On the way to Geraldton towards Perth

We left Shark Bay and headed to Geraldton with some adventures along the way.

this is the view from Eagle Bluff

and then we went to Hamelin Pool, where we learned all about stromatolites - for those interested you can read more here .... http://www.sharkbay.org/Stromatolitesfactsheet.aspx

We ended up staying the night at a 'by the side of the road' rest stop called Murchison River, where the locals were very friendly.

this was the sunset.

Up early the next day to see Kalbari National Park which offered some beautiful flora to view on the way in, then amazing cliff top ocean views on the drive out.











We arrived in Geraldton (Gerro for the locals) on Sunday 16th September 2012, and stayed for 2 nights.
We really got a feel for Geraldton, no windsurfing but we got to know the way around town.

 Tonight we are camped here

with a view of this

We are not far from Perth now and then it will be the long drive eastward. 

We are missing all of our family and friends and are looking forward to catching up with you all when we return in early October. 

Denham and Monkey Mia

Another peninsular on the west coast that we travelled out to and have been well rewarded.
We arrived on Thursday 13th September and were planning to stay for one night but when we saw the outlook from our caravan site we decided to stay for 2 nights.

An attempt to catch fish for dinner was unsuccessful










We visited Monkey Mia on Friday 14th September to see the dolphin feeding at 7.30am, then we went for a drive in in Francois Peron National Park (four wheel drive access only, now that we have a 4WD we can do that).








We met an emu who wanted to race the Toyota, that was funny.

Drive into Denham

Glass bottom boat tour in Coral Bay

Spangled Emperor fish

This posting will be mainly images of the amazing things we saw and did on the glass bottom boat tour at Coral Bay on Tuesday 11th September 2012.

The photos were taken by the deckhand on the boat, Kurt.

Glass bottom boat tour Coral Bay

Liam snorkelling out on the reef

Mal swimming with Turtle

AMAZING !

Exmouth and Coral Bay

We have just spent three nights (Friday 7th to Sunday 9th September) in Exmouth, which is way out on a peninsular on the WA coast. Half of the point is National Park, with pristine beaches of Turquoise blue. Not far from the shore of the beach (4-5 metres) and you can see so many different types of tropical fish swimming amongst the coral reef. 

We stayed in a caravan park near the Vlamingh Lighthouse lookout (thanks to Sarah and Paul for the recommendation) we have seen whales from the lookout and seen many emus in the wild. 

Liam snorkelling at Turquoise Bay

 Today we arrived in Coral Bay, we snorkelled with Schnapper, Manta Rays and various other fish. You don't even need to snorkel as you walk along the waterline at the beach the fish come up to look at you. Fish-feeding at 3.30 was a frenzy of people and fish, you stand in knee deep water and the fish swim through your legs.

Fish feeding at Coral Bay

Tomorow we are going on a glass bottom boat tour to check out the reef from a bit further out.    

A week in Karratha

You have not heard from us in a week because there has not been much travelling happening. We have spent the last week in Karratha because we've been trying to get someone to look at the VW Transporter. When we headed south down the west coast we attempted to turn off to Eighty Mile Beach but after 3 klms of corrugated dirt road traveling at 10 klms we decided to turn around, we suspect that the damage had already been done as we got 20 klms down the highway and the coolant indicator light came on. We stopped on a roadside stop for the night with plenty of other Aussie travellers but none of then happened to be a VW mechanic and as it turns out there are no VW mechanics in northern WA, so we have had to make a few decisions over the past few days, cut the trip short or buy a replacement car to keep on going. No surprises that we have done everything in our power to continue our travels. 

The VW will be freighted home (thanks to NRMA roadside assistance), where it can be fixed and we have purchased a Toyota Hilux for the remainder of the trip. Buying a car in regional WA is not an easy task as they all seem to be over-priced by about 25% so, in an effort to 'not get ripped off' Mal flew to Perth, bought the car and is driving the 1600 klms back to Karratha to pick us up and continue the journey. 

We have enjoyed our week in Karratha, even though at times it was very stressful. 

We visited the Red Dog statue, which is something that we have all been looking forward to as 'Red Dog' is one of our favorite family movies.

Hearson's Cove

We spent a morning at Hearson's Cove which has amazing blue/green water, it is a little beach/cove made up of tiny shells, no sand, just shells. The next night we saw Stairway to Heaven which happens when the full moon rises and reflects on the mud-flats over the cove. The photos really don't do it justice.

For Father's Day we went to Point Samson which also had an amazingly blue/green water.

The caravan park that we stayed in was really lovely with a nice pool which is very 'refreshing' and a little playground. The boys have been able to ride their scooters which keeps them active.
So it has not been all bad but we are looking forward to getting back on the road.

Our hero, we call him Red Dad, just like Red Dog who has traveled all over WA has returned to us with our new car and we are heading off again today.

Nitmiluk and on the road westward

From Kakadu we made our way back down to Katherine and then out to Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), we arrived there on Wednesday 22nd August. Most of the views here are achieved by walking UP the gorge (which we did a bit of) or via the waterway either by canoe or boat trip; which is wall to wall tourists (I know we are tourists) but we opted for the birdseye view.

Liam was very nervous about a helicopter flight at first but within seconds in the air he loved it. We don't have many photos as the camera battery went dead just when we were in the air, but we can confirm it was amazing. You really understand how the gorge system is connected by seeing it from above.

We had a big journey ahead of us towards the west coast.

From Katherine to Broome is 1561 klms, so we knew we would have a few stops in between. The drive through the Kimberleys was amazing. There were many roads that we could not travel because we didn't have a 4 wheel drive, so we missed the Bungle Bungles, but it was a very enjoyable and scenic drive through Gregory National Park with many Boab trees and red mountains. We even had a view in the rear vision mirrors.

Geike Gorge

We officially entered WA on Friday morning 24th August at 7am, a little earlier than we realised due to the time difference. We stayed at Halls Creek; that place is jumping on a Friday night.
The next day (Saturday 25th August) we got to Fitzroy Crossing and took a cruise on Geike Gorge for the afternoon. More beautiful scenery and some freshwater crocs, which are the ones that don't eat you, but we weren't going to test that out.

The next day we headed to Broome, and because we got an early start we made it all the way. We have spent the last 2 days (Sunday 26th & Monday 27th August) swimming in the beach or the pool, and checking out Broome.

It certainly is the place where the red dirt meets the white sand, and we watched the sun set over the ocean - a pretty big deal for us east coasters.

We are heading towards Port Headland tomorrow but plan to stop off at Eighty Mile Beach as a halfway stop - possibly some more swimming and maybe even fishing - we'll let you know if we catch anything.

We have passed our halfway mark, both in time and klms travelled.
We have been on the road for 40 days and have covered more than 7,700 klms.