12 posts tagged “australia”
Out comes the Monkeys
So we departed our salubrious lodgings at Denham and headed on over to the trailer park in Monkey Mia.
Hoping wed get to see some chimps.
Again none turned up but we found the local amphibs were pretty friendly.
The old fella takin in the view at a nearby beach lookout.
Correct that is me, sans bucket.
Head on Up.
Typical view. Heaps of scrub and a bit of water.
Word was that over at Monkey Mia they had free feedings in the morning so we headed over there the next day.
No Monkeys were about when we got there and no free food, so we hit the local cafe.
The local caravan park.
I guess if you have to live over that, side of the track, Monkey Mia would be my pick.
Well the beach was acceptable.
Kalbarri
So we made it to Kalbari, problem is its now day 4 of our trip and we aint even half way,...mmmm.
We headed off to the store for some essentials and then to a cafe for some caffeine and some travel planning.
Consequently it was agreed by all that we and the Outlaw Barndoor were just not gonna make Exmouth and see all the bits in between and get back to perth intime. Negotiations continued, a solution was to edit Exmouth and Coral Bay from our itinery and head straight for Shark Bay and relax there.
Often we travel around frantically squeezing every activity and significant point of interest in, so it all ends up a bit of a blur. We get back home after the holiday and spend the next week recovering.
So it was a no brainer,... find a beach with a bar close by and spend several days wandering between the two.
After a couple great days at the bush camp we decided to head on up to Denham, which is kinda the capitol of Shark Bay. It got a bit hot on the way so we stopped into Shell beach for a quick dip.
Yeah it was standing room only!
First track.
Well finally it was departure day. So we got up early, packed the bus, grabbed the dog and headed north.
Straight to our first cafe for a brew....
Its about 1300 ks to Exmouth from Perth so we really cant muck around too much cos weve only got 2 and a bit weeks.
Theres plenty to see on the way. Geraldton,Kalbarri, Shark Bay with the
neccasery stop into pat the dolfins at Monkey Mia. We planned to do as
much wild camping as possible, now that the fire bans are over, so
should be a good trip.
Just north of Perth we drove down this track a way .
Next day we arrived in Geraldton, checked into the Batavia Backpackers and headed to the beach for a bit of body surfing on the reef.
Albany and back.
A few more.
Crazy busy William Bay just outside of Albany. Couldn't understand why so many cars were parked nearby. Until of course I saw this and jumped in the exceptionally warm water here. Thats the roarin Southern Ocean just outside those rocks.
Unreal.
Now this is camping. Free camp kitchen at Fenhook Falls. Camp spots were pretty good but the fresh water in the river and natural pool was worth the drive in anyway.
Lets Roll
So as is the usual thing you do at the christmas hols we went for a drive.
Now cos its summer you gotta head south for the cool. There is a total fire ban so camp fires are generally out of the question, so logically the coast is the place to travel anywhere by.
We decided on the old south coastal town of Albany as the destination but we still werent sure which road to travel down to get there. The inland road is short, but its hot and can be a little boring even for us west ozzies. The other two roads are longer but do dip into the coast a fair bit so can be cooler.
Sometimes its a dilema when theres plenty of choice if your not too confident in your equipment or your ability to get where you want to go, you may have trouble taking the first tentative steps, indeed you may end up so confused you end up going nowhere, its a bit like those clowns in Canberra at the moment.
But alas im a confident sorta bloke when it comes to drivin my VW's around. My equipment is sound and my aim is good.
So it was to be the quick route straight down the inland road of the Albany Highway, through some magically barron land.
A road I havent travelled down since the 80's. The forcast said it would be pretty cool for those couple days so it was actually a no brainer to go the inland. I was keen to get rollin.
I pushed the Outlaw Barndoor outa my shed and rolled Burt inside to give him a tune and run a spanner over his old bolts. All looked good as usual so we grabed the pooch and headed out.
No siesta for this old fool. He can sleep at the wheel.
And into Albany.
Yep Albany rules.
Well its happened again. This week end we got daylight saving and on Sunday morning we had to put our clocks forward 1 hour. Damnit my curtains have already started to faid. But hey thats not the weirdest thing.
This year I tried another method to out smart my Imac. So what I did was I turned my browser off disconnected the WiFi and on Saturday night as I went to bed I put it to sleep. So Sunday morning I got up to check the inbuilt clock and guess what? Yeah, somehow the computer had wound its clock forward 1 hour on its own. I tell you im just astounded by this. Im definately no geek, but I just dont get it, how does this happen. How can Mac's be that smart. Do PC's do this as well, its a mystery to me.
Oh well, ill wait and try again next year and see if I can catch the little bugger out then, cos next year the 3 year trial is up and maybe we wont get day light slaving.
So the weekend before, we went for a drive up to the monkry (?) at New Norcia had a beer at the pub and walk around the property.
Then we went up the road a bit and found a pretty decent camp spot
Goldfields 2
Oh yes it was epic.
But you do look back on il conceived ideas in retrospect and sometimes have a little giggle "what was I thinking".
Or indeed was I thinking at all. With me, the later is often the case.
And so it goes, our trip up to Lake Ballard , just a short cruise of 50 K's up a dirt track out the back of the historical town of Menzies West Australia. Little did we know that Lake Ballard was not only past Kalgoorlie but it was on a gravel track past Menzies, which was past Kalgoorlie. Can this trip actually be done in a lowered 45 year old bus? And in one casual week end.
In hind sight i think not.
And as we found the road outa Menzies and the subsequent dirt track was actually a well traffiked through road for road trains ! Sheesks!
But Burt is a tough old boy and he struggled on through the whole trip with out one hiccup.
Actually I think he reveled in it.
Every chilly desert morning he would roar into life almost before I hit the start button.
What a trooper !
Goldfield's 1
Well as promised earlier, here is some pics of our trip up the country last week end.
Out past Coolgardie
And then on to the old Two up school thats just north of Kal. Just near the old Broad Arrow Tavern.
How the Diggers did it in the trenches.
Man im getting lazy
This past week end was a long weekend (Man I love this country)
We had big plans to jump in Burt and drive far and wide over the South West.
But shit I must be a lazy
We didnt get very far, Binningup actually. We camped that night and decided to head home slowly taking in a few beaches while heading back up north.
The whole trip was about 250ks which is pretty lame, but hey I dont care. I realized you dont have to drive a marathon on a long weekend. Just find a good spot, throw in some good weather and maybe a nice beach. Sprinkle some good company with alcohol and let the fun begin.
We stopped at Myalup on the way back for pre lunch snacks and then decided a nice drive along the Mandurah estuary and a stop for sangas and a paddle.
