, a short walk to a lookout at a little waterfall and continuing walk around to a suspension bridge back over the river. Sarah and Regine had fun getting the bridge to swing while walking on it. Martin preferred to take pictures and stay ‘safe’.

Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, our brave attempt to climb up, surrounding karri forest and a frog

We took a gravel detour to find a camp ground just to be rewarded with a sign saying ‘no caravans’. Great, where’s our plan B? Well, we drove on and stopped at the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree instead, which is a mind blowing 68 m high climb on metal spikes which wind their way around the tree – no safety net provided, just a little mesh at the side. I only managed 5 or 6 m before the angst got too much (even Martin managed to get up that high). Sarah was the only one who wanted to climb the whole tree – unfortunately for her we refused to let her climb higher than 1.5 m.

According to the information point the karri trees can grow up to 70-85 m and can live up to 150-200 years. There are 3 trees you are allowed to climb (Dave Evans Bicentennial (68m, platform at 25m and 65m), the Gloucester (61m high, platform at 53m) and the Diamond tree in Manjimup). From the top you have, apparently, a viewing range of 40 km. Those trees were used as fire lookouts. There were 8 trees in the fire watch network. When a fire was spotted from 2 lookout trees, they could triangulate the exact position of the fire and send the fire brigade to the right place.

Pemberton 14/10/15

Gloucester tree climb

Next morning we drove to the Gloucester tree to see if we could manage a couple more meters in height on this one. The viewing platform is at 53 m of the 61 m high tree. It was chosen as a fire lookout in 1947 as one of the network of tree lookouts built between 1937 and 1952. The spikes here are steeper, more like a ladder which makes you feel safer than at the Dave Evans Tree. Still, I stopped at around 10-12 m and enjoyed the beautiful look (through the forest, not down to Sarah and Martin).

Mt Chudalup and Windy Harbour 14/10/15

Mt Chudalup walk and lookout

The next stop was a coffee break at Northcliffe where we not only had coffee and a play on the playground, we also ran through another little maze made of bushes just a bit higher than Sarah. The path was obvious but Sarah still had fun. Just 15 km down the road towards Windy Harbour is Mount Chudalup, a granite monolith of 187 m height. After a short walk and a steep climb on the granite (a bit like Bold Rock or the Pyramids in Girraween NP– for our QLD friends)  we were nearly blown away – by the wind but the looks are pretty good as well! You can see the coast, the dunes and the karri forests, just beautiful.

lookouts around Windy Harbour and a damaged viewing platform after the last bush fire

There are a couple of lookouts at the coast around Windy Harbour and we had a quick drive around. The cliffs are spectacular but a lot of the beach access is 4WD only.





Margaret River Region 9-12 Oct 15

Margaret River 

Visit in Cowaramup, silk worms and their cocoons

Over the next 3 days we drove around, tasted some preserves & chutneys (okay but not outstanding), fudge (very delicious), nuts & muesli (not so good), cheese and yoghurt (not bad but only low fat version of yoghurt available), and of course some wines (interesting insight into winery business). What we liked a lot was a visited to the first commercial silk farm in Australia (www.margaretriversilkroad.com). The silk worms eat mulberry leaves until they are fully grown. Then they start spinning a cocoon from a single silk thread, in which they transform into a moth within 20 days. The moths only live for a few days during which they mate and the females produce new eggs. Roughly 1000 cocoons are needed for a scarf of 100g silk.

Sarah and the maze

We found a little green maze (Boranup Forest Maze), classed as ‘passive ecotourism’ which basically means there’s just an honesty box for you to pay and this particular one didn’t seem to be maintained too well. But the three of us had a lot of fun running through the rows, trying to find the right way or do a quick 180 degree turn at the ‘dead ends’. Sarah loved it and wanted to do it again and again!

Helmets and torches had to be worn before descending into the dark

Calgardup Cave was a great experience as well. It’s a self-guided tour where you just get a helmet and a torch and off you go. The path leads deep down into a dark cave with beautiful little stalactites and stalagmites and one section is so low that we nearly had to crawl. Turning off the torches was a bit uncomfortable for Sarah, it was really pitch-dark!

the Busselton jetty train, information centre at the beginning of the jetty

The Jetty in Busselton is said to be the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. (Another one! I thought we’ve already come across two longest what-so-ever jetties on our journey.) Still, it’s a beautiful foreshore (a bit too constructed and smooth, though), there was a market (where we got a coffee), a playground and a lot of people out and about to enjoy a warm, sunny Sunday morning.

