Camper Trailer

Gibb River Road – Part 5 (Mitchell Plateau to Kalumburu)

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

On our return from the Mitchell Plateau we took a 20km detour to see Surveyors Pool. Again the road was slow and rocky but we were the only ones there and a short flat walk took us along a creek to the falls to Surveyors Pool below. Whilst looking very inviting we had been warned about saltwater crocodiles being present so just enjoyed the views. Pools above the falls were supposed to be safe but there wasn’t much water anywhere except in the creek down and I had already seen a crocodile in there. The return trip suggested they were freshwater ones but we weren’t that desperate for a swim.

Our first flat
Tasselled figures
Surveyors pool
Boab and eagle nest, Honeymoon Bay
Brolga dance
The rescue team
Fish at last
Marty’s boat
Brolga dance
Crossing King Edward River

Another crossing of the King Edward river, then a left turn onto Kalumburu road headed us north to Kalumburu itself. The road was quite acceptable for the next 80-100km, notwithstanding the occasional dip or floodway that causes you to brake sharply to avoid testing the suspension to its limits. On one stretch we were entertained by a pair of Brolgas performing a dance for us only ten metres from the roadside. So mesmerised by one another they didn’t seem to notice the car and trailer screech to a halt, the massive cloud of dust that followed, nor me jumping out of the car clutching a camera and proceeding to enter the grass near the performance. Finally they did notice and very calmly beat a slow retreat into the grassland where we left them in peace.
Then we had our first major casualty as the trailer drifted on a corner hitting a rock and giving us our first flat. As I was remembering how to change the trailer spare (squirrelled cleverly under the trailer) a posse of young guys on a fishing trip, in 5 cars, pulled over and proceeded to take over. What probably would have taken me an hour was completed in fifteen minutes and we were all on our way again. Thanks guys, we hope you caught lots of fish up there for the good karma.

Most of Kalumburu was closed as we arrived late on a Sunday afternoon so we didn’t have a chance to stop and explore but a couple of lads showed us the way to Honeymoon Bay. We got there to find Crystal and Marty had arrived shortly prior and Hannah quickly resumed her dog-minding duties with their dog Zoe.
And with the next rising of the sun the mighty Marty punt was launched skippered by Captain Marty and his crew were Oscar and I clutching our tackle box, rods and bait bucket. Early signs were not favourable with no action but as our intrepid skipper “sailed” further towards the point things heated up. Oscar was catching batfish the size of dinner plates and Marty was straight into a sweetlips. We could see fish all around following our lures and bait in, so it was time to bring out the “desert island jig”, so named because if you were only allowed one lure to take to a desert island this white feathery one would be the one. I had bought this after seeing what people caught with it in Broome.
Bingo! Almost first cast I caught my first Queenfish and quite a respectable eating size too. Crumbed fish pieces that night were divine.
Day 2 on the mighty Marty punt yielded similar results though we did have a couple of break-offs and we saw a couple of large spanish mackerel cruising around too, though couldn’t hook them. Happy fishermen all round as we had at last started to catch some decent sized fish.
We could have stayed longer and missed a few things but finally we had to leave Honeymoon Bay and head south again, leaving the big boab tree, with eagle nest in its branches, overlooking the bay.

Categories: australia, Australian Outback, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Fishing, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Offroad, West Australia | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Karijini National Park

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

It was a long drive from Ningaloo Station to Karijini. We left late after saying our farewells and ended up having to stay at Beasley River rest stop. Being in the middle of nowhere in the Pilbara region we thought we’d have it to ourselves but as we pulled off the road we found ourselves circling around trying to find an empty site. Finally we headed for the riverbed, confident it wouldn’t rain, and set up next to a handful of other campers and joined them around their campfire. Another beautiful sunset then off to bed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Pilbara region is a magical place and a thrill to drive through. Vast landscapes of dark red earth and mountains are covered with endless clumps of rich green spinifex provide a beautiful contrast with the clear blue skies. Sheer rock walls dominate the face of aptly named Mount Wall, and every corner encounters different geological formations of many shapes and sizes, enough to keep the drive interesting. Recent rains had also spurred a floral bloom and we were also treated to expanses of pink and yellow flowers as the kilometres sped past.

