Margaret River and Cape Leeuwin - a quick Post to catch up!

Great Shot! Crowls mentioned this magic spot the 147 year old Busselton jetty which has an underwater observatory at the end and a train that takes you the 1.84 kilometres to the end where in the old days they loaded timber for export to foreign shores.  We arrived and the weather was coming in as you can see! The underwater observatory was unfortunately closed and the train was going to be a while so we stayed, sat, saw and had coffee! 

 A little town just north of Margaret River called 'Cowaramup'.  Firstly, many of the towns from the Margaret River area all the way to Ceduna have names that end with 'up' or 'rup'.  We learned from the web that the word 'up' from the traditional land owners of the region refers to 'a place of' so if there's heaps of cows, then the place name has cow in the name and ends in 'up'!  Then theres a version about Danish and 'rup' but bugger them....Anyway I digress, the locals have absolutely nailed it tourism wise by buying hundreds of these fibreglass cows of all shapes, gait and size that are scattered throughout the small town.  Only days old and still most with concrete bases yet to be dug into the soil the affect on tourism for the town was so evident as everyone was stopping to take photo's of the cows!  10 POINTS TO GRIFFINDORE!

Thats the Indian Ocean meeting the Southern Ocean....south western point of mainland Australia view here is from Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse..apparently the tallest lighthouse in Australia. 

Nice shot of the girls on top of Cape Leeuwin lighthouse.

Entrance to Lake Cave one of the many caves that run through the Margaret River area. We visited Crystal Cave and this one and very beautiful indeed.  Tried to get the photo's underground to work but only got a few by long exposure and sitting camera on deck. 

Lake Cave - Water level is a bit lower than when first discovered.  This shot has what they call the table. Very nice suspended 5 tonne of caltrite...calcium stalactite/mite thingamy jig......pretty cool to see,  photo's do no justice.

How to save a fortune on the road....make your own lunches!  Food is better, fresher and we can heat up soup etc... (background is pumpkin soup on the portable gas stove) for lunches on the run.  

See you soon!

Down to Perth......

Perth!

From Hamelin (near Monkey Mia) we headed south to Perth via Kalbarri and the coast roads and locations to Geraldton and beyond.  A camp here and there and photo's follow with the appropriate comments!   No hand feeding great white sharks but hopefully nothing to boring.....?

This is moon rise inlad at an elevated coastal caravan park on the coast somewhere between Indonesia and Antarctica....(presently can't remember the place.....?)....what was cool was the moon rose due east as the sun set west and I won't bore you with another sunset but the following morning exactly where the sunset the moon followed course.....sort of had to be there kind of thing but cool in the least..!!!!

Moon setting over the ocean in the West....through the binoculars it was really nice!

The best I could do without a super zoom! Moon setting at about 7am.

On our way south we stopped and unhooked the van and did the drive through the Pinnacles.  Scientists still can't figure out exactly what caused these formations but it was very different and nice to know that when we got back to the information centre the explanations provided were only hypotheses....we don't actually know everything us humans!

The Pinnacles (near Cervantes WA).

Another top little spot just north of Jurien Bay WA (council camp only cost between 7 and 10 dollars a night BYO water and use provided toilets with gas mask, gloves, gum boots and heaps of chemicals).  Photo taken with ocean behind me.  It was basically empty with the school holiday a few days away and unsure why it wasn't packed?  The weather was perfect as it has been everywhere we've been but it seems everyone heads North for the coming winter.  We have yet to feel a very cold wind or temperature and still could snorkel at this spot.  Tried to find a few lobsters which Jurien Bay and environs are renowned for but alas not one could I see? Heaps of Abalone shells and kelp like sea weed and grass, stayed in the shallows to avoid an encounter with something big and snappy!

This is what the place is famous for.....fortunately we caught one and it tasted pretty much the same as painted or greens (which is surprising as painted and green eat grass and WA lobbies are omnivourous....)? Hoped that they would be like the oysters in Ceduna and due to plentiful supply a bit cheaper than East side but computer say noooooh!

Yay!!! The double decker bus tour of Perth.....! Really easy way to see the city and learn a bit of history. We scored the top deck front seat which was fantastic and fun to dodge branches and see the sights from an elevated and relaxed atmosphere.

Freemantle - Lost fishermen memorial...wonderful!

Thought we were back on Karumba wharf.....very similar to Raptis colours!

JB with a statue of a Lobster fisherman at the memorial wharf.  Really nice but would love to have gutted and filleted the morons that use the cray basket as a rubbish bin.  We cleaned it up and said a prayer for the lost at sea!  God bless all our fishermen and women, sun on your faces and breeze easy!