Voyager Estate, winery, restaurant and beautiful gardens

When Sarah fell asleep in the car we stopped at the Voyager Estate to have a look at their gardens. It's a beautiful english style garden with a rose garden and a veggie garden surrounded by white walls and short cut grass.

The lighthouse, the keepers houses, lookout, an old water wheel 

The lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste is one of the last fully operational lighthouses (together with Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse) you can visit. It was built in 1903 and the three lighthouse keepers had to sign up for the job for a lifetime (and actually lived on site until late 1996). They worked 4-hour shifts with 8-hour breaks, day and night, 356 days per year. The lighthouse is one of the shortest ones with only 59 steps but you do have a great view form up there!

Just a little stop at Hamelin Bay where Regine buried Sarah in sand

Castle Rock Beach, walk and climb

Along the drive we stumbled over a sign to Castle Rock. We decided to go for the little walk which led us through bushes with occasional views onto the beach. The flat, straight walk was not for Sarah but we could convince her to walk all the way to the rock where she happily started climbing. Only the way back was challenging again :-)




Dianne, Donnybrook and Margaret River 3 to 10/10/15

Bunbury and Donnybrook 3 to 7/10/15

landscape around Donnybrook, apple and cherry orchards

We drove south towards Bunbury where we wanted to meet Dianne, who is visiting her son. It was a bit too far for a days drive and we thought we take it easy. So we took the detour from Armadale through the Midgegooroo National Park. It took us a while to find the free camp and it even though the area is nice there’s not much to report. After a cool and fairly loud evening we drove on early next morning. Just after lunch we arrived in Australind/Bunbury and Sarah had a happy reunion with Dianne. It’s great to see that it only took her 2 min to connect with her again. We had a lovely afternoon until some nice neighbor called the Ranger. Despite it being Sunday and School Holiday no one is allowed to park in a public school park ground - or at least not a caravan. Apparently the public school parking ground is private land. Well, long story short, instead of staying with Dianne for dinner we had to find a caravan park. Unfortunately, Dianne was ill the next day and we couldn’t meet her again. (sorry, we didn't take any pictures here)

We spend half a day in Bunbury, shopping fruit, veg and deli in a fantastic, permanent farmer markets and looked at the Catholic Church because Sarah wanted to see it. After lunch we drove to Donnybrook, which has the largest free playground in Western Australia, the Apple fun park, donated by apple farmers. The region is big in apple and pear growing and we saw a lot of trees starting to blossom, with cherries already in full bloom. 

We bought some apples and pears from a local farm and talked to the young farmer’s woman. They have reduced a lot of the apple orchards, as it is too labor intensive. Instead they produce more pears and especially avocados, which have a huge export market and therefore the prices are much better. They have to pay casual workers $22/hour. At least there is no shortage in backpackers trying to find work.

Gnomesville

Sarah and the Gnomes - Sarah und die Gartenzwerge 

From Donnybrook we drove a few km to ‘Gnomesville’ – a bizarre roadside gatherings of thousands of garden gnomes. At least Sarah had fun looking, and walking through all those gnomes. 

Mon, I didn't know you've been here before ;-) the last picture is for you!

Apple Fun Park

Sarah had a lot of playtime on the big playground together with our camp neighbors’ kids, Mia (6), Cloe (9)  and a 4 y old boy (she mainly played with Mia). It was good to see her completely ignoring us and having so much fun with the other kids.

Giant Jarrah tree

Next day, after another long session on the playground we headed to Bridgetown to enjoy lunch and cider tasting at ‘The Cidery’.  It’s a small, boutique cider factory, which produces about 5 very different, all very palatable ciders. They also make 2 kinds of apple juice, so Sarah could enjoy a tasting as well. We stopped for the night at a nice National Park campground called ‘workers pool’. It was great to have a quite camp after those full on days at Donnybrook.

