A truly WONDERFUL weekend!!!

We landed in Carnarvon late this afternoon.  We’ve spent the last two days camping out, on the furthest peninsula in Shark Bay.  It’s been an awesome time.

We left our vans at Hamelin Station, which is an actual sheep farming station.(aka ranch)  And then we headed off to the most western point in Australia, Steep Point.

We stopped here for morning tea.  We had heard a story about a mackeral in these waters, so I tossed a line in to see if I could catch him.  I actually spotted the two foot beast in the shallow waters, but he never even went near the bait!  hrrmph!!

We crossed sand dunes and salt lake pans.

 

 

 

It was like we took a wrong turn and landed in the Sahara desert!!

 

 

We stopped here for lunch.  While I made sandwiches, Chris threw a line in and spotted a dorsal fin that belonged to a  4ft shark in these shallow waters.  I collected some really neat pieces of coral and seashells along this shore.

This was our camp for the night.  Right next to the seashore. Once the tents were set up, we headed up to the furthest western point for the sunset.

 

We watched the sun set at this point.  Col even spotted some whales out at sea, making their way north to the Broome area.

 

The power of the ocean is beyond comprehension until you come and listen and watch the roaring tide hit the cliffs with such fierceness.  And just behind that spray stands Col, right on the edge of  the cliff face.

  I always get nervous when he walks so close to the edge.  It’s like a 100 ft drop to the rocks below.

 

 

And the first day of camping ended at Steep Point, the furthest west you can go in Australia.

 

We woke up the next morning to fresh air and a cup of coffee. As we sat there waking up, I notice some fish jumping around in the water.  So we all quickly grabbed our gear to start fishing!

Fishing Goddess that I am, ..I didn’t even bother changing out of my PJ’s.  I just rolled them up and started fishing!  I caught two fish and found a starfish!

 

But this was no ordinary morning!..we saw some dolphins come in and the fish were just SKIPPING across the TOP of the water!  It was the most amazing site!  The dolphins swam furiously chasing and eating the fish we were trying to catch. 

But we had four fish, one each for breakky and it was beautiful!  Four pieces of whiting.

 

 

These blowholes dot the cliffs along the shore.  These two at False Entrance are fairly large ones.

 

The water was like a washing machine.  The swells enormous and pounding the the coastline with ferocity.

 

It was getting late in to the day, so we started heading back to the vans and it was still a long way to go.  Ol’ Eagle Eye, Col, spotted more whales making their way north.  Unfortunately, they were too far for me to take a picture of them.

We came back to the spot we had our previous morning tea, and while the boys put air back into their tyres, Margaret and I collected shells and watched the sun go down.

This has been such a wonderful weekend.  Not only did we see more fantastic sights, but we started the weekend with news that Scott was going to ask Jenny to marry him.  Congratulations to Jenny and Scott, we wish you both many happy years together.

A big day out, but a wonderful day out too.

It’s been a LONG, but WONDERFUL day.  We got up at 5am and left at 7am to go and feed the dolphins at Monkey Mia. (pronounced my-ah, not me-ah. It’s Aboriginal)  This ritual has been going on for years.  It was in 1963 that the governments listed this whole Shark Bay area a World Heritage Environmental Marine Park.

When we got there the dolphins were already waiting for their FREE handouts.  It was interesting to see these beautiful wild mammals swimming so close to the beach ready for their interaction with humans.

The rangers keep a strict control on how much fish is fed to the dolphins so they learn to feed themselves and their babies.

 

These little guys were resting on the end of the jetty and just watching the people.

 

 

THIS,..is where we got the most excitement from.  Here at Cape Peron, we spotted two sea turtles, a couple of sting rays, 3 tiger sharks, and several dolphins.  All swimming around this cove for food.  We spotted some Skipjack, aka Spanish Mackerel, nearly 3 feet long!!  And one of the ladies in our group spotted either a sea snake or an eel amongst the rocks.(even though nobody else saw it, “sure Sandy,sure”)  We spent quite a bit of time at this point just gazing into to the cove to see what else we might find, as dugongs were known to haunt this area as well.  (there’s more photos in Flickr Slideshow)

We stopped here at Gregorie’s beach for lunch.  Once we finished, we headed up to the beach to have a look.

