Author: Mark Anderson

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Day 90: 27 August – Exploring Kalbarri National Park

Author: Mr A

Distance hiked: 10.5km

Flights climbed: 24 floors

Kalbarri National Park is 40km out of town, but a world away from the coastal scenery we had seen here. Towering walls reared up from the Murchison River. 


We set off on a walk called the Loop – yup – no one way stuff for us today. The river looked so pristine below as we peered over the edge of the sheer cliffs.It was a fabulous walk, one of the best day walks we have have done on this trip. Only a kilometre from the crowded car park and ‘Nature’s Window’ and we were alone, only seeing one other family during the 4 hour walk. 


After heading along a ridge line we climbed right down to the river. 


A game of swans (yes that’s right – look it up) sailed regally along the river. The cygnets just picture perfect.

We followed the river as it bent around, eventually leading us back to almost the same spot we had started from….very convenient. We got back to the car as the first spots of rain fell – perfect timing. 

The colours of the spring flowers as we left the national park were incredible, splashes of pink, yellow and white wherever we looked. It seems Western Australia’s famous wildflowers are beginning to finally show themselves.


We had decided on a fish and chip supper this evening, purchased as the sun set behind rain laden clouds. We were woofing these down by 6pm in the mobile apartment as the rain beat its tattoo on the roof. 

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Day 86: 23 August – Wooleen Station wanderings

Author: Mr A

Location: Wooleen Station

Distance hiked: 8 km

I pulled down a blind in the van and was greeted by leaden grey skies – quite a shock to the retina after our months of being greeted by another blue sky day. Nothing was encouraging us to venture out too quickly…so we didn’t. A late breakfast and then we drove back to the homestead feeling we should at least chalk up something today.

A walk was chosen from a couple of detailed booklets we had been handed when we checked in. It was really well documented history lesson on the property, showing us old graves, the remains of various ramshackle buildings and even the 1800s rubbish dump! It was such a dull day it just exacerbated the feeling of desolation that hangs around these stories of battlers against the odds of the vagaries of drought and floods in outback WA. What these people went through to try and eke a living beggars belief. 


We saw zebra finches taking a morning bath, and an as yet unidentifed interloper (in photo below for Rosemary to identify ;-)). 


We headed back to the comfort of our van both quiet and thoughtful, thinking how lucky we were. The temperature here regularly climbs beyond 50 degrees in the summer – that’s Celsius for our overseas readers. There would be no relief at night either with the temperature staying over 40 degrees. Imagine that with no A/C, fridge, cold beer! These settlers trying to make a new life here must have yearned for a “hot” English summer day that some of them would remember from their previous lives. 

A quiet afternoon in the van, my achievements only including knocking a glass of diet coke all after the ever so patient Mrs A. This was followed by me trying to “mend” her prized kitchen device, the hand operated food processor. That ended in her throwing it away. I had succeeeded in turning it from a partially fiunctioning device into a number of never to be re-assembled parts.

We finally headed out again late afternoon, before things got too worked up.  We walked up the Murchison River and spotted some Major Mitchell pink cockatoos, which immediately shook off the rather somber mood we had been in today with their pompous, strutting and waddling gait. We spotted heaps of other birds including black swans, welcome swallows, herons and ducks.


The sun was going down as we headed back to our little paradise on wheels for…..homemade chorizo pizza!!! 

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Day 84: 21 August – Walking the beaches of Shark Bay

Author: Mr A

Location: Denham

Distance walked: 7km

We spent the morning getting organised for our final push down into Perth. Areas we want to see researched, campsites reviewed on WikiCamps and booked, road conditions checked (been some heavy rain up here), and scheduled our trusty 200 Series in for some TLC at Geraldton Toyota. 

The weather has been pretty chilly and windy, but we dragged ourselves out for a walk this afternoon and so glad we did. Heading down the to the beach, a short walk and we come across a mob (flock?) of five emus strutting around in the scrub. 


Further along the beach we were rewarded with a stunning late afternoon light show, captured exquisitely by Mrs A of course. 


Tomorrow we leave the coast for a few days and head inland again, a whole new adventure!

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Day 82: 19 August – Dolphins on cue

Author: Mr A

From: Denham

To: Monkey Mia

Distance: 27 km

It was a 6.30am alarm and on the road by 7 to ensure we were in time for the briefing by the rangers who staffed the 'Dolphin experience' at Monkey Mia. 

For over 50 years dolphins have been fed here, initially by the fishermen who shared their catch with them. Dolphins, as we know, aren't daft and started turning up at the same stip of beach every morning licking their lips. Then the tourists started to flood in and the dolphins who came were breeding pups who didn't know how to hunt for their own fish because they had never seen mum do it. So the WA Wildlife folk stepped in during the early 1990s and now regulate the whole thing, with only a few snacks being delivered by the lucky few chosen from the hundred or so of us watching. 


It was a great experience to see these mammals up so close, literally metres away from the beach, rolling over, waving a flipper, and yet know although humanised they are still 'wild', and make a choice as to whether they turn up or not, and when.



