We drove up to the Hamelin Homestead station and booked in for a couple of nights. We were hoping that we might have left at least some of the flies behind, but no. They are just as bad here so it is on with the fly nets and stay inside and plan what to do as I am feeling like the Pied Piper of Hamelin but for flies and not rats!
For me, this was an easy exercise - we were going to go to Steep Point, the western most part of the Australian mainland and the last of our cardinal points (we have been to Cape Byron (eastern most), Cape York (northern most), Wilson's promenade (mainland southern most) and the point below Cockle Creek (Tasmanian southern most) as well as the geographical centre of Australia as well) so it just had to be done.
We set off at about 8.30am on a round trip of about 350klms, most of this on heavily corrugated dirt roads with some soft sand thrown in for fun.
The roads were actually pretty bloody awful and we very quickly found ourselves dropping tre pressures down to 20psi all round to try to soften the ride. It worked, but it was still a journey comprising a continual series of hammer blows through the vehicle.
On the way in we met up with a delightful German couple (Bjorn and Kristine) driving their old model Prado and they asked to tag along for safety's sake. We were happy to have them along as well - they were good and intelligent company.
So, we drove the length of the peninsula, driving some difficult looking terrain (although it was all handled easily enough in the end) and eventually making it out to the Steep Point itself.
Tick!
We decided that we should perhaps wean ourselves off the bush camping and head into a town in the hope that the flies might be less in town where they don't have heaps of livestock poop to thrive amongst, so the next day we went into Denham where we booked into the Blue Dolphin caravan park.
Oh joy! Not only can we now get radio, mobile phone/internet and a TV picture (Geelong play North Melbourne this weekend), but the flies are much less of an issue than they were in Kalbarri or Hamelin.
Denham is a lovely little town. It seems much friendlier than Kalbarri and has the most gorgeous bay front along the main street. We have a few things to do here that have been on the bucket list so with that, and the "pay for two but stay for three" offer at the van park and the comparative lack of flies, we have booked in for six nights.
After we set up we took a walk along the bay front and on impulse booked ourselves into a bay cruise that promised to show us dolphins and dugongs and turtles. As the cruise leaves from Monkey Mia (and despite the touristy aspect of this) we booked the trip for the next day.
So, the next day and it was an early start as the dolphins come in at about 7.45am and we had to get there first - a 26klm drive.
Was it worth it? You bet! The dolphins came in (seven of them I think, including one calf) and they cruised up and down the beach edge just checking us out. It is a weird experience really, having a dolphin look you over. Then came the feeding and then we just sat back and watched.
A coffee and a bacon and egg roll followed before we boarded the Aristocat2 - this is a decent sized catamaran and we motored off to a local pearl farm where we learned how they farm pearls and had the opportunity to buy some. We left them behind, but it was really interesting.
Leaving the pearl farm they hoisted the sails and we swept off across the bay in search of dolphins, dugong and turtles and found all three. Turtles are always interesting as they pop their heads up and lok around, and dolphins are something that we feel a great deal of affection for, but the dugongs were special. Weighing up to half a tonne they are strange looking beasts that move quite slowly but there is a majesty to them in some strange way.
The cruise took up most of the day and we drove back to Denham happy and looking forward to the fish and chip supper we had promised ourselves. Eaten in a chippy on the front and watching the sunset, it was lovely.
The next day was ANZAC Day and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. We got up early and walked to the Denham shrine where we took part in the Dawn Service. It seemed as iff the whole town was there and it was a sobering moment, but then we were all invited to a breakfast at the town hall where we enjoyed bacon, eggs, sausage and onion (yeah - weird eh?) together in the hall and chatted to some interesting people.
We had a few chores to do (I needed to check all the nuts and bolts on the 'jero - the Steep Point drive had loosened a couple of things due to the jarring corrugations and I needed to makesure that thingslike the tow bar were still safely attached) so we got stuck into those before taking a drive out the the coastal cliffs and wandering into an aquarium out there for a coffee.
Sunday 26th April - today we did the drive up through the Francois Peron NP to get to Cape Peron. 40+ klms of soft sand overlaying jarring corrugations had me lowering tyre pressures to 18psi as we checked out the sights. Sadly, the flies were just bloody awful out there and even when we tried for some relief by going for a swim at "Gregories" we were hassled by them. On two occasions I had a fly sucked down my snorkel tube and into my mouth (I only swallowed one of them) that caused me to lft my head and splutter and spit. Yep - you can't get away from the buggers, even underwater.
Underwater was cool though. There is a small section of reef there and I was able to spot a heap of fish in all interesting tropical colourings. I love this sort of thing!
The scenery was intersting and beautiful (as you'll see from the photos), but the flies just made it miserable.
One thing that was a little strange was the fact that the tow ball cover disappeared one night leaving us with a greasy towball that left black marks on our legs if we brushed against it. I covered t with cling wrap and an elastic band and searched the town for a shop that sold tow ball covers. No luck there so I resigned myself to using the cling wrap until we got to a town big enough to have an auto parts store.
The, on the morning that we were packing up to leave, the tow ball cover reappeared! Who had it or why they decided to return it we don't know.
One other thing that was not so much fun was the fact that someone appears to have reversed into our Pajero and whacked their tow ball into the off side rear corner. Just cosmetic damage, but annoying on a virtually brand new car.
We are off to Carnarvon now - I hope the flies aren't as bad there!
