Page 5

Outback adventures......

The following morning we continued our journey south. People had mentioned that Quobba Station would be really great to spend a couple of days. Good swimming and snorkeling. So off we went. The campground just south of Quobba station was very busy and didn’t look too appealing because they were improving the campground to make it more suitable for long termers. We decided to drive up to Red Bluff. We found an amazing spot with a beautiful view on the bluff and over the sea. Despite the enormous noise the waves made whilst bashing onto the beach during the night, we decided to stay 2 nights. We did absolutely nothing other than just spend the day on the beach under one of the shelters (see picture), played with the sand and the enormous shells, had coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. Swimming was not really possible at Red Bluff for the children. The waves were at least 10 times bigger than they were. Apparently not even the size of the waves normally are: we understand they are normally 10-15 times bigger. Crazy! But it explained the amount of surfers around....

After 2 nights at Red bluff we decided to continue our journey south and at the Overlander roadhouse we took a right hand turn in the direction of Monkey Mia. We had heard good stories about Monkey Mia with the main attraction that it would be possible to swim with dolphins. Interestingly, when we came in Monkey Mia we had to pay an entrance fee! We thought we were going to a village where a caravan park was + normal village facilities, but Monkey Mia is the caravan park/resort. Luckily they had a spot for us. Definitely not a good spot, because it was the parking of the unpowered sites, but at least we could stay there, have a shower, do the laundry and most importantly join the morning feeding session of the dolphins: the main reason for coming to Monkey Mia. Interestingly there are also heaps of pelicans which can be approached quite closely. Unfortunately it was not possible to swim with the dolphins. It is very much regulated, but the children still enjoyed it very much. We’re stunned to see how much words the children pick up at these events and how much they remember from the activities. Fantastic to notice.

Pelicans..... aren't they just gorgeous....wait till you meet the dolphins!

Because the site we had at the caravan park wasn’t exactly a nice one, we decided to stay only 1 night. We called the council to find out if we could get a permit to camp at one of the bush camp sites south of Denham. And yes, no problem at all. So we headed to Eagle Bluff just 19 km south of Denham. A beautiful spot with views over the bay. 100% free. Nobody else around, no facilities. Just our thing.

We set up the trailer and went to Peron National Park, which is north between Denham and Monkey Mia. A tough drive with lots of soft sand and corrugations brought us to the top of the peninsula. We spotted dolphins, dugongs and turtles from the look out. Beautiful place to be. Our little princess threw a tantrum, but that didn’t do anything to the feeling of paradise. A pity we could not take our trailer up there because it would have been good camping!

just minutes before the tantrum...

When we returned to the trailer it had already started. The wind (storm) I mean……. But a bit of wind we/the trailer can handle and we had a more or less sheltered spot.

So, we had dinner, children went to bed, we went to bed…… and the wind increased it’s force………. Mmmmm, maybe not so good for the trailer, because it was shaking all over the place. What to do when it is really dark, it is no option to pack the trailer and drive somewhere else…….? Well, we did pack the trailer, Rogier slept in the car and the children and myself made ourselves ‘comfortable’ in the wound down trailer. Those who have seen our trailer know that there is not much space left once the trailer roof is down…. But we managed, woke up early in the morning, it was still a bit windy and we had brekkie in the trailer which we wound up again. Because it didn’t look as if the wind was going to be less that day, we packed up again and drove to Denham to fill up the petrol tank and the gas bottle. In Denham we met the family from Tasmania which we met for the first time in Karijini National Park and later on in Tom Price again. Pretty extraordinary to meet the same family three times, without knowing where each of us was going. We shared our experiences whilst the children played together in the playground. Nice to see friendly people again!

We had a cup of coffee in Denham and drove to Shell Beach. Shell Beach literally consists of only shells. No sand or rocks to be seen. Mainly white cockle shells. Really beautiful and intriguing. The information boards told us that in Denham there are a couple of houses build from the shell blocks that the take out of the beach. Fascinating!

Shell beach

Because we wanted to spend the following few days at the peninsula with the intriguing road called Useless loop, we decided to spend the night at Tamala Station. Remember it was still very windy, so we were anxious to find a very sheltered spot. The very friendly Station manager pointed out where we could camp and said that if we would not be able to find a sheltered spot, we could come back, park the trailer in the sheep sheering shed and spend the night there. Well, that sounded very attractive after the previous night, but luckily we did find a sheltered spot. Unfortunately 5 or 6 other vehicles turned up. Must have been some sort of tag along, because they were very well prepared with lots of fire wood, a guitar and songs. They did well though and were quiet early in the evening.

