Days 50-53 (Week 8) - Carnarvon (25-29 October)

Our first day in Carnarvon was lovely and sunny in the morning however a thunderstorm is imminent.  As the day progressed it got cloudier and a few sprinkles of rain, and during the night it poured down and we had some great thunder and lighting.  After the heat and dust of the Pilbara it was so nice to feel some rain, it refreshed us.  The great thing about the rain is that it isn't cold!  Much more bearable then the rain down south.  It is so nice to get cleaned up after the dust and grime of the Pilbara and the best thing to stay clean!  Not overly packed park but just about everyone here is washing their caravans and cars, must be to get the dust and grime off after being up north.  We obviously aren't that caravan proud as we don't even own a mop like these guys, some even have high pressure hoses!  I guess we will clean the van one day. We just sit and watch them all, that's tiring enough (haha). We have booked in for a week initally and take it from there.  We are gorging ourselves on fresh fruit and veges from the nearby plantations - so cheap and really is just picked!  We are hooked on wax jambo's (from the persimmon family and similar to apples but different) and the black sopote, a soft fruit that tastes just like chocolate pudding and of course bananas.  On the Monday night we went to the local Rotary meeting.    Being such a small club they self cater (each person brings a hot dish) and the food was really good and the best thing $5 for the meal and $3 for a glass of wine and no fines session!  There were two inductions on the night which is great for a small club.  We ended up having a good night meeting some very friendly and interesting locals including some of the local constabularly and John is getting up early Sunday morning to help them with the "Gascoyne Bash".  The GasDash is off road racing, cars and bikes racing 500km on the riverbed.  Starts Thursday and ends Sunday.  It is a huge annual event apparently and attracts national and international participants as well as locals.  At the moment we are quite happy to stay here to relax and catch our breath.

Day 49 - Onslow to Carnarvon (24 October)

Another big day on the road, 494kms today to Carnarvon.  We couldn't get out of Onslow quick enough.  Our initial plan was to spend a week or so there where we could relax by the beach, swim, snorkel, fish etc.  Well can't do any of this in Onslow.  The only options for fishing are in a boat or pay a horrendous price to get to and stay at the Mackeral Islands.  The beaches have crocs and sharks so not recommended to swim and because of the huge tides and rocks at the shore edge its not inviting at all.  The other issue was the substandard caravan park.  It was awlful.  Location great near the beach (albeit rocks and huge tide) and a great boardwalk that went for 1km but the park was awlful and the manager was even more awlful.  Top dollar with bad attitude, Coco wasn't allow to pee in her park (???) and the showers were disgustingly dirty and yuk.  The town is very small with very basic facilities.   We were out of there by 7.00am and headed for Carnarvon.  So unless you have a great need to get to Onslow don't bother.   We had been warned by other travellers in Exmouth but decided to find out for ourselves and wasted time and petrol getting there.  Tiring day on the road and are now in a great park in Carnarvon, large grassed sites, clean amenities, nice facilities even a lawn bowling pitch and not many travellers. And the weather is much cooler, mid 20s and sunny, perfect.  Whilst we had a uneventful drive we did see a dust storm and a burnt out caravan and 4wd.

Day 48 Port Hedland to Onslow (23 October)

Well decision made.  We have decided to back track south and then east.  Our first stop south will be Onslow, 534kms SW of Port Hedland, so a long drive ahead today.  We will probably go as far down the coast as Geraldton as we need to get the EvaCool (Portable Fridge) and the caravan fridge serviced and this is the first town that offers these kind of services. However we haven't made any hard and fast decisions yet.  As we seem to be having some problems with the internet at the moment, if we are offline for a couple of days this would be why. 

Supplemental to Exmouth Navy Pier Dive

Hi all, as promised here are some of the photo's from the guy I dived with on the Navy pier, Erron. Thanks to him here is the link to his web page that has all the photo's

In case you are thick like me you click on the image to access the album :-)

There are heaps of shots!

