John and Helen

On leaving Albany the weather was cool but sunny with a threat of rain later, so we booked a self-contained unit at Quaalup Retreat on the border of Fitzgerald NP. It was just as well we did not plan to go straight into the National Park as the road was closed because of the recent rain. Having dried out our wet tent, we had lunch with Vicky, the resident kangaroo, and then drove to a beautiful wide beach where we watched whales frolicking in the sea from the top of a sand dune. Back at the homestead we went on a fantastic wildflower walk with many flowers unique to the area on display. The next day we walked to the top of West Mt Barren to see the wildflowers and the stunning view from the summit, ... read more

Heading south again, we hoped to camp at another wayside stop, this time on the Murchison River. However, it was still cool and windy, so we headed on to Kalbarri and stopped at a motel there. It was not a good choice as the Hotel next door had live music for the Friday night partiers. The weather still looked a little overcast the next day as we headed into Kalbarri NP, but the wealth of wildflowers lifted our spirits. Some spectacular kangaroo paws caught our eye as we entered the park and the carpets of flowers were beautiful as we walked around the Loop Walk, a walk inside a loop on the Murchison River, which starts at the famous Natures Window. Fortunately, the sun came out during the walk and we were hopeful of being able ... read more

A long drive south across spinifex plains surrounded by spectacular hills, with mile-long iron ore trains for company to Karijini NP. The camp sites there are notoriously difficult for tents - we had to find ways of hammering tent pegs into what seemed like road base made from iron ore. The campgrounds are located on a spinifex plain with nearby gorges cut into it down to 100m. From Dales camping ground we explored spectacular gorge scenery. We walked along the bottom of the gorge from Circular Pool to Fern Pool counting six lovely swimming holes. Fern Creek was the nicest water hole we had encountered on our trip so far - an almost unbelievably pretty setting, with little warm waterfalls cascading down amongst delicate green ferns, the crystal clear water a delight to swim in. We ... read more

What a contrast after the sandstone gorges of the Kimberly interior, to arrive in Broome with its aquamarine sea and pristine white beaches. We drove to Cable Beach to eat our lunch and were overcome by the sight. We just had to go for a swim. Broome is a booming holiday town with an interesting history of pearling. We went to the movies at an historic outside cinema, sitting in deck chair canvas under the stars watching the story of the nuns at Beagle Bay. We had just visited Beagle Bay seeing the church built by the German priests and with an altar decorated with pearl shells. We called there on our way up the Dampier Peninsular to camp in lovely Pender Bay remote from civilisation. We swam in the sea and walked on the beach, ... read more

A very pretty drive south from Kununurra, then a hard FWD track for 50km east to Purnululu NP. We found a nice bush site to set up camp and made additional shade - it was now a sunny 34º - by tying a ground sheet between the tent and some trees. There were only communal barbecue areas, so we shared a fire with an interesting party - two young women with two little boys and one man. We were up early the next day as we were still very much on central Australia time (1½ hours ahead of WA time), which was just as well as it was good to get going in the cool of the day. We drove to the northern area of the park and walked into Mini Palms Gorge (nothing special) and ... read more