80 Mile Beach, Broome 'n" Crocks! - May 23rd...

See photo - Aiden waving ..

at truckie, he even honked his horn.

After our break in Karrajini we headed to Port Hedland for some supplies and a refuel, after visiting the local BP and Coles we stopped 60km out of town alongside the "De Grey River" (82km NE) for a free camp. Our trip took us along beautiful scenery with 4 trailer road trains flying by! With the usual kids toilet stops, no trip was complete without waving to the passing truckers (Aiden not Bell). We arrived at our site and setup away from the road then we all went for a walk down to the river, as fate would have it Aiden strayed too close to the edge and soon after we were cleaning mud off him and his shoes!, he was not happy. Pretty soon an ore train came charging down the nearby line and across the river to the delight of the boys who wanted to get closer. We settled down for an early night, around 2am we heard something around our site so up we jumped, sprang out of the van only to find some bewildered cows wanting to know who parked some large white things on their dinner! Next morning we were off to 80 mile beach bright and early.

Arriving at the 80 mile beach turn-off we were not sure whether to keep on going by the look of the sign (bikers had left some messages to say it was no good !), we took a punt and headed done the gravel road, we arrived a little after 11am and setup in record time, even did the laundry at only 2 bucks a go. The place was lovely and people very friendly, we then went down to the beach!......... Well what a beach, it stretched as long as you could see in both directions (probably why it’s called 80 mile beach!). We were in for a dip and then after getting hit by 2 fish! It was back to the car for the rods and bait, where we were informed they caught a 3mt shark  couple of days back! I then headed back to the beach to get the nippers out of the water (did wonder why none of the fisherman on the beach were getting their toes wet!)



See photo - Aiden holding Bells Fish.



Bell and I threw in a line and low and behold, who caught the only fish on the entire beach for that afternoon.....well it wasn't me that's for sure! For the rest of the arvo the boys had a blast building roads for the trucks and Riley dragged Granddad up and down the beach to check out what the other 30 fisherman were up to.........nothing!

Following morning 26th, we were off at 8am to Broome 325 km away, we stayed for 3 nights at the Cable Beach Holiday Park. Bell did the kids school work with them in the car, then spent the rest of the trip trying to get a good photo of a hawk or an eagle. We checked in a little after 12 and while the girls and boys went to the beach while Ray and I went to get the salt and red dirt off the 4x4's........ no mean feat!

 

The girls arrived at the beach just in time for the Lifeguards to close it down due to a 3.5mt crock sighting just off shore! So they spent the arvo in the shore waves collecting pippies and watching them disappear back under the sand. Also admiring the crabs sand balls that covered the beach (made every day fresh with the tide changes). Suddenly a fisherman some ways down the beach got a huge bite and it was on to see what was at the end of his rod!.......... a stingray (apparently not that easy to remove due to the Steve Irwin episode!) finally it was off and everyone settled in to watch the marching of the camels along Cable Beach!

 

Following morning it was down to Chinatown for a coffee and a look down the old Pearle’s Jetty as it was low tide. There was a temporary warning sign on the jetty, as a few weeks before a backpacker (its never anyone else!) was down on the jetty at night (1st mistake), at high tide (2nd mistake), pulling a crab pot (3rd mistake), as he pulled the pot a 3mtr crock lunged out of the water and almost took his head off!   Apparently his pants needed to come off quite soon after (probably when he got off the jetty and back to the car park). So it was a quick photo and we got out of there!

 

We then went across to the Town Beach where the boys enjoyed a play in the free water park (this beach was closed due to crock sightings), we then went back to the van for an early satay chicken lunch before heading back down to Cable Beach for a swim (body surf for the boys) and another wonderful sunset with a Weber cooked Pineapple Cake following our Ham & salad rolls. After sunset we watch all the 4wd's negotiate rocks on the beach and it was time to go as we were suddenly invaded by a squadron of mosquitoes!

The last day with Nan and Granddad was spent with a breakfast down at Zanders on .....yes.....Cable Beach (where else!) and a short trip up to the Lighthouse to see the dinosaur footprints (no trip is complete without this if you are a 4 or 5 year old) then back to the Jetty and the beach to look for some Crazy Crabs.......... 21 to be precise!, we held the inaugural Broome Jetty Back Beach Crazy Crab Regatta ( BJBBCCR ), when the flag dropped they went in all directions! 

 

After lunch Bell the boys, Nan and Granddad headed for the Crocodile park, where they saw all sorts of different Crocks, Birds and Reptiles, Riley managed to wrangle 2 x holds of a baby croc and mum even got given a croc tooth by the manager "Marshall'! It was great and would recommend.

