Week 13

Day 85: We left Perth today and headed towards Jurien Bay. On the way we stopped off to look at the Pinnacles. No one is 100% sure how the pinnacles were formed, but they are a pretty awesome sight. One theory is that they were Termite mounds and then the ocean covered them and yadda yadda yadda, they turned to stone. Around the sand dunes there are thousands of these rock formations sticking out. Some are tomb like and some are pointy, they're all different and interesting. We headed from here to our camp just outside Jurien Bay. The camp was only a short walk to the beach and is surrounded by sand dunes. It wasn't long and we had two boys over near our camp wanting to hang out with Charli and Declan. Sam and Jack were doing the big loop around Aus with their parents. The kids got on great and they spent their time setting up a trap for the dingoes in the dunes, playing cars and riding bikes.

 



Day 86: After spending the morning at the beach we went for a drive into Jurien Bay for a look around. On the way we stopped at Lake Thetis to view the Stromatalites which are living rocks that grow extremely slow at 0.3 of a millimetre per year. They weren't that pituresque to look at but very interesting. Jurien Bay itself was a typical beach side town with all the necessities. Other than relaxing at the beach or fishing there isn't much to do.

Day 87: We left Jurien Bay and headed for a natural tunnel that has been formed due to an underground river that flows when substantial rain has fallen. Getting there we had to tackle a narrow 4wd track that included sharp rocks and soft sand. Al was concerned about the camper as it was attached, but Housie assured her that they would make it ok. After a slow trip in they had arrived. As they got there Luke, Dee and the kids were just leaving with their caravan attached. Luke had commented how they took a different track in and that it was rough and that they had been bogged. Housie advised them that it sounded like the track we had just taken. We walked down to the tunnel and we were all amazed how big it was and that it had been made by water. At about 150mtrs into it, we turned off our head lamps and it was pitch black. We were unable to see our hand in front of our face. Housie tried to hide and scare us all but the kids knew he would do something like that, and switched their headlamps on, and caught him trying to hide. The tunnel was about 300mtrs long all up, and there were little tunnels that had formed inside this big one as well.
 

 

 

As we left and headed back along the track, we hadn't made it halfway and we had caught up to Luke and Dee, Housie talked to them on the UHF and they had commented that the track they had tried to avoid was no way as rough as this one. Apparently they had been bogged twice, and had to dig out both the car and caravan. Housie and Al commented that this track wasn't actually too bad, compared to the ones they had been on before this.

After we were out we headed off to Geraldton, and we were going to be staying at Al's cousin's place. We were camping but had all the luxuries of home, as we set up the camper in her backyard. The kids were excited again as they had television. That night we went out with Bess for dinner.

Day 88: Bess had advised us that there was not much to do in Geraldton, so she suggested that if it was a nice day the kids could play at the council run water park on the foreshore. First thing in the morning we went to look at the iconic (for Geraldton) lighthouse, then it was off to the water park. The kids had a ball playing all morning there. After lunch we headed up to the memorial that has been built for the HMAS SydneyII, that sunk off the coast of Geralton in 1941, 645 Australian men had died, which is Australia's worst Naval disaster ever recorded.
 

 

 

 

Day 89:We set off for Kalbarri which has great outback walks and scenery and also great beaches and coastline. When we arrived at Kalbarri it was about 3pm and pretty overcast. We pretty much set up camp and sat around for the rest of the arvo relaxing.

Day 90:This morning we headed south of the town to see a few of the many lookouts along the coastline called Red Bluff.

The afternoon we headed north for the inland gorges that have been formed by the Murchison river over thousands of years. They were awesome to see. We all had our photo taken at 'Natures Window" which is a natural hole in a rock overlooking a gorge. We soon worked out that Kalbarri must be Aboriginal for place of flies. This is the worst any of us have ever experienced. We had all had showers that morning so it's not what you're thinking! Apart from the flies this was a great place to visit.

Any opportunity to play cars

91:Today we headed for Shark Bay and were going to be staying at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. Sounds pretty good huh? Well there was some nice accomodation and then there was where we were, in the caravan and camping area. Put it this way, the place needs an overhaul. The kids were happy to see emus walking through the camp area.We went for a walk to look at the water and were suprised to see that it wasn't as blue or clear as all the pamphlets that we had seen on the place. We just put it down to being overcast. Al and Housie were happy that this place had happy hour, and enjoyed a few beers watching an awesome sunset.