Category: April 2018

Col and I headed to Lucky Bay to try some beach fishing.  Kalbarri has a Lucky Bay as well as Esperance.  As it turns out, we weren’t very lucky.  It was a very windy day which didn’t help our cause.  Something was nibbling at our bait but not taking the hook, so we just fed the fish that day.  I did accidentally catch a seagull at one point!  The birds were hanging around trying to get our bait and when you cast into the water a group of birds would dive to try and steal your bait.  One bird got tangled up in the line and luckily not the hook.  Very thankful that Col knew what to do, as I was in new territory with a bird on my line as I reeled it in.  Col held the bird (needless to say the bird was not impressed with this and kept trying to bite Col), I went running up the beach to find scissors but we were actually able to untangle it and set him free.  I was relieved to see him fly away as I was worried he might have hurt his wing in the ordeal.  Neither of us felt like seagull for dinner!

It was a beautiful spot.  We were fishing in a section that had a reef running around the edge and really protected the water.  Would have been a good place to snorkel and swim on a clear day.  It looked like a waterfall over the rocks everytime a wave crashed over them.

There is a great camping spot at Lucky Bay – new facilities, Eco Toilets, shaded areas with picnic tables, fire pits and HUGE camping area right near the beach.  You could almost have your own private ensuite there are so many toilets and camping spots.  It does get windy and there is not a huge amount of protection from this, but still a really good camping spot and affordable.  $15 per person per night.  Dump point, toilets but no water or camp kitchen.

Col thinks it is a ridiculously good fishing beach, surf beach and a protected area you could swim and snorkel.  You can drive your car down onto the beach.  There are also huge sand dunes for 4WD.  I was surprised at how warm the water was too.

After feeding the fish and having no luck, we decided to go for a drive and check out out ‘Pot Alley’.  We were curious what would be at the end.  There were beautiful cliffs and a small beach area.  A lot of fishing potential too.

From there we headed to Red Bluff Beach as we could see heaps of surfers out on the water.  There were so many people there surfing or watching and we stayed a while.  It was great to watch them.

There were barrel waves really close to the shore as well and a few surfers were waiting there and catching them.  The rocks were making me nervous!

Later when we had returned to camp, I was heading over to the toilet (I seem to have a lot of toilet stories!).  I noticed these little guys.  Possibly the hairiest caterpillers I have ever seen.  There were quite a few of them and they made me laugh.  You have heard of the ‘Very Hungry Caterpiller’, and now you know of the ‘Very Hairy Caterpiller’

The decision was made to go and explore the Kalbarri National Park Gorge walks, so we headed off early to check these out.  We decided on the River Walk at the Z Bend of the Murchison River.  Wow.  Such a beautiful and challenging walk.  It was only 2.5km return, but over steep rocky terrain, which made it challenging.  You are climbing rocks and stairs, so if your knees are bad, I wouldn’t recommend this walk.  For everyone else, seriously add this to your list!  It takes approximately 45  minutes to an hour to navigate.  That is including stopping for photos.  Some of the photos below are to try and give you an idea of the trail and the steepness, but this is hard to show in a photo.  The challenge of the walk was fun, it was not too strenuous, I think it looked worse than it felt.

Continue reading “Day 86 – 9th April 2018 – Kalbarri”

We packed up camp at Geraldton and did the 2 hour drive to Kalbarri without incident and enjoyed the drive.  We decided to stay at the ‘Big River Horse Ranch’, which is a property that has horses (surprise, surprise!), and they have a camp ground area at the back of the property.  It is only $15 per person/per night, which is a good price for Kalbarri.  We are really happy with the property and the choice.  It would be a great place to stay with kids too.  It has toilets, showers, pool, playground, camp kitchen, communal fire pit and laundry facilities.

There are two grass strips that people can camp on or a large dirt area with some mats on the ground for bigger rigs.

You can go horse riding here if you want to.  We were speaking with a lovely couple camped next to us and she had gone on one of the trail rides where they go cross the Murchison River, walk across the sand dunes and down onto the beach.  The ride goes for 2 hours and is about $120 pp.  It is a pity we have to be on a budget, both time and money.  There are an unlimited number of great things available to do.  Hard to pick and choose.

Col and I had long discussions about the fantastic job opportunity that Brad Guelfi made for Col to stay in Fremantle and assist him with some work with the hospital equipment.  We were torn about the decision, but at the end of the day we feel we have committed to Giralia Station and don’t want to go back on this and burn any bridges and it is also in line with the type of experience we were hoping to have on this trip.  So we called Raegan to explain and she was understanding and supportive of us continuing the adventure.  Giralia here we come.

We went for a bit of a drive around Kalbarri and we were both surprised at how big it was and how beautiful it is.  It is situated on the Murchison River where it meets the beach.  There are so many natural sandstone formations along the coast and in the National Parks that are beautiful and worth visiting.  The cliffs along the coast are stunning.

