Fun in Fremantle

After phoning Hayden to wish him a very happy 28^th birthday, we were on the road heading for Fremantle! We stopped in at Lancelin for a coffee and bathroom break on the way and were very impressed with the little seaside town. We put it in the memory bank for a stopover next time we travel in WA.

As we got closer to the city, the lanes began multiplying and the traffic lights reappeared. At least we were travelling through just after midday, so the traffic wasn’t too bad. Andrew did well navigating the BT along the freeway, past King’s Park and across the city, where we caught a glimpse of Perth’s city skyline – on a much smaller scale to Sydney. We arrived safely in Fremantle Village Caravan Park, just 3km from the heart of Fremantle, so a great spot to base ourselves for 5 nights. After setting up we grabbed the bikes and rode along the beach front, into Fremantle and along to the port and the B Shed Ferry Terminal, investigating the all-day parking options for our day trip to Rottnest Island on Friday. We watched the sun set across Fremantle Harbour and then headed back to the BT for some pasta and salad.

Thursday morning we were off to South Perth to find Alison, a good friend of mine since the Third Grade at Kirrawee Public School. Alison had moved to Perth over 30 years ago, after marrying Paul, a great, local WA guy. Al often travels to Sydney to see family and friends, but this was the first time we had managed to catch up with her in her hometown. After hugs and a tour of Al and Paul’s lovely home in South Perth, including Al’s awesome artwork, we headed for a day out in Perth.

We strolled around Kings Park, chatting continuously as we walked, visited famous Cottesloe Beach and the bobbing, blue-striped buoy and had a lovely café lunch. It was then downtown for a walk through the city, which included a stroll through King’s Square, past the Bell Tower and across Elizabeth Quay Bridge. After a quick stop into Myer to replace our kitchen knife, it was back into the car to head back to the Baker’s house just in time to greet Paul. We were treated to a viewing of the recently refurbished Torana car project and later spoilt with a delicious homemade meal, enjoying a wonderful evening of catch up.

Friday morning we were up early for our day to Rottnest Island. We boarded the Rottnest Express, departing at 7:30am and arriving 30mins later. After a lovely breakfast at the Dome Café, we collected hired bikes from Pedal and Flipper and enjoyed a great day exploring the island. We rode past Henrietta Rocks, Parker Point, Salmon Bay and up to Wadjemup Lighthouse. We then continued past Stickland Bay and onto Cathedral Rocks, where we were lucky enough to see Sea Lions playing in the water off the cliffs. On the way we also saw two big Osprey nests, with mum and dad perched on top looking after the babies below. We then cycled back along the other side of the island to Geordie Bay, returning back to The Settlement - 22km later! After such a big ride we deserved the double scoop ice cream and grabbed us some Quokka love, having fun capturing selfies with the cute little marsupials. We even had a mum and bub come say hello while we resting and eating ice creams. We boarded the boat at 4:30pm, returning to the mainland as the sun set. We were tired, but what a great day we had!

Saturday morning we were back on the bikes (ouch), riding into Fremantle to find Cappuccino Strip, in particularly Gino’s Café. It had been recommended as the best coffee in Fremantle by some locals we met whilst in Monkey Mia. It didn’t disappoint! Made extra special with the delicious Chocolate Éclair and Portuguese Tart that we also purchased as a morning treat. We then strolled through the Fremantle Markets, buying some beautiful fresh produce and sour dough bread, before exploring the Shipwreck Museum, which houses the original timbers from the Batavia Shipwreck back in 1629. After a lovely morning we rode back to the Caravan Park for a quick lunch, shower and time to change to head back into Fremantle. We met Dave and Michelle at Little Creatures Brewery, where we enjoyed a tour and beer tasting before walking across town for dinner. Bree had organised a birthday dinner for me at a hip restaurant which was receiving rave reviews in Fremantle, Ginger and Tonic. We first had a pre-dinner drink at the secret underground bar, through the library wall, and then enjoyed a delicious four-course, Asian Fusion meal – what a great pressie! Very spoilt.

Sunday morning we met Al and Paul at the Fremantle Prison for the much anticipated Tunnel Tour. Our guide Sarah was full of energy and enthusiasm and we had a terrific morning learning how the convicts dug the tunnels under the prison, which ended up supporting the ports and later the town of Fremantle with fresh drinking water for many years. The tour involved us dressing in gum boots and harnesses to climb down a 20-metre small, metal ladder to the tunnels below. We then climbed into little boats to paddle and propel ourselves, using the rock walls, through a myriad of dark tunnels, with about a metre and a half of water below us. It was an awesome tour and we shared lots of laughs with Al and Paul.

