Saturday 24 September 2011
Exmouth/Ningaloo
Drove about 600kms from Port Hedland through the Pilbara region including Karratha and Roebourne , to be honest not the most riveting scenery and the area must be glad it's got lots off minerals resources as a industry , could not do the last 200kms to Exmouth that day so stopped by the road for the night with some other campers.
Next day got into Exmouth nice and early and got a site in town rather then on the reef and national park side . Nice clean town with a population of 2,500 ...
The town seems to have everything we need for 5 days and as we drove in we had the company of two emus wandering down the main road .
Exmouth is 1300kms from Broome and 1200kms from Perth and apart from tourism and seafood industry has a USA /AUS communication base that was
Built in the 60,s and the town was built to support it.
Ningaloo is well known for it's reef that is very close to land plus the whalesharks that come here when the coral is spawning . Very popular trip is to swim with the whalesharks April until August .
First day drove to the lighthouse on the reef side and visit the shipwreck from 1907 . Saw whales breeching from the lighthouse quite close to land.
Day 2 drove to the national park on the Ningaloo reef side and stopped at the ranger station to find out about fishing and snorkeling . Visited yardie creek and did the 1hour walk to the gorge and got nicely sunburnt on my shoulders !.
Rest of the afternoon went to a bay called Sandy bay which was white sand , turquoise waters and deserted . Walking through the water upto our knees spotting turtles swimming among us .
Next few days going to take it easy with some fishing , snorkeling and prawn eating .
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Eighty mile beach
Decided to have 5 days here trying to catch some fish .
The campsite is 400kms from Broome and 250 kms from Port Hedland with nothing except Pardoo roadhouse in between
Great camping area with a big selection of big rigs , campers , caravans and hire cars , the place is always pretty busy as the fishing is great , beach beautiful and good facilities .
Went fishing every day and I caught about 8 thread fin while Debs helped me feed the other fish with her bait .in other words she got nothing !.
Quite nice to fish in the warm water up to your knees until we saw the shark fins swimming up the trough for a feed on the in coming tide .
Also saw some dolphins , rays and sea snakes each day very close in .
The last two days saw the wind really get up in the mornings and nights but by fishing time had dropped of nicely .
Considered staying longer but want to get to Exmouth for a longer stay .plus need to find a place with Telly and coverage for some of the RWC games.
Overnighted in Port Hedland , say no more !
The campsite is 400kms from Broome and 250 kms from Port Hedland with nothing except Pardoo roadhouse in between
Great camping area with a big selection of big rigs , campers , caravans and hire cars , the place is always pretty busy as the fishing is great , beach beautiful and good facilities .
Went fishing every day and I caught about 8 thread fin while Debs helped me feed the other fish with her bait .in other words she got nothing !.
Quite nice to fish in the warm water up to your knees until we saw the shark fins swimming up the trough for a feed on the in coming tide .
Also saw some dolphins , rays and sea snakes each day very close in .
The last two days saw the wind really get up in the mornings and nights but by fishing time had dropped of nicely .
Considered staying longer but want to get to Exmouth for a longer stay .plus need to find a place with Telly and coverage for some of the RWC games.
Overnighted in Port Hedland , say no more !
Broome
Had a four day stopover in Broome to catch up with freinds and pick up our pushbikes.
Camped on the cable beach side of town which was only a five minute walk to the beach . Beach was pretty quiet as per photo so had lots of room to spread out .
Went to divers tavern to watch England play Argentina and have a few beers , quite a few English backpackers watching the game .pity Argentina lost in a close game .
Spent the next few days swimming , having dinner with the guys from the Mercure and went to the Shinsu Matsuri festival of light with Mal and Gail .
Could of stayed longer but need to start getting down the coast .good to get some cycling in to work off the wine and beer
Camped on the cable beach side of town which was only a five minute walk to the beach . Beach was pretty quiet as per photo so had lots of room to spread out .
Went to divers tavern to watch England play Argentina and have a few beers , quite a few English backpackers watching the game .pity Argentina lost in a close game .
Spent the next few days swimming , having dinner with the guys from the Mercure and went to the Shinsu Matsuri festival of light with Mal and Gail .
Could of stayed longer but need to start getting down the coast .good to get some cycling in to work off the wine and beer
Friday 9 September 2011
Bungle bungles World heritage park
Drove out of Kunununarra on the road back to Broome . The turn off is about 300kms from K and 700 from Broome .
Roads still got a few caravans / campers etc on them but certainly is getting quieter as the weather warms up . The past few days in Kunununarra were 36degrees during the day.
