Pink Lakes to Sandy Cape

Pink lakes

After leaving the sand dunes we passed the pink lakes. The girls thought they were just amazing the colour of them, but you cannot swim in the them because of the bacteria content in them and this is also what gives them the pink colour.

Geralton HMAS Sydney Memorial lookout

Shortly after we arrived in the town of Geraldton, it was quite a big place with everything you would need. A massive port and also lobster fishery is big here, but unfortunately we are out of season to visit the lobster factory. We visited the HMAS Sydney II memorial which overlooks the harbour. It was an amazing memorial for the 600+ men who were lost at sea when the ship went down at battle with a German ship. Unable to find the wreckage, it was found just two years ago approximately 200 nautical miles north west of Geraldton.  After some shopping and a look around the girls were both keen for a swim at the beach to catch some waves. We found some good waves near the Geraldton surf club Emma enjoyed going out into the deeper water with Darrin for some waves, while Kate enjoyed the waves closer to shore and sliding along the wet sand.

Emma riding the waves

Kate riding the sand



Even the trees show how windy this place can be



Driving out of Geraldton towards Greenough, we noticed the trees had grown on a lean from the wind. It seemed as though once we notice one tree that they all seem to be growing on the same lean. Although Western Australia is well known for its wind, this must be a particularly windy area hence why it is a very popular wind surfing area.



The moon rising at our campsite

 We found a nice rest area to camp at Greenough with the view of the farming country. We watched the moon rise over the lush green country, the changing colours looked amazing as the sun was still setting.

Our next camp was at Sandy Cape, we had read about this place in a few tourist brochures and it had been given a good write up so we had to go and check it out. We arrive there to find nice grassy camp bays just a stones throw from the white sandy beach. Perfect spot for us to spend a few days. The girls were keen to go for a boogie board, there was not much swell getting into the bay but they did manage have some fun on a few small waves.

Sandy Cape campsite

Sandy Cape

Sandy Cape campground

The lizard finding pizza scaps for lunch

Having fun with their boogie boards

The next day we put the boat in to have a look around. Once out of the bay the swell was huge, our tiny little boat was lost in the swell and the girls and I found the experience a bit too daunting, so we opted to turn around and enjoy the safety of the protected bay , (or should I say pleaded for Darrin to put the fishing rod away and turn around).  We were soaked from the waves, but back into calmer waters and Darrin could not resist the opportunity to throw a line in. Would you believe he caught a Barracuda in the first few minutes.

We filled the rest of the day in with some sand boarding, it’s a great workout walking up those dunes. Another trip out in the boat for a boogie board ride behind and then a walk along the beach at sunset.

Happy Birthday Poppy

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Poppy,
Happy Birthday to you.

Wishing you a wonderful day.
Love, Hugs and Kisses
Darrin, Tracey, Emma and Kate
xoxoxoxo

Sand Dunes

Kangaroo Paw

We turned off the Brand Highway and headed towards Kalbarri. The first thing we noticed was the colours of the wildflowers, stopping for a closer look at the bright red Kangaroo Paw. As we passed the road to Kalbarri National Park we dropped in to do a few of the walks which overlooked the Murchison River. We realised here that we have been very spoilt with the gorges and natural wonders we had seen up north. At the first walk, Kate was watching a lady take a photo of the views and asked her “what are you taking a photo of?”. Kate was quick to tell the lady that we have rivers just like this at home. The Murchison is quite different to our rivers at home, but I did tend to agree with Kate it was not amazingly spectacular. 

Murchison River

We arrived at the coastal town of Kalbarri to find the weather conditions perfect. We enjoyed the beaches and of course the playground for the day. We met a local family here and they had travelled Australia before they had children so they were interested in hearing our experiences with the girls. They offered for us the stay at their home for the night, but we were keen to get to the sand dunes to have some fun.

Driving to camp

We headed to the famous Kalbarri sand dunes to find a camp for a few days and enjoy more great weather. Darrin and I had camped here over 10 years ago on our first trip so we were going purely on memory of how to get there. As this is a place the locals all escape to there are no signs or directions, just the local knowledge of how to get there, or in our case I think it was just pure luck. Amongst the maze of tracks we made a few wrong turns and dead ends we finally found the little village of shacks that people have built over twenty years ago to enjoy weekends and holidays in them. We found a great flat spot amongst the huts behind the dunes on the sand.

