then onto the north River Rd and the south River Rd, this is the agricultural area but all the fresh fruit stalls are finished for the season but we stopped at Bumbak’s and bought some Mango Icecream and popped that in the freezer for later.
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| driving between all the covered fruit trees |
We had a drive out to One Mile Jetty but didn't walk out in case we got blown off the end
Drove out to one on the points and found there is a bit of an erosion problem!
Still windy, everyone is getting sick of the wind but nobody is in a hurry to go south because the reports are still cooler temps and rain, at least up here we are still warm and dry. We couldn’t believe it, our last night while lying in bed we hear the pitter patter of rain drops on the canvas, then quite a heavy shower but the wind never fails us, we were dry in the morning to pack up. We had almost forgotten what rain was…we haven’t seen any since Curtin Springs Station near Ayres Rock back in June.
Our next destination is Francois Peron National Park, but there are always stops on the way; A lookout of our first views of Shark Bay in the distance,
a turn off at Hamelin Homestead to look at the ‘stromatolites’, living rocks in the ocean.
Back to the homestead which used to be a telegraph station but now a camping spot, then onto Denham where we stopped in at the visitor centre; still blowing a gale in Shark Bay and still school holidays the place was pretty full, we got a non powered spot in the over flow area in the top tourist park just for the night, it was 4pm and bit late in the day to be going anywhere else. Walked to the fish and chip shop for dinner and on the way home stopped in the local supermarket and bought some bait (all we had was a little bit of chicken and it hadn’t worked for us so far).
Thursday 10th October we were on our way but first stopped at Peron History Precinct – homestead for sheep farming back in the day and there is still an artesian spa to have a dip in; 40C (might try that on the way home…we’ll probably need a good soaking by then).
There is an area to drop your tyre pressure up the road but we decide to do it at the homestead as we can see a lot of cars coming and going all stopped in the tyre pressure area…no wonder…they supply free air and gauges here on the side of the sandy track (how’s that for service). The track was good to start with,
we turned off to the Big Lagoon
to have a look at the camp ground but it was a 10km drive in and out if we wanted to drive anywhere so we pushed on, we passed the 2nd barrida (gypsum claypan)
I was getting a bit nervous as we were getting closer to this idiot who was in the middle of the track, we will be digging our way out for sure if we stop. Thankfully we came to the Gregories Campground turn off…no one here, 3 huge sites in the generator area and 3 in the non generator area and the beach on our door step.
We have paid for 3 nights as the wind is not easing and we have to put our damaged awning up to survive this weather. While here we drove up to Cape Peron…board walks out to a platform on the cliffs where we spotted sharks and rays in the water below,
a beach area where the cormorants spend there time
and a drive over to Herald Bight (advised not to tow there as the track was deep sand, as it turned out the track was in better condition than up to Gregories).
We got to do some fishing in the cove in front of our campsite and caught bream, a happy moment, a couple of fish we did not recognize, whiting but the only ones we kept we 4 gold tailed emporer and they were yummy.
The fishing was fun but I got so many snags.
After the first day of fishing we went down to the beach in the morning (low tide) and found some of my tackle but the second morning could not found any but Steve did find a small sting ray vibrating under his foot while we were looking. We had shoes on, there are stone fish here apparently. Great place and I wish the weather was kinder…we would have stayed here for a lot longer.
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| Our beautiful beach front |
We survived the windy conditions but haven’t had much sleep in the last 3 days.
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| This is where the sand kept blowing out from under the tvan |
Sunday we drive back into Denham to find out about a station stay called ‘Tamala’ that is on the way to Steep Point (the most western point on mainland Australia…we have to go there!).
On the way we stopped at Shell Beach and the beach is all that....shells
Tamala doesn’t take guests on Sundays so we camp down the road at Goulet Bluff
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| Our front yard at Tamala Station |
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| Bushes, tvan, then car and still in the wind |
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| emus in the sea |
It is a 3 hour drive one way to Steep Point and it was a cruisy drive, I was expecting a lot rougher and I believe it used to be.
We had to stop at the rangers house and we had a parks pass so no cost to us. It is so windy today we were warned about being on the cliffs and the track along the cliffs was very eroded and lots of sharp exposed rocks and advised not to go there. We drove to the cairn for the fishing boat wreck “Nor 6”, stayed close to the cairn to take pics so we didn’t get blown off the edge,
then on to the point, found a spot where a guy was fishing (had to be keen)while his family waited in the car
and then drove up to the lighthouse and found the visitors book where we made our mark. There are some beautiful camping spots by the water with a view of Dirk Hartog Island and we could have towed the tvan all the way surprisingly.
On the way back we stopped in to Thunder Bay to have a look at the blowholes…OMG…30/40 metres above sea level there are these huge holes bigger than I am tall and we had to be very careful walking around them in the wind…if you fell in you would be fish food.
We sat and watched these blowholes for ages. The noise they made and that was before the huge spray of water came out and we were so far up on the cliffs… We drove to False Entrance
and there is bush camping here but it looked bit feral to me, we looked for the blow holes here but could not find them and the cliff edges are usually undercut, so that is another reason to stay away from the edge. By the time we got back to camp we had been out for 7 hours, back at windy, tick city, we got through another night and then it was on to Kalbarri NP. I would not stay at Tamala again but it served the purpose of being on the way to Steep Point.
We stopped at two lookouts as we drove through the national park and OMG…the FLIES!!! With all this wind we had forgotten about the flies, we haven’t had flies this bad since Ruby Gap Gorge; we took pics
and got back to the car after the first lookout and plastered our faces with our Desert Dwellers cream (we got in Alice Springs) and went on to the next gorge. There is no camping in the NP so we thought it was a good idea to go to Kalbarri CP (we haven’t had a hot running water shower for a week and we needed to do some laundry). Two nights in the Caravan Park and not so windy surrounded by the bigger vans and we had two restful nights. The second day we were going to do a walk in the NP but we couldn’t be bothered instead Steve made some phone calls to Geraldton and Perth for the car and we drove around town looking at the beaches, Kalbarri is a lovely seaside town, I would stay here again…even in the caravan park.
Out of Kalbarri we stopped at Red Bluff
and saw more whales off shore and then on the drive we passed by Port Gregory and came across the Pink Lake
went east to visit Wally (Steve’s brother in law). Wally has property between Mullewa and Morawa (the wildflower trail area)and another property south of Perth where Jenny is and we will catch up with her later down the track. We took the back road from Wally’s instructions but missed a turn off and ended up doing the scenic route but we found our way and met up with Wally (we have only met him once before back in 2007) and his brother Kingsley. Wally has been batching it here for a while so he knows how to whip up a meal in minutes and we didn’t go hungry. He cooked us up some quongdongs for desert and I had a custard Danish in the freezer and cream in the fridge...Mmmmmmm He took us for a drive to look around the area and at the wild flowers but most were over by now, we got to see some of his 36 000 acres and the work involved in farming sheep and wheat and had a look at the shearing shed and the farm machinery he uses. We also got to look at the original family home
He also took us to Morawa to the airstrip where the gliders are kept…yep in his spare time he is a glider instructor. Wally showed us the three gliders in the shed and his love of flying certainly shows through as he tells us about his toys.
After a couple of days we left Wally to get back to his busy life and he suggested a drive through the Coalseam area on our way to Geraldton but as we were talking we missed the turnoff he told us to take…not the first time we’ve done that. So we drove on through Mullewa and only 100km more to Geraldton.
