1/3/19 A little bit of Rottnest

  After all our time in & around Perth , we haven't managed to go over to Rottnest Island - we've changed that , we've been and enjoyed it immensely .

 We decided to make the most of it and stayed overnight , giving us 2 days to fill in . The ferry left at 8am from Northport Fremantle , so it was an early start , breakfast and go so we could be there on time . Arriving just after 7am gave us plenty of time to unload the bikes and get everything ready , check in and jump on . The office didn't open till 7:30 , so we sat and waited . 

 Weather was perfect , a lot of cloud , but quite pleasant . Before long we were checked in , bikes loaded and seated on the upstairs outside deck . It seemed a bit strange , but we headed back around to B Shed at Fremantle to pick up all the other passengers etc before heading out to Rottnest Island . There were lot's of ships anchored , waiting to go into port , something you don't see every day was a submarine cruising past . 

 It only took about 25mins to cruise to the island , we got the bikes and walked down to the start of the jetty and sorted where we'd go 1st . This is Thompson Bay , there would have to be at least 100 berths/bouys for boats to tie up to - it would look like a parking lot when full - there were about 20 boats there today .

 Decided to go to Kingstown Barracks - it was close and seemed to be on the way we were heading . It's used for group accommodation - school groups mainly - of which there were a few off .

  The island certainly isn't flat , with plenty of hills , the roads seem to go over many dunes and limestone formations . This photo is near Henrietta Point , a bit further around is a shipwreck you can snorkel around , a school group was doing that when we arrived , we didn't stay long .

  Porpoise Bay was the next spot , there's a nice little beach at the bottom of a lot of stairs , it was warm so it was time for a swim & snorkel to cool down . And cool down we did , the water temperature wasn't what you'd call warm , cool to cold would be a better description!!
 The Leuwin Current brings warm water from up north , enabling coral and more tropical type fish to grow and survive here . Amongst the seagrass and seaweed there were the odd coral outcrops .

 After some lunch we headed off to Parker Point and Little Salmon Bay . It is one of the more popular spots with plenty of people on the beach and in the water snorkelling . The water is very clean & clear - mark this spot for a future visit .

  It's not a large bay , but has a lot of area for swimming & snorkelling . Limestone cliffs line parts of the bay meaning the small beach is the only entry point , making it seem busy .

 Further around toward Salmon Bay we spotted an Osprey perched on a dead branch - there are 14 breeding pairs here on Rottnest .

Wadjemup Lighthouse stands proudly on the highest point of the island , it is 100feet tall , about 1.5m thick at the bottom and about 1m thick at the top . You can do a tour that takes you to the top for some spectacular views of the island .

  This is the southwest corner of the island where there are seal colonies and good whale watching spots are - in season of course. 

  This is looking over to Oliver Hill and the 2 x 9inch guns . Rottnest was an important place during the war , being a critical place to protect the port of Fremantle from possible attack from the sea . There's also an airstrip that you can do joy flights and parachute from if you feel so inclined.

 Just beside the lighthouse is this Signal Tower , used again during the war to signal the mainland . It was very difficult due to the 23klm distance to the mainland to communicate with flags & signals , until they got a Heliotrope . This device uses a mirror to reflect sunlight to a given point and they could communicate with it .

 On another small mound about 100 m away was the radio and observation tower , used to communicate with the warships & submarines .

 And of course the island is also famous for these little things - Quokka's !! They're around in lot's of places and certainly aren't afraid of people . You are not supposed to touch or feed them , and can be fined if you do !

  After going over to Oliver Hill - where the guns are - we headed for the information centre to check into our cabin . We had cabin 706 , we saw cabins up to number 838 on our ride around - I'm sure there are more than that - there's so much accomodation here !!
 This was sunset over Garden Lake . There are many salt lakes on the island .

 Lyn did her best to catch the little ball of sun , but just couldn't keep hold of it .

  We woke early and got organised for another busy day riding around again . This is Pinky's Beach and there's a new Discovery Park just about to open with glamping tents - nothing else - they start at about $160 a night and go up quite a bit more for the top end glamping tents .

 Our submarine made another appearance as it sailed off into the distance - it was quite a way out from us and the wind was blowing fairly well , but you could hear it easily - it makes a fair bit of noise .

  I managed to spot this silver spider - it was about 100mm from front to back legs .

 Heading west we came to Longreach Bay , another popular anchorage for boats .

 There are so many other little coves & beaches , Geordie Bay is one of the bigger ones with lots more accomodation and a shop etc .
 We stopped and snorkelled & swam at a couple , here's some of the fish etc .

