Daly River to Katherine

Ramblings 2008 #4
July 23.
DALY RIVER TO KATHERINE VIA DARWIN & KAKADU
It was pretty sad leaving Woolianna although we were glad we stayed the extra days to spend some time meeting the Vodaphone team people and the drivers, Craig Lowndes & Jamie Winchup.
They really turned on a good day for everyone making themselves available to chat and have photos taken…..guess who was in the front row? Everyone there was impressed by the easy going nature of these 2 young men who in the eyes of many are superstars of their sport but really they are just 2 very nice young blokes with no airs & graces about them whatsoever….. (Photos are on the Blog if you’re interested.)
We arrived in Darwin early next morning (July 3) and were very happy to find our favourite site “The Courtyard” had just been vacated that morning so we jumped in there post haste and got ourselves set up.
This site covers an area of approx 200 sq. mts. and adjoins a very nice outdoor area surrounded by tall palms, it is very private and cool, also close to the toilets which is a big plus in a large park like Howard Springs.
The first few days for me was spent at the HIDDEN VALLEY racetrack for the V8’s which was great as the Fords won again. Darwin Council provides a free bus service to and from the track each day ……(pick up out the front of the park) which is very convenient as the car parks get pretty full on race days.
Peter & Barb had got to Darwin a few days before us and had a site fairly close to ours and John & Denise, (the Daly River swimmers) were also still there, but they left after the weekend to get to Kunnunurra where they had lined up some work for a few weeks to help pay for the new boat motor they had to buy to replace the old one which got drowned. (Non Repairable)
We had seen most of the tourist attractions around Darwin so the rest of the time was mostly spent resting, reading and cleaning up after so long in the wilderness, J also managed to squeeze in a bit of retail therapy.
We had a couple of meals at Stokes Hill Wharf and re-acquainted ourselves with the Moonfish plus a visit to the famous Humpty Doo Hotel for lunch, last Sunday we went to Mindil Beach for the annual Beer Can Regatta which was good fun, the boats they make from beer cans are quite remarkable …..
(the kids make theirs out of soft drink cans) but some people cheated this year and hid various hulls and large drums inside the cans so next year they are changing the rules. We also had a day at the Sky City casino which is a bit unusual for us but we learnt that every Monday is seniors day and if you join the casino as a member, (no charge) you receive a smart card with $20 poker machine money on it plus a $5 Keno voucher and a free coffee. You can’t cash in the money on the card but if you win more than the $20 you can then take out the cash, which we did and had a lovely lunch courtesy of Sky City…..Not bad for a couple of non gamblers.
Unfortunately Darwin is still experiencing a lot of crime & violence around the suburbs and also in the CBD, mostly at night, sadly the courts are not helping as most of the crims go to court and end up back on the streets the next day. There have been several cases recently where people have appeared in court 2 & 3 times in a month yet they still get bail……something wrong there, I think.
They’ve just announced the date for the Territory election next month and all the candidates are promising to take severe action to rectify this situation…..Hmmmm. We’ll see. I vaguely recall hearing similar noises the first time we came up here 4 years ago.
The weather has been beautiful though with daytime temps around 30+ and nights around 18 and it’s still not humid. Apologies to all you Southerners who are probably still freezing but this is the reason we come here.
From Darwin we headed out through Kakadu to Gagudgu Lodge Van Park at Cooinda where we booked the early morning, 6.45 cruise on the Yellow Waters Billabong. Yellow Waters is an offshoot of the South Alligator River which flows about 200k’s from its headwaters to the ocean in Van Diemens Gulf about 150k’s east of Darwin.
The area is alive with birdlife from ducks, egrets, jabiru & brolga to the most magnificent kites, sea eagles and magpie geese plus some of the prettiest honeyeaters you could imagine. The morning cruise seems to be the most popular as there were enough people there to fill 4 boats, each of about 60.…. We also saw a few crocs but nowhere near the size of those in the Daly.
We booked in for 2 nights as I was hopeful of doing a spot of fishing from a floating pontoon near the park,
unfortunately the pontoon is now on private property and not accessible to park guests, anyway it was fairly hot so we had a swim and enjoyed the rest.
Saturday night, 19th we stayed at a small park in Pine Creek where we intended to visit an old railway museum we had passed previously, unfortunately it was closed on weekends so we will have to save that one for next year.
We got to Katherine around midday Sunday in time to watch the V8’s racing in Queensland and then have a quick swim to cool off, it’s still very hot.
Monday we decided to buy a TV satellite dish which are much cheaper here in Katherine than anywhere else we’ve ever seen them. We went to the daily demonstration at Johnnies Electrics at 1.30 and by 4.00 we had it set up and were able to watch TV from all over the country. This will come in very handy over the next few weeks as we think there will be very limited coverage when we get up into the gulf country east of here and McLeods Daughters is just about to come back on, so according to Judith we need to have our priorities in order.
We’ll be out of here tomorrow morning and will probably have a stopover around Daly Waters then head east to Cape Crawford where we plan to take the helicopter ride over “The Lost City” which we have been told is worthwhile. From there we are hoping to attack the gravel for about 600k’s from Borraloola via Hells Gate
& Burketown to Normanton on the Savannah Way, we would also like to visit Gregory Downs and maybe Lawn Hill.
We’re not certain of the road conditions at the moment but we will start asking questions as we go and hopefully get the right answers, we’ve got plenty of time before we’re due at Wonga Beach so we can afford to go as slowly as necessary.
Hopefully I can report on all the good aspect of that trip next time.
Till then, hoping you are all well, thank you to those who keep in contact and send news from home and thereabouts, we love hearing from you.
Love to All
D & J.

