20/3/19 Southeast to the coast

    Well we've finally been booted out of Baldivis , and are heading to Esperance . Leaving the coast you travel through & up the Darling Scarp - a coastal range that extends for quite a way , but nothing like the east coast , it goes up about 300m then levels out somewhat . 

 Some of our trip today is new country for us , so there's plenty for us to take in . Everything is as you would expect for this time of year , dead , burnt off and looking lifeless . Arriving at Dumbleyung - our stopover for the night - we discover some interesting things . Firstly , Lake Dumbleyung on the western side of town is a rather large lake , secondly , the world water speed record was set here by Donald Campbell at around 3:45pm 31st December 1964 . This gave Campbell the double of land and water speed records set in the one year - only just !!

  This is the lake from Pussycat Hill Lookout 

 AT the lookout is a large chunk of stone in the shape of Western Australia , the plaque below is mounted on the ground in front of it . In the stone , a hole has been drilled through at such an angle that on December 31 at approx 3:45 pm the sun will shine through the drill hole and light up the little bronze replica of the Bluebird - Campbells boat . 

 The lake is down a bit , previously drowned trees seem to be high and dry again .

 Back in town there is a full size replica of Campbells Bluebird K7 - it's 8m long and sits in a shelter with laser cut steel wall panels .

  Not far from the campground is the Tavern , a fine example of the old style hotels .

  Leaving Dumbleyung after some decent rain overnight , we head towards Ravensthorpe . The storms from last night dropped some good rain , and some good thunder - one clap had us wide awake in the middle of the night !

 Through Lake Grace where we'd been before , then Newdegate and onward to Lake King where we stopped for lunch . It wasn't too windy , so I took the drone out for an aerial view of the salt lake . This is the road leading back west where we came from , you can see the ute & van on the orange gravel .

  This is looking south .

 And here we are from about 120m above .

 The rest of the drive was more wheat fields , some more wheat fields , then just when we'd seen the last of them - a gold mine .
 We found another free camp about 18 kms from Ravensthorpe , so set up there for the night - we had it all to ourselves !
 Going for a walk , salmon gums were showing off their beautiful bronze colours .

 Waking early with the birds , we got organised early and headed off at 8:30am - early for us ! Esperance arrived and we were set up before lunch , then headed out on the coastal drive . This is 11 Mile Beach and lagoon .

 There's access to a lagoon on the eastern side as well . The is a rock shelf that runs parallel to the sand dunes & beach for a long way creating these lagoons .

 Next stop was 10 Mile Wind Farm , it consists of 15 winds turbines . You get to walk around the base of one turbine and listen to the racket it makes and also the vibration of the steel column .

  This is access to 10 Mile Beach .

 Next stop was at Observatory Hill & Beach , these are the steps to the bottom and the beach .

  This is the view of Observatory Island .

 Onward to Twilight Cove and Lovers Cove , how many beaches do you get to and find a windmill ??

  Here's Twilight Cove , enormous granite boulders form islands in the clear water .

 This is Lovers Cove , accessed from the same carpark as Twilight Cove . They face different directions so you can always get out of the wind .

  That's it for today , yesterday & day before , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WSrKlb5Vr5COVXkgLjHBW779gN6Ig1M7&usp=sharing

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