 Big Valley campground in the Margaret River region 8/10/15

 working sheep farm, different quality wool, shearing, sorting, compressing, naked sheep, back to the pasture

The Magaret River region is full of wineries and deli shops, from cheese to chocolate. There is a lot to see, caves, lighthouses, mazes and we figured out that it won’t be easy to drive around with the big rig in tow. We decided to set up camp at a working sheep farm (2500 sheep), around 7 km from Magaret River (town), in the heart of the region. It’s a lovely camp ground and the day we arrived they started their annual shearing, gathering the sheep with motorbikes, rattles and a dog. The lambs were separated from the mothers for the shearing. 3 men were shearing, 2 of them did about 10 sheep/h, where an 44 year old english guy did about 15 sheep/h. They work 4 x  2 hour shifts with 30 min breaks. This particular shearer is shearing for 26 years - travelling the world depending on season from Europe to Australia to New Zealand. In some years he sheared more than 60,000 sheep and more than 1 million in his lifetime! There are about 12 people involved in the process - getting the sheep in, cleaning the floor, picking up the fleece and sorting it according to quality. And one person is operating the press which compacts around 40-50 fleeces to approximately 1 m3 packs that weigh 200kg. The sales value is around $2000. Sarah liked watching the whole buzz and excitement, she picked up wool and looked at the sheep, some with bleeding injuries from the shearing. It was a very interesting experience and exactly what we missed on the Gibb River Road with the big cattle stations - getting close to the action.

 


Burns Beach and Perth 30/9/15 - 2/10/15

Burns Beach and Perth 30/9/15 - 2/10/15

Burns Beach sunset

We had booked the Jeep in for another service in the northern suburbs of Perth and therefore had to stay on a proper caravan park for a couple of nights. Burns Beach wasn’t bad, just way overpriced. A powered side, a hot shower and view onto the water including sunset for $51 per night… okay, there was a playground on the other side of the road and a coffee shop (run by the owner of the caravan park). Anyway, the service went well – air con is working again, the air filter was clogged up by red dust :-) We spent the ‘service day’ with our old friend Christin and Sarah loved it! Playing ball, building sand castles, eating mini-muffins, showing Christin her newest book or talking about adventures on the road. What a lovely, relaxing day.

Perth CBD and Kings Park 

Next day we took the train to Perth, CBD. What a difference to Brisbane: You can buy a family day ticket, pay cash, catch a train every 15 min, and it’s not freezing cold in the train. First we wanted to see Kings Park, one of the biggest inner-city parks in the world. Well, we only saw a small part of it but it was a lovely walk – even though Sarah was very tired after that big day before. Martin and Sarah went to the Gallery – we bought a book called ‘Katie and the Sunflowers’ and it’s about a little girl and her adventures in an art gallery looking at post-impressionist paintings. Afterwards we played outside at an artificial wetland before we caught a train home. We didn’t see much of Perth’s CBD but most of it looked like other cities: big building towers, too many people in suits, too much noise and the old range of shops. Still our impression of the public transport system is very good.

Next morning we drove off. It was Saturday so we checked if there was a market somewhere close. We found the Wanneroo Markets, a 7 day per week permanent market hall but it had some good fruit and veg stalls, a free jumping castle and good coffee – what else do we need?

This is for my mum: We passed through Brunswick on our way to Bunbury. We didn’t stop but I just had to take a picture. Home, sweet home!



Kalbarri NP 23 to 25/9/15 and Geralton 26/9/15

Kalbarri Nationalpark 23/9/15

Next morning we finally made it into Kalbarri NP. It was quite interesting to drive in because you don’t see a range or hills, it’s all flat and green, lots of wildflowers and Banksia but nothing that looks like there could be a gorge. 

Wheat fields, Drive into Kalbarri NP, Ross Grahams lookout & River, Hawks Head lookout, picnic with the flies

There are two lookout/short walks at the east end, Hawks Head and Ross Graham Lookout. And here you finally see the gorges. They are carved deep into the surrounding limestone plateau, therefore not being visible from the main road. At Ross Grahams Lookout we walked down to the river. Martin had a ball building a dam, Sarah joint in and we all played for about an hour. Hawks Head is just a short walk to a lookout over the gorge and the river.
It was getting hot and Sarah was tired so we drove to the Big River Ranch, just before Kalbarri, which is less of a caravan park and more of a horse riding place. Sarah was instantly in her element, chasing chooks, watching the turkeys and the peacock, patting horses and Bundy - the donkey and running after the goats (Mollie). For various reasons we didn’t manage to do anything else that afternoon, and had to postpone discovering more of the NP walk and the Kalbarri cliff coast to the next day. 

