Trekkin

We had breakfast, packed & left the Shark Bay Caravan Park by 6.55am.  Monkey Mia here we come.  The start of the drive out of Denham was pretty, passing Shark Bay & Little Lagoon, the rest of the 23km was through low shrubbery & sand dunes.  The dolphin feeding started at 8 am (they only give them about 300g so that they will have to fend for themselves).  A mother & her young one entertained us – unreal how close they come.  They ask you not to touch them or to swim with them because they want them to keep coming back & stay wild (about 100,000 visitors come each year, it would be too much for the dolphins).  I was one of the lucky ones chosen from the many to feed one of the dolphins – it is unreal to see the dolphin so close & to put the fish in its mouth, it looks at you & smiles (I am sure it didn’t specially smile at me but it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling).  They had 3 mum dolphins with their young, only the mothers get fed, the young are still being nursed by the mother.   The adult males don’t get fed at all.  The crowd of around 100 people dispersed rapidly after the feeding & it was an empty beach again.

Our next stop was Eagle Bluff, around 40km back down the road, a 200m boardwalk has been built around the cliff top to give a great view of the shallow seagrass meadows below & the two small islands just offshore – on a good day you are supposed to see all sorts of marine life, including dugongs & manta rays, we saw none, however, we did see a majestic sea eagle glide past.  The scenic view was worth the stop alone, we could see all the way to Dirk Hartog Island & a salt mine with two massive piles of salt glistening in the distance.

Shell Bay was next, a massive collection of tiny cockle shells on a beach miles & miles long & hundreds of metres wide, the shells are reportedly 10m deep.  Its stunning walking across it, the tiny shells are piled up in waves corresponding to some of the massive storms that have washed them up.  The whiteness is very glary in the sunlight.  In the past the compacted shells were mined in blocks for building materials as a substitute for bricks.  Some of the old buildings in Denham are constructed of compacted shell blocks from this beach.  The shells are also used as shell grit, fed to chooks to assist them to produce hard egg shells from the calcium in the cockle shells. There is also a very lonely grave of a drowned sailor on the beach.

Hamelin Pool was next on the agenda, a collection of ancient Stramatolites, giant colonies of cyanobacteria that thrive in the very salty water (super saline) at the bottom end of Shark Bay.  The evaporation levels are so high in summer from the shallow water the salt is left in very high concentrations.  There are only two locations in the world that Stramatolites are known to occur & assisted in obtaining the World Heritage Listing for Shark Bay.  Stramatolite fossils have been dated back 3.5 billion years (that’s right, billion) & were one of the earliest life forms on the planet. Scientists believe that these were the main reason that oxygen levels were boosted to 20% of the atmosphere.  So, it seems we have a lot to thank the Stramatolites for.  We left a little piece of heaven on earth behind, promising to come back again for a longer stay.

Then the drive to Kalbarri, a further 340km through red sand dunes, (on good tarred road) low scrubby desert & an ever increasing number of wildflowers.  The closer we got to Kalbarri the better the displays became. We had to keep driving because we had to find a park before dark. We finally arrived in Kalbarri at around 5.15pm after 460km for the day, another big day. Ron & Sue had a hard days drive mainly pushing into strong head winds. We booked into the Anchorage Caravan Park & John put together a splendid Madras chicken curry with Tereza doing a great job on the vegies.  The red tonight was a Taylors Promised Land Cabernet Sauvignon – one of my favourites.  Another wonderful day.

It was a special morning today, we had the opportunity to talk on Skype to my cousin Zsuzsika in  America.  It was so good to catch up with her.  The less pleasant part was leaving a beautiful part of this world, Coral Bay.

This morning we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again, heading south from Coral Bay – a bit sad really as it means we are now out of the tropics & heading home.  The desert & red sand dunes on either side of the road is livened up a bit now & again with carpets of white, pink & yellow wildflowers flowering after a recent rain.  Four hours of fairly boring driving through the desert we came to the town of Carnarvon, a little oasis of organic farm stalls where we stopped to buy some fruit & vegetables as we haven’t been anywhere for a while where we could shop for fresh food.  At Carnarvon we were greeted by a fabulous multi-coloured bougainvillea display.  We also popped into Woolworths for some other groceries then drove to the harbour & had our lunch.  There were a few nice boats moored there & on the other side is obviously where the wealthy people of Carnarvon live, very nice new houses on a new waterfront sub-division.

