Australia 2007

Mt. Robinson - Exmouth - Perth

On Friday, August 10, we head into Karijini National Park.
The mountains along the way are very pretty.

Karijini NP is set in the Hamersley Range and is Western Australia second largest national park, encompassing some 627'445 hectares.
Erosion has carved spectacular gorges into the 2'500 mio year old rocks.

Our first stop is at the Fortescue Falls.

It is the first really warm day of our trip with 28°C.
We pack our backpacks and head down into the gorge.

The banded iron formations are very picturesque.
The pools look very inviting too but the water is to cold for us.

The trees and their roots-systems are quiet impressive.

Some ochre can also bee found along the way.

Then we hike along Dale Gorge to the Circular Pool.
The views into the gorge on the way back are very impressive.

Along the way we see many fine examples of trees that hang on to the sheer face of the rocks with their roots.
They are just amazing!

Walking through the river bed and seeing how high the water comes during the rainy season is impressive too.
Right now there is only a trickle of water left in the river.

There is also plenty of animal life to can be observed.

We continue on to Circular Pool.
The way is quiet adventurous and lots of fun.

Passing fern gardens we reach the pool.
It is such a pretty place and so peaceful.

Then the hard work starts ... getting back up to the surface of the tablelands.
The views into the gorges from up there are just stunning.
Amazing what water and time can do to rock ....

On the way back we see many flowers ....

... and some pretty specimen of Eucalyptus trees.

We continue on to the Savannah Campground.
The dirt road is very badly corrugated.
At the campground we are lucky to get a site, as it is high season and we had not reserve.
The warm water for the showers is done with solar power and is almost as cold as the beer ....

After another cold night with only 5.6°C on Saturday morning the sun quickly changes things and soon temperatures reach the 20s.
Looks like we will have another perfect day in the beautiful Karijini National Park.

We walk to the Joffre Gorge from the Caravan Park and pass some large termite mounts.

It is too early, no sunlight has entered the gorge yet, but we spot a lookout on the other side of the gorge and quickly adjust today's travel plans to include it.

We head to the Oxer Lookout and are impressed.
To stand on the platform and look down into the gorge is stunning ..... but also creepy for the ones that have a problem with heights.
The grave of Jim, the SES Volunteer killed here in 2004, reminds one of the hidden dangers of hiking and canyoning in this area.

We leave the cars at the day area and head to the Waemo Gorge.
Again a warning has been placed at the beginning of the decent.

The way down it steep but the pool is pretty and worth getting down there.
But the water is too cold, even Ruedi doesn't go for a swim .... even with the air-temperatures now reaching 29°C ...

We cannot proceed to the Handrail Pool as the water is still too high.
So we head back and drive to the Joffre Lookout.

The views over to the waterfall are great.

Then its time to leave Karijini and head toward Tom Price.
It is a beautiful sunny day and the temperature is already at 28°C.

Once we reach the bitumen Ruedi and Roger have to inflate the tyres again giving Katarina and Susi time to have a look at the flowers.
Susi tries to identify as many flowers as possible but many flowers are not listed in Susi's flower books (and she is pretty frustrated about that ....).

Pass the mouse over the pictures .... were Susi has found the names (and hopefully has picked the correct ones!) they will be displayed.

We see a Photo-Stop sign and stop.
We find our selves on a lookout, were people can leave rocks with messages regarding their loved ones that have passed away.
It is a very strange feeling standing there and reading all those messages.

We continue on, pass Tom Price and take the dirt road westwards passing Mt. Samson.
It's a very pretty valley, some kind of lupines blooming along the road.

At the Beasley River Rest Area we stop for the night and camp directly in the riverbed.

It's a nice spot with large River Gums, lots of birds, a camp fire … the perfect way to end a nice day.

After a not too cold night with 10.6°C we wake up to a sunny Sunday.
We hit the road shortly after 8 AM.
Driving west through the ranges is so pretty in the morning light.
The red is really strong and the light-green Spinifex looks very pretty.
The temperature rises to 29 °C and there is no cloud on the sky.

We reach the North West Coastal Highway and head south.
We find out that getting fuel at the Narutarra Roadhouse is an expensive hobby ... they charge 30 cents more per litre than we paid in Tom Price!

The country changes and we drive through sand dunes.
They are covered with green vegetation.
Every so often patches of pink flowers can be seen.

We turn into the Burkett Road, later on into Minilya – Exmouth Road towards Exmouth.
In Exmouth all caravan parks are fully booked so we take a site at the overflow camping besides the Tourist Information office.

Later on we head out to the Light house for the sunset.

