Last Leg

One of the dolphins.

To Continue...

Wednesday
Still a bit damp but we had breakfast and broke camp to be on the way to Kalbarri. There were several wild flower photo stops before we left Shark Bay as we headed to see the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool Telegraph station after stopping at two beaches on the way. The first beach was amazing, millions and millions of tiny shells carpeted the whole beach. We walked out onto a spit of sand. The water was crystal clear and got to see a small shark swimming in one of the tidal pools.
Shelly beach was the next beach we had a quick look at – again, a lot of shells everywhere.

Hamelin Pool Telegraph station is an area where they originally had a telegraph station that was responsible for getting telegrams around the area. It was also an area they loaded wool onto ships. It is famous now for stromatolites growing (one of two places in the world) and for coquina which is where millions of tiny shells have formed into a solid mass, which was used as a building material back in the day. It is also preserved now and can only be quarried for restoration of historic buildings.

"Hamelin Pool Marine and Nature Reserve, where the largest and oldest living fossils dot the shore of the pool in rocky lumps. Stromatolites are colonies of micro-organisms that resemble the oldest and simplest forms of life found on earth around 3.5 billion years ago. The Hamelin Pool colonies are relatively newer, being around 3,000 years old. The stromatolites grow in Hamelin Pool because of the extreme salinity of the water, the occurrence of calcium bicarbonate and the limited circulation of the water". (Tourist mag)

Took masses of photos and got a brilliant David Attenborough type video of a blue bottle jelly fish at the Hamelin Pool and again of some birds, possibly swallows at the same place.

After that, we were on the road again to Kalabarri after stopping at the Overlander Roadhouse for a picnic lunch. We got to Kalbarri late afternoon and set up camp. It was cloudy and threatening rain so got sorted pretty quickly. We bought steak for dinner and had a slap up meal with heaps of veggies, mushroom sauce (chops and sausages too) which we cooked in the camp kitchen. The TV room is right next to the kitchen so most of the troops got their fix of Home and Away. I wanted my steak cooked medium rare, so was taking care of that (one person who shall remain nameless cooked their steak well done!!!). We were all finished by about 9am and so to bed.

Thursday

Today dawned overcast and then it rained. Not very auspicious so after a late start for the day – didn’t get out of bed until 8ish, it was decided to go to see the Sea Horse Sanctuary which was an indoors set up. This place breeds sea horses for the pet trade, initially in Australia and now world wide. Sea Horses in the wild need to feed on fresh, live food and most die fairly quickly in captivity. These are raised specifically to eat thawed, frozen shrimp (they are taught as tiny babies) which can be bought at the pet shops they are sold from. Had a look at the tanks of newest hatchlings to more adult sea horses and got some excellent footage again. By the time we had finished doing a tour through the building and looked at the video about the set up, the rain had stopped and it was borderline sunny. We were ready for lunch and decided we would have fish and chips. We tried a different place to the last time we were here and had a fantastic meal. I picked a seafood type basket and just ate the fish, giving my chips to the kids. I had prawns, a scallop, squid rings and 3 small bits of fish and was in 7th heaven. If I come back here again I would definitely go back to The Jetty Seafood Shack. We were across from the actual jetty and the loos so wandered over for a comfort stop and then went onto the jetty to take some photos. There was a flock of pelicans bobbing along on the tide and a molly hawk on the beach amongst the sea gulls. Down on the beach, some fisherman had dumped the remains of his filleted snapper catch (illegally) and so the kids decided to try and feed the pelicans with some of the remains. Pelicans need to catch things in mid air or floating in the water and they cannot pick up anything large or heavy off the beach with their beaks. Apparently they have no strength in their lower beak (so I was told). Got loads more footage of the birds and then it was time for the next stop.

