80 Mile Beach

We stopped here on our way to Broome after leaving Port Hedland where we wanted to see the iron-ore ships being loaded - which we did. After turning off the main highway we had to travel 9 kms on some more corrugated, red road where we reached yet another oasis - 80 Mile beach.

We were going to use it as a one night stop over but were, once again, in AWE of yet another beautiful sight - so stayed for 3 nights. There was miles and miles of white sandy beach, littered with all sorts of beautiful shells from mother of pearl to brightly coloured cowies. I could not resist doing the granny thing collecting shells that I know Eva, Eloise and Ali will treasure. Not sure what Australia Post may think when I post them all. (I posted a whole container of dead butterflies that I collected at Coral Bay which I knew Eloise would love. I didn't manage to post a live dolphin to Eva and Ali which I know they love, though found some good plastic ones!)

When the tide was in the waves almost covered the beach. Fishermen then littered the beach. I loved watching couples pull in fish after fish on their sometimes very precarious lines. When the tide went back out almost a km or 2 of beach became visible. It was absolutely amazing walking "into" the ocean. As for the sunsets, again no words can do justice to the beauty.

It was lucky that we were able to use as much water as we wanted here - artesian wells underground. Chris spent a good while cleaning the car, caravan and our outside mat getting rid of all the red dirt from Karijini.

The N-W coast of W A must truly be one of the world's best kept secrets.

Karajini National Park

After leaving Tom Price we decided to spend 3 days and 2 nights camping in Karajini National Park - at a vast area set aside for caravans, motor homes and tents. There was no power, bush toilets only and we had to bring our own water. We set up our van in the red, red, red, red sand. (I chose to spend the 3 days hiking and climbing in my red socks so I didn't need to change them! Together with my pink T-shirt all I needed was my purple hat and then walk around spitting!!) We were very lucky as our caravan spot had a good bush toilet en-suite!!

We absolutely loved the big open space between each caravan and sat in awe under the stars at night. We have never seen the milky way look like that. We played our music on Chris's precious ipod as loud as we wanted - we were that far away from our fellow campers. Again, we had made 4 new friends from Philip Island and we spent a great evening chatting and chatting .... and once again, Chris fixed one of their TV set-ups. (We have a special folder of contact details of all our "new friends" that have invited us to visit when we pass by their way - must be Chris's technical abilites as no-one would go for me in my red socks and pink T-shirt!- I don't think???). We even used the generator to power the microwave and air conditioner for a short while...(some bush-camping)???!!!

As for the gorges - well we just had a complete ball. We read all the safety information, kept to the tracks and walked along tops of gorges and deep down along the bottoms. Getting to Fern Pool at the bottom of Dales Gorge and diving into the pure mountain water and feeling the force of the waterfall was amazing. We absolutely loved it.
We walked to circular Pool but didn't swim because it was far too cold.

It's almost impossible to describe the size and height of the gorges - a picture doesn't do them justice either. It's just something you have to do!!

We had fun and games driving along the corrugated, red, sandy roads to get to some of the gorges. Our car was almost unrecognisable but handled the corrugations in its stride. Chris is very impressed with our Kia!! Me too, as it just keeps going like a bird and is perfectly sealed. No dust inside!!

The huge termite mounds are also amazing and one wonders what goes on inside and deep under the mound.

At Fern Pool we met a couple, Scott and Mary from Florida USA, who are photographers. They are travelling around WA, and like us, are in awe of some of the beautiful sights they have seen. We will definitely be catching up with them as they, and us, make our ways further on through the Pilbara and the Kimberleys. They moored their home (the Egret) in Fremantle harbour. .. have a look at: http://www.nordhavn.com/egret/index.php4. They have also checked in to the same caravan park as us in Broome in 4 x 4 van lent to them by a friend from Freemantle.

Drive to Tom Price via Paraburdoo

Driving to Tom Price in the Pilbara felt as if we were driving through a huge Aboriginal painting of spinifex and the endless Hamersley Ranges. We were in awe of the scenery as we hadn't driven through a mountain range similar to the Drakensberg for years.

We took a very short detour into Paraburdoo which I have always wanted to visit just because I love the name!!

I am so glad we are travelling in the dry season as we don't have to look out for cyclones which this area is prone to experiencing.

When we arrived at Tom Price we could not believe what an oasis the caravan park was. We stayed for 3 nights as it was so inviting. Tom Price is almost completely maintained by Rio Tinto - a good Coles, the greenest sportsfields we have ever seen, a great visitors centre and the nicest, friendliest people. Almost everyone is a part of the Rio Tinto workforce.

Our new neighbours (we have had SO many great neighbours!) at the caravan park were a family of 3 children with a lovely mum, and a radiographer dad who was doing work all over outback Western Australia. We really got on well with them and were invited for a piece of cake for the mum's birthday. Again we swopped some music and chatted lots. They were great and were off to Broome for 6 months once the dad's stint as radiographer at Tom Price hospital was over. They were thrilled to have him as there was no resident radiographer - a pity for all the climbers who fall in Karijini! Apparantly there had been a few recent accidents that required a radiographer.

