Shark Bay to Perth

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Denham and Monkey Mia (Shark Bay)



Saturday morning we did the 20k drive over to Monkey Mia.

What a beautiful little bay that is. We got there too late for dolphin feeding but we did see them frolicking about in the most amazing clear blue water. Had a coffee in the café then headed back to Denham.

I decided to make my mango cheese cake that afternoon. I got the recipe from the Zebra café in Kununurra but I altered mine a little by using Ginger nut biscuits in the base instead of the Nice biscuits that they suggested. The Ginger nut base worked really well - the ginger complimented the mango. I will put the recipe on the blog for all you foodies - it was really nice.

We booked into a cute place for dinner that night - the building was built in the 70’s and is built out of blocks of sea shells (these blocks are sawn from a quarry where very small shells have cemented over time). We had a nice meal - most of us had seafood platters which included lobster and some great oysters.

Most of our time here was spent chilling out and walking along the beachfront or dining out and sightseeing. We did a drive to Shell Beach to see the amazing tiny shells, then to the bluff lookout for spectacular views and had lunch at a restaurant high up over-looking the bay - that place was awesome. Wayne and Gaile left Shark bay before us because their caravan brakes were not working (poor Wayne - that van will be like new when he gets back). The boys had got under the van to see what was wrong and got one wheel working but it needed some major work to fix them properly. They booked the van into a place in Geraldton for the repairs. It doesn’t end for them.

We left Shark Bay and headed for Kalbarri another lovely beachside Township. Jim and I called in and had a look at the Stromatolites at Ryan’s request. They are interesting rock formations which 5 billion years ago contributed to the existence of life on Earth - they were the lungs of the Earth.

We stayed at the Tudor caravan park in the back of town at Kalbarri. We didn’t do much in Kalbarri just a couple of walks and some shopping. We actually had our first rain in 80days on the road and we copped it in Kalbarri, it was pretty miserable there but a good time to chill and watch movies etc.



ZEBRA ROCK GALLERY – MANGO CHEESECAKE



· 1/2 Pkt Nice Biscuits.

· 100 grams butter.

Crush biscuits, melt butter, mix together and line bottom of springform tin with mixture – refrigerate.



· 500 grams Philly Cheese

· ¾ cup of caster sugar

· 300 ml thickened cream whipped

Whip philly cheese with castor sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in whipped cream.



· 3 teaspoons gelatine

· ¼ cup of boiling water

Dissolve gelatine in boiling water and add to mixture.

Add juice of ½ lemon to mixture.

Add 1 cup of mango puree. Stir through mixture.

Pour onto prepared base.

<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Refrigerate to set.

Decorate with extra mango puree.

Enjoy





Kalbarri to Geraldton



Well we drove through some lovely country-side farm land which is much more interesting than the scrub we have been seeing since Broome.

Jim and I stopped at a lovely Heritage Town called Northhampton had coffee and cake and bought the biggest pies for our lunch. We arrived in Geraldton around lunchtime and had a booking at a van park right on the sea front. It was a great caravan park so we decided to stay and extra night there. We did a lot of sightseeing and shopping. Jim went to Rivers and bought a warm jacket it was ½ price - he also bought 10 pairs of socks for 10 dollars - he was happy with that purchase. We went and saw the Cathedral - that was lovely. Then we went to see the monument for the HMAS Sydney. An amazing monument which is like a filigree dome incorporating 645 seagulls representing the number of sailors lost with the sinking of the HMAS Sydney during WW2.

Jane and Alan and Jim and I discovered a seafood place were we bought a pile of seafood - no fresh Lobsters though. We are now looking forward to the seafood in SA.

The Hartner’s found a restaurant called the Dome where we met for lunches and coffees. It’s a WA franchise and we have since found more on our travels. They have become a popular meeting place for us. They are mostly in WA but Jim and I discovered one in Brisbane city a few years ago. Well we did like Geraldton a lot. The buzz of a small city was quite exciting for us. We have realised we are just a bit to early for the wild flowers which is a shame because we were all hoping to see fields of beautiful flowers - but not to be.





Geraldton to New Norcia Friday 3^rd August



We decided to do a trip into the Monastry town of New Norcia at the request of Moi. We were told we should visit the place by a fellow we met at Mary Pool - Graeme was his name. He told us about an incident he had at Berry Springs where the police came in with guns and went through everyone’s caravans looking for the guy who murdered his neighbour in Sydney by chopping off his head. They actually captured the guy there at Berry Springs, hence the Waynes world story - we just wanted to make our blog a bit more exciting. I will now have to work on a Fifty Shades of Grey story.

New Norcia is a lovely little place and becoming very popular with tourists. They have a great pub, a fabulous shop with all New Norcia wares. We all spent up large there.

I had a “Meet a Monk “ experience (I am allowed as I am a Catholic).

That was amazing, I copped a bit of stick about it though from a couple of Heathans.

He was a hard case and told us about life as a Monk. We were able to ask questions so my first question was “Do they feed you well?” “Yes” he said, “Really well – 3 course dinners and lunches and good breakfasts. We even have tele and computers now “. He told us when he borrowed the Abbots car once and drove it into Perth he didn’t know about speed cameras and a while later a fine arrived - he had a ticket for speeding. He said “I can’t pay that I’m a Monk” so the Abbot took care of it.

The Monks own the whole of New Norcia and surrounding areas. They raise cattle, sheep, and have grain and canola crops growing. They also own the New Norcia pub, he said to me - have you had a look around the town yet? No I said - I Have only been into the Pub. He thought that was hilarious. Well it was really interesting talking to him.

We camped at the back of the New Norcia Pub for the night, had a couple of beers at the bar and Jim and I decided to have dinner there. We had steaming hot soup and bread rolls and then we shared a pizza - it was all really nice.

The next morning was cold and really foggy. We had a cooked breakfast while Gaile and Wayne had breakfast in the pub. They said it was great. After doing some more shopping at the Monks shop we left New Norcia and headed for Perth we stayed at the big 4 van park at Forrestfield - another really nice park.

We booked into the camp’s Café for a roast beef dinner which was really good and Just $10 per meal. Alan had phoned Theo and Janet Rodgers - friends from NZ and arranged to meet them. Jim and I hadn’t seen them for over 30 years. They were supposed to come over for dinner with us that day but they arrived the next day. Alan doesn’t know what happened there.

Well they did arrive the next night and it was really good to catch up with them after so long – they obviously got the days mixed up.

Alan and Wayne’s cars had go in for services in Perth so we hired a people mover to have a look around Perth, the bays and Fremantle. We had all been to Perth before but enjoyed revisiting places again.

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Photos

HMAS Sydney Memorial
Sue with woman waiting for her sailor to return.