Driving past this we were chatting in the car that it must be a convent or boarding school.....yeah right...Swan River Brewery.... GOLD!

Kings Park at Perth, simply stunning!

HMAS Submarine 'Ovens' amazing experience to see how our sub-mariners live and work!  This is the girls playing in the main torpedo bulkhead.  Kacie pushed the red button but it was fortunately disconnected!

MORE TO COME...Love to all! xxxx

Hamelin Station and Steep Point (Dances with Ray)

Winter time in WA! Steep Point and Hamelin Station.

We seem to have been so lucky with the weather?  Each time we check the weather our current location has been warmer than the other capitals and we seem to have fluked windows between systems with nice days, cool nights and no head winds when driving (which is a big deal with 3.5tonne behind you and a boat on the roof!).

This is your typical road side 24hour rest area (free camp).  They have a dump point to empty the toilet which with 5 pax gets filled pretty quick!!  They are all well maintained with lined bins and crow/fox prevention lids, toilets with paper and very popular with the flood of migrating southern nomads heading north for the winter!

Always meeting new and interesting people.  Jessie's new friend was kind enough not to poo on her favourite flanny!

Sunsets are always spectacular and the temperature plummets as soon as the big disc drops.

We camped at a spot called Hamelin Station which was the cleanest and best laid out stay so far.  The shell grit from the coast quarry on the station used to line the roads and camp sites was a beautiful contrast to the surrounding paddocks of gnarly trees and a myriad of bird life!  I photographed (very poorly) a magnificent white winged fairy wren (another tick in the book) which is one of the prettiest vivid blue birds I've seen.   The old sheep station has been converted as most of the stations have to accommodate the tourist flood and easy money.  This site for example we have no power or water and it was $42 a night to camp up.  The facilities although were 5 star with an indoor fire place, BBQ's etc.... Top spot! 

Kacie leading the charge by the fire playing her ukulele with the Chilvers kids and some new kids met in the park.  The iron wood timber is abundant and burns hot and a shame we didn't get out the camp ovens and have a cook off!

She's a born leader.....God knows what game they're playing......?

Here's one for the budding bird watcher.....what bird is that!  Hint it's a Robin of sorts and the name may or may not include a colour.......?

Hamelin Station has it's own shell brick quarry.  How easy is that....!?  Not need to make horrible mud and straw; just cut out uniform bricks of shelly sandstone like block and you've got a fantastic house that from the building we saw can withstand time and tide.....!

The stromatolites of Hamelin Pool...the following photo will explain the phenomenon:

Cool huh?  This area of the coast is also where they loaded big punts with wool to be transferred to boats out in the bay. The wagon wheel ruts are still visible in the stromatolite bay.

We left the van at Hamelin and drove up to Steep Point the most western mainland point in Australia.  About 2.5hours of which the last 30 km of 4wd sand dunes and tracks was great fun (for the driver).  At the tip (this shot) they have installed a photographic pole with the screw in doovalacky like a proper tripod.  Me good english!

The blow holes on the West coast of the steep point on the way back.  What was amazing was that these are about 200 feet above sea level......?

Looking south at the blow holes where we stopped for lunch.  When I took this shot a huge humpback whale breached behind where the blow hole is gushing. I thought I may have got it in shot but was a split second early?

Same spot but a nice shot of the coastline and every surging sea.

On our way back to Hamelin on the eastern side of Steep Point we came across this friendly white pointer shark.  The girls insisted on hand feeding it a slab of the dolphin I hand speared at Steep point.  Jessica was lucky not to loose her hand when the shark got a bit frenzied and took the whole bloody dolphin in one bite! We estimated the shark to be about 7 metres in length and had a huge chunk out of it's left pectoral fin.

Now the real story..... we chanced two beautiful Manta Rays feeding on a current of krill and plankton right next to the 4wd track. Not to miss an opportunity like that we all stripped to our undies and snorkelled with them for about 40 minutes as they kept lapping back and forth through the cloud of plankton and krill which you can see in the next underwater shot:

Awwwwsommmme!

The pair of them kept on lapping up and back and all we had to do was wait in the same spot and they would swim straight past or around us....Gold!

After this we returned to Hamelin and the next day headed south for Geraldton and Perth...more to come as we finally catch up with the blog.......love to all..x

Coral Bay to Blow Holes (Quobba)

Exmouth and Cape Range to Blowholes Quobba

Hi all!!! Long story cut short but Exmouth and Cape Range National park was so overcrowded and the camp sites all packed we didn't bother with it and wasted $100 fuel checking it out.   We drove about a 185km round trip down to the southern end of the Cape Range National Park and unanimously decided that we were not prepared to wait in line at 7 in the morning to hope and jag a camp in the National Park with a weekend coming that had nothing to offer that isn't everywhere else and with a fraction of the cost and hassle.