Pelican feeding and Sarahs first pony ride on Magneth

So next morning we went to see the pelican feeding at the beach in Kalbarri town, then came back to the Ranch for a pony ride for Sarah. Finally! She had been waiting for that since the Gibb River Road. Her little pony is called Magneth and she could watch the whole process from saddling to finally getting on it. We had watched the older kids getting ready for their ride before so Sarah knew exactly what was coming. It’s interesting to watch her being so earnest, a bit shy and concentrated. A good experience for her, she enjoyed it!

Sarah & The Goat: Do you want to dance with me?

Another little girl, Bella, was going on a ride as well and afterwards both of them went off to play together. Both hadn’t seen other kids for a while so we left them to have some fun. The whole riding thing had taken much longer than expected anyway and it was nearly lunch time. We decided to have a good morning tea and prepared some food to take on the hikes and leave for Kalbarri NP a bit later.

Natures Window, hike and lookout

Sarah didn’t want to go and when we finally managed to get her and everything else into the car she fell asleep 10 min down the road… We kept on going. Most of the walks are very short between 500m to 2.6 km and we thought we can just do them one person walking, the other waiting with Sarah in the car. The West Bend Lookout is only 500 m return and we both managed to see it before Sarah woke up. The next one was Natures Window. We had told Sarah about it before and were glad she’d woken up to go as well. It's a 1 km return walk, 430 m on bitumen and 70 m rock climbing. Well worth it but Sarah was still tired and needed a ‘lift’ on the straight part. After a lunch pick nick we drove another 12 km to the next 1.2km walk, the Z-bend trail. The more interesting and difficult part, involving rock and ladder climbing was 2.6km and – at that day – would have been too much for Sarah. But the short walk was beautiful as well and offered a great view down into the gorge.

Wildflowers and sunset in Kalbarri town (Marina)

I would have loved to walk more but in the end we were all somehow tired and exhausted. Looks like we’re a bit travel-tired and overloaded at the moment. We rewarded ourselves with Fish&Chips at the river in Kalbarri town and a chat with Götti on the phone. Sarah found another girl to play with and overall we had a good day.

Kalbarri Coast to Northampton 25/9/15

Red Bluff lookout, Pot Alley, Castle Cove and Natural Bridge at the Kalbarri coast line

Since we hadn’t seen anything of Kalbarris coastline we drove the loop along the coast towards Northampton. There are lots of lovely spots to stop and look at the ocean and the cliffs. But we only stopped at a couple of them. First was Red Bluff, a 500m walk to a lookout on top of the cliff along with some historic information about the many ship wrecks that ended up here.  Next up was Pot Alley with a short hike from the cliff down to a little beach. It was very windy, the water was cold but crystal clear, the sand was rough with lots of tiny shells with beautiful colours. Sarah built a sand castle, Regine collected shells and Martin took pictures. The last place was Castle cove / Natural Bridge, again a short walk on top of the cliff to two lookouts over the beautiful coastline.

Canola fields, what-ever-kind-of-tree, sunset

From there we drove to Northampton where we stopped for a coffee & Banana bread and a quick look at the churches. The area is dominated by agriculture, mainly grains and sheep and offers views of endless golden fields. Regarding our last experience with the back roads we decided to leave the main road, enjoy the quiet back roads and find a free camp somewhere in the fields (for our German friend: “ein Bett im Kornfeld”). We ended up next to a canola field (did I mention I suffer from hay fever?) and had a lovely, fly-enriched walk and a super quiet night. 

Geralton 26/9/15

Eucalyptus Rose Mallee, fields, fields,more fields and the sunset at our lookout

Leaving early again we drove through the lovely Chapman Valley, direction Geralton, for a day of shopping that we couldn’t do in the smaller towns, like repairing Regines glasses, get hiking shoes and a new hard drive for Martin. Sarah was really good, I think of the three of us she enjoyed shopping most! Unfortunately we didn’t see much of Geraltons attractions like the WA Museum, the HMAS Sydney II Memorial or the big grain loading docks. The caravan parks had quite a bad rating and were pretty expensive, so we decided to  leave and go to a free camp 25 km east of Geralton on a lookout. It was a great spot, overlooking the vast fields, promising a beautiful sunset.


Kennedy Range National Park 19/9/15

From Carnarvon to Kennedy Range NP 18 - 19/9/15

After packing up the caravan, getting fuel and gas, we stayed for some great coffee & Cake in town. We also had a look at the OP shop and found some lovely books for Sarah and some 50cent stubby holder to protect bottles in the fridge.