We see a few whales but it is hard to see them in the white capped ocean.
Still, they are here and Roger and Katarina get all excited as they have booked a whale-watching tour for tomorrow.

The night is warm and we can keep the windows open for a long time.
This feels great!
The temperature only drops to 15.6°C

On Monday, August 13, the sunrise is very orange, which points to rain later on.
There are a few clouds around but they soon disappear.

We want to catch a site at the National Park.
As the sites are assigned to people in sequence of their appearance Ruedi goes to the local CALM office before opening to be first in line.
But he comes back without an allocated site.
The sites are allocated by the order of appearance of people, first the ones at the park entrance then the ones at the office are considered.
Once a site has been assigned one has one hour time to go and claim it otherwise they will be given away to the next person asking for one.
As Roger and Katarina have their whaler-watching tour today we decide to try our luck tomorrow directly at the park entrance and stay the night at a Caravan Park close of the entrance of the park.
We call the Lighthouse Caravan Park and are lucky to get two sites for the night.

When we ask for water at the tourist information we find out that here water is very precious.
Only bore water, that usually is lightly salty, can be obtained without problems.
We still have one full tank of fresh water, so we decide to fill the other one with bore water for every-day use.
This is the first time that we are confronted with having to deal with two qualities of water at the same time.
We appreciate our design of having two separate tanks.
This way we can protect our fresh water for drinking-only purposes in one tank and can use the other one with bore water without any restrictions, swapping between the tanks by just unplugging a hose-connection.
But Ruedi already thinks about a technical solution so we don't have to switch tanks by hand .... let's see what he comes up with!.

We head out to Caravan Park and find great sites with view onto the ocean.
Just the road separates the park from the beach; it's a great spot for walking.
We spend the rest of the day at the beach.
It is low tide and we are able to walk the reef and inspect its life.

Late in the afternoon Roger and Katarina return from their trip, filled with the impressions of having had a whale really close to the boat.

On Tuesday morning we have to rise early.
Cape Range National Park opens at 8 AM and we want to be there at least 30 minutes before.
We sneak out of the still sleeping caravan park (try to be quiet with a truck like the OKA ....) and drive to the entrance.
Well, we are already vehicles 6 and 7 ..... the first one was at the entrance at 6 AM!!!

When the ranger comes it is quite interesting to watch the process:
The National Park has many camping spots with sites.
Each spot has a camp host that takes care of the sites.
The host calls in by radio in the morning and reports the available site for the day.
The ranger then writes them down on a board and people, in order of appearance at the gate, can chose which place they want to go to.
Sounds like a complicated system but it is absolutely fair one, strictly "first in best dressed" ...
We are lucky and get two sites at Tulki Bay directly at the ocean.

At the turn-off to the camping we spot these Desert Peas, relatives of the Stuart Desert Peas we know from Central Australia.
Different to these ones their relatives in Central Australia have black "eyes".

The camp host informs us about the local attractions.
We leave the OKA on site and take off for the day in Roger and Katarina's camper.

First stop is the Pilgonaman Gorge, where black footed Wallabies can be observed.

Then we continue on south to Yardie Creek Gorge, where we venture into the gorge.

Plats in all shapes and colours grow on the sand dunes and rocks.

Interesting is also to see how the wind damages the bushes ... and they still manage to survive on the side that is turned away from the wind.

We also find signs that this gorge a long time ago was part of a coral reef.

On the way back we see an Echidna, our first one in all these years that we have been travelling through Australia.
We are trilled!
Echidnas are strange animals, they lay eggs but suckle their young.
The poor thing gets so frightened about all this fuzz that id digs itself into the ground.
Ruedi tries to lift it up to carry it to the side, away form the side of the road, but he has no success, the Echidna has dug himself into the ground so much that it cannot be lifted.
Amazing!

Then we stop at Osprey Bay, a beautiful place for snorkelling and swimming.
Next time we would try to get a spot on this camp.

Here we find the same kind of "rocks" we have seen further down in the gorge.

Then we stop at Turquoise Bay, famous for its drift-snorkelling too, but known to have nasty undertows and currents.
The water really is turquoise here.
We hear that snorkelling at Lakeside is very good too, but the best spot must be South Mandu.
Next time we know where to go ... do we?
Ah well, one after the other one will do too!

When we arrive back at our site the wind is blowing very strongly.
We still go for a swim but as one comes out of the water one is immediately sandblasted.

In the evening it is Susi's turn to cook.
The Wallas cooker gives up on her and she has to cook in Roger and Katarina's campervan.

Over night the temperature only drops to 15°C but the wind rattles and shakes the OKA all night.

