Time for another Adventure

Once again we met up with our friends Anne and Ron just south of Fremantle at one of the caravan parks in Munster (which thinks it’s ok to charge $75 a night but that’s another story).  We’d left Sandy Cape that morning and made our way down the picturesque Indian Ocean Drive all the way into Perth.  There was a lot of excitement building up from the kids as we were all heading to Adventure World theme park the next day.

So the big day arrived with the weather forecast to be a sunny day.  It was the usual chaos as we entered with the kids wanting to go on every ride within the five minutes.  It’s a cross between Luna Park and Wet n Wild, and was great fun had by all.  Alex had his eyes set on all of the scary rides.  Unfortunately he wasn’t tall enough for all of them, but for the one he was allowed on, Ron put his hand up to go on with him.  Kaz & Lee were off the hook and gave a big sigh of relief (not being big fans of the stomach churning rides).  They did however manage to survive the ‘Freefall’ drop ride.

The water rides were fantastic fun also, which we surely got our money’s worth on.  Surprisingly the queues weren’t that bad even for a Saturday.

Back at ‘camp’, as payback for taking Alex on the ‘spew’ ride, we brought the Weber out and treated them to yet another perfect roast.  We never took a photo of the roast, but here’s one I prepared earlier...

Yummo

The next day was moving day again.  We made a brief mid morning coffee/latte stop in Mandurah where the Sunday markets were on down on the wharf.  They served Churro’s, which was a first for us. Basically long starfish tentacle shaped donuts that you dip in chocolate and caramel sauce.  Sensational.  Maybe it’s the meagre rations of camping that made it taste that much better.

Anyway after our sugar fix, we then headed further south driving through Bunbury for a quick look and stop at the Visitor Info centre.  We decided to go back inland towards Collie and camp at Wellington National Park.  Here we stayed at Potters gorge and it was a very nice camp spot for just the one night.  We enjoyed going for a quick dip in the dam there and especially enjoyed our first camp fire in a while.  Of course the mandatory marshmallows came out and we spent our last night with Ron and Anne who had to get a move on as they need to be in Melbourne for Xmas.  We on the other hand were heading further inland to see our friends in Narrogin.

Potters Gorge

Alex found a gem collecting friend

Bintang Ben

The 'neighbours'

A neighbour you don't want.

We headed to Narrogin to stay with some close friends Grant & Kelly that we’ve known for about 16 years.  We used to be neighbours way back when we were living in Wantirna.  They had a comfortable granny flat out the back for us to sleep in which the kids called our cabin!  Lucky for us they also have a pool!  Although we had to spend a couple of hours helping clear the glass from it after the wind blew their outdoor table into it and smashed into a bazillion pieces.  Anyway we had a great week of catching up and as usual with them; we ate and drank way too much!

Talent show night

It’s getting cooler.

After packing up from Monkey Mia, we had our sights set on Kalbarri, some 400kms down the road.  Ron & Anne had already been there for a day, so they’d already reserved us a spot at Tudor Lodge caravan park. Jumping pillow and pool got the tick of approval, so they earned their keep for another night. 

"CANNONBALL"

Kalbarri, like most of the coastal towns down the coast is predominantly a fishing/crayfish town. Scenic beaches and coastlines and a few basic shops make them nice spots to stay.

Kalbarri coast

Kalbarri

Kalbarri National park is nearby and one of the bigger parks in WA.  We headed in there for one of the days we stayed at Kalbarri and did a couple of the walks.  The flies were out in abundance once more, and the temp in the gorge walks are a bit higher.

Natures window

It was at Kalbarri that we finally got the kids fishing rods out!  More for entertainment than necessity... which was fortunate as the jetty, as fascinating as it was watching the cray boats, was a tad windy.  The kids grew tired of that quick, so back in their holders they went (the rods not the kids!) and off to the park.

Wind assisted fishing

Fish or park kids?... a no brainer

So onward and upward (or southward), we left Kalbarri, drove through Geraldton (urgh, city!) and reached Dongara/Port Denison. Similar to Kalbarri, just a small town with a handful of caravan parks.  The town had just had its yearly festival for the opening of the cray fishing season.  The town was still busy, accommodation wise, so we could only stay a night unless we wanted to move to a new site... umm no thank you.  Ron & Anne had decided to get a beachfront cabin, so we sat on their balcony having a bbq, planning our next stop.

We all left the next morning: Ron & Anne off to Perth to visit their friends, while we decided to bush camp at Sandy Cape Recreational Park.  It sounds like a theme park being called a Recreational park, but was a perfect bush camp  (number 426 in the Camps 6 book, just north of Jurien Bay in case you were wondering).

