Our Australia trip

The trip from Exmouth to Coral Bay is only 10 cattle grids. We might as well count our driving distance that way as Nossi only bears 3, max 4 until he is totally freaked out and tries to crawl behind Marjo’s chair where is only room for his nose really.

So we make a few stops and take the last 3 at the speed of a slug. That way we feel every bar of the cattle grid three times (that’s 8 hops for the front tires, 8 hops for the back and 8 for the trailer) but it doesn’t make the noise that seems to fray his nerves.

Before we know it we are in Coral Bay though. It seems like a very popular coastal town with lots of snorkeling, diving, buggy driving, flights, glass bottom boats and other activities. There are three campings of which only one has 12 spots for dogs. So lucky we booked this morning and get a spot between 11 other dog owners. The camping is not the objective though and we leave quickly and venture to the beach. What a beach.

This is not only paradise for us with fabulous warm water and nice snorkeling sights.

But also for the doggies nice floating and plenty of friends.

Ideal for playing with a ball.

Then before the sun sets we try to get a family picture which takes a bit of preparation.
First a tan:

Then some convincing and slow acceptance:

Followed by disinterest:

Then it finally takes a few tries:

But the end result is there:

Then it’s dinner time, first night fish and chips from the local shop, the second night noodles. All yummie.

As last activity we can mention in this blog Marjo went out to capture the setting sun. The first night a cloud band limited that somewhat with still a wonderful result.

The second night though wins without doubt.

This was a great stop and hit easily a 9 on the scale of awesomeness.

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for Quobba Station which seems to be quite remote. Don’t expect any posts for a while 🙂

Posted from Coral Bay, Western Australia, Australia.

We’re not far from Exmouth when we leave Giralia. Still a few bridges (grids) too far for Nossi. So we adopt the strategy to stop and see if we can get beach access so he can get onto solid ground. That strategy seems to work and also gives us an opportunity to see the area.

The beaches have all their own characteristics; this one is with pink and white pebbles.

And not only the beach is interesting. Also trees have fascinating colours and the view of red and green is a nice sight.

The termite mounds here are big blobs and they look quite distinct in a green field.

Some of the background and a little inspection.

Exmouth is a great place for campervanning. The information centre is very helpful and has a dedicated fresh water tap to fill up the tank. The town also has long rig parking, a dump point and handy campings. So we very much liked it here. We camped at the main town camping and got a spot next to the staff area. I was awed by the bus of one of the caretakers and we got a private tour. He was a bit sad as his bird of 13 years passed away the day before (a real bird, not a woman as Marjo thought) and played loud Fleetwood Mac music. I’m sure he expected that we would be complaining about the music but when we didn’t he was very friendly. He even showed us his results of prospecting some time ago. A 20! ounce nugget!

Exmouth is at the start of the Ningaloo reef that follows the coast south till Coral Coast. If you have no dogs and 4WD you can follow the whole reef down. We make it to the National Park station and get sent back. Doesn’t matter, the beaches are still stunning and we and the dogs have a ball. First we come past some interesting structure. Marjo didn’t guess but I thought it was going to be a massive circus tent. They only had to add the canvas. It worked out to be a naval communication station with signs prohibiting us to trespass or to shoot over. I know, it’s not fair. I was just planning to shoot over that area……

The swimming beach had the greenest water ever and was so clear!

The temperature of the water was very nice and we all went in and let the sun dry us.

Also here you see more beyond pigs, cows, kangaroos and dingos. We saw emus

And whales. It’s the season and you can see them jump, a sight that gets never boring.

Not to rub it in, but we had a great time.

The view from the light house is amazing, with a long surf a surfer can only dream of.

These days deserved a 9! We slept like roses.
Dotti must have felt a thorn though this morning at 3 am and I let her out for a pee. Nossi was the gentleman and went too. When at 3.30 she wanted to go again I let her out and kinda forgot to let her back inside. We all slept till 7 am.

Posted from Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia.

After an okay night (the road here is quite busy and with a raised bridge over the river traffic noise travels far) we wake to the neighbour (you know, the one with the generator and sports channel) starting his diesel. Not like we did at 10 am some weeks ago, but before 7 am. You would think that he did it to warm his engine but after half an hour or so he turns it off. We take a good look at the car and caravan to ensure that we won’t be neighbours again. Ever.

We leave after eating breakfast (no egg), packing up, doping Nossi and dumping the cassette. The road from here goes south, then west when we eventually turn to Exmouth.

Also here we find that the devil lost some of his marbles.