 

This is one of those special places where the contrasting colours are just vibrant.  We played in the water and we played in the sand.

 

  And Chris chased the birds for us, so we could get the birds in flight.

 

 

One by one, they flew off.

 

 

 

 

And, our first incident happened.  The Scout got bogged,..or “temporarily stopped” as Col says.  But with a few shovels of sand away from the tyres, he was out in no time at all.

This was a beautiful beach.  Once again, the red sand met the blue ocean and it all it does is make you want to take a swim despite the cold temperature of the water.

We weren’t sure if these guys knew they were just standing on a sandy shelf or not.  But the group quickly dispersed once they realized there were fresh oysters on the rocks below.

There were some large salt pans that we travelled through to get to the tip of the peninsula and back again.

And then incident number 2 happened.  The Scout got bogged.  AGAIN!!  4WD never got engaged.  Margaret said there was a loud “clunk”. Well, that’s not good news, but once again, sand was dug out away from the tyres and Col kicked it into gear and made his way to the other side of the hill on to the beachfront.  And much to his chagrin, Chris gave him a hard time about getting bogged TWICE in one day.  But he took it on the chin gracefully and with good humour.

We stopped in at the Big Lagoon on the way home.  Here we had a cup of coffee and biscuits to end the day’s excursion.

 

Yes, it’s been a big day, but an absolutely beautiful day.  You couldn’t have asked for better weather.  And we saw so many fish and wildlife today, it was exciting.

Tomorrow?..don’t know, I’m still savouring today.

As we make our way up along the WA border.

This is where we were today.  Overlooking Kalbarri.  Rob, this is where we were, when you and I were talking on the phone earlier.

View from the Hawk’s nest.  The Murchinson River flows very gently through this valley.  The warm sun felt good on our backs as the cool breeze flowed around us.

Just a little further up the river, we found a spot where we could walk down to the water.  Chris was braver than I, (and better balanced), so he managed his way over the rocks to take this picture.

This Banksia almost looks like ice creams in trees, as we travelled along the roads.

 

 

We stopped here for a quick cuppa and a bit of a fish.  The tea and biscuits were great, but no bites on the fishing line.

 

At the end of the day, we came back in to town and these little guys, Galahs, are EVERYWHERE!  feeding on grass seeds as the sun goes down.

 

We didn’t stay to watch the sunset tonight, but we did have a peek at the waves washing ashore.

 

And today, I feel a bit more settled knowing we’re on the last leg of our journey.  We have three more months to go and I can honestly say that I’m ready to head home now.  But there IS more to see and do, so we’ll take it all in as we head back to Hervey Bay.

Walking in Jurassic Park and sampling seafood…

Move over Fred Flintstone.  I’m sure we went to Jurassic park today and the only thing missing was the dinosaurs!

A little over 100klms north of Perth is a park called The Pinnacles.  These limestone structures were left over from 400 billion years ago, as they formed up around the tree roots of the ancient trees.  The sands have formed up and receded down around these rock formations for years.

This one way path led us through this valley of limestone boulders.  It was an eerie sight to see these still standing after so many years.

 

It was an amazing sight to see this, and I was so surprised to see so many people here!  It’s amazing what you find in the remotest places!

We ended the day near a small outlook across the water.  As you can see, we’re due for some rain tonight.

And for the first time in 18 years, I had some lobster for dinner.  The lobster we saw further down in South Australia, was far too expensive, but this little beauty was only $20!!  So I bought two. And while poor Chris has allergies to some shellfish, lobster included…he did not go without.  He had scallops and pickled octopus.  So a seafood fest was to finish our night out.  And tomorrow we head up to a little place called Monkey Mia.

The last couple of days in Perth before we head off…

                                                                                                  Forty five pictures. That’s how many I took of this beautiful sunset over Lancelin, north of Perth.  We watched the crayfish boats come in and drop their loads off and then moor their boats for the night.  The locals tolerated our presence as we stood on the jetty sipping tea and watching the sun slide down in to the Indian Ocean, as they tried to manoeuvre their cars around us.

We found this Gravity Observatory in the middle of the bush near GinGin.  THIS, was a very interesting place.  They talked about the laws of gravity and the effects of gravitational waves on the planet.  A real eye opener.  No, this picture isn’t an eye…but a black hole.

