Western Australia Journal
June 2 (Fri) Keep River to Kunanurra
Tuckerbox Cafe for lunch. Had a "Burger with the lot". Stayed at Kona Lakeside Caravan Park. Got a powered site to charge batteries. Nice place, on the lake, but cold because of wind off the water. This is our first town caravan park because we've been staying in parks. It is crowded. Met an Ozzie couple (ex-teacher). Went looking for rock art but failed.
June 3 (Sat) Wyndham
Drove 100 Km to Wyndham. Drove the King River Road (4WD only) 28 Km each way. Several challenging water crossings.
Yes, believe it or not, we did drive this "road?". The wind was whipping the waves across it and it took a bit of faith to make it. But we did.
We saw lots of wetland birds. Black wing stilts, egrets, glossy black ibis, galah, pied herons, masked lapwing. After about 30 Km of secluded 4WD road on the other side, we got to the "prison tree", a Boab tree used to keep aboriginal prisoners in the old days.
Then we went on to Wyndham to see Warriu Monument, bronze aboriginal figures of man, woman, child, kangaroo and snake and goana. Bought carved Boab nut from "Dennis Evans". Five rivers lookout. On way back stopped at Parry's Lagoon and Marlgu Billabong. Tons of wetland birds.
Many trees look almost dead because don't have any leaves, but understand that trees drop leaves early to conserve water -- in this area, only enough water for the tree itself and not enough for the luxury of leaves. But means little shade provided for us dusty and hot travelers.
June 4 (Sun) Kunnanurra to El Questro
Drove to start of Gibb River Road. 8 Km in stopped at an unexciting rock art site. First time for Wandjina figures.
Then went on to Emma Gorge in El Questro. Walked up river. Drove to end of the accessible part of the GRR. Crossing closed at Pentecost River crossing. Went back to camp at El Questro. $30. per night for a swamp, but at least private.
Explanation of the name of El Questro: "means absolutely nothing! Property was settled in the early sixties. The two brothers who pegged the claim were reminded of stories about the bright red bluffs of New Mexico and the Rio Grande, thus the Spanish sounding name. A mate, we are told, who spoke Spanish handed them a translation on paper along the lines of 'land of great beauty and big mountains.' We then heard the two 'hit the Rum' in town before they made the claim, lost the paper and came up with a Spanish name which means nothing ... El Questro."
June 5 (Mon) Down day in El Questro
Spent day reading and being lazy. Tree identification a bust. Our field guides don't seem to cover the Northern Territories or Western Australia at all. Pitch dark at 5:30. Jo finally got a campfire...but no marshmallows.
June 6 (Tues) El Questro to Purnululu
Leave El Questro at 8:00 and arrive at turnoff to Purnululu at 11:30. 53 Km and 2.5 hours later arrive at entrance to park. Road was challenging with very rough conditions, lots of creek crossings, some corrugations and virtually no other cars. Tent camping at Kurrajong campground, flies early but gone by dark at 5:30. It's cold. Rental sleeping bags better suited to the tropics.
June 7 (Wed) In Purnululu
Up at 6:00 (Why not when you go to bed at 7:00) LP gas low or doesn't work because of cold, so no plunger coffee. Peanut butter sandwiches because running low on supplies... no muesli. Drove 30 Km to Cathedral Gorge (still in 4WD, took 1.5 hours). Walk was about 2 hours and was beautiful. Large plunge pool at end of narrow chasm.
Saw Mulla-mulla, prickly grevillia, white quilled stone pigeon, spinfex grass, spinifex termite mounds and several tour buses.
The tours do day trips from Kunnanurra, a 5 hour drive, 1 hour walk, 2 hour drive, 1 hour walk, 5 hour drive day, all for $295. per person. At least someone else does the driving besides Jack (Jo thinks driving on these roads is something that men are genetically better at).
