Ready to take off, we drove to Dianella to leave a few things we wouldn’t need the next two weeks there. Then shopping at Mirabookka shopping center. It was already 4pm when we finished, so we decided to stay near Perth for the first night. We finally ended up on a nice campground a bit south of Fremantle. There were some difficulties with how to use the gas and the power and so on. But there were friendly neighbours from New Zealand who had the same camper, a Nomad, as we had. With their help we cooked our first Spaghetti. We gave them some chocolate we had with us, and our neighbours were very happy, so they brought us the next morning all their leftovers because it was their last day.
Wednesday 30.7.
The weather was sunny and warm, so we had our breakfast outside the camper. While preparing for departure, Ruedi from Switzerland who had his camper (which looked like an A-Team mobile gave as some good hints for our journey up north. After a last shopping in a near shopping centre, we finally headed north. In the late afternoon we reached the remote Waddi farm resort near the Pinnacles. We seemed to be the only guests. The location was nice, in the middle of the bush, accessible only on a dirt road, crossing the way of some roos, but the facilities seemed to be cleaned the last time only ages ago. However, we soon left again with destination Pinnacles. It was over 70 kms when we finally arrived there at 4.45pm. The visitor centre was already closed, but we didn’t care about that. We did half of the pinnacle drive and stopped then to take pictures, walk around and admire the changing colours of the pinnacles during sunset. Carefully, as it was already dark, we drove back home and again a few kangaroos crossed the road in front of our car. It was quite difficult to find the right way on the first try, as everything looked completely different in the dark. But a bit after seven o clock we finally approached the campground. I was grilling the chicken and the corns while Sibylle prepared the rest of the dinner. After a long day we were quite tired. The night was cold (below zero) and we were lucky that we had our little heater we decided to rent.
Thursday 1.7
Today it was Sibylle’s first try to drive. She did very well and soon got used to the big vehicle. We realised that our camper is quite thirsty and arrived with an almost empty tank at the next petrol station. In Dongara/Port Denison we had our lunch break. But soon we had to continue our drive, as there was still a big distance ahead. Our next stop was in Geraldton to buy a few things. In the late afternoon we finally arrived the Overlander roadhouse. Sibylle cooked a delicious vegi-risotto and I organised the food and stuff in our camper a little bit better and took some photos of the impressive landscape and scenery during sunset. We were quite lucky to get the last powered site, although we were told on the phone that there were still plenty of sites available. Before going to bed we went out for a short walk to watch the stars. Because there was not much light around in the middle of nowhere, there were plenty of stars and shooting stars to see.
Friday 2.7.
We left early, heading to Shark bay. We just had a quick breakfast and enjoyed about an hour later a second breakfast at the beautiful Shell Beach. A bit later we arrived in Denham where we first stopped at the visitor centre. As there were no more powered sites available at Monkey Mia, we decided to stay at Blue Dolphin caravan park in Denham which was a good decision. We did some washing and in the afternoon we made a short trip to Francois Perron NP on the peninsula. We drove 6km on a sandy dirt road to the F.P. homestead where we could visit and old sheep shearing station and finally enjoyed a bath in 40 degrees hot hot tub which gets its water from an artesian bore which is quite salty. Back home we cooked Spaghetti and went to bed soon as we had to get up really early to see the Dolphins at Monkey Mia.
Saturday 3.7.
Because we decided the day before to stay one more day in Denham, we expected an easy day lying ahead. But we got up already at 6 am because our first stop was in Monkey Mia to watch the Dolphin feeding at 7.30. The dolphins were on time, the weather was fine but with the strong wind extremely chilly. After the first feeding we ate our Birchermüesli in the little theatre, sheltered from the wind, which we brought along. We also needed a hot chocolate to warm up and went to shops. For the third feeding the dolphins were delayed, so we decided to leave and returned to Denham where we had a relaxing afternoon, sitting in our chairs in front of our camper, reading in our travel guides, thinking about what to do and where to go the next days. Before dinner we went for a short ride to Eagle Bluff, a few kms east of Denham. It was a 4km long, and because of the recent rainfall very bumpy dirtroad. With on average 20km/h we finally got to the scenic boardwalk. It was worth to go there as we could enjoy a breathtaking view over shark bay. On the way home we had to fill up our water tank at the water board. Todays dinner was wraps and in the evening I finally found time to write the diary of the last days.
Sunday 4.7.