The rich red soil is a key indicator of the underlying mineral content and many mines operate in the region extracting primarily iron ore. Tom Price is a town that has grown to service the mining community and provides a remarkably green and well stocked oasis in which to re-fuel and restock before entering the Karijini National Park.

Dales Gorge served as a base from which to explore Karijini. Driving in for the first time could leave one to believe the place is over-rated but all the beauty of this park starts when you leave the car and start walking. Most of the gorges are well hidden below the arid surface and after steep descents cascading waterfalls and clear pools provide welcome relief in the heat of the day.

Dales Gorge offers a loop walk that takes you along the edge of the gorge, then returns back through the gorge showcasing Fortescue Falls, Fern Pools and Circular Pool all pleasant swimming holes.

Kalimina Gorge offers a gentle walk along the gorge with many water cascades, contorted rock formations, evidence of tremendous geological activity in the past, and finishes at the Rock Arch that dominates a corner in the river.

Further afield, near the Eco-Retreat, three gorges converge at the Oxer Lookout. Weano, Joffre and Hancock gorges all offer a variety of walks, and we chose the handrail walk in Weano gorge and Hancock Gorge, experiencing the others from the clifftop lookouts alone.

The Handrail walk in Weano gorge requires negotiating a few pools and rocks to the final pool where a handrail has been placed to assist the final descent. The kids had a peek into the pool but were reluctant to negotiate the final few slippery steps. Xavier accompanied me down Hancock gorge where we encountered the Amphitheatre, Spiderwalk and Kermits Pool, finally after quite a bit of wading and shimmying precariously along cliff edges

 

Categories: Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure, Walks, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Schooling on the road

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Seven months in and we haven’t mentioned the kids schooling yet!

Before leaving Sydney we met the kids teachers and they provided us with learning materials, pencils and bags. It was good for the kids to meet them in person at the start so they who they were working with.

Ningaloo classroom

Ningaloo classroom

Sydney Distance Education Programme (SDEP) provide all the work packs and reading books in fortnightly folders and send these to us to pre-agreed post office addresses. Whenever we can we arrange to phone the teachers, though given the lack of Telstra coverage in the outback it tends to be sporadic, or an opportune call from the teachers catches us in the car with a single bar reception making communication patchy.

 

Oscars Percussion set

Oscars Percussion set

OplaysSnorkel

Playing an improvised snorkel trumpet

 

We then have to ensure the work gets done which can be quite a challenge when other kids are running around the campsite playing, or a new exciting beach, river, or forest beckons beyond the canvas awning. The best time of day for them to focus is after breakfast rather than tired in the afternoon, but often we find ourselves de-camping at this time so it is very hard to get a consistent routine going.

Our best results, which are few and far between, are where we have a big camp kitchen table that we can occupy and spend a couple of days catching up (or getting ahead). Every two weeks we have to find a town post office to send everything back.

In between, where we can, we send photos or voice recordings to keep up the communication with SDEP and they are very accommodating and flexible letting families do what works best for them. They have been providing reading books on a regular basis and sending the kid’s favourite authors on request.

We’ve had a couple of mad scrambles to make post offices before they close, twice entering less than 5 minutes before closing, after hours of driving. On both occasions it was in a town where we had no intention to stop so missing the post office could have really put a spanner in the works. One of those times required banging on the closed door when we discovered we were one package short, missed by the lady, who based on her demeanour clearly wanted to go home.

Another self-imposed challenge we have is data! We underestimated the amount of data required on our mobile plan, especially when skyping. Twice we have used Skype early in the month and ran out, which then restricts how much we can email back to the school (not to mention silence on the blog publication!).

That said we are very happy with SDEP and their flexibility, and we fully appreciate how hard a teachers job can be. We have even considered swapping supervisor roles with other families we have met using SDEP, as kids don’t listen to their own parents as much as other peoples.

Any tips from readers would be much appreciated!!