Next morning it was up early, after we all said our goodbyes to Nan & Granddad :( (could not convince them to stay any longer) and we were off to Fitzroy Crossing!

 

As you will see from the photos Bell loved her sunsets, can never miss one, and always brings snacks for the boys to make sure they are well entertained to enjoy the magic.

Here is another somers clip ...

 

Karijini - See it to believe it - May 19th...

Well so much for down time!, we are so surprised at how little down time you actually get. There is always something happening or something to do. It is hard to believe we have been on our trip now for 4 weeks.

See photo - Mt Nameless view.
 

See photo - House Creek Bridge.

Finally moving away from the coast we headed for an overnight free camp on the 19th May at House Creek Bridge (63km E of Nanutarra Roadhouse or 162km W of Paraburdoo). A lovely spot, by the time sun set we had gone for a walk, seen a Kangaroo and evidence of a flood running through the nearby creek bed. We found the fire pit and decided to light a campfire (which was re ignited by the boys playing with the old coals..... ) to cook marshmallows and generally keep away the mozzies!. We met some lovely families including one who are currently blasting around OZ for 3 months with no more than a camper trailer and an eski !!!..... we are defiantly doing it 5 *.
An early start found us heading to Tom Price for an overnight stop, it's now only 1 day until we see Nanna and Granddad Smith. After a quick drive around town we headed for the caravan park to set up, then a 4wd up Mt Nameless to checkout the view. It is a 4 km, steep mountain requiring low range for the last 1/4,  the view was very rewarding, on one side was the mine site and the other was beautiful rolling mountains with any space not covered by bush or tree covered with spinifex. We learned that even though the vast amount of spinifex you see while green is very flammable the oil within will explode when burnt.

The next morning we packed up, parked outside the visitors centre along with a dozen other people and went on the Tom Price Mine Tour, the boys got down and dirty with some big toys!...... around lunchtime we did some food shopping and were on the road to meet Nan and Grandad at Dales National Park Camp ground in Karijini National Park.

Soon after our arrival at Karijini we were introduced to what we now call "Kimberly Clean"...... the boys managed to almost cover themselves with the marvellous red dust of this amazing place! We setup and headed off to the Fortescue Falls swimming hole, there was a cliff face where I climbed and jumped off 8mt into the water to the delight of the backpackers! That night we settled down to a Pork Roast cooked on the Webber and a night under the stars. First light we were off down to the circular pool lookout and then back to the waterfall for the afternoon for another swim this time in Fern Pool.

Our final day found us on a 1 hour trip from Dale to Weano ( 1/2 hour of that on gravel ) to the viewing platform Junction Pool. Bell and I left the kids with Nan and Granddad and we hiked down Hancock Gorge for the amazing view's, some spots we climbed along walls stepped with rock, other spots the shoes where of and we where in the water. Nan and Granddad took the boys on a little trek of there own, with no injuries to report.

We were able to convince Nan and Granddad to continue on with us for a bit as the 3 nights we had just flew, and we where only just getting into it. The boys and us just loved having Nan and Granddad around.

Before we left after our 3rd night, in the morning the boys met the local Aboriginal Ranger and after answering all the activity questions they were given on their first day, they were then presented with their Karijini Junior Ranger Badges! We also found out some very interesting information, including just over a year ago the camp was ablaze after a lighting strike, no one was injured, but the evidence remains as you can see by some photos.
click here Tom Price to Karijini movie

Carnarvon to Coral Bay... no flies on us! - May 11th...

Leaving Denham we were on the road before 9am, all was double checked and ready to go, so hooked up and as we passed our site on the way to the exit (avoiding the speed humps), I glanced across to see something gleaming from the tap at our caravan spot........it was the hose adaptor which had been left behind (a cardinal sin of campers)......there would be repercussions for Belinda!!!

 

We set off and after the barrage of "are we there yet's" the boys settled down to watch the GPS click down to 100km from our destination and they were allowed to have their movies! We arrived in Carnarvon and setup our site (within distance of the play park and the bouncy castle) a 5yo"s nirvana!

Soon we were in the car and downtown to check out the sites, on the way Riley was complaining that his eye was sore (had been for the last day or so), so after getting to the doctors and unable to get an appointment...... it was off to the hospital for a wait!, well just 20 minutes later we were in, beat that RPH!!!!!! the doctor had Riley reading the eye chart like he’d been bribed with a pound of sweets (he didn't get a thing, apart from an orange eye and a clean bill of health!).