Katherine to Daly River

Roaming Ramblings 2008 #3 July 1st.
Katherine to Daly River.
Greetings from Woolianna on The Daly. (Heaven on a Stick)
We were expecting to be leaving here today to go on to Darwin for the next 2 weeks, but late yesterday afternoon we learnt that Craig Lowndes and Jamie Winchup of the Vodaphone Race Team are visiting the local aboriginal community of Naiyu tomorrow (Wednesday) on their way to Darwin, for a meet and greet session with sausage sizzle lunch plus photo opportunities and being the dedicated Ford follower that I am I couldn’t pass up the chance to go over and join in the activities so we’ve delayed our departure for 2 days.
Naiyu, incidentally, is one of the best examples of an Indigenous Community we have ever seen, the whole village is clean & tidy, the residents seem to have a genuine pride in their community which is good to see.
They have a fully staffed medical centre, open 6 hours a day with their own air strip where the doctor lands for his weekly visit, the community is totally dry which is strictly adhered to and the Police Station is manned 24/7 by 4 aboriginal officers and they pride themselves on the low level of crime & violence in the area.
Those that want alcohol have to go to the Daly River Pub at the river crossing (about 10k’s), they can only buy takeaway between 3pm & 7pm, the same rule applies to us as well but you never see more than about 8 or 10 there whenever we go over. (Maybe the $50 a carton slows them down)
The kids all go to the local school at Woolianna on the bus each day and from the pictures on the wall at the school of those kids that attend 100% each week it seems they don’t have too much trouble getting them to attend.
It really is an eye opener compared to some communities we’ve been through in recent years, no government intervention needed here.
It’s about 20k’s from here and we go over every Thursday when the fresh food truck comes in, to stock up on the essentials at the village supermarket which is very well run and carries a wide range of food products and general goods.
We’ve learnt over the past 4 weeks that only about 20% of the residents have their “income” quarantined which I believe is the lowest in the Territory.
Anyway enough about Naiyu, will be able to report on tomorrows happenings with the FORD boys next time.
The last month we’ve spent at Woolianna has been really lovely, the owners here, Georgie & Adrian are ex Qantas staffers, he a pilot and she a hostess and they certainly know how to look after their guests, they get involved with all the park activities and organise regular events like Market Days, Dances & Singalongs.
Today being Territory Day (30 years of self government) we are having a BBQ on the lawn tonight followed by fire works.
On June 15, Georgie’s mum Anna, who is here at the moment from Sydney, turned 80, so we had a big party night to help her celebrate, again with fire works. (Any excuse)

