Waterloo Station and a wonderful surprise!

Our next destination was a cattle stationu in the Northern Territory.  With a father who had spent his life working in the beef industry, I was extremely fortunate to be put in touch with Col and Alison, the owners of Waterloo Station.  Col had been a one time colleague of my old man, and had spent his working life dedicated to achieving his goal of owning a station in the Top End.  Col and Alison kindly invited us to come and stay a few days on their half million acre patch of the NT.

I have no experience of working with beef cattle, other than our four head on our hundred acre block at home.  It turns out that we had at least one thing in common with Waterloo.

We were greeted by fine looking Brahman cattle at the front gate

We pulled up at the homestead not sure what to expect.  We eventually deduced which building was the homestead and went to knock on the door, when who should appear but my parents!  I was completely taken aback.   Col and Alison had suggested that my parents should come and visit Waterloo at the same time as we did.  It was a complete and delightful ambush!

The magical Broome

With two good weeks since our last stay in civilisation (if you could call being stuck at Gascoyne Junction civilisation), it was time for us to settle down for a few days of being a tourist in a tourist town.  In fact we have been travelling reasonably hard since Easter, and it was time for a day or two of rest.  We arrived in Broome early in the morning, thankful our roadside camp the night before was only a couple of hours down the road. 

Boab trees in Broome 

We were struck by the warmth and the humidity, and for the first time it felt like we were truly in the tropics.  Jo felt at home, and I too was transported back to a younger time in my life.  It was a glorious feeling to be back in the balmy weather - kind of like running into an old friend you had lost touch with.  We were glad to have chosen to spend a few days here.

Several people we had met on the road didn't have much to say about Broome, which was surprising.  It all comes down to what you expect and want to achieve I guess.  We booked ourselves into a caravan park with a fantastic pool, and then hit the town!

Karijini and Tom Price - the heart of the Pilbara

Karijini National Park is an incredible place that is lucky to be still here.  Whilst its natural beauty is beyond question, its boundaries seem at the whim of mining interests, and have changed many times.  It could still be at risk of being mined - so the bottom line is get here while you can!

The Pilbara's story is as old as time.  As the stromatolites slowly released oxygen into the oceans some 3 billion years ago, the earth's atmosphere started to change.  Large quantities of iron in the water essentially rusted - and settled on the sea bed.  

Move the clock foward to the present day, and the rock is now part of Australia.  Humic acid from decaying rainforest vegetation has leeched the iron from the upper levels of the soil, concentrating it at greater depths.  In these depths, the iron bearing rock can be as much as 60 percent iron - an incredibly high yeild - and a clue to the economic importance of this region.

Hamersley Gorge

Over the past few million years, gorges have been carved into the old sea beds, creating natural rock pools of incredible beauty.  In fact the whole landscape is incredibly beautiful, and as we have explored it, many times we have not taken a photo beacuse there is no way of capturing the magnitude, beauty or scale of the magnificent vistas.  You simply must come here and see it for yourselves.

Our first stop on the drive down from Millstream Chichester was the Hamersley Gorge.  There was only one other vehicle in the carpark - a bus - meaning that if we were prepared to wait a little while, we might just get the place to ourselves... which is exactly what did happen.  Before too long we were swimming in Hamersley Gorge - and we made our way up to a rock pool appropriately named the spa.  It was devine.   The only problem was we left our bathers in a bag at the bottom pool, and we didn't want to get our clothes wet.  Good job we had the place to ourselves wasn't it!

Cape Range NP

After our excursion inland to visit Mount Augustus, it was a great to be back on the coast again.  Everywhere we looked was evidence of the recent flooding in Exmouth and Cape Range National Park - from the vivid green verges to the damaged road surfaces at every floodway.  The National Park had only just opened - and as we made our way to our campsite, we could see why.  

Cape Range National Park had received a wopping 400mm of rain over a 12 hour period, followed less than a week later by another 280mm.  The resultant flooding destroyed over 50 campsites in the park - taking in some cases caravans and camper trailers with it.  Fortunately there were no serious injuries - and our campsite booked a month ago was fine.  

We set up, and after a little paddle on the beach set ourselves up to watch the sun set over the mighty Indian Ocean.