Categories: Adventure, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, School, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

Ningaloo Station

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Ningaloo Station is a homestead to the south of Cape Range. Historically, four-wheel drive enthusiasts have used the crossing at Yardie Creek to make the trip from Coral Bay to Cape Range considerably shorter than having to go via Exmouth. Unfortunately for us the recent cyclones meant Yardie Creek was several metres deep and there had been a recent incident where someone had tried to cross the sandbar and ended up with his car written off. It was stuck for two days before it was retrieved. We took the main road, taking a brief diversion into the eastern side of Cape Range to visit the Charles Knife gorges, the main one, ShotHole Canyon was still closed from the recent cyclone. As well as commanding fabulous views across the peninsula, there are a number of well sites throughout the North West Cape where oil exploration had taken place in the mid 1950s. After drilling almost 4700m and not finding commercial hydrocarbons the wells were plugged.

 

Jetty Machinery
Whaling Station Boiler
Shark Alley
Coral Coast Termite Mound
Exploring Norwegian Bay
South LeFroy campsite

On recommendations from WA locals, Brett and Doreen, and Gary and Pam, we had set our minds on visiting South LeFroy campsite on Ningaloo. The road in to the homestead was very corrugated and after an hour we arrived at a very dilapidated looking house surrounded by a huge flock of sheep and a handful of goats. Most of the coastal stations are for pastoral grazing and their 99 year leases will expire in June. The government is trying to reclaim the 2km coastal strip seeing potential to protect and/or develop the resource and regulars are concerned that their paradise will be lost forever, or will become too expensive. Currently dog-friendly, but lacking toilet and rubbish facilities, chemical toilets are required and rubbish needs to be taken with you when you leave.

A National Park style development would be ideal, however, the prospect of developing expensive eco-resorts would surely not bode well for the pristine coral reefs that lie metres from the beach in the crystal clear waters. We’ll watch this closely to see what happens.

A week at Ningaloo was not enough. We spent hours beachcombing or swimming over the reef. Reef sharks, turtles, abundant corals, and fish life proliferate. A short drive from the campsite took us over the sandhills, past the water bores to Norwegian Bay, the derelict site of an old whaling station. The rusting hulks of boilers and machinery littered the land behind the beach and made for some interesting exploration. The remnants of the old jetty and more machinery sit peacefully on the beach, now a marine reserve, and a solitary dolphin was hunting in the shallows 50m further along the beach.

A short diversion off the same road takes you to a popular fishing spot called Shark Alley. We visited several times, and couldn’t resist a snorkel. This was probably the clearest water but a strong current meant the kids had to be careful not to stray too far from the shore. Surprisingly though no sharks were spotted but more turtles and plenty of fish. Oscar’s new favourite fish was the giant unicornfish that really does have a unicorn protruding from the top of its head. We fished there and caught some of the most beautiful coloured wrasse and trigger fish. Nothing for dinner that day though.

On our last day Oscar and I were taken out fishing in the lagoon. One monster nearly pulled Oscar off the boat as he tried to reel it in, with me holding onto him, before it shook the hook. On the last cast of the day, with the sun having just set, I managed to land a legal sized spangled emperor, so no sausages for dinner!

 

Categories: Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Offroad, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Waroora Station

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

The drive between locations has started to increase and the drive to Waroora Station included a brief pit stop in Carnarvon for restocking of fuel and food. We had a brief lunch by the water next to a kid’s park with an impressive flying fox. Some energy expended in the park means less to vent in the car (in theory anyway).

14 Mile Beach sun setting
14 Mile beach camp
Waroora Station termite mounds
14 Mile beach sunset

When we finally found the Waroora station turn-off it was corrugations for the next 45 minutes or so. Interestingly, Google and Apple maps did not agree on the directions, as Amanda and I didn’t, and some time later we arrived at the wrong campsite! We had heard wonderful things about Maggies but ambiguous signposts lead us to 14 Mile beach. On the way we admired a vista of giant red termite mounds, rising up to 3m skywards scattered across the pastoral landscape.

The grey nomads appeared to be well established there, with all their neatly lined up caravans facing the ocean, many with boats. Flags were hoisted, TV aerials in place, and many seemed to be set for long stays. The camp host directed us down to the “blow in” campsite, ostracised from the main sites, beyond the car turning point. It was exactly what we wanted, away from the rest, with only beach beyond us and metres from the lapping ocean.

It was our chance to try out our own chemical toilet, researched prior on the internet, as you are required to have one, or rent one from the homestead. We were all pleasantly surprised at its success, and with a dump point nearby it passed with flying colours.