Martin bought some boccochino (baby mozzarella) to go with the delicious baby tomatoes and sweet basil we bought on the campground.

Freecamp before Kennedy NP, Crimson Chat, Zebra fink, more wildflowers

It’s 175 km from Carnarvon to Gascoyne Junction and the turn off to Kennedy Range NP. We thought we stop somewhere before that turn off but at 2.30 pm it was 35C so we kept on driving to enjoy the comfort of the air-conditioning a bit longer. At the turn off we had a late lunch (the cake in the morning was very filling), a chat with another Bushtracker owner and Martin lowered the tyre pressure to get ready for some gravel road (yeah!). A further 20 km later we stopped at a side road, hiding behind a hill but not far off the street. We had a lovely, lonely afternoon, listening to and watching birds (Crimson Chat and Zebra finch), reading magazines, playing and enjoyed a sunset dinner. Then at 9.15pm the first car went past us, followed by another 4 within 20 minutes… must have been Friday night pub meeting… at least no one stopped.

We woke early and managed the last 52km towards Kennedy Range well, arriving early enough to do a first hike before morning tea.

Draper Gorge

That was a beautiful hike, scrambling over rocks and bolder, taking in the beauty of the rock formation which is completely different from Karijini NP. Here it’s a “honeycomb” structure with high iron content and a lot of air- and iron-bubble-like shapes. We followed the riverbed and came across several – unfortunately- dry (seasonal) waterfalls. There were 2 waterholes / rock pools at the end of the hike where we observed some doves and zebra finches drinking and bathing.

Kennedy Range NP, Drapers Gorge with some interesting rock formations

After setting up camp properly and waiting for the sun to go down a little bit further we drove to another two short lookout/hikes. The first one was a 600m walk to Honeycomb Gorge, another seasonal dry waterfall plunging down from the honeycomb-structured cliffs. Sarah enjoyed placing stones in the holes like a lot of people had done before. The Sunrise lookout was just a short walk up onto a little hill. But Sarah was too tired and didn’t want to come along. We left the car doors open and went. It took her about 5 min before she climbed out looking for us. I went back down again and she was happy seeing me :-)

Sarah's attempt on free-climbing honeycomb gorge, the lookouts and sunrise over the campsite

Back at the camp we started a fire to cook a stew in Martins camp oven. The fire burnt happily and the other campers slowly came over one after the other. By the time our dinner was ready we had a lovely crowd enjoying beer o’clock. The night was beautiful quiet and early next morning we went for our last hike, the Temple Gorge, a 2 km hike, that get progressively harder –or shall I say: rocky-er – until it ends under a prominent rock face referred to as ‘the Temple’ containing a waterhole and a seasonal waterfall. Sarah loved that hike and so did I.  I just started wandering how we ever get Sarah on a ‘normal’ hike again, a flat bushwalking trail? This rock-climbing is just the best thing ever!

Temple Gorge

some solitary, earth-dwelling native bees

Backroads 20 - 22/9/15

We left the Kennedy Range in the late morning, driving all the way back to Gascoyne Junction, where we wanted to have some lunch. It turned out that it would take about an hour to an hour and a half to get our lunch so we decided to have a sandwich in the caravan. At least Sarah played on the playground for half an hour and was okay with that. Due to the upcoming school holidays we had decided to drive towards Kalbarri Nationalpark using the ‘back roads’ from Gascoyne Junction to Wooramel Roadhouse. This would make free-camp easier and safe us 120km. It turned out that the gravel road was smooth as a highway and hardly any one else was using it. A beautiful scenery, changing from savannah-like dry areas to green bushes and wildflowers. We truly enjoyed this peaceful drive. Also the free-camp in Pimbee national reserve was superb. 30m into an old side road, and no-one could see us. 

Fantastic sunset at our freecamp at Pimbee. 

No-one drove past us anyway, as we saw looking at the tracks on the road next morning… We drove for another 1.5 hours with no-one passing us. We saw goats, and emus, but had to do a little detour because the road we wanted to take was closed. Coming to the intersection at the highway we were quite sad to leave this beautiful drive behind us and join into ‘normal’ traffic again.

Another 2 days of driving and  free-camps on a rest areas, not really worth mentioning. We didn’t do much, too many flies outside and tired after driving and sitting in the car.

just some of the wildflowers of the region

Carnarvon 16-17/9/15

Heading south - Lyndon River rest area (Free camp) 14/9/15

The wind woke us up and we had an early start leaving the camp at the Range by the Reef. A quick stop at the lighthouse was way too windy and we couldn’t see any whales – too many white caps. In Exmouth we filled up, the caravan with water and supplies and us with coffee, babycino and scones.

