Kalbarri

Last day today in Geraldton...

Yesterday did a day trip out to Kalbarri and Kalbarri National park...and all I can say is Wow!...What spectacular scenery!...

The coast line is rugged and windswept, with huge sandstone cliffs, which contrasted beautifully with the deep blue and rough sea...

The Natural Window was a place we made a point of visiting...

It frames a view of the mighty Murchison River as it makes its way out to sea at Kalbarri...

The lengths we go to,to escape grey nomads!!!!

And then I lost my footing... and Hans calmly stood and took photos!!!



This area is still blooming with wildflowers... and the sand here is a chalky pale yellow colour...and the sandy path almost like a scene from a kids story!

Tommorrow we say sad farewells to our dear friends the Bells...


Joanne, Rhiannon, Brian, Christopher and Dayna. Thanks guys...it's been great...but it's time to get 'on the road again'...

The Tug Boat Experience!

Joanne works for the Geraldton Port Authority and was able to organise for us to go out on a tug boat that assists with bringing in a ship waiting off shore, into Port for loading...

We got there early so Ray, who is head of security and organised our trip out on the tug, took us for a guided tour in his vehicle around the docks...Thank you Ray...

At Geraldton among other things they load wheat, iron ore, talc, various minerals etc

The mining and demand for iron ore has increased so much that the Port is having to make bigger areas for storage and more docks to accommodate more ships.

Then it was through security and down to the Port to board.



This is the tug boat we went on...




Looking out through the back window...the other tug went out with us to assist in the docking.These tug boats run on huge Rolls Royce engines...they can do a 360deg turn on one spot!... Dave our Captain gave us a demo.




Dave (in orange) was the Captain...and to the right of him the engineer....3 men man each boat.The other man is on deck and does all the 'rope work'. They work one month on and one month off. They bring on average 3 ships in or out per day 24 hrs a day. It costs the shipping company using the service approx $20,000 per tug boat.



Thats the ship we are going out to bring in....It has come from Hong Kong and is coming into pick up iron ore.



The Pilot boat goes out ahead of us and the Pilot boards the ship...He guides the Master of the ship into Port, using his local knowledge of the the conditions etc...apparently this can be quite tricky when the Master of the ship does not speak english!

The ship comes past the waiting tug boats at some speed...

As the ship passes the crew on board throw down 'messenger ropes'....the guys on the decks of the tug boats then connect them to their larger ropes and they haul them on board and secure them...the ship and two tug boats are now connected....

The tug boat then stays alongside as the ship nears the Port....awaiting commands from the Pilot Captain on when to start pulling, pushing or staying alongside.

Pushing the ship into position alongside the dock...the tug boats were using 20tons of force to nudge it in.





When the vessel is in place....it has to be positioned withing a metre to line it up...and whilst the two tugs are applying pressure constantly (otherwise the ship will float out of position) the Pilot boat goes round the ship picking up the ropes and taking them to men at the pier who secure them to the dock.





Mission accomplished!...

This is the largest size of ship the Geraldton Port can accommodate at present...its is known as a Panamax...this rating is given to ships that can just fit through the old Panama canal...It's length ...225 metres.

The whole procedure from go to wo took one and three quarter hours...and used between 60 - 100,000 litres of fuel per tug boat... Cool Ah?

Thank you to Joanne for organising it for us,the Port authority for allowing us to go, and to the terrific guys who took us out... :)

Carnarvon to Geraldton via the inland route.

Hi!...We are in Geraldton...spending a few days off the road with Joanne Bell and her family!

Jo and I worked at Ozcare together for 2years before they made the big move to the other side of Australia in December last year..

We left Carnarvon and travelled this way via a less travelled route (as we do!)...through Gascoyne Junction and out to the Kennedy National Park, then through to Murchison and on to Muwella and Geraldton....


Roadside comedy!



Kennedy National Park is amazing with it's huge escarpments but is mostly known for the honeycomb structure of the gorge...Had intentions of camping in the National Park but fires were not allowed and with temperatures falling to near 0 at night we didn't want to go without our campfire...





Found a beautiful camp along the Lyon river....most rivers are not flowing in these areas now.This one still had a significant pool of water left...and we had the place all to ourselves except for the visiting wildlife...in the 3 days we were camped there we counted 15 different species of birds that came in and around the waterhole to drink....

Dawn at Lyon river camp

We set up a more permanent camp,staying 3 days, and relaxed, rigged up the shower, baked bread and walked around and explored the surrounding areaon foot...found old tobacco tins and matchbox tins, what used to be an old windmill well, parts of an old cobbled road leading up to the river, different bits of equipment used by the men that had travelled through the area from as far back as the 1930's...

Bread baked for two!....Yum.

Heading on further south toward Muwella the wildflowers became even more abundant with more and more varieties to be found.

Experienced the Equinox that day...amazing....standing on the road looking east...the moon coming up and to the west the sun going down....

Our shadows from the sun looking at the moon...


Because we were so 'in the moment' experiencing this event, we left it a bit late to find a suitable place to camp so headed for the Murchison Roadhouse to get accommodation for the night arriving in the dark...nearly drove past it...(Murchison has a population of 12!)

The accommodation amounted to a 1970's era caravan for $70 per night!...there was nothing else so we took it, glad to have a place to sleep for the night...that also included a bacon and egg sandwich and a coffee for breakfast in the morning!





