After passing a huge wind farm with 48 massive turbines called Emu Downs and staying overnight in a day-only rest area, (naughty naughty) on Sunday morning we made our way north of Perth to a small town called Cervantes, but turned off just before reaching town to travel 17kms to the famous Pinnacles in the Desert. We arrived early before the ticket and information centre was open, so we decided to take ourselves on the marked walk through the Pinnacles. We both thought it was the most wonderful sight, rather like moving amongst thousands of soldiers standing very still, or maybe a huge grave yard full of amazing tombstones. The feeling was that this was a unique place and we clicked our cameras like mad. We wandered for ages amongst these tall stone structures which are set in soft shifting sand with a few hardy wild flowers scattered around, and it seemed that time stood still.
Apparently the Pinnacles are not very old in geological terms – 400,000 years perhaps, but their origins are not clear. They are either reconstituted fossilised tree trunks or ancient root systems that have been left exposed by the wind and sand. They have only become a famous tourist sight in the last 30 years or so and the area was then added to the national park so it was protected.
We went into the town of Cervantes and met some friendly locals at an art exhibition and then toddled off to the local pub for a crayfish lunch. We were yet again a little disappointed in the result of the ‘taste versus cost’ analysis and vowed that we will not be tempted by Lobster or Crayfish again – better to stick with fresh local fish. We were told that the Crayfish industry in many of the small fishing towns has been decimated by the Government’s new fishing restrictions. But the real issue has been the years of overfishing that has led the Government to impose the restrictions in the first place.
The coast along this region is called the Turquoise Coast because of the beautiful colour of the Indian Ocean. The only drawback is that it seems very windy and would be scorching in summer. One of the craggy leathery locals said “you just have to get used to the wind” - and a wrinkly sun-damaged skin too, we thought to ourselves.
Our stop for the night was in Geraldton where we took great delight in staying in a Top Tourist campsite that said ‘Dogs not allowed’, just so that we could see what we had been missing all these months of travelling with dogs. Not much it seems, this one was OK but all campsites are similar with just a very few diamonds that you find by accident sometimes. We had a little walk before dinner along the city beach and Paul was delighted to see a real oil ring all lit up very close to the harbour. It was quite a sight looking like something out of a Mad Max movie.
The weather was still warm but very windy and our eyes and noses felt scratchy and itchy the next morning as we drove towards the Kalbarri National Park. We stopped briefly at Northampton and then left the North-West Highway and took the scenic coastal road to Port Gregory and Kalbarri. This road wound through rolling hills and dry grazing land before merging with the coastal dunes and then suddenly we came across the Pink Lake. It took my breath away and looked even pinker because I had on Polaroid sunglasses! The colour of the lake is due to a bacteria (Dunaliella salina) trapped in the salt granules – this provides a rich source of Beta Carotene which is actually harvested from ponds around the edge.
We stopped at Port Gregory for lunch and a short walk along the beach and jetty. It has a natural harbour surrounded by a 5km exposed reef. The town was the original shipping port for the region’s lead mines and we had a chat with a local fisherman who had just hauled in a net of Mullet by hand and was de-scaling and loading his catch onto his old Ute. What a messy job.
On we drove and the road took us into the hills and through the National Park with glimpses of Kalbarri and the Murchison River in the distance. There were wild flowers along the road edge as we descended into the town of Kalbarri and booked into a nice grassy and shady caravan park right on the water’s edge. Nice as the campsite was, we had wanted to free camp that night, but the area was totally devoid of rest areas where we could stop overnight. They (whoever ‘they’ are!) have done a good job of funnelling tourists into paying sites – oh well. The weather was really hot and we felt ready for a rest - we have come to realise that our little brains are being very over-stimulated each and every day on this adventure. Sometimes we long to get back to a boring routine – even for a few hours, just to give us a break from too much sensory input!!
The next day we back-tracked a little and visited Rainbow Jungle, regarded as one of Australia’s most beautiful parrot habitats. And it lived up to its name with wonderful huge aviaries of exotic and sometimes rare species of mostly Australian parrots. We spent ages there chatting to the talking ones and photographing the confident ones. Normally we don’t like to see birds in cages, but these had a grand life and many were part of breeding programs to save endangered species. Then we visited one of the coastal cliffs called Red Bluff, named by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697. Of course the cliffs here were red with many little rock pools and Paul discovered a medium sized Octopus in one warm pool that I was standing in and I made a hasty exit. As we drove along the coast I spotted a whale frolicking just off shore and we pulled over for a look.
As we travelled through the Kalbarri National Park along the Ajana Kalbarri Road we stopped at Hawkes Head and Ross Graham lookouts to admire the river gorges. The temperature was now at 39 degrees and the flies were out in their thousands, so we didn’t stop long, There was lightening and a few large drops of rain, and the humidity was oppressive as we drove along to rejoin the North West Coastal Highway – thank goodness for air-conditioning in the van.
We stopped the night at a large free rest area off the highway along with about 5 other vans and gradually the temperature dropped a little, the flies went to sleep and we could sit outside under the stars and breathe the cooler air. Later we had salad and peanut M&Ms and watched two old Dad’s Army episodes on my laptop which was a lot of fun. We are lucky to have 4 big batteries that recharge as we drive, along with solar panels on the roof and an inverter, so our computers, lights etc can still work off power. And we are very pleased not to have bothered with a generator, which is just noisy, smelly and heavy. Paul in particular gets annoyed when we are in a rest area enjoying the peace of an evening and someone starts up their generator. It does rather spoil the ambiance.
