Australia

7 - 11 August

Before I go any further I  must introduce you to our new temporary member of our family, "Blue Trail Duster" but you can call her "Dusty" for short.  She is a HiLux Surf and goes like an absolute dream.  Nev & Debbie lent her to us for our exciting 'Road Trip' around Oz.

Off we go, leaving Dampier, travelling down the West Coast, carrying extra diesel in the back.

It is amazing, the campsites along the road.  You pull off when you see the sign.  There are tables & benches, very clean toilets, rubbish bins and places to park off and camp.  Hey some even have gas barbecues - For FREE! All you have to do is clean it after you have used it!  Really Amazing!  Now this is something you will Never see at home!

We make our way to Coral Bay where we will stay overnight.  We just made the gas station!  We were both worried that we would run out of fuel as we had used the reserve container as well.  "No Worries" (as they say in Oz) we now know the capabilities of "Dusty" so good experience all round except of course for our nerves!

Ok we are all tanked up and start looking for the 9 mile camp-site.  Hah!  We finally find the turn off and go down this very bumpy dirt road.  It was so corrugated that we thought 'Dusty' might just fall apart.  I know our insides were definitely all shook up.  Eventually we decide, after about 99 miles to go through one of the gates and find a place to park.  Hey it was getting dark and there ain't no lights outside!

Right we manage to cook some food before it got totally dark.  Hmmmm by 7:30pm we start looking at settling in for the night.  Ok Frank climbs into the back seat and I stay in the front.  Oh dear not a comfortable position at all for either of us.  We will definitely have to devise a better plan.

We get up EARLY in the morning, the wind is blowing and it's damn cold.  Ambition gets made and the morning looks a whole lot better.  We went for a walk over the dunes and found a gorgeous beach where we sat until the lazy wind sent us packing!

We pack up everything and start heading back to the main road.  Wow!  Hooray!! We saw a lot of kangaroos on the side of the road.  Just in time, I was fast becoming convinced that these large numbers of Roos just existed in the minds of the locals!  OK I SEEN THEM!!  We saw 2 Emus as well so a successful adventure all round!

Now we head off to Shark Bay National Park.  We decide to stay in a caravan park in Denham as we needed a shower and also didn't see any campsites where we could stay.  They all needed permits which we had to get in Denham anyway.  Oooooops A$10 each for the night, just to park the car and have a shower!

New sleeping arrangements.  We took all the big stuff out the back of "Dusty" dropped the seats, made a bed of sorts and slept in the back............ Way better!

Wake up early, like normal, put the water on for ambition and work out what we are going to do before we leave and continue our trip.

First thing - Monkey Mia.   We arrive there only to be told that dolphins have been in twice already and there isn't a guarantee of a third feed.  Positive thinking!!  We climb out of "Dusty" and go walk on the beach for a while.  Yes the dolphins came for their third feed!  Amazing, they are swimming just in front of my feet.  Awesome!  I got to feed one as well which was a bonus.

We left and started making our way back to the main road, stopping off at Eagle's Bluff.  OMG what a beautiful sight.  You are high up on a walkway looking down on this crystal clear turquoise water.  It is so clear that you can see rays, sharks, turtles etc swimming around, when they are there of course.  No they weren't there when we were!  Pity!

Now we continue and stop at Shell Beach.  There is no sand, the beach is made up of these tiny shells.  Quite amazing!

Ok next stop on the way is Hamlin Pool.  Here the biggest and oldest living fossils dot the shore of the pool.  Stromatolites are colonies of micro-organisms that resemble the oldest and simplest forms of life found on earth around 3.5 billion years ago.  These are new colonies, only about 3,000 years old.  The stromatolites grow here 'cos of the extreme salinity of the water, the occurrence of calcium bicarbonate and limited circulation of the water.  There is also a historic telegraph station, built about 1884, at Hamlin Pool.  It was very interesting.

Ok now time to get back into "Dusty" and head further down the Highway.  We pulled off into a roadside camp and settled for the night.  Oh Heavens, it was cold!  We froze our butts off again.  Nobody must tell me Oz is only Hot!  Hah!! Finally the sun rises and after ambition we set off.  We pull off into a town called Geraldton and made enquiries of where we could buy a piece of foam to put in the back of "Dusty".  Very helpful people, we found a place and bought a single mattress.  Oh yes maybe we will get a bit more sleep tonight!!

