Got our replacement Koni shocks, which were organised by Ultimate. We were then free to explore Perth and surrounds. Very hard to get to Information Centre in City, so we gave up and drove to Fremantle for the day. Had fish & chips for lunch at Cicerello’s on the waterfront, drove through Cottesloe Beach and to Kings Park. Lots of people so we gave up and will come back another time. Rang the Pipers, whom we met in Coral Bay and arranged to catch up on Sunday afternoon. The kids were very excited and as soon as we arrived the kids just clicked again and had lots of fun playing. Diane had made lasagna, and we enjoyed a home cooked meal. Went to the Perth Mint and had a tour and saw a gold pour. Enjoyed ... read more

Arrived in Geraldton nice and early and went straight to Information Centre. Found out where Bureau of Meteorology is and booked into the caravan park. Set up and drove out to the BOM - right next to the airport. The tour was really interesting, and as we were the only ones, it was very relaxed. Got to see the old instruments as well as the new. They check one against the other regularly. Alex and Kate seemed to enjoy themselves. In fact Alex wants to go back for another tour. Watching the weather balloon being launched was fun and we then went inside to watch the computer track it and receive the information back. The information is fed to a secure site on the internet and is interpreted by weather forecasters in Perth. Went to the ... read more

Arrived in Carnarvon and got supplies and went to the One Mile Jetty for lunch. There was a little tram that used to be used on the jetty which we rode out on and walked back to the car. What they didn’t tell us was someone had lit a fire on the jetty and it was burnt out 3 quarter’s of the way to the end. While we were out there, we saw a dolphin and a turtle swimming around the jetty. They grow bananas and lots of other tropical fruit at Carnarvon and they are watered from the water pumped from the sand of the Gascoyne River. This sounded strange until we saw the river (photo says it all). Also saw the huge satellite dish (photo on other camera, which I don’t know how to ... read more

Went to Karratha and straight to the visitors centre. Asked about a campsite we were told about on the Burrup Peninsula. Not an official campsite we were told. There is an overflow at the Country Club for $15 a night with toilets and showers. We drove out to Burrup Peninsula. There were plenty of campsites right on the beach with no-one else around, but unfortunately Kate is not ready for real bush camping and having to take a shovel and dig a hole for the toilet. So we opted for the Country Club. The showers were hot with good water pressure - very enjoyable to get the red dirt off us. That made up for the dust and wind being out in the open. The first night we had a light sprinkle of rain again. This ... read more

Headed down to 80 Mile Beach. Caravan Park looked full and we wanted to get down a bit further, so collected some shells, had a bite to eat and continued on to Cape Kernaudren. Three camp grounds, very spread out, just basic toilets, but a lovely view over the low tide flats out to the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately extremely windy in the morning which made it hard to pack up the camper. Drove into Port Hedland for a look around and to get mobile service for messages & to ring Ultimate for replacement spas. Got to see the trains coming in with Iron Ore and the Salt Piles awaiting shipment. Saw 2 other Ultimates and low and behold it was Jan & Peter (from Batavia Pearls). Had a chat, caught up and got some groceries. Jan ... read more