It seems to be that the weather is pretty good in the morning but then the wind gets up in the afternoon, and this is a regular thing along the Northern WA Coast.  So if you do come this way, plan your activities in the mornings as the afternoons are likely to be windy.

We went exploring around Geraldton today, and both Col and I were surprised by how big it is.  It is a really pretty spot.  If we were staying longer we would head out to the Abrolhos Islands, but won’t have time this trip unfortunately.

We did a bit of a drive along the foreshore, stopping first to check out the Geraldton Marina.

Not a bad spot if you have to do a patrol!

We stopped for lunch at a funky little beach shack called the ‘Jaffle Shack’.  When you first walk in there is a wall of little money safes with a key on a wrist band.  These are for swimmers to put their personal belongings in while in the water, what a great idea!

In the evening we received a very tempting offer from a friend of the Howards for 3 months work to stay in Fremantle.  We have been really torn about this, as the money would be great and we loved Fremantle and hanging out with the Howards.  We also feel that we have committed to Giralia Station and this is more in line with the vision and experience we had for this trip.  We are going to sit on this idea and process it and confirm tomorrow.

We packed up the camp at the Banksia Reserve, which didn’t take very long as we had only stayed the one night.  We then drove into Geraldton and decided to stay at the Batavia Coast Caravan Park as this was the cheapest powered site option near Geraldton.  The Park is run by a lovely Asian family who have travelled around Australia in a van themselves.  He was very supportive of what we were doing.  The facilities are fairly old but clean and we have a big rig site, so plenty of room for our cars, van and boat.

We set up camp and did some washing and cleaning but just stayed around the park and took it easy.

We have applied and been accepted for a postion as ‘Bush Camp Hosts’ at Giralia Station which is situated up North about an hour and a half from Exmouth and the Coral Reef.  We clean the ablution block and light a communal camp fire in the evening, in exchange for free accommodation, power and water.  During the day we can go snorkelling, fishing and crabbing and it looks like an amazing part of the world.  We have organised two weeks to get there and we will then stay for four weeks.  So if you want to come and visit and say hi, please do

Facebook Giralia Station

Website Giralia Station

Not far from the beautiful Coral Beach where you can swim with the Whale Sharks and only a 3 to 4 hour drive to Karinjini Gorge!

Karen – I will have a whole month to try and make your famous golden syrup damper and baked bananas!!!  Will be sure to provide a review.  We expect to arrive at Giralia on the 19th April and stay until mid May, then on to Broome.

There are a few places we wanted to stop between Geraldton and Giralia which is why we are taking the two weeks to get there.  Really looking forward to the new experience.

The final pack up went smoothly and we said our goodbyes to the Howards.  Maya was threatening to puncture our tyres so we couldn’t leave which made us all laugh.  We promise to be back again!

We were on the road by 09.30am and the drive to Cervantes was good.  We went straight to the Nambung National Park to see the Pinnacles.  Our yearly passes to the WA National Parks covered the entrance fees and they have parking for Caravans and Trailers.  You cannot take them on the driving loop, but you can unhitch and leave them there in the park.  So we unhitched Col’s car and drove the loop around the Pinnacles drive, stopping to get out and walk at different spots on the drive.

There was a bride and groom there having their photos done for their wedding, and I expect that the photos would have been spectacular.

As always the photos do not do the place justice.  It was mind boggling just how big it was and how many limestone pinnacles are scattered about.  Really crazy.  I first saw this on a show that Billy Connolly did, as part of his ‘World Tour of Australia’ series, where he ran naked around the Pinnacles.  Neither Col nor I reenacted this scene.  Would have been funny though.

We then headed off to set up camp in Cervantes at the Banksia Reserve Free Camp spot.  There are no toilets or water here so you need to be self sufficient, but we found it to be quite good as far as free camps go.  We are only staying the one night then heading to Geraldton in the morning.

As today was our last day in Fremantle we had to do a reasonably big pack up.  It’s amazing how much stuff you have, even when you have minimised it living in a Caravan!  We had hoped to get to the Maritime Museum but time evaporated and the day was spent getting organised.

We have loved staying with the Howards and really appreciate your generosity and hospitality.  Was so lovely getting to know the kids too.  Thanks so much for having us, we will miss you guys! Continue reading “Day 81 – 4th April 2018 – Fremantle”

As we are coming to the last days in Fremantle, we decided to do some Tourist visits and settled on the Fremantle Prison.  The cost is $21 per adult for one of their 3 tours that last an hour and a quarter.  You can do a tour of the tunnels beneath the Prison but that is more expensive.  I would have liked to do the ‘True Crimes’ tour that shares a bit about the people that were imprisoned there, but we decided to try our luck and see what the next tour was when we arrived.  It was the ‘Behind Bars’ tour, which delves into the history of the Prison as a Maximum Security Prison from 1887 to 1991.  You get to walk through the Prison and Excercise Yards and get a bit of an understanding of the daily life for the Prisoners.  Very, very interesting.  I love this kind of thing.  It is challenging and shocking as well and really makes you value your life and your freedom, that is for sure.

