The Nullarbor and Beyond

After leaving Esperance we stopped at the small town of Grass Patch. Back in the early days it was a service town for goldfields traffic going to Norseman. Today there is a grain depot there, which had several piles of golden grain outside protected by tarpaulins. The town’s pub was built in 1927 and the old store/post office that was built a little earlier is being restored. We called in at Dundas rocks, a rest area in our camps book and from the name we thought it might be an interesting place. We discovered it was the site of an old town although there is little to show for it. The town was abandoned almost as soon as it began as the riches promised at Norseman, just 30 kilometres away, overshadowed the nearby gold find. There were some granite rocks there but we were more interested in a salt lake that was beside the road. We discovered that when you walk on the salt it sounds like walking over dry snow, it is bright white like snow but it isn’t cold like snow. (photo - salt lake)

We stopped at Norseman and got an information brochure on the Eyre Highway (aka Nullarbor Plain) and got directions to the Beacon Hill lookout over Norseman town. From here we saw large areas of salt lakes and in the direction of the Nullarbor as far as we could see the land was flat. There is a working gold mine in Norseman and it produces around 100,000 ounces a year, not a bad income at today’s prices.

We took 4 days to cross the plain, driving about 300 kilometres each day before finding a place to camp for the night. We spent one night in a roadside rest area and the other three at different roadhouses along the way. It is a good road, flat terrain with lots of long straights and the occasional curve to break the monotony. The longest straight is 146.6 kilometres. There wasn't much traffic on the road and most of that we saw were roadtrains carrying freight west. For most of the way the vegetation varied from low scrub to well wooded areas and the occasional grassy plain with bushes here and there. It is only for about a 40 kilometre stretch, around the Nullarbor roadhouse, that there are no trees at all, instead a sparse covering of grass and low bushes.

Once we were near the SA border at Eucla we travelled close to the sea and stopped at some rest areas for a look at the cliffs and the ocean of the Great Australian Bight. Here there are high weathered and crumbling cliffs, a lovely blue sea and waves incessantly thundering in at the base of the cliffs. The Bight is a breeding area for the Southern Right Whale but we were about six weeks too late to see any whales here. (photo- cliffs of the Bight)


At Eucla, where we spent a night, we visited an old Telegraph Station built in 1877. The one remaining building, built of quarried stone, is slowly being covered by the sand dunes. There is no roof and the rooms are well filled with sand. (photo - half buried building)


At Penong we stopped to photograph a collection of windmills. The town has dozens of windmills that pump water from the Anjutabie water basin to supplement the town’s rain water supply.



At Ceduna we passed through the fruit fly quarantine check. Being pre-warned of this we had cooked up our spare apples and tomatoes and after a quick inspection of the cupboard in the caravan, by an official, we were on our way again. We then spent a couple of nights at Smoky Bay. After five one-night stops it was nice to stay put for a change. The camp manager lent us a couple of crab nets and we spent an evening on the jetty crabbing. Over a period of a couple of hours we caught six "blue swimmer crabs" that were big enough to keep and caught lots of small ones that we returned to the sea. The six crabs gave us enough meat for one and a bit meals. (photo - blue swimmer crab)

We are making our way south down the west coast of Eyre Peninsula to be in Coffin Bay for Christmas. Here we will meet up with friends, Tom and Mary and also Steve who is joining us for a few nights. We stopped at Streaky Bay where we had a lovely campsite on the foreshore. The bay is very shallow so going for a swim entailed walking out for quite a distance then sitting down to enjoy the water. It was just deep enough to float! From here we did a couple of short excursions to explore the nearby cliffs and beaches. Many white sandy beaches, high eroded cliffs and some interesting rock pools. We also came across a huge area of white sand dunes where we had fun, climbing up some of the bigger ones, jumping down them and throwing sand into the wind. (photo - sand in the wind)

We went to see the seals at Point Labatt. The information said they could be seen frolicking on the beach, sleeping on the beach is a more apt description. We spent quite a while watching half a dozen young seals playing in a rock pool, their actions could be described as frolicking. On the way back to Streaky Bay we visited Murphys haystacks. These are “Inselburgs”, rocky formations formed by the uneven weathering of crystalline rock. Apparently these rocks were mistaken for haystacks, they were on Murphys property hence the name Murphys haystacks. (photo - some of the "haystacks")

Venus Bay was another nice relaxing place with a camping ground on the foreshore. Here the water is deep enough for swimming and the jetty is great for fishing. We had one evening when we caught just a rock cod (returned to the sea) but with a change of bait we ended up with two Silver Trevally, a King George Whiting and a Herring the next night. From this we had one nice meal and another one is in the freezer for later. We went for a walk around the south headland walking trail and saw about ten dolphins making their way back out to sea from the entrance into the bay. The next day we went to the same spot at around the same time and saw more (the same?) dolphins. These appeared to be feeding as they crossed from one side of the channel to the other, not far from our vantage point.

Life's a Beach

After staying at Pemberton we continued east along the coast spending a night at Walpole and visited a nearby forest with Tingle trees. These are eucalypt trees that grow to 70 metres and have a large buttressed trunk. The bases of many trees have large holes and some have so little trunk left at the base that you wonder how the tree can still be alive and stay standing. (Photo - Al in Tingle tree)

We found a delightful camping spot at Parry Beach. A small camp set amongst trees and with flush toilets and solar heated showers it was a bargain at $7 per night. We managed to catch some fish here but thought they were too small for eating so either threw them back or kept them for bait. Later we observed a couple filleting their catch and saw that the size considered OK for eating is much smaller than we are used to. You just need to catch quite a few of them.