Good trip to the turn off to the Bungle bungles (Purnululu in Aboriginal) campsite and just for once it was only 750 meters off the road rather then the usual 50 Kms !
Set up the trailer and had a quiet night with only light beers .
Got up early to get to the park which is 55kms from the campground on a very rough unsealed road with quite a few creek crossings .
It takes 2-3 hours to travel the 55 kms to the rangers station .
The park gets 20 thousand visitors a year and 75% of them fly in to the small landing strip there .
Spent time first walking to the Piccaniny look out through the domes which were amazing , the photos you see do not do justice to the scale of the area.
The sandstone domes colour is amazing and with millions of years erosion it feels you are stepping back in time .
Then visited the Cathedral gorge which is mostly dry this time of year , great acoustics and
quite humbling to see .
Other great places we visited were the Echidna Chasm which is basically a dry river bed you can walk up in the dry season but gets very tight and squeazy in places with very high sandstone walls you can just see the sky through .could be a bit claustrophobic .
Also went to Osmand lookout which takes in the valley and feeder rivers for the Ord river
We reckon the park is stunning and a must see and would visit again anyway but maybe fly in next time !, speaking to people who have flown over the area they say it's amazing to see from the air .
Returned back to the campsite after seeing as much as we could ( some parts are now not accessible due to cultural reasons ) which is on a station called Mabel Downs and is a 1.7
million acre cattle station , had a very hearty ranch dinner for $20.00 pp of fresh pumpkin soup and beef casserole with a few other travelers .slept like a babe .
Roads still got a few caravans / campers etc on them but certainly is getting quieter as the weather warms up . The past few days in Kunununarra were 36degrees during the day.
Good trip to the turn off to the Bungle bungles (Purnululu in Aboriginal) campsite and just for once it was only 750 meters off the road rather then the usual 50 Kms !
Set up the trailer and had a quiet night with only light beers .
Got up early to get to the park which is 55kms from the campground on a very rough unsealed road with quite a few creek crossings .
It takes 2-3 hours to travel the 55 kms to the rangers station .
The park gets 20 thousand visitors a year and 75% of them fly in to the small landing strip there .
Spent time first walking to the Piccaniny look out through the domes which were amazing , the photos you see do not do justice to the scale of the area.
The sandstone domes colour is amazing and with millions of years erosion it feels you are stepping back in time .
Then visited the Cathedral gorge which is mostly dry this time of year , great acoustics and
quite humbling to see .
Other great places we visited were the Echidna Chasm which is basically a dry river bed you can walk up in the dry season but gets very tight and squeazy in places with very high sandstone walls you can just see the sky through .could be a bit claustrophobic .
Also went to Osmand lookout which takes in the valley and feeder rivers for the Ord river
We reckon the park is stunning and a must see and would visit again anyway but maybe fly in next time !, speaking to people who have flown over the area they say it's amazing to see from the air .
Returned back to the campsite after seeing as much as we could ( some parts are now not accessible due to cultural reasons ) which is on a station called Mabel Downs and is a 1.7
million acre cattle station , had a very hearty ranch dinner for $20.00 pp of fresh pumpkin soup and beef casserole with a few other travelers .slept like a babe .
Saturday 3 September 2011
Wyndham
Drove to Wyndham today which is 100kms from Kununarra past the GRR turn off .
Population about 750 and used to be a busy port and meat works in the time gone by .
Now it's known for it's crocodile farm , barramundi fishing and some tourism .
Drove to the five rivers look out that looks over the Kimberley where 5 rivers converge (really). Today due to some bush fires it was as not as clear as it has been one our previous visit but still gives you some indication of the size of the area around Wyndham.
After the five rivers visited the dreamtime statues and the Afghan cemetery ( waste of a good chocolate biscuit if you ask me !). Gave the croc farm a miss and the old meat works.
Popped into the pumphouse restaurant for lunch on the Ord river but it was closed for a private function.
Lunch there tomorrow
Population about 750 and used to be a busy port and meat works in the time gone by .
Now it's known for it's crocodile farm , barramundi fishing and some tourism .
Drove to the five rivers look out that looks over the Kimberley where 5 rivers converge (really). Today due to some bush fires it was as not as clear as it has been one our previous visit but still gives you some indication of the size of the area around Wyndham.
After the five rivers visited the dreamtime statues and the Afghan cemetery ( waste of a good chocolate biscuit if you ask me !). Gave the croc farm a miss and the old meat works.
Popped into the pumphouse restaurant for lunch on the Ord river but it was closed for a private function.
Lunch there tomorrow
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