It took two days of comfortable travelling to reach Exmouth from Karratha with an overnight stopover at the Nanutarra Roadhouse which is on the Ashburton River (mostly dry at present).
Exmouth is a tidy little town with a reasonable shopping centre. The Big 4 is a pleasant park with well appointed ensuite sites. There are a variety of van parks available right down the west coast of the peninsula though we did hear that the midges/sand flies had a feast day down there.
There is plenty to explore. The naval station has a vast array of towers and cables which cover an area of at least 5sq km. There are a great many beaches and access roads down to them (even a "clothing optional" one) but mostly they have rocky sections and the sand is not the squeeky white of NSW coastal areas. All the beaches do lend themselves to walking and the water is quite warm. Rob actually fished and caught 4 sand whiting which were delicious.
Ningaloo Reef seems to surround the peninsula and is close to the shore - a snorkeler's paradise. This time of year the winds are very strong so we did not get the opportunity to go out on the glass bottomed boat, but such is life.
We explored the Cape Range National Park via an organised 4WD tour to see the local wildflowers. It was a fascinating adventure driving through deep red sand dunes looking for and finding flowers of the region. There were not the hillsides covered in colour but we did see plenty from "orange" violets to various grevilleas, the most prolific being the lilac mulla mulla. We also had not realised that the Sturt Dessert Pea had a red and a white domed variety as well as the usually portrayed black centre.
The marina here caters for the prawn trawlers belonging to the Kailis fisheries (who sell prawns at $14/Kg). There is also substantial construction being undertaken around the Novotel holiday resort. It looks as though they are building premises with boat ramps at the bottom of the garden similar to the Gold Coast canal developments.
We took a drive along the sealed road down the west coast where there is an Osprey sanctuary and a turtle sanctuary. The view from the Vlamingh Lighthouse was quite breathtaking with the blue of the ocean, broken by the white waves breaking over the reef and the red sand dunes behind covered in low scrub. We even saw three whales lazily heading south.
The weather has been clear and dry hovering around 31C but very windy. We must be getting acclimatised as they days do not seem to be as hot as 31C used to feel. The last time we saw rain was in Alice Springs almost 3.1/2 months ago.
The next leg or our journey is to Carnarvon which is 360Km south of here and looking at the weather maps we can expect the maximum temperatures to drop down to around 25C - Rob is talking about digging out the electric blanket!!!
There was some excitement at the park this morning - we still have not found out the full story but the park was locked down this morning until about 9.30 and police cars are still around one of the amenities blocks - we gather there may have been some paedophile activity but this is only about third hand so we will wait and see.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Start of the Pilbara
We left Broome on Monday morning and as usual travelled comfortably for about 3 hours with stops for tea etc. and stayed the night at Sandfire Roadhouse. Not very exciting but it did have hote showers to wash off the hot weather. In retrospect the Van park at Pardoo would have been a much more attractive proposition but it was another 150 Kms and did not have peacocks (even pure white ones)strutting around.
The next day took us to Port Hedland which was certainly not an inspiring location - lots of red dust and predominantly fibro houses. The one thing that was impressive were the mountains of salt waiting to be loaded at the wharf as well as the pondages of salt water evaporating.
Onwards to Karratha with the purplish br own hills of iron ore - a very different toning than those seen in the Kimberley. Karrathat is a prosperous town, housing mainly brick and construction going on all over the place. The local paper advertises 4 bedroom house for rent at $1800 per week - and we thought Canberra was expensive!!
Whilst here we visited the first settlement in the Pilbara - Cossack. Sitting on the wharf looking out to sea we joined the rest of the family at least in our thoughts
The next day took us to Port Hedland which was certainly not an inspiring location - lots of red dust and predominantly fibro houses. The one thing that was impressive were the mountains of salt waiting to be loaded at the wharf as well as the pondages of salt water evaporating.
Onwards to Karratha with the purplish br own hills of iron ore - a very different toning than those seen in the Kimberley. Karrathat is a prosperous town, housing mainly brick and construction going on all over the place. The local paper advertises 4 bedroom house for rent at $1800 per week - and we thought Canberra was expensive!!
Whilst here we visited the first settlement in the Pilbara - Cossack. Sitting on the wharf looking out to sea we joined the rest of the family at least in our thoughts
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Broome
Compared to Derby, Broome is a thriving metropolis with a population of 12/14000 (average 50K during the tourist season). The main runway bisects the town and aircraft landing do so over the main shopping centre.