Our ongoing troubles with our truck rear wheel oil leak seemed to be continuing and as the mechanic at Northam was happy to have another look at it we decided to go back there. We set off north again and spent a night at Broomehill, where we found top notch facilities at the Shire caravan park. They let us leave the caravan there for free while we carried on to Northam, where we stayed with Jill’s nephew.
It turned out that the apparent oil leak was residue from the before the last repair so didn’t take much to fix. The mechanic at Avon Service Specialists also took a look at the wheel we weren’t having problems with and discovered a leaking oil seal but the oil was being contained by a dust seal so we didn’t know about it. We are very lucky he looked, as it would have only been a matter of time before this wheel would have needed attention. We were very thankful that at last we had found a mechanic who took the time to think about the trouble we had been having and finally, after two other outfits had tried, find the cause of it all – the wrong sized rubber seals had been fitted when we had the wheel bearings replaced back in June.

We had a quick trip back to Broomehill, collected the caravan and carried on to the Stirling Range National Park. Here a range of mountains, about 65km east to west, rises out of the surrounding plains. From starting points of about 400 metres we took a walk up two of the mountains, 780 metres and 1095 metres. As we made our way up the mountains we came across a variety of wildflowers. At the tops we had great views of the coast about 100km away and over the surrounding plains. (Photo - Al near top of Bluff Knoll)

Along the south coast there are many beautiful beaches and we have visited a few of them over the past two weeks. Bremer Bay, on a peninsula, has about half a dozen beaches in close proximity to one another. One day we visited several looking for a sheltered fishing spot. We found a nice spot on some rocks and over an hour or so we caught eight small fish, enough for a couple of meals. Jill caught a small shark that was sent back to the sea. (Photo - Al with catch of the day)

Quagi Beach was a gem of a camp spot, only toilets and cool showers provided but at $2 per person it was good value. The camp area was set amongst a Banksia forest with each camp area well separated from the next. The Banksia was in flower and there were birds everywhere, mostly New Holland honeyeaters, some Western Wattle birds and Willy Wagtails. The beach was interesting with different types of rocks at each end, gneiss and limestone. Our fishing here wasn’t very successful with us feeding lots of fish and only catching a couple.

On our way to Esperance we passed lots of truck and trailer units transporting grain. It is harvesting time and the trucks are carting the grain to various depots. At the depots there are sheds, silos and large outdoor grain heaps covered by tarpaulins. We have been amazed by the extent of the grain growing area in WA and have discovered the area they call the “Wheatbelt” is about the area of the South Island of NZ . 90% of the WA wheat is exported.

We stopped at Esperance for groceries and carried on to Duke of Orleans Bay, about 80km to the west. Here there is a series of white sandy beaches with clear blue water. Getting from one beach to the next may entail driving along the beach to a headland then across a sandy track to the next beach. The sand is very fine and generally beach surface is hard. In one day we visited six different beaches. Again the fishing wasn’t very successful but it’s always fun trying.

Our last beach stop along this coast was in Cape Le Grand National Park at Le Grand Beach. It is a great National Park camp, a few metres from the beach, tucked in behind a sand dune with good spacing between campsites. Provided are flush toilets, solar heated showers and a camp kitchen with gas cooking facilities and hot running water. This is the first National park camp we have found with all these facilities. Within this National Park are several beaches, all with rocky headlands at one end or the other. There are several large granite domes within the park and we climbed Frenchman Peak, one of the taller ones at 262 metres, giving great views over the Recherche Archipelago with it’s many granite islands. We are now poised to head east and across the Nullarbor plains.
(Photos - Le Grand Beach. On top of Frenchman Peak. Christmas trees recovering from fire.)

Southern corner of WA

We had a relaxing few days in Northam with Jill’s nephew, which was good after quite a bit of travel with only short stopovers. We then spent 3 days in Perth and while there enjoyed visiting Al’s nephew and family. It has been great to see some familiar faces and being treated to roast dinners is a real bonus. Roasts are something I haven’t worked out how to cook in a frypan over the gas! We went to Freemantle and had a look at the old prison. This was built by and used for convicts and was operated as a prison until 1991. The complex included many houses also built during convict times. We also spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around Kings Park, which is a lovely park quite close to the Perth CBD. It has large areas of native plants representing the many different areas of WA.

After several days in the country and the big city it was time to get back to the beach and we found some lovely beaches near Dunsborough, 250km south of Perth. Lots of small bays with white sand and blue water but with the days being a bit cooler than we have become accustomed to a paddle in the water was all we managed. One morning we just happened to be in the right place at the right time and were treated to a 15 minute display by a few whales. They were relatively close inshore and we watched them breach, wave their flukes and saw them dive down and flip their tails in the air. The humpback whales are on their migration back to Antarctic waters and over a week on most days we have seen them passing by, but not with the display we saw on the first day.

We travelled to the Margaret River area, which is well known for its wine. As you drive along the road you pass vineyard after vineyard, very few with a name that we have heard of before. It is lovely looking country with rolling hills covered with lush green grass, dairy farms and vineyards amongst a backdrop of gum trees. From here we went east to Pemberton where there are large stands of karri trees (a type of eucalypt). In it’s hey day it was a timber milling centre but now days the attraction for people is the standing trees. Those who are game enough can climb up 60 metres to a platform in a tree, by way of about 150 steel spikes driven into the trunk. Fire spotters used to spend their days on platforms like these looking for signs of fire. There are three trees that can be climbed but we decided it wasn’t for us and chose to admire the trees from the ground.

