Western Australia Three - 7 to 13 April 2011

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After a goodnight’s rest we were ready to face the road again and travelled out of Toodyay and arrived in a small town called GinGin where we stopped to stock up on our supplies at the local supermarket. The area supports many forms of farming including beef cattle, cerial crops, olives and oranges. The first European to visit the area was the explorer George Fletcher Moore; he arrived in 1836 and recorded the Aboriginal name "Jinjin" on his charts. The first property to be established in the area by W L Brockman in 1841 was named Gingin station. The meaning of the word Gingin is uncertain but is thought to mean "footprint" or "place of many streams". Good name for a town but ‘no’ we did not buy two bottles of Gin – although some Bombay Sapphire would have been nice! We continued on and as we travelled along the road a huge black striped lizard crossed the road right in front of us but we did just manage to avoid it – would have made quite a crunch! We continued on our journey to the Nambung National Park where the spectacular Pinnacles Desert is located. Thousands of sandstone pillars are scattered across a moonlike landscape, a lovely golden yellow desert sand floor. The lime-rich desert had originated from seashells, which compacted with rain and subsequently eroded, forming individual pillars, some towering up to five metres tall. We parked the van and walked to the lookout point and it was really quite amazing as the pillars stretched for as far as the eye could see in every direction. Dutch sailors who first sighted the area in the mid 1650’s mistook the Pinnacles for ruins of an ancient civilisation and you could actually see why. A 4km sandy gravel road looped around the formations and we were able to drive the motorhome to get up close to the pillars but had to be careful not to get bogged down in the golden sand and had a few ‘hair raising moments’! Whilst we were driving we saw several wedged tailed eagles soaring gracefully above in the blue cloudless sky. We looked around the information centre which was very informative with displays on the floral and fauna in the area and details of how the Pinnacles was formed. We travelled on stopping at Hangover Bay and Kangaroo Point for a dip but although the beaches were lovely there was too much dead seagrass in the surf and on the sands so we continued to Cervantes and booked into a campsite right on the beach for the night. We later walked along to the jetty but noticed there was quite a lot of dead seagrass here also. Cervantes a crayfishing town named after the whaling ship, Cervantes which was wrecked on the coast in 1844 was quiet and peaceful and we settled down for the evening under the stars. This area is also popular when tourist when a multitude of wildflowers are blooming in their spring but we were out of season for this spectacle but maybe next time. The next day we drove to out of Cervantes and stopped at Hansen Bay lookout where you had to climb about 70 steps to the get to the top, but well worth it for the lovely views all around the coastline when you did. We travelled on to Lake Thetis where living stromatolites could be seen growing on the edge of the lake when the water level drops in summer and we could view these quite easily and you could see th oxygen bubbles on the surface. These stromatolites are the oldest living organisms on the planet and there are only a few places in Western Australia that features them and we are hoping to also view more at Hamelin Pool further up the western coastline. We continued along the coastal road stopping at Jurien Bay and had freshly made hot scones which were delicious and then walked along the seafront. The Julian Bay area was in the midst of a ‘growth spurt’ with a new marina, jetty and waterfront ‘coming soon’. We also noticed huge residential developments all along this stretch of coast where the population was growing fast and in a few years would probably be unrecognisable.. At Green Head the next small fishing town we spoke to a local chap who mentioned that about six weeks ago a large number of dead fish and seagrass washed ashore overnight and they thought that this was due to a rise in ocean temperature following the heat wave they have been experiencing throughout their summer. This explained why we had seen so much dead seagrass on this stretch of coastline, transforming the look of these beautiful bays which was a shame. Others told us that the seagrass was hard to get rid of and they had tried burning huge piles but this had not been successful so hopefully they will find away of getting rid of itn soon. We carried on as far as Port Denison to stop overnight and had a lovely pitch overlooking the ocean after we complained that the pitch we had been allocated was too small as someone was also using it to park their 4WD – the owners of the site said that they were a ‘pest’! We were lucky enough to see a flock of the rare Black Parrots just outside the campsite but by the time we managed to get out of the site and locate them they had flown away! In the bay the local boys were body boarding in the surf and thoroughly enjoying themselves as the sun went down. That night we watched a lovely sunset over the ocean chatting to a couple from Perth who loved the area and came back each year, we could understand why. The beautiful Irwin River meanders between the twin towns of Dangara and Port Denison, forming a scenic landmark and it would have been good to stay longer but its time to move on. Next day we continued on our way and stopped at Central Greenough Historical Settlement which we had been told was worth a visit. During the 1860s Greenough became a thriving agricultural area with Central Greenough (historic settlement) at its hub. The eventual decline of the area was caused by a combination of wheat rust attacks, drought, flood and poor agricultural prices. Greenough's population dropped dramatically in the first half of the 20th century, and many of its buildings fell into disrepair. Today the historical settlement has been restored and comprises a varied group of stone buildings in its original rural landscape setting. Its twenty buildings reflect stories of religion, commerce, education, social lives, transport, communication, governance and administration. