Australia here we come!: July 2012

30/6/12

It was market day in Carnarvon and the girls were up early to pick up some bargains. I stayed at the caravan park and updated our computer diary. In the afternoon we went for a drive and visited the Overseas Telecommunications Earth Station Satellite Dish. It is supposed to be larger than the one at Parkes in NSW but I think the Western Australians are talking it up a bit. It was used during the moon landings and was last used to track Halley's Comet in 1987. Then we went to Chinaman's Pool where the town originally got its water from. It was overgrown and we had to look at the water hole from a distance. We visited the small boat harbour and saw 3 dolphins playing in the bay. Then we drove out to and past the One Mile Jetty to where fresh seafood is sold straight from the trawlers. It was closed but at least we knew where to go for future reference. We found a nice sandy beach and the girls went for a walk and collected more shells.

1/7/12

Today was a nothing day. The girls walked to the IGA in the morning and bought some veggies for lunch. Then we cooked two rolled roasts for lunch. It was great.

2/7/12

Today we drove to Quobba. Our first stop was the lighthouse perched high on top of a hill. The view was endless. From there we drove to the Blow Holes and saw the Indian Ocean in all its glory. The huge swells entered the blow holes and sent water spraying 20 to 30 metres in the air. It was spectacular. Then we drove to Point Quobba and saw the camping area and walked on the small beach in front of the camping area. It fronts onto a small lagoon and would be a great place to swim in summer. Then we drove to Quobba Station where there is a working sheep station and caravan park right on the water. There is no beach on this part of the coast as there are high limestone cliffs overlooking the water but the scenery is still great. We had lunch at a small clearing alongside the cliffs. It was windy so we ate lunch in the car and then we stood at the top of the cliffs to watch the water crashing against the rocks below. It was spectacular!

3/7/12

We had another sightseeing day and drove to Rocky Pools. Rocky Pools is a permanent waterhole in the Gascoyne River about 20kms from town. Mary-Anne and Karen were delighted to see their first black swans. There were supposed to be fossils lying everywhere at Rocky Pools but I couldn't find any. We drove back into town and had lunch on the water front with our mates the seagulls. The girls had seen an Arts and Craft shop a few days earlier and I was threatened with death or serious injury if I didn't take them there. I waited out front and got sun burnt as I listened to the OOOO's and RRRR's from the girls as they flitted from one crafty thing to the next. Karen found a knitted jacket for our granddaughter, Stella, and Mary-Anne bought a crafty bag for her knitting. Then we went to Mitre 10 and we bought man stuff!!! After we returned to the caravan park I used the man stuff we bought at Mitre 10 and attached permanent clothes lines to the awnings of each caravan.

4/7/12

We had another lazy day at the caravan park. At lunchtime Mary-Anne cooked homemade pizzas in her Weber Baby Q using a pizza stone. We all looked like Paragonian Blowfish after devouring 4 large pizzas and the rest of the day was spent lying around like Mexicans. Speaking of Mexicans, it was State of Origin day as well. Guess what the final score was? Queensland 21 – NSW 20. That's 7 series in a row. GO QUEENSLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5/7/12

We were up early this morning and still full of vigour from the State of Origin. While Karen and I washed the passenger side of our caravan and our annexe, Mary-Anne drove to the Caltex Service Station and refuelled. On her return we hooked up and left Carnarvon. Our destination for today was Denham. We stopped at the Wooramel Roadhouse for morning tea. Mary-Anne had a pastie and I had a pie. Karen decided to be healthy and had tuna (Yuk!!). Our next stop was the Gladstone Lookout. There is a steep bitumen track to the top of a small hill that provides 360 degree views from the coast to the desert sand dunes. We parked next to a Galaxy Caravan that was parkd beside a Montana caravan. Both caravans had Queensland registration. It wasn't hard to find the owners of the caravans and we took up with them. We discussed the result of the State of Origin and compared our two Galaxys. We took the mickey out of a poor young bloke who happened to be parked nearby with his NSW registered car and caravan. He was very meek and mild to say the least. After chatting, we took in the view and then hit the road again. Our next stop after turning onto the Denham Road was Hamelin Pools. This place is famous as it is the only location in Australia that has living Stromatolites. Everyone knows what a Stromatolite is! Yes, that's right. They are living fossils. They were the first living life forms on earth and they are very patient. For 2 billion years after they first came into existence they took in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the ocean and gave off oxygen. After 2 billion years they produced enough oxygen to allow other life forms to develop. They are our great, great, great times 1 million ancestors. There is a board walk that allowed us to view these ancient creatures in their full magnificence. There is also an old quarry on the beach where shell blocks were cut out and used as building material. Millions and millions of tiny shells have been washed up on the beach to a depth of 8 metres. Rain water, over thousands of years, has released calcium from the shells and caused them to be cemented together. They were cut by cross cut saw to the size of a large besser brick, but about a third the weight. Eventually we arrived at Denham and after a quick visit to the Visitor Information Centre we went to the Shark Bay Caravan Park and paid for 3 nights. This was the first caravan park so far where we could not get adjoining sites. It had to happen sooner or later. It was too late in the day to do any sightseeing so we set up and had an early tea.