Sand boarding

The next day we walked onto the beach to check the weather, once again perfect conditions. The girls played amongst the dunes while Darrin and I sat on the sand watching whales for a while.  It was then time to jump in the Troopy and drive up the beach to find the massive sand dunes. Along the way we found an old boogie board on the beach which was broken so we grabbed that to break in half and use as two sand boards. We arrived at lucky bay, it was just gorgeous. The bay was a fantastic spot for swimming with a backdrop of massive sand dunes to have some fun with. We drove over the dunes, which were very firm for driving, and then further up the beach the sand was starting to get soft so we turned around and instead of going back over the dunes we decided to drive back along the beach, but the sand got too soft for the Troopy. The girls grabbed their boogie boards and went for a swim while Darrin and I dug the car out of the soft sand.  With much digging and reversing back the way we came we made it out. We stopped at the base of a sand dune for lunch and we all had so much fun sliding down the dune.

The girls went for a swim while we dug the car out of the soft sand

Lucky Bay

Darrin's big stack

Driving the massive Sandy Dunes

We drove along the top of the dunes and of course stopping again at some really steep dunes for a slide. Kate went flying down and stacked it as she hit the bottom and knocked her loose front tooth out. When she realised she had lost the tooth in the sand she was absolutely devastated. It was time to get back to camp, still sobbing when we returned Kate sat down and wrote a letter to the tooth fairy explaining that she had lost the tooth in the sand at the base of a sand dune. Kate went to bed that night with tooth beary and the letter in her pocket and puk (dolphin purse) ready to put the money in! And with the tooth fairies magic she must have found the tooth shining in the moonlight on the sand as she left Kate some money and some sand in her tooth beary pocket, hence we woke to one very happy Kate.

Emma was keen to catch some waves with her boogie board so Darrin took her to the waves just out the front of the camp and they had so much fun catching some waves. That night the girls cooked pizza for dinner and we enjoyed a night around the fire. It was a full moon so it was such a light night.

Sleeping with Toothy and Puk ready for tooth fairy visit

 

Where's my teeth???



loving Lucky Bay

Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Shark Bay/Monkey Mia is a destination in Australia known throughout the world. Famous for the Dolphins, which is the biggest draw card.
And for all you Oprah fans this area was featured on Oprah in Australia. We had another windy day, as we remember WA is Windy Always, but we can't complain as we have had some gorgeous calm days to enjoy.

Shell brick quarry

We turned onto the Shark Bay road, our first stop was the Hamelin Bay to visit the old telegraph station and the stromatolites. There was a short walk from the telegraph station to the stromatolites. We learnt about the shell quarry there. As there were lack of resources available back eigty odd years ago the masses of tiny shells were cut into brick and used to make a lot of the buildings. We then had a walk along the jetty over the stromatolites, they do just look like rocks in the water but when you learn about how they are formed, how old they are and the value of them it is quite amazing. There is so much to learn about them but in short they are layered limestone rock built by single-celled Cyanobacteria (blue-green bacteria) which trap and bind sediments. They produce oxygen and hence you can see bubbles at high tide when they are underwater.

Stromatolites

Wheel ruts made over 60 years ago

Over sixty years ago there was a port built here for the telegraph station and it is amazing that you can still see the wheel ruts which the wagons had made in the stromatolites.
Time to move along to see the next feature of this area. We came across the dog fence made to keep the foxes out of the shark bay area. We had to stop to show the girls how it worked. As something approaches the fence a dog barks, which effectively scares the foxes and ferral cats. The girls tried hard to sneak past without setting the dog alarm off, but it was too smart for them.

Having fun with the dog fence

Just past the dog fence was the turn off to shell beach, we stopped in for a look and found the beach was not sand but tiny shells and went for miles. So bright and white.

We made it into Denham, stopping at the sign on the way as we thought it looked great for a photo with the ground being shells, yes we are parked on tiny little white shells. As we drove further into town we passed a caravan park and there was not green grass but the whole ground was the tiny white shells again. We looked at the other two parks in town and they too looked barron and had the white shell ground cover. Denham water is very expensive here as they have their own desalination plant, which is expensive to run. So besides the foreshore there is no much grass around.

sandy road to Cape Peron

 We decided to go out to Cape Peron National Park to find a camp. The Denham tourist information had advised us of the sandy tracks, but could not tell us if it was too sandy to tow a trailer as he had not been on the road himself. So we decided to leave the trailer at the homestead and head up to the tip of Cape Peron and the roads were very sandy. A good but sandy road we made it to the tip in no time, had some lunch with the millions of flies about then did the walk along the Cape. I just love the contrast in colours here, the red sand and white sand with such blue waters.

The contrast in the white and red sand is beautiful

  

Kates autograph in the sand

Emmas autograph in the sand

It was quite protected for the wind at the tip so we spent quite a few hours walking over the sand dunes, the girls enjoying playing in the sand dunes. There were so many birds about to watch and wildflowers to discover. We really enjoyed discovering this place.