It was bad conditions for people living there in 1887, but trying to grasp that it was still running like this in 1991 is truly shocking.  It really was basic and primitive.

They had built a new cell block in 1907 – so although it is called ‘New Division’, it really did not feel new.  It was very strange to learn that they rent cells out in the New Cell Block as offices!  It had such an awful atmosphere in there and was cold and hard, I just can’t imagine paying to work out of one of the tiny cold cement cells.  I kind of get it if they did it all up, but it still felt like a prison from 1907.

The Women’s excercise area was really small, they had a short walking area only and they only let one woman out at a time.  So different to the communal areas for men that had sport equipment, basketball, tennis and even TV available.  Not sure why it was so different for the women.  Not saying that the men’s recreational areas were particularly nice, but still way better.  Many of the women were arrested just for being drunk or using offensive language (kind of glad I didn’t live in those times or I might have been one of the Women we learnt about on the Tour)!  The Women’s Division closed at Fremantle in 1970 and Female Prisoners were moved to a new facility at Bandyup.  I just can’t believe that Women were living in those cells and had no recreational yard, and no communal area right up until 1970.  Crazy and sad.

I liked seeing some of the artwork that the Prisoners did on the walls of some of the cells as well as in the Exercise Yards.

Another shocking fact, was they tried to introduce chemical port-a-loos into the cells in the 70s but this only lasted a couple of days, as the inmates worked out that the chemicals were alcohol based and started drinking the chemical out of the toilets!!!!!!!!!!!   Ewwwwwwwwwww.  So they went back to using the buckets.

Afterwards I sat and watched a movie made in 1991 of the daily lives of the Prisoners.  It was really fascinating to see the Prison runnning and the places we had just walked through in use.  But so bizarre.  Walking through the Prison it felt like it was from the olden days, I just couldn’t believe it still housed people in 1991, but the facilities felt like they belonged in the early 1900s!!

Really sad to see how people lived and I am very thankful not to have had to experience it personally.  Certainly makes you appreciate your life and your freedom.  But a very interesting tour none-the-less.  If you go, it is definitely worth sitting in the ‘Visitor Area’ and watching the video they have running after you finish your tour.  It really puts into perspective seeing all those areas in use by the Prisoners in 1991.

In the evening we went for a drive to a pizza place at a place called ‘Little C’s’ in Sorrento, at the Sorrento Quay Hillarys Boat Harbour.  On the way there we stopped to look at a beautiful new Beach Pool that has been built in Scarborough and it is beautiful.  Also really reasonably priced.

We got to Little C’s, and the Pizzas were great and you can sit outside overlooking the water.  They had a huge selection and some really different options.  As Raegan’s family are Gluten intolerant, we ate Gluten Free Pizzas and the base was really yummy.  One of the unusual choices we tried was a Teryaki Chicken, Dill Pickle, Sesame and Japanese Mayo – so yummy.  But they had a huge choice, great Vegetarian selection, including a halloumi pizza, you could also get Vegan cheese, so they cater for everyone.  They also do some really yummy and unusual dessert pizzas too.

My second Cousin Matt Durdin and his partner Kym O’Dwyer, who we stayed with in Mandurah, headed into Perth for the Easter Weekend.  We organised to catch up in Fremantle for brunch.  It was a great atmosphere down there, as they had closed off the Market Street and had live music and a marching band and lots of little pop up bars and restaurants.  We sat outside a Cafe and ate good food, drank good coffee and soaked up the atmosphere and the beautiful weather.  Luckily Kym had her Sunnies this time, so she didn’t need to engage the services of her friend to photo-shop them in.

Continue reading “Day 79 – 2nd April 2018 – Fremantle”

Unbelievably we have lost the Annex once more.  I am so angry and upset, but someone has stolen it off the roof of the car.  I told Col not to put it up there, that we had to keep it locked up after our last experience, but he thought it would be fine.  So devastated and angry with ourselves.  Nah only joking, April Fools.  We have the Annex safe and sound.  I couldn’t help myself.

Everyone was moving a little slowly on Easter Sunday after the big Saturday night, so we had a fairly chilled out start to the day.  In the afternoon Raegan packed an amazing picnic and we headed to the Fremantle War Memorial park.  A beautiful park with amazing views.

Continue reading “Day 78 – 1st April 2018 – Fremantle”