We decided to chance it and headed to the Wildflower farm for a quick look around. It took us nearly 15 mins to get from the car to the shop where we gained entrance to the rest of the place LOL because there were a few new varieties out front that had not been photographed yet. The farm had a bush fire through part of it in 2005 and you could see the blackened trees left behind. It was interesting to see how quickly it had regenerated too. Got lots of photos and did nearly a 2k round trip walk!!!! The people in the shop were very helpful and friendly. There were not masses of wild flowers out yet as it is a bit early still, but it was a good walk ( I scare myself on reading that LOL).

Even though it was still overcast, it was decided to make a quick trip to the Zigzag gorge for a look. The entrance to this is through the National Park so a fee for each car load had to be paid. They use an honesty system – you put your money in an envelope with the details of your rego number and leave the envelop in an honesty box. We drove for a reasonable distance into the park and then did another 1.5k walk to the gorge lookout as we were too late to do the walk along the gorge edge right the way round (tragic I know!!!!). The path was well laid out and good deep steps to work your way down to the lookout. Not as magnificent as the gorges in Karijini but still interesting and with a different landscape again. The scrub is much taller down here and of course a whole different lot of grasses and shrubs as well. The sky was really blackening as we left to come back to town, go to the IGA and back to camp for dinner. Once again we used the camp kitchen – hot dogs in buns tonight with yoghurt and tinned rice for desert, with hot chocolate and marshmellows to follow- it’s a hard life camping indeed LOL. While getting dinner organised, the weather report came on the telly – gale force winds, hail, rain etc etc from Geraldton down to Bussleton and Kalbarri was mentioned as well. It had started to rain so we headed back to our tents and as I am typing this up (we have a powered tent site again LOL) the wind is blowing the tent in and out and it is raining in fits and starts. Am a little nervous as we are camping under trees – I am told two children died at school camps last year when trees fell on them – not the thing you want to hear before you have to go to sleep at night. We did contemplate staying in the TV room all night but I figured, with the amount of stuff I have in the tent (plus moi) the tent is not likely to blow away, and I have my trusty blow up mattress to use as a lilo if it pours with rain LOL. I will unplug the computer before I go to sleep so should have no electrical worries. I am cosy and snug as a bug in a rug so to speak. It was not cold last night either, in fact I had to shed sox and jumper during the night!

Friday
We did pack up pronto the next morning and headed out of Kalbarri to Geraldton via Northampton, down the coast, calling into two beaches for photos on the way. It started pouring while we were in Geraldton (getting supplies for the home trip) and we wondered at one stage whether we would get through. Fortunately, although there was water across the road in several places on the way home, the flood areas were not flooding and we all got back safe and sound.

And now, its just the rest of the photos to unload and to organise into some sort of cohesion and lots of remembering and telling of tall tales LOL. To put this trip into some sort of perspective, we did over 3,500k considering all the extra byways etc we visited. I have just googled some info on NZ and came across a bloke who walked from Cape Reinga to Bluff earlier in the year and he did 2,600ks!!! And what we saw was a piece of North Western Australia - there is about as much again to go right to the top!!!!! I said earlier, that about the only word to describe the landscape of this region is epic. It's huge and fascinating in the extremes of temperature, rock formations and general flora and fauna. I am really glad I was talked into going - lots totally out of my comfort zone but the boundaries of that are somewhat extended after this experience. Going with camping enthusiasts and adventurers (who were highly organised I might add) certainly helped.

And now a plug for my sponsers LOL. If anyone ever needs a place to stay in Bathurst - check out the Big 4 Caravan Park, Kelso, NSW (you can google it) as you could not get better hosts than Leanne and Jason (and family). I enjoyed their company, sense of humour and encouragement very much. Also to the WM, WMH and family - they are solid gold and did very well with the novice that I was on this trip. They were extremely patient with my Nana abilities at rock descending (and climbing)and deserve a medal for getting me home safe and sound LOL.

If anyone plans on coming to WA for a visit (hint, hint) this is a good time of the year through to the next holidays. I could heartily recommend all the spots I havebeen to. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I may get to go up to Broome and the Kimberlys later in the term on a school trip - watch this space.

And so back to another term as the kids come back tomorrow. Only 5 weeks till half term LOL.