A little out of town we stopped & had a closer look at some of the flowers, the pink ones are absolutely stunning close up, hard to believe in the desolate desert that you can find something so beautiful.  We also had to make a few temporary stops as a few large trucks with very wide loads came from the opposite direction.  The monotony was broken once when some very bare hills poked out of the desert, then it was back to the same old scenery, long straight seemingly endless roads.  However, the wildflowers are delightful & really brighten up the desert.

After around 450 km of driving we finally turned off into the World Heritage Area of Shark Bay & the road to Denham & Monkey Mia.  The desert scenery was now broken by glimpses of the waters of Shark Bay & the views across the bays & headlands.  We saw a few more wild animals, one of the emus we saw was sauntering along the side of the road seemingly oblivious to us (almost oblivious to me too, I barely had time to take a photo of it).  We also saw a lazy goanna crossing the road & some magnificent wedge tailed eagles soaring.  We finally reached the township of Denham, located right on Shark Bay & we booked into the Shark Bay Caravan Park.  We had a very long drive today, a total of 585km & feeling a little weary.

Tereza dished up a lovely home cooked lasagne & for once no red, but a coffee instead so that I can stay awake & write this.

We have been ploughing into strong head winds all day (Ron & John had a long hard drive today).  A strong cold wind blowing here tonight, I suppose it is a narrow peninsular & the wind blows from the Indian Ocean.  Hope that tomorrow morning the weather will be kinder because we will leave early to get to Monkey Mia (about a 20 minute drive) by 7.30 am for the dolphin feeding.  This cold weather reminds us of Canberra, we have been in a lovely warm/hot climate for most of our holidays.

This morning we decided to go 4 wheel driving in the sand dunes south of Coral Bay, we let our tyre pressures down and set off.  Amazing how quickly you forget the terrible roads we have been on.  Obviously after the great roads we have been on we needed an adrenalin rush.  What an adventure that was.  The track was very sandy (of course), rutted, corrugated & there were a few choices of track in places. The first high dune we stopped at & climbed (by foot) had an amazing view from the top of the bay, waves breaking over Ningaloo Reef & the Indian Ocean beyond.  The colours of the sea are stunning.  After a bit more adventure we decided to turn back, we had only gone a short way when I got bogged in the sand trying to turn around.  I immediately deflated the tyres even more, down to 15 psi, then John worked out what I had to do, such as angles of the wheels, how far forward or back to go & Sue dug the loose sand out from around the wheels by hand.  They went 4 wheel driving in the Simpson Desert so were the experienced ones in the group.  Since Tereza is the official photographer she photographed & looked out in case another crazy person like us would be coming around the corner.  After a bit of mucking around doing a five point turn I eventually was able to reverse down all the way that I had come, then get a good run up & keep on going.  I turned around a further 50m up the track & we headed back.  We explored a few more side tracks on the way back & then had to return back down them, that was fun.  Eventually we got back out & it was big smiles all round, only once bogged in this horrible loose sand.  Back at camp it was lunch then reinflate the tyres using the ARB air compressor that attaches to the battery, it is very efficient & took a short time to inflate all eight of our tyres back to road pressures.

Next we had another swim in the bay, the water was invigorating – in another word freezing.  Our appetite has been whetted for the sand dunes, we went on a 2 hour quad bike tour until sunset.  Sue rode one quad bike with John as pillion & I rode another with Tereza as pillion, it was our first rides on quad bikes.  We set off in a set of eight quad bikes back south on the same tracks as we had driven our cars on, I couldn’t believe how rough some of the tracks were.  It is amazing that we only got bogged once & that we got out.  Travelling at a slower speed on the quad bike you have more time to see the detail in the road surface.  We drove out onto the beach & ventured as far as the station boundary on a cliff face overlooking some turtle feeding grounds.  We turned back & on the way climbed & descended some very high & steep sand dunes, it was a real buzz.  On the top of one of the dunes that we had walked up in the morning we stopped & watched an absolutely exquisite sunset.  As a bonus we saw two whales jumping out of the water & breaching just out beyond the breakers.  Lights on & we headed back to Coral Bay.  It was a great afternoon, the smiles said it all.  Some people just never grow up.

I cooked dinner again tonight (two nights in a row) on the BBQ & we washed it down with a Chapel Hill red.