We arrived on Friday 31st August after an easy drive from Derby and were set up as usual by lunch time. The weekend was spent exploring, particularly Cable Beach were the sea is aquamarine and has the temperature of warm tea!! we might even go in for a swim as they tell us there are no Bluebottles at this time!
Sunday morning we walked a kilometre out on the sand flats at Roebuck Bay. It was a negative low tide and at this time of the month you can see the remains of three Catalina flying boats that were bombed by the Japanese in 1942, Broome's one day brush with WW2. Later in the day the Broome Pearl Festival got into full swing with a street parade and evening Mardi Gras. We also watched the Dragon boat races off the town beach.
As the car was being serviced on Tuesday we had booked to go on a Pearl Farm Tour at Willie Creek (see photos) Most enjoyable as well as educational
We had a Slipper Lobster lunch today at the Wharf restaurant. They look like large Balmain Bugs, Yummie!!! so swimming every day has been our attempt at exercise as the pool in the park is delightful.
We arrived on Friday 31st August after an easy drive from Derby and were set up as usual by lunch time. The weekend was spent exploring, particularly Cable Beach were the sea is aquamarine and has the temperature of warm tea!! we might even go in for a swim as they tell us there are no Bluebottles at this time!
Sunday morning we walked a kilometre out on the sand flats at Roebuck Bay. It was a negative low tide and at this time of the month you can see the remains of three Catalina flying boats that were bombed by the Japanese in 1942, Broome's one day brush with WW2. Later in the day the Broome Pearl Festival got into full swing with a street parade and evening Mardi Gras. We also watched the Dragon boat races off the town beach.
As the car was being serviced on Tuesday we had booked to go on a Pearl Farm Tour at Willie Creek (see photos) Most enjoyable as well as educational
We had a Slipper Lobster lunch today at the Wharf restaurant. They look like large Balmain Bugs, Yummie!!! so swimming every day has been our attempt at exercise as the pool in the park is delightful.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Windjana and Tunnel Creek
About ten years ago I received a cd called "Windjana" very nice mood music and The Gorge has since then been high on my list of "want to do's". On Monday we got that opportunity. We left at 8.30 in a 4wd bus with nine other like minded souls for a day trip down the Gibb Road- well 140km of it!! The gravel section after 60km of tar was very rough with bad corrugations, not suprising as it takes a battering from myriads of 4wd camper trailer towing tourists.
We had morning tea on arrival at Windjana then walked along the shady banks of the Lennard River into the Gorge. It was a wide break in the 300 million year old Devonian Reef with plenty of fossils to see in the limestone walls. Fresh water Crocs abounded on the waters edge totally ignoring the tourists. Although Windjana is the same reef that makes up Geikie Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing, it is much larger and certainly has more imposing cliff faces.
After lunch we travelled on to Tunnel Creek National Park and prepared to go underground, following the path of the submerged river. The footing wasn't brilliant as it involved rock scrambling and wading knee deep in water. However the effort was worthwhile. The walk was 750m each way and without torches could have been dangerous. Some of the rock features were quite brilliantly patterned, especially at the swimming hole end.
We did question whether we should go and see "another Bxxxxx Gorge" but we were pleased we did, as each one has been different.
The rest of the week was taken up with some serious relaxing, walking through the Botanical trail and wetlands before leaving Derby on Friday morning for a 220km drive to Broome.
We had morning tea on arrival at Windjana then walked along the shady banks of the Lennard River into the Gorge. It was a wide break in the 300 million year old Devonian Reef with plenty of fossils to see in the limestone walls. Fresh water Crocs abounded on the waters edge totally ignoring the tourists. Although Windjana is the same reef that makes up Geikie Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing, it is much larger and certainly has more imposing cliff faces.
After lunch we travelled on to Tunnel Creek National Park and prepared to go underground, following the path of the submerged river. The footing wasn't brilliant as it involved rock scrambling and wading knee deep in water. However the effort was worthwhile. The walk was 750m each way and without torches could have been dangerous. Some of the rock features were quite brilliantly patterned, especially at the swimming hole end.
We did question whether we should go and see "another Bxxxxx Gorge" but we were pleased we did, as each one has been different.
The rest of the week was taken up with some serious relaxing, walking through the Botanical trail and wetlands before leaving Derby on Friday morning for a 220km drive to Broome.
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