Denham, Shark Bay 2009

September 25th, To-day we did our own self drive Plantation Tour of Carnarvon. Buying direct from the Plantation Shops is a great way to get top quality produce. Val was able to buy “Green Tomatoes” fresh picked and asked for 2 kilos and was given 4 kilos, for the price of 2. So, I now have heaps of Green Tomato Pickles. There are 176 plantations around Carnarvon which supply 70% of WA’s fresh fruit and vegies. I went to have a closer look at the OTC Dish, which could be seen from our Caravan Park, built in 1983 to track satellites for the NASA program. Now a huge monument to the past, the site also looks over the Plantations.

September 26th, Left Carnarvon for Denham and took a morning tea break at Wooramel Roadhouse, where they make their own pastries on the premises. They were delicious. Booked into the Shark Bay Caravan Park, went to the Visitors Centre and drove around Town. A small Town but the water views over Shark Bay are fantastic.

September 27th, I started the day with a tour of the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre, at the Visitors Centre. Excellent display covering all the events related to the development of this area. Shark Bay was the place where Dirk Hartog was the first recorded white man to set foot on Australian soil, in 1616. After lunch we went for a drive to Little Lagoon where Val paddled in the clear, clean salt water. Then it was on to The Shark Bay Ocean Park for afternoon tea in the Café followed by a guided Tour of their Park. They had tanks with most of the marine animals from the Shark Bay area, from Tiger Sharks to small fish. Well worth a visit.

September 28th, We left Denham this morning and drove out to Monkey Mia, to see the famous Dolphin Feeding. The Dolphin Resort is built on a National Park at Monkey Mia. There is a small charge payable to enter the area but you have access to all the Resort facilities and activities. We arrived around 10am just in time for the 3rd and last feeding of the day. I estimate there were around 100 people there to watch the dolphin feeding. The guide was extremely knowledgeable about the dolphins, knew them by name and told us that she identifies them by the unique shape of their dorsal fin. We were visited by 9 dolphins which came into shore slowly swimming around the area for some time and checking out the crowd. We were given all the dos and donts of how to let the Dolphins come to us to be fed. They are the most amazing animals to see up close. Unfortunately only a few people got to feed a Dolphin and they were selected at random by the helpers. We weren’t that lucky but still enjoyed the experience. We walked around the Resort and checked out the shops where Val bought a few souvenirs.

We headed off to Eagle Bluff. This is a vantage point where a walkway and viewing platform has been built so that visitors can see fish, birds and hopefully sharks and Dugongs swimming in the clear waters of Shark Bay. Although there was some activity in the water we didn’t get a clear view of a shark.

We moved on to Shell Beach Conservation Park. The beach is a brilliant white and is the build up of small shells that die out at sea and then get washed in onto the beach, by wind or incoming tides and over centuries has built up to 9 metres deep. The beach is 110 klms long and at one end there is a shell mining operation that supplies shell grit for chook feed. Val went for a paddle in the shallow edge of the water but had to retreat and put her shoes on to go back in the water, as the shells were hurting her feet.

Next stop was Hamelin Pool where after having some morning tea at the Kiosk, we walked out on the viewing walkway to view the Stromatolites. The oldest Stromatolites are 3.5 billion years old. They are formed by the build-up of communities of cyanobacteria. They are the known as a living rock and are reported to be responsible for providing the oxygen needed to support animal and human life.

We drove on to The Overlander Roadhouse to re-fuel and spend the night.

September 29th, We drove on to Geraldton, stopping at Northhampton for lunch and a walk around Town. This is another Town that has retained its original buildings. We drove through heavy rain most of this trip and it was very windy and cold out of the car. A real temperature shock, as we had not encountered rain or cold, since we left Rockhampton in June. We booked into Sunset Beach Caravan Park (Big4) and went for a drive around Geraldton.

Canarvon 2009

September 23rd, Arrived at Carnarvon and booked into Wintersun Caravan Park (Top Tourist). Nice Park with very clean amenities and only a few minutes out of Town. Went to the Visitors Centre to check on the local sights.




September 24th, I went to the Historic Precinct to-day which included the One Mile Jetty. 2 years ago a section of the wharf was destroyed by fire, and is still being rebuilt by the Historical Society, so now you can only go out about ½ mile. You can walk along the Jetty but I opted to ride on the small train called “The Coffee Pot”. There was a strong wind blowing today and was very cold out on the Jetty. The view from the Water Tower Lookout was impressive. Went through The Railway Museum which included the Shearers Hall of Fame and a display with video covering the recent discovery of the wrecks of the warship “HMAS Sydney II” and the German Cruiser “Kormoran” found off the Western Australian Coast.

Roebourne 09

September 21st, To-day we drove to Roebourne, which was built after the cyclone destroyed Cossack. A train track was built between Roebourne and Cossack, originally using horse drawn carriages, to move supplies between the town and the port at Cossack. The visitors Centre is in the old goal, so we looked through the old goal while there. Its hard to imagine that this building was in use up to 1984, when the new Roebourne Regional Goal was built out from the Town. We had dinner at the local Tavern, just across the road from our Caravan Park at Point Samson and the meals were excellent. We are all packed up and ready to leave in the morning for Nanutarra Roadhouse and on the way we will drive into Karratha to look the Town over, as this is the place we had originally intended to stay.

