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| walking the dunes at Lancelin |
Well, we skyped and emailed for six and a half months and then they were finally here. Tom picked up and brought our bone-weary, jet-lagged friends to our Western Australia home late in the evening on July 7th. It was great to see them. I hobbled to the door to greet them - I had badly sprained my ankle 5 days before.We talked for a short while and then they fell into bed.
The next morning Tom and the kids went off to their last day of school before their two week holiday. Shawn and Julia chauffeured me around to do some final errands and to pick up our van rental before we headed off up north the next morning. With only eight hours of sleep after over 30 without, they handled the driving on the opposite side of the road impressively well. Shawn turned into the wrong side of the road only once and Julia followed him. There were no cars coming the other way. Like us, they kept washing the windshield every time they turned on the turning signal for the first few days.
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| Shawn and Silka - Peek-a-Boo at the Pinnacles |
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| Tom and Julia, Pot Alley, Kalbarri National Park |
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| Tom at Pot Alley, Kalbarri |
It was soon Saturday morning and once the van was packed to the rafters we managed to get at of town - it was before noon. We stopped at the sand dunes in Lancelin and everyone went for a walk while I sat with my foot up and took pictures from the van. Our next stop was the Pinnacles. Because I couldn't walk, we decided to drive in. I stayed in the van and prepared lunch for everyone while they hiked around. People walking by looked in and did a double take when they saw this woman (me) sitting there swigging a bottle of wine. What else am I going to do when I can't walk?
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| eagle head rock, Pot Alley |
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| rock shelf at Pot Alley |
We pulled into Geraldton and booked into the "All Seasons" hotel. We got a family room with two bedrooms. We ate a less than memorable dinner at a local restaurant and returned to the hotel. Shawn crashed on one of the beds and didn't move until morning - must have been the butter soup he ordered that was supposed to be a seafood chowder.
We awoke the next day with Shawn and Julia feeling more normal and less brain-fried from jet lag. We ate a quick continental breakfast compliments of the hotel and we were on the road again headed towards Kalbarri and our stay at Murchison House Station in Kalbarri National Park. Station stays are popular here in Australia. The pastoral stations (sheep, cows, goats) are absolutely huge and many of them allow people to camp in designated areas. Camping fees are pretty reasonable at $7 - 13 per person and half price for kids. They keep the numbers low so most of the time you feel fairly isolated. Our stays at the stations were definitely the highlights of our trip. Now where was I?
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| looking down the coast from Pot Alley |
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| Salt Lake near Kalbarri |
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| Murchison River, Murchison House Station |
We stopped at Pot Alley, one of the park's attract-
ions along the coast. It was spect-acular. I crutched my way to a ledge (fell onto my butt only once - got a nice bruise to show for it) and sat while the rest of the gang explored. Julia went in for her first dip in the Indian Ocean since arriving. She said it wasn't cold. We decided to push on and get to the station where we were going to be camping that night - we would have lunch when we got there.
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| first campfire |
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| Julia on the Murchison River |
We arrived at the station mid-
afternoon and found a spot to camp along the Murchison River. While hobbling on the uneven ground, I fell again - into sand this time. Tom piggy-backed me to a chair he set up and I started making sandwiches while Shawn and Julia set up the tents with the kids and Tom set up the tarp. The kids liked playing in the army tank there and visiting the goats. Shawn and Julia, and Tom and Rein went for a walk along the river bank while Silka played with her new friend that was staying at the campsite next to us.
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| Banksia |
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| our campsite at Tamala Station |
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| a hike around Tamala Station |
It rained throughout the night - Tom was worried the river would swell enough to come up over the banks and carry us away. There was a loud crack in the middle of the night that woke all of us up - thankfully, nothing fell on us. We awoke the next day, packed up in the rain and headed off towards our next camping location, Tamala Station which is located at the bottom of Useless Loop around Shark Bay.
