June 16 ... Denham / Shark Bay

As well as the weather, we have been most fortunate in our selection of sites in the various parks on this trip, and today is as good as it gets! I hope this is not the boast before the fall, but this site is exceptional. We are tucked in behind some low bushes, right on the beach, with a 180 degree view of Shark Bay. Yesterday evening we watched the sun set behind the ocean and all night we had a full moon reflecting on the water. We are in our own separate space so it has all the pleasures of free camping with all the benefits of a modern park. The sky is blue, the water is aqua, the sand is white and the sun is shining. Garry is reading his paper, I have my coffee, and life is excellent!

Site at Denham Seaside Tourist Village

View directly in front of van

Shark Bay (left) from van

Shark Bay (right) from van

So, that is a highlight, but now for a negative observation. When we were here four years ago, mining in WA had a prominent position but there were still a lot of other things happening. However, my impression now is that mining completely dominates everything in this state. It is all about the latest discoveries of minerals or oil or gas, and how big the infra structure needed to cater for these developments will be. The size and wealth of the industry is corroding all of the aspects of life in WA that make it so special. Geraldton, a small city with so much natural beauty and history, is now set to become another Karratha, where house rents are in the thousands of dollars and the sense of community is lost because of the overwhelming itinerant (fly in/fly out) population. The sense of balance and proportion in the state is disappearing and, whilst I have no solution, I do think it is a shame and a real loss despite the benefits of this new wealth.

Anyway, on with our journey. From Kalbarri we drove through the National Park and out to the lookouts over the gorges. It was heavily overcast but the cliffs were still striking and the reflections in the river were so perfect that it was hard to see where the real landform finished and its reflection began!

Hawks Head Lookout

Ross Graham Lookout

Following morning tea we pushed on towards Shark Bay, very aware that we had a lot of stops to make. Shark Bay is a World Heritage Area due to its unique flora and fauna, particularly in its marine environment, with its extensive sea grass beds and its large dugong population.It is also important historically because it was here that Dirk Hartog first stepped ashore in 1616.
The first of our stops was the Old Telegraph Station at Hamelin Pool where the rare and ancient stromatolites still grow. This is because the water of Shark Bay is hyper saline in this area. Stromatolites are clusters of single cell cyanobacteria and they are the oldest life forms on the planet. While these particular ones are only about 3000 years old, they were still impressive to see.

Stromatolites in Shark Bay

Viewing area at Hamelin Pool

Also here was the Shell Quarry. Over countless years, many billions of small white cockle shells have been deposited and rainwater has leeched small amounts of calcium carbonate from them which binds them together forming a soft limestone called coquina. Blocks of this material were cut out and used for building in this area. The shells are still clearly visible but the blocks are surprisingly hard.

The Shell Quarry

Close up of a shell block

Saint Andrew's By The Sea - Denham

 












Further along the peninsula we came to Shell Beach. This again is made up solely of countless millions of small cockle shells deposited over the past 6000 years. It extends for over 120 kms and is more than 10ms deep in places. Today it is mined for shell grit but otherwise it is like a regular beach, just with shells instead of sand! You can swim there but it was a little too cool for us yet.

The "sand" of Shell Beach

Shell Beach - Shark Bay

Our next, and last, stop for the day was Eagle Bluff. This looks out over a section of the bay that is well documented for the ability to see marine life in the water. It has a large area of reasonably shallow water which is quite warm, so the turtles, fish, rays, dugongs, but mostly sharks, come here regularly. I saw pictures of this place in books as a child and I was thrilled to see a shark swim into view when we were there, even though it is technically the wrong time of year.
Also from the bluff we had fantastic views of the surrounding area and it is well worth a second visit on our way out of town.

Eagle Bluff

Clear water and sea grass beds

By now it was getting late in the afternoon so we headed into Denham and our camp for the night. Our park is the most westerly in Australia, so now we have truly crossed the country. There seems to be quite a bit you could do here, even if most of it costs money, and next time we will plan to stay longer.