We managed to fluke a great spot at the end of the camp ground, amongst the trees, near the beach.  With the new solar panels in full flight, we stayed 4 nights, but could have easily gone longer.

Sandy Cape

We enjoyed this spot greatly.  The bay itself is north facing and sheltered from the wind and waves.  Whether it was climbing the massive sand dunes; swimming with the dolphins!; beach fishing (no luck L); 4wding the tracks; exploring the cave tunnels nearby; visiting the Pinnacles; or just watching life pass by; it was a welcome change from the cramped caravan parks.

Sandy Bay

Climb ya buggers

Fossicking

Limestone cave tunnel

Earth not Mars... The Pinnacles

One night, we walked along the beach to watch the sunset... and watch the forecast storm approaching... (it’s getting cooler).  Without doubt one of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen.  For about 30 minutes, we watched the sky change dramatically.  Hopefully the photos do it justice, because it really was a spectacular memorable moment.

Spec-

-tac-

-ular

From here we leave this wonderful spot to head into Perth, to meet our promise of taking the kids to Adventureworld... in the next blog.

Monkey see, monkey do, monkeys where are you?

After leaving Carnarvon, our travelling circus was headed for Monkey Mia/Denham. We had Ron & Anne in tow and made two stops on the way in.  The first one was to see the Stromatolites, which are apparently found in only 2 places in the world; the other place being in the Bahamas.   They look like lumps of rock but have a lot more significance given what scientists believe.

How it all started...

Coming or going

Stromatolite 'brains'

They must be living breathing things as this one had just finished a Cherry ripe:

Keep Australia beautiful!

Our second stop was at Shell beach.  Metres thick, the whole beach is made up of cockle shells, which they use for many uses including light weight bricks. 

Cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row

Shell Beach

Arriving at windy Denham we stayed at the Seaside Tourist Caravan Park and decided it was time to lash out on a cabin for a couple of nights.  The kids were very excited and we were very happy with our cabin with the million dollar view.

"So back in the real world, they do this thing called 'work'..... bahahahaha"

Denham Sunset

After our first night at Denham we left early in the morning to travel the 26km’s to get to the 7.45am dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia.  We patiently waited on the path with the rest of the tourists until we got the go ahead to make our way down to the shore.  But that was after listening to the rules: Don’t go in the water; Don’t touch the dolphins; Don’t make eye contact; Only fart downwind etc etc.  The precious little things, it’s as if there’s only 3 left in the world.  Anyway we waited in anticipation for the dolphins to come in. Slowly a group of dolphins made their way into shore, including a female dolphin and her brand new baby dolphin, only born a couple of days ago... and then all the oooh’s and aaah’s started.  We were told that only a lucky few were chosen to hand feed the dolphins, and little Ben was lucky enough to be chosen to enter the forbidden zone.  It was like Charlie unwrapping the golden Wonka bar!  So Kaz took Ben (and Ash) into the water to feed the dolphin.  It was a great experience but was over before you knew it.

Flipper showing off.

Monkey Mia

Gulp and it was gone.

Cape Peron NP - Air down time

From Denham the plan was to go bush camp up in the Cape Peron National Park north of Denham.  The track into the park is very very sandy, so the tyres on the Patrol and the camper had to be let down to 18psi.  We reached Bottle Bay, the northernmost camp ground, but after being greeted by the wind and the flies after getting out the car, we decided not to stay. Instead we unhitched the camper at the camp ground and went for a drive up to the tip at Skipjack point to look around. From the raised lookout it was red cliffs, white sand and blue water... a beautiful contrast. We didn’t see a lot of marine life as the tides had stirred it up a bit, but we did see a few big stingrays swimming around and an abundance of Cormorant birds along the shore.

Skipjack Point

We decided to head back down and stay at Monkey Mia and spend a couple of days there rather than put up with the flies and wind.  Monkey Mia is just one resort/caravan park and a beach... nothing else.  We’d heard not to stay at the resort there as Denham is nearby and cheaper, but we didn’t think it was too bad.  Certainly the kids enjoyed the pool and hot tub, and we enjoyed our drinks at the restaurant and the ‘Monkey Bar’ on the beach.

We enjoyed spending some more time with our lovely friends Anne and Ron, so we all decided to book a sunset and a wildlife cruise, which both turned out to be amazing and definitely will make the ‘highlight reel’. Lots of marine life and beautiful scenery.

Sunset cruise

One of life's precious moments

Ron & Anne - 'The grandparents'

Cooling off

Very very salty water

Dolphin cruising - cool

Aye aye skipper

The only little monkey in Monkey Mia

So Monkey Mia and shark bay as a whole has been impressive.  So far the nature count is; rays, turtles, sea snakes, dugongs, dolphins... but no monkeys!!!


Duped again!!