Last night was very windy & this morning the wind has dropped right off thankfully.  One lone bird started singing when it was still pitch black & slowly woke the other birds by daybreak. Thanks to that bird we had breakfast cooking at sunrise, before most of the people in the park were up.  We picked up our snorkelling gear by 8 am.  We found a nice shady spot (yes, it’s warm & sunny here) to leave our gear then I went over to the coral boat moorings & had a snorkel around.  The fish hang around under the pontoon, lots of big spangled emperor, parrot fish, trevally plus lots of little colourful fish as well.  I swam to the edge of the reef about 5m out (it’s high tide) & had a look at some of the coral, there are lots of tiny colourful fish hiding around it.  Back to the beach to warm up & dry off a bit while we waited for our glass bottom boat cruise on the Ningaloo Reef.

The glass bottom boat we went on for a reef exploration is fairly new, with good clean glass windows & a ramp to enter the boat from the shallows.  We started looking at the coral 5 metres from shore & a contingent of spangled emperor swam under the glass with us for a long time to give us a special treat.  After about an hour of looking at all different types of coral, including one absolute giant estimated at 1500 years old, it was time to snorkel off the boat on the outer reef.  The corals were nice, with some nice fish, however the current was a bit strong as it was high tide plus the swells were rolling over the reef from the big breakers outside. This filled the snorkel with water every now & then.  After about 15 minutes you have to get out because you get so cold. Our next snorkelling spot was a bit closer in, a little bit deeper water over some sand, but nowhere near as much current.  We were lucky to spot a sea turtle below us getting a clean from some fish, it had set its flipper against some coral & the other against the sand & held itself steady while the fish picked at the parasites around its neck. There were so many beautiful coloured fish swimming around us, it was a shame to get out but after about 15 minutes it was too cold so standing in the sun on the boat drying out was very pleasant.  It’s amazing how quick two hours go by when you are enjoying things so much.

After lunch Tereza read for a while, I started to read but dozed off.  We went for a long walk in the afternoon on the northern beach towards Maud’s Point & came across an albatross that had an injured leg.  The walk was very pleasant though windy, it was also sad because we couldn’t help the poor albatross.  We observed one of the three wind turbines the town uses for power being stood up again after being lowered for maintenance.  The bay is very pretty with the sun starting to set & glistening off the water.

Dinner was Chorizo sausages & marinated chicken on the BBQ (I cooked) with a nice fresh salad washed down with a glass of red.  The wind was also buffeting the caravan a bit, it is blowing fairly solidly tonight.

A lone bird trilling with the first hint of dawn, followed later by a squabbling mob of corellas woke us from our slumber, the first rays of sunlight were filtering through the trees as we stepped out to start breakfast.  We were on the road by 7.45am following Highway 1 south the 39km until the turnoff to Coral Bay.  The trip across was, in places,  alive with wildflowers, we stopped in a couple of spots to have a closer look at them.  A green/yellow grevillia was that rich with nectar we ran our finger on the flower & licked the sweet nectar.   The sand dunes wander across the countryside, sometimes up to a kilometre apart & up to 20 metres high, mostly red, however, as we got closer to the coast the colour changed to sandy colour.  The road was very good & we followed two other caravans until they turned off to Exmouth.

Coral Bay was reached after 188km pleasant driving through a landscape that kept on changing, very poor sandy country, but the vegetation type, colour, height, species and flowers varied continually.  Coral Bay is a tiny community that consists of two caravan parks, about 20 houses & a small shopping centre.  We arrived just after 10am & were fortunate to be able to get a site next to each other, there were caravans lined up in the street waiting for the 11am access to the sites in the caravan parks.  Coral Bay itself has Ningaloo Reef right at its doorstep, you can step into the water & be swimming over coral not 10m from the shore.  We set up, went for a quick walk before lunch then we went for a long walk around the beach as it was low tide. The colour of the water here is even better than at Broome, the colour of the water is pale blue to dark indigo, beautiful.  On the way back we stopped at one of the coral viewing boats where they feed the fish every afternoon at 3.30pm.  There was quite a crowd gathered, both fish & people.  Tereza was standing in the water & these large fish called Spangled Emperor swam very closely around her.  The fish go crazy for the food thrown to them.  Afterwards we had a refreshing swim then a nice hot shower, the hot water is straight from the artesian bore, 830m down & is naturally hot.

John cooked another great meal, Moroccan Stew, washed down by some nice reds (yes, more than one).

