Greenough and Jurien Bay

the leaning tree in Greenough.

On Friday we had a morning in Greenough, a heritage village 25klms from Geraldton. We found a nice café in the visitors centre, then went on a local drive looking at beautiful old buildings. This region along the coast has very high winds, as a result the trees are leaning over and are touching the ground. The sun was shining and the coastal areas were at their best. We spent the afternoon back at the park. Again that night, we had winds and rain buffeting the coast.Old heritage house.

Greenough village.

Hampton Arms Inn.

Convict bridge.

A bench by the sea.

"Cloud does not put out the Sun"

                                           

We made our way south on Saturday morning, calling in at the Greenough café  and buying take away coffees and homemade melting moments.

The highway to Perth branches off to a coastal drive, the Indian Coast Drive, a pretty road that hugs the coast at most points. We called into the little villages of Leeman and Green Head for short stops.

Jurien Bay is a busy little town about 230klms from Geraldton, our next stop for two nights. John was hoping to do some fishing, but the winds were too strong, it blew overnight and continued Sunday, with heavy rain at times.

The shops are a short walk from the caravan park, handy to get the Sunday paper and a few groceries. There is a jetty close by, a perfect spot on a nice day for fishing.

A quiet afternoon followed, Cervantes and the Pinnacles is our next town and area to discover.

Dynamite Bay, on the way to Jurien Bay.

Jurien Bay jetty.

Perth is now in our sights, hoping to catch up with friends and have a good look at Western Australia’s capital city.

Coastal drive to Geraldton

Tuesday 27^th July.

We left Kalbarri and drove through the southern end of the national park to view the lovely coastal cliffs on our route to Geraldton.  Wild and rugged cliffs dot the drive down, we were lucky that the sun was shining, because we saw our first whales!

the whale's underbelly.

The first ones were way out to sea, we could just see the splash as they breached. Then John saw one in the water beneath the cliffs. Of course we didn’t get any good photos, only a fleeting glimpse of an underbelly, but better than nothing.The type of whale that migrate up the west coast are humpbacks I think. Some people at the lookout with us said they have seen southern right whales in Bremer Bay, at the southern end of WA.

A little echidna crossing the road.

Natural Bridge

The cliff lookouts are great, most just a short walk from the car park. We managed to dislodge a copper log after driving in to close to it in the parking bay, reversing back over it. They were short logs for design only.

Heading south from Kalbarri, we continued down to the highway, passing a pink lake on the way near Port Gregory. The unique algae in the lake, called dunaella salina, which is salt tolerant, gives it its appearance.

the Pink Lake.

We passed through some beautiful farming country, the green crops against the red dirt and blue sky was a beautiful palette that any artist could get excited about.

We arrived at the caravan park early afternoon to a very windy welcome. The park is situated right on the ocean. We went towards the beach, the waves were slamming into the shore, the sand whipping around and stinging our legs. We booked into the park and went for a short drive to the visitor centre. A storm came through just before dark and continued through the night.

Wednesday,28^thJuly.

Still windy, but sunny today. We went to the Sydney Memorial, an impressive domed sculpture, built in remembrance of the 645 Australians men who were on the ship Sydney off the Western Australian coast when it was sank by a German ship during a second world war battle in 1941. The German ship sank also and some German sailors survived.  There were no Australian survivors. The wrecks of both ships were only found in 2008. The names of the men are on a granite wall, the dome depicts 645 seagulls. Also there is a life like statue of a woman looking out to sea, the figure of a waiting woman, grieving for a lost loved one.

The bronze sculpture.

The WA Museum was next on the list. Some interesting displays , one on the Batavia mutiny and another on the sinking of the Sydney.

A coffee and a sandwich at the shops, then back to the park, after a look at the beautiful cathedral of St Francis Xavier.

St.Francis Xavier cathedral.

Kalbarri

Hawks Head

On Sunday morning we left Shark Bay, saying goodbye to a nice couple from the south of Perth. Brian and Margaret gave us some fresh fish for our dinner one night and John and Brian talked fishing.

We called in at Eagle’s Bluff on our way out, beautiful spot, we wanted one more look.

