Bucket list number 786 -  Catch a King George Whiting....check!

We put the tinny in at Ceduna where we stayed at a van park for a few days and with some advice (find a patch of sand in the bay in amongst all the grass beds, burley up and wait) managed to catch a feed of KG's.  As per ritual the first one was released and we had fresh KG's for tea. 

Happy little fisher...! Old Arthur two chins Jackson and his first ever KG whiting.  They don't fight anywhere as hard as a big sand whiting from up home way and come in quite easily for their respective size?  Also are a very slimy fish and seems to continue to excrete slime hours later back at the fillet table when cleaning.  The taste I am sad to report is also no where near as nice as your good old sand whiting of which the locals were also catching plenty along the coast as we travelled.  THis photo day before the below photo's when we managed to convince JB to come out with us.

Jessy-belle caught the biggest I think?  We should have measured them I spose but they were all legal (30cm and 31cm depending on which side of Ceduna you fish).

Kerriann and her first KG and another happy camper!

Slippery little suckers!  Don't get it on me mum!!!

Seal Colony just south of Streaky Bay at Point Labatt.  Wild coastline!  The dots on the inshore beach are the seals.  The babies were seen to come and go swimming in the shallow pools and no sign of any sharks or killer whales!

Doing it tough it seems?  Eat, sleep and snuggle!

On the way in to the seal colony we saw a sign for Hay Stacks and drove into a property and found this top little spot.  A bit stone hengishy.....?

In one of the hay stack formations was this fantastic wild bee hive.  Very cool!

We missed going to Wave Rock so this one at the Hay Stacks will have to do us.....!

Streaky Bay (I think) and very calm weather conditions.  Brought some magnificent oysters at a shed we were given instructions to find....huge bucket of oysters for $20.

Coffin Bay....more bloody oysters!

The big green shed oyster farm we were told to go to and where I got the bucket of oysters from.  All those tubes are part of this massive oyster farming operation in Streaky Bay.  Love people and went to all manner of trouble on a Sunday to get me a bucket of oyster for $20.  Don't you just love fisherman/women the world around....best people in the world!

Giving the oysters a bit of a shake and wash at Cape Donington (September Beach) in Lincoln National Park south east of Port Lincoln.  Magnificent location!  We watched a pod of dolphins here that appeared to be supporting a birthing mummy in the shallow close to the beach. 

The best oysters I've ever eaten hands down....!  Here I'm shucking a few for Kacie for Killers....one for her and two for me natural!  Kerriann could be nervous...hard to say?

Western Australia and the Nullarbor here we come South Australia!

Not the best picture but an idea of the tree we climbed.

Cut and paste from wikipedia   "Gloucester National Park contains three climbable karri trees, each in excess of 60 metres tall. The most famous is the Gloucester Tree, but there is also the Diamond Tree and the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, which is the tallest of the three and stands at around 71 metres. Each of these trees has been fitted with metal rungs which allow visitors to climb these trees and reach the constructed lookout at the top".    This pic is the Bicentennial Tree and it was to be honest quite scary!  The metal rungs are a fair bit apart and if you slip during the climb you are dead!  What amazes me is that in this modern age of sue the pants off who ever you can for cash that this is open to the public 24/7?   Kacie (who else!?) and I climbed to the very top and I was below her one rung up and down and we both calmly talked each other up and down!  71metres up!

A shot through the rungs...definitely not for those afraid of heights!

View from the top with a nice rainbow.  Then a shower or rain was on it's way and we high tailed it back down to terra-firma!

A photo and one of the top 5 sights that I/we were looking forward to crossing the Nullarbor.  The coastline of southern Australia is magnificent and the entire way to Melbourne we had beautiful weather and flat seas with off shore breezes and a tail wind!

Queensland is that way somewhere!

A free camp nice distance off the road.  Having 410 litres of water capacity/capability has and is a God Send!  We are able to do at least 5 days with a shower every night  and not run out of water (be-it a get wet, get soaped and rinse off; it's still as good as a holly wood when you're in the bush!) oh yeah....and take a chainsaw.....easy fires are the best!

The Nullarbor was a breeze!  I think we camped two nights along the way and with a tail wind it was a very great drive and the service stations were all very nice and no drama's had whatsoever.  Had heard all sorts of horror stories about some of the roadhouses etc... but we walked in with a smile and left the same. All great folks living in a very isolated part of the Australian continent!  

If you get a van go for the full oven....great for pizza, pies or dim sim's for lunch along the track!  This was while waiting for laundry to dry at........somewhere?

Western Australia visitor info centres have a clean up Australia bag that contains heavy duty bags, a set of tongs and some info and a fantastic idea.  Here's Jess cleaning up all the rubbish around one of our free camps along the way.  Still can't understand people that leave their rubbish everywhere they go....I have no idea why?   Australia needs to hammer the 'Keep Australia Beautiful' campaign like they did when we were kids.  Picking up other peoples toilet paper is a drag.

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