Next morning we headed along Southern River Road in search of the prized Carnarvon deliciously....the BANANA! we found a stall and refreshed our supplies (ate most on the way home). We stopped on the side of the road to have a closer look at a banana plantation, the boys now know this is where bananas come from an not the shop!! Our next destination was the Gascoyne River, we managed to get down onto the riverbed and trek across to the water.........you can see the photos that it is actually an underground river and what we can see is just the flood way????, on the way back we stopped to see the devastation of the most recent cyclone and what remained of roads and farms near the river. We then returned to our site for lunch and after what seemed an eternity of negotiating we went with the boys to the Bouncy Castle until dinner time.

 

That night it PERSISTED DOWN, we awoke to find more water then we had seen in months. After schoolwork we were off to the Blowholes, 80km north of Carnarvon on the way we visited the Lighthouse with a fantastic view of the area. Nearby was a sanctuary cove where we had lunch and the boys explored, found fish and crabs much to their delight.....(NO FISHING ALLOWED! ) The blowholes were great (once they got going) so we left and returned to Carnarvon to take the boys out and see the old Jetty........only to find that there was a TRAIN MUSEUM.........well was there some shouting and hollering from the midgets in the back! Once the excitement had subsided we got out and went to have a closer inspection.............. 6 million questions later and they were stuffing their faces with cheese and crackers, relief!

 

We decided to have Fish & Chips for dinner up at the OTC dish at the surrounding parkland.........well it would have been a good idea if they had not fenced it all off, think they need to update their advertising flyers, so back to the bouncy castle to the boys delight.

The next morning it was still raining, we managed to pack up the van from access hatches on the inside and all that was left to pack outside was the hoses and the awning, we were off again. We arrived at Coral Bay and it was still raining, Aiden had been complaining his ankle was sore,  so Bell gave him some panadol and he was into our big bed and out for the count. Bell and Riley went exploring and finally 3 hrs later they returned as Aiden awoke so we all could go down and look at the beach, it was amazing, the boys rode their bikes in the big puddles and we returned home for dinner books and a well deserved bed!.

 

Up at 7 and off to the beach for a snorkel, it was overcast but not raining, we went for a swim and found immediately some large Snapper following me around the bay (looking at my watch and wedding ring) the boys had a run-around in the rain and Aiden made it into the water only to emerge and disappear under my towel!. Back home for brekkie and it was off to the boat ramp and then for some 4x4ING down the coast south (5 fingers). We found a fantastic little bay and proceeded to catch our next fish (finger fish actually about 15cm long!) the boys had a blast with their new friends in the rock pools and beach, we met a poppy that had been coming here since 1964 and still loved it (even with the commercialism). We then dug out a tourist who strayed onto the beach with inflated tyres then it was time to go home. On the way we were hit by a massive deluge from above, we almost had to stop as visibility was almost zero, when we returned to the park there was water everywhere. We went down to the bay for Spangled Emperor feeding and we were not disappointed!!! There were approx 30 fish varying from 3 to 10kg in size swimming thru our legs and around our feet, it was frenzy! We returned to the van to prepare for dinner and we filled up our little rectangular 15LT tub to wash all our feet, only to find it was approx 50deg Celsius in temperature as it was artisan water..........lovely. 10 minutes later Belinda looked outside to find Aiden squeezed into the tub enjoying his very own Artesian Spa!

 

Next morning it was great weather, we were off north to Maud's point and some swimming in the warm waters, we got out the surf mats (for you over 35s out there) and taught Riley to body board.......... it was great!.  Then it was back to town via the old dirt bike course for some 4X4ing and then the fish feeding once again. After dinner we went down to see the sunset and on returning we watched the "lucky buggers" filleting there fish, Riley and Aiden were given a skeleton (what they wanted to hold) to pose with for a photo opportunity!

 

Tuesday the boys did their schoolwork and both Riley and Aiden made an extra effort "AIDEN WROTE HIS NAME FOR THE FIRST TIME" with no help from mum and got 50 cents ..... damn inflation! We did some domestics and then went on a glass bottom boat across the reef for an hour which just wet our appetite for Wednesday "Manta ray swim!", we met with Max and Linda for some snorkelling and Frisbee on the beach, Riley has got his confidence back and can duck dive and even clear his snorkel.

Max and Linda offered to look after the boys for the day so we could go and do the Manta Ray dive, for that we are so gratefully as without this kind offer we would have surely missed the opportunity! Following dinner it was back down the beach for the sunset, some locals and tourists commented it was better than Broome, the best they'd ever seen !!!, we visited the filleting spot on the way back and Riley got to hold a whole fish for another photo opp!.