Cheers John

 http://images.burnsy.info/v/australia/wa/exmouth/2009/

Days 40-47 Port Hedland (15-22 October)

Headed south (150kms) back to Port Hedland. Staying with Kim and Barb who with another couple run the Seafarers Centre. It is a great service for the sailors from all parts of the globe. The sailors get picked up from their ships, get chauffered to the shopping centre and then spend time at the centre relaxing, playing poole, air hockey, TVs, DVDs, reading, sketch pads and of course the bar. Everything is supplied for them even a gift/souvenir shop and mini supermarket. The centre makes a profit which goes back into the centre and BHP Billiton (they just about own this town) contribute funds. The ships come into load up with iron ore, Manganese and salt. PH is the biggest commodity port in the world and the busiest port in Australia. Some of these ships are up to 300m long with up to 9 loading hatches. It is quite amazing to watch these ships come into port and get loaded up. PH is a very dusty town and everything has the Pilbara tinge (red dust stains) it gets into everything. Can’t be houseproud here. Quite often black dust (manganese) gets added to the mix. In fact the town slogan is that it is the 'only town where you wipe your feet when you leave'. Doesn’t pay to wear white or light colours either. We are staying with Kim and Barb in the flat attached to the centre. It is very comfortable and they are well cared for by the Centre - to get good reliable people they have to make them very comfortable. Accommodation here is astronomically expensive, $2000/week for a very average 4x1 home. People rent out rooms only for $400/week and people will pay rent to pitch their tent in the back yard. It’s madness. There are so many jobs here but no affordable accommodation! The only way to do it is to get a job that offers accommodation as part of the package. When houses come onto the market they are snapped up straight away, cheapest is about $800K but with $2,000 a week rent they are definitely positively geared.(10-12% ROI) They don’t even need to be done up as people move in as they are. The Seafarers Centre is just about on the wharf and helicopters land only 400m away from us. It is a very busy area. We have salt stacks behind us and these get loaded into ships every two to three weeks and can take upto 4 days to load. It is very interesting to be amongst a working port and it is only going to get busier.  We went on a tour of the BHP Billiton plant which was interesting.  We had seen the mining of the ore at Mt Whaleback in Newman a few years ago so it was good to see what happens to it here.  It is received here after travelling by locomotive from Newman 426km and takes 8 hours.  It is then stockpiled, graded and loaded onto the ships.   About 800 ships are loaded each year and its takes about 30 hours to load.  Each ship that leaves port brings $7.5M to BHP (not clear if that is profit or net).  Whilst it was an interesting tour it was ridicously expensive at $26 each for 1.5 hours sitting on a bus taking photos through a dusty window.  One of the few tours to do here.  In the evening we went to the local Rotary meeting.  It is held at the miners mess in South Hedland.  Great spread of food for $20.  Unfortunately we didn't know the system and missed out of making the most of it.  The miners/workers certainly are well catered for.   The Rotary club is small with only 8 regular members however they are very proative and keen to do things. Due to the transient nature of the town they struggle to get members.  The average age was about 50 - how's that for a Rotary club.  It is the first Rotary meeting we have been to that didn't have alcohol and was a surprise here in Port Hedland.   

Days 38-39 - Pardoo Station (13-14 October)

John had discovered a station about 50kms north and we all agreed to go and check it out. The others are continuing on north and we are at the crossroads decided which way we will go. It is getting really hot now and will only get hotter and more humid the further north we go so we are thinking of heading south and then east. Anyway on to the station. it is a working cattle station with about 18kms of coastline and 500,000 acres. It incorporates a caravan park with 24hr power (not common in this part of the world). It is very peaceful and there are only 3 other vans here. Can you believe someone is here from Busselton! Just about everywhere we go there is someone from Busselton. Later in the day a group of about 20 arrived who were heading to Broome but had to make an unscheduled stop due to a bushfire on the road north. Not a great deal to do here - fishing is a big activity with two creeks nearby and the beach. Although the tides here are huge and when we went to check out the beach the tide was about 1km away! At the creek the guys caught a few fish, catfish and whiting. John caught a sea snake. There is no swimming at the creek or beaches due to bull sharks, crocs don’t seem to be such an issue. It is really beautiful down at the creek especially with the sun setting. Due to the huge tides though have to pick the times to fish.