Every Thursday the ladies have a craft day and market in the Gazebo here at Woolianna and several ladies from the other camp sites along the river come along and they all have a lovely time. On Tuesdays the same thing happens at the Banyan Farm, another resort/camp about 7 k’s away and all the ladies from here go over there for the morning. (J is there at the moment)
There are also markets at the Woolianna School every 3rd Sunday and believe me they come from everywhere for that one…. Judith has sold quite a lot of bears and jewellery she’s made at all the market days as well she’s been the Woolianna hairdresser for the past month.
I just go fishing which hasn’t been as successful as I’d hoped although I have caught 2 at 60+ cms and one at 70 (he was a nice fish) will put some pics on the blog when we get to Darwin.
Plenty of undersize which are still great fun to get in the net. These Barra know how to fight.
Last Friday night about 20 of us went over to the Banyan Farm for a charity dinner and entertainment, there was a variety club type rally passing through the area so they put on a function to help the teams raise some money for the Starlight Foundation, there were about 120 people there in total, we had a 3 course meal for $30 a head and it was a very successful night, we believe about $2000 plus was raised from various auctions and sales of goods etc. (We all came home with something)
They have a very large undercover area that holds about 200 which was built some years ago by the fishing club to cater for the entrants in the annual Barra Classic which is conducted on the river in April every year.
The entertainment was provided by a fellow we’ve seen before in Darwin, he calls himself Fat Thommo and he is well named, (HUGE would be more appropriate) he dresses up in all the costumes and does Elvis, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Bee Gees impersonations.
As a grand finale he comes out in womens lingerie, including G String & suspenders etc. and does the Rocky Horror thing, hilarious.
We had one frightening experience a couple of weeks ago, John & Denise Dawe who we first met at Emerald and had seen a couple of times in between, called in for a week and one morning we went in the boats down the river about 7 k’s to fish and while we were there they got their boat caught up in an overhanging tree branch to which they were tied and subsequently tipped themselves into the river, Peter & I were only about 30 metres away and were able to get to them fairly quickly, we got John into the boat in about a minute or two and fortunately there was another couple close by and they were able to get to Denise and get her out of the water, the sad part about this is they are both fairly large people and poor swimmers and were panicking a bit so we were very lucky that the second boat came along as I think had we tried to get them both aboard my boat we might all have ended up swimming with the crocs.
Anyway all ended safely, we towed their boat home and the days adventure was the main topic of conversation at Happy Hour that night.
Unfortunately after about 3 days the story was embellished considerably each time it was told and people were treating us like heroes (very embarrassing)
Last night which was supposed to be our last night here, as well as another 4 couples, Georgie organised a farewell dinner for us all in the Gazebo, we felt we were there under false pretences as we had already decided to stay the extra days but she wanted us to be there anyway and guess what, yes ….she put another fire works display. As I said, any excuse.

That’s about all I can remember of this past month but we certainly won’t forget our time here, it’s been absolutely beautiful and we’ve already booked for the same time next year.
Till next time
Hope you are all well
Love to All
D & J.

Katherine to Daly River

Emerald to Katherine

Roaming Ramblings 2008 #2 31/5/08
Emerald to Katherine
Hi to All
The Redclaw weren’t very cooperative at all this year, they say because of the floods earlier in the year. The dam is totally full and in some places is up to 80 ft deep. We did manage to find some shallow spots around sunken trees and we were getting 10 to 15 a day until we moved the traps around a bit and got on to a nice patch where we picked up over 100 in the last 3 days (good size too), so we at least had some to put in the freezer for later. The experts say that next year will be boom times as the critters will be breeding up in the deep water throughout the year just waiting for the tourists to arrive in May. (Here’s hoping anyway)
We had a good time at the camp, a big group of about 20 of Peter & Barb’s friends from the South Coast were all there and they made us feel very welcome.
The weather was a lot warmer than N.S.W. but still a bit cool at night….Doona Time.
The park is run by Andrew & Geoff, a couple of gay boys who are excellent hosts, they organise regular social events for the campers and go out of their way to see that everyone has a good fun time.
It was a bit sad to leave Emerald and head for the warmer weather to the North.
First night out we stopped at Barcaldine where the entertainment in the camp is very good, a local character named Tom Lockie cooks damper & billy tea and tells a few yarns around the campfire, this is followed by Graeme Rodger singing a few country songs, we’ve seen Graeme before and he is very good value.
Next night we stopped at Winton but because it was State of Origin, the usual campfire entertainment was cancelled which was unfortunate as Milton Taylor is one of the best bush poets around, never mind, at least N.S.W. won the football. We were surrounded by Queenslanders but for some reason they were very quiet. (No sense of humour)
Then it was on to Mt Isa for a couple of days to do a bit of shopping and washing, I had hoped to get the car serviced but no one could do it at short notice so it will have to wait till Katherine.
We had a freebie at Avon Downs across the Barkly in N.T. a nice clean camp with toilets opposite the police station, no phones, radio or tele but very popular and cold enough to light a fire which we did and had an enjoyable night.
We’re starting to notice that the increasing fuel prices are not having too much effect on the caravanners, there are just as many out here as ever although the freebie roadside camps look busier than in previous years and it appears many have been upgraded.
Tennant Creek hasn’t changed much since 2005 (still grotty) but it’s worth driving back the 25k’s from the Threeways to save about 25c per litre on fuel. I was able to buy E10 for 153.9 with a seniors card, that’s the cheapest we’ve seen since Roma. (Unleaded at Threeways was 183.9)
As we still have plenty of time before we’re due at Daly River we are just doing short days of about 200k’s (suits me fine).
Next night (Monday) we stopped behind the roadhouse at Elliott…..we looked for a freebie but our camps book had nothing with toilets between Tennant Creek and Daly Waters apart from roadhouses and commercial parks.
Advice for fellow travellers, the camp at Newcastle Waters now has what looks like a very new toilet block which we discovered the following morning, 15 minutes up the road. (Bugger)
On to Daly Waters for a night at the pub, where the entertainment is always good. We got in about 10.30 which is essential if you want a good powered site and by about 3.00pm there were probably another 30 vans in the paddock. I went for a walk at 6.30 next morning and counted 69 vans & campers. All this in a paddock next to the pub which wouldn’t be much more than about 3 acres.
Fortunately they’ve never had a fire.
Frank the “Chook Man” still provides the nightly entertainment at Daly Waters, but unfortunately he hasn’t learnt any new songs or jokes since we were here 3 years ago, nevertheless we had a good time and a great meal.
We fought our way out next morning and headed for Mataranka and the hot springs, we have never stopped here before but it is well worthwhile just to spend an hour or so in the spring water which comes up out of the ground at about 34 degrees and is as clear as crystal…very relaxing.
Before we left next day we called in to the Mataranka Manor where the owner hand feeds barramundi in a dam at the park, it’s quite amazing, he wiggles a small piece of pilchard on the water and when the barra comes to take it he grabs it by the mouth and lifts the thing clear of the water and they’re not small, probably around 12 - 15kg.
We got out of Mataranka around 10.30 for the short drive to Katherine where we were able to have a clean up, do some shopping, washing and stock up for the next month at Daly River, I was also able to get the car serviced and have blood tests done for the doctors back home.
Saturday was the annual Katherine Cup meeting and as it is the only meeting of the year everyone from town and those within about 100 k’s were there, the crowd was huge, I’m sure it must have been a great success for the organisers….not very successful for us but we had a good time anyway.
Tomorrow we head out to Daly River for the next month and hopefully some big Barra in the boat, we’ve got everything we need so if we don’t get some there will be no excuses. (but I’ll make something up if necessary)
Hopefully some good fish stories and photos next time.
Till then
Love to All
D & J

