Fri. 14th Sept., 2012 - Relaxing in Denham

We had a lie-in, a very relaxed morning & a late breakfast of pancakes - naughty but nice!

In the afternoon, we drove to Eagle's Bluff, which was a magical spot from where we could see a beautiful, unspoilt bay far beneath our look-out point.  A dugong, a lemon shark & a ray were all swimming there, whilst a couple of 'termite-mound lizards' entertained us at the cliff edge.  We were impressed by the peace & quiet of our surroundings & the excellent board walk that had been constructed to make access easier.

We also visited the little Church of St Andrew by the Sea which, in common with the Old Pearler Restaurant, was also constructed from compacted shells.  Both buildings were good examples of our forefathers' resourcefulness & ability to use whatever materials were at hand.





Font





St Andrew by the Sea



 

The weather was glorious - yesterday's strong wind had abated, the sun shone & the clouds disappeared; another perfect day in Paradise!

Thurs. 13th Sept., 2012 - Carnarvon to Denham

The wind had dropped to a gentle breeze as we set off for Denham just after 8am., a journey of about 340km.  We'd heard that the terrain between Carnarvon & Denham would be devoid of anything of much interest & this turned out to be the case, as the land stretched ahead of us, flat & covered with scrubby bush.  Just seeing an occasional sheep, cow or crow, was a major event!  Anything more than that created real excitement.  A few wild goats & a large emu with two little ones, were the highlights of the journey.  Even the vegetation gave up the ghost in some areas & we began to see a lot of bare patches.

We crossed the 26th Parallel, which took us out of the north-west.  As we left the Shire of Carnarvon & entered that of Shark Bay, some wild flowers & flowering bushes began to appear, heralding what I hoped would be masses more as we moved further south.

At the turning towards Denham, we commenced a World Heritage Drive into Shark Bay, which sounded very promising.  We were really looking forward to exploring this area.

Our first stop was at the site of the shell walls, where blocks of solid shell were once cut & used as building material.  Apparently, the shells had been washed into the bay & trapped there for thousands of years, finally becoming compacted together in a solid form.

Shell Wall

From there, we moved on to look at the stromatolites, which are living fossils that are 2,000 years old, but similar to organisms that existed 3,500 billion years ago.  They didn't seem very "lively", nor were they particularly sensational in appearance, but it was incredible to realise that we were looking at such very early forms of life (I guess we'd all be a bit jaded, had we been around for that long!)

Stromatolites

We also saw an historic telegraph site & an old post office - what a remote spot for the early settlers to have lived in (the grave of a 7 month old baby boy hinted at the hardship they endured).  However, boats did arrive to transport wool & some pearling took place, so it may have been busier than we imagined.



Old Post Office



Hamelin Pool



Denham proved to be charming, having an attractive beach front, lined with palms.  Our caravan park was at the far end of the town & we were delighted to be allocated a spot at the park's highest level.  For the first time, we had nothing behind us to block our view & were able to lie in bed, looking at the ocean & the boats.  Our lofty position was windy, but worth it for the lovely outlook.

Denham

Having settled in, we called at the Visitor Centre, had a look at the town & went to the supermarket where we met the couple from the caravan next to ours.

Denham has two buildings made entirely from the compacted shell material that we'd seen earlier - one is a church, which we haven't seen yet, & the other is a restaurant, where we booked a meal for the evening.

The Old Pearler Restaurant

What a good thing we'd booked a dinner table, as people were turned away later, when the restaurant was full.  It was a quaint little place - cosy, friendly & welcoming.  Our food was superb - Bob had Surf & Turf & I had Red Emperor Fish (the catch of the day), which was to die for - fresh & succulent!  We chatted away to a pleasant couple next to us & had a very good evening.

Wed. 12th Sept., 2012 - A day in Carnarvon

The date is interesting:  12/09/12 - our lovely granddaughter, Ruby's 12th birthday!  In December of this year, we will see 12/12/12 (& Ruby will still be 12).  And, tonight will be "Twelfth Night" - who said we'd gone metric & lost the good old dozen!  Eat your heart out, Decimalization!

I digress, but couldn't resist a few fun observations.  Back to the travel blog ... Carnarvon must be the windiest place in Australia - it has been blowing a gale (albeit a warm one) ever since we arrived.  Good for the washing but hard on the hairstyle!

