27/11/20 Back to the big smoke

  Back again , sorry for the delay , we've been a bit occupied with other stuff .

  We left Exmouth and headed south into a headwind - just for a change haha . Stopped for the night at Minilya Rest area , then carried on to Carnarvon where we stayed for 5 nights . It was an opportunity to wash the ute & van , and restock .

  When we weren't working on the ute & van , we went for a drive around the Fruit Loop - about 20klms around , it takes you through all the fruit & vegetable growing areas on the north and south of the Gascoyne River . There's a massive amount of fresh produce grown here , chilli's , grapes , melons , banana's , asparagus , mango's , tomatoes and lot's more ! 

  We crossed the river and went up the north side , crossed the river again and back down the south side , before stopping and taking some aerial shots .

  This is the Gascoyne River - it looks a bit dry you're thinking - you'd be right , it's all dry on top , but under that cover of stones & sand is a flowing river . All the growers have bore pumps out in the river bed pumping water up from below . This is a typical West Australian river in the northwest of the state , it flows underground . We have been fortunate enough to see it flowing on the surface in 2016 , after a lot of rainfall . The road on the right is South River Rd and there's more crops growing to the right of the photo and you can see the green areas on the left hand side of the river , where there's also plenty growing .

 These rows starting on the left are banana's , and the rows on the right are asparagus , the road behind is the North West Coastal Hwy .

     More of South River Rd .

     The weather hadn't really changed much , the wind continued to blow from the southwest . The park we stayed at was quiet for a couple of days , but got busier as people got sick of the wind out at the coastal camps and came back into town . I chatted to one of the park workers who commented that this had been the busiest season they'd had - so much for Covid slowing things down - travelling tourists are going nuts .

     Continuing on our way south , we had another free camp at Nerren Nerren Rest Area . We chatted to a young couple with 3 boys , from Queensland , who were working at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park . They had got to Exmouth by the time the regional lock down happened and had been there ever since , Apparently when Covid hit , anyone who was holidaying in Exmouth that had a home to go to , were told to leave , only those travellers who didn't have somewhere to go could stay . They stayed and are now working at Yardie Homestead CP . They also commented on how busy the season had been and next season was getting close to being booked out as well . 

     Driving further down to Galena Bridge , we stopped and had another free camp there , before heading in toward Kalbarri the next day - we were spurred on by the wildflowers we had seen prior to getting to the turnoff .

     Our drive in to Kalbarri was a stop start affair with us stopping to look at the flowers we found - seems the inland national park does flower for a lot longer than the coastal park . Here's some of the variety we saw , from tiny everlastings , yellows , pinks & creams , purple and also lot's of smoke bush .

     We were going to stop in Kalbarri for a day or 2 , but as we entered town we found there were lots of people , vans , boats , camper trailers & motorhomes , so we kept going further down to Lynton Station . We stayed here when we first came down the coast back in 2015 . We found the caretakers , who we knew and set up for the night in between some of the leaning trees - the wind has a lot to do with these trees growing the way they do - horizontally !!

     The governor of the convict hiring station had a homestead on the side of the hill about 500m from the convict hiring station buildings . It's a 2 storey house with the kitchen below and the bedrooms & dining upstairs , there's a verandah that goes around 3 sides of the house  The house is being gradually restored , as money permits .

   The ceilings are just about non existent at the moment - this is about all that remains of them .

      We left Lynton and headed to Northampton , then we headed away from the highway and went through the Chapman Valley for a change . Geraldton wasn't really needed for us except for fuel , so we came around the east side of town and came in past the airport and into the port area , fuelled up and went back out to the airport and headed south to Ellendale Pool . That was our stop for the night , there's a great little campground with room for quite a few vans - it's a paid site , but in a very nice location by the Greenough River .  This is part of the campground .

     And our tiny site 😁

     We had a few tiny visitors , a few of these Superb Blue Wrens and their female companions .

    Here's the river , sign posts around the riverbank tell you not to swim or fish due to the risk of Amoebic Meningitis when the water temperature goes above 24 degrees , but there's no thermometer on site ???

     The cliff on the other side is full of layered colour .

    And finally an aerial view .

     Would have been quite easy to stay here for a couple of days , but we needed to be further south , so headed off to Cliff Head South free camp for 3 nights . The wind was still with us unfortunately and usually didn't back off until the sun had disappeared for the night . Water was crystal clear on the first day , but was very stirred up on the 2nd - swimming wasn't an option unfortunately , so we had a few beach walks before the wind set in each day and did some reading the rest of the time . We did manage to get a couple of really good sunsets out of it though .

      Leaving Cliff Head , the weather had improved , wind had dropped , making the drive much more pleasant . Refuelled at Jurien Bay and decided to keep going down to Ledge Point - hadn't been there before , so another first . Ledge Point is a small town that is slowly growing , toehold holiday shacks being replaced by flash new holiday homes and a few retirees as well . Here's a few aerial pics .

 

 

      After a night at Ledge Point ( friday night ) - note to self - don't go here for the weekend if you want a quiet place , it fills up on friday afternoon , being so close to Perth it's very popular !! weekdays would be a better option . We headed back down to Baldivis for the next little while to help Emma move house . 

     We do a bit of walking around the lakes here , and discovered this little spider - and there's lot's of them here . It's no bigger than a 10 cent piece , and has great colouring and these little horns over it's abdomen .

    Here we are , and that's it for a bit , we'll be off the road for a while , so have a happy and merry christmas , stay safe & well , hopefully 2021 will be an improvement on this year .

     Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1-mdDZ7oJK8hZEQDhrMwcxLqqDsRAEMzx&usp=sharing

18/10/20 Back to the cape

 

 We left Cheela Plains and headed west , finding a free camp at House Creek . It turned out to be a great spot for the night in amongst some trees - and we had it all to ourselves - bonus !! The trees protected us from the wind which was great .

     After a great , quiet night , we head off again with a tail wind like yesterday - makes for easier towing . We stopped at another free camp at Barradale . It was busier , but not by much . The wind picked up early next day and we packed up in a dust storm and headed off again . Stopping along the road toward Bullara Station , we stayed at another rest area near the top of a hill overlooking the Exmouth Gulf - and watched the dust being blown around again !! Next morning we moved down the road to Bullara Station for a couple of nights so we could wash & cook & get ready for our week at Cape Range . The winds picked up each afternoon at Bullara and coated us in dust again - we're getting a bit sick of this wind !!

We left Bullara Station Stay and headed in to Exmouth to fill up with fuel , water and food , before heading out to Cape Range , where we won't have phone service .

      Back in service again after a week at Cape Range , what promised to be a great week was tempered by the wind that blew relentlessly . It was a breeze for a while in the mornings , but by lunch time it was 30-35kms/hr , blowing dust & sand around the place , as well as the wind swell on the water making swimming & snorkelling unpleasant .

     Apart from that we had nice sunny skies most days , and only a few with some cloud that burnt off early . This is the view from the viewing platform 30m behind our van - tough view hey , and we had to put up with that for a whole week haha .

     The reef is just there and it's such a great outlook from our camp .

     Sunset day 1 , some spray from the waves on the edge of the reef glowing in the sun .

     Friends had told us about a lot of turtles back up near Yardie Homestead , so we went for a look . The drone came out as we were about 500m away behind some sand dunes at a locked gate . The view was amazing as I spotted them in the water , so we headed in for a better look . Apparently it's mating season and we could see a few hundred turtles in the water just off the sand & waves , there were some resting on the sand as well . Resting - they were collapsed on the sand !!

     These weren't small turtles either - nearly 1m long !! All the dark spots in the photo are turtles !

    This one came out , looked toward me and then just dropped it's head on the sand - the only other movement it made was when the waves moved it around a little .

     We told another younger couple about them , and then caught up with them again several days later - they thanked us for telling them about the turtles and were quite gobsmacked by the experience - describing it as being in a National Geographic movie !!

     Another day done and here's another sunset looking from the side of the van .

     Next day we walked up to Bloodwood Creek then back down along the waters edge . It's an interesting area , with amazing geology . The limestone rock borders the water in lots of places - it shows that at some stage the ocean floor was a bit higher than currently - there's another 2 distinct layers of previous ocean floor levels in the ranges only a few kilometres to the east of here . 

     The lighter brown rock was a layer of sediment that must have built up quickly , trapping sea life under its weight - you can see some of the shells in this rock that were trapped under the sediment .

      Another rock , not too far away from the previous one , shows it picked up a lot of other different smaller rocks when it was formed - more sediment or volcanic action ????

     Here's an aerial view of the area looking north .

     And another showing our campground , looking south .

      The winds are relentless , making afternoon activities non existent - book reading turning into the preferred activity .

    Another sunset - they're all a little bit different .

     There's an area we haven't been to previously - south of Yardie Creek . Our first visit to Cape Range and the creek was tidal , this year it's been filled with sand and no longer flows out - but that enabled us to drive across and head south to the southern area of the park . Foliage beside the track only allows for a one lane track , with some overtaking areas here & there . It's a corrugated sandy track , leading to the first turn off to 1k campsite .

     This is the view of the coast at the campsite .

     More geology ,  this was a coral outcrop before it was totally covered in sediment & fossilised .  It is about 2m across .

     Next campground was Boat Harbour - a spectacular sandy beach with a limestone bar jutting out into the water . It was reasonably sheltered from the wind so far this morning ,  we climbed up the sand dunes for this photo .

     A couple of aerial shots follow .

     Deciding to check out further down the track instead of going for a swim & snorkel probably wasn't the best move , but we went anyway . The track left the park and started along a huge clay pan with tracks off into the dunes at different locations , this was one of them . 

     AS we took in the scenery in front of us , we noticed two dolphins zooming around underwater - must of been chasing fish , as they came up and rejoined together and swam slowly around . They were darker and longer than other dolphins we've seen before .

    Here's another sunset , more spectacular thanks to some thin cloud coming up from the south .

     Given our weather at the moment , we decided to go back to Pilgonoman Gorge for a look at the rock wallabies earlier in the morning before the wind picked up too much . Didn't take long to find them hopping around the rocks , there were others just having a rest as well .

      Colours in the gorge are pretty amazing .

     Closer to the ground was okay as well .

    This one enjoying the rock surrounded by small fig trees .

      We headed down to Osprey Bay for a swim & snorkel before the wind came up too much . I'd only gone about 10m and ran into this little fella .

     Quickly followed by this one about 5m away

     There were plenty of parrot fish cruising around - all different colours to the normally brightly coloured ones .

     

     Then there was this one .

     After about 20 mins the wind had picked up , so we got out and headed back for lunch . Another couple of sunsets .

     Our final night out and another nice sunset to finish off our week .

     Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Q7Ba4oE4NDvc1W4QLxR_90Zvaf_sv3df&usp=sharing