Drove 50 Km north to Echidna Chasm, a 1.5 hour walk into a vertical fissure in the rock, 3 feet wide and 180 feet high. Saw Mulla mulla, Sandstone Grevillia, Livistona Palms and a nest of a great bower bird. Path had several "big steps". Chasm is in deep shade.
Drove back home to tent. Out of food.
June 8 (Thurs) Purnululu - Halls Creek - Fitzroy Crossing
Up at 5:50 AM, PB&J breakfast and no coffee again cause no gas. Bird tries to steal PB sandwich. Jo left it on plate, went to the camper and came back to find it upside down on the table. Gave Jack a dirty look but he SAID the bird tried to steal it but couldn't lift it far before dropping it upside down on the table. Maybe...
2 hours and 20 minutes and 41 water crossings and we are again back on paved road and out of Bungle Bungle. But saw a bustard watched carefully by a wallaby on the road out. Fun.
Halls Creek a pit. Lonely Planet says this about Halls Creek (and we believe it): "Nights are often noisy and interrupted by shouting, fighting and the din from smashing bottles. Dawn brings with it the scene of an uncontrolled, nocturnal rampage with scattered debris and human bodies lying where they fell. Halls Creek is about as close as you get to Australia's real shame."
Fitzroy Crossing also not much. But cleaner, nicer people. Tired. Clear, cold at night. Finally get to catch up on laundry. Some shirts and socks seem to be permanently stained from the red dust. Saw red-winged parrots, Kookaburras. Got gas, so back to cooking. No booze.
June 9 (Fri) Fitzroy Crossing - Windjana Gorge
Drive to Windjana Gorge. 95 Km. on difficult 4WD road, but scenic. Black Falcon travels with us (about 10 ft. height about 10 -15 meters from us) for 2-3 Kms. We always have within view several fires and nearby "whirlwinds" of kites. Running board depth river crossing. Windjana gorge walk. Easy hike down gorge on sand. Saw many "freshies". Saw fossils and tried to take picture of red dragon fly. Digital cameras are not good for everything. After about 30 attempts, give up.
June 10 (Sat) Windjana Gorge - Derby - Broome - Bird Observatory
Arrived Derby early. Small. First time we have ever seen a main street that is divided dirt. But basically a nice town and they tried to cheer it up with lots of planted flowering bushes and trees. Money and gas.
On to Broome. Had a very nice fish lunch at a cafe, but the flies are so bad, we spend all our time swatting...not very relaxing. Now, you may think we are exaggerating, but at any given time, one has about 20-30 flies on his person, another 10 on the food on his plate, and another 20 on the other food on the table. And these are only the 10% that we don't manage to keep in the air by constant waving and swatting. Very relaxing. Ozzies have a great attitude about flies, ... "they don't bite, so ignore 'em". Easy to SAY. Stayed at Bird Observatory. Not a great success. Many mossies, a few shorebirds.
Tried to identify tern, but the one we thought best met the criteria in our bird book (Fairy Tern) has only been spotted 6 times in Broome so guess the 10 we saw in the mangroves couldn't be them. Johns have sign to "please close the lid to keep the frogs out." However, someone didn't follow the rules and there was a gorgeous green frog in Jo's area. Hopefully it ate some of the mossies.
June 11 (Sun) Bird Observatory - Quandong Pt.
30 Km of bulldust and corrugated road to Q. P. Lots and lots and lots and lots of flies. Lazy day except a walk on the beach. Nice campsite overlooking water. Gorgeous sunset. Hear the waves all night. Jo got crocked.
June 12 (Mon) Quandong Pt. - Pt. Headland
600 Km of "the most boring road in Australia" to Pt. Headland, an industrial (mining) town. Light traffic. Road trains - "no worries". Wetlands by road, more birds there than the Broome Bird Obs. Too many kangaroo (& 1 cow) carcasses to count (literally tens per mile in some spots...we later found out why...kangaroos and wallabies come out at dusk and when they see a car, they take off down the road...NOT OFF the road. It takes them almost a kilometer to figure out the road is not safe. If you're in a car, going slow, you can miss them. Road trains, however, slaughter them by the thousands.) Pt. H (Cooke Pt) Caravan park is "packed tight". (but quiet) on the ocean. Internet connection is a royal ripoff $10 per half hour for a slow modem connect and it auto shuts off (without a warning) whatever you're doing at the end of the 30 minutes. Later, in Perth, we buy 10 hours for $10.