After getting a few more supplies from Woolworths we hit the highway again.

We saw a sign to Ellendale Pool and decided to go take a look.  After a fair drive we turn into this campsite.  Wow!  The most crystal clear pool with a high cliff rising on the other side.  There are beautiful shaded campsites, toilets and Gas Braais.  I could camp here for a week but unfortunately we have to keep on moving.  We cook up some lunch and chill for a bit before moving on.

Later in the day we find a campsite for the night.  We are about 150km from Perth.

Mmmmm our mattress is worth its weight in gold!  No more cold sneaking up through the bottom of the car, and we can put all of the blankets on top of us instead of lying on some!  We get a relatively good nights sleep for a change.  All Is Good!

Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Australia

We arrive in Perth 21/07/2010 and catch a connecting flight to Karratha where Nev meets us.

Dampier is named after William Dampier who sailed aboard his ship, Roebuck, into the Archipelago in 1699.  The beaches are fabulous and as for the sunsets, which we watch every night from the back patio, are stunning.  The hills are amazing! You suddenly get this red/brown rock which seems just to have erupted out of the hills.

The Port of Dampier is the highest export port in Australia.  The main exports are Pilbara Iron, Dampier Salt and Gas.

We went to Hearson's Cove on 28 Aug to see the "Staircase to the Moon".  It only happens on Spring Tides.  The full moon rises at the lowest tide and shines on the rippled mud left, creating the illusion of a ladder.  We spent a great evening with Nev, Debbi and their friends, burning meat and chilling.

We drove through Roebourne which is a cultural town where some Aborigines live, on our way to Point Samson.  The coastline here is gorgeous.  We were going to have their famous sea-food lunch but it was sooooo crowded we left.

We drove onto Cossack which was the first port in the North West.  This was also the home of the pearling grounds until they were fished out.  The town was eventually abandoned by 1950.

Nev also took us to Miaree Pool which was awesome.  You go off the road a bit and then come across this picturesque clear water pool on the Maitland River.  It was so pretty with its long shade trees growing on the edge of the water.  Now this is an example of some of the places that you can just stop at and camp for a night or two.

Off we go camping at Karijini National Park for two nights.  OMG!  Red sand wherever you look.  The campsite was very stark and underdeveloped.  Nev and Debbie were not impressed at all.  They don't play with camping fees either!

We make camp, burn some meat and then All go to bed 'cos it is FREEZING!  Frank and I were awake most of the night as neither of us could stop shivering.  Our feet were like ice-blocks and no matter what we did we couldn't warm them up!

Up early, the morning is more pleasant until the wind picks up which makes it bloody cold again.  Definitely a lazy wind, no ways will it go around you.  It insisted on trying to go through you.  A team talk was held and unanimous agreement to packing up, going to see what we could of the gorges and then head home, was reached.

We went to Oxer Lookout and then made our way to Dales Gorge.  We walked down to Fortescue Falls.  It was very pretty.  It was a hefty walk back to the top.  The other gorges would entail walks and climbs lasting for 2-3 hours so they were given a miss as it was still blowing like crazy and damn cold.  We clamoured back into the car and we started our long trek home (approx 6 hours).

The rest of the time was spent chilling.  Frank also got to potter around with some stuff which was good for him.  We decided we were going to take the Toyota out that Nev & Debbie have lent us and Frank ended up reversing into Debbie's car as she arrived home from work!..............Oooops!  Oh well he had some more fixing to do!

I know I am not supposed to say Thank you but...................Thank you, thank you, thank you Neville and Debbie for allowing us to stay and irritate you and of  course a very BIG Thank you for the loan of the car!  You guys are amazing!  Wah Nev you can't even send me home for saying Thank You!

Well tomorrow we start our "Road Trip".  Should be fun, BUT rest assured we will get lost!!!  Oh well a new road, track, whatever, to travel down.  Mmmmmm the feet are definitely getting itchy!