Sunset ove Ningaloo Reef

The massive floods had affected many of the roads in the area, however we were able to make our way up to Charles Knife Canyon for a look.  The road was built to service oil exploration, however the scenery it passes through is nothing short of exceptional.  We made it all the way to the end, planning on doing a walk - however we found the views on the road were better than on the walk.  The limestone cliffs here are relatively young, and we spent a good couple of hours working our way back down the valley.

Biggest Rock in the world - Mount Augustus

With the road sign's indicating the tracks open,  and the web site indicating 4WD only, we figured it was good enough for us to head out of town and try our luck on the roads east of Gascoyne Junction.  Our aim was to make it to Mount Augustus, and then loop back around towards the coast as we had a booking at Cape Range National Park, on the Ningaloo Reef.  It was to be a fleeting visit, but it turned out to be a thoroughly worthwhile diversion.

We paused when we crossed the Gascoyne River, and had a chuckle at the old flying fox mail drum still hanging across the river.  In times of flood, the drum was often the only way mail and other supplies could get through.  Some things haven't changed.

The postman arrived early at Gascoyne Junction the previous morning, stopping in for breakfast at 7am.  The Roadhouse was surprised to see him, as he normally arrived for lunch - however in true outback spirit, he had heard the weather forecast, and at the first hint of rain, decided to get up and commence his run at midnight in order to ensure everyone got their mail (and groceries and other supplies) before the rivers rose and the roads were closed.  

Old mail drum

We continued our journey east, stretching our legs in an ancient sea bed, surrounded by ancient fossilised sea shells, making pretty good time on the dirt roads.  Many of the floodways still had boggy sections in them, and some had quite a bit of water in them, but the base was mostly solid, and we were following someone else's tyre tracks, which provided a degree of confidence in some of the boggier sections.

It wasn't long until we saw our goal, rising some 800 metres above the surrounding plain and standing in total 1006 metres above sea level, Mount Augustus.  The mountain, known as Burringurrah to the local aboriginal people is the worlds largest monocline - or simply worlds biggest rock.  Some two and a half times larger than Uluru, we approached from the southern side, where it rises steeply to an impressive ridge.

Mount Augustus

We took the southern tourist loop road, and stopped to explore some aboriginal petroglyphs.  Carved by the Wajarri people, it was humbling to sit in the shade of the rock overhangs, and look out towards Mount Augustus.

Aboriginal Rock Art

Looking back towards Mount Augustus

We continued on the loop road, and it was when coming to see the northern face of Mount Augustus that we could see its absolute majesty and grandeur.  Its northern face is capped with sheer cliffs and the red sandstone is carved with gorges and canyons.  It is an ancient and weathered relic of an even older sea bed.

Mount Augustus

Unfortunately Mount Augustus has put to bed a theory of mine.  My darling wife enjoys lining garden beds, paths and so on with rocks.  She will often spend a whole day moving rocks around to achieve her aim - and often enlists the rest of the family on her mission.  Apparently with such an exercise, large rocks are preferable to small ones - however the penalty is the large rocks are heavy.  Sometimes really heavy.  My theory has been that she should content herself with planting smaller rocks in the ground and water them.  It was standing in the shadow of Mount Augustus that I have seen the folly of my ways.  If the biggest rock in the world has been formed in a desert environment - rocks obviously don't need water to grow. Darn.  I guess I'll just have to get used to moving big heavy rocks around!

We refuelled at Mount Augustus Station and contemplated staying for the night, but the day was still young, and we had a long way to go if we were to make to to Exmouth the next day, so we decided to push on.  We took one last look at Mount Augustus - before crossing our fingers and heading west.

Rocky and the biggest rock in the world

We had checked the road conditions again at Mount Augustus, however none of the web sites had been updated and the information was less than inspiring.  With a full tank of fuel, and some 350km to go to the blacktop, we decided to head off and see how we fared. Our main fear was crossing the Lyons River - near Lyndon Station - so we pushed on into the evening.  Finally around 5.30pm we had crossed the Lyons, and found a great spot to pull of the road and set up camp for the night.  As the sun set over the plain, we quickly set up and made dinner.