The following morning we got up early to start our day trip to Steep point which is the westernmost point of mainland Australia. A must see for us of course! The drive to Steep point starts of very easy on a very well graded road. We read in the guide book that Useless Loop Salt works have a plant on the peninsula and just after the turn off to the plant, the road deteriorated…… soft sand, corrugations, narrow…. But boy, what a beautiful drive! Fantastic views over the dunes into the beautiful bay. Steep point is indeed a steep point. The see is about 100 m below the cliffs. Because it was still very windy, it was almost scary to walk too near the cliffs. For safety we left the children in the car. Somewhere we read the following: “if you are able to get up here, you are also able to take care of yourself”. Well, they meant that literally. Not only because you have to be self sufficient when it comes to food, drinks and mechanical things, but also because there are no fences, railing whatsoever to be seen here.

Locals (Shingleback) Zuijtdorp cliffs

Import Just a track on the Zuijtdorp cliffs

We continued our drive on the western part of the peninsula. A rough drive over rocks, sandy patches, steep inclines and steep sandy declines, very close to the cliffs (no fences…), but so amazingly stunning and beautiful. The blowholes at the Zuytdorp Cliffs are eerie. You can hear the wind coming through the blowholes and the cracks in the cliffs which make a noise as if in a ghost town. Again, the children stayed strapped in the car…. Way to dangerous to let them walk around there on their own.

We also passed by a memorial for the crew of a fishing boat which sunk near the cliffs in the sixties. The amazing story was that the entire crew drowned, except for the skipper. He was thrown out of the ship, was lucky to find an esky with the food supplies of the crew floating in the wild seas, was floating around on the esky for 14 (!) days and was rescued near the place where his boat had sunk. Still alive…… how lucky can you be.

On our way back to Tamala Station we visited the False Entrance Beach….. wow what a beach. Beautiful white sand, lots of tropical shells, great waves and just an awesome view over the bay. The children were very pleased to be allowed out of the car and be able to run around on the beach. A bit further we saw again blowholes (again no fences) and fantastic cliffs plunging into the sea. The day trip to Steep Point was really amazing and fantastic. Really worth the effort. Again we spent the night at Tamala Station. This time, nobody else around, hardly any wind during the night and not too cold. We had a good spot, right on the beach which was fantastic for the kids of course.

On our way out towards the Overlander Roadhouse, we decided to visit the Hamlin pool Station. They have a shell quarry (people used a saw to cut away compressed shell stones to build their houses with) and the amazing stromatolites (the oldest life form on earth - bacteria - and they are still alive). Very interesting to see!

Stromatolites - they look like stones, but they grow 1 cm every 100 year Shell quarry

We had coffee and lunch there before we continued our journey towards the south. Idea was to drive to Geraldton and spend the night there, but that was a bit too much. There we set up camp near the Murchison River. Free camp site. Good spot with lots of trees and cleared sites. But no facilities of course.

But, it starts to get very, very cold during the night. Quentin doesn’t seem to have any trouble with it, but Ykki wakes up several times a night because she kicks the douna away and of course gets cold. Both of us not only wake up because of Ykki, but also because we get cold too. Despite the several layers of clothes and the douna! Should we get back a bit more north perhaps?

We’re in Geraldton at the moment in the Batavia Coast campground just north of town. Just did the laundry, had a good shower and hopefully we will have a good nights sleep despite the fact that at 8 o’clock it was getting cold again (13 degrees Celsius is not very comfy anymore to sit outside). Tomorrow we will see a bit more of the town before we continue towards Perth. We’ll see how long it will take to cover the remaining 425 km.

Friday, September 26th, 2008

In the mean time we’re already weeks further in time and we’ve done a lot. We’ve seen the city, remote areas, wine areas, beach, rain forest, historical sites and much more!

But let’s go back to end of August. In Geraldton we visited the local museum. A really good place to learn more about the history of the coast around Geraldton and it gave us more insight in the adventures of the VOC and in particular the Batavia which ran aground near Geraldton. We had lunch in Geraldton whilst the children played in the fantastic playground on the esplanade. Absolutely great that basically everywhere in Australia these playgrounds are freely available and very well maintained. We’re gonna miss that in the Netherlands for sure.

Because we took our time in Geraldton we only made it to Indoo Lake Nature Reserve. A nice place, but way too many big mosquitoes and too our disappointment we also had to pay fees whilst there were hardly any facilities (except for not too clean toilets).

We continued our way south via the coastal route and had coffee in Jurien Bay. An interesting place and if we would have had the money and the opportunity Rogier would have bought a 2.2ha property which was for sale. Bummer!