We watched the sunrise filter through the trees at the Dales Campground & cooked breakfast before most other people were up.  Sue had a magnet & the rocks around our campers could be picked up by it, there is that much iron around.  Our first stop was Mt Bruce, the second highest mountain in Western Australia where we took a short walk from the car park & looked over the Marandoo Mine site.  It is an open cut mine & there are massive piles of rocks neatly stacked.  The countryside through the Pilbara is mostly red & black, the red from the mountains of iron ore, the eroded rocks & the black from the after effects of the fires. We left the rich red mountains & sand country.  The ground is covered with sharp little, almost crushed stones & hardly any vegetation at all. Paraburdoo was the refuelling town, another town that revolves around mining & they even have an open air theatre/drive in – don’t know if it is still operational though, we had morning tea in the car park next to it.

Today was a long drive on very good roads, the scenery is constantly changing, flat desert plains, sand hills, mountains that rise straight up out of the plains, dry river & creek beds, bare rock plains with scrubby shrubs, it is very infertile, poor desolate country.  Yet, there are cattle stations & very skinny cattle wandering the roads, it is insane, there shouldn’t be any cattle in country that is as bad as this, it’s cruelty to the animals, no food or water & blazing heat in summer. The cattle should be shot out of kindness & the farmers for neglect, cruelty & destruction of the environment. We stopped for lunch at a lovely shady rest stop at Cheela Plains, it even had toilets.  Our next brief stop was at Nanutarra for a quick stretch & check of the vehicles, 279km from Paraburdo & absolutely nothing between the two – there is tremendous isolation out here.

Barradale Rest Stop on the Yannari River was our final destination, 543km for the day – a lot of driving, dodging some wandering cattle that set the adrenalin rushing.  Our campsite is on the banks of the river next to some white gums, very pretty but sharing it with around 30 other campers.  Tereza made a delicious crumbed chicken with vegies by Sue & this time washed down by a McWilliams Hanwood Merlot.  These bush camps are so much nicer & more peaceful than those fancy resort parks we often camp in towns.  Again the stars are so bright, the night sky is so huge, it is absolutely stunning.

Awake at first light & watched the sun as it started to glow red through the trees from the bed window in the Karavan, it was very pretty this morning, but we had a cold night & at 8.30 am it was only 15C degrees. Amazingly there was no bird noises, even the town caravan parks had birds to sing & wake us up. Maybe it was because of the sparse vegetation & even that is burned out in so many places.  We have been told that lightning in February caused all this devastation.

Weano Gorge was our destination this morning, 53km away, 43km on freshly graded dirt.  Good road compared to what we have been on before but a reminder Ron had to really concentrate, it was like driving on marbles.  The scenery is different in the Pilbera than we have seen elsewhere, very beautiful with the deep reds of the soil & rocks contrasting with the white trunks & limbs of the gum trees & the silver of the spinifex.  The termite mounds also reflect the landscape, very large & a deep ochre red, they look stunning, particularly when there is a grouping of them.  At times, there are just small rocks, a little bit of spinifex & a gum tree here & there – the contrasts are amazing.  Some of the gum trees have the most amazing shapes, clinging tenaciously to life on rocks & cliff faces, they look so beautiful set against the blue sky backdrop & the red carpet of stones.

The Weano Gorge walk is very pretty, descending around 40 metres to the floor of the gorge & then walking along the creek past pools & little cascades. We walked as far as we could until we reached a large pool, we waded into but the water was icy cold, my ankles started to ache from the cold & it started to get deep, so we decided to turn back & enjoy the views from the other direction as we walked out.  From the car park we then walked to the Junction Pool lookout.  A Celtic Cross marked the site where Jim Regan, an SES volunteer, lost his life in a flash flood attempting to rescue an injured tourist who had fallen off the cliff.  The drop from the lookout was around 100 metres & it was pretty scary standing on the edge looking down.  The view of Hancock Gorge was magnificent.  We then walked the short distance to the Oxer Lookout & viewed the junction of the Hancock, Joffre, Weano, Knox & Wittenoom Gorges.  Again, the same 100m distance down but on all three sides, it really is quite scary at the handrail, but amazingly beautiful, looking at the gorges as they cut their way through the mountains, twisting & turning, all with stunning colours & complex texturing of the rocks.

