Day 7 – Tues 26th May

The only problem with staying down near Hamelin Pool is that it is quite a trek away from Denham and Monkey Mia.  We made plans the previous night to get up early and head out to Monkey Mia first thing to see the dolphins. Of course, Murphy’s Law comes into play and the only day that I have managed to sleep past 6am was this day… Sure enough, we woke up late and ended up leaving about an hour later than we should have… only to arrive at the beach to get a glimpse of a couple of dolphins before they turned tail and headed back out to sea with full bellies… DOH!

All was not lost.  We still managed to see a turtle bobbing around the jetty and enjoyed a coffee sitting on the foreshore of this gorgeous location.

Next, we debated about whether or not we had enough time to go exploring in the Francois Peron Nation Park (the northern most part of the Shark Bay area).  We ended up deciding on a quick trip into the base of the park to the Peron Homestead Historical Site… and were pleased we did.  The area was run as a sheep station over a period of time from the 1900s but because of the saltiness of the water and ground soil they were never really successful.  However, they have left behind a homestead well worth visiting.  First up there is a natural spa run off artesian water pumped up to the surface.  Apparently the water sits about 40 degrees C… it was a bit warm on the feet to start with but  we soon relaxed into it ;)

We then explored the old shearing shed and shearer’s quarters:

Dinner time:

Our decision to explore a bit further into the national park was made when we discovered a tyre pressure station at the start of the park… there was a special doovalacky (technical term because Dave is not here right now for me to ask) to release the pressure on the way in and then a compressor to pump up the tyre again as you leave…. Dave was pretty stoked about this…. Obviously a bloke thing…

Anyhow, we only dipped our feet into the national park by covering the 10km to the first spot called Big Lagoon.  Unfortunately the lagoon was nothing special but for us, the trip was worthwhile when we spotted this guy on the track:

 Neither Dave nor I had seen a Thorny Devil in the wild so we were a bit chuffed ;)

We left the national park and headed for Denham, stopping at a couple of lookouts along the coast… we found a "Thong Shack" at one spot:

Every now and then I manage to get a photo of all 3 smiling and looking at the camera at the same time...

A highlight of the day was a visit to the Ocean Aquarium.  I can definitely recommend this place for anyone with kids… or super geeks like us ;)  My new favourite marine animal is a Leopard Ray:

 I thought Aiden was being super brave staring into the eyes of this sea snake… I had already taken 3 steps back away from the tank ;)

We were fast approaching the end of a loooong day but we still had one more place on our itinerary, Shell Beach.  The beach here is made entirely of those cockle shells I mentioned earlier.

I finally made it into a photo:

 Then the rest got in on the action:

 Handstands on Shell Beach

 Photo bombed by two children…

It was so late in the day the sun was going down… so, of course we had to play with some silhouette shots…

Don’t ask me what Aiden is supposed to be…

Day 6 - Mon 25th May

We left Geraldton and headed for Shark Bay… one of those places we have driven past many times as we go to Coral Bay or Exmouth… but never actually stop at.  Our destination: Hamelin Station Stay located at the base of Hamelin Pool.  All I can say is WOW!  We loved the accommodation and would probably choose to stay there in the future when splitting the long drive to Coral Bay into two days.  It’s about 30km off the main highway… not a lot in the scheme of things when traveling in Australia ;)

After setting up camp we checked out the local stromatalites: 

 Apparently the water in Hamelin Pool is 2.5 times saltier than the ocean.  This means not much can survive there other than a special cockle shell.  These shells are tiny - up to 4000 of them in a square metre.  I don’t know what process occurs but they wash up on the beach then get compacted into a rock hard material, which, in the early days, was mined at a quarry and used as bricks for housing and other buildings.

Day 4/5 – Sat23th/Sun 24th May

We spent a couple of days in Geraldton doing mundane tasks… shopping, washing, etc.  Even on holiday the jobs never end…

Day 4

We have said all along that we would make up our plan as we go along... and today we exercised that ability.  After hearing about the Stockyard Gully Tunnel we decided to detour and check it out... and weren't we glad!

Here's the brochure blurb:

"During the latter part of the eighteenth century, the site was an important rest point for drovers moving stock along the Geraldton - Midland stock route.  The creek bed or gully near the inflow into the cave formed a natural 'stockyard' where stock could be held overnight."

Along the gully you come across a tunnel through the limestone.  It is about 100m long and Dave reckons 6-8m wide by 4-5m high.  Once you're 20m in, the tunnel snakes and is pitch black... it was very cool.  You walk all the way through and pop out into the gully at the other end.