Of course we could not miss the Pinnacles, so we set up camp at Cervantes at the Pinnacles campground. Absolutely deserted place with only a few people who stayed overnight to see the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are very interesting by the way. Intriguing to see rocks sticking out a desert environment. The children had a ball running around in between the Pinnacles and we enjoyed our tour through the Pinnacles.

The pinnacles

Being on top of the pinnacles...

And finally we arrived in Perth. The 3^rd capital city on our journey. We stayed 6 nights in Fremantle at the Fremantle Village caravan Park. Not too bad campground for a city spot, but it is amazing how annoying traffic noise can be when you’re used to hardly any noise than just the bats flying around and the occasional nocturnal animal scurrying around the trailer.

Just before we reached Perth I SMS-ed Kate Shoobridge, my ex-colleague from Nutricia. She immediately responded and could direct us to the right campground. We also arranged to see each other on Saturday.

Of course we had some practical things to do in Perth. The car was brought to the Toyota dealer for service and the trailer for some warranty repairs to the official Jayco repairer. We now hope that the shockies will stay where they are and will do their job properly!

Whilst the car and the trailer were to their respective dealers, we did some sightseeing in Perth. Also visited Malaysian airlines to get some brochures so we can prepare for our flight back to Netherlands with a 10 day stopover in Malaysia. We also did a self guided historical walk around Perth which was very interesting.

In Fremantle we had coffee at Gino’s on several days and we visited several aboriginal art galleries in search for a good dot painting. We found 2 beautiful paintings!

We also visited the Round House in Fremantle and walked around in the old centre of Fremantle.

One of the days we visited the markets of Fremantle. Buzzling with energy and a good place to pick up fresh veggies.

Rogier spend the Saturday morning in Perth whilst the car was at the smash repairer to fix the rear bumper. On Saturday afternoon we met Kate at the Claremont Yacht Club. She’d invited us to have a tour on the Swan River on a boat of one of her friends. Fantastic to do and we had a lovely time on a beautiful boat. I think the competition (time trailing?) wasn’t very successful, but nevertheless it was fantastic.

Racing on Perth harbour with friends in a big yacht...

And a drink after...

And of course the obligatory visit to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. We had a very negative experience with Virgin mobile whose monthly bill all of a sudden reached $400 dollars and after a couple of phone calls to lift the credit limit to be able to at least receive phone calls it increased to $800 dollars without even using the phone! It’s still not solved and we’re gonna send in a complaint to Virgin soon!

In Perth it was on an off raining with sun in between and pretty cold during the night (10 degrees Celsius). Not too nice, but it made sure we kept moving around!

We left Perth with a positive feeling: all clothes washed, bodies scrubbed, supplies stocked up, car and trailer serviced and the weather looking much better. We managed to get to Yalgorup National Park after we had lunch in Rockingham. Again the children played at the local campground whilst we ate our sandwiches. Yalgorup was a beautiful place. There was only on other couple in a caravan who arrived late in the afternoon and we basically had the place to ourselves. The lake nearby was beautiful and very serene. Amazing that nobody else was around. The only downside of the place was that it was relatively close to the highway to the south (3 km) and we could clearly hear the cars racing on the highway.

The following morning we had coffee in the historic centre of Busselton. A friendly place and they had good coffee at a place called Beans.

After coffee we continued our way and drove to the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. Our intention was to climb the lighthouse, but the admission was such that we decided against doing that. We also figured that because of the rain the view wouldn’t be so rewarding. Nevertheless we had lunch up there and did a walk around the lighthouse. Pretty spectacular views and a nice walk. (we took the stroller which wasn’t the smartest thing to do!). At the Cape beautiful white lilies grow everywhere. We later learned that they are considered weads! Amazing.

We decided to spend a couple of days in the National Park and set up camp at the Conto campground. Obviously the place is very busy during peak season because it is very big and well maintained, but we were there almost alone. Clean toilets, but otherwise no facilities. And a very friendly ranger.

We visited Augusta where we had lunch whilst the children played in one of the playgrounds. Really great that virtually everywhere in Australia playgrounds are available for the children. Well maintained and usually clean and with a picnic table and bench to have lunch or tea. We went to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and waterwheel. It was very windy and not too good weather……nevertheless a nice drive and great to do. We also did Bob’s track to Hamlin Bay. Initially we wanted to go via the track closer to the coast, but the ranger advised us not to do that because the track was very narrow and not maintained. We checked it out and even the very first metres of the track were already undoable, so we chickened out and took the tourist drive to Bob’s track.

We also stopped at the Golgotha rest area which was very impressive with massive Karri trees. Truly magnificent.