We were told to go slowly over the cattle grid near Shell Beach, as there is a recording of dogs barking to keep the feral animals out of the protected area in Shark Bay. Endangered animals, such as the Bilby and Mallee Fowl have been reintroduced, along with a protective electric fence which can be seen near the cattle grid. We had fun driving through and then back to hear the dogs barking!

The electric fence.

Hawks Head.

Kalbarri is a pretty town, the Murchison River runs through it then flows out to sea. We have the best of views from the caravan site, straight out to the river and ocean.

John tried his hand at fishing again without any luck. We are yet to find the elusive fish.

Monday.25^th July

The road in is part of the Kalbarri National Park, the native banksia are just coming out, each bush seems to have a flower on it. Other pretty shrubs, new to us are appearing and we stopped a few times to take photos. The weather has been a bit unpredictable, light showers but warm.

Hawks Head Gorge

There are a couple of lovely gorges in the park, we went for a drive, about 35 klms from town. I found one walk a bit hard, a few rocky steps, John went on down further to the river as I made my way back.At the next gorge, Hawks Head, the walk to the lookout was much gentler.

In Kalbarri NP.

banksia

Tuesday 26^th July

An easy day with a walk to the shops, which are all along the waterfront. We are booked into Geraldton for three nights from tomorrow, a drive of 160klms. As we leave Kalbarri on the coastal route, there are other scenic lookouts along the way to view.

Sunset in Kalbarri

Ocean Park

Friday 22^nd.July.

Ocean Park is a short 7 klm drive from Shark Bay and a very informative place to see the marine life of Shark Bay. Marine biologists give regular tours of the facility, its set high above the water with lovely views all around. There are all types of marine life, sharks, turtles, barramundi, squid and other tropical fish. Shark feeding was part of the tour.

sting ray

Ocean Park

Turtle

Afterwards John and I had a coffee overlooking the water, looked around the gift shop and then went back to town.

 We booked a quad bike tour for tomorrow. It looks like fun and only goes for two hours.

John managed to catch a couple of fish when we drove out to Little Lagoon, a short distance from town.  One, a small flathead had to be released, it was too small. The other, a whiting, has no size restriction so he kept it. It was a pretty spot down at Little Lagoon, I opened the kitchen window and the door of the motor home and read my book, while John fished.

Saturday 23^rd July.

I loved the quad bike tour we did in the afternoon. I was a bit worried that it would be too hard to climb onto the bike, I was a passenger, John the driver. He had to get a few instructions and off we went. I managed to get onto the seat easily, we had to wear helmets and drivers wore fluro jacket.

Te guide took us up and over sand hills, along the beach and down a big hill at the end. It was both 2wd and 4wd. The bike seat was very comfortable, I thought the whole experience was so much fun. We stopped during the two hour tour at scenic spots. We saw a couple of reef sharks far below from the top of the cliffs.

                                     On our bike

I took this photo while we were going along the tracks.

We leave Shark Bay tomorrow for Kalbarri.

Shark Bay and Monkey Mia

  

Eagle Bluff

on Shell Beach

The drive from Hamelin Pool was very scenic. Shell Beach is exactly that, a beach of shells. Lovely clear water and shells crunching under your shoes, they got prettier as I walked closer to the sea.

shell beach

From the boardwalk at Eagle Bluff.

Eagle Bluff with it’s board walk high above the cliffs, gave us a spectacular view out to sea. The weather was perfect, clear and sunny. Denham, 20klms from Eagle Bluff, is a small town situated on Shark Bay, our base for our time here.

Shark Bay is one of only a handful of special regions in the world to meet all the criteria needed to be on the World Heritage listing. The Shark Bay region is home to a range of rare and colourful marine life including the humpback and southern right whales, dugong, mantra rays, turtles and dolphins.

Just before sunrise

John at the water's edge.

Monkey Mia is a special place, 28klms from Denham, where you can go and interact with the dolphins. We were up early and were there before 8am for the first feeding. John drove right into a blinding sunrise on the way out, very dangerous when the sun hits you straight in the eyes, luckily after slowing right down, the road veered off in a bend and the sun became higher and we arrived safely.

Dolphin feeding,

 A controlled feeding three times during the morning, gives tourists a close encounter with these mammals. Control has been modified that no one is allowed to touch the dolphins, people are chosen to feed them a minimal amount of fish, so that they don’t get used to human contact and still catch most of their daily allowance in the wild.

