Albany - Esperance WA

This is probably going to be the shortest update of the trip. We left Albany and drove to Esperance, and that's about it. 

The drive was unspectacular - rather straight sections of road, but hilly with scrubby countryside, wheat farms (either just harvested or with the Winter crop just sown) and some sheep scattered here and there. We stopped in Ravensthorpe for lunch at the local park, we had been driving for three hours and desperately in need of the toilet break, when the local policeman pulled up beside us and ask where we were from? - Newcastle - where in Newcastle? - Port Stephens - where in Port Stephens? - Tanilba Bay - big smile, I'm originally from Raymond Terrace. Then he wanted to talk about good places to go, how he's not going to waste his retirement money on a big Winnebago and has bought a Renault truck that he is going to turn into a motor home, etc - whilst we stood there trying to be interested when all we wanted to do was go to the toilet and get lunch. I guess it was better than getting a ticket, but he must have been at a loose end and wanted a chat. 

Didn't take any photos today, so that's it for now - tomorrow we go to church (Baptist this time), do some sight seeing (hopefully a whale or two) - Ruth's already done two loads of washing - and basically have a rest day, then on Monday we pick up our mail (hopefully) at the PO and head off to Norseman.

Bunbury and Albany WA

We left Cervantes on 12th and drove south until we came to Bunbury - it was quite unexceptional except, always an except, we drove straight through Perth at 80-90 KPH on a freeway - no traffic lights, no roundabouts just non-stop driving. The road system over here is quite remarkable when compared to NSW or Qld. and it's such a huge state in size but only the 4th most populous state with 2.3 million compared to NSW 7.3 mil., Vic. 7.6 mil., Qld 4.5 mil., must be all of its mining wealth, but then again maybe they have politicians over here who think of their state before they think about themselves! 

Both Ruth and I have developed colds since the vast change in weather for us - from tropics to cold winds in just a few days. We don't head for the Caravan Park swimming pool anymore and we now complain if the hot water in the showers isn't hot enough for us - in the tropics we never used the hot water tap - and instead of using the vans air conditioner on cooling, we now have it on heating, doona has replaced light blanket (which we usually slept on top of anyway), so we are well and truly into Winter mode. 

 Left Bunbury on 13th and drove down National Highway 1 to Walpole on the south coast of WA. We followed Mr.GPS to Walpole and thought that Hwy1 would be a good straight road - it turned out (for most of the way) to be a narrow, twisty, hilly sealed road through wooded countryside where the trees grew right up to the side of the road - so Mr.Cruise Control had to be put to bed and I had to do the driving instead. To top it off a sign told us that we had to watch out for logging trucks - fortunately we didn't come across any on the really narrow parts. 

Something that amused us was that as we went through a lot of the small country town most of their names ended with 'up' - such as Kirup, Mullalyup, Ballinup, Yornup, Palgarup, Manjimup and Quinninup, with may other 'ups' off of the side roads. Oh yes, and we also drove through Donnybrook named after a place in Ireland where there where frequent brawls at their annual fair, thus a 'donnybrook' is now a colloquialism for a fight. In actual fact Donnybrook means the Church of Saint Broc. When we went to the visitors centre in Walpole we asked what the meaning of the 'ups' on he end of the town's names represented and we were told it is an aboriginal word for 'the place of' - so that answered that nicely. 

After we settled into the local caravan park we unhitched and went off-road (good dirt roads) to see some of the local sights - the first being the Frankland River where it pools in a large pool before continuing onto the sea several kilometres away.

Franklin River going into the pool

Franklin River pool

 It was quite pretty - then off to Conspicuous Cliff which was supposed to have a really nice lookout, and it probably did, but we weren't up to the walk, so we just took a photo of the cliff from an vantage point.

Conspicuous Cliff near Nornalup

Whilst we were there we saw a beach fisherman catch a large sea salmon, he had a good fight to get it in. We had also wanted to see the big Tingle Trees, but it was dark by the time we got back, so we got up early on the 14th and went into the woods and had them all to ourselves, but it was really cold and our hands were like ice-blocks, but the car heater soon took care of that.

Old Twisted Tingle Tree

Older burnt Tingle Tree

Huge Intact Tingle Tree

Tingle Tree Explanation

 Then back to the caravan park, hitched up and drove to the Valley of the Giants Tree Tops Walk. It was not quite what we expected as the metal walkway was suspended or large metal poles and the walkways actually swayed as you walked on them and there were signs that no more than twenty people should be on a span of walkway at a time - there was only us and another couple ahead of us who moved away quite quickly. 