6/7/12

This morning we visited the Visitor Information Centre and the girls booked and paid for a two and a half hour cruise around Shark Bay. We drove to Monkey Mia and we were in time to see a large number of people standing in the water feeding dolphins. Our cruise boat was moored at the jetty where the dolphin feeding takes place. We only had to wait a short time before boarding and we were off. On the way to the Blue Lagoon Pearl Farm we saw dolphins riding the bow waves of the catamaran. At the Pearl Farm we left the boat and entered a floating pontoon from where they process everything to do with pearl farming. A young bloke gave us a 20 minute talk and explained how the oysters are seeded to produce cultured pearls. He also told us that cultured pearls containing gold nuggets and opal have been successfully grown but you have to be Kerry Packer to be able to afford to buy any. After the Pearl Farm we sailed to the sea grass area and started looking for dugongs. As luck would have it we did manage to find one lone dugong lazing in the sea grass. We were told that the water is too cold for dugong at this time of year and it appears the other 29,999 dugongs had swum around the point to deeper warmer water. They must have taken the 50,000 tiger sharks with them because we didn't see one. We had a great time on the cruise and it was over before we knew it. Back at Monkey Mia we had lunch overlooking the beach and were entertained by many dolphins swimming back and forth not far from the water's edge. On the way back to Denham we stopped at Little Lagoon. It apparently was a salt clay pan before the last Ice Age and the melting ice filled it with water. Then over many thousands of years a small creek made its way to the ocean and now it is tidal and connected to the pristine waters of Shark Bay. We had a drive around Denham and parked on the waterfront. The girls walked along the esplanade and I walked out onto a small jetty and did some successful baby shark spotting.

7/7/12

We woke at 6.00am this cold morning and the girls prepared themselves to feed dolphins at Monkey Mia. We arrived at 7.30am and we were the only ones there. It didn't take long for the crowd to gather and by 8.00am there must have been well in excess of a hundred people all shivering and psyching themselves up to stand in knee deep cold water. While we were waiting, many pods of dolphins came to the feeding area and left again. When the dogooder ranger gave the 'enter the water' command there were no dolphins in sight. About a hundred people of all ages, not me, stood in the freezing water waiting for something special to happen. All they got was the monotone dribble from a wanker dogooder ranger for 45 minutes which I'm sure even bored the dolphins. Everyone stood freezing and eventually a couple of small pods of dolphins came in close and left without a feed because the ranger wanted to continue his dribble rather than feed them. What a sham! A lot of the people there had flown half way round the world to experience something special and all they got was him. Mary-Anne got the shits first with his crap and left the water followed a short time later by Karen. Both girls had steam coming from their ears with frustration and anger at being ripped off. All was not lost, we went to a nearby cafe and had an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast. Eventually we left the cafe looking like we had each swallowed a dolphin. We left Monkey rip off and drove to an old sheep station homestead in the Francois Peron National Park. The shearing shed and outbuildings have been turned into a museum and we walked off our huge breakfast looking at the exhibits. From Francois Peron National Park we drove to Ocean Park Aquarium and joined a conducted tour. The tours are led by marine biologists who entertainingly guide visitors through the aquarium while explaining all the different types of sea creatures on display. The highlight of the tour was the shark tank. There were 7 sharks on display including one 1.1 metre long tiger shark.

8/7/12

We left Denham this morning and our plan was to camp for a few days at a rest area called Nerren Nerren. On the way we stopped at the Billabong Roadhouse and had lunch. We arrived at Nerren Nerren at about 1.30pm and found a good solar panel friendly site. We set up the caravans side by side with the awnings just touching. It was a bit cloudy and there were a few spits of rain late in the afternoon.

9/7/12

We woke to a cold morning. 7 degrees at 6.50am and a beautiful cloudless sky. We had a cooked lunch and relaxed in the afternoon. We met a couple, Lex and Judy, who were from Bald Hills. It turned out Judy's daughter went to school with Mary-Anne's daughter Veronica and Lex was the maintence man at St John Fisher College where the girls had gone to school. What a small world! We had happy hour with Lex and Judy which was our first official 'Happy Hour'.

10/7/12

Today was overcast and rainy. Mary-Anne got her generator out and we connected both caravans to it and charged the batteries. Later it started to clear up and the solar panels began to work so the generator was turned off. We have been lucky so far. It was only the third time the generator has been used in 4 months. Karen cooked coconut bread and we all feasted on it.

11/7/12

It was overcast and rainy again this morning but it didn't last for long. The clouds cleared and the sun came out for the rest of the day. We had another cooked lunch and later in the afternoon started to pack up. Tomorrow we leave Nerren Nerren and head to Kalbarri.