Day 37 DeGrey Rest Area (12 October)

Travelled approx 300kms north (past Port Hedland) to the rest area which is near a bridge and river. There is only a small amount of shallow water in the river, it would be lovely to see after the wet season and we could see from the bridge pylons how high the water does get. Apparently sharks and crocs have been seen in this river. The trees alongside the riverbanks are gorgeous, paperbarks and other gum trees. The description of the rest area says that it is a great place to sit on the grassed riverbank and watch the bird life. Evidence of grassed areas was rare but you could probably imagine this after the wet. We arrived there at 1.30pm and it was hot! and of course we had no power so couldn’t switch on the a/c. There was a lot of station cows (look like brahmans) seeking refuge among the trees and the riverbank. We believe the farmers round them up before the wet season even though a lot getting killed during any floods the wet season brings.  Also lots of birds mainly white cockatoos. We found a really nice quiet spot among the trees and waited for Scott and Joanne to arrive. They arrived and another couple (Julie and Murray, Monique and Sam) that they have travelled with also joined us. It was great to catchup and by this time the breeze was in and we had a very pleasant evening sitting outside enjoying the beautiful setting and the company. I really enjoy the free camping, getting back to nature is lovely even if we have to rough it and we (and everything we own) continually are covered in red sand.

Days 35-36 Point Samson (10/11 October)

Moved into the Cove caravan park. A fairly new park and clean if not a bit sterile although it’s a relief to be able to stay clean and not be continually covered in dust. After settling in went for a cooling swim. The scenery here is very rugged but also lovely. There is something about the Pilbara that is special, the colours of the rocks and landscape with beautiful blue water as a backdrop it is quite spectacular. The tides are amazing, we reckon they have at least 5m tides and they change very quickly. Walking along the beach at sunset when the tide is out, the colours on the sand and the rocks are quite spectacular and sometimes look like lunar cities. Point Samson is a pretty little town with some lovely homes. It is fairly isolated being 9kms from the closest shopping village in  Wickham and 50kms to Karratha.  There are some nice walks around here for Coco. It is also a popular spot for the workers from Port Hedland and Karratha for family weekends.
Another hot day after a very warm night. The water was like glass and looked beautiful. We went for morning snorkel and were told to snorkel around the derelict jetty pylons. Despite the water being murky it was quite a nice snorkel. The water temperature was not too cold for a change! The tides here are amazing and go out many metres so we had to scramble over rocks to get to the waters edge. Once in, we were amazed at the amount of healthy coral. There was also quite a lot of fish life including a tawny nurse shark or wobbegong not sure which. And a huge bat fish. We battened down for a hot day with the airconditioning and a good book. Tomorrow we leave for a free camp site called De Grey Rest Area 70kms north of Port Hedland to catch up with friends who are continuing on north after their trip into Karijini.

Days 33-34 - Roebourne (8-9 October)

Checked into the Harding River Caravan Park. Predominantly a mining workers campsite with 99% being permanents. We as tourists were a novelty with the permanents driving slowly by checking us out. Roebourne is a very rundown town with the majority of residents being indigenous. Everywhere is closed, next to impossible to get a carton of milk. Locals travel to Wickham (9kms away) to shop at the Woolies there. However it is central to Karratha, Dampier, Point Samson and Wickham. It has a lot of history being the oldest town in the northwest.   We opted to stay here as finding accommodation in Karratha is next to impossible with parks being taken over by dongas and workers, consequently the parks don’t cater for tourists and the parks are fairly dirty and not well maintained. We drove to Karratha (approx 32kms south) for a shopping fix.  Karratha is the next biggest shopping area north of Perth so we went to get our shopping fix.  We stocked up in Karratha at a Woolworths where we didn’t have to pay ridiculously expensive prices. We also checked out Point Samson (19kms away) and decided to move there on Saturday. It is near the beach and looks really nice. It is so hot here – by 9.00am it is in the 30s. We are having second thoughts about going north beyond Port Hedland. May backtrack some way and head east. We discovered the broadband dish doesn’t work here – something to do with the area!!! Maybe its all the ore?? No-one seems to know why. So we will be without internet until Port Hedland and even then it is not guaranteed.  The Whim Creek hotel is north of Roebourne and really is in the middle of nowhere, only open from 3-9pm!