PORT HEDLAND TO FITZROY CROSSING

July 7th 2007
From Port Hedland we had a pretty easy drive to 80 Mile Beach, about 250 k’s, and found a very nice caravan park about 10 k’s off the highway and for once, everything we had been told turned out to be true.
The drive north was quite interesting again, the landscape changing all the time as we left the Pilbarra region and headed into the lower reaches of the “Kimberley” at least we were getting away from the red dirt for a while.
The park was very spacious with big shady sites, spotless amenities and nice neighbours which is a bonus.
The day after we arrived, being Sunday, was “Market Day” and a lot of the people in the park set up a small stall to sell their crafts etc. that they make during their travels it’s quite popular with about 10 or 12 stalls.
Judith put out a few of her Teddy Bears she had made plus her haircutting sign… and worked all day.
She was a real hit as the nearest hairdresser was 250 - 300k’s away and most of the campers were long timers and some were pretty scruffy.
Having spent most of Sunday entertaining J’s clients and keeping them happy while they waited in the queue, Monday was my time to fish, so I went down the beach with our next door neighbour (David) and brought home a 16lb Threadfin Salmon, got my photo taken for the bragging wall in the shop and was pretty happy.
Next day we went for a drive up the beach to the north, looking for shells which are very plentiful and quite different, anyway we drove about 20 k’s, got lots of shells and on the way back to the camp we noticed a spot at low tide that I reckoned would be a good fishing spot tomorrow on the high tide.