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| miles of beach at Tamala Station |
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| gratin' carrots for lunch |
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| afternoon cocktail |
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| Silka and Rein - a rare moment |
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| Tamala sunset |
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| hanging out at the beach, Tamala Station |
It rained the whole time we drove the 46 km on Useless Loop Road . This road is unsealed so it was a bit nerve-wracking driving it in a 2WD rental van. When we arrived at the station homestead, they told us that the place they had us booked in to camp may or may not be accessible because the tide was abnormally high. We decided after driving all that way that we would take our chances. Along the drive in, Shawn saw his first kangaroos - Julia saw one on the way up on the first day. We were about 3 quarters of the way there when we hit a huge flooded section. Should we turn back? Tom got out and
walked the whole stretch to see how deep it was. He came back and said he was going for it. He drove slowly as we all kept our fingers crossed. We eventually came out onto dry, dirt road and cheered for a while congratulating Tom on a job well done. We checked out "Tent Landing" where we were booked into camp but decided to keep going. We passed "Camp 7", "Snapper Rocks" and arrived at "Snapper Cove" - a fantastic spot that was all ours. This is where we camped for 3 nights. While we were there we saw dolphins swimming right out front, kangaroos hanging out nearby, and enjoyed fantastic sunsets. The first day, Shawn, Julia and Tom went for a long hike checking out other nearby beaches while I stayed back with the kids and played "Loot", a pirate card game Rein got from Shawn and Julia, and "Beach Bullseye", a game the kids and I made up where you throw rocks and try to land them in a ring of circles with various points. We had lots of fun. When the adults arrived back we got them to play a game before dinner.The girls team won, of course. The next day we decided to go to the nearby "shell beach" instead of the farther official shell beach which was about 40 km away. It took us about a half hour to get to a gate and then we could go no further. We turned around, picked up some wood at the homestead and went to the beach the adults discovered the day before. We had lunch and relaxed. Shawn and Julia played frisbee for a bit while I laid down on the sand and Tom and the kids went for a walk. Before we headed back the boys went for a swim and walk to an island close by in their birthday suits.
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| ankle physio |
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| Shawn and kids making sand art |
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| packing up the van again |
On the last day we packed that van up again, squeezed ourselves in and headed off to see the stromatolites before moving on to Coral Bay. When we arrived there, we had a bit of a hike to the boardwalk - good work out for my crutchin' arms. I'm hoping to do the gymnastics rings when Silka starts gymnastics again after the holidays.
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| boys returning from island exploration |
Stromatolites are rock-like structures built by microbes (single-
celled cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae). Shark Bay’s stromatolites are only 2,000 to 3,000 years old, but they are similar to life forms found on Earth up to 3.5 billion years ago! They provide a unique insight into what the world was like at the dawn of time.
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| checking out the stromatolites |
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| stromatolite swallow |
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| stromatolites |
There were lots of swallows around the boardwalk - they must of been nesting there. They were not shy at all. One even posed for Julia. Well, we got outta there because we had a long drive ahead of us and we didn't have any booked accomodation in the Coral Bay area - I know, all you Ozzies are thinkin' " What? Are you crazy?" Well, yes, I guess we are. We sometimes fly by the seat of our pants...
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| driving, driving, driving |
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| driving, driving, driving |
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| termite mounds and storm clouds on our way to Exmouth |
We decided to see if we could get in at 14 mile campground on Warroora Station. When we arrived there it was already dark. We drove around and were not able to find an available site. We decided to go visit the caretaker on site. Tom used his diplomatic charm and convinced the caretaker to allow us to stay in the overflow camping without a chemical toilet. We had the place to ourselves because he just kicked out a rowdy young bunch that were causing trouble.
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| huggin' a termite mound |
I guess he was pretty confident that he wouldn't have the same trouble from us - little did he know that we were a family of werewolves and it was a full moon...Shawn and Julia knew they should move to the van if we started howling. We set up camp and ate a spaghetti dinner that Silka spilled all over herself. I took the kids to bed and fell asleep with them while Shawn, Julia and Tom went for a night walk to the ocean. We were up fairly early the next morning, packed up and piled into the van just as the rain came down. We had breakfast at a bakery in Coral Bay. We then started driving towards Exmouth, our most northerly destination this trip. As we drove we started seeing these red triangular masses popping out of the brush and we realized that they were termite mounds. They were everywhere! Some of them were pretty huge as well - taller than Julia!
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| Pebble Beach, Exmouth |
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| giant clam, Exmouth |
When we arrived in Exmouth we stopped at Pebble Beach and picked up some pebbles as souvenirs.
