West Coast of WA

The west coast drive feels like a long way until we remembered that is the length of 3 states on the east coast.  The coast line varies from cliffs to sand hills of all colours and there is always something new to see and learn about.  Many of the coastal villages are very pretty with good fishing - yes I did get onto a few the further south we got.  The other good thing is that the crocs in the northern waters are replaced by sharks in the southern waters - still plenty of places to swim.

Carnarvon communications dish that transmitted messages to the Moon for Apollo 11

Quobba Blowholes - these one blow much better than most blowholes advertised

Stromatolytes - the worlds oldest living organisms....

....very slow growing - these tracks were made by bullock wagons hauling wool to waiting ships.

cute little fellow swimming around the Monkey Mia pier

our backyard at Monkey Mia - 20m from the van.

lucky Carol chosen from among hundreds of tourists to feed the dolphins 

clear water coastline and tiny shell beaches near Denham

Natures Window in the Murchison River outside Kalbarri

one of many beautiful wildflowers still in bloom as we passed through very late in spring.

Indian Ocean - South Africa to your left

Kalbarri's stunning cliff coastline

a beautiful parrot in a great bird sanctuary at Kalbarri

Pink Lake (one of several in Australia) - different weather conditions / different colours

Memorial to HMAS Sydney overlooking Geraldton

very fancy Cathedral in Geraldton

yep, it gets a tad windy in Geraldton, so much so the trees blow flat and continue to grow.

one of many beautiful west coast seaside villages. Love that the tinnies are not locked up.

The Pinnacles outside Cervantes

the Pinnacles made from orange sand with contrasting pure white sandhills behind

more wildflowers that waited for us.

Broome to Coral Bay - Western Australia

The coastal region of the north west is remarkable, different all the way along, and fringing some of the harshest country we have been in. In fact the rough, rocky, dry, hot area is as good a place as any for a mine; and there are plenty of them.
Broome is a tourist and commercial hub for the area with lots of new homes being built for all the FIFO workers from the mines.  Cape Leveque is beautiful and a stunning contrast to the red desert inland.  We were amazed at the colours of the red cliffs, orange sand, white sand, and greens and blues of the oceans.
One of the highlights of our whole trip was our seaplane flight and boat ride through the Horizontal Waterfalls north of Broome and west of Derby.  The huge upthrust ridges run out to sea and the falls are created by a narrow gap through two ridges through which the entire tide must run.  Derby experiences tides of up to 12.5m.  Landing on the water between steep rocky ridges was fun and the sharks and crocodiles around the pontoon focussed us on staying on board.  The power of the moving tides are awesome from the air and from the boat going through the falls.
Marble Bar was great to see and who would have thought that the name referred to a real bar of marble (jasper actually) running across a local creek bed.
The iron ore ports of Dampier and Port Hedland are booming industrial centres' that are impressive to see and easy to move on from.
Exmouth is a tourist town with the nicest snorkelling waters, reefs, and inshore coral that we have experienced. We could easily return for a long stay at Cape Range Nat Park.
Coral Bay, as the name suggests, is at the bottom of Cape Range Nat Park and hosts whale shark and manta swims. We swam with giant 4.5m wide manta rays and also spent time snorkeling the close in reef coral that were teeming with brightly coloured fish, turtles, sharks, rays, and the prettiest and thickest coral we have snorkeled.

Broome's sunset over the beach - the Stairway to heaven at other times

the two Horizontal Waterfalls

and from the water, the power of the boiling water was scary and threw the boat around

the Tours owner following us closely and getting some good advertising material for next year

Pearl Shell covered pulpit at the Beagle Bay Church - a Christian Aboriginal Community

the beautiful outside of the Beagle Bay Church

Dark red cliffs, orange / red sand, and white sand stay separate on Cape Leveque's western beach

Broome's wharf - great for fishing and watching the supply ships supplying the gas wells of the NW Shelf

Iron Ore ships being loaded in the main street of Port Hedland

Salt stockpiled awaiting shipping

Port Hedland sunset

Government Offices in Marble Bar built in the 1800's

Dales Gorge in Karajini Nat Park in the middle of iron ore & asbestos country

mountains of iron ore outside Hamersley / Tom Price

beautiful pools, waterfalls and green ferns in Dales Gorge

iron ore being railed and loaded onto ships in Dampier - great little van park opposite the ship...

