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!