Sunset from Denham

Early evening at Shark Bay

June 15 ... Kalbarri

Yesterday was our first day of poor weather on the trip so far. It was very windy with constant rain as we drove out of Geraldton. Our first stop was to be Northampton, just 60kms north to see the only gothic church constructed by the priest John Dawes, and a shop which must date from the 1920's, or before.
The rain had eased a little when we arrived so we headed for St Mary's Church and the old convent. Both were lovely but when we tried to go inside, we found the church was locked which was a little disappointing.

St Mary's Church

Northampton Convent

From here we walked down the street to investigate "The Family Store" and it really was a relic. It had all the old display cases and all the fittings were the originals, including the floorboards. Despite its age, it was a true "general" store and it had an excellent range of gifts and clothes and just about anything you could think of. It obviously catered well for the surrounding community.

It was still raining so we set off for Kalbarri, passing by the large Pink Lake, coloured by betacarotene, which they mine; the garnet mine, the only one in Australia; and many kilometers of beautifully green, rolling hills. It was a shame about the weather but overall we feel we have been very lucky in that area.
We checked into the Murchison Caravan Park, and when the rain eased, we went for a walk around town. It is a picturesque little place, situated beside the river and right on the coast. Just now it is very quiet but we have been told that the population rises to around 10000 in the summer, which may explain the attitude of some of the locals towards tourists!

Kalbarri

Today dawned much nicer with lots of blue sky and, even though we have had a few showers, they have not affected our activities. We spent most of the day exploring the cliffs that run for about 10kms to the south of here.  There are a number of sealed roads leading to lookouts and the views are amazing, especially today as the waves were massive. One of our first stops was Jakes Point which is known for its excellent surf break. We stopped a while to watch some guys who were catching some huge, and very scary, waves.

Jakes Point

Red Bluff

After being impressed by the skills of these guys we continued on to a series of lookouts at various points along the cliffs. At Mushroom Rock we went for a very pleasant walk along the cliff edge to Rainbow Valley and, en route, we saw a large pod of dolphins and lots of interesting, and ancient, geology.

Garry at Mushroom Rock

Kalbarri Cliffs

Eagle Gorge Lookout

 Each of the lookouts had a particular feature and it is not hard to guess what we saw at Island Rock and Natural Bridge. Today was another enjoyable experience and we continue to think of Kalbarri as an exceptional little spot on the WA coastline. We returned to town for a late lunch of a fishburger overlooking the river, and then to get organized for a big day tomorrow. It is good to see the sun again as it makes everything so much easier and it is nice to be warm.

 Cliffs looking north

Natural Arch

Island Rock

June 13 ... Geraldton

We are enjoying a little bit of luxury here in Geraldton with an en-suite site ... how easy it makes things! It was only a few dollars more and what a good decision it was.
When we left Dongara, the wind was really blowing. The pattern of the last six days has been that the wind starts around midnight and steadily gets stronger until about 11am and then starts to quieten down until, by about 3pm, it is almost still and hence, the afternoons are lovely. Knowing this, we sleep in and plan to do all our walks after lunch.
The intensity and regularity of the wind explains the "leaning trees" of Greenough. The constant strong southerly winds cause "flagging" to the river gums. This is when all the new shoots are burnt off by the hot wind on one side and the tree only has growth from the sheltered side. We noticed that most of the trees in the area are affected but some more than others.

The leaning tree(s) of Greenough

Greenough itself is an historic early settlement and it is now largely a heritage village. It is quaint to look at but many of these buildings contain a similar history to the one we have seen and read about many times before, so we rarely stop these days.

Greenough

Historic Village

Flour Mill

Geraldton has a number of major attractions but it is easily recognized by its iconic lighthouse. After a quick tour of the town, and after checking in to the park, we headed over to the Visitors Centre where there was an amazing shop, with the best selection of things to buy. I assured Garry he was really very lucky that I only bought two pairs of earrings! We also got some information about what to see around town...