The area is known for it’s wild flowers and although it is late in the season we are coming across quite a few. One day we stopped so I could take a photo of some kangaroo paw flowers and while walking to them found half a dozen more different flowers. A little later we stopped at a rest area for a cuppa and saw yet more new flowers. Yellow banksia and bright red bottle brush trees are in flower along the roadside.

The weather in the SW corner has been like that in the SW corner of NZ at this time of year, variable with passing showers and cooler temperatures. This has been hard for us to accustom ourselves to as we have spent most of our holiday under clear blue skies. We have enjoyed seeing the lush green pastures, which remind us of home, and big eucalypt forests so these offset the minor detractions of the climate. We had a couple of days where it was too wet to do much but apart from those days we put on a few extra clothes and got out and about. We visited the light houses at both capes in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park and several bays along the coast in between.

More coral and fish

After tearing ourselves away from Osprey Bay we went to Coral Bay for a couple of nights. As the name suggests there is a coral reef here and it is easily accessible from the beach. The town is small; its only industry is tourism. There are two camping grounds and as they are side by side and close to the beach it was a toss of a coin as to which one we stayed at. We went snorkelling 3 times and saw a variety of fish and coral and on one occasion a couple of small turtles.

We carried on south, following the coast, and camped at Quobba Point for 4 nights, after initially thinking we would stay for 2. After we had spent 2 nights there our friends Bev and Frans and Sue and Jim turned up so we decided to stay another 2 days. At the Point there are exposed rocky cliffs and an impressive blow-hole (photo), which we visited 3 times to watch it spout and hear it roar. Here there are high cliffs with rocky platforms extending out into the sea and these made for some great viewing as the waves rolled in. A kilometre from this tucked in behind a small island and a rocky reef was a tranquil lagoon with a coral studded bottom. We camped beside this and as it was quite windy for the first two nights we parked our van in the shelter of a sand hill. The camping area was in a reserve and the system was to find a spot you like and settle in. There was no caretaker on duty so it turned out to be a free camp. Scattered through the reserve were many shacks of varying size and state of repair. Most of these belong to commercial fishermen and are occupied in the rock lobster season, which starts in November. The annual lease for land to put a shack on is $500/year. Not a bad deal we thought.

Around high tide each day we had a great time snorkelling in the lagoon. The lagoon was shallow and at high tide there was only about a metre clearance over the coral in many places. Being so shallow the coral and fish were very close. The fish were generally around the edge of the coral and there was a bit more swimming room there. We saw lots of different fish and seemed to see something new each day, one day I saw a small turtle. At low tide the top of some of the coral was exposed and we could walk on the sand out amongst it. There were a few clams exposed too. Most of the fish were hiding at this time but when we stood still a few ventured out into the open. The lagoon was in a marine reserve but there was a sandy beach nearby that was outside the marine reserve. It was quite windy all the time we were there which meant we didn't try fishing from further down the beach.

After being self sufficient for a few days it was on to a camping ground at Carnarvon. Carnarvon has the great resource of water and with irrigation many crops are grown on the river plains. The river is unusual in that the water flows under the sand where it is protected from evaporation. While we were here we had overnight rain and after 143 days without seeing any it was almost a novelty!

We took a slight detour on our journey south and went up the Peron Peninsula to Shark Bay where there is a large marine reserve. From a lookout over a shallow bay we saw sharks and large rays cruising around. We went on a boat trip to see dugong and saw two mother and calf pairs (photo) when they regularly came up to the surface to breathe. They didn’t stay on the surface for long so there were few opportunities for photographs. On the way to and from the dugong area we saw dolphins and also visited a pearl farm. At the farm we were shown how the pearls are seeded (an intricate job that has to be done in about 40 seconds) and the farming process was explained to us. The shells of the oysters need regular cleaning and with the first good pearl occurring at year five and with three good pearls being about all you get from one oyster it’s not surprising that they cost lots.

We visited the Peron Homestead area (now part of a National Park) that has a shearing shed, shearer’s quarters and stockyards built in the 1950’s when it was a working sheep station. On walking through the shearing shed (photo) the use of corrugated iron was very noticeable, not only were the external walls corrugated iron but also the inside fittings of wool classing bins and fronts of the sheep holding pens. This is so different to my memory of the shearing shed at home with wood inside just about everywhere. In this country, due to the thick scrub, the sheep couldn’t be mustered so they were trapped at watering sites in yards with one-way gates, a process that took about two months. The sheep were then herded along lanes to the holding pens at the shearing shed. One lane was about 40km long, a two-day trek for stockmen on horseback.

We also went to Shell Beach, a 120km long beach made up of millions of tiny coquina (cockle) shells (photo). Over time some these shells have naturally cemented together and this solid material was quarried to make bricks. Now days the quarry is only used to repair existing buildings in the area. A little bit further down the road we went to see some living stromatolites. These look like rocks but are actually colonies of micro-organisms that live in very saline water and bind and cement sedimentary grains together to form rock like structures of varying shapes. They are a very ancient and one of Earth’s first life forms.

