Monkey Mia Magic! By Caitlin

We got up really early to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia on Monday. We each ate a piece of fruit and then left before the sun was fully up. There were a few animals on the track, which we had to slow down for and a slight difficulty with the park air compressor as dad was pumping up the tyres, but eventually we arrived at Monkey Mia. Soon we were up to our shins in freezing water, waiting for the dolphins to come. And they did! They were just wonderful rolling on their sides and swimming right up close. Then they fed them, but unfortunately none of us got picked out of the crowd to feed them.

The pod on the way in

Checking out the crowd

After the dolphin experience we were extremely hungry so we went to the resort to have breakfast. There was a big buffet and we piled our plates with bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit and pastries! As we were walking back towards the dolphin feeding area, two emus strode across our path – Weird! There was another dolphin feeding going on so we decided to join it. This time, Grace and I did get picked to feed the oldest dolphin, Nicky. Just as I was about to give Nicky the fish, however, Rogue, the unbelievably naughty pelican stole our fish, much to Nicky’s annoyance, as well as ours. Rogue is so famous she is on some of the postcards!

The girls feeding Nicky

On our second try, Nicky brushed against me as she took the fish from us. She felt so soft and smooth and rubbery. The crowd dispersed and then we saw Paul and Sue. And so we meet again. We sat on the sand and walked onto the jetty to watch a turtle and see the boats come and go. Just then one of the emus we saw earlier came onto the beach. Then the most bizarre thing happened.  The emu started rampaging at the seagulls, sending them flying into the water.  It ran through the pelicans too and was particularly nasty towards them.  I can just imagine him thinking, “My beach, My beach!” Then Mr Emu stalked around each group of people like a policebird.  Strange.

Crazy Emu

I like turtles!

Finally we went back to the cars but Grace didn’t want to part so Paul and Sue obligingly took her to Denham with them for lunch. Meanwhile we went to camp back at the beach at Big Lagoon and I painted the landscape in front of me. Paul and Sue arrived with Grace, bearing ice-creams for Lachie and I as well. We spent the remainder of the afternoon together, which was great.

Perth, Cervantes and Kalbarri

Gracie was very excited as we arrived in Perth on Friday morning. She couldn’t wait to see more of the city, being the only family member not having been there before. We decided to stay at a caravan park called Karrinyup Waters, in the northern suburbs close to a Toyota dealership where the car was to be serviced on Monday. The surrounding area could have been Carindale. Big shopping centre, nice big homes with one of the roads being Erindale. It was a little too familiar.

View from Kings Park

The caravan park is very neat and tidy with great facilities, a very big jumping pillow for the kids.  The thing we noticed the most was the number of people staying there for extended periods up to 3 months. Grey nomads who had sold up, mine workers who hadn’t yet been placed on site, even a young family from Quebec looking to break into the mining industry.

Gracie Bouncing

Perth is a very beautiful city and extremely easy to get around. We took a drive down to Fremantle along the coast road, which is a lovely drive along all of Perth’s famous beaches like Scarborough and Cottesloe. We had the most amazing lunch at a microbrewery called The Monk, where I also had the pleasure of tasting the 5^th best beer in Australia! Not sure who was judging but lets just say it wouldn’t make my top ten! We picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables at the local Fremantle markets. It’s always fun looking at all of the stalls and even I witnessed a snatch and grab, which was foiled by the young girl whose purse was being taken. Lets just say the lady taking it was a ‘local’ and brazenly just handed it back with a very cheeky smile and walked off! Stunned the girl didn’t quite know what to do.

Lunch at The Monk

The 5th Best beer in Australia - I forget its name...