We stop to get fuel at Nanutarra but they realize their monopoly position and charge over $2 per liter. We decide to keep going and hope that Exmouth has more realistic prices.

I’m sure that some Swiss engineer has taken it up himself to design this part of the roads of Western Australia. Over the 200 km from the Robe river to the turn off for Exmouth they designed the road like a Swiss grated cheese. On that little stretch there are 12 (yes twelve) grates. By the third we had a Nossi on steroids. Hyper. We made several stops to calm him down but in the end gave up and kept going. Only after we turned off towards Exmouth did he calm down a little.

At one of the stops Marjo found a solution for Joran’s grass problem. With the grass on the side of the road here you won’t have any problems with draughts (it is dry here for 4-5 months on a stretch), no problems with too much rain (during summer the grass gets flooded here, and no dog will want to ruin it or he will turn into a porcupine.

A bit further down the road I kept looking concerned up in the sky all the time. When Marjo asked me what the problem was, I told her I noticed that this piece of road was an emergency landing strip for aircrafts.

We then decided to stop early and turned off towards Giralla with a promising bay.

The joke was on us, a dusty place with very basic facilities but they were working and clean. We both had a second shower, washed the bus (inside out), clipped the dogs nails and did the laundry. Then time for a beer.

The temperature is dropping to an attractive level. After sunset it gets too cold to sit bare chested but during the day it is nice to be in shorts only. Marjo luckily disagrees and wears a decent top 🙂

The dogs lie under the bus and dig a hole to stay cool.

All in all a fruitful day.

Posted from Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, Australia.

We again have a feeling of dustiness. We want something fresh and clean, a shower, a spring clean of the bus. After much reading, Internet, folders, etc. we decided to go to the Coral Cove at Samson Point. Everyone raved about this camping.

So we drive the 40 odd kilometer and come to the new town of Samson Point, all mining related, very new houses all corrugated steel and hose grown gardens and a pristine camping. We looked at the beach which looked not too bad and decided to go to the caravan park. I tried to pay but got reprimanded that I hadn’t booked through the booking service. Then the lady took a look at our bus and said to the guy serving us “tell them it’s $49 a night”. I’m not sure if that was the real cost or that they decided our bus would lower the image of the caravan park but we decided to move on.

First we had a swim and a shower and watched whales frolic in the little bay.

Then we bought some forgotten essentials.

Stopped at Dampier for Dotti to meet her great grand uncle.

And have a nice lunch in grass, luscious grass…….

Then we wait till 240 rail carriages pass in front of us.

Everything in this part of Australia is done in mega scale.

And then we go to a rest stop called Robe river.
It’s a bit of a weird stop. There are two French girls of which one has a heat stroke and she goes off to the hospital in Dampier. There is a couple with an older son who watch sports television outside with a smelly and noisy generator. When, close to 9 I ask him if he stops soon he’s not too pleased but moves his generator so that we don’t die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Then at 9.30 pm the welsh army arrives. Well, two welsh guys and a welsh girl who start a fire, cooking, and setting up all very noisy, as close as possible to our bus. The joys of camping 🙂

Posted from Fortescue, Western Australia, Australia.

Dotti and ‘Red’

And Nossi started barking and giving “Red” the sniff over as if he was real. So gullible.

We leave crossing the bridge and see that the river is hardly a river if we look at the water it carries.

In Western Australia they seem to recognise that as they only put “De Grey R” on signs. This seems a standard here. Of course it could also be a state wide saving program to minimize sign space.

Some bored miners personalized ant hills with their safety helmets.

And we came to the hustle and bustle of Port Hedland.
Mining traffic rules the world here.

We decide to take fuel, stock up on groceries and have a beach stop. The beach is mining style with dumped sand and bits making the beach. The dogs don’t care.

We pass the Port Hedland yacht club with three sorry boats stuck in a little water. I’m sure that boats are not a necessity to be part of the club.

On the way to Cleaverville we pass the historic town of Roeburne.

Then we follow 14 km of dirt road to arrive at a very dusty campground. The campground is mainly a strip of dirt along the coast with mainly people that stay three months of the winter season. There is not much attraction to us. No shower, no toilet, no water, barely beach (mostly rock) and mucky water. The sea breeze is nice though and we sleep well 🙂

Posted from Fortescue, Western Australia, Australia.

