We arrived at the Hamelin Pool Caravan Park quite late in the evening of 8 August. The next morning, Trucky, Alex and I walked over the hill and through the old stone quarry to see the stromatolites. They were both pretty under whelmed by these ancient living marine organisms (they look like rocks!) but I thought they were interesting – for what they are, anyway.
We packed the car and headed for a day at Shark Bay, Denham and Monkey Mia. After a petrol stop in Denham we drove up to Monkey Mia, to be told the dolphins were all over for the day. That was a bit disappointing, but while we were having a look around the visitors centre, we also checked out the caravan park. To our surprise, they were able to squeeze us in, so we drove the 150km back to Hamelin Pool and picked up the bus.
The Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort was a fantastic caravan park. The kids spent a lot of time in the pool, and Trucky and I in the hot tub. We hired a four-peddle paddle boat that had an extra seat, so we all took to the water in that. The wind was quite strong, so even peddling furiously we didn’t get very far, but it was great fun, especially with waves breaking over the bow. We had dinner in the pub and listened to some live music – a local blues guitarist named Ivan Zar, while the kids did cartwheels on the grass with some of the local children.
The resort was packed to the rafters, and over half of the guests seemed to be Dutch or German tourists. I found this interesting because so far everyone we’ve met on our travels has been fellow Aussies. Our kids played with lots of other kids, often without a common language, but handstand competitions in the pool and on land don’t require a lot of talking – laughter suffices!
We were in two minds whether to go to Monkey Mia at all. It’s a well known tourist destination, but lots of people have down-played it, saying it’s too far off the beaten track, too expensive and not that good anyway. I know all five of us would dispute that without reservation, having had a ball. It was certainly no more expensive than anywhere else we’ve been, the location and facilities were fantastic, the staff friendly and helpful (especially Michael the boat-rental guy) but the point of the destination is the dolphins, which again, we kept being told weren’t that good.
The first morning we got up early and were down in the water by 7:30am. Over the next half hour we, and about 60 other people, were joined by nine dolphins who swam right in to shore to say hello and show off. About 20 people were picked out of the crowd to feed some of these sleek creatures. It was captivating to have these beautiful wild animals swim up so close.
The next day Trucky and Daniel decided to have a sleep in, so Alex, Jess and I strolled down to the beach just before 8am. There were eight dolphins this time, but they seemed to have had red cordial for breakfast. They were playing and frolicking, rolling over and jumping up like mad things! Yesterday was great but today was just amazing to watch their antics. And all three of us were picked out of the crowd to feed the dolphins. Jess fed ‘Surprise’, who snatched the fish from her hand. Alex and I both fed ‘Piccolo’, who likes to play with her food before eating it. Very funny to watch!
This is another place that is sad to leave. And we didn’t get to see the many other attractions (Francois Peron National Park, Little Lagoon and Shell Beach just to name a few). Six months is really, really, really not long enough – and we’re only trying to do half of Australia!
Friday, August 14, 2009
A new windscreen, friendly folk and a giant Spider
The plan was simple enough: to leave Greenough about 11am, park up in Geraldton and have lunch with Col before we left for Kalbarri. Everything was going swimmingly, with the packing up attended to, the kids had done their homework and we’d had one last chat to Bird Guy. Then from the driver’s seat we heard “Oh, no” (really, no swearing!) In trying to attach the mount for the GPS back onto the windscreen, the glass had completely shattered.
Another quick chat to Bird Guy revealed a Novus windscreen outlet in Geraldton, so we headed there, parked up on the verge as there was no way we’d fit into their driveway, and one of their repairmen came straight out to measure up. Luckily, in previous years, all the windows in the bus had been replaced with flat glass rather the original curved panels, so it was simply a matter for the windscreen guys to cut a pane to fit and install it. Two hours later and $500 lighter, we were on our way again. Col still came out to meet us at the windscreen place and we had our bbq lunch there, in the middle of the industrial estate. It’s called, making the best of all situations!
We arrived in Kalbarri and parked up by the jetty. Again, we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people we encountered. We met a lot of locals who dropped by to say hello to “the people in the big bus”, including one family who are very keen to do this kind of trip with their children and came and asked lots of logistical questions. (Hello Amyleigh and Teagan – I hope it all comes together and we see you on the road soon!!)
