Leaving Carnarvon for a second time, we headed south to Shark Bay. We were staying at Hamelin Station Stay for 4 nights. The property is a reclaimed sheep station that has been purchased by the Bush Heritage Group, they buy up parcels of land and re-establish them back to bush sanctuaries.   Hamelin is a perfect example of the groups work 5 star. We arrived around lunchtime, so set up camp and then drove to the historic Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, the 3 billion year old Stromatolites and to see the Shell Block Quarry.

We got back around 4pm, had a stroll around the property, walked to see a spring fed lake with a variety of birdlife on it. We past the old farm machinery scattered around the impressive property. Then went into the old shearing shed, the display here was great explaining the history of the shed and property on a self-guided tour.

Next day we headed to Francois Peron NP at the tip of Peron Peninsula on World Heritage Drive. We stopped at Shell Beach where trillions of tiny cockle shells maybe 10 meters deep make up the beach. Then on to Eagle Bluff which was just striking the red edge of the cliffs just fall straight down 30 meters into the Indian Ocean. Then on into the town of Denham, what a nice beachside town. The old fibro shacks lined the main street, that now maybe worth a million dollars right on the beachfront next door to brand new two story brick houses. Where if you own a tinnie or any sort of small watercraft it just lies on the foreshore for when you may need it.  From here we got onto the 4WD section of the park so the tyres were deflated “Cape Peron here we come”. The track was sandy, vegetation coastal and wildflowers in abundance. On the way back we stopped in at the old Peron Homestead Precinct inflated the tyres and headed for home.

Next day Friday and we were off to Steep Point. It is a 350km day, so an early start was required, some black top and some serious 4WDing. The bitumen takes you around the edges of the Shark Bay Marine Park and on to the start of the Useless Loop track to Steep Point. With tyres deflated we entered the Edel Land National Park. The track was sandy, corrugated and narrow, the colours of the wildflowers and sand dunes were now becoming an everyday occurrence, “just spectacular”. Yellow buttons, purple daisies, silver grey foliage, beautiful pigface that spread over the sandy track.

We got to Thunder Bay blowholes on the rugged Zuytdorp Cliff track, crashing waves, howling wind and a 20+ meter sheer drop all added to the scenery.  We past Nor 6 an historical site where as early as 1695 ships had been wrecked on this jagged coastline, “well before Captain Cook’s arrival, as we had been taught at school”.

We got to our destination around 1.00pm.

We found the sign that said “STEEP POINT WESTERN MOST POINT OF MAINLAND AUSTRALIA”, which meant that our compass was now complete. It only took 44 years so this was a milestone for us.

We found a sheltered spot for lunch and of course the men could not miss an opportunity to through the lines in and would you believe, they both got something.

We left around 2.30pm on the inland track, it was a rough sandy track with lots of 4WDing.  Stopped to look at more scenery along the way and got back to the start of the track around 5.30pm.

We saw sunset on our way back to camp, it had been a long day nearly 8hrs of driving but it was the adventure we had come for.

Over our many campfires we had discussions with others about good places to see wildflowers and good places for pub lunches.  One place that came up was “Butchers Track” that went through to Murchison, so next day we planned to take the men out for lunch to celebrate Father’s Day 2015, but first they had to drive 156km, through a track lined with wildflowers, “it was unbelievable”.

“Oops” no pub in this town, only a café at the Caravan Park, but we managed to have hamburgers, fish and chips with salad it was all nice.  After a look around town it was back to Hamelin Station once more.

Next morning was Fathers Day and all the men wanted to do was relax so we headed for the bush for a couple of days.

After a couple of nights free camping in the bush it was a move south to Kalbarri for the next few nights. Once again it was a homestead stay, Murchison House about 10 km out of town and 20km from the main attraction, Kalbarri National Park.

We went to Hawks Head, Ross Graham Lookout, Z Bend Lookout, West Loop Lookout and best of all Natures Window.  This is where we were gob smacked at all the different species of wildflowers.

The next couple of days in the town were for restocking, refuelling and once again looking around the old homestead. Kalbarri is a great beachside town that you could image being crowded out at holiday times.

From Exmouth we moved down to Carnarvon for a few nights to get ready to move from van to tent once again. This time we were going east to Gascoyne Junction, Kennedy Range NP and Mt Augustus NP.

Having a few days to look around Carnarvon was great. We went to the one mile jetty, the old railway museum, pelican point, small boat harbour and the men went fishing.

We had a great visit to the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum, where we rode the space capsule, listen to the trackers explain their roles back in 1969 and read old newspaper clippings.

We put the vans in storage at the caravan park and headed off. Through Gascoyne Junction then into Kennedy Range NP by mid-afternoon, giving us a chance to setup camp and do a little exploring. The camp host briefed us on the environment in the park. He explained that this area is one of only three places in Western Australia that has the Dawson Burrowing Bee. “A burrowing bee, never heard of such a thing”. It just shows you are never too old to learn!

That afternoon we headed for Honeycomb Gorge and stumbled on the bees, incredible!!! A large bee that does not produce honey, their sole purpose in life is to pollinate flowers and reproduce. Once the male has mated he dies, and the females keep laying larvae.