June 13 (Tues) Pt. Headland - Karajini - Dales Creek C. G.
350 Km to Karajini. Dales Gorge C. G. Sites wooded and private. Walked to Fortesque Falls (800 m down to falls) Video crew messed up pictures. Short walk to Fern pool, 3 falls into a green pool, gorgeous and secluded, pool full of fish. Nice walk along gorge and across mesa to C. G. Wildflowers in bloom, but we have trouble identifying anything. But think we got the jam wattle, glowing wattle, and grevillia right. Back to camp for usual gormet dinner.
June 14 (Wed)- Karajini - Kalamina Falls - Weamo Gorge.
On way to new campsite at Weamo Gorge, stop at Kalamina Falls. Luck into a FANTASTIC walk. Walk down into gorge and then along the very fast, and cold, stream for 3 km.
Falls to the right are beautiful and all along the 3 km walk to the left are small waterfalls. Full sun and a slight breeze. Couple of people stopped figuring the walk was getting a little wet and tough but we had on boots and had our walking sticks so we kept going. Some clinging to the rocks as we negotiated some high water but worse came to worse guess would just fall into the stream. Last 1-1/2 km saw no one - very quiet except for the tumbling water. At end of walk was a rock arch (picture). Walk back and on the Weamo Campground (a very shitty campground - a small circle of open land with far more people wanting to camp than there were places, essentially a parking lot.). Walked down the gorge but couldn't get far trying to reach Handrail Pool because path covered by a foot of water and Jo didn't feel like taking off hiking boots.
June 15 (Thurs) - Karajini to Exmouth.
Very long driving day on well paved roads which didn't have any white lines on them - not on the shoulders (as usual in Western Australia) and not in the middle. Made it harder since roads are so narrow anyway. Stayed Exmouth Cape Village - close quarters but okay. Caught up on laundry and this time we know we are never going to get the red dust color off socks and shirts. Jack asked if I had forgotten to wash two pairs of his socks which were lying on the folding table. I had to tell him that they had already been washed in Australia's very "hot" water. Oh well, will make our trip back lighter.
Dinner at Whaler's. Nice fish place but Jack and I were too tired to appreciate the beautiful salad and grilled snapper.
June 16 (Fri) - Exmouth to Lighthouse Resort Park
Caught up on e-mail and then drove 15 km to top of land spit. Splurged and got a chalet (with a john, kitchen, bed, TV, electric tea pot and tea, dishes, microwave, ocean view, verandah and everything) for $A120/night. Great place and we feel more relaxed and needed the ease of this type of accomodations. Three whole nights. From the verandah can see the ocean and white surf. Full sun and blue sky. Warm. Definitely Jo's kind of place.
The chalets sit high above rest of the Lighthouse resort and caravan sites. Lazy today - recharging batteries (and us), reading, and catching up on journal. Tomorrow will explore Cape Range National Park and hopefully get to go snorkling.
June 17 (Sat) - Lighthouse Resort
Perfect weather. Explored Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo National Park (Cape Range is the land and Ningaloo is the reef and ocean area). Walked along top of Yardie Creek Gorge and Jo put hand into spinifex bush - ouch!! Nasty sharp, thin needle size fronds that go easily into a hand and don't come out easily at all. Then went snorkelling at Turquoise Bay. The reef is about 100 meters off the beach. We just walked out from the beach away and then the "Turquoise Drift" carried us about 250-300 meeters over the coral reef. Didn't bring flippers and didn't need them - the current was strong and we just floated over the coral. But had to pay attention - if went past the point of land, the current went out to sea at the break in the reef and current so strong, think would have been hard to keep from being swept out to sea. Saw large and small fish, including a shark. Coral was not as nice as at the Great Barrier Reef but the fish were very colorful and varied. Saw starfish and a giant clam too as well as stone fish. Water was a beautiful turquoise (naturally) and the beach was wide and all white sand. Not many people. Hard to believe a place like this can exist without condos, sand buggies, etc.
