Our Australia trip

One of the things with crowded campings is that you don’t need an alarm clock. Still we set it for 6.50 am so Marjo can get to the first dolphin feeding. We shouldn’t have bothered as at 6 am we wake up from all the kids that wake up at sunrise. I make an early breakfast and Marjo can leisurely wander to the beach. She sees the dolphins up close and swears that one of them winked his eye to her. Or did I understand that wrong?

Meanwhile I slowly wake up and feed the dogs. Marjo then walks them and I pack up, hitch up the trailer from the entrance and we’re on our way. We stop at Little Lagoon for the promised kiting and kayaking only to experience that the wind is gusty and one second the kite pulls me over while the other it drops from the sky. That the lagoon is positioned lower than the surrounding land doesn’t help either with stable winds. Marjo has some lower back pain from standing waiting for the dolphins this morning so no kayaking either and the only ones who get some water action in little lagoon are the poopers.

After getting really spooked from all the 1080 poison bait signs and two people telling us that locals lost their dogs while letting them walk around the water, we get scared and decide to forego bushcamping on the shore. A pity as it looks very enticing with perfect conditions to kite. Ah well, what’s kiting if we can be certain that no harm comes to our dogs. We read about project Eden which entails a 10 year program to bring back native animals to the Shark Bay peninsula. It involves a fence (of course; Australians love putting up fences to keep unwanted animals out (remember the rabbit proof fence and the dingo fence?)) and cull wild goats, wild sheep and – most feral – the wild cats. The best way to get rid of the cats seems to be dried meat with 1080 poison. Only dogs and cats seem to eat that, the native animals rather have fresh meat like road kill.

We stop on the way from Denham to the main road – while we still have mobile reception – to arrange for a car service in Geraldton later this week. We have found that car mechanics are busy people and need a week notice. With that arranged, as well as our campsite in Geraldton, we drive East and South.
We notice that suddenly gum trees start to appear. Apart from the odd Boab tree we haven’t seen many trees in the north, only shrubs. “tell someone who cares” I hear you say as what’s the importance of trees to you. Well for us it is, great to tie the dogs onto so they don’t wander off and eat 1080 poisoned meat but more importantly as a source of shade so we don’t get cooked in the warmer sun.
Although Kalbarri is our next stop, we don’t want to drive that far in one go and stop at the Nerren Nerren rest stop. After enduring a gazzillion flies that love any part of man and dog alike and almost swallowing a bee who drowned in my beer can, I retreat to the bus and drink water. Marjo is more fly resistant and Dotti keeps snapping her jaws and eats flies for desert.

We have an early night.

Posted from Nerren Nerren, Western Australia, Australia.

One can’t drive up the peninsula and not meet the dolphins at Monkey Mia. So we take the picturesque Monkey Mia drive from Denham past Little Lagoon. We plan to visit this on the way back later today so we can kite and perhaps kayak.

When we arrive at the gate (it is a paid for National Park) we are surprised to hear that they are very dog friendly. When we walk on the beach and Marjo waits to see the Dolphins up close a Dutch volunteer tells her that they even allow dogs on the camping. All the information we have is that dogs are not allowed on the camping in Monkey Mia, so we are happily surprised.

The only snag is that the camping is full as it is still school holidays. We find a solution and are allowed to camp as car without the trailer. We park the trailer near a lamp post just at he entrance of the camping and set up near the tent area. Then we head for the beach.

The ocean here looks spectacular with deep blue sea, light blue/green shore and white beach. The shallow shore is a haven for the dogs.

Then Nossi discovers a new friend, an 8 week old puppy, introduces it to Dotti and then they play. The little one keeps following my feet and runs in between when it gets a bit too rough. Then he jumps on Nossi again and they play like best mates.

At 5 Marjo goes to the bus and I get to do my fathers day present from Joran, a sunset cruise on Shotover, a big catamaran. There is a lot of wind and we see plenty of dolphins. On the way back the skipper takes my picture with all my clothes (including the borrowed jacket) blown sideways.

Later we find out how busy it gets when cars are parked everywhere and every piece of grass and shell gravel gets covered by a tent, swag or table and chairs.

Posted from Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.

It took me ages to get to sleep which had the advantage that I didn’t wake up until I had breakfast in bed made by my lovely wife 🙂

The dogs slept through the night and after that slow start we were at around 9 am on the road. Today we would go slow, look at the different places along the road. The first was Shell beach and very different from all the other Shelly beaches in Australia, this one has earned its name.