See photo - Manta Ray.

The Manta Ray Swim was amazing (words are not enough  ... just do it), we can't stop watching the photos and video we took, to have these magical creatures just carry on their merry way as they fed right under us, by doing barrel roll after barrel roll as they filled their mouths with microscopic plankton. It is one experience we would recommend. It was a full day with snorkelling on reefs with all kinds of fish that were interested in us, you can definitely tell it is a marine park with no fishing. This marine park is the only area in the world that has a good population of Mantra Ray's.

Click below

Carnarvon to Coral Bay Movie

Denham, the gateway to Monkey Mia - May 5th...

In the morning we woke early to get in some fishing before the flies awoke, Riley and Bell decided to get in some dawn photography lessons and capture some images of Whalebone bay.  By 830 we were off to Denham just 33 km up the road.   It was a matter of minutes and we were arriving at our new Caravan park, this time it was the Blue Dolphin caravan park, just meters from the beach again. We setup our van and to our surprise (enjoyment) no flies!. We embarked on a search for supplies (IGA Supermarket) and a bottle shop and returned to relax for the rest of the day where Belinda carried out some School lessons with Riley and Aiden. By 5pm it was time for a BBQ and Riley and Aiden met their new best friend, Eskill aged 4 from Switzerland, he was accompanied by his parents, Simone and Remo, they were 1/2 way thru their 8 week whirlwind tour of OZ in a camper van, they joined us for a BBQ (rissoles and salad) and then a few cleansing ales + bottle of red wine........ by then it was well and truly time to turn in.

Up at dawn for the 20min trek to Monkey Mia, we all lined up on the board walk like little soldiers and when the word was given everyone walked a quickly as they could to the waters edge (not allowed to run), well those Germans are quick (kind of like the towel on the sun lounge scenario) It was an overcast morning and a little chilly, though it didn’t seem to deter the wild dolphins as the 9 came into shore for a visit and breakfast. They stayed and eyed off the crowd for approx 40 minutes while we all gooed ‘n’ gaared, then when breakfast was over they were gone! We also got a visit from a baby green turtle and a very persistent Pelican who came along for the ride. By 10am we were back on our way back to Denham where the boys were back in the classroom until 12. After lunch we decided to turn some boxes into toys with the boys, Riley built himself a Car complete with front and rear lights and a Blower on the bonnet, Aiden decided a Bobcat was the go and the building began.

Next day the boys participated in a Circus workshop and parade (which the boys ended up in) and was a main part of the 4 day Shark Bay Fishing Feista.

Mothers Day found us up at the crack of dawn and once again on the way to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins, at first they didn’t arrive and we were left standing around for an hour and half, then I decided to get something from the car................only to return and find the crowd oooing and ahhhing at our grey guests, I managed to find Bell and the boys who were in the middle of the crowd. Then came the time everyone was waiting for, the chance to hand feed one of the dolphins, they feed only 4 female dolphins and then only 5 fish each, to our surprise the first person called was to the gentleman with the red cap and the 2 little boys..... so Bell shoved the camera in my hands, grabbed the boys and was off!, we hot some great shots and it was over in 5 seconds............. her third Mothers Day present (second was a kiss from the boys)

We then went back to Denham for the Kids fishing comp where we caught 3 fish (well more like fish fingers).

We followed the next day with a trip to the Perrion National park and some 4X4 action, on the way we stopped to visit the Wind Turbines which power 30% of Denham’s town site, we also stumbled across 22 furry caterpillars which the boys wanted to bring along for the ride. We saw the Little Lagoon and on the way several baby Emu's and on the 20km track to the Big Lagoon we encountered some huge burms and Ranger Danger at the BBQ's, who spent a good 15 minutes answering all of the boys questions........... Following our busy day Bell and the boys spent the afternoon at the pool while I prepared Greg Malouf's marinated roast lamb (cheers Tom for the recipe) and had a few quiet ales!

The final day found us at Monkey Mia ........ did I mention to see the Wild Dolphins?, the boys and I built the closest thing to a racetrack/open-cut mine ever seen on the beach! We returned to the van and proceed to pack for our next trip to Carnarvon, while I was doing a few things I touched the jacklegs on the van and got electrocuted!!!!.   I switched everything off and called the town electrician, he arrived to find the van had 120VAC live on the chassis, I checked the Caravan power socket to find the RCD  crackling...........needless to say our van was fine when we changed power supplies! We are so lucky as Aiden was telling us there is something under the Caravan biting him, when he was playing hide and seek with his friends!

