Sat 20 Aug 2011 Eighty Mile Beach to Karijini National Park

0900 (11335 km) Had raisin toast for breakfast. HM bought some ice cream from the caravan park office - $2 a scoop. And there were really good. It is worth it to just go to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park to have ice cream, if nothing else. Had planned to have it for dessert night before but we were too late and they had closed. Quite good facilities at the office - they have fresh food, and even have some takeaway food at very reasonable prices (and this is in the middle of nowhere - no towns for over 250km). Apparently the park used to look even better, with lots of shady trees, etc. Cyclone Laurence in 2009 devastated the caravan park and it has taken a while to re-establish the park. Left the caravan park. On the drive to Port Hedland, we saw white industrial safety helmets on the termite mounds. Looked like people. Very cute.

Kids playing on this arty sculpture

1200 (11584 km) Port Hedland. The kids ran up and down of the circular modern art sculpture at Port Hedland. Lunch of sandwiches. Filled up. Long drive - interesting how it all changes from very flat plains to the mountains with steep orange, rusty red cliffs on the way. Should make a movie at some of these areas we've driven through.
1545 (11919 km) Karijini National Park. Went to Visitor Centre. Quite new. Went to Dales Camping Ground. Site 30 on Bungarra Loop. It was a nice big site and had a long drop toilet, no water, no power. But gas BBQs were provided as there were no fires to be lit. Dinner of rice and mince pork.

Fri 19 Aug 2011 Broome to Eighty Mile Beach



Eighty Mile Beach - truly beautiful



0720 (10948 km) MK had a skype session with his class.

0800 (10948 km) MH had a skype session with his class.

0900 (10948 km) Had toast for breakfast. Left Broome.

1300 (11279 km) Sandfire roadhouse. Filled up.

1400 (11335 km) After 10 km of gravel road, we got to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park. There were no more powered sites. Site 152. Went to try fishing. Looks like no one is getting any fish either. So, went for a dip in the sea. The tide was still going out so the kids kept going further and further out. The water edge became a long, long way from where we set up initially. There were lots of shells of different shapes and sizes. Apparently there were even more shells the week before. Must be washed up from somewhere else. The sunset of this never ending stretch of beach was beautiful. Could easily stay here for a few more days to relax, but unfortunately more things to see, leaving tomorrow. Had dinner of schnitzel with pasta salad.

Thu 18 Aug 2011 Broome

0900 (10907 km) Had raisin toast for breakfast.

1000 (10907 km) Left for a drive around. Went to the port. We saw huge chains, the links were the size of people. There was a rock with a hole on Riddell Beach so we went to take some photos. We came across a jelly fish stranded on the beach. Naturally the kids attacked it, as kids do. The tide was coming in and cut off our beach return, so we clambered over and under some rocks to get back to the car. Kept driving along and went to the beach to see the Pindan Cliffs. The burnt orange cliffs came down to white sands that led to the turquoise sea. That was quite a contrast and a great photo opportunity. The loop drive took us back to the town. Had a quick look at Town Beach and the water park. The water park was small in comparison to others we had been to before. So we went shopping instead and headed back to the caravan park.

1300 (10937 km) Filled up. Lunch of toasted sandwiches and caught up with some blogs and Chinese homework.

1630 (10944 km) Went for a drive on Cable Beach. There were over a hundred cars on the beach. Many people had quite a set up next to their cars - tables, umbrella, kids playing. Probably waiting for the sunset. Had a look at the camel rides. There were three groups - red, yellow and blue. The camels smelled bad and made funny noises. Wonder how they get all those camels onto the beach. Had dinner of rice and mince pork.

Wed 17 Aug 2011 Broome



Dinosaur's foot is bigger than Ming Kim's



0630 (10858 km) Woke and left at some ungodly hour to see the dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point. They can only be seen at certain times of the month when the tides are super low. We had to find them before the tide came in. There were already people there searching for footprints. They found them so we just milled around the 3 dinosaur print positions and took photos. We could see the tide coming in. Also looked at the cast dinosaur footprint at the top of the cliff.

 

0725 (10865 km) Left the dinosaur footprints.