We headed south again and stopped at Kalbarri where we viewed the coastal cliffs and went looking at wildflowers in the National Park. Although it is late in the season for wild flowers we found plenty. From the road we observed many different colours but when we stopped and wandered into the scrub we were amazed at the variety. We left Kalbarri and pushed our way into a strong southerly, which wasn’t good for the fuel economy. We passed a pink lake where beta carotene is harvested and visited the remains of a settlement where convicts went to be hired out. A large stone walled shed, which was the hiring depot, has been restored and restoration work is ongoing on the cell block and other buildings. Nearby was an almost restored stone walled house that was built in 1854 by the Superintendent of the convict hiring centre. He also had a pastoral lease of 144,000 acres.

We checked out staying at another beachside camp but decided to head inland a little and found a camp spot by a river, which was less windy. On the way there we passed through a large wind farm where 54 turbines were scattered across the landscape. The next day the wind had dropped a little so we headed back to the coast to the small seaside town of Greenhead. We had a nice wander around a couple of headlands and in the evening Al went fishing. For dinner that night we had a small herring entrée. While we were fishing a sea lion came by and had a good look at us. After the calm of the evening we were woken during the night with wind buffeting the caravan. The wind along this coast seems to be very persistent and this perhaps explains why it’s a popular area for wind surfing and kite boarding.

Since Kalbarri, apart from when we are in National Parks or Reserves, we have been travelling through rolling hills with cultivated land, the main crop being wheat. The area is referred to as the Wheatbelt and covers a massive area. The cultivated fields are such a change from the weeks and weeks of seeing little but flat land with sand and scrub. We headed inland making for Northam, to catch up with Jill’s nephew, and made a stop over at the country town of Moora. Here we visited a wild flower farm an 18,000 acre farm, that has a mix of wheat, sheep and native flowers. Licensed pickers also gather flowers from Crown land. The cut flowers are dried and many are exported. One order from Italy was for 1 million Banksia flowers, which makes this quite a large business.

A Magic Place

We pulled out of the Exmouth caravan park at about 6:30am so we would be near the front of the queue at the ranger station when it opened at 8am. Sites in the National Park camp areas along the Ningaloo Reef are allocated on a first come first served basis and there were a limited number of sites coming free each day. Our friends Frans and Bev had been for a look the day before and had come back with the opinion that the “Osprey Camp” was the best one as from the camp sites it had a view of the sea and it had sites big enough to take their 5th wheeler van. This all sounded good to us so we wanted to get a site there too. We arrived at the ranger station at 7:15am and were third in the queue, Frans and Bev being the first. We had breakfast while waiting for the ranger to arrive. At 8am the ranger got a radio report from the hosts at the various camping areas and we were able to get one of the four sites available at Osprey Bay. We arrived at the camp and got a lovely site with a beautiful sea view next to Frans and Bev. Jim and Sue arrived the next day and got a site on the other side of us so about half of the Derby group was back together again. The camp was nicely set out with staggered sites and large spaces between them. We had kangaroos hopping by, the occasional lizard and although emus were in the area I only saw one near the camp.

We didn’t do much the day we arrived as there was a strong wind blowing but later in the day did go for an amble along the beach. It was a lovely beach, fine white sand; rocky foreshore in places and 500 metres to a kilometre off shore was the outer coral reef. The reef created a lovely lagoon between where we were camped and the sea. (photo – our camp with lagoon in foreground, breakers on reef in background)
We snorkelled in the lagoon and while the coral wasn’t the best we have seen there was a variety of shapes and colours and lots of different brightly coloured tropical fish. We also came across schools of 20 to 30 good-sized trevally that were swimming around quite unconcerned that we were only a few metres away. I was lucky enough to see a large turtle swim by me one day and Al got a glimpse of a reef shark.
We made two trips to Turquoise Bay, about 20km up the coast, where there was a good snorkelling area. Good coral, lots of fish and an area where you could drift with the current to effortlessly be taken over the coral for an ever changing view. Here while we were in about knee deep water we came across a school of 50 or more common dart (photo) just holding themselves in the current, going nowhere. I saw a small octopus and was amazed to see it change colour from a reddish-brown when it was near some coral to a mottled sandy colour when it was over the sand. It was very well camouflaged and after it was pointed out to me it was only when it moved that I only spotted it.
You would think with all the fish we were able to see that we would have been in fisherman’s heaven but although the rods were out each day no fish were on the menu. We both hooked something that looked good but didn’t manage to land them.
Another highlight of our stay here was the whales migrating south just outside the coral reef. From our van we were able to see their spouts and on occasions saw them breach or wave their tails. Often we saw just a huge splash where we had just missed seeing them breach. We initially planned to camp here a couple of nights and maybe extend to three but ended up staying for six nights before reluctantly moving on. It was thanks to Frans and Bev getting us extra water and giving our batteries a charge from their solar system that we were able to extend our time. We said our farewell to Frans and Bev as we left Osprey Bay as we may not meet up with them again. We have our deadline to be in Sydney in early March but as they are on the road full time they go at whatever speed they wish. We have met a few people that are on the road fulltime and can appreciate why they choose this lifestyle. (photo sunset at Osprey Bay)

