Day 84 to Day 89

Day 84 October 22 Wednesday
Left the wayside park and headed towards Perth. Got onto hwy 1 and wound my way to the bridge over the Swan R. into downtown Perth. The van engine started missing terribly and no good place to pull over. Managed to get to Kings Park. Checked the engine and found one of the spark plug wires at the distributer was off. Plugged it back in and all was well. Must have been bumped by the man who did the oil change. Walked around the lookouts and botanical garden and it started to get hot and humid. Went to Fremantle, and older city where prisoners were brought in to Australia. Found an internet café who gave away free WiFi when you bought a sandwich. After lunch headed south on hwy 1 to Mandurah about an hours drive south of Fremantle. Spent the night at Belvedere Caravan Park space 74. Started raining a little after I left Fremantle. At least it is cool.
Day 85 October 23 Thursday
Rained last night and some this morning. Left Mandurah and headed south on Hwy 1. Turned on the Preston Beach Road to Yalgorup NP. Went to find the black swans which involved a 6 km hike to a lake that were suppose to be there in large number. Saw only a few across the lake. Drove to the beach and saw some swans closer to the road in a different lake. Ate lunch on the beach. Headed south again to Binningup to a campground to spend the night.

Day 86 October 24 Friday
Left the campground and went the back way to Bunbury. From Bunbury headed south on Hwy 1 to Tuart Forest National Park. There are some big karri trees there and what looked like a pine too. Some trees were suppose to be 300-400 years old. Continued on to Busselton where there

is a pier, they call it a jetty, that extends 1841 meters into Geographe Bay. That is a little over a mile. Problem today was that the wind was blowing steady 24 knots with gusts of 30, The underwater aquarium at the end was shut down because of poor vision. I walked the pier to the end anyway. Decided to spend the night here at Kookaburra Caravan park. Rain squalls with the wind all day long. Am I back home in WA?

Day 87 October 25 Ssturday

Headed to Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP to the lighthouse and the overlook. Saw some whales and according to the chart they looked like blue whales. Stopped to see Ngilgi caves. They are semi-guided which means they take you in, talk about things, and then you are on your own. Very pretty limestone caves. They gave me the senior discount which they normally do not do since I am not Australian. Went to other places along the coast. The road went through karri forest which are big tress. I decided to take a narrow dirt road through the forest and after I got in a ways there were a lot of cars with people who were dressed up in fancy clothes. Some with tuxedos. They turned down a narrow road. Assumed it to be a wedding amongst the karri trees. Went through Agusta all the way to Cape Leeuwin which has the tallest lighthouse in Australia. Left there and spend the night at a wayside park.

Day 88 October 26 Sunday
Left the wayside park early and headed off to Beelelup NP to the water falls. Walked a suspension bridge but the falls were not spectacular. Further down the road were two special karri trees, one which had been painted by an artint in the mid-1800 and the other was the Bicentenial tree. It was made like an original fire lookout tree. It had rebar steps spiraling around all the way to the top lookout. I did not go up. Stopped by The Cascades which is close to Pemberton. Pretty spot. Then on to Cape D’Entrecasteaux NP and it’s beach and lookouts. Saw a few more whales. There were wind warning I heard on the radio but the wind was not as bad as yesterday. Stopped for the night at Shannon NP campground. A very pretty spot amongst the trees.

Day 89 October 26 Monday
Left Shannon and headed East on hwy 1 to Valley of the Giants, Tree Top Walk, in the Walpole Wilderness. They built a walk that goes to 40 meters (120 feet) above the ground so you can be in the tree tops of the tingle forest ( a big eucalyptus up to 240 feet tall). It was not scarry but did sway enough to be unnerving for me and hard to get pictures without holding on. I actually went around twice. These trees are bigger than the karri (also eucalyptus) I had seen earlier. This whole area is forest land. Next went to Parry Beach and met two older couples who are walking the Bibbulman Track from Perth to Albany a distance of around 960 km. They have been hiking for 7 weeks and have a week to go. Whew. Huts though every 20 km or so. Stopped by William Bay NP to see the Green Pool which is a bay sheltered by rocks. Spend the night at West Cape Howe NP which is the furtherest point south in Australia. sway enough to be unnerving for me and hard to get pictures without holding on. I actually went around twice. These trees are bigger than the karri (also eucalyptus) I had seen earlier. This whole area is forest land. Next went to Parry Beach and met two older couples who are walking the Bibbulman Track from Perth to Albany a distance of around 960 km. They have been hiking for 7 weeks and have a week to go. Whew. Huts though every 20 km or so. Stopped by William Bay NP to see the Green Pool which is a bay sheltered by rocks. Spend the night at West Cape Howe NP which is the furtherest point south in Australia.