We drove a total of 270km – our personal record. But there’s really nothing to see on the way out of the North West Cape and down to Carnarvon. After that long drive we set up camp on Lyndon River rest area, all by ourselves at 3 pm, played soccer, rode the bike and had another go with the kite. By 5 pm the camp was fairly full -  a lot of budget backpackers that drive in and out of Coral Bay, which is 70km north and expensive as. Martin met our friend Christin again, but by that time Sarah was already asleep…

Still blowy - more kite fun at the Lyndon rest area

Blow holes 15/9/15

Sarah had a great morning with Christin before we all headed off to drive to the Blow holes, located 70km north of Carnarvan. It was still very windy which was great to see the water being pushed through the holes in the rock right at the sea. The pressure from the waves is so high that the water in the biggest blow hole shoots out about 15 m high.  Great fun to watch!

Blow holes and camp behind the dunes

But with the wind it wasn’t very pleasant to stay at this exposed site. We drove along the coast towards Quobba Point in search for a place to stay. The only opportunity is an official camp for $11 per adult that offers nothing but a sandy site behind the dunes… well, we’d driven enough so we stayed. Christin found us building sand castles in the shelter of the dunes and we all had a lovely evening together.

Carnarvon 16&17/9/15

Next morning Sarah went to wake up Christin who was sleeping in the car and ended up taking all her stuffed animals and some books over. We left late morning, driving into Carnarvon, having fruit ice cream (basically frozen fruit puree covered in chocolate) at one of the plantations – delicious. Some fresh vegetables and a sapote (chocolate pudding fruit) also found their way into our fridge. Carnarvon is the “fruit & vegetable bowl” of WA with 176 plantations producing over 30,000 tons per year and supplying 70% of WA’s winter vegetable requirements. There’s a lot of stone fruit grown here but unfortunately they start later in the year.

Carnarvon jetty with train, the old water tower and hike along the coastal vegetation

Sarah checked us in at the caravan place and after setting up we went for a stroll around the town. We were unsuccessful in getting a hairdresser appointment for Martin and a tiny screw for Regine’s sunglasses but we got coffee, some information about wildflowers and met Christin again at the ‘One Mile Jetty’ (one of the longest in WA). Sarah was happy and together we went up the old water tower to enjoy the 360C view and had a look at the Coffee Pot Train which drives out onto the jetty during the day (I’m not sure if I’d use it, the jetty looks pretty worn out – even though there’s a “entrance fee/donation” of $5 to walk onto the jetty which is used to restore it.). The shed also houses the “Shearing hall of Fame” (a free museum about the golden days of the Gascoyne shearing industry in the 1950s). Afterwards we walked along another little trail with historic information about a huge abattoir, which was built at the cost but never got used because there were not enough cattle in the region to sustain it. Eventually it was used by the whaling industry and during the recession is served as shelters for poor people.

The landmark of Carnarvon: the OTC dish

The next day was a lazy day, playing for Sarah, chatting for us, repairing our fridge and getting some washing done. We invited Christin over to the campground and at lunchtime we drove to the small harbor to get some fresh prawns – probably the best we ever had! After playing a little bit more we drove to one of the plantations known for their preserves and ice cream (called Bumbak, and yes, we all shared a pot of super delicious home made mango ice cream) and went to visit the OTC dish (a communication satellite dish opened in 1966) and the Carnarvon Space and Technology museum. Carnarvon participated in the space race and this dish helped putting man on the moon in 1969. We also wanted to have fish & Chips for dinner at a restaurant but unfortunately Sarah had a little melt down in the shower and therefore wasn’t allowed to go (neither of us was).

Sunset and wildflowers of Carnarvon

Exmouth and Cape Range NP 11 to 14 /9/15

Exmouth 11/9/15

Emu family, lighthouse and the views, humpback whale

Next stop was Exmouth. We stopped for some groceries, had a coffee, some chips for lunch and bought a snorkeling set (mask, snorkel, flippers). The caravan parks in Exmouth had a bad rating and were very expensive, so we booked in on the other side of the cape. We drove up to the lighthouse and admired the humpback whales splashing out of the water in the distance.