Camped at last

As we sat around a nice little camp fire, we paused and took stock on the previous few months of touring.  It is funny, but we thought we would be doing a lot more camping like this - on our own in the middle of no where.  As it was, our last night camping like this seemed a lifetime ago in South Australia on the Oodnadatta Track.  Perhaps it is the nature of such a trip where you want to see all the big tourist things, it is inevitable you will camp in camp grounds - but this camp was just a little bit special to us, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Bush camp - bush man's fire

As the colours in the sky changed and finally faded away, the stars came out made for a beautiful evening.  Magic.

Sunset - glorious

The following morning we were on the road nice and early.  There was one important ceremony to complete as we crossed an invisible line on the road.  This is where we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  We are now officially in the tropics!

The Tropic of Capricorn

We made it to the black top after a some 650km of red dirt road driving.  It had been a fantastic excursion and we had thoroughly enjoyed our little adventure off the beaten track.  Both the Kennedy Range and Mount Augustus were incredibly beautiful and worthy of some more of our time.

As it was however, we had an appointment to keep.  We had a booking at Cape Range National Park that we were now two days overdue for - and The Little Fisherman had a particular challenge ahead of him.  We did a quick food, fuel and water shop in Exmouth before heading over the other side, and soon had our feet in the water as we watched the sun set.  Ahh, bliss!

We made it! Sunset over Ningaloo Reef.

Gascoyne Junction and Kennedy Range

We headed inland from Carnarvon full of confidence that we would be able to enjoy a nice drive up the Gascoyne River with the ultimate aim of getting close to Mount Augustus.  Why Mount Augustus? Well it is the world's largest monocline or more simply, the worlds biggest rock.

On our way inland, we paused for lunch at Rocky Pool, a beautiful natural waterhole on the Gascoyne River.  It was a delightful place to explore - and if it was any warmer, I think we would have all gone in for a dip.  The water looked refreshing, but with over 400km to go to Mount Augustus, we decided to push on.

Rocky Pool

Unfortunately we failed to correctly navigate the various pages of the Carnarvon and Gascoyne Shire road conditions web pages, and we found ourselves pulling into Gascoyne Junction, unable to journey any further.  The rain of the previous evening had penetrated inland, and closed all the unsealed roads in the district.  As all roads other than the one we had come in on were unsealed, we couldn't go on.

Point Quobba and the fabulous Ningaloo Reef

We left Carnarvon with the skies still threatening - but it was clear enough to head to the coast and the southern end of the Ningaloo Reef.  We were heading for the Blowholes - because the road was sealed, and locals recommended it as one of the best places to swim at the reef.

As we made it just past Point Quobba Lighthouse I had to pull off to celebrate a momentous milestone.  Rocky clocked over 50 000km since new - exactly 22 756km since leaving home.  It was worth a photo, with the lighthouse in the background!

Happy 50 000km Rocky!

We decided to camp at Point Quobba, a shire run camp-ground for the princely rates of $11.00 per night.  It was an interesting place with plenty of old beach shacks, grey haired nomads and keen fisherman all jostling for a spot.  We found a nice place near the beach access, and set up camp.

Just back from the beach - glorious

The following morning we checked out the Blowhole.  Best seen at low tide, there are about half a dozen holes in the limestone rock shelf.  One is particularly large, and near it a small vent provides a spectacular display.  Timing a photo to show it off at full glory is particularly difficult, but we enjoyed our time here looking at the blowhole.

Waiting for the perfect shot

You get the idea

The part of the world has a protected fish sanctuary area, well called the aquarium.  Fishing is not allowed near here, but the snorkelling is first rate.  Whilst the coral may lack the colours of the Great Barrier Reef, it is incredibly accessible, being just off the beach - and the waters are full of fish!

The Aquarium - doesn't look so much from above the water - but in the water it is very much alive!

The boys kicked about in the shallows for a while, before donning their snorkels and heading out into slightly deeper water.  We spent ages just looking at the clams, coral and fish of all colours and descriptions.  I did take the GoPro camera with me, and hope to have taken some good video of the excursion underwater.