The water here was beautifully warm and for the first time the Ningaloo Reef was tempting us, just out of swimming range, maybe half a kilometre out. The intention was an overnight stay but after an early morning walk down the beach revealed a small reef closer to the beach we decide to stay and try it out.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that the flies were at their most revolting here. This is where the flies were so thick we had to eat dinner in the car to control their numbers as we hadn’t bothered using an awning!

The reef was fun, quite small with a bit of a current but we all saw turtles, plenty of fish life and first glimpses of coral. The kids scoured the beaches looking for shells, and built houses in the sand dunes as the sun went down. The sunsets were marvellous, though we still haven’t witnessed a green flash sunset yet.

Interestingly, in July the 99 year leases on the land expire and for the first time the Department of Environment will not be renewing the coastal land. It looks like it will go under National Park management, resulting hopefully in better waste management and proper toilet facilities, rather than the makeshift open site provided by the homestead.

 

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, Natural World, Offroad, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Francois Peron National Park (Shark Bay)

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

The nearest town to re-stock fuel and supplies was Denham, though it turned out to be smaller than expected. It is on a well-worn tourist route for travellers heading for the Dolphin Conservation resort at Monkey Mia within Shark Bay. We used the campsite at Big Lagoon, in the Francois Peron National Park, as a base to explore for a few days. We were excited at the prospect of seeing Bilbys, Mallee Fowl and Dugongs in the wild, but they all proved to be very elusive.

 

Francois Peron artesian hot tub
Sunset at Big Lagoon
Birdlife at Cape Peron
Shark at Skipjkack Point
Dolphins at Monkey Mia
Skipjack Point lookout
Skipjack Point
Krasker’s tank
Shark at Skipjkack Point
Shark at Skipjkack Point

After a long day’s drive we got horribly bogged at the campsite looking for the perfect spot. We ended up having to unhitch the trailer to get the car out then winch the trailer out. A bit of extra practice is always good!

The lagoon was surprisingly devoid of fish life but most mornings a solitary dolphin would cruise past the channel before any boats got launched. A couple of eagle rays cruised beneath me as I swam across the channel. The flies had not abated and to keep it interesting there was also a scattering of biting march and sand flies loitering in the Francois Peron National Park.

An afternoon’s excursion took us deeper into the national park on a 4WD track. At the northern tip, Cape Peron we encountered the worst concentration of flies yet making our stop purely long enough to see the cormorant rookery on the beach beneath the cliff. Rather than walk the 1km to Skipjack Point we drove. From there two lookout platforms offer fantastic vantage points to view sharks, turtles, dolphins, and sometimes dugongs. We saw all but the latter.

On the return we checked out the beaches at Bottle Bay, The Gregories, and South Gregory, all beautiful and great campsites, then on the east coast at Harold Bight the free camp looked very quiet but the sand was also very soft and deep.

We enjoyed Skipjack Point so much we returned the next day for more shark spotting and were not disappointed. We also saw a giant shovelnose ray in the shallows and an eagle ray treated us to an aerial acrobatic display, leaping clear of the water repeatedly. We fished at The Gregories on the way back and caught dinner (whiting and a 34cm yellowfin bream). We also visited Krasker’s Tank and learnt about the unfortunate one-legged entrepreneur, Leon Krasker, who perished trying to get to the water tank in the middle of the arid landscape. On one of his weekly 70km trips from Denham to Harold Bight, in1916, to buy pearls and collect mail, his horse, Battler, threw him, breaking his good leg (the other was made from cork). Before  he died he documented what had happened.

A visit to snorkel Little Lagoon was followed by a look at the mangrove outlet. Supposedly full of stonefish this is the place to snorkel as the main lagoon itself was surprisingly devoid of much life.

We caught squid from Denham jetty one night (well Hannah did) and visited the artesian bore hot tub at the old homestead in the park. This 40 degree tub is a must visit place but takes time to get in!

 

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, National Park, Natural World, Offroad, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Steep Point – Most westerly point of the mainland

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

A long dusty unsealed road took us from Wooleen Station back towards the coast.