We expected that the walkway would actually be attached to the trees, but the whole structure was self supported. Ruth was a bit hesitant at going when she felt the walkway swaying, but she couraged-up and walked to the first round platform that separated the spans where there was a sign saying that one of the workmen who build the walkway tragically fell and was killed here. Already committed she then had to finish the walk as you weren't allowed to walk back as it could set up vibrations that would upset the dynamics of the structure. It was quite beautiful up there in the tree tops getting a birds eye view of the countryside and looking down was an unusual view of a tree.

Giant Tree Walk

40 Mtrs in the treetops and still they went higher

Tree Top Walk Platform

 After we left there we drove to Albany and went sight seeing for the rest of the day. Mainly we went to Frenchman's Bay where there are granite rocks that are the same as the granite rocks of the coast of Antarctica - meaning that Australia was once attached to Antarctica but then with the Continental Drift we are now separated (just as well or we would have froze) and still moving north at 5 cm each year, so I calculated that in 2,000 years time Australia will be one kilometre further away from Antarctica than it was today. 

We saw the Natural Bridge and the Gap and walked down a long hill to see a Blowhole, but it wasn't blowing as the sea wasn't rough enough, but we could hear the noise as the waves crashed into the underground cavern and it was like some great monster growling, so it would have been spectacular to see. The sun was just right to get a nice shot of Frenchman's Bay with Bald Head in the distance. And yes! finally we have found two places where there is a proper surf and you can see them in the photos of Conspicuous Cliff and Frenchman's Bay.

Natural Bridge in Frenchman's Bay

Ruth beamed up at Frenchman's Bay

Frenchman's Bay with Bald Head Promontory

 We then drove into the main CBD of Albany to take a photo of the one thing that everyone who visits Albany must see - Dog Head - can you see it? I saw it straight away but Ruth had to look at it for a while until the penny dropped and she saw it. All around it is a commercial shopping area and nearly all of the shops, including Woolies, is named "Dog Head ???" whatever type of shop it is.

Dog Head in Albany city

The Pinnacles - Nambung National Park WA

The Nambung National Park is what all national parks should be like - sealed road all the way in - nominal fee to get in ($5 for Seniors) - a nice interpretive centre - toilets - marked walkways and best of all, you can actually drive around the features. You can take either or both, 1.2 Km walk or 4 Km drive, we opted for the drive and got out and walked around were we pleased. 

 This park is a must see for all that come this way - there are literally thousands of these formations called the Pinnacles that just stick out of the sand in all sorts of shapes and sizes and when viewed from different angles appear to change their shape - shape shifters. It is most unusual as there can be a large expanse of smooth sand and then stretched out as far as the eye can see all of these things emerging out of the sand like tombstones in places and jagged shapes in other places. It's not easy to explain, so that's why I've included more photos than I would in an update - they just have to be seen to be believed. 

 They are not right on the beach as we thought - they are in the sand hills near the beach, but we had to drive 6 Kms inland from the coast to reach the entry gate into the NP - the sand hills here stretch for miles inland, but the majority are covered by scrubby vegetation, but occasionally there is an open outcrop of just sand piled up and moving in the wind. Also they are not made of hard sand as we thought, but are hard limestone formed, according to the experts, by eroded remains of sand dunes layers rich with plant roots that over time became calcified by water rich in minerals seeping through OR they are the calcified trunks of an ancient forest buried by sand in a violent and intense storm and the calcium rich sand petrified the trunks and in both cases the sand was then blown away exposing what remained - now called the Pinnacles. 

Whatever caused them - God has a sense of humour, I'm sure - they are beautiful and intriguing to behold and just go to show us that His creation is marvelous and wonderful, just like HIM.

Driving through The Pinnacles

There are thousands of them!

Some are bulky.

Some are tall and slender.

Some are good to rest on.

Some are pointy.

Some are like Stonehenge.

Some are good to ride on.

Some are like tombstones.

Some go on forever.

Some are like decayed teeth.

Some are almost vulgar.

This is not what you are thinking!