Cape Range National Park / Ningaloo reef 12&13/9/15

coral reef from glass bottom boat

On our way to the campsite at the Cape Range National Park, we stopped for a tour in a glass bottom boat. Ningaloo reef is the biggest fringing reef (means: close to mainland) in the World and also named the ‘Barrier Reef of the West’. Unlike most reefs on the east coast, this one can be snorkeled from the beach.

The tour was good and we’ve seen a lot of different corals and good amount of fish under our boat. Highlight was a rare Queensland Grouper, probably about 250kg in weight. (unfortunately the pictures are not good enough to show more here)


wildflowers and Yardie Creek hike

All the campsites in the National Park, as we found out, are unprotected and very well exposed to the beach. Unfortunately the wind picked up during the day and it even shakes our caravan quite a bit as I write this. Luckily we don’t have a roof top tent as some other campers here do.

Swimming was out, due to the wind, so we went down to Yardie Creek and did the little hike up the gorge. It’s a class 4 walk, but Sarah is now used to this and really enjoyed stretching her legs again after a couple of driving days.

Sarah and her kite, kite surfing

What else can you do on a windy day? Fly a kite! And so we went to ‘Sandy Beach’ and got Sarah’s kite airborne (thanks, Anne & Viktor!). Sarah had a ball holding the kite and was giggling all the time.  Of course she had most fun when the kite crashed into the sand or was chasing mummy or daddy.

Mandu Mandu Gorge hike (pic 1-5), Turquoise Bay and sand castle

Next morning the wind was still howling so Martin had a sleep in, Sarah watch videos and Regine was doing her gym exercises. After breakfast we decided to start the day with another hike and we drove to Mandu Mandu Gorge. The 3 km hike first lead us through the dry river bed full of big and small white pebbles (not the easiest to walk on) and Sarah started collecting stones. It took a bit of convincing and we ended up carrying a stone each for her.  After a good 1km the trail went up the side of the gorge and back towards the carpark, involving climbing up and down some side gorges. Sarah was great but getting tired. A happy sing-song kept her going all the way! She’s really good!

Turquoise Bay, said to be the most beautiful beach on the Cape, was just a couple km further down the road and even though it was midday we wanted to at least have a quick look. It’s really beautiful and a bit shielded from the wind, so Martin went for a quick snorkel. We decided to go back and have lunch and a rest because the sun was just too intense – and we had planned to bake some scones. Later that afternoon we came back for a lovely play in the sand and another snorkel where Martin saw heaps of little and bigger fish, corals and even a turtle in the crystal clear water. All within 50-100 m range of the beach.

Through the Pillbara - 9 to 11/9/15

Driving through the Pillbara 9 to 11/9/15

Wildflowers, our road, the TEREX haul truck

We left Tom Price after the mine tour and a late lunch, going onto the bitumen road towards Paraburdoo. Sarah had wanted to play with Kristin and we had wanted her to run around a bit more since we had been sitting on the tour bus for 2 hours. The Tourist Information Centre told us that the old (=gravel) main road towards the coast (which is approximately 70 km shorter than via Paraburdoo) is too bad to tow a caravan. (later that day we met Christin again who had happily driven her old 2 WD car on that gravel road with no complaint at all… thanks, Information Centre!). There’s nothing much to see on the ~400km to Exmouth but the landscape… OMG it is just plain beautiful. There’s green and pink and yellow. There are rocks and ranges and wide plains. And nothing disturbs the view. No house, no electricity cable, no towers, just the odd fence of a station. The only drawback: it’s much lower than Tom Price in altitude so we had a “lovely” 36C today.

landscapes in the Pillbara region

We had 3 free camps between Tom Price and Exmouth. The first night we met Christin again on an official 24hr stop, so it was ok. Otherwise there wasn’t anything to look at, as they just closed down the access to the riversides. 

The second night we also stopped at an official stop. We were early, so we lit a small fire and cooked a lovely stew in our camp oven. The stop was a big area with only one other camper on it. Then a third camper turned up and setup camp right next to us. He was hardly finished setting up, when he came over and complaint about our fire. You got to wonder.

For the 3rd night we decided to give the official stops the big finger, sorry, I meant 'a miss'. It took us a little while to find a little track behind a quarry leading to a waterhole. The water was all gone and all that was left was a gravel base with some dry mud, crackled under the burning sun, looking like chocolate.  We drove our caravan onto the side. We had Internet to Skype with Götti and the grandparents. Sarah was happily playing all afternoon with the ‘chocolate pieces’ and some water, which mixed to a wonderful mud.