Almost six months into our trip and over 23,000km later we finally arrived in the proposed Edel Land National Park with our sights set on completing the second compass point challenge from our good friends Pete and Zoe. The first one to South Point had been a gruelling two day, 40km hike for the kids, but this looked like a straightforward 35km drive from the unsealed road turnoff. Sure it said 4WD but we’ve had a bit of experience by now. We looked for a campsite around the Zuytdorp Cliffs (named after the Dutch ship that sank nearby in 1712), near False Entrance, found a lot of sand, enjoyed the blowholes, but then decided to go straight for the campsite at Steep Point.

Fishing at the Oven/Faultline
Driving in
The western most point of Australia, Steep Point
Steep Point
Sunset at Shelter Bay

Fifty Toes voted the track the “most corrugated and bumpy ride” ever. Then we turned off at the wrong house (1km before the ranger’s house) got stuck, lost two mudflaps reversing back, and found out from the ranger that all campsites were full and needed to be booked in advance. Given that it was after 5pm they found us a single spot that was available for one night only. An osprey nest sits perched atop a communications tower 50m from the rangers house. Swallows were flying through the house and the kids spotted a mouse running around inside, clearly a common occurrence as the ranger enquired whether the mouse was the “fat one”.

Shelter Bay was aptly named and we settled in for a calm pink sunset, looking out towards Dirk Hartog Island to the north east.

Rising early the next morning we headed straight to Steep Point. The visitors book was signed, photos taken as proof, then we drove down to the nearby camp at the Oven / Faultline where hard-core fishermen camp on the cliffs. This is one of the best land-based fishing spots in Australia, particularly for Spanish Mackerel. Lures are carried out on prevailing winds by balloons filled with helium. If a big fish is caught it needs to be hauled up the cliff and the fishermen have plenty of ropes and devices to do this. Brown helium cylinders, generators, fishing rods and swags were scattered around the craggy limestone cliffs, looking like a great venue for a lad’s trip, but less so for a family friendly vacation.

 

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, National Park, Natural World, Offroad, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Exemplary Customer Service in Perth

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

We had to head to Perth to get the Pajero and Camprite trailer serviced before we commence the journey north and possibly the most eagerly awaited part of our trip. Both have performed excellently to date but I had a list of items to follow up with for both.

I wanted to ask further questions about the problems with had with fuel consumption in South Australia and had been tipped off about possible carbonisation of an inlet manifold. We had also recently become aware of a recall notice on the model. I finally wanted to resolve the issue with our towbar being too low, and Mitsubishi Melville instantly gave me confidence with their understanding of each issue and ability to address them. We also needed to perform a tyre rotation having just clocked another 10,000km.

The Camprite trailer went in first and it was great to meet the team in person, as we had only had spoken by phone from the east coast. Matt patiently listened to my list, had a quick look at the trailer and spotted a couple of things we had missed, again assuring that they were all fixable. We left it in his capable hands and I took the boys to SciTech in the city.

New steps
Looking like new again

The next day was the Pajero’s turn. They kindly agreed  to complete the service by 2pm (so I had time to pickup the trailer on the other side of the city) and went through my list of items. They couldn’t put in a second battery, but I was less concerned about that. Phillip from Mitsubishi drove me back to the house, where we were staying and also picked me up promptly at 2pm. Everything was fixed up and the spare tyre lift meant we were set to fix our towbar issues.

Being the afternoon before Easter holidays, traffic crossing town was heavy and Matt at Camprite was patiently awaiting our arrival to pick up the trailer. It looked like new! Our damaged rear steps had been replaced with the new design and all the other items on the list had been addressed, leaving us a little time to fix the towbar. Matt optimistically thought it would be a quick reversal of the towbar, but that proved more difficult requiring some heavy duty hardware and hammering for quite a while to remove. Reversing it didn’t solve the issue as the tongue was not long enough so Matt quickly drove up to get one. He returned empty-handed and we jumped into the car at 4.40pm to try a different place. Success!

The tongue then needed machining the edges of the tongue to allow it to be inserted easily – more time passed.

Finally by 5pm the job was complete, Matt was still smiling, but we were so grateful that he had stayed back to help prepare us for the next stage of our journey.

Thank you very much Camprite – your attention to detail was probably the best we have ever encountered and thanks also to Melville Mitsubishi for your prompt, friendly and efficient service.