Al then led us to lunch at Emily Taylor’s Bar and Kitchen in Market Lane, where we enjoyed a lovely afternoon eating great food, sipping wine and delighting in catching up with good friends. It was then back to the Fremantle Village for a cup of tea and a show and tell of the BT. A wonderful day ended with Sippy gashing his head as he bounced up onto the bed, unfortunately hitting his head on the sharp edge of the overhead cupboard. That bought the afternoon to a close, with hugs all round, sad goodbyes and leaving me to clean and bandage the wound – fun and games.

Sandy Cape, Jurien Bay & Cervantes

 

First stop on the drive further south was Sandy Cape. This was 7km off the highway and was a lovely little spot to camp ‘off grid’ along the beach – if we had more time this would have been a great stop to spend a few relaxing days (particularly in the summer months). We walked along the pristine white sand to the end of the beach, which was unfortunately littered with too much seaweed for our liking (evidently common in Winter) and then hiked up the sand dunes to the top of the cliff for an awesome view further south along the coastline. We tried hard to spot a sealion, who evidently inhabit this area, but alas, no marine life to be seen.

A further 10km down the highway and we arrived at Jurien Bay. We went for a lovely stroll along the waterfront and then headed to the harbour area for a little picnic on the sand, with the locals (seagulls).

We arrived in Cervantes around 3pm and checked in to the RAC Cervantes Caravan Park. This park has had a recent upgrade to its facilities with a very modern amenities block, a full stainless steel catering camp kitchen and a large, heated swimming pool. It was also right on the bay. Again, beautiful white sand, but covered in thick seaweed – so not very appealing during late winter. We imagine the place would be very busy during summer, being only a little over 2 hours north of Perth.

The following morning, we headed off to see the Pinnacles, only 15km south in the Nambung National Park. We were excited to revisit as we had fond memories of visiting with mum and dad 30 years ago. The pinnacles are believed to have been formed over 500,000 years ago during the Ice Age. Evidence suggests that they were exposed around 6,000 years ago but were again covered by shifting sands until only recently (a few hundred years). Scientists believe the pinnacles were made when shell fragments broke down to form fine-grained sand that was rich in calcium carbonate (lime). The beach sands form extensive dunes along much of the coastline. As rainwater contacted the sand dunes, it dissolved the calcium carbonate. As the dunes dried out, the calcium carbonate recrystallized and cemented nearby sand grains together, forming limestone, and thus the pinnacles. We enjoyed walking around the desert and taking photographs in the sun.

It was then back to Cervantes for a visit to the Lobster Shack for lunch.  I ordered a whole lobster, grilled in garlic butter with chips and salad – delicious! Poor Sippy was still suffering from a painful toe, caused by a gout flare up from too much lobster last week – so he ordered an angus beef burger. We did the lobster processing tour after lunch (ordinary after our Lobster Pot Pull tour last week in Kalbarri) and then spent the afternoon on the sun deck at the shack having a prosecco and craft beer. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday afternoon!

Mullewa - in search of wildflowers

After watching the pelicans arriving to be fed their daily fish by local volunteers, opposite the caravan park, we headed back along the coast road in search of Hutt Lagoon, known as the Pink Lake. The lake has a pink hue due to the presence of Dunaliella algae, which when exposed to sunlight produces beta-carotene. It was then back in the car, heading East. After experiencing a fair bit of recent coastal camping, we were happy to be driving through beautiful countryside as we headed to Mullewa. Wildflower time in WA is late Winter through Spring, so we were hopeful that we would see some fields of flowers.

As we drove in along the Yuna-Tenindewa Rd, which captured part of the Northern Wildflower Loop, we were delighted to see miles and miles of bright, yellow canola fields in full bloom, alongside rich green paddocks of early wheat. Along the roadside there were pockets of gorgeous pink, white and yellow everlastings. We stopped several times along the road to capture some lovely photos.

After checking in to the Mullewa Council run caravan park, we stopped via the Tourist Information Centre, located in the Town Hall and gained the latest information on the wildflower hot spots. Unfortunately, we were informed that we were a few weeks early for the famous Wreath Flower, but we decided to drive out along the Pindar-Beringarra Rd (another 40kms East) to see them anyway. It was worth the drive as we managed to see many full green wreaths, with quite a few yellow flowers on one side of some and a couple in full bud around the whole wreath. We certainly got the idea of how amazing they would be in full bloom! One day hopefully we will be back to see them in full flower. We spent the afternoon completing the 3km Wildflower Walk, opposite the caravan park. This was a lovely circuit walk through bushland, past the town reservoir. We saw many yellow and white Pom Pom Everlastings along with several species of beautiful flowering Acacia’s, two shades of pink Geraldton Wax and the stunning purple Fringed Lily.