We spent a few days hanging out with a couple of nutty sisters, Oksana on holidays from England, Daka an ex-pat living in Perth and Daka’s 12 year old son Slade. They’d run into us at Greenough, and then again on the jetty at Kalbarri. I had a glass of wine or several with the sisters while Slade enjoyed spending time fishing with Trucky and the boys (I think spending lots of time with his mum and aunt was cramping his style a bit!!), we headed out in boats on the river together, fishing and cruising, the four kids played on the playground while the adults drank coffee and chatted. They were great fun people, and we plan to catch up with them in Perth on our return.
Kalbarri has an awesome seahorse sanctuary, where we spent an hour watching thousands of seahorses, from tiny babies, through the ones in primary school (yes, there is a seahorse school!) to those in the retirement village. One good thing about travelling outside of school holidays and weekends, means we can go to these places when they’re basically empty, so we had the marine biologist to ourselves, answering our questions and facilitating our learning about these interesting fish.
Another tourist attraction in Kalbarri that was immensely entertaining was the Pirate Amusement Park. There was mini golf (not to brag but… guess who won!!), trampolines that the kids had great fun on and Alex has now mastered landing a front flip, arcade games and the giant Spider. It’s basically a big cage full of elastic bands, and the kids climbed up to the top and then let themselves fall through the seven layers back down to the bottom. It looked like heaps of fun (and the kids concurred) but unfortunately height restrictions meant Trucky and I couldn’t have a go. He did beat me at air hockey that made up somewhat for beating him at golf! We had the place to ourselves so the kind lady in charge let the kids have a long turn on everything. It was a fun way to spend a few hours.
We left Kalbarri rather reluctantly, but there’s still so much to see! We stopped at Hawks Head and Ross Graham, two of the gorges in the Kalbarri National Park, on the Murchison River. The scenery was spectacular, with so much wildlife! I was surprised to see wild goats grazing away on the banks of the river, but there were also many wallabies, bright green birds and even dragonflies playing. At Ross Graham we were able to walk down though, so into the river. The water was lovely and refreshing as we sat and cooled our feet.
Another quick chat to Bird Guy revealed a Novus windscreen outlet in Geraldton, so we headed there, parked up on the verge as there was no way we’d fit into their driveway, and one of their repairmen came straight out to measure up. Luckily, in previous years, all the windows in the bus had been replaced with flat glass rather the original curved panels, so it was simply a matter for the windscreen guys to cut a pane to fit and install it. Two hours later and $500 lighter, we were on our way again. Col still came out to meet us at the windscreen place and we had our bbq lunch there, in the middle of the industrial estate. It’s called, making the best of all situations!
We arrived in Kalbarri and parked up by the jetty. Again, we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people we encountered. We met a lot of locals who dropped by to say hello to “the people in the big bus”, including one family who are very keen to do this kind of trip with their children and came and asked lots of logistical questions. (Hello Amyleigh and Teagan – I hope it all comes together and we see you on the road soon!!)
We spent a few days hanging out with a couple of nutty sisters, Oksana on holidays from England, Daka an ex-pat living in Perth and Daka’s 12 year old son Slade. They’d run into us at Greenough, and then again on the jetty at Kalbarri. I had a glass of wine or several with the sisters while Slade enjoyed spending time fishing with Trucky and the boys (I think spending lots of time with his mum and aunt was cramping his style a bit!!), we headed out in boats on the river together, fishing and cruising, the four kids played on the playground while the adults drank coffee and chatted. They were great fun people, and we plan to catch up with them in Perth on our return.
Kalbarri has an awesome seahorse sanctuary, where we spent an hour watching thousands of seahorses, from tiny babies, through the ones in primary school (yes, there is a seahorse school!) to those in the retirement village. One good thing about travelling outside of school holidays and weekends, means we can go to these places when they’re basically empty, so we had the marine biologist to ourselves, answering our questions and facilitating our learning about these interesting fish.
Another tourist attraction in Kalbarri that was immensely entertaining was the Pirate Amusement Park. There was mini golf (not to brag but… guess who won!!), trampolines that the kids had great fun on and Alex has now mastered landing a front flip, arcade games and the giant Spider. It’s basically a big cage full of elastic bands, and the kids climbed up to the top and then let themselves fall through the seven layers back down to the bottom. It looked like heaps of fun (and the kids concurred) but unfortunately height restrictions meant Trucky and I couldn’t have a go. He did beat me at air hockey that made up somewhat for beating him at golf! We had the place to ourselves so the kind lady in charge let the kids have a long turn on everything. It was a fun way to spend a few hours.