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to prevent the further deterioration of buildings and when we viewed them we thought they were in very good repair and were extremely well presented. As you wandered around the ‘village’ it was like living in the past very much like Tyneham in Dorset, UK (particularly the school) where the village was deserted at the outbreak of war and the locals never returned. Nearby we also stopped to photograph one of the famous Greenough Leaning Trees, all along the Brand Highway prevailing southerly winds have forced these trees to grow sideways rather than upwards and the obscure sight has become something of an icon in the region. Must admit it did look weird seeing all these horizontal trees as we drove along this stretch – probably confused the birds too! We continued on stopping at Geraldton to view the HMAS Sydney II Memorial high on the hillside. This landmark commemorates the loss of Australian sailors who met their fate in a World War II naval battle in 1941. After 66 years of mystery, the wreck of German vessel, the Kormoran was found in March 2008 and a few days later the Sydney was found approximately 250 kilometres from Shark Bay up the coast. The memorial features a beautiful silver dome of 645 seagulls to represent each sailor lost in the war time disaster. Overlooking the ocean on the side a life-size bronze statue of a woman gazes hopefully out to sea – quite poignant. You could not help but be moved by the setting and the memorial, particularly the dome where the reflections and shadows of the seagulls ‘hovered’ over the site. We were also hoping to see the Point Moore Lighthouse situated on the edge of Geraldton but believe it or not we could not locate it – we will try later when we return this way in a month’s time. Our next stop quite a way up the coast and with a detour off our route was the town of Horrocks where we intended to have lunch and a quick dip. We walked along the shore and noticed that this also was covered with mountains of seagrass and the high tides they have been experiencing in the area had washed huge amounts of sand out of the bay leaving only a small beach area so we did not get our dip but had a lovely lunch watching the surf come in. Back on route, our next stop was Port Gregory which is bordered by the Hutt Lagoon, known as the Pink Lake due to its colour created by the naturally occurring beta carotene. It had quite amazing reflections and in places was deep pink in colour, quite strange to see – no we did not have wine or beer with lunch. We finally arrived at Kalbarri our next overnight stop and parked the van in the campsite over looking the rive and went for a cooling dip in the swimming pool a few yards from our van. Kalbarri National Park is ‘huge’, located on the Murchison River with beautiful beaches, dense bushland and rugged gorges. As there was quite a lot to see in this area we decided we would spend a few more days here on our way back to Perth in a months time so that we could really appreciate this scenic area. However before then though we had a very long journey ahead of us heading out of the Kalbarri National Park towards Sharks Bay (not just a bay but an area). Sharks Bay contains more than 1500 km of coastline stretching along two jagged peninsulars and numerous islands with white sandy beaches and turquoise lagoons backed by fiery red sand cliffs. Lush beds of seagrass and sheltered bays nourish dugongs, sea turtles, humpback whales, dolphins, manta rays and sharks and we were hoping to see most if not all of these on our visit. Sharks Bay was the site of the first recorded landing by a European on Australian soil. In 1616 the Dutch Explorer, Dirk Hartog anchored just off Denham, Australia’s most westerly town and the main one in the area. The reefs in this part of the Indian Ocean are extremely remote, and you have to spend several days driving to reach the area from either Perth or Broome through mostly desert and semi-desert outback. The drive itself was awe-inspiring as several hundred kilometers passed without signs of fuel or human habitation and we continued until we reached a small roadhouse (service station) called Wannoo Billabong and one of only two on this long stretch of road. Paul noticed that someone had left a handbag on one of the chairs which we handed to the manager of the roadhouse. Whoever left this would have a long way back to collect it – wouldn’t like to be in her shoes when she realised it was missing! As we (Paul) drove along we started to notice some huge red mounds on the side of the road and stopped to investigate and realised they were termites nest. These huge mounds have a large central vent to control heat and the nest continues underground as much as on the surface. Termites are apparently related to the cockroach and not the ant as most people think - we certainly did. The countryside for miles and miles was covered in these dome like homes and nothing else. We at last arrived at Hamelin Pool to see the other stromatolites location I had mentioned earlier. These brown rock-like formations are made up of modest microbes almost identical to organisms that existed 3500 million years ago. The stromatolites role in