This is Australia - As a Grey Nomand: Part 11 Carnavon,Denham, Kalbarri and Geraldton Western Australia

Red Bluff Panorama where red dirt meets sea

We loved WA it is really a beautiful place,  and they  cater so well to the tourist, everything is well sign posted, tourist offices provide heaps of good information on things to do in the various local areas, and no matter where you go here there is a fantastic view, beautiful scenery, incredible drives that take you to spectacular coast lines or incredible mountain ranges plus this part of the drive had prolific wild flowers, this is where you see them everywhere you look.  I have to move this journey along a bit so will put a few places in together.

Murchison River Panorama

From Coral Bay we headed to Carnarvon,  and once again there were fantastic day drives (some however were quite long on sandy tracks, but they provided some great experiences, including blow holes (only a few kilometres from the town center), to Red Bluff – quite a drive but worth it.  This is the Gasgoyne region and Murchison River a major food bowl for WA and crops abundant so a very pretty landscape oh and I cannot forget the space station – a lovely exhibition here.  

Panorama of Denham foreshore 

 Denham, was our next stop and a lovely seaside town, again there is heaps to do here (but this is where we first hit rain), we had been lucky to date that everywhere was dry.  Again a lot of great day drives coming into Denham – all with lovely walks and exciting things to see – it is a place that you could spend a significant time at. 

Shell Beach

From the stromatolites (the oldest living thing on earth), to shell beaches (that are so white, and the shells go forever),  fantastic broadwalks that show you the beauty of this World Heritage listed area, the aquarium  and of course wild flowers everywhere, there is just so much beauty in this area.  The only thing I will say that disappointed us was Monkey Mia – you see this place all the time on TV etc and it was a real let down for us – would recommend if you want to spend time with dolphins, you go to either Tangalooma (in Queensland) or I was told Bunbury was better for this activity.

  

I think this is what we loved about WA is the coastal views coupled with the inland views all magnificent.

Panorama of Natures Window Kalbarri

Lets talk about Kalbarri – such a beautiful place again many days were spent here on this water front town,with again spectacular inland and coast drives, viewing platforms, walks and we finally saw our first whales frolicking off the coast line, bird sanctuary, but the walk to natures window in the national park was probably the best for us, just beautiful.  The national park has several great walking trails, viewing platforms etc, but again the coast road does as well, you can either walk the entire coast or drive to the various smaller walks dotted along the coast.

Unfortunately for us, the rains where now beginning to set in, so off we had to go, camping is fun, but not when it is pouring – we headed for Geraldton  to get the car serviced and ready for the drive across the Nullarbor – more on that in the next blog.  It was pouring in Geraldton as well so cabins it was – this is quite a big town center and one that is good for a general stock up.  Generally though this whole part of the trip was full of the beautiful wild flowers , and coming into Geraldton you got the back drop of the canola fields as well providing the most incredible yellow and green background.

We have been travelling now for 9 weeks and while some people say WOW you did that quickly, we felt we stayed in most places long enough to see and do everything in the area, there were definitely times however in this drive where there was nothing along the way other than a petrol station, and given we didn’t want to do the free camping sometimes you just had to suck it in and do the 800k days from one place to the next.  Also the beauty of a camper trailer is you can go the speed limits so you just get places faster than those in a van.

More of Dereks finds - he has been having a great time with his metal detecting.

I suppose the only regret I have is not doing Karijni National Park – we were told it was 4wd only access, but after having long past it, many others in 2wd said we would have made it.

This is Australia - As a Grey Nomand: Part 10 Coral Bay Western Australia

Panorama of Coral Bay

On the Aqua Rush Tour - hang on to your hats 

So far we have had such a great time not knowing what was in store for us, no plans, no bookings just rocking up somewhere and going "hey this is a place for us", and to date no issues until Coral Bay in the July School Holidays.  Lets just say not a great idea - it is such a small place and there isn't a large amount of accommodation, but with the beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters, warm weather in July it was packed - not a camp site to be found anywhere - so it was Doing a Donga for us.  Don't know what a Donga is?  Not much a room, no loo, shower, but a bed and a kitchenette (but $265 a night given there is nowhere else available).

The fish are big in Coral Bay

Sometimes you have to suck it in because this is one special place and if paying top dollar for very average accommodation is what you have to put up with, well so be it.  We took one look at Coral Bay and this place is just too beautiful to miss over penny pinching.  In our past lives we have spent $1000's of dollars on accommodation on the beach front, so whats different now - to be honest we were not really there all that much during the day, and even at night we were out and about most of the time.