Cervantes WA

Our trip from Geraldton to Cervantes was along the coast where we passed some pretty (in lookin' nice) small coastal fishing communities with beach shacks along the way and a lot of head wind that knocked back our fuel consumption quite a bit, but we made it to Cervantes by lunch time. Cervantes is also a small coastal village with crayfishing as its main industry and tourism as it is only 16 Kms from there to the Nambung National Park where the Pinnacles are situated. Cervantes was named after a whaling ship that was wrecked nearby in 1844 and can still be seen under the water to this day. 

We had lunch and headed out for the Pinnacles but on our way we stopped off at Lake Thetis that is one of a few places now in the world where Stomatolites and Thrombolites survive because of the high saltiness of the water that keeps predators at bay. They are said to be 3,500 years old, yet they are only babies as fossils of them have been found in 3,400 million(?) years old rock - exactly the same, I wonder why the ones in Lake Thetis haven't evolved?

Lake Thetis near Cervantes

Close up of Stromatolite or is it a Thrombolite

Official explanation of the microbial communities

From there we drove to Nambung NP to see the Pinnacles (but I'm going to leave that for the next update) and after we had seen them we then drove back to Cervantes and took an unmarked side track in the NP towards the ocean. When we reached the ocean and hopped out of the car Ruth almost stepped on a black snake and as she backed away it reared up and struck at her foot several times but couldn't quite reach far enough to inflict her with its fangs. After playing with it a bit we then shooed it into the bushes in case someone else came along and stepped on it - after all it was only about a baby about 15 cms long.

Huge Black Snake at Nambung National Park near the ocean

Then Giant Ruth shooed it away - carefully

Then we did something we have never done before - we took the jeep onto the beach and drove along a sand track until it actually went onto some soft sand and got stuck. I wasn't in 4WD and I hadn't let any air out of the tyres (they were still pumped for pulling the caravan, 45 psi in the rear and 40 psi in the front). However when I put it in 4WD low ratio I was able to slowly move out of the soft sand and onto the track again. This beach had seaweed piled high on it, but the water was as smooth as a mill pond - flat as a tack!

First time for Jeep on Beach

We then headed back to the caravan park and walked down to the sea shore there and took some sunset shots.

Beach, Ocean & Seaweed Nambung NP

Silhouette at sunset at Cervantes WA

Brilliant sunset at Cervantes WA

Serene Sunset at Cervantes WA

My favourite Arty Piece at Cervantes WA

Carnarvon - Geraldton WA

We left Carnarvon for perhaps the most uneventful road trip of our holiday to Geraldton - very few road trains, the scenery was very flat and scrubby for most of the way until we were approaching Geraldton and then we started to come into civilisation again, with traffic and traffic lights etc. until we reached our Caravan Park stop for the night a bit away from the main town precincts and close to a beach. During our drive we saw more goats than cattle, some sheep and one echidna (scurrying across the road). The goats were wild (feral) and roamed in family packs of Billy (with his beard and horns), several Nannys and all of their Kids.

Typical country between Carnarvon and Geraldton

View toward Indian Ocean from roadside lookout

We went for a walk to the beach, which is a headland, and saw a lighthouse that looked like a lighthouse should look - with bright red and white stripes and a light on top - so many nowadays are just a steel tripod style structure. The beach was typical of most of the beaches we have seen over here, not much surf, but it was windy and there were a couple of wind surfers having fun and one lone board rider trying to catch waves on a bit of a reef off shore. However we have noticed that they allow anyone to drive along the beach and even have access roads onto the beach. So as I said, this day was quite uneventful, but we arrived safely and that always makes it a good day, for which we thank God each and every time we stop to eat and before we leave each morning.

Lighthouse at Geraldton

Beach at Geraldton

As this is a small update, there is something I have been meaning to tell you for quite some time. That's the "Wander's Wave" - as I call it. Ever since we passed Charters Tower in Qld we have been caught up in the "Wave" - whenever another caravan (or campervan or camper trailer) pass, the driver (mostly, sometimes the passenger) give a little wave, which I then return. The wave comes in a variety of forms - the most common being all of the fingers of one hand (doesn't matter which one) being lifted off of the steering wheel whilst the thumb stays attached to the steering wheel. Other varieties include just one or two fingers being raised - and no one takes offence at that - a full hand wave taken wholly off of the steering wheel and least of all just a nod of the head. I would say that 90% of the "Wanders" (not always Grey Nomads either) do this and those who don't always seem to have a sour look on their face. Some cars will wave but not many. As I said not all "Wanders" are Grey Nomads - although the majority are - we have come across a lot of foreign young people, mostly backpackers, and even some parents with their children, whom they are home schooling.