 I may have stumbled over a leafy sea dragon whilst snorkelling , I'll leave that up to your imagination .

  After dodging a couple of more school groups we headed back to Thompson Bay & the main shops etc . These 2 photos are " The Quod " - it was used as a prison for the indigenous .

 As we'd cycled ourselves out , we found a spot to sit and take in the scenery for a while while we waited for our ferry back to Fremantle at 6:30pm . 

  Well what a couple of days we've had , and to top it off we had a great sunset over Rottnest to look at on the way back !!

  That's it , see ya .

14 Feb 19 Around the forest

 Back again , we are feeling a little bit stagnant and stuck at the moment - but that hasn't stopped us from getting over ourselves and getting out & about a bit . 

 After one of our appointments we headed out on the bikes at San Remo , just north of Mandurah . There's a bike track that follows the beach just behind the dunes , a nice ride up & down the coast .

 On another excursion we headed to Henderson - a sparsely populated area on Warnbro Sound . There's a majority of industrial works here - the next photo shows Henderson Cliffs and a lot of industry in the background . The cliffs are limestone and very porous , and fragile as well .

  Looking to the north toward an area called Naval Base - there's a lot of boat construction taking place - large catamaran ferries and the like . As you can see the water is crystal clear .

 We've been fortunate to be able to watch the jet sprint boats racing right next door to us . These boats & drivers are amazing , the boat in the next photo has been a constantly quick boat over all the rounds we've been to - they were doing an extremely good lap last week , but clipped the tyres on the side of the track about 80m from the finish line . It flipped once , hit the ground and rolled 3 times before coming to rest on it's side on the finish line . We feared the worst but both driver and navigator came out without any broken bones , just some bruises . They were lucky - but treated really well - they were taken to hospital in the rescue helicopter . They will be back racing again , such is their love of the sport .

 The track is changed each meeting , making it interesting for all the competitors and spectators alike.

  The Ski Park is a purpose built set of 5 interlinked lakes for water sports - predominantly water skiing , wake boarding and barefoot skiing . It is also very popular for family recreation as well . This is one of the lakes 

 This is another .

 And this another - practicing his slalom skiing .

  In some of the ponds over the back of the grounds there are hundreds of water birds - pelicans , cormorants , heron , ducks & water foul .

 Here's a view from the drone .

 And of course the obligatory sunset .

  Another day we headed down to North Dandalup Dam - a relatively new dam ( opened in 1994 ) in the scheme of things - it looked very new .

 The water outlet tower looks like something out of science fiction movie .

  Below the dam is a beautiful picnic area , nice sandy beach , steps into the water and Bbq's & tables - there's also rather large signs saying swimming not allowed due to amoebic meningitis all around the area - such a shame it's a beautiful spot . 

 From here we headed to South Dandalup dam - a much older version and the water level was down about 12m from full , and looked like it hasn't been full for many years .

  

  It was great for lunch , we had it all to ourselves .

Not far away is Marrinup Falls , so we made our way their through some very dense forest . A 1.3klm loop track took us down to the falls - they were a bit dry , like most waterfalls in WA at the moment . This shot from the drone shows where it falls down the rock face in the valley .

 There was a pool of water at the base - it was flowing in December apparently .

 There are thousands of Honky Nuts all over the ground and can making walking a bit hazardous - here's 2 of them in Lyn's hand .

 There were a few flowers about , this one sitting all by itself on the edge of the track .

  This grasshopper has some great camouflage .

  Not far up the road is Marrinup POW Camp No 16 - well all that's left are the foundations of the many buildings . They housed prisoners of war from Germany and Italy , it could accommodate 1200 prisoners . Their are tracks through the forest that lead you around the camp .

       Their are hundreds , if not thousands of grass trees here and in this area - this one related to Cousin It from The Addams Family .

 That's it for the moment , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w0JcoQGXAaB1MbUFP8YtnuT2QbBEgMid&usp=sharing

25/1/19 A new year

 Well what a christmas we had , a wedding and christmas !! The wedding was of our son Justin & Taylor his beautiful fiancée . It was a surprise wedding , we had come together for Isla's 1st christmas and Taylor's mother & grandfather  & stepfather were here as well . The ceremony took place at Point Peron on the beach at 5pm - a bare foot wedding . A spectacular day was had by all and great memories created .
  Christmas followed a couple of days later and we all gathered again for another great day , Isla's 1st christmas was enjoyed .
  We have stayed put for the early part of the holidays , letting everyone get back to work after their 2 week break before we headed off again . We did drive down past Mandurah to Halls Head for some fine views of the coast . The weather has been the opposite of what's been happening over east , with the south west winds coming most days , usually in mid morning . Temperatures have been in the mid 20's and only the occasional day in the 30's - quite strange for this time of year over in the west .

