Winding up at Wyndham

So we've had to pick up the pace a bit as, for various reasons, we need to get home a bit earlier than we planned and we bid Nola and Andy "happy travels" a bit further back as they continue on at their pace.
We traveled to Wyndham via Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Turkey Ck. We camped at rest stops on the way (there are heaps in WA), one of which was the popular Mary Pools. Right on the river bank under shady trees, the sounds of nature all around. Only to be spoilt by a silly old git who had to have his blasted generator going for hours. Heaven forbid he miss his favourite tv show! One of my new pet peeves.
Had a paddle in the rock pool but no swimming thanks to these fellas. Yes, I know its just a freshie but he still has very sharp looking teeth!

The rock pool.

Wyndham

We had lunch at the Wyndham pub, Barra of course, then up to the 5 Rivers Lookout which offers a stunning 360 degree view of the 5 rivers that run into the Cambridge Gulf.

We were fascinated by this humane toad disposal point, I wonder how many people use it. I think I will stick to my swerve all over the road to squash them technique, tried and true.

Walked down (and up) 140 steps to the Grotto

The amazing tenacity of nature. A boab tree growing out of rocks. Have seen this at various places, just incredible.

We sweep into Broome

Finally made it to Broome, and feeling sick of driving we are staying 4 nights. By simple coincidence we are here for the Stairway to the Moon, an event occurring at low tides on the full moon. The moonlight shines on the sand flats, giving the appearance of a staircase going up to the moon, it's quite amazing.Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos due to operator error, hmmm, but this one gives you the idea.

The Broome coastline is just gorgeous, with red cliffs, white sandy beaches and turquoise blue water.

Broome is of course famous for its pearls. We had an interesting tour of the Willie Creek Pearl farm, and I wandered around China town where the Pearl shops are while Garry waited nervously in the car chewing his nails, as the pearls are soooo expensive. I saw one I liked but for some unknown  reason he wouldn't buy it for me.

                The largest round pearl in the world, worth over a million dollars.

I did get to wear a pearl necklace worth $40,000 at the pearl farm for a short while, that will have to do.

  

Horizontal Falls

We had the most wonderful experience last Saturday when we did a trip to the Horizontal Falls. These "falls" are so called as the very large tides rush through gaps in the rock formations, causing a rapid effect, or a horizontal waterfall if you like.
We were picked up at our accommodation by bus and driven to the Broome airport where we boarded a seaplane to fly up to Cape Leveque and across to where the falls are. For some reason I was picked to sit in the copilot seat- so exciting!

This is your captain speaking, please fasten your seat belts (and pray) while I er, twiddle a few knobs and try to work out how the hell to drive this thing!

After a beautifully scenic flight up the coast and over the Buccaneer Archipelago we made a smooth landing on the bay and pulled up at the houseboat base. 

The water was so clear we could see dolphins and turtles swimming around from the air.

The plane, the houseboat and the speed boat to the right

Soon after arrival we were into the speed boat for a ride through the falls and a cruise around the bays. It was so much fun and really exhilarating whizzing around in that boat. Gaz was most impressed with the 3x 300HP motors on it, making it the fastest boat in the Kimberly. The scenery is just breathtaking as well.

40m deep and 7m wide

After a delicious bbq barramundi lunch it was off to swim with the sharks. Which is not as impressive as it sounds since the sharks are not exactly great whites, although they do have teeth that could do some damage, and we were in a cage.

That's me in the black bikini and snorkel..... Oh alright, I'm on the left, pants on fire...

                                Yep, I'm a daredevil, fly planes, ride speed boats and wrestle sharks in my spare                                                                                     time!

After lunch we had another boat ride then it was time to fly home, this time with the beautiful sunset all the way, bliss..

Pop and Nan, two happy campers.

80 miles of beach and shells

We decided to stop a night at lovely 80 mile beach caravan park, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, it really is a lovely oasis in the middle of nowhere. We liked it so much we stayed 3 nights. A very popular fishing spot, with big tides, we didn't catch any however. I collected a heap of lovely shells and we went driving up the beach checking out the amazing sunsets.
We did see 3 young men at the park who had ridden bicycles across the desert (as you do), getting in a bit of strife and needing rescuing. They were doing radio interviews and reporting their adventures.

Low tide 80 mile beach, shells galore, I got some beauties!

Amazing sunsets at 80 mile beach

Our fishing and paddling pool spot

Where's Moses when you want him?

We have made our way north to Broome, lots of looonnng hours driving between places here. Went through Karratha, Dampier and Port Hedland. Not that pretty but pretty amazing with the amount of mining and industry going on.

Have come across a few of these in our travels, just humungous!