The tide here can be anything from 5 to 8 metres so it is fairly easy to find a potential gutter at low tide.
We took David & his wife Trish in the car the next afternoon and headed up the beach and our “SPOT” turned out to be a winner, over the next 2 days I caught two 20 pounders, David got one at 22 pound but Trish topped us all with a Mulloway (Jewfish) that weighed in at 27 pound.
Having caught 3 big fish we were then barred from the beach (that’s the limit) so we spent the next (and last) day washing the car and caravan before heading for Broome. (We didn’t have room in the fridge to keep any more fish anyway)
As you can imagine 80 Mile Beach has become one of our favourite spots…. I don’t know if we’ll ever return though, it’s a long way from home.
For those of you who didn’t pay attention at Primary School, somewhere along 80 Mile Beach is the northern (or western) extremity of the Woomera Rocket Range, which was surveyed in the 1950’s by Len Beadell who was commissioned by the government of the day to locate and survey a 1500 mile straight stretch of the country that didn’t encroach upon or pass over any civilization or settled area, in order to test fire the Jindivik, Australias first rocket.
I’m not sure for what purpose but it worked and flew the required distance so obviously everyone was happy.
After a week at 80 mile we continued on to Broome where we also planned to stay put for a week (driving 300 to 400 k’s a day can become pretty expensive over here with petrol around 150c/ltr.
We’d decided to give ourselves a treat and book an ensuite site for the week which was nice for a change and only $24.50 a night, which is cheaper than some parks where we camp on gravel.
Just as well we stayed as long as we did because Broome was a very nice town and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We went on a sunset cruise one night, rode the camels along Cable Beach at sunset, did a tour of the local Pearl Farm and to top it all off we were lucky enough to be there for the “Staircase to the Moon” which only occurs on 2 or 3 nights each month during winter when the rising of the full moon coincides with the extreme low tide and the reflection across the Roebuck Bay sandflats towards the East, resembles a ladder that stretches right across the bay. (Quite spectacular)
The amazing thing was that for the 3 days prior to the staircase there was quite a bit of heavy cloud cover which made the sunsets quite beautiful, but no good for a clear sight of the moon, anyway our prayers were answered (again) and Saturday dawned with not a cloud in the sky so the experience was possible.
Sunday morning when we left it was cloudy again and we even had a spot of rain. (Someone must be looking after us)
While we were in Broome we had a visit from Ken & Robyn Short from Newcastle who we hadn’t seen for about 3 or 4 years, they are about to drive the Gibb River Road and can’t take their little dog into the National Parks so they drove down to Broome for a night to leave Sam in the “Doggie Motel “at the local vets office for a couple of weeks.
We had a very pleasant night catching up on their travels in recent years, sitting on the beach watching the sunset with some nibbles and a glass of wine or two…… (It‘s a tough life out here.)
From Broome we drove up to Derby for some more tourist activity which included one of the better days we’ve had so far on this trip.
Monday morning we left Derby airport at 8.00am in an amphibious plane headed for the “Horizontal Falls”
We travelled with Graham & Merlene Whitney, formerly from Glen Innes, who we have spent some time with in the last 2 weeks or so and only 4 others.
The plane landed on the lake near the falls and we were picked up by a small boat, taken for a tour of the falls and the surrounding waterways before being delivered to a magnificent 65ft yacht moored nearby where we were given morning tea and waited for the tide to turn and the falls to begin their performance.
The horizontal falls are created by the water rushing from one very large lake, which opens to the ocean,
into 2 other smaller landlocked lakes through a very narrow opening in the cliffs. Due to the huge tides that occur in this area the flow of water is frightening and actually builds up to a height of about a metre as it pushes towards the opening, the spectacle only last about 2 hours on each tidal movement but on a really high tide or an extreme low it really is a performance to be seen.
When the time was right we boarded the small boat again for the ride of our lives through the falls, the boat is a rubber Zodiac type craft with twin 200hp outboards and believe me, it needs everyone of them to get through safely as the opening is only about 10 metres wide and the water is pouring through at about 40k’s/hr.
We had 3 or 4 runs through over the next hour or so, which was great, took some beaut photos and video then they took us back to the yacht for a very nice lunch before being picked up again at 1.30 for the trip home via Cape Levique where we landed and were left for a couple of hours to have a swim and a good look around the camp there.
We were later picked up by 2 other small planes and flown back to Derby, arriving at about 4.30. (Not bad for a trip that is advertised as a half day tour)…..Not cheap but great value,

I’d do it all again given the chance.
The next day we went with Graham & Merlene for a 350k round trip, part way up the Gibb River Road, to the Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, very nice but not quite as exciting as yesterday. The only excitement came when we found a colony of Freshwater Crocs (the harmless ones) and got some good close up photos.
We got back to Derby about 5.00pm and decided it was too late to start cooking so we all went to the local fish restaurant down at the jetty for a nice feed of fish and chips.
We said goodbye to Derby early next morning, topped up the petrol tank at 155.0 c/ltr, for the short trip to Fitzroy Crossing where we found a real nice caravan park out the back of the Fitzroy River Lodge, a pretty flash tourist resort on the banks of the river with petrol on sale at 147c/ltr. (Bugger)….. Booked in for one night only, then headed out to Geekie Gorge for a look and found a boat tour just about to begin so we jumped on board for a very interesting 1.5 hour trip up into the gorge with a pretty well informed guide.
As much as we often say one gorge is much the same as the other, they really are quite different in their own way and worth the effort to see. …..I figure there’s not much point in coming all this way just to drive from one town to the next.
Next morning we decided to stay an extra night as this is the first camp we’ve had in several weeks where they appear to have an abundant water supply and allow you to wash cars and caravans on site so we took advantage of that, it’s a good opportunity to hopefully get rid of the last of the Pilbarra dust and do some washing as well to catch up. The little washing machine is still doing a great job. J tells me I’m due for a haircut so that’s probably going to happen sometime soon as well.
Tomorrow (Friday) we head for Halls Creek then on to Kunnanurra for a few days (and more tours) before heading towards Katherine and Darwin…. We hope to be in Katherine by next Wednesday to watch the State of Origin, you don’t hear anything about NRL in W.A. but I do check the results on the net every week and I’m VERY happy that my Parramatta Eels are doing so well, unfortunately for J the Roosters are having another lean year.
We hope you are all well and thanks to those of you who Email occasionally, it’s good to hear from you.
Till next time
Love to all
D & J.