We also had great fun driving to the top of Mt Nameless - the highest vehicle accessible mountain in WA. It was a pretty extreme 4 wheel drive track but the car was great. From the top we could see amazing views and the huge Rio Tinto open cut iron-ore mine which we visited the next day. Chris was not too keen to visit the mine but found it very interesting once we got beyond the front admin offices. Seeing the huge trucks reminded Chris of real, giant Tonka toys and me of mechanical dinosaurs!! We stood together in the bucket of one of the excavators and realised how minute we were in comparison to the equipment used by the mine. There was red dust everywhere!!!

It was sad leaving Tom Price as it was so green and well maintained. I did all my washing and Chris was able to measure and fill our water tanks with enough water for 3 days bush camping in Karijini. The journey continues!

Coral Bay and the Ningaloo Reef

Oh my goodness! How beautiful is the place!!! It's almost as if no words can describe the beauty.

We were so lucky to get a spot for 6 days at Coral Bay on an ocean front site. The angels were looking after us as everyone kept saying that most sites need to be booked years ahead! We could not believe that we could fall out of our caravan, cross the street and snorkel in one of the world's most beautiful bays - until we discovered Turquoise Bay in the Cape Range National Park when we took a drive to Exmouth. Totally awesome!!

As we had not done any huge amounts of snorkeling before we were like 2 kids playing in an aquarium. We could not believe that anyone could ever eat snapper after swimming with schools of them in and out of our feet and legs!! We felt that we were rudely invading their space. It is just so good that everything is declared a marine sanctuary.

We had great neighbours who kindly shared their freshly caught fish with us. We made some great friends where mutual helping occured - fixing computers and piggy backing off satellite dishes. We shared a meal at the Ningaloo Reef resort with them where we heard a great guitarist and were surrounded by hundreds of young backpackers and travellers. Happy Hour it was!!

We were really sad to leave the Ningaloo Reef area and WILL DEFINITELY go back.

Even though Coral Bay was full (of people) it's amazing the way everyone shares and respects each other's space. On the beach at Turquoise Bay you could count the people swimming and snorkeling on one hand.

We didn't use our car for 5 days only our bikes which was good for saving petrol money - $1.74 per litre.

My only sadness was that we had never come here before!

Visiting Carnarvon

After driving through dry, arid country I couldn't believe the oasis that is Carnarvon. It is a small town lined with palm trees ( a bit bruisied and battered from harsh winds) and bush after bush of pink, purple and white bougenvillias. The people are the friendliest we have ever met and at every turn we were given help and information.

The plantations of bananas, mangos and countless other fruit and vegetables are absolutely amazing. The water from the Gascoyne River is micromanaged so that each plantation owner has enough for their needs - and 70% of Perth!! Walking around with a farmer's wife on her plantation was humbling to say the least. I will never take the beautiful fruit and vegetables that come from Carnarvon for granted again. I feasted on a perfect papaya, custard apple, avocadoes and pure mango ice-cream. Chris doesn't like soft, fleshy fruits so all the more for me!

Visiting the Carnarvon school of the air was also very interesting. We met a few of the teachers there who were only to keen to allow us to sit in on their "air lessons" which we did, listening to children from remote stations working with their teachers.

We could have happily stayed in Carnarvon with Chris keen to negotiate with the Ed Dept on reducing the delay on the phones for the kids and teachers at the school of the air! He was also invited to come down to the heritage restoration area to work with some laid back guys on restoring an old diesel shunter. They had an amazing workshed - sorry boy's playroom - which they disappeared into for a fair while! While I was waiting I climbed an old water tower where I could see the amazing view of the wetlands, Carnarvon town and the Gascoyne entering the sea. Carnarvon was not like I had expected at all though I hear the winds can be pretty bad. We saw a row of trees growing almost parallel to the ground as a result of the winds.

We drove down to a place called "Pickle Point" at the harbour and bought the most gorgeous piece of fish and freshly caught prawns - since we are not fishermen!! We saw huge, big fishing boats in the harbour which were awesome.

We'll have to visit Carnarvon again.

Shark Bay to Carnarvon

No wonder Shark Bay has been declared a world heritage area. It is magnificently beautiful!! The stark scenery contrasting with the ocean is breathtaking.

The little town of Denham was just up our street! Even though the caravan park was laid out on beach sand it was the cleanest, whitest sand ever. The contrast of the white sand and the blue ocean was a picture to behold. As we rode around the town we stopped at a funky little coffee place called "Clouds". We met an artist there who ran a small shop, studio and made coffee. I, of course, couldn't resist buying one of her clay statues. Chris ended up offering to help her install small lighting gadgets onto the back of her beautiful paintings. Down the track we will be in contact with her again.

It was very easy to drive to Monkey Mia from Denham (26km). We absolutely loved Monkey Mia and were truly touched by the awesome sight of the dolphins coming into the bay to "meet" with visitors on the beach and get a few fish to eat. I spent a good while chatting with one of the young volunteers who keep watch when the dolphins come in to the bay. Sometimes they don't come in for 3 days or more, but we were so grateful they came in on the day we were there. It was amazing!! We had the loveliest day and treated ourselves to a special cooked breakfast from the resort that looked out onto the pristine beach and bay. Chris had great fun "chatting" with the emus and watching a few topless backpackers on the beach.

We were sad to leave Denham and the Shark Bay Heritage area but looking forward to Coral Bay and snorkelling in the Ningaloo reef.