On Sunday we went into Kings Park in the city for morning tea. The park is very large with all sorts of themes attached to different areas within it. The most popular areas were showcasing the view of the city and the main area with sculptures of ancient mega-fauna and dinosaur fossils that have been found in WA. In the afternoon we went to Harbour Town, which is Perth’s version of DFO to pick up some things we needed for the next leg of the trip. The kid’s runners were all falling apart, some new togs and some snorkeling gear was successfully purchased. Being Sunday we had pizza cooked in the bbq (yum) with a movie and mini magnums for dessert. Maria also did a mini thermomick demonstration for our neighbours when preparing the pizza dough with lots of extremely impressed oohs and aahs in the appropriate times.

The car was serviced Monday and we had a great catch up with our old friend Dan from our days in Sydney. We had lunch back at Fremantle and a walk around Hillarys’ Boat Harbor in the afternoon looking at all of the expensive boats for sale. We also bumped into our friends Paul and Sue amazingly while waiting to be picked up by the dealership courtesy car so we arranged to catch up for drinks later as they were staying in the same caravan park. I also received that much feared call earlier that morning from the car dealership. We’ve all had that feeling of dread where they call comes, you recognize the number and you know it’s bad news because the car couldn’t possibly be ready to be picked up. I reluctantly answered the phone only to be told that both break pads needed replacing and the discs machined. Ouch. Watch $300 turn into $1200 in the blink of an eye! Perth is sooo cheap…NOT!!! Yes Bob I know, THE BUDGET!!!!

We were pretty keen to get to our next destination Cervantes about 200km north, and the famous Pinnacles in the Nambung National Park. Unfortunately we had quite a late departure and didn’t arrive until mid afternoon. So our plan to stay in the national park north of Jurien Bay wasn’t going to work to get back to see the Pinnacles by sunset so we changed plan and dropped into the Cervantes Caravan Park and headed out to the NP. The Pinnacles are unique limestone spires up to 5 metres tall created by wind and rain erosion over a large area in the sand dunes overlooking the Indian Ocean.

The Pinnacles

They reminded me of the remnants of the lost city of Atlantis as we were taking the self-drive tour through the park. It’s a 4km loop drive where you can stop and get out at anytime, take photos and take in these truly unique structures. There’s something really eerie and beautiful about the drive just after sunset. Like jagged teeth breaking through the earth, ancient sentinals fighting the elements and time. On our way back into town it was now dark. Driving along Maria screamed out and I skidded to a stop. She and Caitlin had seen an injured barn owl on the side of the road. It couldn’t fly and we could clearly see it’s wing was in trouble. That said we couldn’t catch it as it could hop away and we didn’t want to scare. So we decided to head quickly back to the caravan park and ask the park manager if there was a local wildlife service. They immediately called the local rangers and we understand a party of three went out in search of the owl. Good deed done for the day.

The 'Taste of Cervantes!'

Dinner that night was at the Cervantes Country Club (read bowls club) where Maria and I had the ‘taste of Cervantes’ dinner for 2 including locally caught snapper, a whole lobster, squid and of course NZ oysters??? Cervantes is famous for lobster, which is caught year round and it was really delicious and certainly the highlight.

Our next stop was Kalbarri, about 400km north of Cervantes with a short stop in Geraldton on the way to see the nautical museum and have lunch. The museum has some fantastic displays on many of the wrecks in the area including the Batavia and Zuytdoorp. The while coastal area is in fact called the Batavia Coast. The Batavia was a Dutch East Indies company vessel on it’s way from Holland to Batavia (Jakarta). Some of the relics were fascinating. There is also a really moving display on the HMAS Sydney, destroyed during WWII by a German ship, the Kormoran. Both ships wrecks astonishingly remained undiscovered until 2009.

We arrived in Kalbarri late afternoon and decided to stay in the Top Tourist park on the Murchison River for the next 3 nights, as there is no camping in the national park itself. It is right in the middle of the national park, which has the combination of some imposing cliffs and lookouts overlooking the ocean and spectacular gorges to explore further inland up river. The fishing is also supposed to be pretty special, however with some rain and 25-35km/hr winds fishing was pretty much out.