It is already Wednesday, August 15, and Roger and Katarina have mere 10 days left, before they have to fly back to France.
So after the morning duties have been finished we hit the road again.
We stop to watch the wind playing with the waves and generating white caps.

We pass a large area of termite mounts, nicely surrounded by spring flowers.

Then we turn off towards Coral Bay.
We find 2 sites in one of the Caravan Parks but find them to be rather expensive (34$ for an unpowered site ....).

On the way to the bay to watch the fish feeding we pass this old tractor.
The old and the new mix well, the solar panel keeping the old battery alive ....

Ruedi tries to fix the Wallas cooker. It is neither dirty nor is the tank empty, it looks more like the pump being faulty .... but he is nor sure yet.
Roger invites us all for dinner at Fins Cafe to comfort poor frustrated Ruedi.

On Thursday, August 16, after another mild night with 14°C another sunny day greets us but the strong winds are still blowing.
As we head south on the North West Coastal Highway we start reaching the spring flowers .....

For hours we drive through endless blankets of flowers in all colours.
It is just marvellous.
Katarina and Susi are having a ball of a time.
But not only we humans seem to appreciate the flowers; large spiders seem to find lots of pray with the many insects flying around.

As we drive through the blankets of Everlastings we cannot resist and stop to reproduce the pictures found in so many tourist guides.
This is wildflowers at its best!

As we crawl around in the flowers a station wagon stops and a woman gets out.
She approaches us and asks if this is our OKA ....
A bit puzzled we confirm.
She then identifies herself as being the daughter of Cherry and Robert, our friends with the sheep farm in Beverly.
By coincidence we have stopped exactly on their station and also by coincidence Cherry had called her last night, telling her that we are in the vicinity ....
How small can Australia be!

We are crossed by trucks "moving house" and once again are amazed about what is transported on Australian roads!

The closer we get to Carnarvon the greener the country gets.
More and more farms appear, fruits are offered for sale at the side of the road.
Carnarvon, a rather large country town with good facilities, lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River.
Even though the river is tidal it has a second "river" some 7 - 8 meters below its riverbed, where fresh water flows all year.
This water is being used for the irrigation.
The town has an almost unlimited supply of fresh water at its disposal.

At the tourist information centre we find out that there is a tap at the entry of the town where we can fill up our water tanks with as much water as we want.
Great! We haven't had fresh water in abundance since Newman.
We rinse all the filters and tanks then bunker as much water as we can, knowing that further south we will encounter the problem of water again.

We continue on south through more carpets of flowers.
Late in the afternoon we stop at the Gladstone Scenic Lookout and decide to stay for the night.
The sunset with the very pretty view out to the ocean is definitely worth a stop there.

The nights are getting colder, the temperature now hovers just a bit over 10°C.
But as the Friday morning greats us with sunshine soon the cold night is forgotten.

We continue on to Shark Bay and stop at Hamelin Pool.
It's an interesting little corner of this world ....

At the entrance to Hamelin Pool is a massive sand bar called the Fauré Sill, which has built up over 6'000 years and restricted the tide flow into the Pool.
The shallow waters of Hamelin Pool evaporate quickly and create super-salty water.

Cardid Cockles are one of the few marine species which thrive in very salty water. They live in dense clusters in the bight.
Shells in the beach ridges gradually cement together. Rainwater slowly dissolves calcium carbonate from shells.
Water evaporating from the shell ridges then triggers a cementing action and forms the "Hamelin Coquina".

Early settlers in this area had few sources of timber or rock for building. But coquina provided a solution.
Excavated with a crosscut saw blocks were used to construct many buildings including the church in Denham.
Today, shell blocks from this quarry are taken only to maintain historic buildings in Shark Bay.

We continue on and find a gangplank leading out to the stromatolites with signs, where a funny little comic figure called "Stumpy" guides through his family.

The cyanobacteria that build the stromatolites first appeared on earth 3.5 bill years ago when oxygen was scarce.
As the original stromatolite colonies expanded, they released more and more oxygen into atmosphere, eventually raising the oxygen level to 20% of all atmospheric gases.
This led the way for air-breathing life forms to evolve.
When the tide is in air bubbles may be seen.
For more details on the stromatolite click here.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, camel trains transported wool from nearby pastoral stations to a Government wool shed once located at the nearby Flagpole
Wool bales were carted to the foreshore in small drays, loaded into dinghies and ferried out to a waiting lighter (a small sailing ship).
The lighter then sailed 190 km to a deep anchorage off Dirk Hartog Island where the cargo was transferred to a larger ship for the journey to Fremantle.
More than 60 years have passed since wagons carrying wool rolled over the living stromatolite mats but the deep ruts made by the wheels are still visible.