Day Two we headed off along the Mullewa-Wubin Rd, through Tardun and onto Canna, in search of tiny orchids. Sippy couldn’t quite believe that we were driving 40km’s to the middle of nowhere hoping find a couple of tiny flowers – but at least we had some success – finding two varieties of orchids (out of the 5 listed). We spotted several Pink Fairy Orchids and got quite excited when we found at least a half dozen White Spider Orchids. These flowers are quite tiny – a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack in Aussie bushland – but we were very pleased we found some.

We had a pleasant afternoon around Mullewa town, enjoying a coffee and home baked muffin and chatting to a lovely, retired Yarrawarra couple who happened to live next door to an old work colleague of mine (Paula O’Hara) from SCS. Chris rang Paula while we were chatting, so we shared a laugh at the fact we had run into her neighbour and Paula commented on how jealous she was of our fabulous trip (she has been following us on FB & Insta). Such a small world.

That evening we cheered on the Matilda’s as they played off for 3^rd place against Sweden in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Unfortunately we lost 2-0 but the country was very proud of their efforts over the past few weeks.

We departed Mullewa Sunday morning, driving through the Coalseam Conservation Park on our way South (unfortunately not much to see there - rather disappointing). We drove through the small town of Mingenew, famous for its bakery, but being a Sunday in a small town – of course it was closed.

It was then another 55km to reach Dongara, back on the coast. At least the bakery in Dongara was open, so we grabbed a pie (mediocre) and had a walk through town. We had an overnight stop booked at Port Denison Tourist Park, 5 minutes further on, where we were lucky to gain a drive thru site, so we didn’t need to unhitch the BT. Port Denison had a lovely little harbour by the beach, so we unstrapped the bikes and went for a ride along the water for the afternoon. Back at the BT we cooked up some red, curry chicken and settled in to watch the final of the Women’s World Cup, with Spain defeating England 1-0.

Kalbarri - Lobster and Rugged Coastline

 

After a two and half hour drive, we arrived at the lovely quaint seaside town of Kalbarri. Our caravan park was right in the middle of town, directly opposite Chinaman’s Beach and the entrance to the Murchison River - great spot! It was a lovely afternoon, so after setting up we took off the bikes and went for a ride. We hadn’t gone far when we spotted Dave and Mish on the pier fishing, so we detoured down to say hi. We then rode up to the headland to view the Zuytdorp Shipwreck Memorial, gaining a great view back down along the ocean entrance to the river. On the way back we stopped in at the information centre and Sippy purchased a lovely red leather, phone case shoulder bag for me (early birthday present).

Day Two and we awoke to overcast skies (what are these things called clouds??). Today we were exploring the Kalbarri National Park. We arrived at the entrance gate to queues of cars. It turned out to be the end of the Rotary 2023 Variety Bash (charity car rally) from Bathurst, NSW to Kalbarri, WA in 10 days! They were of course all heading to the Kalbarri Skywalk, so when we arrived the car park was full of vintage cars (2-wheel drive, minimum 25 years old), decked out in all themes from Star Wars to Lego and Scooby Doo! We braved the crowds for 30mins and then decided to head off to see the Nature’s Window and return to the Skywalk later in the afternoon (after all had departed). We had a photo in front of the rock window, which perfectly frames the Murchison River below and then avoiding the spitting rain, returned to the car to drive 11km to the Z-Bend Lookout. This provided an expansive view of the park and the gorge below. We then hiked the 2.6km return walk to the bottom of the gorge and the river. It was a rather steep descent, with a few ladder climbs, but well worth the effort. It was then back to the Skywalk, where we now had the two viewing platforms all to ourselves!! Woo hoo :) Made of 117 tonnes of weathering steel and able to support a weight of 1,000kg/square metre, the Skywalk is a great engineering feat (Maddie Sip would be impressed!). It provided fabulous views of the gorge and river below.

Day Three and we were up early to be at the wharf by 7:15am for our Lobster Pot Pull Tour. It was a little chilly at 12 degrees, (too cold for our liking), so we dressed in track pants and jackets and ended out through the narrow ocean entrance, (quite hairy), in search of the famous West Australian lobsters. We were not disappointed, pulling in 16 lobsters within the hour. The tour was very informative about the industry and the sustainable practices that WA Fisheries are putting in place to maintain supply. We learnt that a lobster can arrive in China within 18 hours of being pulled from WA waters, alive and transferred fresh to waiting tanks in Chinese restaurants. We were served warm lobster rolls and chilli and garlic lobster on board and then provided with two lovely lobsters to take home as we disembarked! We had BBQ lobster that evening and steamed lobster pasta with mornay sauce the following night. Yummo!! Shame Sippy’s toe swelled up with gout the following day – obviously a bit too much lobster for him!