We stopped into Coral Bay and again the reef is on the mend from a cyclone last year and really was ordinary compared to the likes of Tangalooma Wrecks or the GBR.  We had a quick snorkle and some happy snaps follow but we were really impressed when we chanced upon a magnificent little spot called the  Blow Holes Camping ground at Quobba about 70km north of Carnarvon.  Pictures following will tell:

PS: Having all sorts of trouble with font and copy paste on these subheadings so the size and style may vary?

The reef at Coral Bay, pretty ordinary with bleaching and needs a few dry years and RnR from cyclones.

Jessy Bell snorkelling at Coral Bay, the water is beautiful and clear and did we mention cooooold! 

Yep....it's freezing...Jessica couldn't stop smiling cause her face had frozen....we all laughed and gibbered as we walked  back to the park.  Thank God the water comes out of the tap hot from the artesian bore and after 20 minutes we got our feeling back in our toes!

The Magnificent coastline of Quobba Station!  Kerriann's brother (Ronny) spoke of a place that he worked on a sheep station in WA and raved how it was a magnificent location and they lived on Lobster and fish caught off the nearest hot spot.  When we got to Quobba I thought how this must be very much what he was talking about and guess what......?  Same location!  This is a quiet little spot that doesn't rate in any tourist brochure but we loved this location and only left due to the weather and time.  Best place yet that we have stayed (except Koolpinyah!).

Next to our camp are rock pools full of coral, clams and reef fish. The girls walked down with some bread and got a few fish frenzied in the shallows; magic spot! 

We watched the local fishing with a float that had a hole in it into which they pressed burley of their choice and from the float is a line with a single number 14 or smaller hook on which they put a maggot or choice piece of bait.  I watched another young bloke and copied his rig by cutting a bait jig  into two pieces (each with 3 hooks) putting a light sinker on the bottom and as I had no floats I used a piece of rubber camping mat and basically we outfished the locals at least 5 to 1!!  Here is Cheryl with a double hook up and the locals were mumbling and grumbling as we pulled in Gar after Gar using prawn as bait on the small hooks.  Of most interest was the fact that the Gar were predominantly taking the bottom hook!  None of the locals over the following few days chose to modify their rigs sticking with the useless float system as we continued to pull Gar in beside them hand over fist!   What happened to live and learn?????

Jessy Bell with a nice Gardie (local name?)  Best Spanish bait and we met some Land Base Game fishers who we have 12 of the biggest Gar we caught having seen their old and freezer burned rotten gar knowing how good a fresh bait would be!




And right next to the gar spot (see the people behind me on the beach which is right in front of our camp 20 metres from the water) is a patch of sea grass and the biggest squid I've ever seen caught off the beach with ease!  We kept two of these beauties and the following was the nights meal:





Fresh Gar fillets in Coriander, Chilli, Garlic, Lemon and Lime together with Salt and Pepper Squid!!

While we were sitting on the beach fishing for Gar; Doreen or Doug the Dugong swam by so we grabbed the snorkeling gear and swam out through a cloud of about 50 000 gar (that we were fishing) and had a swim with Doreen (or Doug).  Unreal!!!  She just poked along and didn't mid our presence before we stopped as we were swimming where people were fishing and didn't want to upset the locals anymore than we were out-fishing them HA HA!

So what do you eat after fresh squid and fish....... WA Indian Ocean Rock Lobster of course!! One this size in the shops is $40!  Only thing is you can only catch them by hand (the licence endorsement is also $40....40 for boat, 40 for nets/traps, 40 for lobster etc.... you get 10% discount for 2 or more endorsements but a great way to raise money for fisheries and research!) I got this one just near camp in the fishing zone. There were others but without a spear gun and out of practise the buggers are slippery little suckers!

And the finale....Oysters Kilpatrick!  Picked a jar of oysters here in no time and they are plentiful and sign say you can pick-em!  I couldn't figure out why no-one else bothered as their size was as you can see perfect for eating off the rocks.  The odd one like this that broke on intact we took back to the campfire and cooked up with a dash of black horse!  Blow Holes Quobba is the best and it was only $5.50 a night to stay there with a dump point and rubbish bins. 

Time to keep heading south and the vans heading north are in the hundreds each day!  Seems everyone has a van and is travelling around Australia!  See you soon! xx