Today again an early start as we wanted to get further north. We filled up our water tank again and soon left Shark Bay. We only had a quick breakfast and decided to have a second breakfast somewhere on the way. On the way it soon became obvious, that the fuel was running out. We thought that it would be definitely enough, as we started with more than one quarter tank which should last for about 150 km, and the way to Overlander Roadhouse was only 120km. However, we already started to make plans what we would do, if the motor stopped and we were somewhere on Shark Bay. But we were lucky and literally with the last drop of fuel (there was about 1 litre left) we got to the Overlander Roadhouse. We filled up our tank and continued our trip towards Carnarvon. As there was really nothing else but another roadhouse on our way, we didn’t stop again before we got to Carnarvon. Because it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed. But we found a Woolworth and even a bottle shop was open, so that we could buy some more food and drinks for the next days. After I was driving in the morning, Sibylle was driving the last part. Soon we were somewhere in the nowhere again, and finally we also had to drive on 10 km very bumpy dirt roads until we reached Quobba station near the blowholes, which we decided to visit on our way back. As we arrived our destination already at 3.30 we had some time to spend on the beautiful beach. It is definitely warmer now and we could easily lie in our swimming suits on the beach which consists mostly of shells and coralls. We drank our Moscato and watched the sunset. Dinner was burgers, corns and salad – we finally grilled again, after I could somehow organise fire wood.
Monday 5.7.
As we stayed another day at Quobba station, it was an easy day with a sleep in and a nice breakfast with eggs sunny side up (unfortunately the frying pan is not very nice, so it took me hours to clean it afterwards). However, it was comfortable, sitting in the sun, having breakfast once outside the camper again and discussing about the possible route for the next days. In the early afternoon we went to beach again, the same beautiful spot we discovered the day before. But today the wind was even stronger and so we didn’t stay till sunset, but enjoyed it nevertheless. We decided to have another BBQ as we had our own fire place and still some wood left.
Tuesday 6.7.
We left Quobba station in the early morning and stopped first at the blowholes. It's really impressive when the water fountains shoot out of the rocks with some roaring noise. The weather was still the same as we had it since the very beginning of our trip: blue sky with at the most a few single but harmless clouds. Todays final destination was Coral Bay. In Carnarvon we tried to book a campground, but since the public holidays had just started, there was no way to get a site, and camping elsewhere but on the campgrounds is forbidden in the area. So we had to change our plans and decided to stay in Carnarvon for two nights and make just a day trip to Coral Bay the next day. We went for a walk in town and over the Jetty before we went to the beach again in the afternoon. The wind was still strong and the water cold, so there was no swimming but just relaxing on the beach. Later we picked up some fresh fruits on one of the numerous farms and decided to do some washing again as we stayed two nights on the same campground.
Wednesday 7.7.
We left Carnarvon early, heading north and reaching Coral Bay at 10 AM. The weather was still fine but extremely windy. We spent some time with taking photos from the outlook and enjoying the amazing colours of the sea and the beach before we booked a Quad tour for the afternoon which included also some snorkling. After giving us the last instructions, Sam, our tour guide led us through the dunes along the beach. It was great fun riding this bike with up to 60 km/h along the beach, enjoying the unique landscape. Our first stop was at Oyster Bridge, a small reef surrounding a kind of a pool where the water was calm and also a bit warmer. We spent about half an hour with snorkeling and enjoying the colourful underwater world. Soon we continued our ride, crossing lots of dunes until we arrived a next remote bay. On our way back we didn't ride just along the beach, but crossed lots of dunes with steep slopes, that was great fun. 3 hours later, we returned to Coral Bay. We imagined to feel our back the next day, as the track was mostly quite bumpy. Having in mind to have a long way home, we just had a quick look at the shops before drove home, stopping just for some photos at the Tropic of Capricorn and arriving finally at 7 PM back on our campground in Carnarvon.
Thursday 8.7.
Today we didn't have big plans, but to drive at least to Geraldton. The most noticeable thing was probably the weather which had dramatically changed, as there was no sun to see in the morning, but even some rain. On our drive south we just stopped to fuel up and for a quick lunch break at the Murchinson River. The wind became stronger and stronger which made the driving even more difficult. Arriving finally on our Campground in Geraldton, it was literally pouring. So we decided to leave again to do some shopping in town, as that was the only useful thing we could do. The wind and thundestorms became worse in the evening and night and I hardly slept, as the camper was shaking all the time from the storm gusts and rain and hail were terribly noise. I just hoped that the weather would calm down so that we could continue our trip according to plan, as we wanted to be near Perth on Friday evening.
The missing pictures will be here soon, hopefully, but at least you know now what happened the last 3 weeks.
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