Broome -- Beautiful Broome

Well here we are  - in Broome.....Really  i'm not sure how to describe this place....Oasis in the desert   comes to mind, if you consider the miles we have put behind us to reach this township....or where the sky meets the land, the desert meets the sea,  where white sands, red rocks and  blue waters come together; on a peninsula not more than 15km long,  here rests the town of Broome............Cable Beach is one of the most famous beaches  world renown, and the pindan cliffs,stark white sands and turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean are part of this exotic town's appeal .    One side of Cable Beach has all the umbrellas  and the sun lounges where all the tourists come to enjoy the sun,  this is a patroled beach that you can swim between the flags if you don't panic about the jelly fish... ...We went in for a swim and  i got wet to my knees before i chickened out..The first aid hut was all set up and signs about if you get stung -- use vinegar and to acquire first aid--  so i did a complete turn around and come out...This area is not netted either.....The sign on the notice board said the last urangangie jelly fish sting was May 2010, so i made sure that i was not going to be up there for June......the other side is where all the 4 wheel drive vehicles   go and where the camel rides are, and where there is a nudist beach...I'll .let you know Mick was looking and it wasn't at the 4 wheel drives  either........Quite a mixture in a area  of about 1 km ...........................                                                       The    shops tend to be a little bit of a mixture but we have enjoyed many days just checking out these little shops up alleys and  about.   Now once again i have to mention the sunsets.....Sunset and Cable Beach go hand in hand so we have enjoyed 3 nights so far experiencing the beauty....  After you leave the beaches and shops  in a radius of about 5km's the place falls  apart and its dry and unkept with red dirt and more red dirt once again....then in the middle of this you throw in a international airport.... ................................................You will all get a laugh i am sure about my adventurous Camel Ride...What fun we had and so many laughs, and what a great feeling being on such a hugh animal moving along at a enjoyable pace with the sun setting around us while we enjoyed the hour long ride...Mick had strick instructions to do the photography, so he was doing the running beside the camels trying to get that perfect photo, i think he did pretty good......The staff were all wonderful walking along beside us and talking to us about the history of these big camels....Do you know that these camels are all bought in from the wild and are then  trained and   --  castrated too.........I suppose that would tame the best of them  thats  for sure......the staff just love there job and between the 3 different walks at different times through-out  the day and to and from the beach  the staff walk up to 24klm a day...    A young good looking fit young man walked beside us backwards  for many a mile talking to us, we were on the lead camel and  he was 25 years old (the camel that is)......Now getting off that camel was another thing, these old bones had ceased up so i nearly fell off....Would have to say that this was a great highlight for me and i am so pleased that i experienced it......Most likely won't be back to Cable Beach in a hurry..... ...               On  Sunday night we are all going to set up  picnic down at one of the area's near Roebuck Bay  to watch Staircase to the moon...I had not heard of this until  i came to this town and started reading about what to see and do around town.....Staircase  to the moon is when   a spectacular sight  is created when a full moon rises over the shoreline  at a low tide...The rising moon  reflects in   pools of water left by the receding tide, creating the illusion of a golden staircase to the moon....     Now just you wait for THAT photo........  Well we will be moving on   on Monay  28th June to  another adventure.....I am sure we will be off line for ever and a day as we head into this extreme wilderness......We will be down to 3 couples as 2couples are off in another direction as there time is limited....Next stop Derby   WHERE  on earth are we?  

What a beautiful Boy

Our new friend Sharwun is yelling about the weight on his back

Up Up and away

How good is this !

Sharwun, Phyllis and Von

Mick still doing the photo shoot...

The camel train between the cars

What a crack up!

Can someone help!   Think i need a hip replacement!

Thanks mate!

Carnarvon to Broome

Hi to all ,       Leaving Carnarvon (Carnarvon is the only town in Australia where the central desert reaches out to the sea) on the 8th June we have taken 2 weeks to reach Broome arriving today....We have taken it very easy and just cruising along ,stopping for a night or two here and there checking out the local spots along the way...We are still travelling with our new travel mates and enjoying there company, we pick up and drop off  depending who wants to go where and who wants to see what....