Kalbarri - Natural Bridge

On the ocean side of the park we spent an afternoon driving from one lookout to the next. Each had a unique formation like Eagles Nest, Red Bluff, Natural Bridge and Island Rock to name a few, all carved into the Limestone by wind and water over the eons. Inside the park to the north along the Murchison River were the famous Natures Window, Z Bend and the loop walk. This was our first taste of the famous WA gorges and we weren’t disappointed. Very beautiful and peaceful is how I’d describe them.

Nature's Window

Z-Bend

Ross Graham

As we left Kalbarri the next day on our way to Denham, we stopped into two other gorges deeper into the park on the way. First stop was Hawks Head, then Ross Graham, which allowed us to walk down into the gorge and along the river bed. It was really cool seeing the gorge from a different perspective. Kalbarri is a very special place, which I’d like to take more time to enjoy in slightly nicer and warmer weather.

Albany, Peaceful Bay and Margaret River

Albany is a major fishing town and the biggest one we had come through in some time. We were only staying the night as we were moving steadily across to our next destination in Margaret River. We decided to stay at the Big 4 park close to town to refill the water, charge batteries and stock up on supplies. Next door to the park was an interesting menagerie of animals including ducks, chickens kangaroos and an emu. The kids needed some down time so playing table tennis in the rec room was the go while Maria and I cleaned the camper. We’d decided to see the sights the next day as later in the afternoon a storm came in which drowned out the day and evening.

Albany is very beautiful with some wonderful history, and played a significant role in our nations history. Albany was an important naval port during World Wars I and II. The first ships to leave from Australia for Gallipoli went from King George Sound. It was also the base for the entire Pacific Submarine fleet during the second World War.

Our first stop was the Princess Royal Fortress, which is on Mt Adelaide overlooking the city with some spectacular views of King George Sound and Princess Royal Bay. The exhibits were also really interesting, from the old gun turrets and bunkers through to a fantastic display of Australian Lighthorse memorabilia (they also left for Europe and Africa from here) as well as some quite sobering exhibits on aboriginal soldiers and the rights of their families and recognition (or lack thereof) of their contributions through the various wars.

Next stop was Whale World, which is on a peninsula about 18 km from town. They have turned the last commercial whaling station in Australia, which closed in 1978, into a museum and attraction. One of the whaling ships, the Cheyne IV is there for people to climb through. We decided to take a free, guided tour of the area, which really helped put into perspective how the station functioned as well as efforts now to conserve whales around the globe. We saw interactive displays of the whale flensing process (was a little confronting for the kids), the massive steam engines of the ships and a huge hanger which had full skeletons of whales washed up on beaches around Albany. They included a Sperm whale and a ‘Pygmy’ Blue Whale, which was ‘only’ 22m long instead of the usual 28m! They’d also turned one of the whale oil storage silos into a 3D movie theatrette.

Cheyne IV

Pygmy Blue Whale

Natural Bridge

Moving on from Whale World we viewed some of the natural attractions of the peninsula including the Gap and Natural Bridge, which were very impressive. We then headed off for Peaceful Bay, about 200km west of Albany, which was to be our base for the next couple of nights to see the Valley of the Giants and surrounding area. The drive through the forests around Denmark was really beautiful in the afternoon sun. Huge Karri and Red Tingle trees towered above us creating dappled tunnels as we sped below the canopy. Unfortunately only a few km’s from the turnoff to Peaceful Bay we came to an accident, which blocked the highway both ways for nearly an hour. There was nothing we could do but sit and wait as the light faded. Emergency vehicles were everywhere and as the ambulances sped off we finally were allowed through and made it to the campground just after 6pm. Fortunately the caretaker was still on duty. A sobering reminder to drive carefully to us as we later found out that both passengers in the car were in their 80’s and passed away.