Karijini National Park

Karijini NP is an area of many spectacular gorges. As you drive along the presence of these gorges isn’t obvious as the view is of rounded hills tinged pink, as the colour of the red rock intermingles with the colour of the spinifex grass. Every now and then a crevice edged in red rock appears indicating there is an opening in the ground. The exposed rock is almost entirely multi layered iron rich rock that is a bright rust-red colour. (photo rock) We camped at the National Park Dales camp and used this as our base to explore the Dales and Weano Gorge areas. After setting up camp and before we started exploring we made a quick lunch and went down to Frans and Bev’s van (friends from Derby) to catch TV coverage of the league final, Storm v Eels. They have satellite TV so we were able to watch the final as we did the 2 semi finals when we were at Barn Hill Station a week earlier and the AB’s v Wallabies when we were in Broome. Before the sun set we had time to walk down to the top of the Fortescue Falls in Dales Gorge and walk a short way upstream to Fern Pool where we went for a swim. This is quite a large pool fed by a small waterfall and it has lots of maidenhair ferns on the banks near and under the falls.
The next day we drove to the Weano Gorge area, via 42km of gravel road that wasn’t too rough as Aussie gravel roads go, (photo road) where we had several gorges to view and/or explore. At the Oxer Lookout we viewed the meeting point of the Hancock, Joffre, Weano and Red Gorges and we decided to explore two of these.
Hancock Gorge - the track included going down steps and a ladder to get to the bottom. We walked along a narrow path between high rust red multi-layered rocks. Walked along rocky ledges and waded through water up to knee deep.
Weano Gorge - walked down rocky steps to get to the bottom. (photo Jill in narrow bit at Weano Gorge) The gorge was very narrow in places and at times we were mid thigh deep in water. At one point walked along a rocky ledge while knee deep in water, a well used path so the rocks here weren’t slippery. Went as far as “Handrail Pool” where the way into the pool was down a slippery slope with a metal handrail for security. This looked to be a bit much for us and when I saw someone trying to get out by using a rope to get herself up to the handrail I knew it definitely wasn’t for me. We drove back down the road to where there were some more gorges to look at and explore. On the way saw an emu with two chicks and a falcon in a tree eating a mid sized lizard.
Joffre Gorge & falls and Knox Gorge we viewed from the lookouts. (photo Knox Gorge)

Kalamina Gorge – easy steps down to the bottom. A wider gorge and big flat rocks to walk on. (photo Jill in Kalamina Gorge) We didn’t get our feet wet this time. Nice reflections in the pools and a very pleasant walk.
At the day’s end we still hadn’t explored the gorge near to where we were camped so decided to explore it the next day before departing for Tom Price. This walk took us along the rim of Dales Gorge through spinifex grassland with good views of the gorge below. We descended into the gorge near the Fortescue falls and walked the track to Circular Pool where the gorge ended at a pool at the base of a waterfall. The track along the gorge was beside a barely flowing stream and there were lots of trees and pools along the way. It was an easy walk as it was generally along flat rocks and we didn’t have to get our feet wet.
While at Tom Price we drove up to the top of Mount Nameless (a stupid name) and from here got a great view of the surrounding country. In one direction was a view of the iron ore mining area and we were blown away by the size of it – HUGE doesn’t cover it. In another direction was a panorama of hills covered in spinifex grass. (photo from Mt Nameless)
You would think that by now we would have seen enough gorges but no there was still one more we wanted to explore, Hamersley Gorge. To get there involved a round trip of 150km and most of it on a gravel road. We were pleasantly surprised to find the best gravel road we have encountered for a very long time so it was an easy drive. The rock formation at Hamersley was unlike those encountered the previous two days. Here the rock shows signs of having been under great pressure and is pushed up and twisted. Easy steps took us to the bottom of the gorge where we walked up stream to find “The Grotto”. We didn’t know exactly what we were looking for and had been told we should follow the right hand side of the stream. From the pool below the falls (low ones) we made our way by scrambling over the rocks beside the falls and pools above them to an indistinct track. We followed the track for quite a way through trees, over and around rocks until we came to a large pool. A scramble around some large rocks by the pool led us to an arrow on the track, marked out in rocks, indicating that we should cross the small stream. We did this and a few metres further on we found the grotto. It was a cool pool in a big cavern with a dribble of water coming in at the far end. On the rock sides of the cavern were maiden hair ferns. We retraced out steps as far as the pools at the top of the waterfall and made out way out of the gorge by following a bit of a track then walking up a rocky spinifex covered slope to get to the top of the gorge and back to the car park. Once back at the truck we made sandwiches for our lunch and took them down to the pool to eat, while sitting in the shade of a tree. After satisfying our hunger we went for a swim. The water was a bit cooler than our swims of late but was still very nice. We got some advice from a local on how to cross the falls and get to a pool above, where there was the “spa pool”. (photo "spa pool" under waterfall) This was where a waterfall has carved a circular pool in the rock. A wriggle up a short slippery rocky slope had us in the very deep small pool with a small waterfall flowing in. It was an unusual experience to be swimming in a pool almost enclosed by rocky walls.
On leaving Tom Price our destination was Exmouth at the top of a peninsula about 1200 km north of Perth and 550km from Tom Price. To make for easy driving we had two stopovers on the way. The first of these was at a roadside rest area, a clearing in the trees near a dry river, toilets and fire pit supplied. We pulled up here and while having a late lunch the breeze picked up and with stronger gusts of wind there were clouds of red dust flying in the air. We closed off the vents on the upwind side of the caravan and hoped that the wind would die down by sunset, as is the usual pattern. We went for a wander down the dry river bed to the nearby road bridge then back through the trees and under a fence into a paddock where there was a small rocky hill that we climbed to look at the view. By the time we got back to the van the wind was abating. Swept the red dust out of the van twice while we were stopped here! Our next night we spent at Giralia Station, a sheep station of 654,000 acres that was purchased by the Conservation Department in 2002. The buildings were quite modern as most things got destroyed in 1999 when cyclone Vance came through the area. The vegetation was mostly spinifex grass with lesser areas of buffel grass. The average annual rainfall is 10 inches.
The farmland we have been travelling through is very different to what we see at home. There are no lush grasses, no topsoil instead there are rocks and stones with a random covering of spinifex, sometimes other dry looking grasses, a scattering of various types of bushes and low growing trees. Every now and then there is a recently burnt area that has a little new growth on the ground and the occasional claypan area where nothing is growing.
We are now on the coast at Exmouth. We have stopped in the town for a couple of days waiting for the school holidays to finish and the National Park camps along the ocean side of the peninsula at Ningaloo Reef to have some spaces. It is apparently a very attractive area with marine reserves and sanctuaries including a coral reef within wading/swimming distance of the shore, all backing onto a coastal National Park. We will head down there on Monday 12/10 for a few days of fishing, and snorkelling and generally not doing too much or going very far.

