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 :)
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