The dogs are less impressed by the shells and check out the water and Nossi can’t stand still.

Until Marjo casts her magic spell.

Then we all have fun with the shells.

Dotti seems to dread the shells on her head but then settles into the inevitable.

We make another stop at a sea aquarium but it’s too commercial for our liking so we go onto Denham while passing some nice vistas.

Denham is a small village with 400 people has all we need. Water (to buy as it is desalinated and at a cost), fuel, groceries, gas (for cooking) which is really good. This is our second refill bottle of 3.7 kg in almost 4 months. Also we find a set of reef shoes so I can go kiting again 🙂

Then we find a camping where dogs are allowed and we can do the laundry.

We find some shells with stripes that go in an unexpected direction.

And then mistakenly almost walk to the wrong bus with trailer.

Ok, I need glasses.

Marjo cooks a yummie dinner and we have a refreshing desalinated-water shower before going to bed. Another great day!

Posted from Denham, Western Australia, Australia.

We want to see some of the particulars of Shark Bay and decide to not drive the 300 km all the way to Denham but stop at Hamelin Point where Stromatolites can be seen.

Instead of having to endure another almost hour of corrugation we are just preceded by a grader, a truck that shaves off the top of the ridges and smoothes the road. Now with 50 kph the trip back to the main road only takes us just over 10 minutes. Nice start of the day!

Back on the tarmac our first stop is half way at a lookout point to see the flat land and ocean. There’s also a strange memorial with stones on a pile and writing of memories and a bunch of memorial gnomes.

A fellow traveler offers to take a family shot and we never refuse.

The landscape slowly turns less red and there are patches where white and red fight for attention.

Then we stop at the Overlander roadhouse for lunch, reload the emails and call the children. Everything is fine other than that Niki would like us to buy a house that she can look after for us. Mmmm, we decide to sleep on that for a while.

Then we take the turn off for Denham and stop at the Hamelin Pool caravan and old telegraph station. The caravan parks is small and nicely set up. There’s a walk to the Stromatolites that brings you past a shell quarry where they used to cut bricks from compressed shells.

And of course the Stromatolites themselves.

Because we made the 1.5 km walk during the hot part of the day (Marjo will confirm that it was her idea so no need to ask her) Dotti got puffed on the return walk so I carried her back. Still can’t understand why we don’t have a Pekinese or Shitsu instead of a 19 kilo cattle dog x heeler.

I offered to cook, so luckily the camping has a kitchen and we have fish & burger with chips. Because the kitchen ran out of supplies, our salad consisted of orange slices, cucumber, 3 pieces of lettuce, grape tomatoes and apple. An interesting combination.

Posted from Hamelin Pool, Western Australia, Australia.

Now we have the kiting bug again and all the bull dust removed from the kite and board, we want to take the opportunity to checkout Bush Bay. When I say “we” I mean Marjo as the loving supporter, chef launcher and lander, professional photographer and beach comber, while I spend time hanging under the kite in the water, between exhilarating seconds on the board.

So we drive the 9 grid road from Quobba point with killer waves (and a very paranoid Nossi) back via Carnarvon (new fuel, water and some groceries) to the turnoff for Bush Bay. Because I am stubborn and seem to remember reading that we only need 2 km of dirt road (and drive), we continue another 6 km past the turn off as the Google maps shows a road that turns out to be a rut in a field. So, 6 km back and then the very corrugated 9 km of dirt road to Bush Bay. With a maximum speed of 10 kph this takes close to an hour and we are relieved to be able to unload the dogs and walk to the beach.

The girl was right, there is about 3 to 4 km of shallow water with no waves. At low tide the shallow water turns into sand. Perfect for fishing, crabbing and of course – at high tide -for kiting.

We park the bus behind bushes so we don’t get blown away from the wind which is constant and only varies in strength (10-25 knots) and direction (West – South – East).

The kiting is great, the wind direction so that I get blown towards the beach every time which is safe, but requires a lot of walking back into the sea.

With the tide differences and the lack of waves there is a lot of shell and other shell like animals out there and my feet bear the remnants of it. My knees, hands and feet are covered in cuts, some superficial and some deeper which is a pain to walk on. Certainly with salt water and sand. So Marjo invents some reef shoes made from foldable seat fabric and cloth tape that still allow my feet to get under the foot straps of the board. They last half a day before they also get cut to shreds (rather them than my foot soles). The next step is old thongs (flip flops) cut to size and taped onto my feet. They last about half an hour. Then it’s time to give my feet a rest to heal before we go to the next kiting location.