We then drove back to Knox Gorge, a short walk from the car park to the lookout with a view straight up the gorge & the pools in the creek bed.  There were people in the creek far below & again the view was absolutely stunning.  We decided not to walk down into the gorge, the level of difficulty indicated it was a Class 4 track, a little too difficult for us & our level of equipment we had with us.

Next stop was Joffre Falls, again a lookout a short walk from the car park & again a viewing platform 100m up.  Joffre Falls is a spectacular curved waterfall forming a natural amphitheatre flowing into a narrow gorge with pools.  The green algae in the pools looked particularly beautiful viewed from above.  The walk into Joffre Gorge is also a Class 4 track & we didn’t attempt it.  We had lunch here & enjoyed the magnificent scenery.

Kalimina Gorge was our next stop & is a Class 3 track so we walked down the cliff track into the creek bed in the gorge & followed the creek downstream from the waterfall at the start.  This gorge is stunningly beautiful, the flat rocks, the rock pools, the little cascades, the colour of the rocks, the reflections in the water, the trees, the scenery in the gorge, the splashing & falling of water, it had it all.  The girls decided they wanted this water feature at home, it really does look so special, again (this must be getting boring by now) the photos don’t even come close to doing it justice, it really is stunningly beautiful (I know, I’ve already said it).  This would have to be one of the most beautiful spots we have seen on our whole trip.  We have seen so many beautiful places that we decided that each one was the best in a different way.

We called into the Karijini Park visitor Centre on our way back to the camp but it was shut, unbelievable, at 4pm.  Back at the Dales Campground it was cheese & bikkies while watching the sunset followed by a great Mexican tortilla dish from Tereza, again washed down by a great red.  Another fantastic day with good friends in paradise.

We went for an early morning walk before breakfast just on sunrise around the beachfront & river entrance at Cooke Point, fortunately the tide was out & all of the seashells were exposed for us to browse.  The wave patterns make a really beautiful impression on the sand & with the low tides & the big beaches it seemed to stretch forever.  The Port Hedland harbour was the next stop where we saw a couple of ships being loaded with iron ore plus a dredge boat heading out to dump its load.   This is one of the busiest ports in Australia & the council (funded by BHP Billiton) have built a nice park overlooking the harbour.

On the road again to the Pilbera region heading to Karijini National Park, long empty roads, for the first time it sort of felt we were in the desert, with some absolutely beautiful scenery at times. We did come across some massive mining machinery being moved on a couple of very long trailers with lots of wheels.  The traffic on the road was held up for ages until there was an opportunity for the traffic to pass at things like truck stops.  These trucks with the machinery took up ALL of the road.  We were very fortunate to come across one just as they had stopped to let all of the traffic around them.  We stopped at a very remote roadhouse, Munjina to refuel, just before (about 30km) the turnoff to Karinjini.

We are blessed, bitumen all the way into Karijini. (usually we had to drive on dreadful dirt roads to get somewhere nice). We booked into the Dales Campground for a couple of nights.  The setup took very little time in our own little private niche isolated from other campers.  We were ready for our gorge walk in no time flat.  The well maintained track took us first to the Circular Pool lookout – it’s a very long way down & absolutely stunning.  We kept on following the track around to the Fortescue Falls lookout, the scenery is magnificent.  The reds of the rocks & soil offset by the pristine white of the gum tree trunks, the green leaves & silver of the spinifex are magnificent.  Again, photos just do not do justice to how stunning the Dales Gorge looks.  We walked down the very steep steps into Fortescue Falls & along to the Fern Pool, the small falls, the colour of the water, the trees & shrubs around the water all combine to make this one of the prettiest sights we have seen.  It was getting late & when the sun starts to set daylight goes very quickly here, we didn’t go in for a swim because we had to get out of the gorge before dark.  The climb back out was a challenge as it is very steep & the steps are high, so for anyone vertically challenged (Tereza) it is very hard work lifting the legs up the height of the steps, it’s hard enough work for me with long legs.

We got back to camp just as the sun was setting & Tereza cooked a wonderful roast dinner with John & Sue supplying the vegies & salad.  The red was a very pleasant – Arundel.  It’s nice being back in a bush camp & enjoying a nice night with our friends.

Broome is starting to empty of the grey nomads that spend winter there.  Caravans were already leaving as we were having breakfast & packing.  The caravan park has got some lovely trees & gardens, everything seems to grow well in the tropics.  We have seen a lot of glorious bougainvillea out in full show around Broome, they really set the streetscape.