Kicking about before donning the snorkel

We were told to take a bit of bread with us - and if we thought there were plenty of fish in the water earlier, the mere dropping of a few crumbs had the water literally teaming with fish.  A few over zealous fish even nibbled the fingers of those silly enough to hold onto the bread underwater!  It was simply delightful.

We wandered up to the rocks overlooking the 'Aquarium', and were rewarded with a sighting of a Green Turtle.  The waters were beautiful and we spent ages looking down on the fish waiting in the gentle current for a fresh feed.

Green Turtle in the Aquarium

Check out the fish!

There are worse places to sit and check out the fish!

A real highlight for The Little Fisherman was that he finally - after much effort - caught a fish (in the fishing zone), the first of the trip!  He was in-a-word ecstatic.  In fact Mum even heard his cry of "Fish" from camp, a good hundred meters upwind!

Little Fisherman with his catch

Thankfully the fish was unable to be identified from our little books and the WA fishing guide, and being of a small nature, we returned him to the water to live another day.

On our last night at Point Quobba, the weather changed.  A front came through that brought very strong winds and lots of rain.  I could tell you how it was, but The Little Helper (7 years old) wrote an excellent journal article that I will reproduce here:

When we went to Point Quobba.  We were having a good night... until... uh oh.  Heavy rain!!!!  It came down in pools of water! Lachlan and I had a wet bed because we have a flap.  The flap kept on opening!!!  When Dad took us for a wee our shoes were floating!When we went for a wee it was like having a shower out side!!  When we went inside, Mum said "Come and sleep up here!!"  So up we went.  All of us were squished.  Lachlan was not squished because we was doing a star fish in the middle of the bed.  So of course we did not get any sleep.  Lachlan wanted more room, so he was going 'wiggle, wiggle, wiggle...wack!' to poor Dad.  I can tell you how we got no sleep.  It was because the sound was ear splitting!

It was a wild night for sure - and we all decided to head off early the next morning.  We packed up and returned to Carnarvon to resupply and head inland.  Unfortunately we should have had a closer look at he road conditions before we set off!

There is so much more to Shark Bay than Dolphins (or Sharks)

From Kalbarri we headed north along a dry and desolate landscape to Shark Bay.  We fuelled up at the Overlander Roadhouse, and headed towards Denham, the service town on Peron Peninsula.  Our destination for the evening was Big Lagoon, a camp-site in the Francois Peron National Park.  The best part about the camp, was it was about 12 kilometres down a sandy track - and DPAW had installed a tyre station so you could quickly let down and pump up your tyres!  

Letting down the tyres at the DPAW tyre station!  Brilliant idea.

The vegetation in Francois Peron National Park is much more prolific than the surrounding countryside, due to a large vermin proof fence across the peninsula, and a very active baiting and trapping program being carried out.  Called Project Eden, the aim is to return the country to what it was before Europeans came to stay.  The project has re-introduced native animals that have become extinct in the area due to predators such as feral cats and foxes, and it is working to protect the vegetation and other small animals from overgrazing and damage caused be feral goats.  It seems to be doing a pretty good job - but I fear this country will never be able to return to what it was before.  We wondered if Francois Peron were to return here, whether he would find the same thousand plant and animal specimens he did on his first visit here back in 1801.

But as impressive as Project Eden is, no one comes to the Peron Peninsula to just visit Francois Peron National Park.  No, just down the road is Monkey Mia and the famous wild dolphins that come in daily to interact with the people that come from around the world to feed them.

Kalbarri and our glimpse into the dawn of life on land

Kalbarri, a popular tourist place with West Australians, is like any tourist town. Manic during school holidays, and blissfully sleepy at other times.  With a stroke of good luck, we arrived a few days after school resumed, and felt like we had the place to ourselves.  It was also the perfect place to catch up with our friends from York - for a couple more days before continuing our journey northwards.

The first priority was to get up early and try to catch breakfast.

The boys try their hand at catching breakfast.

Unfortunately the fish in the Murchison River were too quick for us on this occasion - although James did catch a little YellowTail - which was almost enough to create a new round of enthusiasm for the caper. Against was the fact it was cold and Mum had hot chocolate brewing on the stove top.  The boys thankfully chose hot chocolate over another round of fishing, and we all retired for a delicious breakfast.