Having had a good look at our caravan park, I realise that we are surrounded by orchards, plantations & market gardens - fruit & vegetables are growing right up to the park's fences.



Mango Orchard



Mile Long Jetty

After a restful morning, we drove into Carnarvon to have a look round.  We weren't very impressed with the town, particularly when comparing it with our previous idyllic stopping-off place (Coral Bay).  Carnarvon's town centre is an absolute mess, as they are in the process of giving it a make-over.  However, residents do not seem very optimistic as they have suffered "work-in-progress" for ages & there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Meantime, the roads & pavements are dusty, dirty & chaotic, as workmen & their materials block everyone's path.  We did drive out to Mile Long Jetty & the small boat harbour, but there was very little of interest to see or do - it all seemed very half-hearted.  We look forward to moving on to Shark Bay tomorrow - hopefully, we'll be staying at the small town of Denham & using it as a base from which to explore the rest of the area.

Tues. 11th Sept., 2012 - Coral viewing & drive to Carnarvon

Another early start, as we had booked a coral viewing tour at 9am & had to be out of the caravan park before 10am.  However, we were well ahead of ourselves & were ready at least an hour before the tour began - pretty good for a couple of late risers!

Mal & Steve were out walking on the beach, so we joined them for half an hour or so.

The coral viewing trip was great & the glass-bottomed boat provided an excellent means of looking at the reef, giving clear, unobstructed views.  It was a long time since we'd last seen coral & we'd forgotten all the wierd & wonderful forms in which it comes - huge 'cabbage' shapes, spiky formations, 'brain'-like corals & many others.  Unlike on the Great Barrier Reef, the coral here was mainly brown, with some blue & lavender patches, but this allowed us to concentrate on the shapes, forms & patterns, which were beautiful & fascinating.  There were also plenty of fish to look at & we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience - wouldn't have missed it.

We bought some bread rolls, then set out for Carnarvon at 10.30am.

During the latter part of our journey, we came across patches of vivid pink wild flowers.  What a shame that there were no stopping-off places - we would like to have taken some photographs.  There had been little of interest up to that point - the scenery had simply changed from a tree-less terrain to one that was covered in bush & scrub (& the soil was still red!)

Near the Gascoyne River, the land was intensively cultivated.  There were banana plantations, mango orchards & various other crops that we couldn't identify.  Having travelled through many kilometres of unproductive land, it was good to see an area that was obviously very fertile.

On arrival at the Winter Sun Caravan Park, we caught up with Judy & Charlie again - they are leaving tomorrow but we are going to stay another night so that we can have a good look at Carnarvon.

 

Mon. 10th Sept., 2012 - Exmouth to Coral Bay

We were up bright & early & left Exmouth just after 7.30am.  There were a few small clouds in the sky but it was a lovely day & we hoped the beautiful weather we'd become accustomed to, would continue.

The road from Exmouth to Coral Bay traversed an almost tree-less terrain, with a lot of termite hills.  The soil became less red & spinifex ruled!  We saw several sheep as well as some goats with coats of various colours (mainly white, cream & brown).

We stopped at Coral Bay for coffee & liked it so much that Bob & I decided to spend a night there.  Judy & Charlie continued on to Carnarvon as they had already seen some of the places that we wanted to visit.

Coral Bay

We met a nice English couple called Mal & Steve, who had lived in Australia for 42 years - we had coffee with them, then went to the beach for a swim.  The water was warm & full of fish - large numbers of them swam around us, seemingly unconcerned by our presence.   At 3.30pm., someone came to feed them & they congregated in even larger numbers.  There were snappers, parrot fish, rainbow fish, zebra fish, etc. - a delight to watch.

At 5pm., we went to Mal & Steve's caravan for drinks & spent a very pleasant couple of hours with them.

Sun. 9th Sept., 2012 - Preparing to leave Exmouth

We had a quiet day, catching up with chores - Bob cleaned the van, thoroughly; I dealt with more laundry & did some ironing.  We're now ready to set off on our travels again, tomorrow.

Whilst visiting the laundry, I saw an emu that had wandered into the caravan park.  It did a brief tour, then walked off into the adjoining bush.

In the evening, six of us (including Gwen & Bob from Bunbury) went to the Sailing Club for Sunday roasts, which made a pleasant end to our stay in Exmouth.