On way back to resort stopped at a hide to watch kangaroo and wallaby. Saw a number as well as galahs and emus. When left the hide about 5:30 (nearly dark this time of year), numerous kangaroos and wallabies crossed the road right in front of the car and could see literally hundreds of ears sticking up in the tall grass. Also saw a gooana (Jack says 6' long but Jo thinks much shorter).
June 18 (Sun) - Lighthouse Resort
Went snorkelling two more times at Turquoise Bay. Current seemed a little calmer today and saw different fish. Found we could sort of swim against the current and better explore certain patches of coral. Rest of day just enjoyed the beach and sun and gorgeous water and sand.
June 19 (Monday) - Exmouth to Denham
700 plus kilometers. Boring but not easy because as usual roads are narrow (especially when passing road trains and large campervans) and frequently no center line and rarely a white line on the side of the road. Had 2 minutes of rain in Carnarvon - first time seen rain since left Cairns. Appreciated but hardly enough to get rid of the two inches of red dust on van.
Stopped at Hamelin Pool on way into Denham to see the stromatolites (billions of years old life forms). But since tide was high and waves were pounding in hard to get too excited about the stromatolites which we could just see under the water.
Denham itself is a seaside town. Pleasant but surprisingly small given the fact that once again the beach is good and fishing is excellent. Stayed at Denham Seaside Caravan which naturally was on the beach.
June 20 - Denham to Francis Peron Park to Monkey Mia to Kalbarri
Planned to stay at Francis Peron Park but road was all loose bull dust and sand and consequently slippery even with four wheel drive. If had continued into park would have had to let air out of the tires to lessen the damage to the road and the slipping. No one else seemed to be on the road and figured if we slipped off the road would be a long time being rescued.
Drove to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins. Commercial but still enjoyed being so close to the dolphins. Then on to the Kalbarri (another 400 km). Kalbarri a very nice, beach resort - clean and friendly and the beach is beautiful. Wildflowers, even in this area's winter, were blooming and weather during day was warm enough.
June 21 - Kalbarri National Park
Went to Ross Graham lookout and trail. Fun. Walked along gorge and then down to the water. Lots of Australian Ringneck parrots, blue fairy wrens and other birds which we couldn't identify. Also saw millions of flowering banskia (and goats too). On to Hawks Head Lookout and then the Loop Trail. Walked some of trail but got there too late in the afternoon to do the whole 10 km so quit after awhile.
Dinner at Jake's - Jack's "grilled" snapper turned out to be snapper fried in a light batter instead of the fish and chip batter - still good as was the Carlton Midstrength beer.
June 22 - Kalbarri to Pinjarra
Last minute change in plans. Decided just hadn't done enough driving so would go to the Southern Forests south east of Perth before turning in car. Of course since near the end of the trip and about ready to turn into the camper, a rock hit the windshield and had to have that fixed. Turned out not to be a super pain but did make the day longer.
Getting around Perth was not all the easy - the freeway and highways have frequent lights and at 3:00 was crowded. Cold, cloudy and rainy trip (felt somewhat like Vermount during October). Stayed at Pinjarra, a smallish town about 80 km south of Perth.
June 23 - Pinjarra to Nannup.
Still cold and rainy. But even the pouring rain not strong enough to get the red dust off the van - guess we are really going to have to wash the camper before we return it. At Pemberton saw the Gloucester Tree. Could have climbed the stairs which circled the tree but 60 meter climb was too much for us, especially since it was pouring and the rungs going up were slippery. Took a walk, and later a drive, through the Karri Forest - very impressive trees. But did have trouble knowing which were the Karri Trees and which the Marri Trees and which the Jarrah Trees - all tall eucalyptus trees. The books says that the Karri Trees have lighter bark but in the rain, all bark looks fairly dark.