The sunset was fantastic, again. And I managed to get a clear shoot of the sky at night. What a camp!


 

Karajini National Park 5 & 6/9/15

Dales Gorge, Fortescue Falls, Fern Pool and Circular Pool

We drove into Karijini National Park and soon found the remarks from a photographer we met in Port Hedland confirmed. It’s just like the Gibb River Road, but all closer together. I think it’s actually much better than the GRR! The hills are more red and darker due to the high iron ore content. And there is much more green due to some recent rainfalls. This makes for a much better contrast and much more pleasant view! On top, the waterfalls actually have some water; more points for Karijini. The walks to the gorges and swimming holes are much shorter and no problem for a 3-year old - again more points for Karijini. And there are no crocs! Let’s hand out some more points to Karijini.

Welcome to the stunning views of Karijini National Park

After an ice cream at the ranger station, we drove off to the only campground at Dales Gorge. It’s a huge camp area with several loops. We got a spot in the Dingo loop and soon had our van parked.

Flowing water at Dales Gorge, Fortescue Falls 

We drove the couple of meters to the Dales gorge day parking area (We didn’t want to be exhausted before seeing the gorge). Only a couple of meters into our walk there is a fantastic lookout down onto the Fortescue Falls. It’s a gentle fall, with some green moss growing. What a view! We hiked down into the gorge and followed the path to the Fern Pool about 150m up the gorge. Fantastic swimming. It’s only about 50m across, nice and sunny with a little waterfall to swim under and behind.

What a walk along Dales Gorge!

It was still early afternoon and we decided to hike down the gorge to the Circular Pool. It’s a class 4 hike – at some point you have to jump from rock to rock across the water and at others you have to hold onto the cliff on the side not to fall into the water. But we all managed without any problems. It was stunning. The gorge is pretty narrow, so you get very close to those fantastic colours of the cliff. The rock formation here was very interesting. Everything was flat with sharp, square edges. No boulders or round rocks. Just square sheets of rock, or piles of rectangular pieces. We arrived at Circular Pool just as the last rays of sun left the gorge. The water was cold and the sun was now gone, so we didn’t swim here.

Circular Pool and the end of our hike

Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge Lookout

It's a 40 km drive from Dales Campground, mainly on gravel road. From the lookout into the gorge we could see some people far down at the bottom, just starting to hike up again. It took us a while to figure out where the way was and it looked very steep. We decided to try at least part of the hike; it was too beautiful to not go! Sarah happily started the rock hopping again and we went to the other side of the gorge and about 30m down. But from there on (the last 120m) the ‘hopping’ would have turned into a real vertical rock climbing and we didn’t want to risk falling and rolling over the cliffs.

Joffre falls and the hike along the rim

Wildflowers and rock patterns at Joffre falls

Next we went to Knox Gorge Lookout. It's a class 5 hike, too dangerous and steep for Sarah so we just enjoyed the lookout and a picnic. Even two young French guys were panting heavily when they came climbing up from the bottom of the gorge.

Does this view ever get boring - Knox Gorge

On the way to Kalamina Gorge Sarah fell asleep so we drove back to our camp to have another swim in the Fern pool later in the afternoon.

Bye, bye  Karijini

Looking at the maps the whole evening we finally and sadly decided not to do the Weano Gorge the next day. Instead we drove out of the NP towards Mount Bruce, which is the second highest mountain in WA. It’s a majestic looking rock when you approach it via the highway. There is a hike all the way up, about 9km return since it seems to go up from the long side. Way to long for Sarah and in the middle of the day, so we only did the 500m walk to a little lookout onto the Rio Tinto Mine behind the mountain. The view from the top must be spectacular!

Drive out of Karijini with Mt Bruce and it's flanks covered in Mulla Mulla

How stupid can we be..

Until 1991 the land where the mine now sits, belonged to Karijini National Park, before it got excluded so it could be mined. Today they even have to lower the water table to dig more ore out. Makes you wonder what effect this has on the National Park. Also how much worth does a National Park have, if it can just be re-zoned?  The employment argument doesn’t wash with us either. A much bigger mine only employs about 700 people. We (Australia) are selling our resources for next to nothing without creating much wealth out of it.  Now with a falling iron ore price BHP and Rio Tinto both compensate with a 50% bigger output (at an even lower price). How stupid can we be…