Kalbarri National Park has spectacular gorges, cut through 400 million year old sandstone by the Murchison River.  They are incredibly photogenic in their own right, but around 400 million years ago, life was venturing out of the oceans for the first time. Some of these early creatures walked across mudflats, preserving their footprints for eternity.  I thought the known sites of these foot prints would be kept a secret or jealously guarded, but we saw many foot prints imprinted on the ancient rocks on our walks through the park.  It was an incredibly special feeling seeing the footsteps of some of the first creatures that walked!

Surprising Geraldton

We arrived in Geraldton with the main aim of getting a service at the last Volkswagen dealer before Alice Springs or Darwin.  It seems the transformation of Geraldton from a rough industrial town into a vibrant city is well under way, and with a day to spend in the town, we started in the very centre of town.

The wonderful foreshore

When the rail line to the Port was moved from the foreshore, the city embarked on a massive redevelopment of its waterfront. A real hit for the kids was the water-park!

The Water Park - built on the old railway line!

Nearby we checked out the locally built submarine, built as a prototype for a local Western Rock Lobster fisherman. Unfortunately the venting of the lead acid batteries rendered the experiment a failure, but I was amazed that such a project had even been commenced.

The submarine was painted yellow after the Beatles hit song... as you do

On the road again, Perth to Geraldton via The Pinnacles

The day the springs were fitted, I failed poorly in managing expectations.  We had expected the springs to take all morning to complete - so arranged a late check out from the caravan park.  

All was going well, I thought we would be on the road shortly after lunch - and being the beginning of a long weekend, we were keen to head north and secure a good site for the weekend.

The front springs were a fiddle - and the back wasn't much easier.  At least the boys knew their job, and I wasn't going to rush them.  Finally the brakes were bled, the wheels aligned and I was away... at 3pm.

To make matters worse, we had a medical item to pick up that was on the other side of town - and it too had been lost in the system over the Easter weekend.  I got back to the caravan park around 4pm to find Jo an the boys had packed everything up.    

My arrival was not greeted with warm hellos - in fact a glance told me I was in deep trouble.  They had been ready to go since lunch time too.  I suggested perhaps we should stay where we were and get on the road tomorrow, but another look told me that was not a smart thing to say.

New Norcia

We had been well and truely spoilt in York, and we were sad to leave.  We still had no idea where our springs were for the car.  No doubt we weren't the only ones in the Perth area waiting for goods from the derailed train - but we were itching to get on the road north.  Easter had disrupted the normal timelines too, and with ANZAC day creating a three day week, we feared we would be held up another week before being able to head north.

With nothing to do but stay in a holding pattern around Perth, we headed north from York to New Norcia.

New Norcia lies on the Great Northern Highway - and as we came into town, we  were held up by - and eventually waved around two massive 8 metre wide dump trucks, on their way north to the mines.  In fact the volume of trucking on this road, was incredible, as was the number of wide and oversized loads.  As we rolled into town, two more dump trucks were on their way south - waiting at the widest section for the northbound trucks to pass.  It was of course fascinating for the boys, who checked out every truck that rolled on through New Norcia during our stay.

Unfortunately for the boys, New Norica is not just a great truck observation post.  It is an historic community founded by Benedictine Monks in the early 19th century.  It has incredible collection of historic buildings, priceless artworks and a Monastry.  We checked out the art gallerys which had some beautiful, albiet very symbolic paintings.

Life on the farm, we have a break at York

With the Easter weekend fast approaching, we took up a kind offer to share the weekend with some friends at their family property near York.  The best part was that the boys had a friend too - and it wasn't before the three of them were inseparable.  We were extremely lucky to be able to have a beautiful campsite on the only bit of green grass on the property - the front lawn - which had been carefully manicured by the resident kangaroos and alpacas.

With any farm, there are always jobs to do - and the boys soon embraced the new lifestyle.  Of course the best part was riding in the back of the trailer on a special 'first class' board constructed especially for their comfort! 

Riding first class

Our friends run a mixed farm on their 500 acres.   A large area is reserved native bushland.  The rest is mostly sown oats, which is cut and baled into oaten hay and exported.  We helped out clearing some of the paddy melons or gourds (cucumis_myriocarpus) from the paddocks.