Geraldton's Lighthouse

Geraldton's Visitors Centre

 As it was Sunday and many places were closed, we were persuaded to visit the new Art Gallery, and we were so glad we did. On the ground floor was an exhibition of mainly landscapes from around WA, but upstairs was a contemporary indigenous exhibition, and many of the art works were striking.

The Art Museum

"Yubu Stones"- B Merritt

"The Murchison River"-M Whitehurst

"The Eighteen Circles"-T Lawson

"Wildflowers"-W Jackaberry

After this, it was such a lovely afternoon that we drove up to the HMAS Sydney Memorial. This has a beautiful view out over Geraldton towards the sea and it is a moving tribute to the sailors who drowned in 1941. The dome is made up of 645 stainless steel seagulls, each one representing a member of the Sydney's crew. The seagull is supposed to personify the souls of lost sailors. There is also a steel prow of a ship and a bronze statue of an anguished mother, searching the sea with her eyes.

The dome of seagulls

Statue of a concerned mother

The ship's prow

Not wanting to waste the sunshine we then stopped at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral. It was designed and constructed by Monsignor John Hawes and it was built in stages but finally finished in 1938. Without any doubt, this priest was ahead of his time and I am sure his design would have been quite shocking to many. It is however, absolutely spectacular and we enjoyed the tour we had of it this morning. Most of the internal walls are in grey and orange stripes and the effect is stunning.

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

View to the altar

Just to finish off the day we drove out to Separation Point to look out over the harbour and the ocean. For the first time, the true colour of the water was apparent and it looked beautiful.

Following our Cathedral tour today we spent some time around the town. It was still really windy so we opted for a visit to the Museum. We had been there before as it has an excellent collection and history of the Batavia, but it currently has a display of the mineral deposits and exploitation of the central west called "Unearthed".

And so we have enjoyed two full days at Geraldton. Our one disappointment is that they do not have tours of the port. There are ships, trucks and trains continuously on the move there and they export cattle, iron ore, talc and grain. Due to more mineral discoveries they are in the process of building a new, much larger, port to the north so that will be something to see in the future.

The Indian Ocean - Geraldton

June 11 ... Port Denison / Dongara

Beach Finds

We have just enjoyed two wonderful days of indolence. This is such a beautiful spot, and the weather so warm, that we decided to stay and enjoy it. We have done a lot of walking, reading and eating ... and life is pretty good just now!
Yesterday we went for a  walk the full length of South Beach, about 4 kms each way. The sand is really soft and there is quite a bit of sea grass growing on the waters edge. This is near the southern limit of the sea grass fields but it is quite extensive in the water and often washes ashore as tightly matted balls. This is all good news for the dugongs which we hope to see during the next few days.

Sea grass growing

Large ball of sea grass

South Beach is easily the nicest in Dongara. After our walk we went for a delicious lunch of garlic prawns at The Little Starfish Cafe and then spent the afternoon catching up on things before settling down to a movie.

Waiting for lunch

The Little Starfish Cafe

This morning was another beautiful day so we set off for a look around Dongara. Whilst it was a lovely little town, the IGA did not past the test, too small and old, so we can't come to live here! But a great many other people are and land blocks are well over $120k. Dongara, like Geraldton, is renown for its lobster fishing and it has a very large fleet, which is moored in the harbour.

The Old Flour Mill

Welcome to Dongara

On the headland that overlooks town beach and the river mouth, there is a walk along the Irwin River. The trees here were full of little red breasted finches that whistled continuously, and there were lots of water birds to watch. The walk was made all the nicer because of the coastal heather that was in bloom.

Coastal Heather

The Irwin River

 Returning to the park we went for another walk along the beach. It was such a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. There was plenty to see as other people were out enjoying the excellent day. We have really enjoyed our stay here and we have been lucky with the weather, clear skies and 20 degrees. Apparently the East Coast is freezing with its lowest temperatures for many years so, how lucky are we?!

South Beach Surfer

Sunlight and water

South Beach in the afternoon