Sandfire R'house to Point Samson 09

September 14th, Last minute shopping then packing up to leave was our intentions for to-day. However fate decided otherwise, as we were leaving Town to return to our Caravan Park, I was flashed by an oncoming Police Car, who proceeded to book me for doing 79 kph in a 60 kph zone. I just had my mind on other problems, not even thinking of the speed limit. So $150 later and a loss of 2 points, caused me to be in a very dejected mood for the rest of the day.

September 15th, We left Broome and drove to the Sandfire Roadhouse. We were driving into a strong headwind, so used a lot more fuel than normal and had to top up the tank with the spare fuel we now carry in the boat petrol tank. The cars computer said we had 2klms of fuel left when we stopped at the Sandfire Roadhouse Petrol Pump. There was no other fuel stop along the way.

September 16th, Booked into Cooke Point Holiday Park in Port Hedland and could only get 2 days. So, off to the Information Centre to get brochures. Booked myself on the BHP Mine Tour, 9.30am Friday. We took a drive around Town and took a few photos.

September 17th, Had a look through Dalgetty House, the local Museum, which was involved with the early development of Port Hedland. Very informative display, but you need a lot of time to read through all the information, and the assistant was very knowledgeable on all the local developments. After lunch we drove to South Headlands to check out the area and stock up at the Shopping Centre.

September 18th, Packed up and left the Caravan Park early. Dropped Val at Woolworths Shopping Centre and went to meet the 9.30am Tour Bus at the Information Centre. The Tour involved all the BHP operations from the arrival of ore trains to the loading of the ore onto the huge Tankers. It was a very interesting and informative tour and is an eye opener when you realise the immense size of this project. By the time I had picked up Val and we set off to our next destination, our next stop had been changed. A recommendation from the Service Station attendant, had us travelling to The Cove Caravan Park at Point Samson. We liked what we saw and booked in for 4 nights. After setting up we walked across the road to The Tavern and had a couple of drinks and enjoyed the ocean views. While talking with the locals we were entertained by a pod of whales frolicking in the ocean, unfortunately about 1 klm off shore.

September 19th, Washing day, how exciting! Saw whales from the CP again to-day. They were a little closer in, so actually saw a flipper out of the water from a side roll movement, very exciting. After lunch we drove around Point Samson and checked out the Jetty, Fishing Fleet and Honeymoon Cove Beach. Don’t know how it got its name but it is the local place to swim. We drove out to Wickham, a small workers settlement, and found that they had a Woolworths Supermarket and a Service Station, handy to know. Next we went to Cossack, a Heritage Town. It was the first Port Settlement in this area and lasted until 1904 when a jetty was built at Point Samson to handle the bigger ships. Cossack was supported by the Pilbara gold rush and the thriving Pearl Industry. Most of the original timber Town houses were lost in Cyclones but of the remaining stone building, some have been restored. There was a Wedding in progress at the old Customs Building and the food smelled great.

Broome 2009

September 1st, Arrived in Broome and booked into the Broome Caravan Park. Took a drive around Town and went to the Visitors Centre. First impressions, this looks like a nice clean Town and only a few minutes drive from our Caravan Park.



September 2nd, Quiet day just settling in. No need to talk about the weather up here as it is HOT &DRY every day.



September 3rd, I went to the Broome Museum to-day, run by the Historical Society, and found a small display featuring the Pearling Industry, WW2 Air Raid, Shell Collections and Local History. Next I went to the Old Lock Up, which housed 3 cells, nicely painted out and displaying Aboriginal Art & Didgeridoos. I timed my visit perfectly and blended in with a Bus tour Group and listened to a very good talk on Didgeridoo making and playing.



September 4th, Did a bit of Retail Therapy with Val to-day.



September 5th, Went to the Courthouse Markets in Town, and was surprised at the size and variety of stuff to see. Val found a few things to buy and we had lunch there on the Courthouse verandah and listened to the entertainment. At 5.30pm, we went to Town Beach to view the Staircase to the Moon and more Markets. There were some clouds blocking the Moon, so this was not the best night to get the full effect of the moon rising over the water of Robuck Bay and then shining across the mud flats to light up like a staircase. We took a bottle of wine and our fold-up chairs and enjoyed the outing anyway.



September 6th, Fathers Day. Had all my FD phone calls in the morning. After lunch we went to the “Pearl Luggers” in Chinatown, for the 1 hour Tour. It was a very interesting and informative dialogue covering the last 100 years of the Pearling Industry in Broome. 6pm we drove to The Mangrove Resort Hotel for drinks and dinner, it was a joint Fathers Day present from Steven & Greg. First we armed ourselves with a glass of wine and sat in the outdoor viewing area to view the “Staircase to the Moon” again. No clouds to-night, so the staircase was much better than last night and was serenaded by an aboriginal playing the didgeridoo. Unfortunately my camera would not take a decent photo of this event, so will have to rely on sending postcards to everyone. We enjoyed a lovely meal in the Resort Restaurant and finished off the night with a glass of port under the light of the full moon.



September 10th, We rang Jessica to wish her a Very Happy 8th Birthday and were very pleased that our present, posted from Broome, had arrived to-day.