Blue Blue Sea

As we drove into Broome our attention was taken by the turquoise colour of the sea (Indian Ocean). We settled into a camp on the shores of Roebuck Bay and while we didn’t have a beachfront site (just one row back) we did have a nice view of the sea. It was a very short walk to take our chairs and coffee and sit in the shade of a tree to have an uninterrupted view. The view changed dramatically with the tide which varies by up to 9 metres. At full tide the sea was a brilliant blue stretching from the grassy bank as far as the eye could see but at low tide there was a kilometre or more of sand flat before the blue sea started. When we arrived we wondered why the boats were moored so far off shore but at the first low tide the reason was obvious. At the caravan park was a nice swimming beach that we used around high tide each day. We didn’t come across any stingers (jellyfish) and the locals say they don’t get crocodiles around the town beaches. When we first arrived in Broome the daytime temperatures were around 29C, which was a pleasant relief from the 38 to 39C we had been experiencing for the previous fortnight or so. As the week went on the temperatures climbed back to 38C but with a sea breeze and a refreshing sea to swim in at our door it was very nice.
A visit to Broome isn’t complete without a visit to Cable Beach (2 photos) so we went there one afternoon and had a swim (water temp 28C) and also took in a sunset at the beach. We drove down the beach and found a spot to observe the sun dip into the ocean as several trains of camels (carrying tourists) wandered by.

After about a week in Broome we travelled 150km down the coast and camped at a camping area on Barn Hill cattle station. The property has 350,000 acres and runs 8,000 head of cattle. It stretches for 85km along the coast situated between Port Hedland and Broome. With that ratio of acres to cattle it’s no surprise that we didn’t see any cattle on our 9km drive from the highway to the camping area. The camping ground was at a beautiful beach and we had a lovely view of the sea from our campsite. It was a five minute walk down a track to the beach (photo) – white sand, blue sea, interesting rocks, red cliffs, lovely shells and few other people. It was a lovely swimming spot and you didn’t need to go out very far for it to be deep enough to swim.

Having enjoyed our stay at this beach spot our next camp was further down the coast at 80 Mile Beach. Like NZ’s 90 Mile Beach the beach wasn’t as long as it’s name implied. Here the coastline was very different; a long flat beach with a low sand dune running along it’s length and behind the sand dune was very barren looking land. On the day we arrived we went out to the beach for a look and in both directions, almost as far as the eye could see, there were fishermen (and women) standing in the surf. We saw a few catching fish and saw one guy with a 700mm white threadfin salmon, a lovely fish. On seeing this we knew what we would be doing the next day, or at least trying to do! The next morning after we had been to the camp shop to buy some bait we ventured out to the sea, a 200 metre walk from the caravan. We stood about knee deep in the water and as the beach was very flat our cast didn’t end up much deeper but there were plenty of fish biting. We caught our daily limit (4 each) of blue threadfin salmon, not very big but they gave us enough fillets for 3 good meals. The sea was nice and warm so it was no problem to be standing knee deep in water and getting an occasional splash from the surf. The next day we planned to go fishing again with the hope of catching a big fish but we woke to a stiff breeze coming off the sea. Al tried a couple of casts but as his line was being washed along the beach and inshore he gave up. As the day wore on the situation didn’t improve so the idea of fishing was abandoned.
At 80 Mile we were camped with a group of people that we had met earlier on our travels. One couple we first met back in Northern Territory when we camped at Gregory National Park and three other couples we met at Derby, all four couples were on our Horizontal Falls trip. From Derby we all went to Barn Hill then 80 Mile where we met another couple, from Whangaparaoa, who we first met at Kununurra. We are all travelling in the same direction but taking different detours along the way. It will be interesting to see if and where we meet up again.

We stopped at Port Hedland for a night so we could stock up on food for our trip inland to Karijini National Park. Port Hedland is a centre for BHP Billiton’s iron ore operations and their facilities dominate the town. Ore is loaded onto ships on both sides of an inlet and a huge processing plant flanks the road into town. Everything has a rusty brown hue so it isn’t a pretty town but it did supply us with all that we needed.