We left Kalbarri rather reluctantly, but there’s still so much to see! We stopped at Hawks Head and Ross Graham, two of the gorges in the Kalbarri National Park, on the Murchison River. The scenery was spectacular, with so much wildlife! I was surprised to see wild goats grazing away on the banks of the river, but there were also many wallabies, bright green birds and even dragonflies playing. At Ross Graham we were able to walk down though, so into the river. The water was lovely and refreshing as we sat and cooled our feet.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
In which Terry gets bogged, and some local colour
We left Jurien Bay Saturday afternoon and headed for Geraldton, to catch up with Colin. He and Trucky are old mates, hanging out in Broome together many years ago. We spent that night in Moonyoonooka (yeah, I couldn’t pronounce it either!!) before relocating at Colin’s suggestion to Greenough. We had a beautiful spot at the mouth of the river, where we spent the next three nights.
We climbed up and down the sand dunes, slipping and sliding and laughing lots. We took Terry out for a spin as there’s lots of 4WD tracks around, even onto the beach. We had an interesting moment when he got bogged on the shore as the tide was rising. We let the tyres down, and with a passer-by and I pushing, Trucky was able to drive the little car out reasonably easily. Back on harder ground, Trucky pulled out the 12v compressor kept in the boot for such emergencies, pumped back up the tyres, and off we went again. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the drive though! Even Jess has developed a taste for it. Alex can’t wait to learn to drive himself.
We took the boat and jet-ski out in the river, and waded and swam in the shallows right in the river mouth. It was such a beautiful spot – aside from several patches of thick, soft pond weed that felt very squishy underfoot and got caught in the motor of the jet-ski. The kids have nick-named the place “Grogan Pond”. (For those of you unsure about the word ‘grogan’ ask a bogan mate – they can explain…)
Colin spent as much time as he could with us over the few days we were there, even bringing one of his clients out for a trip to the river (he’s a carer for disabled adults). Col’s another very funny guy, and I was entertained with lots of stories of the two of them, back in the day. I’m very pleased I was able to meet him, and I know Trucky loved having the chance to catch up for a few days.
We spent one night 4WDing in the dark out to a fishing spot he knew about. He and Alex in his Range Rover, the rest of us in Terry, took off with several wrong turns and a bit of an issue with high tide, for the secret spot. Poor Tezza got bogged again, and this time we were hauled out by the Range Rover with ease. The fishing spot was pretty scary in the dark, with big waves breaking over the rocks. The two big boys got soaked but I was concerned they’d be swept off into the blackness. The rest of us preferred to make our own art gallery of sand pictures than get anywhere near the water. A few more wrong turns on the way out, but some very proficient driving from Trucky meant we got home without further (towing) embarrassment.
During our stay we also got to know several of the local Greenough characters. Each morning a delightful English chap came down to the river to photograph the abundant bird life. He took masses of photos of the osprey catching fish, as well as the pacific gulls with their bright red lipstick and various other birdlife. Unfortunately we never actually got to know his name, but in return for coffee each morning he’d show us his photos (even letting the kids hold his very expensive camera!) and regale us with tales of local life. He even brought us some home grown tomatoes (very yummy!)
Fishing one afternoon Trucky came across two more locals. John and Richard sat by their beaten up Falcon (complete with an old stick holding the boot open) and drank copious amounts of alcohol while espousing their theories of life, the universe and everything to the luckless fisherman. Later that evening they drove up to the bus, parked outside with Pink Floyd blaring, plied us with alcohol and continued their commentary. We all had a good time with these very funny, colourful blokes.
We climbed up and down the sand dunes, slipping and sliding and laughing lots. We took Terry out for a spin as there’s lots of 4WD tracks around, even onto the beach. We had an interesting moment when he got bogged on the shore as the tide was rising. We let the tyres down, and with a passer-by and I pushing, Trucky was able to drive the little car out reasonably easily. Back on harder ground, Trucky pulled out the 12v compressor kept in the boot for such emergencies, pumped back up the tyres, and off we went again. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the drive though! Even Jess has developed a taste for it. Alex can’t wait to learn to drive himself.
We took the boat and jet-ski out in the river, and waded and swam in the shallows right in the river mouth. It was such a beautiful spot – aside from several patches of thick, soft pond weed that felt very squishy underfoot and got caught in the motor of the jet-ski. The kids have nick-named the place “Grogan Pond”. (For those of you unsure about the word ‘grogan’ ask a bogan mate – they can explain…)
Colin spent as much time as he could with us over the few days we were there, even bringing one of his clients out for a trip to the river (he’s a carer for disabled adults). Col’s another very funny guy, and I was entertained with lots of stories of the two of them, back in the day. I’m very pleased I was able to meet him, and I know Trucky loved having the chance to catch up for a few days.