This little guy was out the front of the building.  He was very busy eating as much of the nectar that he could, off this Banksia bush.

 

 

 

Earlier in the day, we stopped for lunch at Two Rocks Marina.  We sat in the back of the cars eating our sandwiches as we watched a fishing boat come in to the marina on the opposite side of the road.

THIS is one of the things I love most about Australia.  It’s pristine waters.  I never get tired of seeing the azure water.

 

And tomorrow, we get ready to continue our trip.  We’re even going to try and squeeze another movie in before we go, as it will be the last time for a while.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos on Slideshow.  I do apologise for so many sunset shots, but it was bound to happen, especially after taking so many.

Big day touring off the Western Australian coast

We did a WHOLE day of touring yesterday.  We chose Option 5, which was to have a ferry to Fremantle, a tram tour IN Fremantle, and then a ferry out to Rottnest Island, which is just 19klm off the coast of Perth, and THEN,..a tour coach ride on the island.  Needless to say it was a BIG day.

We were picked up at 7am and taken to the jetty.  It was then we realized that we were REALLY early.  So we wandered around and took a few photos of the general area.

 

 

 

 

Perth is one of the nicest cities I’ve seen.  The air is clear, for one.  The Saturday morning traffic is calm, flowing freely through the city.  So I played with all the different options on the camera trying to get a ‘feel’ for it.  And Chris went to get a warm cup of coffee.

At 9am we headed to Fremantle, towards the mouth of the Swan River.  The overhead speaker telling us about the “who’s who” owning which house, along the shores.

Our Tram and driver, stopped at the top of the highest hill, which was reserved for the Soldiers Memorial.  You’ll notice that the trams now have wheels instead of tracks.  This allowed the driver access to streets so that we could see more of the city.  And after seeing the old historic town, we’ve decided that we might head there tomorrow for the Fremantle Markets and more photos.

These markets opposite the jetty, allowed us to grab a quick bite to eat before heading off the Rottnest Island.

 

We landed on Rottnest Island, noticing the pristine waters that are similar to other areas in Australia. 

There are MANY moorings here for boats.  And little did I realize what a hotspot it was for tourists.

There’s accommodation here on the island, but there’s a catch.  They run a ballot to pick names out of a hat, so you can have the princely privilege of paying  up to $2000 per week for a unit.  Now mind you, you CAN have up to eight people stay in the unit, but still.  And if it’s in the middle of summer, you can overlook the little bay,…. where today there’s only 3 boats moored.  But in the summer, you won’t be able to SEE the little bay because of the boats being moored. 

And these little guys are called Quokkas.  While they move like a kangaroo, they have a ‘rat-like’ tail on them, but still a marsupial.  Rottnest Island was originally called “Rat’s Nest” Island because of their rat-like appearance.  It was later adopted to Rottnest Island.  These little guys are very cute, but if they eat human foods, they can be come sickly and die.

And because it was an island off the coast of Perth, the colonials decided it was a good spot for a gaol.  But this gaol was for aboriginals and later became a boys farm as well.  And then later closed to become a tourist attraction.

The waters surrounding the island can match any tropical reef in Queensland.  The clarity of the water was fabulous.

 

Most people hired bikes and rode around the island at a more leisurely pace.  But we were on the ‘whirlwind’ tour which captures a bit of everything.

And this morning, we’re off to the Fremantle Markets.  It’s their last day, so we’re hoping to cover that and see a few more historical buildings up close and personal.

Perth, we’re actually here, half way around Australia.

We’re in Perth.  This means we’re half way around Australia now.  We have four months left to explore the northern part of WA and the top end of the Northern Territory.  We’ve already figured out whatever we miss on this trip, we’ll pick up on the Canning stock route trip, so it won’t be a problem.

Today is going to be “organize” day.  Chris is getting tyres replaced and a general service on the Landcruiser, while Col is getting his differential fixed. 

So today, we have to work out where things are.  There’s a lot to see here in Perth, but the rains have started up and it  looks like it has settle in for a few days.  So I reckon a movie or two is in store, and maybe some retail “GIRL” shopping.  And we have to work out whether to see everything in one day or break it up over several days.  We’ll be here for a week or so,  so there’s no rush.

Okay!!  What to see first!…now where’s those tourist pamphlets?