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.

Coral Bay

Leaving Exmouth after a very windy night, John and I made our way to Coral Bay. The wind had dropped and the sun was out. It was in fact the only sunny morning we had had in Exmouth.  We couldn’t book a site at Coral Bay; it’s a popular spot and school holidays. We drove the 150 klms from Exmouth to the turnoff, then the 12 klms in to the coast. It’s a pretty place, small, with two caravan parks right across from the water. Snorkeling is popular; the reef is close to the beach.There were a lot of people in the water. Dive boats go from there, so a busy place. We had morning tea, sitting inside, the wind was cool.

We passed a lot of termite mounds; the little termite has left his mark all around Northern Australia. The largest ones we have seen are near Darwin, they are taller than us.

Its sheep country around the Exmouth Gulf, a lot of the area is unfenced, there’s usually a stray sheep or two near the road. They are covered in red dirt, if a lamb is white; you know it’s very young.

Coral Bay

We stopped at the tropic of Capricorn sign and three young guys asked us to take their photo. They  "acted the goat" and had us laughing. They took a photo of us and we made sure we had a photo of them.

The Tropic of Capricorn

Camped at Manilya Roadhouse

We stayed in Manilya Roadhouse on Monday night. Carnarvon, 200 klms to the south is  our next stop.

Sunday in Exmouth

Exmouth has been a very interesting place to stay and visit the surrounding area. Yesterday it was Cape Range NP, today we have been to the local markets and had a look around the marina, there's a lot of new homes being built on man made canals. Exmouth was devastated by Cyclone Vance in 1999, so I expect all the new houses are built to stand the force of another cyclone. I think the wind was in the region of around 300 klms an hour. As I am typing, the wind has really picked up, it's very exposed to the elements here at the Exmouth Gulf. Thank goodness it's not cyclone season.

the view from the motor home window out to the gorge

the road with the gorge on both sides.

John and I took a drive out to Charlie Knife Gorge this morning. The turnoff is about 20klms from town, then about 13 klms out to the gorge. Some of the road is sealed, the rest unsealed but well graded. It climbs towards and over the ridge of the mountain, opening out on both sides to a beautiful gorge, well worth the drive. We stopped along the way to take photos, it is high enough to look down on the sea below. John parked at a look out and we enjoyed a cup of coffee from the thermos. The weather started looking a bit ominous, so we packed up and drove back down to the main road.
On the way back we stopped at a local fish Co Op to buy fresh prawns for lunch and fish for dinner. The afternoon has turned nasty, the motor home is rocking with the high winds and it's now raining.

part of the Novatel resort at the marina.

town beach

the marina.

Exmouth

                                          Coral viewing from the glass bottom boat

Lighthouse Beach

Nanutarra Roadhouse was our stopover on the way from Port Hedland to Exmouth. We were going to stay in Karratha, but found we were passing through there about midmorning, the weather was cloudy and it was looking like rain. We had a look around Dampier, then decided to move on. The day improved and as we went further towards Exmouth. The landscape became monotonous,  broken on occasion by small mesas in the distance. As we got closer to Nanutarra Roadhouse, part of the Hamersley Range appeared, we were on the outskirts of Karijini NP.  John and I didn’t go into Tom Price, if we had, we would have passed close by Karijini.

We arrived in Exmouth about lunchtime, as usual our first stop was at the Visitors centre. Exmouth is close to the Ningaloo Reef, the largest fringing reef in Australia and World Heritage listed. It boasts 500 species of fish,300 species of coral and is 260 klms long. Just a few hundred metres off shore, the reef is a mecca for divers and snorklers alike. A popular tour is swimming with the whale sharks, out beyond the reef. We went for the lazy option, a one hour tour in a glass bottom boat, leaving from just outside the national park, 40 mins away.

Sturt Desert Pea

                                          Glass bottom boat.
                                           

                                          Regal wedge-tailed eagle.

                                           Yardie Gorge

John on the beach with people snorkling close to the shore behind him.

We had to be at the boat ramp ready for the 9.20 am tour, wading out to the boat at low tide. The morning was dull and had started to rain, the water was lovely and clear, however a sunny day would have made a difference in viewing the reef. We saw lots of coral and pretty fish, A highlight was seeing a green turtle, our guide was very informative, describing the different species of fish and coral. Unfortunately, there was too much reflection to get a good photo, except for a bit of video I took.

