Kakadu National Park - 28th & 29th April

We have now flown to the North - or Top End - of Australia for four long site seeing days by coach. Once again distances are huge and the days are long.   For the last two days we have been in the Kakadu National Park which is just coming out of the hot, wet system. It consists of wetlands and Savannah - lots of birds and lots of crocodiles. There is also a lot of Aboriginal culture and we went to see lots of rock art from hundreds of years ago and also went down one of the rivers with an aboriginal guide who demonstrated spear throwing as well as all the plants which they used. We rounded off the day with a visit to see a uranium mine - quite controversial as you can imagine! 

Cable Beach - Broome - Monday 25th April - Anzac Day

Before leaving the site this morning and moving to the other side of Broome we heard the last post in the distance as ANZAC day was celebrated at dawn followed by community breakfasts before the shops open at noon - can't quite see this working in November in the UK!

We have now moved to the opposite side of the bay and so are facing east again for the last few sunsets of the trip. Broome was built up by some Japanese businessmen about 100'years ago on the pearl trade and so some of the old buildings still exist such as the 'Oldest Operating Picture Garden' where you sit on deck chairs to watch the films and where previously the audience was segregated. 

I make no apologies for yet another sunset ! This will be our last before we move to the East Coast. 

Here is a photo of Roebuck beach and the mangroves

Are they hiding crocodiles????

We have arrived in Broome ! 24th April

We have arrived in Broome at the end of the second phase of our trip. This is off season at the moment because it is still quite hot so Broome is very much quieter than later in the summer and businesses are still starting up. The campsite is not the best with many ramshackle huts and vans with 'full timers' in them but the position of the pitch - almost on the beach is fabulous.  Unfortunately we have run our supplies a bit low and all the shops are now closed until tomorrow afternoon because tomorrow is ANZAC day - the equivalent to Rememberance Sunday - but we eventually found a bar open for beers and a cocktail so moods improved!  We then sat down and waited for another moon rising and 'Staircase to the Moon' - very different to previously in Port Hedland because it was totally dark this time but obviously photos are very difficult so suggest 'Google' if you are interested in the phenomenon.  Moving sites tomorrow to the 'posher' beach voted one of the top 5 in the world! 

Eighty Mile Beach - 23rd April

We continued our drive from Port Hedland towards Broome and decided to break our journey at Eighty Mile Beach which is approx half way - about 300km. The caravan site is down a non tarmac road which means it is very red and very bumpy if only for 9km.  The reward at the end was fabulous with a lovely green site at the back of a huge (presumably 80 mile beach). Most campers are now either Australian 'grey nomads' or European tourists that we keep meeting time and again.  As you can see from the photo the sea goes a long way out and the beach is very popular for fishing and driving along!   Luckily we watched another fabulous sunset. As shown on the second photo parts of the beach also contain many hundreds of shells and there are strict limits on how many you can remove.

The road to Port Hedland - Friday 22nd

After a final dip in a gorge pool -we started on the long drive to Broome today ... Almost 1000 km in total. We decided to stop at Port Hedland which is a huge port mainly for the export of iron ore from surprisingly local mines. There are not many tourists on the road but we passed, and overtook huge road trains; four trailers long, carrying various minerals. They are good drivers and the overtaking is relatively easy on the well marked highway with long gaps in the road trains coming towards you!  Rob took some photos but I will have to post them later.  

The Port Hedland campsite is a green oasis on a headland and very nice.  It overlooks some mud flats and therefore we had a big bonus of being able to witness the 'staircase to the moon'.  Lots of people gathered on a specially constructed viewing platform and watched the full moon rise from below the horizon and as it shines on the mud flats it appears as if it has a staircase leading to it.  Photos do not do it justice but - it was really great to see - it can be seen again in Broome - with I am sure many 100's of people instead of a few. The bugs are becoming more of a nuisance and this is the first really humid place - so - I have treated you to a picture of me in my fly net - instead of the moon!

