Half-lap Day 96: Cliff Head North -> Perth

I had been a bit worried about staying so close to the coast (especially at a place called Cliff Head) after some of the windy nights we’ve had recently, I thought we might get blown away. There was hardly a breeze all night though, so we were safe and comfortable and I was so glad we’d taken the risk. LiAM had a bit of trouble with his asthma in the night, ventolin fixed him up though and then he slept well.

I was up early and went outside to a very dewy (there was water on everything) and very cold morning. I sat overlooking the water and did some blogging and drank my tea, until my burning toes reminded me that I probably should have put shoes and socks on, instead of sitting in my thongs. The sun rising over the hills behind us and slowly lighting up the beach and ocean was pretty cool. The oil rig shone gold in the morning sunlight, and occasionally I saw splashes on the horizon from whales breaching.

The others gradually woke up and joined me out in the cold. It was a lovely place to sit and take our time over breakfast. Once the sun was up it became much warmer and even more pleasant. We started packing up and it seemed to  take ages – we put extra blankets and our sleeping bags in the car and the trailer, rather than on top of the bed where they usually go, because we’ll be staying with Tony’s cousin in Perth and not opening the tent out. Doing things in a different order slowed us down a bit, and we also wanted to wait until the dew dried out before we packed up the tent, which took a surprisingly long time to happen. By the time we were ready to go it was after 11am.

Oil rig

We drove further south through more farmland, seeing lots of old stone farmhouses and sheds and more beautiful scenery. We called in to Jurien Bay to look at the Harbour and see if we could see any seals or sea lions. We walked down to one of the beaches and stood on the shore for a little while, the waves were crashing in and it was interesting how different the sea looked here, compared to 100km or so up the coast, it was much rougher here. 

Our next stop was Nambung National Park, to see the Pinnacles. At the gate the lady said that we could unhitch the trailer and drive and/or walk around the Pinnacles, or we could leave the trailer on and park and just do the walking track. We decided not to unhitch, and just do the walk (it was only 1.2km). The van next to where we parked looked like our friends from Murchison Station. We had a quick snack then walked up to the toilets and the Information Display, and found our friends there. We chatted to them for a while and then headed off on the walk.

I’d seen lots of pictures of the Pinnacles, and there was lots of information and pictures of them in the display we’d just looked at, but seeing them for real took my breath away. We walked around a bend and there was a large sandy hill with tall, thin rocks spread all over it – we all stopped walking and just stared for a moment, it was an incredible sight. Some of the Pinnacles were like stalagmites, some were wider and shorter, some were just little mounds. The walking trail wound it’s way through between the formations, and there was so much to see in every direction. We came to a lookout in the middle of the walk, and stood there for a while looking at the Pinnacles in all directions. One really cool thing was that from the lookout, and any hills in the area, we could see the ocean in the distance to the west.  It was a great view – desert, with these amazing formations, then bush, then the blue of the ocean.

As the walk continued, the Pinnacles kept varying, slightly different colours, or a lot that were a similar shape to each other but different from those in other areas. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the shados of the rocks were lengthening which was pretty cool too.  I was so glad we’d had the time to stop and see them, so different to anything else we’ve seen on the trip.

Back at the car we had some sandwiches and then kept driving. The landscape kept changing, at one point we drove past areas which were filled with the trees that look like Grug (from the books). I’d never seen so many of these trees in one location. As we got close to Perth we were driving through bush again, and it felt like the type of bush we get at home, we could have been in Victoria.

We arrived at Tony’s cousin’s house, in the northern suburbs of Perth (near the beach) around 5.30. They have a 10 year old son and all 4 kids seemed to hit it off straight away. They’d arranged for us to use the main bathroom and a couple of bedrooms, so we really had our own space, it was very generous of them. The kids went out the back to meet the dog – called Buckley just like our dog! We had a delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner – weird to be sitting at a table in a house to eat a meal. Great conversation and a very relaxed environment. After dinner we watched the Collingwood game on TV while the kids played in the playroom.

The kids were sleeping in their cousin’s room (he was in with his parents) and I went in and read a couple of chapters of Inheritance to them, then went to bed in the study. Very very weird to be sleeping in a real bed, in a house! Tony sat up and chatted with his cousin for a while, its been a while since they saw each other and it was great to catch up.

Half-lap Day 90: Edagee -> Shark Bay

I woke up around 5am and decided to get up and start catching up on my blog – with so many early starts lately I’ve got a bit behind. It was cold, though I was still comfortable enough sitting outside, until it started raining. I covered up or put away anything that we didn’t want wet, then I sat in the car to finish my cuppa and do some typing.