John went into the water at the edge, to be closer to the commentary and take photos, while I went on to the jetty to take my photos.

We came back to Denham later and John had a fish off the town jetty, with no luck. A guy in the caravan  park gave us some whiting he had caught, so John is trying his spot tomorrow.

The town shops are built along the waterfront, there is a bakery, butcher, two small supermarkets, a combined post office, chemist and newsagent and various other small businesses, including flights, quad bike tours, charter fishing trips etc.

at Monkey Mia.

Hamelin Pool.

Little Hawk at Hamelin Pool.

 Sunday 17^{th July}

Woormel Roadhouse, halfway to Hamelin Pool, sold the most delicious Danish pasteries. Fresh from the oven; nice with morning coffee.  When we left Carnavon it was cloudy and cool and raining lightly. We tried to book into Shark Bay, but because it’s school holidays we have to wait three days.

Hamelin Pool is 30klms off the road into Shark Bay, only a caravan park and a shop, but it has an attraction, here the largest and oldest living fossils dot the shore of the pool in rocky lumps, named Stomatolites. We arrived before lunch, expecting to see water, it is a short climb up steps to a lovely water view, not as lovely today, it was cloudy and starting to rain. Plastic chairs are all in a row at the top; this would be the most amazing place to see a sunset.

The Stromatolites are an hour return walk, rain set in for the rest of Sunday, John and I will do the walk tomorrow.

An historic telegraph station is also here in the park, sadly a small grave of a baby who died in 1898 is here.

I got fish and chips from the store for dinner and used the free public phone. We won’t have any mobile or internet service for the three nights we are here, the public phone needs repairing but in the meantime it’s free. The young French couple is having a great time, ringing home for free.

Historic telegraph station at Hamelin Pool.

Monday 18th July

Stromatolites

the boardwalk.

It rained through the night, the morning was dull but looked promising. The sun was out by late afternoon. John and I walked to the Stromatolites, passing an historic shell quarry where blocks of shells were cut out of the ground and used in many of the old buildings in the area. Some are still standing, one being the toilet block here at the caravan park. We walked along a path made up of tiny shells, they are everywhere here, we carry shells on our shoes into the motor home. We walked to a board walk, where there are signs explaining the living fossils found here. There are only two places in the world that have stromatolites, Hamelin Pool and Bermuda.

John on the boardwalk.

John cooked a barbeque for lunch, we watched a dvd in the afternoon, then walked up to see the lovely sunset at the top of the hill.

Tuesday 19th July.

A quiet day at Hamelin Pool. We leave for Shark Bay tomorrow. John and I went for a morning walk, talked to some of the other people in the park and had a lazy afternoon. We had dinner at the tea room in the park.

Another lovely sunset.

Carnarvon

Carnavon has a little heritage train that takes you out onto the one mile jetty, now restored and a tourist attraction. John and I walked all the way out on the jetty, I got the train back. John decided to do the walk back to the railway museum. The town is surrounded by sea side walks and nice houses built on canals.

One mile jetty.

Heritage train.

Carnavon is an irrigation area. It lies on the Gascyone River and there are numerous fruit and vegetable farms around the area. It supplies a lot of produce to a big region of WA.

Bananas have been expensive since the Queensland floods when most of the banana crops were wiped out. The supermarkets have been charging about $14 a kilo, I haven’t been buying them. Here in the park there is a fruit stall that is replenished every day, tiny bananas sell for $5 per bag, a big difference. They are so small that you need two. So nice to eat a banana again.

John with the blowhole behind him

                              Point Quobba

Today we took a drive to the Blowholes, 75klms north of Carnavon, a rugged section of coastline with Point Quobba the end of the road, a pretty snorkeling bay. We stopped and had morning tea and walked around the top of the cliffs. There were men rock fishing, signs around warning of how dangerous it was to be too close to the edge. Not that they were taking much notice. The blowholes were no comparison to our Kiama Blowholes on the south coast, good to see the different coastline.

ominous warning

We had a drive through the farms on the way home,  John had a fish, without any luck again. I bought some fish and chips for lunch and we came back to the park.