Please take the time to look this one up on the www. Dawson Burrowing Bee “fascinating”.

We explored:

Our couple of nights at Kennedy Range NP went fast, the days were warm, nights cool, saw some interesting rock formations, great displays of wildflowers and meet some interesting people at the communal campfires.

This area is where the fringe of the magic floral carpet starts.

On the road to Mt Augustus, mustering was going on. There was a helicopter in the air, stockmen and women with big hats on tin horses,” it just didn’t seemed right”. Then further down the road, a yard of over 200 cattle waiting to board road train transport.

There were flocks of green budgies in the air and white, pink and yellow patches of colour on the ground. Down the road we got a glimpse of the largest rock in the world, Mt Augustus.

We had only planned to stay a couple of nights, so it was setup camp and hit the trails.It is a 49km drive around the rock, with trails, tracks and gorges along the way, so a strategy was put in place, as we wanted to do a 6km walk the next day to the top of Edney’s Lookout.

We visited Cattle Pool, Petroglyph Trail, The Pound, Saddle Trail and Flintstone Rock.

Up for sunrise 6.30am, the colour of the rock was spectacular, just like Uluru, purple, orange, pink and then settles into its daytime colour, sandstone.

We had great fun walking that day, it wasn’t a hard walk, just a constant incline. Wildflowers, birdlife, different rock formations, twisted gidgee timber and the 360 panoramic view were all worth the walk.

We past some Dawson Burrowing Bees, on the way back to camp, this time in the middle of the main road.

Another great campfire and colour changing rock sunset.

We had a booking at Osprey campground Cape Range NP for a week. The NP borders the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage area, a coral reef extents along the many bays that are in the park.

So we got the canoe off the cruiser, snorkel gear out, swimmers on and fishing rods rigged.

“Wow we had the best week”

The campground had just been refurbished after cyclone damage in March, spotless toilets but nothing else there, lucky we were in the van. The men fished to their hearts content, but nothing. We snorkelled or swam most days in the many bays, fish were just there, all shapes, sizes, colours and patterns. From the rocks you could see fair size manta rays and sharks. Nature just walking the beaches was at it’s best.  This area is where the wildflowers are starting to appear, flowers that are unique to WA.

At the bottom end of the NP is Yardie Creek, a large creek that runs into the ocean. It has sheer cliff faces that drop straight into the water. The water was crystal clear and calm so in we went with the canoe. The scenery was red cliff faces with fig trees hanging on for life by the whitest of roots. Wildlife that was on the move all the time looking for food or just looking for the morning sun rays.

It was a great stay and we all left vowing to return again.

From Marble Bar we moved on to Port Hedland arrived around morning tea time on a Sunday of a long weekend and everything was closed, so all very quite in the centre of town. We did the port area walk, a hive of activity, several large tankers were in and loading iron ore. Salt is another industry here and the piles of dried salt ready for export on the outskirts of town are very impressive.

From here we took the turnoff to Karijini NP, but first we had a homestead stay at Indee Station. “What a great place, the owners could not have been more welcoming”. “Just park the van and happy hour is in the Homestead at 5.30 just BYO drinks nibbles supplied”.   Betty and Colin were only too happy to share their station, the history, the animals and allowed us to explore the property unrestricted. This was the start of the wildflowers, Stuart Desert Peas covered the paddocks around the homestead.

After a couple of days we moved on to Karijini NP. I was not going to say how amazing things were this blog, so I am just going to say that this place was spectacular. We walked cliff tops, down into gorges, walked around waterfalls and traversed gorge walls like monkeys, it was ALL spectacular. Circular Pool, Fortescue Falls, Wenoa Gorge, Handrail Gorge and Joffee Gorge.

Wildflowers once again covered the cliff tops, this time in an array of colours.

From the park we drove to Tom Price, one of the biggest iron ore mines in Australia.  We did a mine tour, all the equipment is big boys stuff.

We drove the 4WD track up Mt Nameless and took 180 degree panorama photos, drove the Rio Tinto rail access road (permit required) and paralleled 4 huge iron ore trains in just 25 kms.

We crossed over the rail line and then into Hamersley Gorge, not amazing just unbelievable. It was just like someone had thrown a colourful tablecloth over the hill, then crushed it up into folds. The earth was certainly angry the day this gorge was formed. Four days in this area was not enough.

Sunday we were off to Dampier. Pam and Garry had travelled here a couple of days earlier with car issues. We had a stop at the Whim Creek Pub that had been recommended to us as a lunch stop it was one of those moments. A pub in the middle of nowhere, but there were 30 cars and 20 car/caravans in the car park. We travelled through Roebourne, Karratha and on to Dampier. The van park was right on the port, huge ships filling with iron ore, tankers, tugs and fishing boats. Then sailing craft and tourist boats moored in the bay. Over the next couple of days we did sightseeing in the area, iron ore, salt and the North West Shelf Gas processing plant all exporting from the town. We went down to Millstream NP and saw the homestead with the same name, an oasis in an arid area.

Back on the North West Coastal Hwy again and we are heading for Exmouth.