CARNARVON TO PORT HEDLAND

http://andosontherun.blogspot.com/
MAY 2007
Greetings from Port Hedland
From Carnarvon we only had a relatively short drive to Coral Bay where we had booked for 3 nights.
We had been advised it was a very busy place and it is wise to book first and that info turned out to be accurate for once.
Coral Bay is a beautiful little resort town, a bit of a magnet for backpackers from all over the world, a bit like Airlie Beach in Qld.
The village and all the infrastructure (except water) is privately owned by only 3 families, 2 of them each own a caravan park and shopping centre and the third group own the pub and between them they appear to also own all the boats and tours they offer for diving, coral viewing and fishing etc. plus 4WD quad bikes which are everywhere and available for hire…. For some reason no one can buy property here and officially, no one lives here either. (I don’t understand that but it seems to be true as we were told the story twice)
We decided to give the whale sharks a miss and instead went on a snorkelling trip to the reef which is only about 1k from the shore. Unfortunately the water wasn’t as flat as it could be but, as you would know by now, it’s always windy over here and we didn’t have much time to pick & choose, however once under the water I suppose it doesn’t make a lot of difference. The only danger was getting blown away from the boat but we managed to avoid any problems in that regard and had a great time for a couple of hours.
The coral over here is not as colourful as the Barrier Reef but it is very pretty just the same and some of the growths are huge, the highlight for us was swimming with a large school of snapper and spangled emperor to about 50cm. Being within the Ningaloo Marine Sanctuary the fish are quite tame, they know they are safe and if you’re careful and don’t make any sudden moves, you can actually reach out and touch them under the water as they swim by.
(Who said fish have no brains?)
Day 2 we did a bit of 4W driving into the sand hills and on to the beach away from the town, like most of the W.A. coast the water is a beautiful turquoise colour and the sand is almost pure white, it really is lovely and perfectly safe for swimming with no swells or rips anywhere.
Many years ago, before tourism became popular, this area was known as either Maud’s Landing or Bills Bay (depending on who you listen to) and was an export point for the wool industry, the only reminder of that era today are 2 piers left from the old jetty which has long been derelict. (Probably blown away by a cyclone or two)
The weather is starting to warm up now that we’ve crossed into the tropics, most days are a very pleasant
27 - 30 degrees and nights get down to around 18 and as we’ve turned more into the North East since turning the corner at Carnarvon the winds appear to be lessening as well……Let’s hope so.
We only had about 180k’s to travel the next day to Exmouth so we had a late start for a change as the weather forecast predicted a tail wind from the S.E. we had no need to get away before the wind came up.
Exmouth is a small town of about 2500 currently, but obviously about to go into an enormous growth period, not unlike the rest of W.A.
About 1k south of the town there is a huge canal housing development under construction near a very new harbour and marina precinct which is full of very big boats and prawn trawlers, there are literally hundreds of blocks being created, most with deep canal frontages, all over 900sq mtrs and very expensive. The cheapest we saw in the sales office in town was $440k up to a maximum of $550k and apparently they are selling like hot cakes…….This is obviously going to be a much bigger town in the very near future.

