PERTH

We decided to visit Perth so we could go to the Museum to see 'Treasures of Afghanistan' – a collection of ancient artefacts which were hidden from the Russians and the Taliban and thought to be lost. Not many things, but priceless treasures from several tombs. A lot of gold, turquoise and ivory jewellery, remains of Grecian columns, beautiful glassware, figurines and crockery made from bronze and alabaster. Worth the visit.

We stayed out at Midland (eastern suburb) and travelled in by train ($4.80 each for a day pass), then caught the free bus around the city. We were impressed with the service and with the very pleasant recorded voices telling us which stop was coming up. Much nicer than Brisbane's flat commentaries.

Midland is close to the Swan Valley wineries and chocolate factories, so of course we had to take a trip and collect some samples.

WAVE ROCK

We thought we'd better go and see the last famous tourist spot before heading 'round the corner' and across the Nullarbor, so went out to Hyden to see Wave Rock stopping on the way for wildflower photos. 

Yes, Wave Rock is impressive. Not as big as I had imagined, but still an amazing phenomenon. We stayed two nights, saw all the things on the brochure and watched the footy semifinal match on their big screen on the last night.

Happy travellers at Wave Rock

'Hippos Yawn'

Ornate Dragon

ESPERANCE

We couldn't possibly go to W.A. and not see beautiful Esperance once more, and lucky for us, we struck it on a perfect day – 34 degrees and sunny, so certainly warm enough for me to get the boogie-board into the water for the first time since we left Queensland. The water was pretty chilly, but when it's so blue and so clear and the sand is so white, how can you resist? This is such a beautiful place, when every bend in the road gives you another perfect vista.

Fourth Beach where I caught a wave or two -
10 minutes before a white pointer shark alert!!

Too awestruck to swim.

Stunning Twilight Bay

In the afternoon, we drove out to Cape Le Grand and were even more stunned by the perfection. Lucky Bay must be the most beautiful beach in Australia, but our photos didn't capture it. A perfect circular bay with azure water over a gently sloping bottom for about 50 metres before the deeper blue. The sand is so fine you can't see the separate grains. It feels and looks like cornflour. Add tame wallabies who come for a pat and you have the perfect place to spend a holiday. It's a national park, so no power, but shady bush campsites, toilets and bbqs.

Spectacular Lucky Bay

Hellfire Bay

Cape Le Grand beach

Just to show us how lucky we were, the weather turned overnight and we had 50+ kph winds, rain and down to 14 degrees the next day. Ian took the 4WD to get a front wheel wobble rectified (new front shockies), We ventured out to do some grocery shopping and get a takeaway dinner.

We are sad that our W.A. holiday is over.

Tomorrow it's off over the Nullarbor and a dash for home.

JURIEN BAY

Sep 11 -14

What a lovely surprise this little place is - turquoise blue sea inside a fringing reef, small islands just offshore where sea lions live, a wonderful fishing jetty and a large kids' playground on the beachfront. The caravan park was right at the beachfront, with quite comprehensive shopping centres on either side of the park. The weather was cooperative – warm and sunny.

We took the opportunity to take a day trip out to see the Pinnacles. We first took a detour to see the stromatolites. These are different from the ones at Hamelin Bay.

After that, we visited Cervantes and had our taste of rock lobster at the factory there. It was a bit of a disappointment. We prefer the crabs Ian caught!

We popped in to Hangover Bay – such a pretty spot, which would be a local mecca in the summer, we reckon. We were fascinated to see waves coming in and then turning to run sideways against the incoming flow.

The Pinnacles are amazing! Nobody is quite sure how they were formed, but we tend to agree with the theory that they are the stumps of ancient trees which were inundated when sea levels rose.

We had intended to stay until sunset, but had just decided we'd seen enough and were ready to leave, when we came across a minibus load of Malaysian tourists whose rented vehicle had burst a tyre. The vehicle had not even been provided with a jack, so Ian came to the rescue with our bottle jack and compressor and the guys all did the hero thing and got the bus back on the road. By then it was just on dusk, so we got our fantastic dusk photos of the Pinnacles after all.

Just another day of new and interesting things to see.

DONGARA/PORT DENISON

Sept 8-10

These two towns are actually one small town. It was only a 64km trip to here. The Seaspray caravan park was very like the one at Geraldton – on the beachfront with its own access. We should have been warned by the name – the van and Nissan both copped a coating of seaspray from the wild weather. We put up the annex, but had to take it down again as it was in danger of ripping in 100kph winds. Never mind – we stayed inside, snug and warm and watched the footy!

The Irwin River wetlands behind Dongara beach

This is the rock lobster capital of Australia, but forget about having one to eat – they are all for export. Only one place had them on offer – for $95 a meal!!

GERALDTON

Sept 4 -7

By the time we reached Geraldton, we were ready for a shopping spree. We were sick of the same clothes, and both of us have lost weight, so some of the things we brought with us were too baggy. The caravan park we chose is 6 km out from the city and has its own beach access – rather like a private beach. Unfortunately, the weather had turned wet and windy and the beach was wild, with the sand covered in seaweed and sponges ripped up from the sea floor. Still no boogie-boarding!

We had an indulgent two days buying clothes, fishing reels and caravan stuff, and finally got to have a decent cappuccino!

On the third day, we took ourselves to the Geraldton Museum to see the Da Vinci Machines exhibition. It was awesome! Wooden models have been made from his detailed drawings, many of which you can manipulate to see how they work. The man was an extraordinary genius and so far ahead of his time. The Museum also had a 'Shipwrecks' room where they had on display artefacts from the Dutch East India Company ships which foundered on the coast here, as well as a detailed account of the sinking and recovery of the Sydney II. We spent several hours in the Museum and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ian took photos for his mate in London who did a lot of the original research which led to the discovery of the Sydney wreck.