Sunset at Peaceful Bay

The next day we drove a few km’s up the road to the Valley of the Giants and the Treetop walk. This has been one of the highlights of the trip. The walk takes you over 40m above the forest floor on a suspension bridge, which bounces a lot with a few people on it. It makes the walk at O’Reillys look a little tame. We then went on a free, guided tour called the Ancient Empires walk. This was a terrific tour as our guide Tony was so enthusiastic, albeit a little loose with his language, though kind of charming in a way. We all learnt so much about the ancient Red Tingle trees and other flora and fauna in the area. He also dispelled a few myths. Quokkas are not only found on Rottnest Island it seems. Woylies are not only found on Moreton Island and are also plentiful in the area. These are the cousins of the Moreton Island Woylies.

Treetop Walk

The trees grow up to 100m tall and can reach 30m in circumference, they are truly massive and are only found in a 6000 Ha area in the south west of WA. Just as the tour finished the heavens opened so we took a detour back to camp via Conspicuous Cliffs and beach. The beach had a fresh water creek flowing into a very rough and dangerous ocean. We all had fun having boat races. The area gets over 1500mm a year in rain and doesn’t go more than a couple of days without rain so it was true to form.

Conspicuous Beach

The next day dawned sunny but threatening so an extra quick pack up and we were off for Margaret River. On the way we stopped at Fernhook Falls, which were pretty, but still only a trickle. We decided to stay in Yallingup, which is on the northern end of the MR area. Again the drive in was really lush and green with some extremely fat and healthy looking livestock on the way. You could almost see them smiling!

Our first official west coast sunset

Yallingup is yet another famous surf beach, which often hosts the Australian Longboard Championships. The waves were massive and there were surfers everywhere. We stayed at the local caravan park, which was small and pleasant. Our site was overlooking the ocean so we were able to soak in our very first west coast sunset over the Indian Ocean, which was a treat.

The next day dawned showery so we took a drive 80km south to Hamelin Bay just north of Augusta. We decided not to go all the way down as Maria and I had seen where the 2 oceans meet, it was raining and the kids have been to see the Cape of Good Hope so maybe next time. Hamelin Bay is famous for it’s protection of stingrays. While we were on the beach 2 extremely inquisitive rays about a metre wide just cruised in the shallows right at our feet, which was a treat.

Hamelin Bay

We then headed back up to MR through some extremely pretty karri forest which the girls thought looked like a fairy forest. There are several limestone caves including Mammoth, Lake and Jewel caves, which the area is famous for, in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. We chose Lake Cave as it had an underground lake and was quite different from other caves we have seen. We weren’t disappointed. Climbing down 350 rather steep stairs, Lake Cave is a fast growing cave in limestone cave terms, growing 1cm every 50 years! – Stop it! maybe you should all sit down…wow, I know. There were some really interesting formations including a 5 tonne suspended table eroded underneath by the lake. We all really enjoyed it.

Lake Cave

We also popped into the main Boranup campground in the NP as we were considering staying here. It was pretty, about 500m from the water but given the off-season, most of it was closed. It reminded me a lot of the campgrounds at Adder Rock and Cylinders on North Stradbroke Island. Next stop Margaret River township for a late lunch and some groceries at the local Woolies.

The next day we toured a local gallery in Yallingup and visited the spectacular Canal Rocks. The ocean has created natural canals cutting through the headland with incredible effect. The ocean swell was big so it was quite a display. Not quite like the canals of Venice! We also went up to the top of Cape Naturaliste and toured the lighthouse, which is still working today. The tour gave us an understanding of the harsh existence the lighthouse keepers’ families endured. Three families used to man it at any given time. Three 8 hour shifts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and most of them died from Mercury poisoning that the lights revolved in. We then went back down a few km to Bunker Bay for a delightful lunch at the local café and a fun walk along the beach afterwards. Back at camp the sun had come out and we enjoyed another sunset and cooked a bbq while watching the surfers ride the massive 8ft lefthanders.

Canal Rocks

We are now off to Perth for a few days to restock, get the car serviced and visit an old friend from Sydney.