Not far out of Port Hedland, on the road to Karijini, we stopped for a couple of nights at Indee Station, another cattle station that gets income on the side from tourists. The camp area was rather rustic, that is find a spot in the back yard preferably with some shade from a tree, if there is one that doesn’t have another camper there or not filled with junk (dead cars and machinery and the like). We did find a spot by a tree and were welcomed each evening by the owners who put on nibbles for the campers in their spacious breeze-way dining room, BYO drinks. While at the station we went for a drive for about 10km through the property to “Red Rock”, a large weathered granite dome in the middle of nowhere. Here there were aboriginal rock carvings and the rock had lots of hollows (photo) on its surface, two of which were deep and still held water. We spent time walking over the rock looking at it’s formation and the many rock carvings. Near the rock was a memorial to 26 people who lost their lives in 1968 when a Vickers Viscount plane crashed nearby, after a wing failed due to poor maintenance methods. The owner of the station was the first to the scene, finding no survivors. Indee Station covers 400,000 acres and runs 1,600 head of cattle (could stock up to 3,000 head) although no cattle were spotted on our drive across the station. The country is semi-arid desert and the cattle seem to survive by eating the abundant Spinifex grass and foliage from the scattered scrub.

We are currently in Karijini NP and I will post a blog about our visit here in a few days time once we get back to the coast.

Current stats: total travelled 21,316km. 14,487 of this towing the caravan. 81 campsites to date 7/10

Across the Border

We left Darwin on a sad note as Tom and Mary, our on and off travelling companions of the past 3 months, had to curtail their trip for health reasons. We were relieved to get a message a fortnight later saying that after surgery Mary was on the path to recovery. We are hopeful that we will meet up with them on the road again late this year or early next year.

After leaving Katherine we camped for 3 nights in Gregory National Park. Having had a hectic month travelling from Alice Springs to Darwin then back down to Katherine it was good to slow the pace a little. Our camp was at a small National park camping area 10km from Timber Creek. We were fortunate to find a parking spot that received a little afternoon shade from the trees, as with afternoon temperatures reaching 38C and no power to run our air conditioner any shade was a godsend. Temperatures were such that the water from the tap was too warm to provide a cool refreshing shower. At the camp we were entertained by many bower birds, which are quite bold and constantly coming and going. We found a bower nearby that was decorated with the usual stones and bones, and we were amused by the inclusion of a small light bulb.

We went on a day trip to Bullita Station, which operated as a cattle station until 1990 when it was included in the National Park. The station homestead has been preserved and it houses lots of information about the history of the area. Bullita was originally one of the many Durack outstations from the early days of pastoral farming. The tales of hardship are amazing, with major flooding in the 1920’s taking the original wood and grass homestead away and in the 1970s a big flood took stock and everything else that wasn’t bolted down. The homestead was built in the 1960’s so could be considered as relatively modern, but it certainly lacks any modern refinement. It consists of three rooms and is made of corrugated iron, this includes the internal dividing walls and none of the walls are lined (photo). Our visit here gave us a good impression of the isolation of the remote stations and today we can get there by travelling 50km along a dusty and somewhat corrugated road in a comfortable air conditioned vehicle.

After leaving the Timber Creek area we crossed the border into Western Australia. This was like crossing into another country, as we had to go through a checkpoint where our truck and van were inspected for the presence of fresh fruit, vegetables and plants. To stop the spread of disease and pests none of these items are allowed across the border. We had been forewarned so what we couldn’t eat had been cooked and made into salad, so we were able to enter WA with only a quarter jar of honey being taken off us.

We spent a night at Lake Argyle, a huge man made lake formed by damming the Ord River. Some electricity is generated but the main purpose of the dam is to provide water for irrigating farms in the Ord River valley. Our next stop was at Kununurra, 100km further down the road and while we were staying here we drove through some of the land irrigated by the Ord river scheme and saw crops of melon, mango (unfortunately not in season), corn, maize and sandalwood. We also went to galleries where the local “zebra rock” has been made into jewellery and other items. This rock has bands of white and brown/maroon and the colours make a striped or dotted pattern.

We visited Wyndham, a small town at the confluence of five rivers and went to a lookout near the town where we were awed by the massive areas of floodplain and sand flats stretching almost as far as the eye could see in all directions. Near Wyndham is a nature reserve and we had a very interesting hour or so at a bird hide watching birds and crocodiles. Just as we were about to leave and find somewhere to have our lunch we noticed a crocodile that had caught a magpie goose swimming towards us, so we stayed to observe it. It stopped in some shallow water near the bank about 50 metres from where we were and over the next 30 minutes proceeded to eat the goose. While holding the bird in it’s jaws it shook it around until it flew into pieces which it then gathered up and ate. A whole wing, feathers and all went down in a gulp; we could hear the bones crunching. Within a few metres of this egrets and herons were picking up the very small bits and eating them while keeping a close eye on the crocodile. Needless to say we had a late lunch that day.

After leaving Kununurra our sights were set on visiting the Bungle Bungles National Park. We left our van at a roadhouse 40km from the turnoff to the NP. Access to the park visitor’s centre was down 52km of 4WD road and the information said this would take 2 hours (it was right). The slowness was due mainly to the road being very corrugated. After calling in at the visitor’s centre and paying our camps fees we went to an area where the beehive rock formations are. These are amazing and lived up to the expectation we had from seeing photographs of them. We walked to cathedral gorge, a gorge with towering cliffs terminating in a huge amphitheatre with a high domed ceiling and were lucky to be there when there was no one else around. On our way back to the car park we detoured to go to a lookout where we got more great views of the domed rocks and the valley. An interesting feature of this walk was the creek bed where we walked along big smooth slabs of rock (photo). We camped in the park overnight in our tent and next morning went to Echidna chasm, another amazing place. Again there were towering cliffs but between these was a narrow cleft on the rocks, in places less than a metre wide. We walked through this for several hundred metres before reaching the end and again had the place to ourselves having passed a tour group going out as we were going in.

