Perth to Darwin

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Seeing the skyscrapers of Perth was rather a shock after seeing so few people or large settlements for several weeks. We were planning to stay with some more of Tom’s relatives who live there in a suburb of Perth so the thought of some home comforts for a few days was very appealing. We met up with Drew and Pauline and were made to feel very welcome into their home, somewhere we could relax and easily get to and from the city for some sightseeing for a few days. We checked out the sights of Freemantle, which is the cultural and historic area of the city, and also of course becoming rather trendy nowadays. The huge indoor market was good to browse around and the prison, which amazingly was in use for well over 100 hundred and still in use in the late eighties. The tour was done very well and was a real eye opener, as the prison was pretty much as it stood when the last of the guards walked out not so long ago. We couldn’t come to Freemantle and not check out the most famous of its micro breweries (not so micro any more though), Little Creatures, which is situated in a cavernous old dockside shed and it being Sunday was packed with lots of young people and families with a really good atmosphere.
The following day we took the ferry across the river to a really nice park from where you get a great view of the city, especially as the sun was shining. We also went for a stroll around Kings Park which overlooks the city. Perth is great in that it’s not that huge and is so easy to get around. On the way back we dropped in to Hilary’s Point and finished the day watching the sun go down, drinking super expensive beer and watching a guy propose to his girlfriend. After a refreshing few days it was time for us to move on and start our long trip up the west coast.
Our first stop was the Pinnacles, just a few hours north of Perth. These are strange limestone formations in the desert which rise up out of the sand, standing like tombstones, some just above the ground and some several metres above ground. A rather surreal landscape, especially at sunset when the shadows grew long and the sand turned a deep red colour.
We stopped in Geraldton on the way north, a rather unremarkable place apart from a nice waterfront and great seafood, which the West coast is famous for.
Next was Kalbarri National Park. It has been raining for several days by this point, although mainly at night. Kalbarri was accessible by fairly long dirt road, about 25km away. Although the road was designated as two wheel drivable the mud and deep puddles made for an interesting drive in our old car with knackered suspension, terrible clearance and minimal tread on our tyres. So we slipped and skidded our way into the park but we were rewarded by some amazing views down into the canyon below, with the river running below through deep red walls and with blue skies up above. We made our way tentatively out of the park but not before being covered in mud by a delightful 4x4 driver who passed us at speed (not helped by the fact that the driver’s window was down and narrowly avoiding a face full).
We had been looking forward to Monkey Mia as a highlight of our trip and we weren’t to be disappointed. Monkey Mia is a resort that sits at the tip of a long strip of land. There is an electric fence at its narrowest point and they have removed all feral cattle and sheep and heavily bait to keep down the introduced fox and feral cat population. The idea of course is to try and return the area to how it was before the white man arrived and introduced all these destructive animals that have decimated the endemic population. The highlight, and what most people come for, however, is in the water. We had to get up earlyish the next morning and walked down to the beach, where dozens of people were already waiting along the water’s edge. Some of the star’s of the show were already patrolling up and down the beach. The rangers then asked us to walk into the water, just to ankle deep. The dolphins, that Monkey Mia is famous for, then began to swim up and down in front of the long line of tourists, at times just a couple of foot away from us. During this time the rangers were talking and explaining things to us. Some of the smaller baby dolphins would sometimes swim alongside their mothers right in front of us (only the females and their babies come in for the feedings) and at other times we could see them jumping and playing a few dozen metres out. It was the strangest experience when at one point the ranger and the dolphin following her stopped right next to us and the dolphin tilted onto her side, raised her head slightly out of the water and looked each of us right in the eye. It really was difficult to tell who was more interested in who. After 15-20 mins the rangers brought buckets of fish out and invited random people to hold a fish out to feed the dolphins. They are only given four or five each so as not to upset their natural feeding (the dolphins are all wild). At the end, the rangers held their arms in the air, the signal to the dolphins that the feeding was over and they all collected their babies and swam off.
Coral Bay is renowned for its coral reefs which are just off the beach. We had bought snorkels just for this and swam out into the sea (which wasn’t the warmest) to have a look. You literally have to swim just metres out until you find lots of brightly coloured fish that aren’t the least bothered by you. This is the amazing thing about the west coast. Whereas the Great Barrier Reef is sometimes up to 100kms out to sea, the Ningaloo Reef is just within arm’s reach of the beach. From Coral Bay we carried on up the coast until we reached Exmouth which again is famous for its national park with amazing snorkeling and its whale sharks which migrate here every year. We spent several days snorkeling, including at one beach where you get in the water at one end and the currents carry you along the beach as you drift, watching the fish below you.