The rain was only light, and hung around for a couple of hours. It stopped and started for a while, but wasn’t too much of a pain. We stood up to eat our breakfast so that the chairs didn’t get wet (they were folded up under the table). We enjoyed having a slower, quiet morning, without anywere to be in a hurry. The kids played in the tent for a while, and Tony and eventually started packing up. Once the sun came out it was a beautiful morning. We did things in a funny order because we wanted to give the tent (and the washing I’d hung up the night before) as long as possible to dry, so it took us a couple of hours to pack up, we were done by around 10.30. Having the trailer already hitched saved us a bit of time and mucking around too. I rang ahead to caravan parks in Denham so that we didn’t have to stress about getting there early – there wasn’t much choice left, most were full or almost full. I took at powered site at Blue Dolphin Caravan Park, the last one available for the 3 nights we wanted, and it cost more than we have paid anywhere else so far. I did ring the resort at Monkey Mia – it was significantly more expensive still, and we would have had to move after our first night to an even more expensive (although beachside) site.

We made some sandwiches before we left so that we didn’t need to stop for lunch, then headed towards Shark Bay and Denham. Millie has been wanting to get to Shark Bay since we first started talking about the trip, it was all she really wanted to see, so she was very excited. The land as we drove was still very red and sandy, with sparsely placed black trees and low scrub. This is one of the few places in the world where the desert comes right up to the ocean. We saw more wild goats, and a couple of cows.

We stopped for petrol at the Overlander Roadhouse, then turned off the highway, through a big stone entry way into the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It was 100km from here in to Denham, during which time we had glimpses and sometimes long looks at the water of Shark Bay – Millie was thrilled and we were all impressed with the view. The water was flat and almost exactly the same colour as the sky, it created a really hazy, glassy effect that I haven’t really seen anywhere else. This country is obviously still extremely dry. The hills are covered in plants, low lying bushes, and occasionally in between hills there’s a round area which has obviously been filled with water at some stage and now is dry and filled with red and purplish plants that look like the plants on the surrounding hills, just a different colour and more sparse. The road was long and straight, up and down over hills, it felt like we were driving somewhere very very remote. Tony and I saw a Thorny Devil on the road – we’d seen one yesterday as well, exciting as I’d really wanted to see them, and had thought we were past the point where it would be possible (I’d expected them in the Northern Territory, with no luck, and hadn’t realised that this area was desert as well).

We reached Denham and found our caravan park. For a minute the girl couldn’t find our booking, then tracked it down. We were in a fairly small site, right in a corner, with someone else’s car parked quite close. Tony very skillfully backed the trailer in, then the lady next door came out and said she could have moved her car. The kids saw a dog with her and went to pat it, she asked if they wanted to pat the bearded dragon (called Charlie) so they happily played with the dragon and dog while Tony and I figured out how we could fit the tent on the site. We attempted to turn the trailer around to put it in the best spot, but the ground was too soft and sandy and we couldn’t get it far enough into the site. We eventually set it up sideways into the site, which means that we won’t get as much shade as we’d like, but we can put the annex up and we will fit.

We got the trailer into position, then the kids and I left to go and check out the Aquarium. Tony stayed at the site to watch the Collingwood game on his phone. Ocean Park Aquarium was about 10km out of town – we got there just before 3 and it closed at 5, so I hadn’t wanted to delay any longer. It was well set up – there were lots of tanks, some with open tops and some enclosed glass cases, and a marine biologist took visitors around from tank to tank, explaining about each of the creatures in there. The tour went for an hour, and as each group of people arrive, they just join the tour wherever it is up to, and then stay with it until its done the full circuit, then they can leave.

clownfish

green turtle

Blue spotted ray

lionfish

We arrived about halfway through the sea snake talk. We saw several turtles, moray eels, a frog fish, a squid, clownfish, boxfish, lion fish, stone fish (they are one of the few creatures that really scare me), blue spotted rays,  leopard rays, shovel-nosed rays, and lots of fish. We discovered that the silver fish we’d seen in schools at Cape Range would have been tailor. We were the only people left on the tour when it got to the shark feeding, so the kids got to ask lots and lots of questions and talk about some of the marine creatures we’ve seen on our travels so far. The guide was really interested in all the things we’d seen and asked lots of questions herself. The sharks weren’t hungry and didn’t come up to eat anything, but we saw a couple of lemon sharks and a couple of sandbar sharks, incredible animals and I really love watching them swim, so graceful.  We finished up back at the sea snakes and listened to the whole talk there (also incredibly graceful animals) and then we had a quick look at a few of our favourite fish again (the rays for me, and the lion fish, also the stone fish because they are so fascinating). Out to the gift shop, where Caitlin bought a turtle necklace, and LiAM a dolphin puppet. Millie wanted a huge soft crocodile (it was very cool) though I convinced her to save her money until tomorrow when we’d be at Monkey Mia with the dolphins.

sea snakes

Sandbar shark

Stonefish

Out in the carpark we were looking at the view of the beach when the marine biologist came out – she chatted to us for another 15 minutes or so, telling us lots about the local area and more about the marine life, and talking more about our trip. We left her there and drove back to town, seeing an emu foraging along the side of the road.