Cormorants or Wanamalu as they are called by the Aboriginal people seem to like the stromatolites as basis for their fishing.
For more details on the Cormorants of Shark Bay click here.

Welcome Swallows (Hirundo Neoxena) chasse insects along the shore and underneath the gangplank.

We continue on to Shell Beach.

Shells in their millions make up this white landscape, nearly all them being the small white bivalve known as the Cardiid Cockle (Fragum eragatum).
Masses of shells have been drifting in for about 4'000 years, the tides, winds and waves carrying them to shore when they die ... they are five metres deep and still pilling up ...

Soon we are all wrapped up in sieving through the shells .... we just can't help it ....

Shell grit has been mined at Shell Beach since the early 1960. Since new shell is regularly deposited on the beaches, it is considered a renewable resource.
The poultry industry of Western Australia relies on loose shell. When eaten, the minerals in the grit enable chickens to produce hard egg shells.
The shell is also a source of lime for the cement industry, and in the production of ornamental plant holders and pottery.

As we continue on in direction of Denham we stop at Eagle Bluff.
The large sea grass banks (the largest in the world!) are well visible.
We spot a few sharks and turtles, but otherwise it is rather quiet.

This gives us time to read the excellent displays about Shark Bay's shallow bays, the concentration with salt and how the marine life has adjusted to it.
For more details click here.

As we continue our way to Denham an Echidna crosses the road.
But again we are too noisy, the animal buries itself into the ground underneath a bush.

In Denham Roger and Katarina want to book a tour into Francois Peron National Park.
As Saturday is fully booked we decide to stay an extra day so they can go on Sunday.

We head out to Monkey Mia Resort but are just about 30 minutes too late, all sites are gone.
So we head back to Denham and stay at the Caravan Park.

On Saturday we get up early to be at Monkey Mia at 8 AM to catch a site for certain and also watch the dolphins coming into the bay.
We are lucky and get two sites side by site.

Then we hit the beach to watch the animals.

As the dolphins have already left again we have time to watch the pelicans, trying to drink water from the sprinkler .....

Click here for movie (file type: .wmv, size: 943 KB).

For more details on the Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) and their life click here.

Then the dolphins return ...

Click here for movie (file type: .wmv, size: 2'474 KB).

We learn about the history of these visits:

From the late 1970's a female dolphin, Holey Fin, started visiting the beach at Monkey Mia to meet with people and to be hand fed.
Holey Fin was the mother of Nicky and the grandmother of Holey Kin and Nomad.
These dolphins continue the family tradition of dolphin-human interaction.
Holey Fin died in 1995 from a stingray barb that lodged in her heart.
For more details on the dolphins and their life click here.

It is obvious, that dolphins play an important role in Monkey Mia.

Roger and Katarina leave for a boat-cruise to watch Dugongs and Ruedi starts looking into the Wallas cooker and why it does not work anymore.
He finally finds a cable to be broken on the diesel pump. The coil was not mounted rattle proof. He drowns all in with Sikaflex and Susi is very happy again.

We meet Andy, a Swiss traveller with a Britz campervan, and decide to go to the Francis Peron National Park together, so we can help each other on the sand should need arise .... the park is known for its deep and soft sandy passages ....

On Sunday morning the weather soon deteriorates and stormy weather roles in.

Still we decide to go into the sand but we will drive up quickly and come down slowly, so should the rain hit us we can leave the park as quickly as possible.

We are lucky.
Even though we keep seeing small showers of rain we encounter no major problems in the sand on the way up to the top.

We stop at the various beaches but due to the missing sunshine the different colours of sand are not really as eye-catching as they could be.
Well, next time .....

All at the top we see the Leeuwin current virtually "hitting" the cold water from the south.

Not only we are impressed by this phenomenon, hundreds if not thousands of cormorants and other seabirds seem to find this an interesting place for fishing and rest at the beach in between.

The Leeuwin ('LOO-win') current is a band of warm, tropical water that flows from northern waters southwards along the continental shelf past Perth.
The current is strongest in winter and the mixing of warm water with cooler southerly water is vital to Shark Bay's marine ecology.

The thermal pictures nicely show the difference of summer and winter.

Susi finds some more flowers ....

... and some interesting caterpillars too.

The interesting mixture of sand and "rocks", made from compressed shells, generates this colourful scenery.

The OKA ploughs its way through the sand beautifully.
A bit more of a worry could the salt lakes become should some more rain fall.
But we are lucky again, no major rainfalls all day.

Susi even finds her flowers again (we had taken waypoints on the way up to find them again on the way down ....) and can now take her pictures in peace and quiet.