Stayed night in Nannup Caravan Park. Very cold and rainy (probably about 35 degrees). No one else camping there that night - surprise, surprise!! The camper got awfully cold at night. Jo slept with the sleeping bag over her head and even Jack felt it was a little too cool for comfort.
June 24 - Nannup to Yalgorup (near Mandurah)
Drove along Indian Ocean coastal road from just north of Augusta to Dunsborough. Beautiful drive through the forests and when took a 3-4 km drive to the ocean saw very impressive ocean indeed. Thundering surf and high winds. Suppose to be the best surfing area in Australia but no one could have surfed today. Winds and surf, as well as rain and cold, kept everyone away.
Stayed night at Yalgorup Eco Park. Again no other campers or tents. Tried to walk on the beach but wind and rain too strong. Park was nice however. Kangaroos visit.
June 25 - Perth
Short drive to Perth. And into nice caravan park to do laundry, repack all our stuff and recoup. Rains naturally and seems especially cold and wet to us who are feeling tired and beat up. But discovered Pink Lady apples (better than Dixon's) and have them with left over cheese for dinner. Cook in the camper which warms it up somewhat.
June 26 - TURN IN MAUI
Spend half a day cleaning up the camper inside and out. Not fun but are required to bring it back clean and the caravan park very nicely let us use its water for outside and vacuum and water for inside. About 1:00 head off to find the Maui location - only problem is that it isn't where it is suppose to be and when we do find it (by driving back and forth on a heavy traffic road) we find that it has moved to a new location. Can't find the new location because Maui has now merged with Britz and the Britz name is the only name on the place where we are suppose to return the camper. Oh well, finally make it and are very glad to get rid of the camper, especially Jack who did about 90% of the driving (mainly because he was more nervous with my driving than tired from his own). Total distance: 8992 kilometers (about 5400 miles, or LA-NY and most of the way back.)
Cab to Miss Maud's Swedish Hotel. Right in the middle of Perth. Great place. Can't really tell whether we would have thought it was so great if we had arrived in Perth before we drove around Western Australia or not. But anyway, to us it is fabulous - showers are very welcome when taken in a warm and private place; even TV is appreciated for those who haven't kept up on the news; the bed doesn't move when we turn over and there are lights by the bed to read by and best of all, an electric teapot and unlimited supply of Twinings Tea.
Too tired to even figure out what to eat so go to McDonalds - a mistake. After 5 weeks of light meals consisting of mostly vegetables and small portions of spaghetti, chili, etc, stomachs are not used to greasy and heavy food.
June 27 - July 3
Stay at Miss Maud's and explore Perth. Seems strange to be in a million plus city after the weeks around Northern Territory and Western Australia where a town containing 1000 people was BIG. Miss Maud's continues to be a good thing. Breakfast (included in our $A105/night room rate) is an incredible smorgasboard which includes everything - fresh juice and fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastry, croissants and strong coffee. Guess we got a real good deal on the room rate since the breakfast sells for $A15 per person. Hardly need lunch or dinner after the breakfast (of course, we could always not be so piggy).
Jack got 20 hours of Australian internet for ease of using the computer in the hotel rooms. But of course nothing is easy, not to install or use. Good old Microsoft Browser wiped out half his old e-mail and bookmarks. Good thing he knows what he is doing. $A20 (or $US12) for 20 hours Ozemail disc.
Finally found an Australian wine we like - haven't had much luck finding one that was drinkable (although all our beer experiments have turned out well). But the Houghton 1999 Cabernet Shiraz Merlot was recommended and was good.
Walk to and around Kings Park and botanical gardens. Well maintained and large park. Would be incredible when flowers are all in bloom but even in the winter there are lots of flowers blooming and a number of birds. Weather good, sunny and warm (about 19C).