  Next stop was Point Quabba blow holes located about 70kls north of Carnarvon.We went in there on our own and we were happy that we made the effort.   The blow holes form a natural spectacle as waves are forced through sea caves before exploding out through the rock..  We stayed the night near the blow holes in the camp ground behind the large sand dunes listening to the waves crashing and once again the wind blowing...  Not sure if the wind ever stops on the coast of W.A.        
 
    Coral Bay was out next port of call and we all loved this place... Coral Bay is the southern gateway to the world renowned Ningaloo Reef.......Up there with the best spots so far, i think.
Very busy with tourists everywhere and the atmosphere was great...Little Gold Coast i thought ,with people sunbaking  on lazy boys all over  the beach...People swimming right on the reef that you could snorkle to within a close area to the beach....Water the colour of tourist brochures, wait till you see the photos......(Ningaloo Reef is one of the few reef systems worldwide that has formed on the western side of the continent)  Then onto Exmouth where we stayed out at the Ningaloo Lighthouse Van Park, overcast and bleak we moved on to the tropics.     Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn back south of Coral Bay...
                                                                                                                                                                   Karratha was a stopover where the Bag -man had to tell some white lies to get into a particular van park that we wanted to be, to catch up with our friends...Told the girl in the booking office that he needed to go out to this area called the overflow as our mates were there.Her comment was, while the parks in town had vacancies she had to go by the rules and send us to the town parks. After a quick phone call to our friends Baggy came back with a story that we had a dog...So the story goes we got where we needed to be but acquired a dog to be there...      Even went as far as a water bowl and a leash to keep the story looking real in case the ranger did a check, but worse still- he even checked where a vet was in the town in case the ranger asked where his dog was......I think the heat is getting to him...
  Went for a day trip to Dampier the home of the big iron ore trains and we were lucky enough to see one going by loaded up...Saw the Dampier salt mines too...Also saw the statue of Red Dog, to all you movie buffs the story of Red Dog is being made into a movie right at this moment, he's a local  dog that befriended the whole community.....

  Bush camping is really a second home to us folks now and when you see the photos of the sunsets and sunrises you will all understand what its all about...Nature at its best....Sometimes we pull up at a river bank and stay 2 nights if the mood takes us all.  One of these stops everyone (but me) showered in the water straight out of the river..One man set the shower up and invited all to try... Pump into the river and a generator.  I opted out for my hot water shower in the van...

  Port Hedland is such a place that i can't  say too  much about except red bull dust and more red bull dust and 2 streets that you can call a town......I think.....Oh i almost forgot, the home of big salt mines too....    Not sure how to explain this  ever changing landscape of Western Australia.....W.A. is miles and miles of  territory that has a changing terrain from dry barren  treeless landscape to hugh high sand dunes and Banskia scrub to the mountains of the Pilbera and ant hills and more ant hills  and red dirt... All this change can happen just like you draw a line and the fauna does a complete turn around....Really wierd. 
       After the disapointment  of Port  Hedland  our next thrill was Eighty Mile Beach....Nothing there but  a van park that is owned by the property owner and hundreds of vans and Eighty miles of beautiful beach loaded with big shells..Fishing for Baggy was successful  with a couple of small salmon but once again everyone around him were catching the big ones...We managed to have a feed anyway, all 10 of us...
  Fishing for these big fish happen on the in coming tide so all the fishermen come onto the beach for about 2 hours or so and then go, it was a amazing sight.. .The whole beach is a buzz with surf rods....No boats either as the fish are in the shallow  water...I spent my time collecting shells...There is some serious shell collectors there and they go out on the 4 wheelers so there is  a bit of competing going on.....
Loved this place too but after putting the swim wear on for the first day and heading to the water i noticed that no one was swimming, so asked a lady why there wasn't anyone in the water swimming her answer was ........ 3 reasons-- sea snakes,rogue crocks,and sharks...That did me,shell collecting was for me instead....                Have now arrived   in Beautiful, Beautiful,  Broome.....                      Will leave that story for another time.....
                                                        Love to all The Baggy's