We finished the day with a dip in the hot tub at the homestead before setting up camp.

 The next day was an early start. We arrived at Monkey Mia a little after 7am and found loads of other tourists there already to see the famous Monkey Mia dolphins. Braving the cool twelve degree breezy morning we waited on the beach from 7.45am for the Dolphins to arrive. Standing in the water with our feet frozen the excitement of the Dolphins arriving was amazing. Surrounded by tourists from all over the world, Japanese being the most dominant, we watched the dolphins swim up and down in the shallows, poking their noses out of the water to have a look at us, it was so cute. We learnt that dolphins have good vision 180 degrees in front, side and back but do not have vision above which is why they tilt their heads above the water to look at us. Emma and Kate were lucky enough to be chosen to hand feed one of the Dolphins, and her name was Surprise. This was a real buzz for the girls.

Feeding Surprise



Surprise saying 'Thank you'



Puck the Dolphin showing off



Watching the dolphins



Still buzzing with excitement, we hit the shops for some souvenir's. Emma got herself a dolphin necklace and Kate got a dolphin teddy purse (to keep all her tooth fairy money in). A walk around the Monkey Mia resort we discovered the hot tub and lucky for the girls and Darrin they had their swimmers on and were able to go for a dip.

  



Warming up in the hot tub

With their new souveniers on Monkey Mia beach

After a wonderful morning enjoying Monkey Mia we headed off to visit the playground on the Denham foreshore the girls had spotted yesterday. We spent a number of hours here as we met another family who are travelling Australia. Tony, Tracy, Matt(9) and Liam(7) are from Harvey Bay and are on the road for 12 months. We had a great time learning about each others adventures. They are travelling the same way we are so we hope to catch each other along the way.

Carnarvon

We arrived into Carnarvon on a blustery day. We stopped in the town centre to have a look at the tourist information centre and get a few groceries. When we were paying for our groceries the lady in the line behind us bought the girls both a chocolate each as she thought they were 'cute' girls. This was such a kind thing for a stranger to do and the girls enjoyed their chocolate very much.
We found a nice grassy sheltered spot to stop and have some lunch and a cuppa, once again we found the passing locals very friendly.

Taking over the drivers seat

Travelling the one mile jetty

Then it was time to visit the popular one mile jetty. The girls were most excited about going on the Ocean Express train. Braving the wind, we jumped aboard. It was only $14 for the family so I thought that was a bargain tourist attraction. The little train had so much character and fantastic artwork of life underwater. Being able to move about while the train was travelling and look over the side of the jetty to see the fish underneath, I am sure on a calm day that there would be more fish life to see. The water was still quite dirty from big the floods that Carnarvon had at the beginning of the year, normally their waterways are crystal clear torquoise colour.

The girls got to sit in the drivers seat when we were at the end of the jetty and they had great delight in tooting the horn.

After our train ride we walked around the museum, learning a bit about the HMS Sydney, sheep shearing history and exlporing old trains, trucks and boats that were on display. We climbed the water tower and stood in the tank that use to hold the water which was piped out along the jetty for the steam train engines. But now it provides a great lookout over the jetty and Carnarvon.

Carnarvon rail museum

That completed our wonderful day in Carnarvon, and we survived the wind.

Snorkelling the Coral Coast

Whale shark at Exmouth

We have dusted off the wetsuits, snorkel and goggles and the flippers ready to explore the life underwater along the coral coast of Western Australia. I have been looking forward to being able to dive in off the beach and find some great snorkelling. And the snorkelling has lived up to its expectations, we have seen so many species of fish, bright coloured, various shapes and sizes and the coral species have been amazing and colourful too.



Our first stop was Exmouth. Stopping at the information centre on the way thru there was not much else to see in town. So we headed out towards Cape Range National Park. The set up for camping in the National Park is that you have to line up at the park entrance at 7am and when the ranger arrives at 8am he will allocate any available sites and there are no guarantees that you will get a site. We decided this was a complete waste of time and effort and found ourselves our own bush camp outside the National Park. We have found that the camping in Western Australia has been a bit like that, whether you want to camp at a caravan park, rest area or bush camp everyone is lining up early to get a spot so you don't miss out. We have been very lucky and not had to do this and having a 4wd and camper we are able to go places that the grey nomads are not interested or able to go to.