We were back in Denham by lunch time and spent a very productive afternoon washing and cleaning…dull but necessary given everything is covered in red dust. That stuff can get inside a vacuum sealed flask…incredible.  

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Day 78: 15 August – Grand country

Author: Mr A

Location: Kennedy Range National Park

Distance hiked: 12 km

Floors climbed: 22

This is big, magnificent country with the sandstone escarpment of the Kennedy Range towering over our van. We had planned to go walking today if the weather fined up, and it had. So a foundational breakfast was called for. Using the fresh tomatoes, garlic, red onion and basil from the market gardens of Carnarvon we mixed up in the hand blender some bruschetta. I had spotted some packaged bread especially for bruschetta when we were in Woolworths. On inspection of the packaging it had actually been made in Italy, shipped to Brookvale (a kilometre away from our house in Sydney!) then onward to Caranarvon. Well travelled bread indeed. Tasted great though!


Fortified,we were on our way. The first walk took us up a steep path to the top of the escarpment, 800 metres above our van with views out over the plains. It was just a majestic place. 


After a clamber back down we marched off to the next walk around the side of the range. The rock formations were amazing. The colours of the rock are so different to anything we have seen before. Rich purples, glowing organge, huge blocks of rock strewn everywhere, it was quite an overwhelming landscape. We came to a huge natural amphitheatre and just sat there. I just listened to the sound of blood rushing through my ears, because the silence was so loud. It reached out and enveloped us in this beautiful stillness, That’s the magic of country.


Back at the camp, we wandered over to the communal fire. A dozen other campers were there, pretty much everyone on the site, and we just drank some wine and chewed the fat. A lovely bunch of people…again. From all walks of life…some Australians, a German paramedic travelling round on his own, it was another great opportunity to understand others’ perspectives on the life decisions that brought them to this place and time. 

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Day 76: 13 August  – “And that sounds like rain…”

Author: Mr A

We woke to the sounds of rain splattering on our dusty roof, hopefully it will clean up those solar panels! It wasn't a rush out of bed sort of day, but when we did we wandered out for lunch amongst the banana trees. Now I've never eaten lunch on a banana plantation, but I did think a banana smoothie might be the right way to start…and it was…delicious.


We drove around these small local farm shops picking up fresh veg, it was all so shiny and obviously right out of the ground. Tonight Mrs A's pad thai was full of these crunchy veg and herbs….OMG amazing. Such a lovely sweet and sour type of taste she conjures up. A good old Taylor's Shiraz from the Clare did us proud alongside those robust flavours. 

Not much else to report today. We showed some lovely folk who were staying on the caravan park around the van. They were interested in what the "Best Off-road Van of the Year" looked like from the inside. Splendid of course :) 

So, our fridge is bursting with fresh veg, our water tanks are all topped up, we are ready to hit the road in the morning…Ye hah. We are leaving the coast and heading for the hills. The Kennedy Range here we come. 

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Day 74: 11 August – Pavements and everything

Author: Mr A

From: 14 Mile Beach

To: Carnarvon

Distance driven: 196 km

Distance cycled: 18 km

We dragged ourselves away from our perfect little paradise and hit the road south to Carnarvon. It was quite exciting going to a town, our first one since Broome a couple of months ago. 

Our caravan site is….what caravan sites usually are…cramped and functional. We do our washing (we have managed to fix the washing machine with some help from Zone RV and our air compressor….don’t ask), we charge a few things that need 240v (not much, USB rules in our van), and head into town. There is a cycle way! Pavements! Traffic lights (ok, not really…but roundabouts!)! Mitre 10! A choice of petrol stations….wow. We’re a bit over awed. 


The town is actually quite appealing to us becuase it actually looks real rather than constructed purely for the extraction of the tourist dollar. We cycled in and followed the foreshore round to port. It was packed with hulking, real, working fishing boats….no tour operators, no tour buses, just a couple of sea food joints as the only place you could spend your money. What a change from every settlement since Kunnanurra down through the Kimberley and the Coral Coast. 


A beer was definitely called for, it was Friday arvo, and then we headed back to the van park and the production of a fine chicken Rogan Josh by Mrs A. Sadly the wine choice for the evening purchased from BWS in Port Headland was a shocker. If you see a Shiraz called “The Accomplice” smartly step away from the bottle. Yuck!


So we have wifi from the van park, its appallingly slow of course, but we do live in the lucky country….cough….to have the 52nd slowest broadband in the world. We switch to our mobile plan as its faster,  until it runs out. Ah Australia…if we were in Thailand, Kenya, Estonia or Bulgaria, then we would be better served by our internet providers. How did we get to this position? 

It’s weird going to bed hearing traffic noise tonight….

