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Published: March 19th 2010
As we moved further north from Cervantes, we said goodbye to the nice cool nights that we had grown accustomed to in the south and moved into “hot and sticky” territory once again. In the very dry country that surrounds Geraldton we had heard of this little oasis called Ellendale Pool with a nice campground and a permanent waterhole where you could swim and cool off. So after a few rather warm days we headed inland to seek out this idyllic waterhole in the hope that we would be able to spend a few days lazing around in the cool waters. When we reached Ellendale Pool, the campground was large, nicely shaded with good facilities and as promised, there in front of us was a large, deep waterhole with a spectacular backdrop of red sandstone….beautiful! Or at least it would have been had there not been a huge warning sign next to it which said “Risk of Amoebic Meningitis”. Needless to say, we reluctantly avoided the waterhole and while the “wet towel” treatment returned for Woody, Rich and I relieved ourselves by briefly jumping under the cold, beach shower every now and again to cool off. Despite not swimming, Ellendale Pool
was a lovely spot which supported a variety of wildlife (including a very healthy population of zebra finches, our first sighting of them in the wild!) and we ended up staying several days before making our way into Geraldton.
The day we arrived in Geraldton was one of the hottest we had experienced since being in the South Australian outback. Once again, our thermometer peaked at 46 degrees and cooled to only 30 degrees at night! Not a very pleasant sleeping temperature I can tell you, especially with no breeze! Of course, we had been warned and knew what to expect so it was just a case of grin and bare it while it lasted! It’s nearly 3 weeks later and most days are still over 40 degrees…. we‘re still grinning!!! Geraldton was just as we remembered it from years ago, however, with the discovery of the HMAS Sydney wreck in 2008 (a ship that sunk in November 1941after a battle with a German raider called the Kormoran) there is now a new “attraction” in the town. On a hill within the centre of town is a beautiful dome memorial dedicated to the HMAS Sydney crew. The dome is
cleverly made from 645 stainless steel seagulls, one for each of the crew, and a wall behind the memorial lists all of their names. In front of the memorial is the statue of a lady, awaiting the return of the ship and looking very worriedly out to sea. The ship itself was actually made in Newcastle Upon Tyne and only made it to 3 years old before it was lost at sea.
For the next few nights we stayed at another lovely coastal spot just north of Geraldton called Coronation Beach. Whilst making dinner on our first night here, we noticed that the bush we had camped next to had a little family of “mice” living in it. Surprisingly, they were rather sociable and inquisitive and Rich spent a lot of time by the bush just watching them. This was fine, however, the next day when we went to make toast we found that we had only 2 slices of bread that had not been sampled!!! So being wise, the next night we made sure all the food was back in boxes and the car and trailer securely closed up. Clever?? So we thought! After dinner on the second
night we settled into bed to watch a dvd (in the dark) and just as I was starting to fall asleep, one of the little critters bit my toe!!! Jumping up and turning the lights on, we searched for a while but couldn’t find it. I wasn’t really happy about sharing my bed with a spinifex mouse but eventually got back into bed and went to sleep. Obviously, the little mouse was a bit disgruntled that we had deprived him and his family of our food stores, and just to make sure I was aware of this, he came back at 2am to bite my knuckle and wake me up once again!!!
In need of a place with a cool swimming spot, preferably without resident mice, we made our way to a caravan park in the pretty little town of Kalbarri. It wasn’t long after checking in that we were causing trouble and making a name for ourselves! In an attempt to manoeuvre the trailer into a shady spot, Richie managed to run the front of the landcruiser into one of the water points and within seconds water was shooting several feet into the air! Of course, water is
a very precious resource in these areas and while he got the disapproving looks and tuts from other guests, I went to seek help. When I returned, I couldn’t help but laugh because there was Rich, water dripping from his face and glasses, sitting next to the tap holding a marker pen and a rag in place to try to stop the water flow! He wasn’t quite ready to see the funny side of it yet! After getting the tap fixed (which fortunately didn’t take too long) we were ready to start setting up the tent and just as I opened the trailer door, guess who was sitting there … yep you guessed it …whiskers, tail and all!!!
After setting up the tent and believing that the little mouse had hopped out of the trailer to seek a new home, we went for a long refreshing swim in the pool before making our way to Kalbarri National Park. To get into Kalbarri National Park you have to travel on an unsealed corrugated road for about 26kms and then you reach the start of the walking trails at the top of the river gorges. Although there wasn’t much water in
the river below, the scenery was still fabulous and from the view points you can see the twists and turns of the river through the gorge. Park management had just completed an intensive goat control program (basically meaning a big cull) and when we arrived the park was very still and quiet. Quite eerie really. We did two short walks (due to the heat!) and on venturing down to a rock formation they call Natures Window, we heard a very lonely, solitary bleat. It really tugged on my heart strings to see this one little goat, making its way through the gorge below looking for company. For about 10 minutes we watched it move back and forward then make its way to the other side of the gorge. I was feeling very sad! Then, all of a sudden two other goats (looked like mum and kid) appeared and the lonely goat ran to meet up with them and then the three of them wandered off up the gorge together! Yeah!!! I know, I know … you don’t have to tell me, the culling is for the best but lets not tell the park management eh?!!!! So, as the smile returned
to our faces (knowing the little goat was not by himself), we walked down to see Natures Window, a rock formation that has been naturally eroded by the elements to make a little window where you can sit and look down onto the Murchison River gorge. One of the great things about Kalbarri National Park, is you can still see the fossils and tracks left by creatures that occupied these gorges thousands of years ago. It isn’t difficult to imagine these beasties here either!