There must have been fifteen or so dive buses bringing people out to enjoy the reef. John and I would have been tempted to just snorkel off the beach if the day had been warmer. The visitors centre in the park were hiring out snorkel gear for $10. We noticed at one beach the reef was almost to the shore line, but there snorkeling was only allowed at high tide to protect the coral. I spoke to one man who said he saw lots of beautiful fish and a turtle while he was in the water.

We saw lots of wildlife during our drive through Cape Range NP. Small kangaroos, an echidna, two wedge-tailed eagles, a pair of old wild horses and a couple of emus. Sturt’s Desert Pea can be seen along the drive, plus other little coastal wildflowers.

There is a lighthouse and a lookout that has a great view out to the Exmouth Gulf, whales are often spotted out to sea. The Australian Navy  has a large base in Exmouth,  along with the army and federal police.

It was a long but memorable day, we left our park at 8am and returned at 5pm.

Roebourne

Our plan was to reach Karratha after leaving Sandfire Roadhouse, however a small town with a history named Roebourne drew us in and we have spent two nights here. It’s a town with a sad history. In the late 1800’s the goal had housed recaptured runaway aborigines who had fled the pastoral stations where they were forced to work, it stands testimony to the harsh treatment these unfortunate men suffered at the hands of the police of that time. That goal is now the visitor centre, the town of Roebourne is an indigenous one. It’s very rundown, but some of the buildings are well preserved in stone. There is a small hospital, also a “sobering up centre”, well signed. Even though the pub hasn’t been in operation for many years, liquor can still be bought and is the downfall of the aborigines. A small supermarket is the only other business open besides an indigenous art gallery.

Our caravan park is a klm out of town, nearby towns are newer and close to the sea. Rio Tinto runs their Cape Lambert iron ore operations out of Cape Lambert, they have poured a lot of money into the infrastructure of Wickham, which boasts a school, a few shops and plans to reopen the high school, although it has been shut for a few years.

John and I did a tour out to the iron ore facility today. Rio Tinto are building a new wharf to increase the loading of the ore onto the ships. It’s a big concern, making for a lot of manpower and employment. We saw at least nine iron ore ships waiting to dock to load the ore for China and Japan. Our guide was very imformative, I came away with more understanding of one of our biggest export industries.

Our tour included Cossack, an old sea side town, where only the stone buildings are left standing, the wooden ones blown away in cyclones over the years. We had lunch at a café housed in one of these beautiful stone buildings right on the water. Cossack has a pearling and gold history, an ongoing historical restoration is keeping the stories alive. Our guide drove us to several pretty lookouts and told us the best spots to catch mud crabs and fish. \the tour cost $20 each and it was worth every cent.

We are moving on tomorrow to Karratha and Dampier, a short hike of about thirty klms.

We had to wear head gear and glasses.

                                            Looking over to Jarmen Island

                                           John dwarfed by a big truck, now out of action in a park

                                          The wharf at the Rio Tinto facility.

Goodbye to Broome.

Shopping area

Japanese cemetery

The hire car was handy to have in Broome. It saved us packing up and unhooking the motor home for two days. We are used to doing all our driving and shopping before we book into a caravan park. Or book in and go into a town to the shops and sometimes the Visitors Centre, to check out what we might be seeing the next day. We have two nights in most towns, Broome we had five, as there were lots of things to see.

Broome has pearl shops everywhere and I looked in a few. Good to see the various designs. Both Willie Creek Farm and the Pearl Luggers had displays and pearls for sale.

Chinatown was not like the other Chinatowns’ I have been to. I wouldn’t have called it an authentic Chinatown; however the Chinese influence has been strong in Broome as were the Japanese. Pearl divers were mainly Japanese, but now there is not much of a remainder of their influence except for the cemetery, where all the headstones face west in keeping with tradition.

We went to the museum run by the historical society and afterwards came across a café close by with a lovely water view, where we had coffee and cake.  John drove out to Matzo’s brewery to take a photo.

The markets on Saturday were a must see, always fun to wander around and check out new stalls. I bought some zucchini relish and lemon butter plus a cranberry slice. I was feeling a bit out of sorts for a couple of days, so the purchases haven’t been sampled yet.

There’s a large shopping mall in Broome with a supermarket and specialty shops. I needed some scripts before we moved on and a few groceries as usual.

I was going to make scones to have for our morning tea on the road, but forgot to buy more flour. A packet cake mixture came to the rescue and now we have little iced cupcakes instead.

We left Broome on Sunday morning after breakfast, thinking we might stay at Sandfire Roadhouse, 348 klms away, but decided after getting fuel, to drive on to Pardoo Roadhouse, another 138 klms further on. Much nicer and closer to Port Hedland, our next stop.  

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