  Time to head further south , not far , just down to Waroona Dam where we stayed for 5 nights . It's very popular with water skiers , so there were plenty of boats , we did go for a swim there though .
 We caught up with a couple that we met at Musgrave Station Cape York and spent some time with them . We arranged to go crabbing in the estuary with Mick and his son in law Mike the next day .
  Before we were due to go out in the boat , we went for a drive to Nanga Brooke - the site of an old timber mill & township for the workers . The town & mill were burnt down in a bushfire a long time ago , now there are camping spots there - it's not national park , but a reserve looked after by National Parks - you have an entry fee to pay unless you have a park pass , and also pay to camp there . The only facilities are competing toilets and some large flat sites for vans & tents , then there's another area near where the old mill was that you can camp anywhere . There were lot's of people camped here . We checked out Murray River - a crystal clear river that was flowing slowly through the forest .

 There are lots of different areas to swim at and also camp at , this one was Island Pool . 

  We kept going to Dwellingup and back to the dam for some lunch before heading back to Mick & Sue's to go crabbing . It was Wednesday , so if you are licensed for it , you can use a net to catch fish - Mick had a net so that was loaded into the boat with the crab pots & scoops , some food & drinks and we were off . Lyn stayed with Sue , while the boys headed off in with the boat .
 We arrived at Herron Point and launched the boat , the water was shallow for a long way and the tide wasn't long past low tide so we had to walk the boat out about 100m before there was sufficient water to drive it . We were joined by 3 dolphins swimming around in the channel that we were crabbing in , swimming happily under and around the boat as we moved around - not good for crabs , and definitely not good for nets !!

 The crabs seemed to be hiding for a while and their size when we did get some was just under minimum so many were thrown back . Then it was my turn dragging the pots up , crabs started to appear in the pots & we had about 7 after 2 runs , the next run we got another 7 and Mick put his net out to try his luck with some fish . The crabs started to appear then and we had 20 in the crate - here's the funny thing , if you are in a boat you can only take 20 crabs , but if you are walking around with a crab scoop you can take 10 per person - so a family of 5 can take 50 crabs .
 The net caught a couple of tailor and a couple of crabs that were thrown back , and as we had our quota , we headed for home . Crabs cooked , boat & gear washed down , we all sat down for a feed of blue swimmer crab and a couple of beers .
  Leaving Waroona Dam we headed up to Nanga Brooke campground for 3 nights . It was only 25 kms away , but a world away from everything - no tv , no mobile reception , no distractions . It also got quite warm , up in the low 30's for the 3 days . Emma , Mike & Pepper came for a visit and a swim and lunch .
 This was our campsite - they were 15m x 8m , plenty of room .

Then there's the view from above , courtesy of the drone , that's us at the top of the photo .

 There were a few flowers about , here's some of them .

  This is a photo from Brockman Dam , just south of Yarloop below Waroona . The water was clear and a beautiful aqua green colour , not what we expected to see in a dam . You can camp here as well , there's toilets , but nothing else . As can be expected , plenty of boats & skiers .

  Back to the Murray River , and we went for a paddle up the river each of the next 2 days , it was great getting back into the kayak again .

 Came across a few ringneck parrots having a drink .

 There are plenty of obstacles in the river causing us to stop and get out , drag the kayak through the shallow sections and over some trees as well .

The Nanga Mill campground , and where we are has a spring fed creek running through it and into the river . The water is clear and cold !! Superb Blue Wrens are quite at home here , these were quite happy bouncing around the place .

 This is a section of Nanga Brook , quite a bit of water coming down the rocks for a spring fed creek .

  Here's some more shots from the paddle .

 Battling through the hot days , we enjoyed a float around in the river to keep us cool , this is a wonderful spot to camp .

  Leaving Lane Poole Reserve , we headed down to Pinjarra Holiday Park for a week . It's  a 600 acre farm that has a lot of horses , a few donkeys , and probably some other animals further out that we didn't see . 

 There is an old brickworks factory there - or what's left of it anyway , this is part of the roof section .

 Must be some heritage order on it as a lot of the walls were propped up to stop them falling over , it did look good though .

 Well we are now back in Baldivis again , some repairs have been required - shower leak , a new tv aerial to be installed , and one of our supporting jacks broke , so that had to be fixed quickly - all the fun of being on the road !!! 

 That's it , you're up to date again , I'll try to update more frequently , but no promises haha . Cheers