From Exmouth we went inland again and away from the huge crowds. The scenery had begun to get a lot more interesting, more dark red hills, covered in spinifex grass rather than the flat scrub of further south. We were heading towards the huge iron ore mines that dot the area, as this area of the world has some of the highest concentrations in the world. Our first stop was the mining town of Tom Price. We weren’t here for the mines though, there is a large national park nearby, Karijini that we wanted to see. The park’s roads are half sealed, although the most impressive part isn’t. Although you can supposedly take a 2 wheel drive car into it, we had been advised not to. So we booked ourselves on a trip and were soon glad as we barreled down very rough corrugated gravel roads with large rocks bouncing out from under the bus. Taking a trip also allowed us to get a guide and see things we might not otherwise see. The first stop of the day was a walk down to Handrail Pool. The walk started on the floor of the gorge but we were soon inching along the edge of a very deep pool holding onto the rocky sides of the gorge. At one point we had to take our shoes off and wade through freezing cold water before climbing across some slippery rocks through a very narrow passage cut by the water when the gorge floods. When we reached the end of the passage we climbed down to Handrail Pool which involved climbing down a handrail over a very shear and slippery waterfall. Having safely reaching the bottom we were able to admire the deep circular pool created by the spinning action of the water during the wet season. We politely declined the offer to go for a swim and reluctantly made our way back up the handrail and out of the gorge. After the walk we visited several gorge lookouts, one of which was the site of an accident that claimed the life of a rescue worker trying to save the life of a girl who had climbed into the gorge. In the afternoon after having lunch at the visitors centre we walked down to Fern Pool. This is a large natural pool surrounded by ferns and this time we did go for a swim. We were able to swim to the far end and sit under the waterfall. Feeling fully refreshed from our swim we made our way back to the bus and headed back to Tom Price. We spent another night in Tom Price before making our way north to Broome.
We arrived in Broome late afternoon a few days later to discover that all the caravan sites were fully booked. Thankfully the local youth centre had set up a campsite on their football pitch so were able to get a tent spot there. At first site it looked a rough but it turned out to be a nice place with good shower facilities and nice people staying there. We met a lovely couple from Perth who invited us over for drinks at their caravan. In Broome we visited famous Cable Beach and caught a film at the very old Sun Pictures open air cinema, sitting on deckchairs under the stars. We also visited Matso’s Brewery and enjoyed some decent Aussie beer for a change.
From Broome we headed inland through Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek towards the Bungle Bungles, Purnalulu National Park. Again we had booked a tour to see the park as you need a four wheel drive to access it. From the main highway it is a 50km drive to the main attractions in the park but the drive takes up to 3 hours due to four wheel drive terrain and several river crossings. The Bungle Bungles, so nicknamed the Beehive Domes are so strange because the colourful banded rock formations look like beehives. The guide took us on a walk to Cathedral Gorge, a deep gorge cut into the Beehive Domes that lead to a pool of water within a giant dome hence its name. We had our lunch round the pool before walking out of the gorge. On the way out the Aussies among us started singing Waltzing Matilda which echoed round the pool.
Our original plan was to head straight to Darwin however after speaking to people along the way we decided to spend some time in Kunanura and Lake Argyle. Lake Argyle was a lovely surprise. The caravan park we stayed at was set above the lake with an infinity pool looking out over the edge down to the water.
On the way to Darwin we spent 3 nights in Litchfield National Park. Our first night was spent at Wangi Falls which was unfortunately closed to swimming due to the threat of crocs in the water. We did take a walk across the top of the falls which gave us good views of the surrounding bushland. We had heard from some people along the way that you could camp at Walker Creek which involved carrying your tent to individual campsites along the creek so we headed there for our second night. The site that we had was only for 1 tent so we had our own private swimming hole. The only problem was the fresh water prawns and fish that nibbled our feet when we were in the water. On our third day in the park we spent time at Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole. At Florence Falls there is a deep wide swimming hole surrounded by ferns. Buley Rockhole is a series of pools that the water flowed through that allowed you to swim down between the holes. We spent the afternoon relaxing there and watching people jumping off the rocks into the deep pools.
Next stop Darwin.

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