We picked up our van and spent 2 nights at roadside rest areas before arriving at Fitzroy Crossing. We visited Geikie Gorge (photo) a limestone gorge carved out by the Fitzroy River. We braved another 4WD road and after 70 km of shake and rattle arrived at Tunnel Creek, where a creek has carved a 750 metre tunnel through the rock. The creek isn’t flowing at the moment so we were able to walk through the tunnel (photo), which involved a bit of scrambling over and around rocks and wading through pools a little less than knee deep. We saw stalagmites and stalactites bats and frogs. The tunnel is at the widest 15 metres and at the highest 12 metres.

Over the past few days we have come across many stretches of road works and this means kilometres of detour. The practice seems to be to bulldoze a dirt road a few metres from the road that is being worked on and send the traffic down this. Fortunately the detours are well maintained so a lot better than most of the gravel roads we have encountered. The detour road we took before arriving in Derby was 10km long. We found Derby to be a nice country town and were given a guided tour by the nephew of our Auckland neighbour. Derby is located on King Sound and is flanked by sandy tidal flats. The highlight of our stay here was a trip to the “Horizontal Falls”. A tidal flow forcing its way through two narrow gaps in the cliffs, 7 and 20 metres wide creates the falls. There was an 11 metre tide on the day we were there and this created a drop of one to two metres. We took a 30 minute float plane ride from Derby to Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago, where the falls are located and after landing on the sea were transferred to a super-fast boat. a 12 seater boat powered by two 250hp outboard motors. The seating arrangement was unusual in that the seats and were like saddles and had two grab handles at the front of each seat. This arrangement did provide a very stable seat. We had several trips through both sets of falls before getting on a houseboat where we cruised along for a bit before stopping for a dip in a small pool. After a BBQ lunch of barramundi we had time for a spot of fishing (only a few small fish caught) before getting back on the fast boat for another trip though the falls. By this time it was slack water so there was no fall in the falls. We then returned to the float plane for our flight back to Derby. Our flights gave us superb views of the area – sea, inlets, islands, rocky hills, plains and the sandy tidal flats.

The Top End

On leaving the Douglas Daly area we called in at Fenton Airfield, which was built in 1942 and was used by US and Australian air forces until 1945. In the area used as an aircraft graveyard we viewed a few small relics from the planes that were consigned there, some as a result of two Japanese attacks on the airfield in 1943. As we travel the highways in this part of NT we have seen signs to many old airfields and realise how involved Australia was during WWII.

We spent 3 fantastic days in Kakadu National Park. We went on a sunset boat cruise at Yellow Water. The Yellow Water wetland is part of the South Alligator River floodplain and the boat trip was on both of these. At this time of year many of the waterholes are drying out and the wildlife is becoming concentrated around the remaining water. During the boat cruise we saw thousands of water birds, some other birds and many crocodiles. As the trip finished we watched a red sunset over the water.

The next day we drove to Jim Jim falls, down 50km of corrugated gravel road then 10km of 4WD track. After this it was a 1km walk through forest and over big boulders to get to the plunge pool at the base of the falls. Only a mere smudge of water was coming over the falls but with the cliffs rising to 150 metres it was impressive. Al braved the cool waters of the plunge pool and took a dip before we walked back to the truck.
On our last day we visited two Aboriginal rock art sites, Nourlangie and Ubirr. Both sites have interesting rock art and at Nourlangie there was a huge rock shelter, big enough for several families to live in. Near Nourlangie we went to a billabong that had lots of birds and water lilies. We timed our visit to Ubirr to see the sunset over the nearby floodplain. At Cahills Crossing on the East Alligator River we went crocodile spotting, it wasn’t hard to spot them and we saw several of a reasonable size.

After Kakadu we drove to Litchfield National Park, which is very different. It is greener with more trees and has several easily accessible waterfalls. We spent a lovely afternoon at the Buley Rockhole, which is a stream with about 10 small cascading waterfalls each running into a lovely rock hole. The rock holes are 5 metres across and some are more than 2 metres deep. The water temperature is perfect. We found a nice pool and spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing in the shade. While we were sitting on the rocks we saw two water monitors climb out of our pool. They must have been under the bank while we were swimming.

We spent a couple of days in Darwin before Nicky caught a plane to return to Christchurch, our month with her passed very quickly. We are now camped at Manbulloo cattle station camp ground, about 10km west of Katherine, so are poised to head west to the border into Western Australia.

We are noticing the steady increase in daytime temperatures as the summer season approaches. For the last 3 weeks daytime max has been into the 30's. Yesterday it hit 36 deg, and at the moment it is about 35 deg. It's pleasing that the truck copes with pulling the caravan in these temperatures. The temperature gauge never moves from its normal position (maybe it's jammed) even with the aircon going full blast for our benefit, although the radiator fan cuts in and out periodically. We have had no rain since 2 June with clear blue skies since the end of June until about a week ago. The pattern now seems to be clear skies in the morning with a few clouds building up during the day, providing some welcome shade. Needless to say, sunsets and the night sky are amazing.

During our foray into Northern Territory we have done significantly more driving than in previous weeks. It is really starting to come home to us how big this country is. We have now been on the road for 19 weeks, travelled 16500km, of which 11600km has been with the caravan on.