Marjo meanwhile makes long walks with Nossi and turns shells and other found materials into art!

And of course we have some pretty sunsets.

Posted from Hamelin Pool, Western Australia, Australia.

Because we like this area, we decide to only drive down the 9 km corrugated red dirt, or in Nossi speak only 5 grids. We pass the blow holes but with the hard western wind there is not much blow in the air. At Quobba station a friendly camper (who got fresh water and some groceries on her trip to Carnavon for us) told us that you can swim from the council camping at Quobba point.

With Marjo saturated with nice shells for a while it became time to get ourselves immersed in some salt water. So we drive up the camping and see some shacks that are only one blow away from collapsing, and then a row of caravans nicely aligned with view of the ocean. Caravanners are conditioned to stand in neat rows, evident here where you can stand where you like and still one backs onto the other. Not for us.
We pay at the ranger and then park one row of bushes away from the ocean, just enough shield from the hard wind and a 20 meter stroll to the beach and ocean. It’s a nice spot with a bay and no coral but solid waves and another part with coral and calm water perfect for Dotti and Nossi to wade in and of course for Marjo to do some snorkeling.

A beach as your front garden also allows for zoomies.

The wind is relentless and varies between 15 and 25 knots so we tie down the awning well and bring it inside after dawn. In most countries I know the wind settles at dusk and picks up again in the morning. Not so in WA (Windy Australia) where at night the wind picks up and rocks the bus (and us to sleep).

With the evening wind it gets colder after dark so we try to build a fire. This fire was more to try out a rim as fire basket (which we carry around with us now) but also to (finally) season Marjo’s birthday pan. This involves heating it up with oil for 10 minutes then letting it cool down and the same process again 3 times. It’s got now a half burnt sheen, so we’ll see.

Then there’s more sunsets that awe us every time we see one and Nossi is a compliant model.

And of course ….. K I T I N G ! Although the quick drop off and the waves make it a bit difficult for a novice, I am able to get the kite up and myself on the board! Again, Marjo’s razor sharp picture taking has nothing to do with it that you don’t see me face forward over the board. And no, we don’t do movies as yet. Seems to be some problem with the camera 😉

While we are at Quobba Point there is a 21st birthday party with beach surfing behind a 4 wheel drive, music and drinks. They behave pretty well and one of the girls attending tells us that we should go to Bush Bay, about 30 km south of Carnarvon, as there is shallow water for miles.

With a return trip to Carnarvon for water, emailing and groceries we extend our stay at Quobba point to 5 days. Told you we were going slower now the temperatures are in the high 20’s.

Posted from Hamelin Pool, Western Australia, Australia.

As you might gather we made it to Quobba station. Because the wind was with us we arrived quite early at the turnoff. Knowing that there is no water or food we decided to drive the 25 km on to Carnarvon and check it out first before taking the turnoff to Quobba.

As you do, we looked at the ocean but found it disappointing compared to Coral Bay with a lot of sea grass and brown murky water.

There’s not much appeal to Carnarvon for us other than great fruit and veggies (major produce region) and our stock up for water, groceries and fuel. So onto Quobba station. Enduring 9 grids and a hyper Nossi we get past salt fields.

The grids control much of our driving. We tension as soon as we see a yellow sign and relax when it says “flood way”

When it’s a grid though we conspicuously look at what Nossi does before and after.

The first few times we can get him to lie down but after grid 3 he starts panting and looking for places to hide. So then, when traffic allows (and luckily there’s not that much traffic around), we slow down to walking pace and cut across diagonally to reduce the rumbling of tyres. A trip with 9 grids takes a while that way but who’s in a hurry 🙂

The number of animals here outnumbers the number of cars and we patiently stop to let them pass.

Although we would have scored bonus points with the last one…..(Marjo does not approve of this remark).

First stop is the blowholes about 70 km from Carnarvon where the seawater gets blown high up in the air.

Then down the 9 km of corrugated road we picked up some wood for fire (no collection at the station is allowed) and found a nice spot about 200 meters from the beach. By now a wind had picked up and we didn’t want to be blown all over the place. A beautiful sunset completed our first day.

Posted from Macleod, Western Australia, Australia.

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.