After this exciting day we enjoy a long evening with Andy, Roger and Katarina, drink some of Roger's excellent Cognac and tell each other stories.

On Monday the sun is back, but we have to leave this relaxing place.

We leave early, drive through some impressive flower carpets and already reach the Kalbarri National Park shortly after lunch.

We stop at the Ross Graham Lookout.

Again we find different coloured rock.
It is fascinating.
It looks like somebody has coloured them in with a brush.

We also learn that in Kalbarri National Park they have a program to restore the natural system as it used to be before feral pigs, goats, feral cats and foxes invaded the National Park.
Local animals like the black footed rock wallaby, malleefowls, woylies, chuditchs and other small mammals, reptiles and invertebrates have almost disappeared.
It is the world's biggest campaign against feral predators.
It also involves captive breeding of displaced native animals and relocations to protected and monitored areas.
Reintroduction of the chuditch has been successful, is ongoing for the woylie, and is planned for the black footed rock wallaby.

We continue on to Hawk's Head and Natures Window.
We have picked the right time of the day, the afternoon sun brings out the colours in the rocks.

For more on the formation of the area of the Kalbarri National Park click here.

Kalbarri National Park seems to have received a fair lot of rain.
The flowers are very pretty and Susi, Roger and Katarina are busy taking pictures.

Susi is surprised to find many different varieties of sundew.

She is also proud to get pictures of Murchison Rose and the Kalbarri Cowslip Orchid which are the local specialties.

Knowing that Kalbarri is a popular place this time of the season Susi had reserved a site at one of the caravan parks listed in the Kalbarri brochure.
When we get there they have the sites .... but the OKA is too high and will not fit under the trees.
That is bad news.
We drive to the caravan park we stayed last time and are lucky that they have one empty site without trees.
So we learn that when we book a site we not only have to tell them that we are 6 m long but also that we are 3 m high.

On Tuesday morning we continue on south and on the way visit Red Bluff.
Memories of our first trip in the OKA, the first testing of the OKA in sand and the nice bogs come to mind.

We continue on to Eagle Gorge, Grandstand and Island Gorge.
We even see wales on their journey south!

At Hutt Lagoon the water is very red, meaning that there are lots of algae in the water.
On our last visit in 2006 it was less obvious.

For lunch we head to Port Gregory and enjoy the great views of the natural harbour.

Then we stop at Yerina Spring Road just south of Port Gregory and have a look for orchids.
We are a wee bit too early for the orchids but still manage to find some flowers.

After passing Geraldton and Dongara we decide to deviate to Mingenew and the Coalseam National Park, which is famous for its everlasting.
But the camp hostess informs us that due to the missing rains there are no flowers this year.
Looks like we did this trip in vain .... well, maybe next time we are luckier.

We stay for the night and Roger and Katarina once more enjoy the warmth of our heated camper.

On Wednesday morning we head into the canyon to search for the fossils.
Even with all the looking and searching all we find id a block of solidified mussels and snails, to us similar to the stuff we have seen at Francois Peron National Park.
We find some more people looking for it .... about as unsuccessfully as we.
Then we find some people with plans, magnifying glasses, brushes and other equipment.
Assuming that they know what to look for we ask them.
They show us some fossils, tiny little things that we can hardly see.
Not very impressed we decide that these fossils are not made for us and leave the park.

The drive south through the green pastures and canolla fields is very pretty.

We reach Eneaba where we stop at the Eneaba National Park to have a look at its famous flowers.

Susi quickly has contact to another couple that is taking pictures of flowers too, learns the difference between Cats Paw and Kangaroo Paw and ....

... is sent a bit down the road to a spot where we have the chance to see our first Donkey Orchids and many other pretty flowers.

Deviating towards to coast we drive through blooming wattles, a very pretty sight.
Passing through Jurien Bay and Cervantes we reach The Pinnacles . return to top

Bad weather is approaching and the wind generates a small sand storm.
Just as we reach the exit point gale-force winds and rain hit us.

We drive to Lancelin where we stay at the local camping for the night.
Somehow we get the impression that the weather knows that this is the last night of the trip for Roger and Katarina and wants to make it easier for them to leave this beautiful country by being unpleasant.

The next morning on the last stretch into Perth we pass a small patch of pink everlasting, almost knee-high.
What a sight!
At least now we know how it should have looked like at the Coalseam National Park!

Conclusion of this trip:
We drove 6'500 km in 4 weeks.
Due to the lack in time we had no time to enjoy the different sections and its attractions the way we would have liked to.
We had a beautiful time together, but once more we realize, that "tourists" travel the country in a much faster pace than we like to.