0735 (10873 km) Cable Beach Surf Club. There was a talk on "Turtle Magic", mainly about the flat back sea turtle that nests on Cable Beach. There is a group of volunteers who work tirelessly every year during nesting season. They have to get up early every morning to spot the turtle nests and record GPS positions. They may also assist baby turtles back to sea if required. Apparently a few years ago, a turtle came out of the water at 4:30 pm in the afternoon and laid eggs! The volunteer had taken photos of that and show us the site on Cable Beach. It is a pity only 1 out of 1000 eggs survive. Apparently, there was a year there were only about 600 eggs, so statistically, there would have been no new turtles that year. How sad.

0900 (10873 km) Went to town.

0915 (10880 km) Chinatown. Had breakfast at McDonalds. Took photos with the Hard Hat Diver statue. Went down Johnny Chi Lane. Saw Sun Pictures which is an old open air cinema. It is amazing it is still standing and operational. Hope it doesn't rain much. Walked into several pearl shops and saw a 21mm diameter pearl, valued at about $84,000. Just a bit of spare chance. HM bought a pearl necklace. Went shopping for groceries as well.

1250 (10888 km) Back to caravan park for lunch of hotdogs. Went swimming and body boarding at Cable Beach. There were great waves for body boarding for the kids. Not too big, not too small.

1800 (10888 km) Dinner of sausages and lamb chops.

1950 (10888 km) Went to Golf Club to view Staircase to the moon. After touring through the town, we finally got to the Golf Club. The moon was starting to get smaller.

2050 (10907 km) Back at caravan park.

 



Tue 16 Aug 2011 Broome

0800 (10833 km) Deliver car for service at Shinju Motor Group. Got dropped back at the caravan park. Had pancakes for breakfast. Catch up with washing, blog, emails, tidy up the camper.

1200 (10833 km) Had lunch of noodles and dace. Went swimming. It was a nice pool, salt chlorinated.

1700 (10833 km) Went to pick up the car. They were very nice. And very busy.

1700 (10853 km) Went to Cable Beach to watch the sun set. Beautiful. It was low tide so the water was very, very far away. Had dinner of soft tacos.

Mon 15 Aug 2011 Nillibubbica Rest Area to Broome

0900 (10704 km) Breakfast of cereal. No toast since there was no electricity. Left the rest area.
1015 (10812 km) Broome. Went to Visitor Centre and went shopping for groceries.
1200 (10819 km) Palm Grove Caravan Park. Bowl 4. Nice park - had a lovely shady spot. Had toasted sandwiches for lunch. Went swimming in the park pool. The water was just nice. The facilities were clean. Great park.
1715 (10819 km) Left for Staircase to the Moon market at Town Beach.
1730 (10826 km) Town Beach. There was a market and so we bought dinner from the stalls. Brought our chairs so we got to eat our dinner in comfort. Sat by the beach and waited for the moon to rise. And then it rose. Staircase to the Moon. There! Done it. Lots of people taking photos. The flashes were going off in all directions. Someone shouted "The flash won't work. Turn it off." Quite nice. The moon rose as a red ball with some lines representing the staircase. Rises quicker than one expects. HM had to learn to use some more functions of the new camera so that she could take photos of the moon.

1930 (10826 km) Went home. The field car park was full and people parked in every position so some cars were actually blocked in.

1945 (10833 km) Caravan park.

Sun 14 Aug 2011 Fitzroy Crossing to Nillibubbica Rest Area

0715 (10359 km) Left for Geike Gorge National Park.

Geike Gorge

0735 (10383 km) Geike Gorge National Park. We got on the 8am boat cruise along the Fitzroy River. The limestone gorge had high cliffs that were white at the bottom (up to flood levels), blackish at the top and red in other places. There were bottle swallows (fairy martins) flying around and they had made nests on the underside of the ledges. Yes, the underside, which means they are glued upside down to the ledge. Every year the wet season washes away the nests and the birds have to rebuild them. We also saw fresh water crocodiles. The kids had fun counting the crocodiles. The trick was to not double count them on the way back.

0915 (10383 km) Left Geike Gorge.

0945 (10404 km) Fitzroy River Lodge. Filled up. Packed up.

1030 (10407 km) Left Fitzroy River Lodge.

1215 (10568 km) Boab Rest Area. It had a huge boab tree and was hollow in the middle. We could just imagine how someone could have lived in there. Lunch of Ritz, Cruskits, cheese and tuna.

1255 (10568 km) Continue on our journey to next rest stop.
1430 (10704 km) Nillibubbica Rest Area. This is a freestay 24 hour rest area. Quite a number of caravans around. It has a stinky drop toilet. Dinner of pasta bolognaise. The kids lit a fire and sang songs and played games.