Caravan, flora and fauna

Me with the van and top up. Lots of vents

Rear with kitchen stuff. 20 liters if water. Sink. portable stove, esky, and storage. Everything has its place as long as you can remember where it is.

Passenger side where I normally keep maps, camera and binocks, and drink handy.

Side door showing bed with storage down below. Lots of storage.

Black swans

Miner



Bee eater

Day 78 to day 83

Day 78 October 16 Thursday
Left Hamelin park and headed north to Denham and Monkey Mia. Along the way stopped at some overlooks and beaches. Denham is a small town and is the western most town in Australia. Went to Monkey Mia which is famous for being able to feed dolphins which come up to the beach. Turns out only a few people actually get to feed. I bypassed all that. The area is very pretty with nice beach and facilities. After Monkey Mia headed to Francois Peron NP which is the tip of the peninsula. I drove in 5 km to the Peron homestead which was a working sheep station. They had a hot tub fed by hot bore water. I went in for a bit. Felt good. Saw a big lizard (goanna) about a meter long. Was going to stay in Denham but drove back to Hamelin park to spend the night instead. Went to happy hour again. Fun talking to people from Finland and Germany.

Day 79 October 17 Friday
Left Hamelin and headed to hwy 1, saw the Koreans and picked them up and we drove to Kalbari NP. Went to several lookouts and then did two others traveling over 65 km of very corrugated roads. Nice views though. Went into the town of Kalbari and stayed at the Anchorage Caravan Park, space 3. Met some very crazy Australians who were a lot of fun. We went fishing off the jetty (dock) at 9 pm. I caught the first fish and as the token American I got a lot of crap. In fun of course. I ended up catching five, three of which were too small, less than 50 cm. Took one to eat. Went to bed late.

Where I caught the fish.

Day 80 October 18 Saturday
I and the Koreans went to some lookouts and beaches south of Kalbari in Kalbari NP. Lot of cliffs. Arrived in Geralton and went to a west end Belair Gardens caravan park. Very nice facilities and not very expensive. Some of the people we met last night are planning to take the Koreans to Perth sometime Sunday. At least that is the plan. I need to get the oil changed and will do that Monday.

This is a picture Korean style.

Day 81 October 19 Sunday
Had a leisure day. Near lunch time took the Korean lads to the information center where they thought it would be an easier place to be picked up. Went and got some money from an ATM and found the auto parts store and got the filter and oil for the van. Stopped at the lighthouse and a few beaches around town. Very warm today. No call from the Koreans so I assume they were picked up. Went to the local fish market on the waterfront and got some oysters for dinner. Stayed another night at Belair Gardens.

Day 8 2October 20 Monday
Went to several places about getting my oil changed. Most were later in the day or tomorrow. Found one and was out of town by 9:30. Headed south on hwy 1 for about 115 km and then took the coastal route to Namburg NP, aka The Pinnacles. Lots of sandstone columnar things. Very interesting. However there were billions, yes billions of flies around. Worst ever. Stopped in town of Cervantes, (named after a ship) and the town names were Spanish to buy some ice. Headed out of town to a rest ared to spend the night. Flies not as bad. Talked to some nice folks.

Day 83 October 21 Tuesday
Left the roadside park and headed to hwy1. Went south for a while and took the roads to New Norica. New Norica is a town owned by the Benedictine monks who settled there in the early 1800’s to found a school for aborigine children. Now there are only 8 monks there but they have 65 employees. Most of their excess money goes to charity. The abbot died two weeks ago so most of the normal activities are on hold. No morning meals with the monks (men only) and no “meet the monks” etc. Very nice museum and art gallery. Some of the art is from before 1800. Spent the night at a wayside park, about 90 km from Perth.

Day 74 to day 77

Day 74 October 12 Sunday
Left the wayside park with the Korean guys and drove to Exmouth. The Koreans decided to stay in town and maybe leave in the morning. I did a little shopping at the IGA and updated my blog at an internet café. I went to Cape Range National Park to Ned’s campground space 3. Only 8 spots total. Read a book most of the day. Very very windy. After dinner the neighbors invited me to their tent shelter with another couple and we chatted to 10 pm. Both couples had great stories about their relatives in areas that I have been through in Queensland and Northern Territory. Enjoyable day. Not too hot with the wind blowing.
Day 75 October 13 Monday
Drove down the coast of the park stopping at many of the beaches, walking in the water, had a swim, went for a short hike up into the hills. Windy but not too hot today. When I got back to the camp, read for a while, chatted with a plummer for a while and had a beer with him and his wife. There was a “cocktail hour” with most of the campers present so sat in with them for a while. Ate dinner and went back to the cocktail hour. Enjoyable quiet day.

How is this for a 4 wheel drive road?