The Western Australians have an odd way of planning. Somehow they seem to not have realized that there is an ocean out west with scenic views, refreshing winds, cool waves. So they build the only road about 15 to 150 km inland from the coast. Ok, I get it that a main road not necessarily is constructed close to the beach, but at least at other parts of Australia (and the rest of the world) they construct some tourist road that provides access to the beach. Not here. The only access is over a long corrugated dirt road and that only where the local proprietor decided to rent out part of their property such as Barn Hill. These places are spread far apart. There’s a lot to grab for the smart town that develops themselves as a coastal place with easy access, places to stay, food to eat and beer to drink. Mmmmm, Axel Beach? Marjo Downs? Smagtville?

Enough pondering. Meanwhile we drive on, over monotone roads with quite a bit of mining traffic. Every second or third car is a road train with some mining equipment or something they dug up. This area has a lot of salt mining.

We both do a bit of driving and a little more till we are too hot and reach the nice rest area.

The dogs meet a friend while bathing and we prepare the shower.

For some a bath and a shower don’t help in getting clean.

Apart from cows, bats and flies we get a visit from a small gecko duo.

All in all a nice stay.

Posted from Cleaverville, Western Australia, Australia.

Escaping the heat and flies we leave early from this giant tree. The bus can smell the ocean and we continue west. We decide not to go to Derby but head straight for Broome and turn left at the if Boab tree.

When we get closer to Broome the air starts getting dense and before we know it we pass a large bush fire.

Lucky for us this truck passed us just before.

In Broome we find the ocean and the only beach where dogs are allowed looks like a parking lot.

We decide to go off to the other side with nicer views and dip in the cool sea. Ahhhhhhhh, nice.

Back at the car though we notice the stifling heat and the many flies. And the only camping in Broome that reluctantly accepts dogs is far from the ocean. I get a panic mode and feel stifled, claustrophobic. In a dash we get fuel, fill up with water see a little bit of Broome and then escape. In the rush we forget to do any grocery shopping but we can always live on lollies and dog food 🙂

We then pass the bush fire again and head south towards Port Hedland. In about 120 km there should be a seaside caravan park. We get a little tired and Marjo still feels that I rushed our Broome visit (which I did) but I need fresh air and water.

The scenery along the drive south changes with endless fields and snow? It works out to be white sand and also the ant hills that look like snow cones are pure white.

When we come to the turnoff for Barn Hill station, we are greeted by a fence and a 9 km corrugated dirt road.

The bus doesn’t like corrugation which means we don’t like it either and with 18 kph it takes exactly half an hour to reach the camping. It’s all worth it and we have a view, a breeze, bearable flies and a fabulous beach. Marjo’s in heaven.

The beach combines rock and ocean with sand, stones, and a plethora of shells. We will leave many kilos heavier I’m sure.

We decide to stay three nights and enjoy sunsets and the sound of the waves (which is here a bit different as with every new wave a kaleidoscope of new pebbles, shells and other beautiful things wash ashore.

The dogs love the freedom of the beach and frolic in the water, cool down in pools and sleep in the shade.

We love the layout of the amenities. The warm water for the showers depends on the sun heating up the black pipes, so an early morning or evening shower is a frightening cold affair. And before you go to the loo you need to look up to make sure no passing bird poops on you while you’re busy yourself 🙂 You also get interesting results peeing at night and gazing at the stars…..nobody likes wet feet.

Then we really run out of food and move on.

Posted from Roebuck, Western Australia, Australia.

The visual stimulation at this beach is too much for words. Enjoy!

Then I try to get Nossi for a last swim:

And Dotti enjoys the spectacle.

The scenery is becoming less hilly and more plain. That’s a pity as many kilometers with shrubs and termite mounds gets boring pretty fast.

Then we see a viewpoint and stop for a dog pee and scenery.

Our next stop is at Fitzroy Crossing for some fuel and then Marjo sees a sign for Geiki Gorge, the only attraction in the Kimberley’s that is accessible without 4WD. It is not bad but we are quite a bit disappointed about what there is to see from the Kimberley’s through the Great Northern Highway. If you ever decide to “do the Kimberley’s” make sure you can see it via the Gibb River road (dirt).

Looking at these pictures there seems to be an “ebony and ivory” effect.

We follow the endless road.

And Nossi enjoys the view from the back.

Then we come to a rest area where people sit with fly nets over their head and where there is no shade. We do a short tour and decide to move on, another 90 km to the Boab rest area. This better be good. And it was!

The tree must have been formed over years from a circle of trunks and then grown together. Now it’s hollow and Nossi is curious.

And then wants to run when he sees me there.

Marjo is more interested to join me.

Posted from Roebuck, Western Australia, Australia.