WA - Shark Bay

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!

WA - Kalbarri

Leaving Perth we headed north and soon left suburbia behind. We want to get into some real camping in some rally beautiful places and leave things like the caravan parks behind. So we picked out a place called Point Louise which is just a little North of Jurien Bay. We drove through Jurien Bay to get there and were once again amazed at how places have grown since we saw them last. Jurien Bay was a small block of half a dozen shops and businesses some years ago but now it is a decent sized town.

Our decision to go to Point Louise was looking better and better and when we drove down the dirt road to get to the free camping spot overlooking a pristine beach and sheltered by the point itself we were proved right.

This little spot was so pretty we decided to stay here for a few nights and the relax and let the city bleed out of our pores. As you can see from the photos, it is a pretty little place.

We drove from Point Louise on up to and through Geraldton, stopping a few klms North of the city to camp at Coronation Beach. This place is a beach at the foot of a line of hills and it looks out over a lagoon protected from the ocean by a reef. Waves can be seen breaking over this reef all the time, but only the slightest of swells reaches the beach itself.

It is gorgeous.

However, every Eden has its dark side and here it is the flies, small bush flies, which make it difficult to enjoy the outdoors as they swarm over everything.

And we were forced to wear these stupid things.

They drove us to spend a day in Geraldton where we had to do some laundry and food shopping chores anyway.

The flies disappear at sunset and we have seen no mozzies so the evenings can be enjoyed, sitting comfortably outside and watching the cloud of the milky way stretch across the sky with all the other stars gathered around it.  

however, the flies got to us eventually so we packed up and trundled up the road to Kalbarri.

Mixed feelings about this place. The townsfolk don't seem very friendly, but the scenery is magnificent. Perhaps they are just fed up of sharing it.

We are camped out on the banks of the Murchison river on a cattle station. This place, Murchison House, is a working station with the river flowing through it but they are getting into the tourism industry in a small way with camping provisions and quad bike and canoe safaris and the like. 

It is a beautiful place, but just like everywhere else along this coast, it is afflicted by a fly plague. 

We have bought better fly veils (the old ones let the little buggers get in at the bottom) and survive the things, but it is a pain. Back at camp we spend more time inside the van than we would like, but once the sun goes down they all disappear and we are left with a cool evening and clear skies filled with more stars than you'd think possible.

The main reason for coming here was to visit the parks and so we drove out to see the river gorges. Natures Window is probably the best known sight in the place so that was where we headed off first. The rock formation (see the pics below) is indeed stunning, but we hadn't expected to find a smooth bitumen car park with space for maybe fifty cars and a dozen buses complete with shaded areas to picnic under and we'll set up viewing vantage points. The walk to the formation is also smooth bitumen for most of the way.

These photos show us at Nature's Window - one from each side.

What happened to adventure?

West Loop was another lookout that we visited. At least this one had just a rough track to it, but it was a good lookout.

Z Bend was the next place and this was magnificent indeed. You can see the adventure hungry guys who built a rope bridge in the pictures below.

Back to Kalbarri for a beer and a delicious feed of red emperor and chips eaten while watching the glorious sunset.

The next day the flies were just as bad as ever but we thought we'd take a drive out to the coastal cliffs and have a look at some of the formations out there. After all, the sea breezes would be sure to blow the flies away wouldn't it?

The answer is no - in fact the flies were worse than ever out there and for much of the time we were just the centre of a buzzing, shimmering swarm of tiny black bush flies. We were fortunate indeed that we had bought the new fully closed in fly nets as at least our heads were spared the crawling over that the rest of us suffered. It was so bad that the camera's auto focus kept getting confused and focusing on the flies instead of the scenery I was trying to shoot.

Back to the car and back to the homestead to shelter inside until the evening when they magically disappear.

We had collected some wood and decided to have a camp fire this evening. I even bought some flour to make up some damper. As it turned out though, we had some new neighbours and we spent our possible baking time chatting to them instead.

They were Julian and Chris, and their two delightful boys Sam and James. It is amazing the nice people you get to meet out on trips like this. Anyway, we had a great evening together and all enjoyed the fire together, especially James who was happy as to be asked to put another log on the fire! 

Tomorrow we get to leave this place. It could have been so great, but the flies spoiled it for us.