We had a bit of excitement when we had to drive through some flood waters near the Tom Price turn off. Driving along we found ourselves in a queue of cars, trucks, caravans and cars, parked on the high way both directions. Rather hilariously one lot had their van awning out and chairs and tables, ready for lunch.

                                   Garry with some of the other head scratchers-will we or won't we?

Eventually the trucks started to go through the water which was getting lower but still flowing a fair bit. Then the 4x4's got brave, then the 4x4's with vans. We waited for a few to go through first to make sure it wasn't going to be too high, not wanting wet feet in our van, despite this it was still a bit hairy going through the waters.

Trucking on 

This is what we went through, arriving on the other side with dry feet luckily. The poor people in 2WD cars would have had a longer wait, especially one poor guy in a lovely new lowered Ford Falcon.

Coral Bay and Exmouth, where nature fights back

After leaving Gladstone campground we hit the road again, spending a night at a river side free camp. I must say i have been quite converted to the free/ low cost camp idea, as long as I can go into a park every few days to wash clothes etc, or to sightsee in a particular area. We have stayed at some really nice spots with nice views, of course if it's free Garry loves it regardless.

Warroora
Our next stop was Warroora, a beachside sheep station campground, and Garry's favourite spot so far. Not far from Coral Bay it is a popular area at the beginning of Ningaloo Reef. We stayed 5 nights, hoping for snorkelling, fishing swimming etc. Well, we did a little bit but the family curse and nature had other ideas for some of the time. Remember the Kalbarri downpour? Well we brought it with us because we then experienced the Warroora downpour and mini cyclone a couple of nights into our stay. Luckily we were camped in a relatively protected spot near a small hill, because the rain was torrential and the wind was ferocious to the point that we thought our poptop roof would blow away! Not much sleep was had that night.

Garry did catch 2 and a half spangled emperors, the half the result of a tussle with a very determined shark!
We saw heaps of sea turtles swimming around, and Garry went out to the reef for a fish in an inflatable dinghy.

Exmouth
In continuing our struggle with the elements we move on to Exmouth, which is in the throes of some unseasonal storms resulting in the area being granted natural disaster status. Yep, WA which gets barely any rain this time of year has saved it all up for us! Having decided I'm not brave enough to swim with the whale sharks here I was looking forward to snorkelling and visiting the national park and Yardie Creek gorges. Nope, the park is closed due to the flooding. We plan to head off to make our way up to Broome tomorrow, hopefully it won't have a cyclone or tsunami or anything, knowing our luck!

Shark Bay but no Monkey business

Another day, another lovely beach side campsite with a spectacular sunset. This is at a campground on Shark Bay, just north of Monkey Mia, Denham etc where we we had a look around Shell Beach, the Stromatolites (living rocks) and all the lookouts but gave Monkey Mia a miss.
Apparently this area is popular with dugongs, of which of course we saw exactly none. Just like the camels on the Nullabor, I swear we repel wildlife. Except maybe for goats, I have never seen so many goats!

Tried our luck fishing near the rickety old jetty without any luck, Nola and I got fed up but Andy and Garry persevered.

Oh look! Some fool is walking on the unsafe derelict  jetty, who could it be? Don't worry it's just Garry!

Belated blogging where Kerrie gets ticked off and gets on the weed.

Well it has been a while since my last post, mainly because we have been staying out of towns and out of towns there is not much in the way of internet at all.
We said goodbye to Cliff Head the day before Anzac day, heading through Geraldton up towards , Kalbarri.
I was quite happy to be moving on, since the weed on the beach had gotten worse, as had the fishing, and I got attacked by a huge, ferocious tick requiring major surgery to remove it! Ok, it was an ordinary bush tick that Nola pulled off with tweezers, I just hate ticks!

On the weed after my run in with the tick

Kalbarri

Stayed 3 nights at Kalbarri, where they had not had any rain for 200 days. Guess what happened? Torrential downpours all along the coast. As I watched the poor people in tents at the park ruefully trying to dry out their sodden camp gear and belongings the next day, I was very glad to be in a caravan that doesn't even leak. Although the rain put a little spanner in the works of our sightseeing plans we couldn't be upset as they desperately need the rain over here, and we got to see what we wanted in the end anyway.

Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs

Here it  comes!

Found this unusual rock formation on the cliffs, Garry calls it The Metaldustia Backpackera Formation.

Once the rain went we were able to go out to the gorges at the Kalbarri National Park, which were well worth the wait. 

Gorging on gorgeous gorges!

Natures window

Z Loop gorge

As if the amazing scenery isn't enough in the National Parks and beaches, WA really does incredible sunsets.

On our way home from the gorges this little guy decided to cross the road in front of us, not wanting to squash him or get a puncture we stopped to take a photo.

And off he goes.