We spent one night 4WDing in the dark out to a fishing spot he knew about. He and Alex in his Range Rover, the rest of us in Terry, took off with several wrong turns and a bit of an issue with high tide, for the secret spot. Poor Tezza got bogged again, and this time we were hauled out by the Range Rover with ease. The fishing spot was pretty scary in the dark, with big waves breaking over the rocks. The two big boys got soaked but I was concerned they’d be swept off into the blackness. The rest of us preferred to make our own art gallery of sand pictures than get anywhere near the water. A few more wrong turns on the way out, but some very proficient driving from Trucky meant we got home without further (towing) embarrassment.
During our stay we also got to know several of the local Greenough characters. Each morning a delightful English chap came down to the river to photograph the abundant bird life. He took masses of photos of the osprey catching fish, as well as the pacific gulls with their bright red lipstick and various other birdlife. Unfortunately we never actually got to know his name, but in return for coffee each morning he’d show us his photos (even letting the kids hold his very expensive camera!) and regale us with tales of local life. He even brought us some home grown tomatoes (very yummy!)
Fishing one afternoon Trucky came across two more locals. John and Richard sat by their beaten up Falcon (complete with an old stick holding the boot open) and drank copious amounts of alcohol while espousing their theories of life, the universe and everything to the luckless fisherman. Later that evening they drove up to the bus, parked outside with Pink Floyd blaring, plied us with alcohol and continued their commentary. We all had a good time with these very funny, colourful blokes.
Collector by the beach and an awesome yacht
Leaving Cervantes we headed up the coast for Jurien Bay, to catch up with Dean from NZ (faithful blog-followers may remember him from Cape Le Grand). He’s staying with a lovely bloke called Les, who building a yacht to sail to England. We were made extremely welcome by both these guys, and John the other boarder. Les took us on a tour over his partially-completed yacht (a 65 footer that’ll be magnificent when it’s finished!), and has offered to take us out to the Abrolhos Islands next year.
Trucky and Dean spent a lot of time fishing, and more time shooting the breeze. They also relocated the toolbox from the draw bar of the trailer to the top of the trailer roof rack (long story as to why). It was quite fun to watch them work together, as there was as much strategizing, smoking, teasing and re-doing as actually achieving anything! They had a lot of fun though.
The town of Jurien Bay is just gorgeous, and the beaches very pretty. The kids call it “Collector, with a beach”. It was just a bit too cool to swim properly, but we had lots of fun collecting shells and even starfish that had washed up on the beach. One afternoon we built a whole township of sandcastles, complete with botanic gardens, a bike track, shopping mall and parliament house. We walked into town, we rode our bikes along the beach and explored the marina.
Another mate of Les’s who we got to know was Hadley, a local real estate agent. He had a friendly dog named Rico, a black bitzer who relished time with the kids. We took him down to the beach for a swim, and Daniel particularly, spent hours sitting on the floor patting him.
We spent nearly four days in Jurien, with everyone feeling we could quite happily relocate there. I think Trucky enjoyed having some mates to hang out with after the stress of being in Perth, and the kids and I enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. It started to feel like a holiday again!
More music and the search for sunshine (aka reducing the wildlife population)
Our final days in Perth were spent getting ready to leave, and catching up with friends. The kids spent a lot of time with Karen and Jake, with whom the boys especially got along well with. Jess enjoyed impromptu private bass guitar lessons from Karen. By the end of the first one, she could already play three single-string songs. Karen’s not only a good teacher, she’s a great guitarist, and it’s a pleasure to listen to her play – especially her steel-string acoustic. She and Trucky had a couple of jam sessions which were also entertaining.
We spent a fun evening with Phil and Mandy too, with the kids watching big-screen tv while the adults enjoyed much wine while catching up. Phil is a very funny guy, and Trucky and he rub along well together, while Mandy is a beautiful, genuine lady with whom it was a pleasure to spend an evening. Continuing the musical theme, Phil’s an accomplished drummer, who has offered to take Alex (who’s desperately keen to learn to play drums) along to a gig when next we’re back in Perth.
