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Published: March 16th 2007
Lake Indoon
Day 1—Day 3
23-2-2007 to 25-2-2007 Spent a few days camped up at Lake Indoon near Eneabba / Leeman. Water was low and a bit on the nose unfortunately—not surpising really given it’s the end of summer. We were visited by bees at our camp one morning once they smelt the fresh water we used for washing up and we were inundated with the little critters . Although being crawled over by bees I tipped out what little fresh water we had in our washing up bucket and then we left for the morning to visit the Stockyard Gully caves. We hoped the bees would be gone once we returned else we would be requiring the services of one of the local beekeepers!
The caves were a nice and cool retreat on a pretty hot day although we noted that the bees at the cave entrances seemed to have been particularly active since our last visit. Many of the hives had been reworked with new honeycomb so it must have been a good summer for them.
The car got christened along some of the coastal tracks with a multitude of scratches from the fire hardened
scrub. First of many over the year….
Geraldton
Day 4 - Day 6
26-2-2007—28-2-2007 After leaving Lake Indoon we travelled via Dongara and Geraldton to visit some relatives and we stayed in Geraldton for a few days to buy a few more bits and pieces. Kids enjoyed playing with their younger second cousin.
I got booked by an overzealous traffic cop who pinged me ($100 / 2 demerits) for crossing the continuous white line at an intersection. This seemed particularly harsh given we had just watched a bloke drive straight thru a red light with a mobile phone clutched to his ear...
Kalbarri
Day 7—Day 9
28/2/2007—3/3/2007 Spent a few days in Kalbarri with the kids feeding the pelicans, visiting all the gorges and swimming at the river - mouth. To me it still didn’t feel like the start of the true holiday yet as it was still just too close to Perth and within range of long weekenders!!!
After leaving Kalbarri instead of going right out to the NW Coastal Hwy we turned up the old Geraldine Mine Road and visited the Werribeano Chimney (or remains thereof of an old lead
smelter). I had been meaning to visit the place for ages but always seemed to be out of time whenever returning from Kalbarri. It was a good historical site—particularly for those with a mining interest.
Nanga Bay — Denham —Monkey Mia — Francois Peron National Park
We conformed to rule and stopped off at Nanga Station for a few days and to use that as a base for stopping at various places around Shark Bay. Whilst there we endured he hottest spell that Nanga Station had had on record—47.70C in the shade!!! This was followed by a 460C day so we certainly copped the full brunt of the intense sun during our visit. We finally caught our first fish of the trip but it was only small yellowtail and they went back in the water to see another day. We did the dolphin thing for the kids at Monkey Mia as Brayden was only small last time we visited. We were fortunate in that several baby dolphins had been born recently so they were all in with their respective mothers delighting us all. Apparently the little boy dolphins like to make it known they are a boys as
when they become excited they supposedly swim on their backs putting themselves on display!!! Not so different then….
The afternoon saw us visiting Big Lagoon in Francois Peron NP (previously Peron Station) and whilst swimming there we were “adopted” by a school of many thousands of fish (smallish whiting to about 12cm). They were inquisitive of us and formed a near continuous blanket of fish all around each of us and we were spread out over approx 40m or so. Something different for the kids (and us) to experience.
We went back to Monkey Mia later the following day (after some kids schooling and well after the normal feeding times) and whilst swimming we had one of the dolphins (“Angel”) cruise around us - although she was trailed / chased by the ever present Germans and an assortment of other Europeans brandishing various forms of videos and cameras. You can just hear the dolphins thinking “ nick off and leave me alone will ya?”
We moved into Denham prior to making the trek up to the Cape but following the very hot days we were hit by very strong winds as an after effect of the
Old Man Billy goat
Old Man Billy goat had taken a shine to one of the roadside toilets and made it his own. Would no doubt have scared the livin' bejesus out of more than one unwary traveller....Tropical Cyclone (T.C. George) menacing the coast up around Port Hedland. This necessitated a delay in our plans to get up to the tip of Cape Peron and we decided to wait out the potential high winds and rain in Denham.
What a change in weather conditions…..one day 47 degreesC and the next 47 knot winds (and possibly higher) buffeting us around. I reckon the camper trailer became a 6 berth after being stretched by the winds. Before nightfall I got a bit jumpy and pulled down the awning and moved the trailer to a site which was a little more shielded by the wind behind one of the many permanent vans on site. The following day which was forecast to be raining (which the locals were hopeful for) saw blue sky and minor amounts of wind so the cape was a goer—but only after jumping on the internet (ahhh the beauty of wireless broadband) and checking out what both T.C. George and T.C. Jacob were up to.
The trek in to Cape Peron is 40km or so of soft sandy track—made even more so by people who think getting through without letting their tyres down is somehow
a badge of honour when in reality it displays their utter lack of common sense. Be that as it may we deviated out to Herald Bight on the eastern side - almost getting bogged on the way in and also when at the supposed campsite—a very sandy patch of ground. Dragging a trailer curtails the old 4WD ability somewhat...even with tyres down below 20psi and diff lock engaged. Turning a trailer around on a soft sandy track or beach generally proves to be somewhat more problematic than when just in a vehicle so selecting our path was critical on more than one occasion. After valve bouncing the old diesel (ie: gave her heaps of herbs / kicked it in the guts / gave it sh...t) to get off the beach and back onto the track we progressed further up the cape visiting the other camps along the way and deciding on Bottle Bay as our preferred place of abode.
This proved to be a good move as the fishing off the beach was excellent with Brayden and I catching upwards of 20 odd fish over the course of a couple of days. Most of these were in the 25—30cm
Cocquina / Shell Beach
Walking along Shell Beach range and consequently went back into the water to be caught another day when a little bigger. We were also lucky enough to see a school of tailor in a feeding frenzy just off shore but by the time we grabbed our gear and retied lures on we just hit the end of it. Pretty amazing to see the fish and birds going absolutely crazy.
Another bloke who was there gave us a couple of tailor so with a few fish we had caught earlier we had enough for lunch and dinner. Bonus.
Also tried fishing right at the cape where the two different bodies of water meet. This is pretty amazing to see as the water almost boils as the two currents interact. We didn’t do too well (fishing wise) here—similar story… quite a few fish but only in the 20—25 cm range which was all undersize. I did try a lure right at where the waters meet one time and after several casts something took a shine to it and took off like a bat out of hell, the reel was singing for a while but I must have put too much pressure on it and
Stingrays at Cocquina Beach
Type example photo of us telling you that a stingray is there even if you cant see it...?!?! the line snapped or my knot wasn’t up to scratch as all I got back was fishing line. Live and learn for next time - to play the fish a little more….
At Skipjack Point two lookouts have been positioned over a couple of the bays and whilst there we were fortunate to see a whole swag of rays (eagle rays or manta rays) having a fat ol’ time either playing in the current or chasing food. We watched them for approx 10 mins and then right at the end one of them jumped clear out of the water! Also saw a few other sharks and a turtle along with a couple of schools of fish. Unfortunately we were unable to add to the wildlife viewing tally sheet with a dugong. Another trip perhaps….
Made the move from Peron / Shark Bay and are currently in Carnarvon where the kids have made a couple of friends. After going a bit feral in Cape Peron for several days we needed to do the washing of humans and clothes to gain some semblance of civilisation. Surprising they let us into the caravan park really with me in particular looking like
a wildman with a 5 day growth ...
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tanya
non-member comment
hi
travelblog looks good Russell.Glad to hear you are surviving