Karri tree Drive to the beach

Wine country (Margareth River)

Of course being in the wine region we also visited some wineries. One of them was the Leeuwin winery which was very interesting. Another winery had a lovely gallery. Every year they have a series of special wines with special labels which are designed by artists.

In the Margareth River region it was also not possible to leave without visiting one of the caves. Cave Lake was nearest to the campground, so that is where we went. A very narrow staircase leads to a beautiful cave with a suspended table and stalactites everywhere in all sizes and shapes. The guide turned off the light for a couple of minutes which Ykki thought was very scary. Even having us near by did not comfort her at all.

After spending 3 days at the Conto campground we continued our travels to the east. We ended up at the Warup National Park. Because it was drizzling all the time, we were the only ones at the campground! The weather was certainly not inviting and even the fire did not go very well because of the wet wood. The spot itself was wonderful though and certainly recommendable to others. We visited the Bicentennial tree and Rogier even had a go to climb it. Very scary.

Rogier went up a fire watch tree... a few steps...

Also bought some wine at the wine centre nearby. Very good and very good value!

Because it continued to rain we decided to try our luck a bit more east and set up camp at the Coalmine Beach Holiday Park near Walpole. A Caravan Park because we needed to do the necessary laundry as well as have a good shower. Amazing how good a hot shower can be after so many days in National Parks and bush camps without facilities. The campground itself was with lots of trees and a great playground for the kids, but a bit busy for our liking.

After we set up camp we decided to go for some sightseeing and did the giant wattle tree loop in Nornalup National Park. Massive trees which grow very wide at the bottom and very straight up. Fascinating to see and the children enjoyed standing in trees instead of next to the trees.

Amazing those trees have open bases...

After everything was clean (ourselves and the clothes), we again drove more eastwards. First we visited the Valley of the Giants treetop walk. That is an enormous bridge like structure which is build as high as the tops of the trees. The structure itself is not rigid, so whilst walking on the bridge you’re swaying like the trees. After finishing the tree top walk we did the interpretive walk through the forest. In the shop we bought two fleece jackets for the children. Red for Ykki and blue for Quentin. So far they really enjoyed the necessary warmth!

Tree top walk

Because we’d seen enough trees for a while we decided to go and try to find a campsite near a beach. Which we found in West Cape Howe: Shelly Beach campground. What an amazing place. Only facility was a (clean) pit toilet, but wow what a view. It was really fantastic to be there. Just a couple of sites and vitually a private beach. Not suitable for the children to swim because of the enormous waves, but it was too cold anyways. They enjoyed it so much that we spend two nights there. Fantastic. Because it was off season we haven’t seen the ranger, so for us it was for free. We were told that it could be very busy during peak season though. Initially we wanted to do a 4WD trip there, but despite the description of being easy in our 4WD book we chickened out after not even 500 metres on the track. We do like to paint on our car and don’t want it scratched. A pity because we were both really looking forward to it.

This is how we like it... beach with nobody around...

After 2 days at the beach we thought it would be good to continue to Albany. A lovely little town with good facilities. We stayed at the Emu Beach Holiday Park. An okay Park, but very expensive. And not very friendly staff. Nevertheless we stayed 2 nights because we wanted to stock up on groceries and do some sightseeing. We visited Tornalup National Park which was interesting, but because the weather was not great we couldn’t do most of the walks. We did see the Gap and the Natural Bridge which were very impressive. The wind mill park was fascinating for the children. And the Dutch nursery rhyme about the Mill was suddenly very popular.

Wind turbine park.... to secure their future!

Each morning we went to the Barcino. A place with great coffee, a toy box for the kids and….. free internet. Always nice! The second day we discovered that the lady who owns the place together with her sister speaks Dutch. When she was ten she came to Australia 20 years ago with her parents. And still fluent! Nice to chat and she advised us of a very good butcher.

After we all had a hair cut, stocked up on groceries and fuel we could continue our journey. This time to the North, because……. We were intrigued by the Holland track which starts in Broomehill. The Holland track has nothing to do with the country, but more with the explorer John Holland who blazed a trail from Broomhill to the gold fields near Coolgardie in the north. End of the 19^th century he covered more than 500 km in just over 2 months through rough bushland with hardly any water and or food for the horses. Amazing that he and his men survived this trip.

In Broomehill we spend one night after visiting the council office where they had lots of information on the track. We stayed in the council caravan park which was kept very tidy by a camphost. As if we were staying at someones place……that type of very good clean.

We followed as close as possible the route John Holland did from Broomehill to near Hyden. Mainly dirt roads circumventing the properties and some bitumen. A long drive though and the children were pleased to be able to get out of the car in Hyden.

Holland track signage...

Next page First page

Page last updated: 15-8-2009