KALBARRI

27 August to Sept 3

Quite a long trip (for us), arriving after lunch. Our site was up the back of the park, but a good drive-through site. And although the amenities were a fair walk, they were banks of ensuite rooms. We had to pull our kayaks out along the footpath and across the main road to reach the water. This is where the Murchison river meets the sea, and it is quite strange to see calm water, then waves breaking, and ocean in the background.

The bar into the sea is very narrow and tricky and we didn't attempt it, but spent our time kayaking the river. Ian was not so keen on fishing on the first trip, so just put the crab net in at the start. He quickly picked up his interest when he caught two large blue swimmer crabs and a tailor, all of which we had for lunch the following day. Yum!!

We took a drive out to see the Murchison river gorges – quite spectacular. It was obviously a mighty river in the past.

'Nature's Window'

We took a long time to get back to the caravan park because we stopped every few minutes to photograph wildflowers. Each time we stopped, we would find several more new ones. We didn't see vast carpets of them, but found little gems hidden everywhere.

Our favourites - We called them 'ghost flowers'. We loved their 'eyes'.

Some of the wildflowers we saw

The weather turned cool and grey for much of the time we were at Kalbarri, so we didn't get out as much as we had planned. On the last night, we had a great seafood and chips dinner along the waterfront, and went fishing from the wharf, where I caught two big bream – enough for a good meal.

DENHAM

Monday August 11

DENHAM

Here at last! This is the place we were heading for when we left home. We had researched it and it appeared to us to have everything – a park right on the water, access for the kayaks, fish in abundance, warm weather.
We were hoping we wouldn't be disappointed, and marvellously, we weren't!

The park is pretty full all the time, so we were lucky to get a spot. We asked to be close to the path to the waterfront so we could get the kayaks in, and were given a funny site parked parallel with the roadway right inside the gate. We looked as though we were ready to hitch up for a fast getaway!

However, there was a tiny garden space on our other side, and the cleaner, 'Murph' had his onsite van across from us, along with his red kelpie, 'Sammy Hollywood'. Sammy became a firm friend, and Murph gave us fish and swapped DVDs with us, so we enjoyed our funny site anyway. As added bonuses, there was a small supermarket just across the road, and joy of joys, the free wifi signal reached the van, so we were able to log on at will.

Two at once!

Only 36 cm!

We had perfect weather the whole 16 days we were there (except for a couple of 'wrong' tides and a bit of wind), so we took our kayaks out most days, over the shallows and out past where the boats were moored, and fished.


We caught plenty of pink snapper, sometimes two at once! but as the largest was only 36 cm,  they were too small to keep (they had to be 50-70cm). Oh, we were tempted, though. They were plenty big enough to eat.

But forget the fish! - On our second-last day, while out fishing from our kayaks, I had a dugong swim right up close to my kayak. I was awed to even see one, but to my amazement, it stayed with me for about ten minutes, circling my kayak so close I could have touched it. I was blown away!! And it was one of the days I hadn't taken my phone, so I have no photo!

Denham is small, and its whole focus is fishing. The foreshore is pretty, with lawns and concrete walkways right along the beachfront. We were impressed with the cleaning stations set up for fisher people – a large stainless steel square benchtop big enough for eight people at a time, sloping down to a central waste hole, with water buttons around the edges to wash down your fish. Very stylish.

The town has a huge, modern Discovery Centre with interactive displays showing flora, fauna, geology and history of the area. Outside, there is a huge wall commemorating the lives lost in the HMAS Sydney during WWII.

The area around Denham has much to offer, too.

Monkey mia

Monkey Mia is only 25 km away, so we went for a look-see. It is very pretty, but is now a commercial enterprise. You have to pay to enter the park, the 'dolphin experience' is organised, and the place is geared to making money. There is a caravan park, but it is just sandy spots with no shade, and $52 a night! We were not impressed.

Cape Peron track

We went for a day trip out to Cape Peron, 4wdriving on sandy tracks.

Cape Peron

Skipjack Point

We were impressed with how much difference the turbo makes to sand driving - effortless!






Although all the spots we saw were beautiful, we were awed by the view from Skipjack Point.
A massive walkway has been built along the top of the cliff and we looked down on whole schools of fish being herded by pods of dolphins and a colony of cormorants – hundreds of them.

Eagle Bluff is also spectacular.

Eagle Bluff

We watched dolphins playing chasey with rays.

The area has many 'birrida' – small lagoons formed when the ocean finds a way over the sand and into the lowland behind the dunes. Many have dried up, but several are still filled daily and are havens for visitors.

Little Lagoon

Little Lagoon's waterway

Little Lagoon's waterway is a crystal-clear creek fringed by greenery – very pretty.

Shell Beach

Not sand - tiny cockle shells!

Shell Beach is another special place. The whole beach is not sand, but billions of tiny cockle shells, up to nine metres deep. The whole area around Hamelin and Denham is covered by these shells. They are so prolific that they are used in place of gravel for roads and paths and blocks of calcified shells are used as bricks in retaining walls in the caravan park. Whole buildings were constructed of them in the past, but few remain these days.

We took ourselves out to dinner on the last night – to the delightful Old Pearler restaurant, which is built entirely from shell blocks.. The restaurant is just gorgeous – very small, and the seafood platter of fresh local seafood is the best we've ever had. It was the perfect way to end our Denham holiday. As you can see – we loved this place.