The drive to Port Hedland was uneventful, 640km of straight roads & only slightly changing in the flat landscape.  Not a town to be seen between Broome & Port Headland.  The roadhouses at Sandfire & Purdoo break the monotony.  We stopped at Purdoo to refuel & have a bite, then the last 130km into Port Hedland to the Cooke Point caravan park was the same as before.  As we got closer to Port Hedland there were a lot more big road trains (53 metres long & four trailers) carting ore from the mine to the port.  We also saw the salt plant were the salt is extracted from seawater & stockpiled in a huge white glistening pile.

The Cooke Point caravan park is in a nice setting on the mouth of a creek & fronting a nice ocean beach.  The camp kitchen is brand new & looks splendid, this is a nice spot to camp.  Sue, John, Ron & I went for a lovely walk down to the sea & along the creek before coming back to cook dinner.  We didn’t venture too close to the water as we have been warned about crocodiles.

Ron looked up on the computer what to do in Port Headland & he found an empty page.  Tomorrow before leaving Port Headland we will go to the port & hopefully see some big ships being loaded with ore to be shipped overseas.

Waking with the glorious bird calls but not getting out until sunrise, unanimously we  decided to give Cape Leveque a miss (approximately 180 km of rough dirt road).  We are still recovering from the atrocious rough roads we experienced last month. Sue & John went into town for breakfast & an exciting drive through a car wash.  We did separate touristy things, at times the same places but not at the same time. Our first stop was Gantheaume Point, named after a French explorer, with a prominent stainless steel lighthouse with an Osprey nest built on a platform near the top.  The Osprey had a fledgling still in the nest & brought it a fish while we were watching, boy, did the youngster make a noise wanting the fish.  The point is also significant in that the fossilised footprints of nine different dinosaur species have been found there, exposed only at very low tide, today was not low tide & the wind was whipping the sea up a fair bit so we had to make do with the concrete copy of some of them on top of the point.  Apparently some anthropologists found fossilised dinosaur footprints all along the coast line from Broome to Cape Leveque. The rocks at the point are sedimentary sandstone around 134 million years old & the colours, textures & erosion of the rocks is quite a stunning sight.  We also had a look at Anastasia’s Pool, built for the wife of Captain Percy who lived in the lighthouse keeper’s house. Anastasia had arthritis & used the pool to exercise & relieve her pain.

Next we visited the cemeteries where the unfortunate victims of pearling were laid to rest.  The Japanese cemetery is the most impressive, a few years ago a significant sum of money was donated by a group of Japanese shipbuilders to refurbish it & they have done an excellent job.   The headstones are laid out neatly, (as Japanese do it with everything) there are small white stones laid on the ground & the garden is well tended, simple & elegant.  A tragic symbol is the obelisk that marks the loss of 140 Japanese pearlers during a cyclone.  The Chinese cemetery has an impressive entrance but is less cared for & does not have many headstones, there must be a number of unmarked graves.  The Muslim cemetery is very insignificant with a small number of unpretentious gravestones with no inscriptions, most of them are at an angle to Mecca.  There must be a significant number of unmarked graves.  We visited the Pioneer cemetery down at Town Beach, overlooking the ocean, they had some prime real estate.

The children’s playground near here is the best one we have ever seen, it has a fantastic water playground under shadesail & flows into two other play areas.  There is plenty of sitting room & tables, all overlooking town beach.  We could only think of our grandsons, they would have loved this.

We had a look around at different parts of Chinatown & visited the Paspaly pearl shop, they do have some impressive pearls in there.  Ron declared his love for me by saying “the pearls are very beautiful but none of them are good enough for you”.  Tereza picked up a few things from a gift shop & we had a bite to eat.

Cable Beach was again closed today due to crocodiles so instead of swimming we went for a drive a fair distance up the beach & checked out the ships of the desert again.  They certainly look elegant when they walk.  It was still windy & the sea was a little wild so we turned around, dodged the rocks at the end of the beach & headed back to camp for cheese & bikkies.  John shared some fresh wild barramundi with us & a nice glass of red.  Broome is a lovely town, but according to the locals for only about 5 months of the year – it gets very humid – you walk out and you are saturated from the humidity.

We will most likely be out of mobile coverage again for around a week as we plan to head into the Pilbara region & visit Karijini National Park.