Bush walking and camping - Thursday 21st

Today we had a short drive to The Karijini National Park and stayed for a night at the Dales Gorge Campground. It was lovely - no electricity, no internet, no lights, no water. This area is famous for its gorges although we could only reach one via the tarmac - the rest are 'off bounds' for hire vehicles. We went for a walk in the gorge which meant scrambling ( Rob's physio look away now!) down the rock face and walking through streams via stepping stones. Finally the gorge bottom was reached via a ladder! It may have been slow and hard but there was much encouragement by the many youngsters who passed us and a great sense of achievement when we reached the bottom! Here we (well Nicola) was rewarded by a swim in the natural pools.

Tom Price - Wednesday 20th April

So another deserted road with red banks and 250km to drive ! Yes - Australia is big! Luckily today I managed to attach my phone to the radio (there are no radio stations) and therefore Rob could listen to me singing to my favourites from the 70's!! There was little else to break the tedium and very few stopping places. This is mining and aboriginal country so our highlight was to see a mining train alongside the road and a big truck displayed at the entrance to both towns we came to. Tonight we are at Tom Price  - the highest town in Western Australia at about 2500 feet which does make it much cooler. It is named after some US steelman as is very prosperous since everyone works for Rio Tinto who pay well above the average. The site is a lovely oasis as shown by the photo:-

Road to Nanutarra - Tuesday 19th April

Today we headed inland on a 3 day drive to the Karjini National Park. The temperature reached 40C - the roads are deserted and surrounded by red desert - there's not much wildlife around. The highlight of the day was stopping at some road works and seeing the road marked out as an emergency landing strip for the Flying Doctor!! We spent the night at Nanutarra Roadhouse - basically a car park behind a garage where a litre of Coke costs £5. Still if was by a very nice river - with water in it - most rivers are dry - and we were able to 'bond' with the other campers. I purchased a fly screen for my hat - photos later!

Exmouth Peninsula - 18th April

On the Western side of the peninsula there are lots of coral beaches all in Cape Range National Park. Coral Bay, a small village is only accessible from the south and we went there yesterday and both swam in the ocean - it's very laid back and attracts a lot of snorkellers.  Today we went to the beaches and gorges that can be reached from the north and swam on a beautiful beach that had more seagulls than people.  We also went on a short boat trip along a gorge and saw a few rock wallabies. We drove home at dusk and saw more beside the road and a kangaroo hoping along the back of the beach. This is the first wildlife we have really seen.  Leaving the coast tomorrow and heading inland.

The Road to Exmouth - 17th

We drove another 300k or more today along mainly very good and deserted roads to arrive at Exmouth which is on a Peninsula that sits out from the west coast. Given its position it was a US base until the 70's but is now attached by road to the rest of Australia and there appears to be a lot of new building presumably on oil or mineral money. As you can see below we passed the Tropic of Capricorn on a deserted road.

Carnarvon - 16th April

We spent today around this town ( very small by UK standards at about 2500 people, but it has everything). It is most famous for having a satellite receiving station that transmitted the first live broadcast from London and assisted in the Apollo moon landings. The dish, although no longer used, is still lit up at night. There is also a mile long jetty out into the Indian Ocean that used to be used to load boats exporting fruit and which has now been restored by a group of volunteers. After all this I had a quick swim in a slightly warmer sea and then we sat and watched a magnificent sunset.

Drive to Carnarvon - Friday 15th April

Today we decided not to stop at the roadhouse but to get up early and visit some river gorges in the Kalbarri National Park during the cool of the day at 8am... Yes we were one of the only people there but it was very cool.  We had breakfast at the second site and then drove along a deserted highway - seeing one car or truck every 10 mins or so - until we reached Carnarvon almost 400km later! Temperatures rose to about 35C but I mainly stayed in the air conditioned van - I am married to a pest control expert - so why can't we eliminate the swarms of flies that pursue me at every turn?