Woodside gas trains and processed liquid storage tanks near Dampier

rich red iron ore headed overseas

very friendly locals at Exmouth

perfectly clear water and great colours on the beaches of Cape Range Nat Park

a soft sunset at Ned's Camp....

stunning colours the next night.....

...just had to double up on this my favorite sunset photo

swimming with the Manta Rays off Coral Bay

black tipped reef sharks were not at all threatening but that eye follows your every move

pretty giant clams

   Next Carnarvon and south....

West of Darwin

We saved up our visit to Kakadu National Park until after we had left Darwin as we expected to spend a little time there.  It certainly offers some striking scenery and wonderful wildlife encounters that is always beautiful and worth the visit. However, in hindsight, we visited at the driest time of the year and it would have been so much greener just after the wet rather than just before.  The bonus for us was that there less water for the same amount of wildlife to gather in.  We spent time in town at Jabiru, at Yellow Waters, and at Gunlom, formerly Waterfall Creek where much of Croc Dundee 1 was shot). The Yellow Waters dawn cruise was spectacular with all forms of birdlife, countless crocodiles, and large very eatable barramundi swimming under the boat.  Gunlom has great swimming holes at both the top and bottom of the falls and we needed it as we had found some real summer weather by now.  Carol surprised herself and made it up to the top of the falls for sunset even though it was still above 40 degrees C.

Magpie Goose - arrive by the millions each year 

Kakadu flood plains from Ubirr Rock

Aboriginal Art in Kakadu - fantastic detail and the 400yo painting of a sailing ship seems to say Capt Cook was an also ran!! 

Yellow Waters dawn cruise

White Heron at sunrise

one of many waiting patiently for the tourist to fall out of the boat

so peaceful on the surface

still waters full of fish and entering the Kingfisher's habitat 

a couple obliged us with a view but they never settled long

soft colours

pool at the top of Gunlom Falls

This next part of our trip was exciting and new for us both.  We stocked up at Katherine and headed west towards the Kimberley Region.  The North West of Australia is so different to anything we had experienced previously and is such harsh country yet awe inspiring at the same time.  The rocky ridges, flat scrubby plains, hills, trees and rivers are all so interesting and still so remote.  Each day felt like nothing changed but during every day we were constantly looking at striking landscapes, huge boabs, or coming across magnificent rivers.  There is no doubt that iron ore mining is a big industry as trucks towing 2, 3 or 4 trailers are constant companions on the road.  

Kununurra is a mining town but is also at the centre of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.  The green fields in such harsh country are a huge contrast.  Lake Argyle is an amazing engineering feat where a very small rock wall only 300m wide holds back a lake over 70kms long and 40km wide.  It is magnificent and full of crocs.  The infinity edge pool at the van park overlooking Lake Argyle is  a must see. El Questro Station is outside Kununurra and worth a visit.  Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing are the definition of remote townships but outside of Fitzroy Crossing are two of the most spectacular natural features we saw in Australia. Karajini Gorge up near the Gibb River Road and Tunnel Creek where a creek decided to cut through/under a limestone range instead of flowing around are two of nature’s marvels.

Zebeedee Springs on El Questro Station - an amazing oasis of warm mineral springs

Pentecost River cliffs from boat cruise on El Questro

Bungle Bungles with campground closed at the time due to bush fires

Carol and the Big Croc at Wyndham outside Kununurra

largest Boab Tree dwarfs Carol

Lake Argyle

"China Wall" outside Halls Creek - a naturally occurring wall of quartz remaining in place after the rest of the hill eroded.

Gieke Gorge in Fitzroy Crossing

large fossil in the limestone cliffs of Windjana Gorge - about 15cm high

my favorite photo of Windjana Gorge

amazing limestone formations hanging from the cave cut by Tunnel Creek - 750m long twisting cave

reflections inside Tunnel Creek cave/gorge