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| Pebble Beach, Exmouth |
We also stopped at the MG Kailis Group Exmouth Prawns Seafood Store and picked up some tiger prawns to barbecue during our stay in Exmouth.Shawn ended up deveining them and preparing them for the barbecue which ended up completely turning him off of the meal. I would have suffered the same trauma. We were booked into the Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort for 4 nights. Caravan parks are not a place we would normally stay, however, this one was not bad. There is limited accomodation in Exmouth and Western Australians book their vacations a year in advance because of this. We booked a 3 bedroom chalet that was separate from the rest of the resort - away from the choc-o-block campsites. They got our reservation wrong and had a 2 bedroom/4 bed chalet ready for us. They took care of us though and changed the twin beds in one of the rooms into a king size bed and brought in two cots for the kids. They also reimbursed us for one night. The chalets were quite nice and we had barbecues and a big grassy area out front for the kids to play. There were of course plenty of other kids to play with and a pool as well.
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| Light House, Exmouth |
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| crab, Exmouth |
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| Shawn's first snorkel |
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| Shawn and Julia throwing the disc |
When we were unpacking the keys somehow got locked in the van . It is one of those new vehicles that automatically locks the doors when you close them and the engine is turned off - a real nuisance. Tom went and bought us beer and cider and over the next few hours every man that came by took a crack at trying to get it open. Success was finally achieved and we were able to unload the van.
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| view from the lighthouse, Exmouth |
While in Exmouth we spent part of everyday snorkelling. We snorkelled the Oyster Stacks and rode the current along TurquoiseBay. It was fantastic - and it was something I could do! Everyday I crawled to the shoreline, de-evolved back into the ocean and then floated free from pain. Once Tom dragged me along the shore to our "put-in" like a modern day caveman. Silka also snorkelled for the first time. We were all chuckling as she screamed into her snorkel at each fish she saw. We saw black-tipped reef sharks, sea turtles, stingrays, octopus and all kinds of fish of every size and colour and an incredible variety of corals. We would eat lunch at the beach and enjoy an afternoon beer/cider before heading back to the chalet. We would pass two wild horses everyday going to and from Cape Range National Park. We noticed that they would be on the same side of the road as we were in the morning and they would move to the other side of the road at the end of the day to catch all of us driving out. We started bringing apples and carrots to feed them. There was a brown horse that was pretty thin and sad looking - we guessed that he was probably pretty old.
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| sunset from the lighthouse, Exmouth |
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| feeding wild horses |
We stopped at the lighthouse and caught the beginning of the sun setting on the way back one night. The view was pretty spectacular from there. This was a view that we saw throughout our trip up north - huge skies and the land stretching for miles.
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| a snorkel at the Oyster Stacks |
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| Who's feelin' crabby today? |
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| the boys (Tom, Shawn, Mike) coming back from a drift snorkel |
Even though the vegetation is very different it leaves you with the same feeling you get driving through the prairies in Canada.
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| Meghan, Rein, Silka and Liam at Turquoise Bay |
During our stay in Exmouth, we met up with some other Canadian Exchange families. We had dessert with Colin and Becky from Saskatchewan and their two boys, and Diana, Mike, Meghan and Liam who we spent the day with snorkelling. Mike and Liam went fishing the day before and Mike caught a Red Emperor fish that was 18 kilos. He generously passed on some of his catch to us which we enjoyed the last night we were there. Thanks, Mike!
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| watching Humpbacks on the way to Red Bluff |
During our stay in the Chalet, Shawn, Julia, Tom and I played a couple of games of Settlers of Catan - they brought the card game version. I am happy to say that I won a round for the first time as a solo player.
By the time our day of departure arrived, I was able to walk around gingerly without crutches. Yippee! Before leaving town, we stocked up on provisions and water for our next station stay. We then climbed back into the tin can and headed back down south. The last station we were staying at was Red Bluff on Quobba Station north of Carnarvon. In close competition with Tamala Station, this was one of our favourite spots. The only down side is that it is a heck of a long drive in off the main highway. You drive about 80 km on a sealed road and them about 75 km on an unsealed road. Again, a challenge for a 2WD rental van. It was exciting driving in because we saw many humpbacks while driving beside the ocean, and we felt like we were 4-wheelin' it as we drove on side rides to avoid big puddles on the main road.