I also really appreciated walking along the gully.  It reminded me of places we have explored over in Victoria.  It was green, there were loads of birds and a whole heap of feral bees, their hives were everywhere.  I was tempted to say "How's the serenity", although the non-stop, inane chatter of an 8 and 10 year old prevented that...

Walking through the gully:

Just before entering the cave/tunnel:

 Just inside:

Back out into the gully:

Stockyard Gully Reserve is only 15km inland from Green Head and we would recommend it to anyone passing by... although we would probably opt not to tow the camper in there next time.

Day 3

We left Lancelin and headed for the Pinnacles... with a slight detour to check out Wedge Island.  I had originally planned to camp at Wedge Island and only realised the day before we set off that you can't actually camp there... which is a real shame because it is a GORGEOUS spot.

We drove through the shanty town and found the track down to the beach... this is what greeted us:

...and no, I never expected we would take the camper onto the beach this trip ;)

The boys playing with the GoPro.  We have some good video but the file sizes are massive.  We need some software to edit the files before I can post any here on my blog.

Most of the houses/shacks look like this... I was just impressed with the 'Wedge Island Hilton' sign.  Dave and I were blown away by the sheer number of shacks here.

Next up was a visit to the Pinnacles...

This is supposed to be one of those clever perception photos... but I will call it a fail :(

Megan found a friend in the souvenir shop.  The lady behind the counter was awesome.  She gave us some advice about local attractions... one of which was the Stockyard Gully Reserve... our plan for day 4.

After a quick consultation of WikiCamps we headed for our first free camp... and were pleasantly surprised by our choice.  We stayed the night at Point Louise, also known as Billy Goat Bay.  The camp spot was just a large gravel car park overlooking an awesome bay.  Although the beach was quite weedy the bay was beautiful and there was still a good amount of that white sand on display.  The water was the calmest we've seen anywhere and crystal clear.  Would definitely give this spot a thumbs up to anyone heading north...

No, Aiden hasn't taken up drinking.... he did think he was pretty special holding my wine for me though...

At the beach directly in front of our camping spot, looking left.  Next few photos taken from up on top of the cliff.

Looking back down at our camp

Karate Kid x 3.  Notice how calm and relaxed Megan looks compared to the look of concentration on the boy's faces!

Another sunset selfie shot...

Day 2 - Lancelin

We spent the first night in Guilderton... an easy drive up the coast.  Although a little chilly at 11 degrees overnight, it was better than the 7 degrees we were expecting.

Day 2 saw us pack up and head up to Lancelin.  We had a quick drive around town and found a nice jetty overlooking Lancelin Island:

We spent ages trying to spot a seal... the guys working on the fishing boat down the end said there was a small seal hanging around... but it refused to show itself to us.

Next we dumped our camper at a caravan/sea shanty town and headed for the famous sand dunes of Lancelin for some sandboarding and to try out the shiny, new GoPro:

The sandboarding was great fun.  We started on the smaller slope until we worked up the courage for the larger, steeper slope.  Unfortunately, because Megan is so light she absolutely FLEW down the slope at great speed so continued on for a mile at the bottom... straight over the rocks.  One case of serious gravel rash on her right butt cheek and one sooooo not happy girl :(

Taking our walking wounded home, we hit the showers to remove sand from bodily places were sand does not belong and managed to squeeze in a stroll down to the beach to watch the sunset.... why is it we only ever take the time to watch a sunset when we are on holiday?

Me and my boy 'glowing' from the light of the sunset...

On the road at last

A day later than I had planned we eventually got on the road this arvo about 3pm.

We decided to do a short stint so we could get to crackin' that first beer... So, first stop is Guilderton. We have camped here before but always in summer when it is packed with people. Here we are setting up camp with all our friends:

After crackin' that first beer we had a quick dinner then the kids were itching to try out our new recipe book:

Here are the cooks in action...

Kids are now finally snuggled up in bed with an extra blanket... We heard on the radio on the way here that the overnight temperature is getting down to 7 degrees... 

Anyone still out there?

It's been 3 years and 10 months since I shared a glimpse into our lives via this blog... how time flies.

Anyhow, I am resurrecting our family blog to keep you posted about our new adventure... 4 1/2 months travelling Australia's North-West.  Of course, there will be the usual brief Facebook posts but I will use this blog to show more photos and details about where we've been.

So, if you're interested, come along for the ride...

PS. We're hoping to leave on or before this Tuesday.