We were pleasantly surprised in the morning (when we had 'thawed out'...temperature got down to 3 degrees overnight)...what an interesting place Murchison Road house and surrounds was...

There was an amazing collection of all sorts of farm equipment and tools displayed around the place, along walls, in the garden along the fence....too many to display on this blog...but these pictures below will give you a little taste...




Rob the proprietor, was ready to make us our bacon and egg breakfast when we were done photographing ...we got on well, and he invited us to have our breakfast at his kitchen table together with his old mate Owen who had come up to visit Rob from Perth for a week...they were great to have a yarn with and we gained some great local knowledge...


In fact, Rob told us how to get to a special place alongside the Murchison river 50kms south where Hans could observe budgies in the wild...Hans had wanted to see budgies in the wild for sometime and we had seen flocks fly over and around us....but they fly sooo fast!!!...

When we got to this spot ...there were the budgies.... great to see them in the wild flying freely!
The wildflowers here were even more profuse! We felt as though we were in in Heaven and the smell!!!



So with warm intentions in my heart I thought it would be really nice to pick a bunch to give to Joanne on our arrival....



We had them all over the dash board as we drove into our way into Geraldton....unbeknown to us, was the fact that it is indeed illegal to pick wildflowers!...there is a hefty fine applicable for such a crime!....no wonder we got these weird looks from passing motorists and roadtrains as we happily drove through town!...(heh ..there were no signs anywhere to tell us that!!!)




Geraldton....It's like being back in NZ!..green rolling hills everywhere, with sheep on them!
The sea a beautiful deep blue colour.Population 33,000.It's not a town yet affected by major tourism although the signs are showing that they have caught on to the idea and are in process of gearing up to the tourist more.
Staff in all the shops we have visited have been more than couteous and helpful...




Memorial to the HMAS Sydney and her crew...each bird in the memorial above the woman looking out to sea is representative of the 645 men who were lost on board.

This pictureque field of purple, is the neighbouring block to Joannes place....these are weeds known as Pattersons curse...you could say painfully pretty weeds!

And below...Joannes front lawn this morning...Frost!!!...geez its getting colder and colder the further south we go!...Invested yesterday in new -5 deg rated sleeping bags and bought a jacket each....plus beanies!....
Thankfully Joanne's place has a fireplace so we are warm whilst staying here.
But despite the cold nights the days are crisp and clear with the temperature getting up to the early 20's.


Thats all for now folks!! Diana :)

From Derby to Broome,through the Pilbara...Exmouth and Carnavon

After a week of R n R with Kathy it was on the road again....

The Boabs were just coming into flower...

...and it was on to Broome...

A very Ritzy and Touristy town and very crowded...We limited our visit to a day..but I just had to see Cable beach before we went on, after hearing so much about it and sure enough it was absolutely beautiful with its pristine waters..shame about all the tourists!

We travelled south camping a night at Portsmith...they had a fish n chip night on funding raising for the RFDS...so we thought why not!...ended up having a great night...an aboriginal band played songs from the 60's and 70's,big campfires going and literally the whole camp joined in.

Then it was on to Port Headland....big industry area where all the iron ore thats mined around the area is railed in for processing and sending overseas to places like China.We had to stop at a rail crossing for a train carrying iron ore that seemed to go on forever...we asked the roadtrain driver ahead of us...how long do these trains go on for?...his reply...How long is a piece of string?...can be up to 5kms long!

On our way in we came across a field of termite mounds, each with a helmet placed on top...is this what you do when you 'throw your hat in' at the mine?

....also salt is processed there....

Huge pile of salt!

Then we went inland heading for the Karinjini national park...camped on a lookout hill on the way on the Muijana Ranges....The view was amazing....the temperature...hot through the day and freezing at night..especially with almost galeforce winds that added to the chill factor!

Hans creating an aboriginal work of art with ochre stones and charcoal from the campfire.

No....I haven't put on weight!...just added 3 layers of clothes!

Karijini National Park boasts many deep and amazing Gorges where people can absail into them.. but what I loved about the area and its surrounds were the wildflowers...

Its such a magic time of year to be in the Pilbara area...so I went wild with the camera and everytime I saw a new variety, Suzy came to a holt on the side of the road, to capture a photo of it...Here a but a few of the many I photographed...

Sturts desert pea.

Flowers hand picked for me from Hans

This is what the countryside looks like!....millions of years ago this was the sea bed!

Check out this little fella!....He/she blended in beautifully...till he moved.

Exmouth....where Pilbara (desert) meets the reef... beautiful beaches and again tourist orientated...

Found these awesome shells on the beach....

Moved on down the coast looking for a place to stay away from the crowds but everywhere you turn to or go its either ...Private property/No tresspassing or...

Arrived in Carnavon late evening and booked into a cabin for a couple of nights...looked around the sights of Carnavon...it's really got a great feel to it....reputedly the horticultural centre of Western Australia....good variety of crops from tropical fruits to vegetables...checked out the pier,

and 'the dish' (a now defunct satelitte dish for telecommunications and apparently had something to do with the Apollo missions)

Saw this old medicine chest in a museum there...bit before my time but I remember the aspro in these bottles!and check out the wicker wheelchair!...definitely before my time!

So thats where we are at the moment...thank you to all those who have written a comment...its sooo good to hear back from you all...

Back soon :)