(courtesy of Linda and Brendan Photography Studios)
As we sat relaxing over some lunch, a couple of coach load of backpackers rolled up. We had a minor panic worrying that they may be staying, but they were only there to go sand-surfing before carrying on up the coast. Linda and I (I'm not sure I would have asked on my own!) went to ask the driver if he had any spare boards once he'd sent the backpackers on their way to the dunes. He was a very friendly chap, and happily lent us a couple of slightly damaged boards together with some wax to speed them up! It was a lot of fun, but sand EVERYWHERE afterwards!
We then went in the water for a snorkel, but the visibility was poor so we couldn't see much beyond the seagrass.
On Tuesday Linda and Brendan headed off to do the Stockyard Gully 4wd track, while we raced on to Geraldton, stopping at Green Head, Leeman, Port Denison-Dongara and Greenough on route. We camped at Sunset Beach, and missed an amazing sunset while cooking dinner (deep pinks and purples). We had dinner in the camp kitchen and got chatting to a lovely retired couple who were travelling around Australia on a trike!
On Wednesday we did a food shop in Geraldton, then went up to the HMAS Sydney II Memorial, which pays tribute to 645 crew lost in Shark Bay in 1941 after coming into contact with the German ship Kormoran, which was disguised as a Dutch merchant ship. The silver dome is made up of 645 seagulls, representing the lost sailors.
Then we headed to the WA Museum, only to find it's closed on Wednesdays. So we drove on up to Coronation Beach, only 30kms north of Geraldton, and stopped there the night. It was a nice site, close to the beach, but full of caravans and their accompanying generators, one of which had been carefully stationed next to our site and away from the caravan owner's site to ensure we got the full force of its beautiful song up to 10.30pm. We weren't impressed, having gone to bed about 9pm!
On Thursday we drove up to Kalbarri, stopping at the fishing village of Horrocks, before heading onto a dirt track for an 80km detour to the Hutt River Province, which was utterly bizarre! HRH Prince Leonard served notice of secession on the Western Australian Premier in 1970, following a dramatic reduction in the wheat quotas allocated to the Hutt River farm. HRH Prince Leonard did his international law homework and appears to have successfully seceded from the Commonwealth of Australia, and also claims to have established the Hutt River Province as a sovereign state (having declared war on Australia 1997, and emerged victorious a few days later declaring a ceasefire while those that do in Canberra watched on in bafflement).
Back on the road to Kalbarri, we stopped at the lookouts for Natural Bridge and Shellhouse Grandstand, before heading into Kalbarri itself. We watched dolphins in the bay for a while, before finding a camp ground in the middle of the town. Having set up camp, we watched the sunset on beach opposite before having dinner and heading to bed.
On Friday we went back down the coastal stretch to see Eagle Gorge, Red Bluff and Jake's Point (a famous surf beach, not that there was any surf when we were there).
Red Bluff
On the way back into town for provisions, we stopped to see the hundreds of galahs gathered on a bare patch of land between new houses. A little bit of me running around and Jen shooting (only with the camera!) we had some nice action shots.
Then we drove out to the main part of the Kalbarri National Park, doing some short walks to see the key sights at Natures Window and the Z Bend Lookout.
Then we headed back out and camped night at Galena Bridge – a very odd rest stop (a car park full of grey nomads and caravans)! We met up with Linda and Brendan here so we could head north to “World Heritage” listed Shark Bay together the next day. Shark Bay was given World Heritage status in 1991 and is famed for its unique ecological system, with the stomatolites, sea grasses and marine life. The biggest tourist draw is the wild dolphins who visit Monkey Mia resort daily to be fed by the rangers.
On Saturday we made the 300km drive up to Monkey Mia. On route, Linda booked us into a camp site at Steep Point, most westerly point in Australia, the following week. Stopped on route to see Jen's favourite rocks, the stomatolites, at Hamelin Pool. The wind was up, so the normally calm seas were a bit rough. We stopped again at Shell Beach (a beach made of shells)...
Then we pushed on to Denham to call home. We decided to spend the night at the Monkey Mia Resort to see the dolphin feeding the next morning. On Sunday we awoke early for the predictably touristy dolphin visits at Monkey Mia. Despite the crowd on the foreshore, it's still lovely to see the dolphins come in so close.
After a morning of dolphin watching we headed up to the Francois Peron National Park on the peninsula north of Denham and Monkey Mia. The park is largely accessible only by 4wd, and Priscilla was happy to be having a bit more play time in the red sand.
We stopped at the Peron Homestead where you can bathe in a hot tub filled with hot artesian waters, before heading north on the 4wd track to Big Lagoon. Then we headed north to Skipjack Point and Cape Peron, stopping to check out the campgrounds at Gregories and Bottle Bay (where we made a little detour along the beach to see these magnificent red cliffs) on the way.
The view at Skipjack Point was stunning, and we saw a dolphin chasing a large school of fish, a couple of turtles and a small ray (we think it was an Eagle Ray).
We also managed to get a mobile signal at Skipjack Point to call home before camping the night at Bottle Bay.
On Monday we packed up early to drive back up to Skipjack Point to call home again. We walked from Skipjack Point across the dunes to Cape Peron and back, before heading out of the park again, visiting Herald Bight on the way. We stayed the night at Denham and went out for fish and chip dinner!
On Tuesday we set off with Linda and Brendan again to Steep Point. Tarmac for 80kms south of Denham, then 100kms on dirt road, the last 20kms of which held the worst corrugations we've encountered. We detoured out on the sand to False Entrance, where we stopped at a lovely surf beach for lunch.
Then we visited the blow holes and had to restrain ourselves from driving Priscilla off the Thelma & Louise style cliffs we found there.
While letting the tyres down to 20psi (under threat of a fine if we didn't!)
Jen discovered a screw had welded itself deep into the rubber of the rear left tyre. We decided to deal with the issue when we reached the camp ground, and pushed on over the sandy track (a great relief after the corrugations) to the camp site we'd reserved, which was idyllic. Our site was the last along a stretch of beach camp-sites, right next to the calm waters of the bay. We decided to drive out to see the most Westerly Point of Australia that afternoon before setting up camp, which was lovely.
We managed to get a signal from the top of a sand dune on the way back, and called home to receive the terrible news about Jen's dad. Being so far off-road, with the sun dropping, we had no choice but to camp the night and set off in the morning for Perth. It also became clear the rear tyre was suffering from a slow puncture, so (with critical assistance from Brendan) we removed and fixed the tyre, putting the spare on overnight so we could sleep in the tent,and re-fitting the old one in the morning when we were sure the temporary fix had worked.
And this is where the trip ended, at least for a short while.
Love to all,
Claire, of Jen and Claire fame