We did do a day trip to Exmouth which we didn't like all that much, and could definitely see why everyone chooses Coral Bay - there is soooo much to do here, or do little but lie on the beach, swim and snorkel (which we had a few days of), great walks both beach and off beach, great community spirit and fishing tours, snorkeling tours, flights, coral viewing - you name it it has it.

Once again, I said goodbye to Derek as he felt he had hit pay dirt on the beach here with his metal detecting - I didn't mind, the beach was glorious and for those that know me sunbaking for hours is in my blood so with a good book, good beach I was like the proverbial pig in you know what.

He showed some kids how to use their dectors there as well, and they all went off every morning at 5:30am to hit the beaches - this is a part he loves showing others how to use them and get the most out of them.  

We did the Aqua Rush tour which was heaps of fun in a fast boat, and going out miles for a good snorkel, but I found it a bit cold even with a wet suit on, but a brilliant day. It was small group but we did all see a good array of sealife in the variouis spots we stopped at.  Thank You Aqua Rush, top day and would highly recommend if in Coral Bay (a bit faster than the glass bottom boat tours).

This place is about as close as you can get to being in heaven on earth - if you want an absolutely magnificent, quiet place to go to this is it (no need to go overseas)

Sunset at Coral Bay (God is this way I think it is saying)

This is Australia - As a Grey Nomand: Part 8 Karratha Western Australia

Panorama of the Karratha Pilbara Region

While we didn't get to Karratha in a day - I am trying to concentrate on the major places we stayed, more than the in between towns like Port Headland (which we stopped at on our way to Karratha), some towns like this are just big mining towns with not a lot to offer - and are not setup for tourists (so be aware pre-booking isn't a bad idea in a town like Port Headland).

Karratha and Surrounds - Welcome to The Pilbara

Karratha was that surprise town for us, after Port Headland we really were not expecting too much from it and apparently only a few years ago it was hard to get any camping spots here as they were all taken up with miners, but this was a town like Broome for us so much to do, great camp site with an ensuite (haven't had one for weeks now), lovely people and just a fun place generally and we stayed here much longer than we anticipated 6 nights I think.

Panorama of The North West Shelf Project

There are some fantastic tourist drives in this area all under 100ks, and the tourist information centre provides great maps, everything is once again well sign posted, and easy to find.  One of the major areas to visit is Roebourne, which leads off to Cossack  (more on that in a minute), Sampson Beach and Cleverville - we spent a few days in this area as it was very pretty, lots of beaches, beautiful waters and generally interesting, it was a shame though we were not there for the staircase to the moon where the reflection looks like a staircase up to the moon, happens monthly though.

Cossack is incredible, the old town buildings with information on who lived there etc walk it or drive from one place to the other, very pretty environment as well.  We headed down to Sampson Beach for lunch - nice pub here overlooking the ocean.  In fact this whole area was lovely - there was a good caravan park in Sampson Beach as well for those who prefer beach camping.

Some finds at Sampson Beach

Derek did a lot of metal detecting in this area - and he found a wing off a toy plane, we made a joke that it might be the wing off the missing MH17 flight, but overall he did really well on these beaches. It was now that he started learning that it is not just beaches where there are finds to be found, but parks and more especially caravan parks (over $70 in the play ground of the camp site)- while you may have a laugh at his finds I didn't pay for laundry once during the trip and I used the dryers at the van parks as well, so usually about $20 a week was spent on these, plus we often got free lunches and dinners from his finds as well.  Metal Detecting paid off well in WA and overall throughout the trip.

Another great thing to do in this area is visit the North West Shelf Project - incredible, lots to see and do here as well so we were kept pretty busy.  Once again made lots of friends here and the Big 4 Caravan Park was nice, full of friendly people all with a story, so nightly drinks around the BBQ where par for the course here.

Everything is big here, big trucks, big views and big mining, we loved our Karratha time and is a town and area full of surprises.  The wild flowers were becoming a part of the landscape as were some of our feathered friends - a few wood pigeons who had no hesitation in sitting with us on our arms at the camp site.

This is Australia - As a Grey Nomand: Part 7 - Broome Western Australia

While we had a fantastic week in the Kununurra area, we were keen to get back out on the road again, to discover the next exciting part of our trip.  So to Broome it was!