Day 76 October 14 Tuesday
Said goodbye to the neighbors and headed back to Exmouth. Stopped by the turtle rookery and saw a few turtles playing in the surf. They are just starting to mate and lay eggs in the sand dunes. Saw a lot of emu’s in the park this morning. On the way out of Exmouth picked up the Korean guys again. I took them almost to Carnarvon as I decided to go to the blowholes and they wanted to continue south. The blowholes were neat. Water was being blasted up through the limestone about 30 meters (100 feet). Continued down the road to Quobba Station which is an active sheep ranch which has some sites available. Nice sunset and a rugged beach with big waves. Saw some whales spouting.

Day 77 October 15 Wednesday
Left the station and drove to Carnarvon and got gas and ice. Saw several groups of feral goats and more emu’s today. Headed south again on hwy 1 to Shark Bay, a world heritage site. Stopped for the night at Hamelin Caravan park space 14. Walked to the shore to look at the stromatolites in the sea at Hamlin pool. These were thought to be extinct 500 million years ago, from fossil records were found 3.5 billion years ago, and are cyanobacteria who attract sand and make these sculptures. These bacteria are thought to be responsible for the increase in oxygen which allowed for us air breathers to evolve. Also saw a quarry which harvested compacted shells for building. After dinner, many of the park residents headed up the hill to watch the sunset and talk. There were three couples from Holland.

Day 67 to day 73

Day 67 October 5 Sunday
After breakfast drove to Gantheaume Point in Broome which has a lighthouse, neat sandstone formations and 120 million year old dinosaur tracks visible at low tide. Headed over to the main jetty and walked out to the end. Went into town, the old China town district, but most everything was closed since it was Sunday. Did some grocery shopping at Woolworths and got petrol too. I stopped at Cable Beach and went for a swim in the Indian Ocean. At the caravan park went swimming in the pool and read a book the rest of the afternoon. At sunset, headed to Cable Beach to watch.. Nice day.

Day 68 October 6 Monday
Before leaving I went for a walk on the beach. People were already coming to spend the day at 8 am. Drove back to hwy 1 and then south to Sandfire Roadhouse where I filled up with petrol. Went 45 km more and turn down a 10km dirt road to the ocean and 80 Mile Beach Caravan

Park. No swimming as lots of sharks and maybe salties. Many people were fishing for salmon. Saw one and they look like a salmon type fish. They also have saltwater catfish too. Strange place here in OZ. Had fired chicken, pots, onions and carrots for dinner. Mmmmmm. After dinner went to watch another beautiful sunset.

Oystercatcher in foreground.

Day 69 October 7 Tuesday
After breakfast went for a walk on the beach. Talked for about an hour to a young couple from Seattle. We have seen each other at several parks along the way. They are touring prior to looking for teaching jobs after graduating from the U of W. Headed slowly to Port Hedland. The only reason for its existence is to ship 200 million tons of iron ore each year and lots of salt. Got my hair cut really short. Feels good. Spent the night at Port Hedland Caravan Park space 49.

My new hair cut. Like it? Cool.

Day 70 October 8 Wednesday
Headed south on hwy 1 for about 40 km, then took hwy 95 south to Karijini National Park. Picked up two Korean hitchhikers at the park entrance road and took them to the visitors center and then the campground. I got space 85. Only service is an outhouse. Had snacks then drove to the falls and overlook to see what to do in the morning when it is cooler. Rained over night some and nice and cool which was welcomed by me.

Day 71 October 9 Thursday
Got up early and had breakfast. Headed to Fortescue falls. Saw the Koreans and picked them up. They wanted to go to the campground on the other side of the park. Went to Fortescue falls, then Kalamina gorge, then Joffre falls and Knox overlook. Went to the campground and it was raining. The Koreans decided to sight see and then head out of the park. Wished them well. I got space 112 in the campground. Water, kitchen, showers available. Helped a family put up a tent in the rain. Nice after dinner. Cloudy but cooooool.

Day 72 October 10 Friday
Went to Weano Grorge area and Junction Pool lookout and Oxley lookout. This is where four gorges come together. Hiked down into Weano gorge and went one way for a half hour and was almost out of the gorge. Then headed back and on the way saw my first snake, about 2 meters in front of me and about 4 feet long. Black and shiny and assumed it was poisonous. Got back out of the gorge and drank another liter of water. Headed out of the park to Tom Price, a cute little town stayed at the caravan park there. Talked to an Irish lass and her guy friend she found in Darwin. We had seen each other several times along the way.

Day 73 October 11 Saturday
Left Tom Price after getting petrol and as always, ice. Drove south ro Paraburdoo, a mining town. There were the Koreans. They had been hitchhiking there for a whole day and no ride. Most travelers do not go that way. Gave them a lift for the day. After I stopped at a rest area they went out to the highway and tried getting a ride for two and a half hours. Will give them a ride to Exmouth in the morning. It was really hot today. Whew. Drinking lots of water Did I tell you it was hot today. Must have been at least 40 C.