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| "Sugar", Red Bluff's baby 'roo |
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| our Red Bluff home, The Macky Shack |
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| The Macky Shack |
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| sunset at Red Bluff |
After a little over an hour, we finally arrived at Red Bluff and there was still about a half hour of daylight left. We were greeted by "Sugar", a baby 'roo in the arms of a friend of the owner while Shawn and Tom checked in. We were given directions to our palm frond humpie,the Macky Shack. We found it just up from the beach - it was a rustic, unique and simple beach dwelling with walls and ceilings made from palm fronds, canvas, and cement floors. It had a double bed and two bunks, a propane barbecue and sink. We unpacked and set the kids up in a tent outside - we made the place our own. There was an outhouse with two toilets not far from our humble abode that was the cleanest, best smelling outhouse I have ever experienced. After each use, you pour 4 cups of sawdust down the hole - it worked like a charm. Tom and I took the double bed that night and Shawn and Julia took the bunks.
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| morning swim, Red Bluff |
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| Shawn diving under the waves |
We woke up the next morning and enjoyed coffee and tea while we watched some humpback whales swim by. Shawn and Julia went for a walk to the point at the bottom of the bluff to watch the surfers. After some breakfast, Tom and I and the kids went down to the beach. It was tough walking for me but great therapy for my ankle. The surf was pretty big and scared Rein a bit so he got out and played in the sand with Silka.
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| Julia walking the beach |
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| looking out from the caves |
I decided I would have a hard time staying upright in the water, so I sat out that time. Shawn and Julia joined us and Shawn waded into the big surf for the first time on this trip. Pretty soon he was diving under the waves along side Tom. We went and checked out the caves on the beach while Shawn and Julia threw the frisbee around for a bit.
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| overlooking the bay |
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| goat skull on top of Red Bluff |
In the afternoon, Shawn and Julia went for a hike on top of the bluff while Tom went snorkelling with Rein - he was hoping to swim with one of the mantarays we had seen throughout the day. My foot needed a rest so I layed down and read for a while. Tom went hiking with Rein on top of the bluff as well and then we all met back and enjoyed some appetizers and some fantastic pizzas assembled by Shawn and cooked by Julia. Both nights that we were there the starlight sky was phenomenal. You could see the Milky Way. Also, there was always some wildlife or not so wild life nearby - kangaroos sat close by in the misty mornings, shoots of ocean spray from humpbacks dotted the ocean before us, huge mantarays swam in the bay, squid were caught by kids fishing from the shore and the station's goats bleated loudly as they clambered up and down the bluff. It really was a special place.
The day we left we got up early and I packed up the van while Tom went for one last snorkel in hopes of meeting up with one of those elusive mantarays and the rest of the gang went for one last swim. Just as I got the last item jammed into the van, they returned. Once everyone changed into dry clothes, we said goodbye to our palm from humpie, the Macky Shack, and headed for the station's smoothie bar and store. We enjoyed these fantastically messy and delicious mango and strawberry smoothies and then began our return journey down that 60 km stretch of dirt road.
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| now this is 4WD-ing it |
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| last swim before heading home |
When we hit sealed road we arrived at the blowholes. We decided to stop to check it out. The ocean swells were pretty significant that day so water was shooting up through the blowholes pretty high. And to make it the perfect experience some younger humpbacks swam past and showed a little tail and fin. Someone died there fishing a few years back - had gotten swept away by a king wave - and you could really get a sense how easily that would happen.
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| looking south from the blowholes |
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| Humpback at the blowholes |
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| crossing the Tropic of Capricorn |
We piled back into the tin can and headed towards Perth. We ate at a Pub/Motel in Northampton just north of Geraldton. We then drove on and for our last night stayed in a hotel in Geraldton. We couldn't get a room at the "all seasons" where we stayed on the way up but we went back there for breakfast the next morning. We were informed halfway through our bowls of cereal that it was going to be $18 for an adult and $9 for a child for their continental breakfast. well, all of us grown-ups nearly choked and coughed up our corn flakes. Tom, once again, used his diplomatic charm and talked them into only charging us half price. If it was me, they probably would have charge us $50 a person.
We left for Perth, stopped in Lancelin for lunch and got back home by mid afternoon. Shawn and Julia got their clothes and themselves clean, we ate some burgers and then we were saying goodbye. Their next destination - Vietnam!
We had a fantastic time and we look forward to hooking up with them again at the end of the year!
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| young emus on our last stretch home |
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