The boys are loving the slide shows and we are burning them to disc so they can watch them in the car, enjoy Denham and Monkey Mia See you in Carnarvon!

Hamelin Pool, Nanga & Whalebone - May 3rd...



 

Our next stage of our trip took us to our first uncharted territory. Belinda drove for the first 120km as we headed for Hamelin Pool – where the oldest and simplest miro-organisms have lived over the last 3.5 billion years, the Stromatolites although amazing to think of how old they are, are overshadowed by the vast beauty of trillions of shells along this stretch of coast...... quite incredible. Pictured is our shadows at Shell Quarry at Hamelin Pool. Riley & Aiden bought some shells back to the camp site……. and made sand! Using dads hammer and some rocks which finally turned into many small rocks! This was a good distraction for Aiden who seemed to be having a meltdown about every 2 or 3 days, as he gets so tied in the late afternoon, something he will learn to adjust to over the next few months. I don’t think he actually sleeps very well as he spends so much time yelling out in middle of the night in his sleep, or playing with his cars!

 

 Now here is some advice for all you reading this, “You can’t swim at Hamelin Pool!” so we took a drive out to Nanga where the 4WD had its first blast on the beach.  We dropped in a finishing line .....still no luck. However the kids were so tired by 2pm we put a movie on in the car for the boys, whilst we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the beach, you know mum and dad relaxing time! We then pumped up the tires and went on our way back to Hamilon Pool, along the way we detoured down a tiny dirt track only to come around a bend and face to face with a Semi Trailer water tanker!!! If only you could have seen our faces, by the laughter from the truckie he thought it was pretty funny! Heading back we enjoyed Hamelin Pool sunset as pictured.

Following our trip to Nanga it had us packing up all our gear and moving to the Nanga Camp site, with a beach where you can swim & fish it was definitely more child friendly than Hamilon Pool......Bell caught our first fish, a baby flathead, which we sent back the deep blue sea.

Wednesday 4^th May found us free camping for the first time at the Whalebone campsite on the very edge of the beach, this was 33km south of Denham............with a huge colony of bush flies. That said it was one of the most scenic beaches along the coast and we parked literally 3 meters from the ocean edge! We spent the middle of the day inside the caravan watching National Geographic movies, Bell cooked a cake and played some games. We took a number of long walks along the waters edge to escape the flys, but they still managed to find us, even under our mozzie nets! However they magically disappeared at sunset.   Dawn, sunrise and sunset here is just fantastic, even the boys commented how beautiful it looked (see picture). Chris & I then spent the evening watching the billions of twinkling stars,.................. we were in the middle of nowhere. 

 

We then head to Denham the most Westerly town in Australia (26th parallel).

Did you know that Denham could have been the biggest tourist attraction in Australia. Once the main street was literally paved with pearl shell following over a century of pearling, until some Einstein thought it would be a good idea to lay a bitumen road straight over it!!

Enjoy the movie Hamelin Pool, Nanga & Whalebone 

Kalbarri our stay - April 27th...

Back on line again and get read for a lengthy update .....No fish yet … we tried this morning and also this afternoon, we even fished where the others were, but still no luck. Not sure if the plastic bait is a goer yet …..or is it just the lack of experience.  The following day we visited the ‘Rainbow Bird Park’, it housed a huge array of birds from Parrots to Macaws. We then headed to the park for a sausage sizzle at the local beach and met a lovely couple traveling from out of the back of a station wagon. She was French and he was studying at Sydney Uni, one of his topics was politics, so this made for interesting conversation!!  We then headed to Natures window (pictured) located at the national Park. Chris & I visited there 8 years ago and had forgotten how beautiful it was. We also had our first serious introduction to fly’s….. do we love fly-nets!!

Before we left Kalbarri, Riley had to make sure he said goodbye to his new favourite pet... the white Cockatoo named Fred. Although we were not game to put our hand in the cage, Riley had Fred loving him, as he had his whole arm in the cage!! It was hard to watch, but worth it when he came out with no injuries.



 

The boys met a lovely little friend, along with the many others. Her name was Kammy (German origin) and was very cute……. the boys love her. They are travelling along a similar route as us, so we are catching up again at Hamelin Pool and Denham.  Each day there is so much to see and do, there is a never ending barrage of questions, and the boys are learning so much … I would not know where to begin.

We have to just take a moment and check out the boy’s injuries… we have a list a mile long, some even over the top of previous ones which have just healed. Although finally today there have not been so many accidents…. maybe they are getting more accustomed to the rugged outdoors, as usual they will learn the hard way.

Here is another video .. Kalbarri Video