Categories: 4WD, australia, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, West Australia | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

Heading to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Still in the forests a damp night was spent at Big Brook Arboretum campsite. Venturing into the Arboretum the following morning unveiled luxuriant colours in the bark patterns, vibrant orange bracket fungi, water droplets hanging patiently from the underside of the fungus, and abundant birdlife all around. Unfortunately for us the birds could be heard, but not seen, as most of them appeared to be high in the tree canopies.

Big Brook Arboretum
Big Brook Arboretum
Bracket fungus
Big Brook Arboretum

Still in Warren National Park a trip to Beedelup Falls was required, but the relative lack of waterfall in the area meant it didn’t offer much to photograph. The kids had fun on the suspension bridge, then Xavier slipped into the river and we decided to press on again.

Turning west towards the coast again we had the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park in our sights, and Conto campground. One of the features of this region is the abundance of Grass Trees, with their fire-blackened stems and almost spherical arrays of leaves sprouting from the top.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Conto was such a peaceful spot, one or two nights ended up being a five-night stopover. Despite the presence of many caves in the area, with nearby Lake, Mammoth, and Jewel caves being the tourist showpieces, we felt we had seen enough caves recently and saved this for next time. Instead we used Conto as a base to explore nearby Margaret River (next blog), do some more geocaching, and a bit of fishing. With our Camprite trailer next to a water tap we could sit and watch all the wildlife come for a drink, from swarms of bees, to western rosellas, splendid fairy wrens, and silver eyes. Golden Whistlers and scarlet robins danced around the branches overhead.

More importantly it was time to get some schoolwork done so the distance education packs were brought out to get ahead of the curriculum before Easter break.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, National Park, Natural World, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Albany and surrounds

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

After Skippy Rock we arrived late at Normans Beach in Two Peoples Bay (the other person being Betty) to grab the last spot in the campsite. Amanda came face to face with the biggest Dugite we have encountered yet. At almost 2m long we witnessed it hot in pursuit of a big black skink, chasing it up a tree. When the skink could go no further it leapt out from about 3-4m, belly-flopped onto the ground and scampered off. The snake exited the tree equally ungracefully and chased after it, as we all took a big step back to watch the action unfold before us.

West Cape Howe National Park
Shelley Beach, West Cape Howe
Piranha Letterbox
Bandicoot
Two People Bay NP
Beach fun in Whalers Bay
Albany Brig
Whaling Station at Frenchmans Bay
4WD track in West Cape Howe
Salmon Rocks, Torndirrup NP
Big Dugite!

With little camping close to Albany we drove to a cute little place, appropriately named Cosy Corner and ensconced ourselves for a few days to explore the area. We enjoyed Albany, visiting a few times, for library work with kids, shopping and a bit of geocaching and exploring. A nice sized town, big enough to have all we needed but not too big to get lost in. Xavier became the expert in finding nano-sized geocaches though we were beaten by one near the Opera house.

Fishing was pretty quiet along the beach despite the fact the salmon run is due any day. We checked out nearby West Cape Howe national park to see if the fishing was better there but despite the numbers of fishermen it was still a bit quiet at Shelley Beach. I noticed a 4WD track into the park that proved quite  challenging, but we were rewarded with magnificent vertical black granite cliffs at West Cape Howe. Being late in the day the family didn’t want to risk going further in the sand – they still don’t have faith in the trusty Pajero, even after 4 months.

As a cyclone bore down on the north west coast of WA we started getting a bit of rain. We drove around Torndirrup National Park near Albany, and some brief intermissions of sun allowed the kids to enjoy the azure waters of the beaches in Whaler Bay. Salmon Rocks, rather appropriately, had yielded two monster salmon for one fisherman, and we watched another battle a large eagle ray to the beach where it snapped his line. The old whaling station nestles into the end of the peninsula with a large whaling ship on display for exploration. In Frenchmans Bay, we drove to a bird hide to try and add a few new birds to my list (buff banded rail was the only one) and catch a geocache. Luckily for a guy down there we showed up and got his car started for him in a very quiet street. Another attraction there were the blowholes that, despite a small swell, roared periodically, giving everyone a bit of a scare the first time they went off. Throw big swell and water into the mix and they would be quite an impressive spectacle. The natural arch was closed unfortunately.

At night we got frequent visits from an oversize bandicoot and Cosy Corner was a popular venue for the kids with hideouts abounding in the bush.

Categories: Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure, West Australia | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.