We spent most of the time here on washing & housework plus stocking the pantry and fridge as we intend heading inland for the next week or so, to Tom Price and Newman to have a look at what’s causing this mining boom we keep hearing about.
The road on this sector passed through some of the prettiest and most varied country we have seen on this trip, firstly we drove through miles of bright red sand hill country with patches of brilliant green as a result of recent rains, then it changed almost instantly as we got into the range country and started to see some of the huge rocky outcrops which obviously contain the ores and minerals for which this area is well known.
Some people actually say driving over here is boring but we certainly haven’t felt that at all.
First night out of Exmouth we had a stopover at the Nanutarra Roadhouse where we found the caravan park area quite clean and spacious.
We decided as it was only a quick stopover we would have tea in the cafe attached to the roadhouse…… not a good decision……..due to the isolation everything here is super expensive……..anyway we enjoyed our $19.75 hamburgers, checked out the petrol price (175.9c/ltr) and decided we had enough to get us to Tom Price.
A couple of people we spoke to explained that the power generators at the roadhouse cost about $1000 per day to run so that’s why everything is so expensive. (Makes sense)
Next morning we set out for Tom Price and again drove through some very pretty country, as we approached the Hammersley Ranges the hills became bigger and more colourful and the compass went haywire so there must be mineral everywhere.
Tom Price was a very interesting place, the only caravan park was a little bit out of town and full of workers from the local mine, with a few sites kept for the tourists. You don’t need an alarm clock here as all the diesel utes in the park fire up between 5.30 and 6.00 every morning to go to work.
Tom Price is the highest town in W.A. only 500 plus metres above sea level and in the shadow of Mt. Nameless the highest accessible mountain in W.A.
We stayed for 3 nights, went on a tour of the iron ore mine which is owned by Rio Tinto and is a huge open cut operation 5.5km long, 1.5km wide and about 500m deep right down into the centre of what used to be Mt. Tom Price. Not quite as big as the “Super Pit” in Kalgoorlie but they haven’t been digging here quite as long yet. (Pic’s on the Blog if you‘re interested) They bring the ore up from the bottom of the pit to the processing plant in huge dump trucks each carrying about 180 tonnes, the tyres alone stand 3.7mtrs high and cost about $100k each, up till now they have taken about 1billion tonnes out of the mine and it still has about 8 years left before it runs out.
We were told if we come back here in 10 years we will probably see “Lake Tom price” from the same lookout, as the underground water keeps flowing in continually and the pumps operate 24 hours a day to keep it under control and when the ore runs out it will just be left to fill.
The company will then move on to the next mine…they currently have another 6 sites ready to go at sometime in the future.
We saw the ore being loaded on to the trains which consist of 230 cars, each carrying over 100 tonnes and measuring a total length of 2.4k’s for the trip down to the port at Dampier some 400k’s away on the coast to be shipped to China or Korea.
The whole loading operation for a train that size takes less than 2 hours.
The interesting thing is, as Tom Price is the highest town in W.A. the trains use less fuel travelling down hill to Dampier fully loaded than they use on the return journey empty.
The other interesting bit of info we were told was that the largest single shareholder in Rio Tinto is the queen so I guess their future is assured well into the future.
(There’s a bit of trivia for you)
Next day we went for a drive out to Hammersley Gorge and Mount Sheila, a little bit rough in parts but well worth the drive as both are quite spectacular in their own way, the rock formations at Hammersley Gorge are different to anything we have seen previously, …..not having the faintest idea what type of rock or what the curved formation would be called, I’ve put a Pic on the blog, you can see for yourself.
On the way back to the park we drove up to the top of Mount Nameless via a very ordinary 4WD track with lots of signs advising us if we got into trouble no one else cared, anyway we got to the top and back down in one piece and again, it was well worth the effort, the view is spectacular.
We decided not to go to Newman as it involves another 165k and return to the same point before making any further progress north and as we had seen the mine at Tom Price, we could see no value in another mine, even though the BHP mine at Newman is supposedly the largest open cut operation in the world…..This is certainly the world of “BIG” over here, everyone claims to be bigger than someone else, there is currently a debate going on about which of Dampier or Port Hedland can claim the title of the biggest exporter by tonnage.
We skipped Port Dampier and Karratha as we have heard there’s no accommodation there anyway, all the caravan parks are full of workers and their families.
We are currently in Port Hedland where we’ve seen more big trains, big trucks & even bigger ships and will leave here tomorrow (Saturday) for 80 Mile Beach (about half way to Broome) …we will probably stay there for 6 or 7 days, apparently the beach fishing is really good at the moment and we have been told it is a great park. (Will let you know next time)
It’s getting late in the day and I’m sure you’ll be thinking I’ve waffled on long enough, so hopefully this finds everyone healthy & well.
Till next time
Love to all
D & J.