Back at camp Tony had almost finished setting up the tent by himself, so I helped him with the last little bit. Collingwood had won and he was very happy (although keeping quite about it since they’d beaten West Coast). I hung the (still wet) washing out, and the kids wandered around the park and chatted to dog owners. We decided to walk down the main street of town and get some (local caught) fish and chips for tea – there wasn’t much open at 6pm on a Saturday night in Denham, but we did find a fish and chip shop. It was a bit pricey but within our means. We ordered then went across the road to play in the playground and walk along the beach a little. It was windy and bit cool. We sat and ate our dinner on the foreshore, enjoying the fading light on the water and the sea air. The kids played in the playground a bit more and I tried to find an ATM (no luck – although enjoyed walking further along the main street and seeing some of the old buildings).

Back to our tent and everyone was on edge – very tired and also a bit anxious, we’d been waiting a long time to get to Monkey Mia and I think everyone (especially me and probably Millie) was worried about how it would go. If no dolphins came or we couldn’t see properly or the weather was terrible – Millie would be devastated. We were all hoping that the experience would live up to what she’d imagined it would be like.

I was so tired I went to bed as quickly as I could, and we didn’t read for the first night in a long time. We had an early start in the morning and everyone was OK with just going straight to sleep and trying to be rested for tomorrow. 

Half-lap Day 62: Ord River -> Fitzroy Crossing

Caitlin had an extremely restless night and was up a couple of times, then LiAM woke up feeling really cold so I got up and redistributed blankets and closed the windows. It was cool to see the milky way on the other side of the sky as it had been when we went to bed, it really showed how much the earth rotates throughout the night.

Millie was up early and snuggled up outside in a blanket. It was 17 degrees which feels so cold to us! I was chilly but ok in my summer pyjamas. We had breakfast and started to get ready to move on. Millie and I went for a walk to the toilets and then down to the river, meeting some dogs on the way (one of them licked her all over her face). Caitlin had a bit of a sleep in, and woke feeling not a lot better than when she’d gone to bed. She had a banana for breakfast then curled up in a chair until I packed the chairs, then she curled up in her seat in the car. We saw several more cows wandering around the campsite, including some younger ones.

We were all packed and ready to leave by just after 9.30. Heading along the highway we had more varied terrain throughout the day. More rocky hills, escarpments on either side (at the same time or separately), and at times, wide, flat plains with no hills at all. Some areas had no grass, just sparse trees, others had lots of greenish grass and only the occasional tree. We saw new trees too, some tall, thin, feathery ones, and shorter trees with lots of branches – it looked like there’d been fire through here not too long ago, as a lot of those trees had no leaves, or if they did, the leaves were fluffy looking, and all over the branches, like new post-fire growth. The termite mounds were different here too, more like large boulders than tall structures.

We stopped in Halls Creek for petrol (getting straight to the petrol pump, once we’d navigated past the very long line for the diesel pump). I was glad we hadn’t attempted to stay in town, it didn’t look like a place I wanted to linger, although the visitors centre and a couple of the buildings around there looked quite lovely.

We stopped for lunch at Ngumbie Cliffs rest area, which was recommended to us by our neighbours last night. This rest area was perched on the top of some rocky cliffs, with views in every direction – back the way we came across the top of this escarpment, or across the plains at the bottom of the cliffs. They weren’t very high, but quite pretty, and there was valley just below the rest area with ghost gums and lots of greenery, we could see where the water would flow in the wet before it spread out across the plain.

We ate some lunch and had a bit of a play, and were there for about an hour and a half. We could have stayed the night – lots of people were already setting up – but there was no shade at all (unless we camped right up against the day use picnic tables) and there were still a few hours of daylight left, so we moved on. I would have liked to free camp again, but Caitlin was very keen to stay somewhere with a shower. Millie also wanted a shower, and a pool too if possible. We reached Fitzroy Crossing just after 3.30, so figured we might as well stay in a caravan park here (the next free camp, with toilets (and no shower) was another 80km or so down the road and that would be taking us too close to sunset). Two of the 3 parks in town had terrible reviews, and didn’t have pools, so we decided to stay at the fancier caravan park. It cost more than I wanted to pay for a one night stop in a small town ($49 – although we also get a 5% discount at the local IGA) but it was worth it to make sure Caitlin was comfortable and for me to be less worried about being robbed. (The other 2 parks had lots of reports of burglaries, and they were both over $40 a night anyway).