Charming Fremantle and Perth

We planned on a brief visit to Perth, and could easily have stayed a month.  The main reason for our calling was to get some new springs fitted to Rocky, to hopefully get a bit more space between us and the rocks we had been scraping over.  Plans were thrown into disarray when a freight train derailed near Tarcoola in South Australia, and it seemed our replacement springs were in one of the 18 carriages that had become a semi-permanent feature of the South Australia landscape.

In a way it was a blessing in disguise - even if it didn't seem like it at the time.

Fremantle

One of my favourite cities in Australia would have to be Fremantle.  I had many fond memories of hanging about here in my youth - and whilst some things had changed - many of the best were refreshingly unchanged.  Unfortunately it was me that was a little older and wiser - so we didn't spend the day at the Sail and Anchor, or Little Creatures, or even the Norfolk...  No, it was off to the playground for us.

I never thought my first stop on a return to Fremantle would be the playground!

Be that as it may, it was fantastic to wander around the city with no real timetable.  We found our way to the Visitor Information Centre, and armed with a map with all the things to see and do, we decided to pick just a few to visit.  The first on our list was The Round House.  Formerly a gaol, and a maritime signalling station, it is Western Australia's oldest public building.  The stocks were popular with the kids - but it is probably a good thing I didn't have any rotten tomatos in my pocket when Mum had a go...

They could have charged by the hour for babysiting!

Margaret River - would you believe it's not all about the wine...

Margaret River is synonymous with wine, delicious wine, and we came expecting to enjoy a bit of grown up time exploring the wineries.  We hadn't factored on there being so much to do, that it took us four days to visit our first winery!

This is a fantastic region to visit with a family, that seems to undergoing burgeoning growth.  The old favourites are still here, but in the 12 years or so since my last visit here, many new ventures have started, bringing new activities, tastes and even fashions to the area.

We camped at Contos Campground, just near the stunning Lake Cave.  There are some 300 steps to descend into the cave, and a new addition is a suspended deck over the collapsed cave roof.  It was a little unnerving stepping onto the clear observation points in the deck - but for some crazy reason we all ended up on the deck and took this amusing selfie.

On the suspended deck.... The cave is some 300 steps below us!

Lake Cave's show-piece is the magnificent suspended column - one of only two known in the world, and the only one open to the public.  Whilst the cave is beautiful, I felt sure the water level of the lake had dropped since my last visit.  The guide confessed that all the caves in the Margaret River region have dried up, and they lined the bottom of this lake with plastic to ensure it didn't dry out too.  Of course no one really knows why - but the huge number of massive dams supporting the grape industry (and don't forget the aesthetics of a nice big dam) must surely have something to do with it.

With the giant trees at Pemberton

The South West of WA is famous for its trees, and one in particular seems to have captured the imagination like no other.  The Karri tree (eucalyptus diversicolor) is well named, as its smooth bark ranges from grey to salmon pink in colour.  Felled in huge numbers in the early 1900's, largely to provide sleepers for the Trans-Australia railway, some reserves were gazetted to ensure the survival of these magnificent trees,  Over time these reserves have been turned into National Park, and whilst the timber mill at Pemberton is still processing Karri timber, it is managed much more sustainably than ever before.

The best way to get up close to these trees is to take a climb to the top. Originally built as fire observation posts, today these trees are big tourist drawcards, so much so that in 1988 a new tree was 'pegged' allowing a birds eye view of the surrounding forest.

Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree

Be us fools or worse, we put it to the vote as to which tree we would attempt to climb.  Of course we had to go to the tallest tree - the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree - to test our mettle.

Having climbed the nearby Gloucester tree last time I was in the West, I knew what I was in for, but I think the rest of the family had a few moments of contemplation when they saw what lay ahead of us.  A 65 metre vertical climb on steel pegs, screwed into the trunk of the tree.  There is no safety harness of any sort - you just hang on and take care.  After all, it would be silly to let go.

Yes - this is one tall tree, but there is a little rest platform about 15 metres off the ground, and we all made it there for a pause and a chance to rethink the next stage.