Early morning rainbow

The next day we spent exploring and enjoying the National Park. (Can I mention here that as we drove into the Park just before 8am there were already 13 campers waiting in line for a site, unbelievable) Driving thru the National Park we were lucky enough to spot a beautiful rainbow out at sea. Our first stop was Yardie Creek, the girls were keen to do the walk along the top of the gorge. We spotted a few red Kangaroos, did some rock hopping, found some interesting looking holes in the gorge wall and some birds in their nests on the gorge walls. The Yardie creek had turtles and fish which we could see from the top.

End of the Yardie Creek Gorge walk

Learning about life around Yardie Creek

Spotting a red kangaroo

   

 

Snorkelling in Torquoise Bay

Our next spot to enjoy was Torquoise Bay to snorkel the famous Nigaloo Reef. The water was so clear and the reef was only a few metres offshore. We started at one end and drifted with the current to the edge of the bay. There was so much fishlife, we saw so many species of fish and some gorgeous coloured fish.  Kate was most excited when she saw a fish like Nemo's friend Dory. Emma loved seeing the blue coral and the trumpet fish. Darrin and I were just amazed at the masses of fish life.

After our snorkel we enjoyed soaking up some sun on the white sands and the girls rode their boogie boards along the current.

Another last snorkel before we said goodbye to the magic Torquoise Bay.

Snorkelling in Torquoise Bay

Finishing the day with a visit to the Cape Range visitors centre looking at the interactive displays and watching a DVD on life in Nigaloo Reef.

Coral Bay

The next day we drove to Coral Bay to do some more snorkelling in Nigaloo Reef. Once again here we put on our westsuits and walked out past the point of the Bay and jumped in the water. The current drifted us back into the bay over the reef. Here the reef formations were different again and once again masses of colourful fish. We saw some very large fish here and they were not shy, there were large Spangled Emperor which followed us around. Once again another fantastic snorkel.

Our camp at Maggies beach





 Keen to find a spot to set up camp on a beach for a few days we headed just South of Coral Bay to Warroora Station. We found a top spot at Maggies beach which was a safe swimming beach and had an awesome snorkelling spot just up the road. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and there was another group of families camped there and were very friendly. They lived in Panawonica and this is one of their favourite camp spots. Sunday was fathers day so Emma cooked some pancakes for breakfast, they were yummo. We spent the rest of the morning walking along the beach finding shells, starfish and coral washed up the beach. Darrin and the girls tried to catch a crab in the rocks but it proved too quick for them.

Walking along the white sandy beach

We spent a wonderful afternoon lazing aroung camp, enjoying the sunshine beautiful beach. Kate sorted and played with her massive shell collection and Emma went for a boggie board ride with the other kids at the camp.
We did go for a short drive to check out some other campgrounds in the late afternoon and managed to find some nice soft sand to get bogged in. So out came the Max Trax and the shovel to help us out. The Max trax were an impulse buy at an ARB open day, and they have been one of the best things we have bought for this trip.


Kate's shell collection



Ready for a snorkel

The next morning we all headed north along the beach, where three rock formations stood up out of the water. There was no current here and the snorkelling was awesome, we saw turtles, loads of fish and corals. One of the most exciting thing was seeing all the massive starfish, most were blue in colour and Kate took great delight in diving down to touch one.  There were so many different species of coral and the colours were just magnificant.

Photo opportunity with the boogie boards

After leaving Warroora station we headed for the blowholes just north of Carnarvon. I remember this area for great snorkelling on our first trip so was keen to check it out again. Stopping at the famous King Waves Kill sign at the T junction we could not go past this photo opportunity.
Next stop were to have a look at the blowholes. These are the first that the girls have seen and they were truely amazed at the amount of force the water had as it roared up the hole in the rock.

Blowholes

Snorkelling the Aquarium

Further along we found Point Quobba and the bay which provides fantastic snorkelling. They call one section the aquarium. Keen to see why we put on our wetsuits and snorkelling gear and grabbed some bread to feed the fish. Kate was the first in and then Emma, I could see the hundreds of fish surrounding the girls hungry for the bread. It was an amazing sight. The girls had great delight in being totally surrounded by the hundreds of fish and being able to hand feed and touch them. I could not believe how many fish there were in the aquarium, the perfect name for this place. There were so many species and sizes of fish to see, we had such an amazing snorkel.
We decided to camp here overnight so we could snorkel again at high tide to cover a larger area. The next morning we were up and keen once again. It was the most amazing snorkelling I have ever done. The colours in the coral were just magnificant, so bright and so many different colours. There were so many massive fish. We saw a number of puffer/toad type fish and they were massive (more than half the size of Kate). So many fish hiding under ledges. We saw some lion fish, barracuda, trumpet fish, large star fish, wrasse, parrot fish, butterfly fish, eels and hundreds of other fish species.