We checked in and set up in the large unpowered camping area, in the shade, and hopefully with shade in the morning as well. (The map we got here helpfully showed where sunrise and sunset would be). We wandered over to the pool – Tony took the kids first and I met them there a bit later, and found Caitlin sitting on a step in the deep end, shivering uncontrollably. I helped her get out and we wrapped her in towels, then I had a quick swim to cool down and played with Millie for a few minutes, then took the girls back over to have a nice warm shower. LiAM got out as well, and managed to get his clothes and have his shower before I’d finished organizing towels and clothes for the 3 of us girls. The showers were fantastic, and helped Caitlin warm up a little.

Tony was watching the Collingwood v Carlton game on his phone (Collingwood won, hooray!), and I started to get dinner ready. We had leftovers, and instant mashed potato, and bacon (and Millie had cereal as well). Caitlin had barely eaten all day, or much the day before either, and I made her a plate of food and suggested she try to eat what she could – suddenly she realised she was starving and ate quite a bit of her dinner. She’d stopped shivering by now and started to feel quite a bit better. Her thumb is still hurting but the swelling and bruising is continuing to go down.

LiAM didn’t feel well after dinner and had another shower to help himself feel better. He came back and went straight to bed. The girls hurried in to bed as well, after patting and talking to some nearby dogs, and we were able to read a few chapters of Inheritance while everyone was still awake, then we all crashed.

Half-lap Day 28: Alice Springs -> Devils Marbles

Packing up after 4 nights can always seem like a big job, but we are getting better all the time at knowing what order to do things in and how to fit everything in to the car and trailer. The couple parked next to us were in a big motor home, and as he washed the outside of it very carefully, the guy seemed amazed and a bit dubious about our efforts to pack it all up and be on our way this morning. We had everything done by 10.30.

We stopped for petrol and then headed north for a long day of driving.  Listening to Harry Potter really helps the time pass quickly. We stopped once to check something and I got out and looked at the ruins of an old well – there are many of these stone wells from the 19^th Century which were built as the country was explored, allowing more people to come out and travel the area, and be able to find water more easily. We saw some telegraph stations as we drove past, and were impressed with some of the hills and escarpments we saw – the land was much hillier here than the Stuart Highway to the south of Alice Springs. We ate lunch in the car (tuna on saladas) as we drove. There still weren’t many animals to be seen, although we did see several dead cows by the side of the road.

We pulled in to Wycliffe Well for very cheap petrol – about 30c per litre cheaper than in Alice Springs! This is apparently the UFO Centre of Australia, there have been UFO sightings here and the service station and caravan park are done up like alien spaceships and there are alien references and souvenirs everywhere. I used a very dodgy toilet near the servo then discovered there were better ones inside. The kids explored a little then we got back in the car for a bit longer until we reached Devil’s Marbles (a drive of 413km from Alice, our longest driving day so far).

We had made good time and were at the Devils Marbles by around 3. The campground behind the rocks was filling up but we found a great spot in the corner, which would soon be in the shade of some of the rocks. It was very hot and it was hard work setting up the tent/waiting for it to be set up, but once it was up there was great shade along the back of it so we put the chairs there and everyone had a cold drink. We made good use of our new neck coolers too and they did help cool down the whole body.

We had a quick wander through the marbles – amazing rock formations, then Tony drove back 10km to Wauchope to see if he could watch the Collingwood game at the pub. The game was on and he enjoyed watching it and seeing some of the local station owners come in for a drink – Collingwood lost though which was disappointing.

The kids and I wandered a bit more through the rocks and found a good sunset watching position, then hung out at the tent for a while. Tony arrived as we were going back to watch the sunset, so he was able to come with us. Millie rode her scooter. The light on the rocks was beautiful, so red and bright, and the view was incredible whichever way we looked.

We saw a truck pull into the day use rest area – it had a tractor and other vehicles stacked on it, Tony was very impressed with the stacking job. I wandered closer to see if I could get a photo of it for my nephew, and had a good chat to one of the drivers. They were moving the equipment for someone moving from Horsham to Darwin. We talked about driving the Stuart Highway, living in different places, and horses. Caitlin rode her bike over to find me and she and the driver had a good chat about horses and The Man From Snowy River. We walked/rode back to our camp in the dark, and had to pause to let a herd of cows cross our path and then run through the Devils Marbles.

We had burgers for tea and sat outside for a while marveling at the stars – the moon has been too bright most nights for us to see all the stars, but this night was dark and clear and incredible. I took a few photos using the tripod but had trouble getting it quite right. It was warm enough to sleep with the windows open, cool to be able to lie in bed and see the stars up above us.