The weather improved for the last few days but we’d still had enough of the city. We left Perth late in the afternoon of the 28th, keen to depart for somewhere coastal. We drove late into the evening, arriving at Cervantes after 11pm. Driving so late at night facilitated our first unfortunate encounter with a native. (Bus 1: Skippy 0) Or so we thought. Inspection the next morning revealed that Skippy’s parting shot was to break the bull bar in two places!! On the upside, that morning at Thirsty Point we met a lovely couple of fellow travellers, Glenn and Maggie, who run a holiday house at Safety Beach near Dromana in Vic (I can pass on contact details if anyone’s going to that area and needs an awesome place to stay – very well kitted out and sleeps ten!).
We spent a fun evening with Phil and Mandy too, with the kids watching big-screen tv while the adults enjoyed much wine while catching up. Phil is a very funny guy, and Trucky and he rub along well together, while Mandy is a beautiful, genuine lady with whom it was a pleasure to spend an evening. Continuing the musical theme, Phil’s an accomplished drummer, who has offered to take Alex (who’s desperately keen to learn to play drums) along to a gig when next we’re back in Perth.
The weather improved for the last few days but we’d still had enough of the city. We left Perth late in the afternoon of the 28th, keen to depart for somewhere coastal. We drove late into the evening, arriving at Cervantes after 11pm. Driving so late at night facilitated our first unfortunate encounter with a native. (Bus 1: Skippy 0) Or so we thought. Inspection the next morning revealed that Skippy’s parting shot was to break the bull bar in two places!! On the upside, that morning at Thirsty Point we met a lovely couple of fellow travellers, Glenn and Maggie, who run a holiday house at Safety Beach near Dromana in Vic (I can pass on contact details if anyone’s going to that area and needs an awesome place to stay – very well kitted out and sleeps ten!).
Friday, July 17, 2009
Not all hard work though, and itchy feet
While Trucky and John have been tinkering on the multiple vehicles in the yard here (male bonding), Maria and I have been off seeing the sights. We went to an antique show at the University of WA where the buildings and grounds were spectacular in their own right, took Jess before she left to the art gallery to see a couple of good local artist exhibitions, and generally doing other girl-bonding things – shopping, coffee, shopping…
Trucky and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary at a medieval-themed bed and breakfast in Carmel, in the Perth Hills (see members.westnet.com.au/smithers/carmelot/index.html). It was certainly something different and a bit of fun. And nice to get away from the bus for a while too. We stopped at Lesmurdie Falls on the way back to town - a very pretty spot.
We’ve also spent time with Karen and Jake (my SIL and nephew), and their friends Tracey, Tony and Connor. We've also caught up with some of Trucky's old friends and other relatives including Maria's boys Tony, Joe and Pete.
I’ve been lucky enough to pick up some nursing work through a local agency that supplies locum nurses to operating theatres in Perth. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing some different theatre complexes and how they are run, their standards of practise and the way they operate that’s different from ”over East”.
The kids had an uneventful flight back to Canberra early July, and are enjoying catching up with family and friends back home. They’ll return to us next week (can’t wait) then they can see a bit more of Perth before we head off on the 27th.
I can't wait to hit the road again!
Extreme storms lead to an extreme makeover
We’ve been in Perth now for almost three weeks, camping in John and Maria’s driveway. Trucky had to modify one of the trees in the yard to enable this, but we’re firmly here now.
Unfortunately the massive storms we encountered left a lot of residual damage to the poor old fibreglass roof of the bus, and we suffered badly with water damage inside. The worst affected was the lounge room and Jess’s loft bedroom. We’ve had to dry out all her bedding and replace a few wall and floor panels up there, and get her a new mattress.
The lounge has had an extreme make-over. It’s been fantastic to get rid of the nasty grey couch and hideous carpet, and the horrible chipboard built-in cupboard will not be missed! The whole room looks a lot fresher, bigger and brighter. Maria revamped the couch and it now has new foam and covers on the seats. Trucky and I relined the lounge room walls and recovered the floor with wipe-clean lino which hopefully will be more practical than the dust and mildew filled carpet of old. Thanks to a donation of an old pantry from Karen, we also have a new linen cupboard. The crowning glory is the new built-in cupboard that Trucky and John spent many hours and many swear words on.
Trucky’s also been busy fixing other bits and pieces – amongst other things the passenger door has been re-lined, the solar panel mounts moved and new hinges welded on the maintenance locker together with new floor supports. Oh, and most importantly we’ve both spent many hours on the roof with cans of sealer making sure no more rain can get in. We’ve got all our fingers, toes and everything else crossed to make sure no more water gets in!
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