We did a final run the next morning into the famous Shark Bay World Heritage Area. The first recorded white man to arrive on Australian soil at Cape Inscription (part of Shark Bay) was the Dutch trading-ship Captain Dirk Hartog in 1616 – 152 years before Captain Cook. It’s surprising that Australia isn’t a Dutch Colony when you think about it. Shark Bay is so significant in its natural beauty that it earnt a prestigious World Heritage listing in 1991.
In a nutshell Shark Bay supports hundreds of unique species of plants and animals because of its hypersaline marine environment. It has a hot climate and shallow waters with high evaporation rates. 400,000 hectares of Seagrass banks maintain the hypersalinity by restricting tidal flows in and out of the shallow bays. So there are many extraordinary sights to see such as Shell Beach, a large Dugong population and the amazing Stromatolites. More on each of these to follow...
Our first stop in the park was to walk along a boardwalk to see the very rare Stromatolites (one of only two places in the world) in Hamlin Pool. These are living fossils composed of Cyanobacteria, a salt-tolerant organism and the first life forms to appear on earth 3,500 million years ago. They grow in colonies and trap sediments with mucous to form great reef- like structures in the water. This was an example of a major stage in the Earth’s evolutionary history – and we felt very privileged to be able to actually see and read all about it.
We went a little further on to Shell Beach. This beach is made up of trillions of one tiny shell called the Hamelin Cockle, prolific because of the super salty water. The shells are up to 10 metres deep on the beach which is 1km wide and many kilometres long. In some selected areas the shells have been mined, cut into blocks and used as bricks. The weather was still stinking hot and the white shells were almost too bright for our sunglasses – so we decided to have a swim. The only problem was that the crystal clear and very salty water was so shallow we couldn’t get out beyond our knees. So much for a cooling swim!
It was time for a late lunch and a siesta so we went on to the town of Denham, once an important pearling town and now a tourism and fishing town. The heat and humidity had been building again, the clouds were rolling in and the lightning growing stronger and by the late afternoon there was a tremendous tropical storm. Fortunately we were settled in the campsite on the beach by then and catching up with emails and some of our washing.
We were up very early the next day to get to Monkey Mia. We jumped out of the van and rushed to the part of the shoreline designated as the meeting place to see the wild dolphins being fed by hand. There were five dolphins visiting who each received a couple of fish while we paddled in the water and they swam around. It was quite crowded and the rangers were careful not to allow people to touch them or stand further in the water than knee deep. We had to keep reminding ourselves that these are wild dolphins and after their treat, they have to feed and fend for themselves in the waters of Shark Bay.
We had breakfast in the van and at 10.30am went aboard the catamaran ‘Aristocat 2’ for a three hour wildlife cruise. We firstly sailed over to a pontoon from which a ‘family owned’ pearling operation is run and we were given a talk on how the special ‘black’ pearls are grown. We were amazed at the complexity and skill of the whole process - which is much, much more than just “seeding” an oyster.
Once back on the catamaran, we saw lots more dolphins playing in the bow-waves, along with some very shy dugongs which lay around in the water and then dived when they saw the boat. They have a face only a mother could love and all seemed quite sleepy until they noticed us. Apparently, like dolphins, they sleep one half at a time ie one eye closed and one half of their brain asleep at any one time. Then they switch to the other side – peculiar eh? They need to eat 75kg of sea grass per day which seems an amazing amount and so are also called ‘sea cows’.
Another highlight was seeing a hammerhead shark which came alongside the boat and eyed up the tasty children having fun riding in the boom net. Sadly the children were quickly brought back onto the safety of the deck...
We stopped off at Little Lagoon for lunch and ended up back at Denham for our last evening at Shark Bay World Heritage Area. Paul ducked in for a swim before dinner while I caught up with the blog - the Internet connection was very good.
We made it back to our previous campsite spot in Belair Gardens, Geraldton and saw few sights in the city. In particular the museum was fabulous, especially the Shipwrecks Gallery which told the story of four great Dutch shipwrecks including the famous Batavia and mutiny in 1629. We also visited the HMAS Sydney II Memorial to commemorate the ship lost with all 645 hands off the coast of Shark Bay in 1941 after being destroyed by the German raider Kormoran. The memorial is a half dome covered with 645 bird silhouettes. Just a few steps away stands a bronze figure of a woman looking out to see, grieving for her loved one lost at sea.
That evening we went to a fund raising comedy show at the Bootenal Family Tavern and had a late night as we waited for the free bus service to and from town. But it was a good show and we enjoyed it.
We walked to the fishing harbour the next morning to see the Blessing of the Fleet which marks the start of the Crayfish season. A priest blessed the fishing boats as they sailed past and there were market stalls to wander around.
We also visited the Central Greenough Historic Settlement a few miles south of Gerladton, which was magnificent. The area was occupied in the 1850’s and was a thriving hub as a pioneer farming settlement. 11 historic buildings have been restored and we wandered in and out of all of them for a couple of hours. It was a real step back in time to see the church, school, monastery and houses of the locals of that era and learn about how they worked and entertained themselves with no TV, computers, internet etc!
Finally we jumped back in the van and drove the 480 kms back to Perth, listening to The Butterfly Man being read on audio CD to while away the time. It had been an exceptionally busy week and we were pretty exhousted. Perhaps we need a holiday from the holiday?
To see some photos, click here (open in new window)