Kalbarri Town - Thursday 14th

I We stayed in Kalbarri by the Murchison River for another night to enjoy the beach and sun and generally take a break from driving. We watched the Pelicans (well one) being fed this morning, bought some fresh seafood for lunch and I swam in the river - quite chilly - before we watched the sunset tonight. A long drive again tomorrow to a site at a Road House! 

Kalbarri National Park - Wednesday 13th

Although we woke up to rain we have now travelled another 200 km north and have found the sun ... It is now very hot and (for anyone who watched the Last Leg - there are millions of flies). We are in a national park which has sandstone cliffs and gorges - see photos. The lake is just inland from the coast and for those techies reading, this beta carotene is extracted from the pink algae growing on it by BASF! You can probably just see the algae in the photo.  Staying here tomorrow too so hopefully some photos of the sunset over the beach.

Geraldton - 12th April

In the past two days we have travelled 500km north of Perth along the Indian Ocean (although you can't really see it from the road).  The weather has been a bit mixed with quite a lot of rain although we are promised more sun tomorrow.  The roads are really quiet compared to the Uk and we have managed to negotiate some giant trucks and exceedingly wide loads - this being the only road north in Western Australia. We visited the Pinnacles this morning - limestone columns in the desert and stopped at some very small settlements along the coast. See photos ....

A final few photos before we leave Perth -10th April

Perth has been great and I can see why it is so popular with people from the UK. A quiet day today which included my first out door swim and a trip to the Noodle Night Market - a big Asian street food event on the Habourside - it must have had a lot of MSG because we are both really healthy now. Picking up motorhome tomorrow and driving North alongside the West coast. Rob now has his camera up and running and syncing with the PC so the final pic is of our fish and chips from Freemantle.

Perth Wineries - 9th April

As I write there is a storm with lightening and pouring rain outside - it's been threatening all day and has finally arrived. It is the first rain since Easter but then the Fryatts are in town.   Today we explored the wineries of the Swan River which are very close to Perth. We tasted lots of samples of wine, chocolate liqueur (my favourite), cheese and coffee and had a very nice lunch which Rob accompanied with a sample or two of beer ...  They certainly have the gourmet experience sorted.  

Logged on and increasing size of font!

I have now increased the size of the font and hopefully this will be remembered by the App on my tablet!  We will see later ...

Freemantle - Friday 8th

Today, after a long jet lag induced sleep in we went to Freemantle via a ferry down the Swan River - Freemantle is much older than Perth and has lots of old shops, the original prison for English convicts and a small beach front on the Indian Ocean. We had very nice battered fish / prawns and chips before coming back on the train where we unable to work the ticket machine so were allowed to travel for free!!  

Photos are both of the Indian Ocean...

Perth - Thursday 7th April

The hotel is in a nice suburban area and as with lots of Aus hotels has a well equipped kitchenette including a washing machine! It is close to a brilliant 7-11 that sells fresh take away curry amongst other items to microwave. Today we went to Toast for breakfast where I had grated apple and blue cheese with honey on walnut bread (!) for brunch.  After this we caught the free bus into the city centre to take a walk around and do some 'admin' - like buy an Australian Sim (we couldn't without a passport - and post something to the UK - we couldn't without ID!!!  There is considerable building going on in Perth at the moment - this is a picture of the Bell Tower on the dock side - take a look because it will soon be hidden by giant new hotels !  For FC friends - spot the Yazoo bottle!

Blog note!!

The vagaries of hotel wifi and travelling with Rob's new PC is that I cannot connect to 'Google blogger' via his PC so I am afraid the small text will remain for a while and also Rob is having trouble downloading photos from his camera and so you will have to put up with photos from my phone!!

Arrived Perth - Wednesday 6th August

After a long and mainly sleepless flight via Singapore we had an easy an uneventful arrival into Perth. We were met by my cousin - Graeme - who had very kindly arranged a river view room in East Perth. Things became a little more eventful when Rob realised he had left his computer lead on the plane but luckily the ever efficient Singapore Airlines had found it and he went by taxi to collect it on Thursday morning.