Panorama of Cable Beach

Beach Birthday in Broome - 53 and enjoying the sun

The drive from Kununurra to Broome is not the easiest, lots of winding roads, and the quality are definitely not as good and it seems to be a long and more exhausting drive than we had been use to.  You need to be prepared to stop in the various little centers along the way to stock up on petrol to get you through, and it does require at least 1 over nighter on the road.  The towns like Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing are definitely unique towns, but ones that everyone needs to pass through - Derek wanted to go to Wolf Creek - but if you have ever seen the movie you might have been on my side of this argument - no way was I turning off to see this attraction, to be honest both of these towns seemed like the movie.  We decided to stay at Fitzroy Crossing so we could get closer to the destination of Broome, we were a little adventurous and stayed in a luxury safari tent (although it wasn't all that luxurious to be honest and at $160/night over priced), but hey when you are in these types of places  it is what it is.  We tended to stay in cabins or accommodation like this when we wanted to hit the road early the next day and after long drives so we could be off early and more refreshed.  We spent the afternoon looking through the town, and the camp ground/motel we stayed at did have a nice pub and restaurant all contained on a very nice and well kept property backing onto the Firtzroy River (we didn't do any tours here, but we met lots of people who did and stayed a few days here).  These towns are cross road type towns, they have a fair few facilities for tourists given nearly everyone has to pass through them either going to or coming from Broome.   Lots of stories in these places so we enjoyed a lovely afternoon here having a chat to others and this is where you get the great info on things to do along the way.

Safari Tent in Fitzroy Crossng

My special birthday cake surprise from Alan and Toni

But Broome it was to be - I wanted to be somewhere nice for my Birthday so next morning we headed off to Broome and to sus out Cable Beach - being a winter baby I definitely wanted to be on the beach for my birthday.  I had collected information on caravan parks and accommodation in Kununurra but I suspected from the maps etc that there were no caravan parks on the water at cable beach, and this is why I preferred not to pre-book because I like to drive past places first and establish is this where I want to be for a week.  Definitely no beach side camping grounds here and it was packed with back packers, scooters, caravaners, campers and rental mobile homes - a big tourist destination at this time of the year - so strange for us.  I suspected town beach would be the place for us - after all we still would have needed to get into the car to get to anywhere from the Cable Beach van parks so may as well be somewhere that is on the beach and town beach was it.

Some of Dereks day 1 finds at Broome

Once again I was pushing my luck but asked for a grassed site, with beach views (sometimes you have to ask the question) and to our surprise we got a perfect little spot for us, among some of the most wonderful people (all Western Australians who travel here every year for the sun).  We were happy as and we had the most wonderful time here - it was really hard to pack up and leave when we eventually decided we had to move on again.  Broome is a fantastic town very lively, very touristy but without loosing its identity, no wonder so many head here.

More Broome beach finds

So I got my birthday wish, and had my very first beach birthday - you can hire brollies, chairs etc at cable beach so I setup for the day of reading, sunbaking and swimming - heaven.  Derek started detecting the beaches and this was really the first time in the trip where he started to make some good money and share his finds and his passion with others.  Our neighbours at the caravan site found out it was my birthday and surprised me with a cake and everyone signing Happy Birthday - that was so lovely.  My birthday was finished off with fish and chips at sunset on cable beach (spectacular - no green flash though).  If at cable beach there is a beautiful beach side restaurant called Zanders - but we had already been given the tip in Kununurra that if you walk behind the restaurant they also do take away at about a 10th of the price, so we decided to have ours at their cafe and watch the sunset with about 2000 other people, what a special day it was.

Sunset at Cable Beach

Birthday Dinner at Zanders Cafe

While there are heaps of tourist activities to do here - flights, big day trips we were happy to sit and relax on the beach, read, and not do too much other than relax here - we could have spent a fortune on some fantastic day trips but this was really the first time in our trip that we just loved the environment and doing small day drives, and lots of beaching.  The town center is lovely with it rich history of The Chinese Pearl farmers, Pearl shops everywhere, and generally an eclectic range of shops and attractions. 

Our dining spot for birthday dinner, and sunset at Zanders Cafe

This is where we first started to see the beautiful WA wild flowers - so red dirt, red mountain ranges, blue oceans and colorful wild flowers - this is what makes WA special at this time of the year, just color everywhere you look.  They would however become more prolific as we headed down the coast.