KALBARRI TO CARNARVON

MAY 2007
ROAMING RAMBLINGS #6
KALBARRI TO CARNARVON
We enjoyed our stay in Kalbarri, it is a very friendly little town and the weather during our stay was perfect barring one night of rain but not enough to spoil anything, the caravan park was right on the river and very clean.
The fishing in the river was fairly quiet so we didn’t spend much time chasing fish as there were plenty of other activities to fill in the time.
We drove about 50 k’s back towards Northampton to the principality of “Hutt River Province”, you may remember in the 1970’s Prince Leonard and his family took the government of the day to court over an issue with his wheat quota, he lost that case but he didn’t give up and after a very long struggle and many court cases he finally seceded his 18000 acres of sheep and wheat from W.A. and Australia and created the independent principality of Hutt River and over the years it has become a bit of a tourist attraction.
When we arrived at the gate we were greeted by one of the staff and told that Prince Leonard had gone to Australia on official business but Princess Shirley would show us around in his absence, it turned out Prince Leonard had only gone into Northampton to collect the mail and would be back in an hour or so.
Anyway we had a private tour of the place, learnt a bit of the history which we found interesting, had our passport endorsed with a visa, bought some currency and souvenirs then Prince Leonard came back and completed our tour with a photo session with both himself and Princess Shirley.
All in all, a fun day with some very strange but fascinating people. Prince Leonard (now in his 80’s) is a bit of an old eccentric but not stupid by any means.
Next day (Wed) was Anzac Day so we got up early to attend the local Dawn Service at the Town Cenotaph, a very small turnout but they had a couple of pipers so that made it OK for me. The march later in the morning attracted a bigger crowd (maybe it had something to do with the free lunch at the pub put on by the RSL.)
We drove out into the National Park in the afternoon and walked to some spectacular gorges in the upper reaches of the Murchison River.
Thursday we had a lay day and caught up with some housekeeping and washing through the day and at night the park people put on a BBQ for all the camp. I had arranged to go on a fishing charter offshore on Friday at 6.00am so an early night was on the agenda.
Fridays fishing trip was really good weather wise, the sea was very calm and the fishing was a bit quiet, but I got lucky and caught a 8kg Dhufish which they consider a delicacy over here. He’s a bit like what we call a Jewfish but not in the Mullaway family, more like a very big Pearl Perch, anyway he is beautiful to eat and that’s all that matters.
From Kalbarri we drove up to Denham which involves a 125k diversion off the main N.W. highway and return, but it was well worth the extra few k’s as Denham is a lovely village in the World Heritage area of Shark Bay opposite Dirk Hartog Island and Steep Point which is the western most point of the mainland, which is another 125k side track on gravel so we declined the opportunity and settled for the view from Denham.
The caravan park at Denham was very large and very clean, the ground consists of compressed shell in coarse sand which is packed down so tightly and has been dry for so long, some sites require an electric drill to create holes for tent pegs to be able to penetrate it.
We couldn’t stay as long as we’d hoped as their annual fishing fiesta was about to begin at the weekend and all the parks were booked out, so we were only able to book for 3 nights… Anyway we took in all the sights and visited Monkey Mia to feed the dolphins, saw some wonderful sunsets and met some nice people. The coastal scenery in this part of W.A. is fantastic as most of the coastline is protected by a series of reefs and the water is so calm and crystal clear turquoise most of the time. (Set to Email 7/5/07
Next stop was Carnarvon, the home of the OTC communications facility which played a major role in the NASA moon landing programme in the late 60’s. The big dish is not operational any longer but it remains on the hill, east of the town as a reminder of the part the town played in that event.
We spent 3 nights in a caravan park especially provided for Seniors and Retirees, (no dogs & no kids allowed).
A bit discriminatory but they seem to be able to get away with it over here, the promotional material just says no child facilities available, it must work OK because the park was fairly busy.
We caught up with a few people we had met so far on the trip including Graham & Merlene Whitney from Glen Innes (cousin Wendy’s old neighbours) plus Lester & Joy Alsopp, previously from Gosford, (I used to play golf with Lester about 30 years ago), they now live at Lennox Head on the North Coast near Ballina.
There’s not a great deal to do in Carnarvon but fortunately there was a speedway event over the weekend, the W.A. State Titles for modified sedans so,…as you do, we went along on Friday & Saturday nights…… took Lester & Joy and had a good time, met a few of the local revheads and rednecks and joined in the fun, the only problem was our choice of vantage position, we parked right on a corner alongside the track where we had a great view, unfortunately the cars ended up covered with clay……Bugger….. One day I’ll learn.
We did visit and walk the 1 mile jetty at the local “Heritage Precinct” on the waterfront at the old lighthouse site, which contains a fairly new “Shearers Hall of Fame” which has only opened recently and is not yet complete but it is basically the work of one local identity who has recently been recognised for his community works. I don’t think there are a lot of sheep in this country today but it has obviously been a big industry in the past.
We leave here tomorrow for Coral Bay at the southern end of the Ningaloo Reef which is the viewing platform for the Whale Sharks which visit this area from about April to July each year.
(Don’t know if we’ll be diving with them, but you never know we might get brave and if we do I’ll tell you about it next time.
Till then
Love to All
D & J