Day 32 Exmouth to Robe River (7 October)

385kms today. A long drive to our first free camp called Robe River and it was great. We camped (in the caravan of course) next to the river and just sat and watched the birdlife and soaked up the peace and quiet. Lovely! During the drive we went passed a lot of mining activity in the middle of nowhere. You have to wonder how much damage is happening out there and what rehabiitation is being done – being so remote you have to wonder. A lot of mining vehicles on the road many being hire cars – no expense spared. Tell you what though you can see why they pay these guys so well – they have to. The remoteness, isolation, working and living conditions would test the toughest of them I reckon. We are definitely in mining territory. The landscape is very impressive, the colours are wonderful and the rock formations are really interesting. We saw lots of Sturt Peas (red flowers) along the road edge. How do they grow in the red dirt!

Days 29-31 - Exmouth (4-6 October)

Went to the beach for the last time and then spent some time packing and cleaning in anticipation of moving on north. John spent a good part of one day installing our water filter that arrived today and it turned into a big job of course.  The water up here is pretty bad, spoilt by Busso water.  On the way back from the beach we spotted the dingo sign, they are around not that we saw any unfortunately.  The picture of the prawn is on the way out of Exmouth at Kailis Bros - big fishing concern.

Map of Western Australia (for our non Aussie friends)

 For our non Aussie friends this map will give you an idea of where we have and are travelling to.  WA is the biggest state and to give you an idea of distance, we left Busselton (228kms south of Perth) which is just below Bunbury and are now in Exmouth (a total of 1442kms).    Our next scheduled stop is Port Hedland which is another 778kms.  Add another 610kms and you'll be in Broome!  It's not called the big country for nothing.

Day 28 Exmouth (3 October)

We have had a fantastic day.  We started with a snorkel at a site known as Oyster Stacks (3kms south of Turquoise Bay and 66kms from town in the national park).  It is one of the best snorkels we have done (I think better than Turquoise).  Access is via rocks but not difficult and straight away you are in the 'aquarium'.   There is so much coral and fish life it is unbelievable.  Whilst we didn't see any different fish the ones we saw were big.  The water temperature was OK, a little cool but because there was so much too see you didn't notice.  Unfortuantely we weren't aware that the best time to snorkel there is mid to high tide and we got there just as the tide was going out so it was fairly shallow (hence lots of people leaving as we got there plus the wind had picked up).  Didn't stop us enjoying immensely though even though it meant we could only do one snorkel safely without damaging the coral or ourselves.  It is definitely a must do and we will do again when we return.  After this snorkel we headed to Yardie Creek (91kms from town) where along the way we saw a wedge tailed eagle sitting on top of bush near the road.  We jumped out to take photos and it flew off and gave us a magnificent display of its size, it was huge.  It was very windy at Yardie Creek but we still opted to kayak in the gorge.  It was lovely, we saw four black footed wallabies (one with joey) and as they are rare this was very special.  Its amazing how they can climb around the sheer rock faces!  The water was extremely salty which surprised us and in parts mangroves were clinging along the edge.  It was a pleasant easy kayak heading into the gorge but a different story coming back straight into strong headwinds - we were exhausted by the time we got back.  The on the way home we saw an echidna crossing the road in front of us - its bizarre becuase the last time we were here (about 4 years ago) the same thing happened.  We jumped out of the car again with camera in tow and John took the video below.  Very lucky I think to see an echinda.  What a day!