revolutionary history is profound. For 2900 million years, they were the only life on earth. By consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, they were largely responsible for creating the earth’s atmosphere, and set the stage for other life forms to emerge. They are extremely fragile but there was an excellent viewing platform out over the water and interpretive displays around explaining the various forms. The heat was unbearable as we wandered along around and we also noticed huge numbers of flies and most people were wearing head nets. One chap we were following must have had about 300 flies on his teeshirt in fact you could hardly see it was a tee-shirt - ughh! We did not stop long even though it was quite interesting but continued on to Shell Beach which is made up of countless tiny cockle shells layered up to ten metres deep in places and stretching over 120 kilometres. The shells were once quarried and used to build walls of buildings in the area. The bay was beautiful with the white of the shells and the intense blue of the ocean a truly lovely location apart from the flies that is as they were here also. We stopped and waded in the water before continuing on to Denham and restocked our supplies before we finally arrived at the campsite of Monkey Mia our destination for the next few nights. Monkey Mia is home to the world famous wild dolphins for their daily ritual of swimming to shore to interact with humans. As the bottlenose dolphins are wild, numbers and the exact time of their visit varies; however they usually visit the shore up to three times a day. We walked along the beach in the morning to view these along with all the other occupants of the camp site and they really do come right up to your feet. The dolphins are protected by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and strict guidelines are observed by the National Park Rangers. The DEC has developed a management program that aims to ensure that the dolphins maintain their hunting and survival skills and do not depend on being fed by humans. Therefore the dolphins are only ever fed one third of their daily intake of fish during their morning visits. Visitors are selected at random to feed them and nowadays no-one is allowed to touch them and only a few (the same ones) are fed about 5 fish a day. We spent the next few days lazing around the resort and going on a couple of bushwalks around the campsite. On one of these walks we were lucky enough to spot from a small hide a Peregrine Falc on (we think)a large bird of prey at a watering hole and also saw lots of animal and reptile tracks in the sand and we even saw a couple of Emus wandered gracefully passed us. Someone had mentioned to us a few days ago that there are only two animals in Australia who cannot walk backwards one of which is the Kangaroo and the other the Emu and that is the reason they are on the coat of arms of Australia (always going forward) – not sure if that is fact though! We continued on our walk and came across a large cave in the red rock, a notice pointed out that there were indicators that Aboriginal people used this cave for shelter more that 1000 year ago, charcoal and remains of shellfish had been uncovered when its was excavated a few years ago. The discovery also indicated that the indigenous people lived mainly near the sea and depended on the ocean for food, as bones of dugongs and turtles were also found on the site. The walk also took us past the lonely grave on the edge of the red sand dunes of three-year old Hilda Johnson who died in 1890 en-route to Carnarvon on board the barque ‘Niola’ and was taken ashore to be buried at Monkey Mia. She was the daughter of HF Johnson who went on to become WA’s Surveyor General. At the top of the red sand ridge there was an amazing view across to Red Cliff Bay where you could see the work platforms of a Pearl farm. You could also see the turquoise ocean and the dark shadows of the seagrass meadows stretching out in Shark Bay providing food for the estimated 10,000 dugongs that inhabit the bay. We were really hoping to see these rare animals on our visit here. The area was also the habitat of the rare Thick Billed Grass Wren, a bird once widespread across WA but now restricted to Shark Bay - although we heard its high squeaking call we never did get a glimpse. As we walked back along the shore to our motorhome we noticed this really unusual starfish at the ocean edge it was black with pinky spots and have no idea what it is – do you? My birthday arrived and I was hoping to be chosen to feed the dolphins but they selected this lovely little boy in front of me!!! Like Paul’s birthday we spent the day on the beach swimming and snorkelling and in the evening had barbecue steak with some nice wine and beer. We had both spent lovely birthdays this year (our first since we have been retired) by he sea but missed being with our family. It seems strange but last year we were with Sharon, Geoff & Maisie and Kerry & Cliff in the Seychelles which seems a lifetime away now (alas we have spent their inheritance so will not be able to take them back again - but perhaps they will take us!!). We had arranged to try and Skype Bob and Elaine in the UK but we did not get an answer when we tried which was a shame. However Sharon and Geoff were on line and we had a nice chat with them before we realised that the time difference between UK and OZ was 7 hours and not 8 which is why we probably had not got them! Its difficult enough knowing what day it is let alone what hour – that’s the only problem with being retired the brain takes longer to engage! The next day (we think it is) we are moving on to Coral Bay – see you there!

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Comments

[sunnypicsoz.com]

Very very nice work. cheers geoff.