Point Quobba blow holes

There she blows

Hamelin Bay blocks cut from shells

Beautiful Coral Bay  

Ningaloo Reef                   water supply for campers

Ningaloo Beach sand dunes

The changing terrain

Red Dog  at Dampier

Front of the iron ore train at Dampier

The end is out there somewhere

Beautiful Sunset

One of our bush camps

Our bush camp sunrise

another beautiful sunrise for another beautiful day

Port Hedland

Salt at Port Hedland

Bush camp

Our new friends

Beach fishing for thread fin salmon

The one that never got away

80 mile beach

Thread fin Salmon

enough to feed 10 of us

Bull dust and more Bull dust

Try passing this one

Mandurah to Carnarvon

Hi to all,          We have   been on the snail trail since we have left Mandurah and not putting too many miles behind us with each move, just taking our time and checking out the districts as we pass through them.
After leaving Perth behind us we travelled through the Swan Valley, really nice drive but no where the size of The Barossa Valley,but very pretty all the same...

  Went inland to a town called New Norcia totally built and run by the Benedictine Monks. The sourdough breads alone were  worth the 2 hour drive from Perth beyond the Darling Ranges deep into the wheat belt..Its like a little piece of Spain in the bush,and its the only monastic town in Australia.The monks live a prayerful life amoungst  the olive groves, so we booked in  and stayed on there oval next door to the monastry where we had permission for a camp fire...Well you all know what happened from there...  Baggy's phone has now been replaced..

Travelling back to the coast road again next place of interest was a place called Cervanties,and 17kls from there was  The Pinnacles........The Pinnacles Desert is made up of thousands of limestone pillars, which vary in shape and stand up to 4 metres high and range from 0.5 metres to 2 metres in width......We really loved that place and spent a few hours driving around them,walking around them and watching the sunset over The Pinnacles..Of coarse many many photos later we called it a night.....         NO !    Baggy did not run around The Pinnacles in the nude like Billy Connerly...(would not be a pretty site that for sure) .....                              
    Passed through Jurien Bay(stopped for a coffee with Ellen and Brian and kept moving) and camped right on the beach for 2 nights just south of Port Denision..This was a fantastic spot very similar to In Skip..This is where we met 2 couples and are still with them and others at the moment..What a great lot of people we have met, all doing the same thing, 3 couples are from the eastern states, so i am sure there will be catch ups when we all get home...I also think its the bush camping that bring people together..It does not happen so much in van parks...   When we run into each other its like some long lost friends who we havn't seen in ages...They are all fun to be around........Let me tell you Baggy has them laughing at times too with his antics.....You all would know what i mean......

We had to have a shop and a stock up in Geraldton....This was the first time we came across a Telstra shop since the big bon fire....First on the agender was a visit to the Telstra shop for a  new sim card for Baggy,he's up and going again, but we were without, for quite a while.....Reception is very limited and seems to be only in big towns and because we are not always staying in these towns we are off line more than we are on...Just loved Geraldton lots to see and do there and very pretty.


 We all went into Kalbarri for 2 nights and that was also a very very pretty town,,Played tourist for a couple of days and went site seeing to the gorges and the bluffs. Very similar coast-line like the Twelve Apostles,very rugged but on a smaller version.Had a brief visit with Ken's daughter Dee to say hello but it was short.      You won't believe it but Mick caught 2 Mullaway (similar to a Jew fish, so i am told)....Not sure if it was the way we cooked it ,but it was a really bland taste...Won't try that again
  
Today we arrived in Carnarvon..At times we need to catch up on the washing etc....4couples that we have been travelling with on and off are here in this park tonight and we have just come home from a b.b.q...Will be leaving here tomorrow,not sure yet, where to...Thats for the next up date....Coral Bay----Exmouth---or maybe  a station thats on the coast line where we could  pull up stumps and fish for a while...I'll leave that decision to the big fellow....

 Bye for now and love to all...The Baggy's       

New Norcia Hotel

One of the many chapels at New Norcia

Can someone please give us a call !

Telephone to Glory

The Pinnacles Desert Discovery

Rising mysteriously from the sand dunes are thousands of limestone pillars

Unique and spectacular .....The     Pinnacles

Our beach side resort.....Bush camp

You can't get better than this

Windy Kalbarri.....Trees grow like this from the wind

No wind at all while we were there

Geraldton.....loved this place

Kalbarri coast line

Kalbarri coast-line>

Spectacular Murchison River Gorge

Nature's window

Z  Bend gorge

Happy Hour

Party at Micks place

 Boys will be boys