The next day as we were packing up to move on again, Rich (as usual) was checking the car and said he saw the little mouse hiding near the engine. We checked again but couldn’t find him. We unloaded everything from the trailer and swept it out just to make sure there were no more lodgers, then once satisfied we jumped in and set off. About an hour later we stopped at a scenic lookout and just as we were getting out of the car, Richard saw the little mouse in front of us, running away from the car and hopping into the nearest bush! He probably didn’t appreciate the unsealed roads and heat of
the engine!!! Thankfully we haven’t seen any more mice since.
After the mouse and the burst water main I was beginning to wonder what our third “unfortunate” experience would be and it wasn’t long before I found out. Later that day, we arrived at the upper reaches of the Murchison River which was to be our camp for the night. After watching a number of black swans lazily cruising around on the water, I decided to walk down to the waters edge and soak a towel for Woody (to cool him off). The ground at the top of the bank was very hard and dry and easy to walk on but as I got closer to the waters edge it started to get soft. I had only walked a few metres before deciding that it wasn’t such a good idea after all and went to turn back again. Surprisingly, I had made this decision too late and found that my feet were well and truly stuck! The more I struggled to remove my feet, the more I got bogged down, so I decided to stand there until Rich (who had walked to the toilets some hundred metres away) came
Hay at Natures Window
Kalbarri National Parkto my aid. When Rich came back, it was (of course) his turn to laugh at me! He attempted to walk out to me but changed his mind, went back up to the car to get one of the metal plates we use to dig the 4WD out when it gets bogged somewhere, then came back, threw it at me and then sat back to watch! I’m sure it was very entertaining for him. I did manage to eventually get myself out (but only just!) and my shoes looked very sorry for themselves covered in thick, black mud (which actually looked like tar) and smelling of stagnant pond water. Lovely!!!
Leaving the “random comedy sketches” behind we made our way up to the World Heritage listed Shark Bay. Our first stop was at the Hamelin Pool stromatolites which were much more expansive to those we had seen in Lake Thetis (down in Cervantes). We also stopped to take a peak at Shell Beach, a beach made entirely out of millions and millions of shells …not so impressive? Well they estimate that the depth of shells is close to 9 metres …I’m impressed and it is so pretty!!! On the
way round the peninsula we stopped to admire the view from Eagle Bluff and within about 10 minutes we had spotted 7 sharks and 3 rays in the water below. After seeing that I wasn’t quite game for snorkelling here. The name Shark Bay actually comes from the numerous Tiger sharks that reside in the bay although they share it with another 30 or so shark species. Shark Bay is World Heritage listed as it has over 400 000 hectares of sea grass supporting a huge population of dugongs (although we didn’t see any from the view point) but that’s the reason for so many sharks! From Eagle Bluff we made our way to Monkey Mia to see the wild dolphins. The resort has been developed quite a bit since we were last here but the dolphins were still fantastic and there were lots more babies this time! Very sweet!
From Monkey Mia we headed to Carnarvon and paid a visit to the OTC (Overseas Telecommunications Commission) which was the “real” dish to be involved in the broadcasting of the first moon landing in 1969 and it was also the dish responsible for the first live telecasts between Australia
The Z bend
Kalbarri National Park and Cornwall, England in 1966. Carnarvon also appears to be WA’s biggest banana producer with kms and kms of banana palms lining the roads. It is located on the Gascoyne River, which at first glance looks as dry as a bone with a very sandy bottom, however, it is deceptive as the river actually flows beneath the sand and the water is pumped out of the sand for use for the town and irrigation purposes. After many kms on unsealed roads with severe corrugations and the incredibly hot weather we had been subjected to, our old windscreen now had a 9 inch split from the top which meant we had to spend an extra night in Carnarvon waiting to get a new one put in. However, this turned out to be one of my favourite nights in WA. We stayed at a place called Rocky Pool (a place where Charles Kingford Smith was supposed to have boiled his billy many times on his mail run!), about 55kms inland from Carnarvon on the Gascoyne River.
From first glances, the camp spot was awful! Lots of hard rocky ground to drive over, no shade and no facilities at all. We were
so disappointed! However, it was only as the sun went down we discovered what a beautiful little haven this is. We poured ourselves a drink, sat back on the red rocky cliff top as the sun went down and watched animal after animal come down for a drink or simply to cool off after a very hot day. It was fabulous, a true billabong in the Gascoyne River!
Our final destination along this coast before eventually making our way towards Broome was, of course, Ningaloo Reef. We decided that since we had the time we would try the top, middle and bottom of the reef so over six days we spent our time staying on two sheep/cattle stations (Warroora and Ningaloo) and at the beautiful resort of Coral Bay. The reef was very different at all 3 sites and at Warroora station (Elles Beach) we saw some red octopus with heads the size of footballs (wow!), at Ningaloo station (Lefroy Bay) we saw numerous green turtles and a nursery of black tip reef sharks and at Coral Bay we saw dozens of different reef fish just metres from the beach. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it into Cape Range NP
as we were put off the shire kennels after hearing some bad reports. Ah well, always something to come back for!
So, as the heat continues so do we. The weather is looking good up north and it is time for us to start to head towards Croc country (saving the best til last!) …. at least they can’t climb into my bed unnoticed!
Catch you in Kakadu!
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Wendy
non-member comment
Hi
Hi Guys, Greg said to me this morning "strange we've not had an update from you guys in a while", then believe it or not we bumped into Gayna and John in Bunnings, so found out you were in Broom and then clicked onto the internet tonight and found the blog. Still sounds like you are having an interesting time, love the funny stories of late, hope you don't have any similar experiences with the crocs. All is good here, kids and Greg well and busy at school and work. Looking forward to your return, not long now. Lots of love Greg, Wendy, Thomas, James and Emma. xxxxx