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Day 72: 9 August – A mucking about sort of day…

Author: Mr A

From: Warroora Sation

To: Coral Bay

Distance driven: 42 km


We awoke after the storm of last night to a blustery morning, so we decided a drive and a visit to Coral Bay was in order. We had skipped this little settlement on the way down from Exmouth so thought we would emerge from the wilds and get ourselves a fix of “civilisation”. We drove into this little place and were so glad we hadn’t stayed there. It’s basically two overflowing caravan parks that almost run together, a backpackers, a pub that must be raking it in for 5 months of the year, a bakery (more of that later) and a “supermarket” (corner shop). That was it. Basically somewhere to extract dollars from people going on some combination of whale shark, dive, snorkel, ride, swim, tag along tour…


Ok, so the bakery was really good. We spent a happy 20 mins there then turned round and drove back to our slice of paradise  – untouched by billboards, backpacker buses and tour operators with a gleam in their eye. 

It was time to brave the beach, the wind was still howling, but the sun had come out and we found a little rock to sit behind. I was so perfectly content. 


A cosy night in the Zone with beer and pizza entrees and salmon mains was all we needed – well some decent internet somewhere to download Netflix would be good. Blimey! I hadn’t quite realised how poorly served rural Australia is with useable broadband. 52nd in the world for fixed broadband speed is pretty appalling. Yes, mobile 4G is fast, but unaffordable if you’re with Telstra (and you have to be if travelling) to download any serious giggage.

If anyone wants to post us a big memory stick of movies there’s a fabulous bottle of wine waiting for you! 

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Day 70: 7 August – The best spot yet

Author: Mr A

From: Warroora Station

To: Up the beach and back!

Distance: 8 km


This is the most stunning beach we have EVER seen. Today we headed north up the pure white sand armed with cameras, bins and water. This is the most pristine coast – turtles continuously pop their heads up out of the crystal clear waters. Whales wave their flippers at us the other side of the reef. The only footprints we can see are ours. We don’t see another soul for hours at a time. 


We both fall in love with the place and work out a plan to stay a couple of extra nights. We are only limited by our water supplies, the drinking water tank is still cloudy, so a fair bit of juggling will be needed to use that for cooking, washing etc. It means we can’t have hot water from our system, and basin washes rather than showers, but it will be worth it to stay here. I’ve been having upset tummies so I’m blaming the drinking water system…I’ll have to swap to beer instead. 

We met a couple on the beach who told us there’s a guy here who lives in his van for 5 months at a time here, just surviving on the bore water delivered by an old  pump, and presumably bringing in drinking water from Exmouth (over a hundred kilometres away). I think 5 days will do us fine! 

We were back with a few kilometres under our belts by 2pm, and settled down to a quiet afternoon of reading. Ah the bliss. Where else in the world could you get a place like this to stay, with no litter on the beach (so that rules out most of the world), wildlife everywhere, perfect blue skies every day, and safe to leave your things just lying around. We lock up valuables but tables and chairs are just outside and could be easily taken if someone was so inclined. They aren’t. Everyone we meet is so friendly and just enjoying the same things, the serenity, the natural world in all her glory. There’s a real mix of people, grey nomads of course, but also families with young kids being educated in the “school of life”. 

Catherine pops into the van and emerges with “wrap-pizzas” – a trick learnt from her sister who finds they go down well with hungry kids. Well they also went down well with this hungry 60 year old kid let me tell you. 

Every day feels like a blessing, and the best thing –  its $20s a night! With the rent coming in on our house we hope to stretch the budget even further…longer….

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Day 68: 5 August – The Ningaloo Coast – paradise regained

Author: Mr A

From: Exmouth Caravan Park

To: Mesa Camp, Cape Range National Park

Distance: 60 km

The day started as all good days should with a sausage roll for her (now, now) and a pie for me. The bakery in Exmouth is superb – I even tucked away a custard tart in the bottom of the bag for later. We were off round the tip of the Cape into the National Park. The water tanks were full, the fridge was straining at the seams, and we only were able to book one night here! Damm and blast. We rocked up to find the best campsite we have been to in all of this trip. A little slice of paradise. Right next to the beach, sea views, a bit of shade, a corner spot. Just perfect! 


We set up quickly, then dashed off down the coast to the end of the road where we wanted to paddle this little creek that we had read about. Out come the “bumper boats”, inflated in a jiffy, and off we dash up the creek (with a paddle). Yardie Gorge is a tranquil little creek with sheer rock walls, ospreys soared overhead and fish were darting around under the rafts. We had heard a rumour that the naval base nearby used to hide its submarines there in the war. No periscopes appeared on our trip, and we were soon back at the boat ramp, deflated and on our way. We were on a bit of a mission given our limited time here.


We stopped at a couple of the bays on the way back, and threw ourselves in at Turquoiuse Bay for a snorkel (guess what colour the water looks), sat on the beach and watched the surf pounding on the edge of the lagoon a few hundred metres out.



Back at camp we climbed the dune behind the van and Mrs A, also know as the dolphin whistler, soon had a small pod of them fishing literally metres off the beach. We watched the sun set, again, I predicted what would happen, the whole going down thing and the red bit, and it did. 

It was time to retire to the van, a spag bol was the perfect end to this fab day. 

PS I better mention that I didn’t do up the drain plug on one of the tanks properly, so we have a 100 litres less of water than planned. Ah well…still learning the art of vanning. 

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