After spending some money at the local Kalbarri surf shop, (a few items for Sippy and some birthday shopping for Bree), we spent the afternoon viewing the amazing, rugged Kalbarri coastline. We visited the Natural Bridge, Island Rock, Shellhouse Grandstand, Eagle Gorge, Pot Alley, Red Bluff and Blue Holes. All spectacular and made more so when we spotted a pod of 35 dolphins swimming close under the cliffs. How very lucky!

To finish a great day, we dropped into Finlay’s award-winning micro-brewery for a craft beer, prawn’s and fries before heading back to prepare our evening lobster meal. We loved Kalbarri!

The Kalbarri Fringed Orchid! A great find in the NP.

World Heritage Shark Bay and Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort

 

Spanning 2.2 million hectares of wild natural beauty, World Heritage Shark Bay is where rugged landscapes, meet calm seas teeming with marine life. We had been really looking forward to this part of our trip as we remember mum and dad both loving the area when they visited whilst living in WA over 30 years ago. We had wanted to visit way back then – but it was just too far to drive when we were only visiting for two weeks. 30 years on and we had finally made it!

Our first stop along Shark Bay Road was to Shell Beach. The beach is made solely up of small, white Hamelin cockle shells (no sand) and stretches for over 60km with shells up to 10m deep in some sections! It is one of two beaches in the world of its kind and was very cool to see.

As we got back into the Landcruiser and continued on our journey north, we were eyeing off the building dark clouds. We pulled into Denham, just after midday and managed to grab a pie from the local bakery and head back to the car as the rain started. As we journeyed the final 23km’s to Monkey Mia the rain became quite heavy, much to the delight of locals who claimed they were in desperate need of it. We couldn’t complain as it was our first day time rain since leaving Sydney over 4 months ago! The down pour didn’t last long, as after checking in at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort it had fined up again. After setting up on our site and marveling at several emu’s that were wandering around all the vans, we took a walk around the resort and headed for a stroll along the beach (only 200m from our site). The white, pristine sand and turquoise water of the bay was very beautiful and it wasn’t long till we spotted several dolphins playing and feeding in the waters close to the beach.

Day Two we headed over to the Dolphin Experience area and waited for the friendly bottlenose dolphins to arrive. After about an hour we had one dolphin visit the beach, and amongst all the other visitors, we waded ankle deep into the water whilst the ranger explained about the dolphins in the area. Feeling hungry, and having met up with Dave & Mish who were staying at Denham, we headed up to the resort restaurant for coffee and breakfast. Whilst eating we had to be very mindful of the pesky emu’s that were harassing the diners, with one lady losing her avocado smash sourdough in one pecking swoop. We spent the rest of the day catching up on some washing, blogging, reading, relaxing and planning the next stages of our trip (which is rather time consuming).

On the morning of Day Three we grabbed coffees, relaxed on the lovely blue, cushioned chairs at the resort, whilst looking out at the bay, and waited for the dolphin’s to arrive. We didn’t have to wait long as soon there were two dolphins close to the shore saying hi to all the tourists and receiving their payback fish. It was then back to the van for breakfast and to pack a picnic lunch for our 4WD adventure in Francois Peron National Park. After a quick stop at the Peron Heritage Precinct, we lowered the tyre pressure and away we went. The 42km track was reasonably good in most spots, with only a few hairy moments where we slid around a bit in several sand pits. We admired the barren scenery of the salt lakes as we drove through them whilst making our way to the tip of the peninsula. We arrived at Cape Peron and were gob smacked at the richness of colour before us – amazing!! Rich red soil, white sand and turquoise water – truly stunning. We also saw the line where ocean and bay waters converged and after capturing some drone footage, we walked along the top of the cliffs and then down onto the beach for a closer look out at the incredible blue water whilst walking beneath the iron rich, red cliffs.

It was then only another 1.5km of more sandy track to the lookout at Skipjack Point. We walked around to the lookouts and were delighted to see a shark gliding by and became extremely excited when we spotted two large dugongs leisurely cruising in the crystal blue waters below!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch, perched high on the cliff whilst looking out to sea and then headed back down the sand tracks, pulling in to see Gregories Beach and Big Lagoon on the return journey. A wonderful day of adventure!

Day Four we were greeted by four dolphins, including a baby calf, at the morning Dolphin Experience. After a late leisurely breakfast, we hired a double kayak for a couple of hours and were surrounded by more dolphins as we paddled to the National Park at the end of the bay. Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles during our paddle but we did see two large manta rays on our return journey.

That evening we enjoyed drinks and pizza at the resort Monkey Bar while watching the sunset overlooking the bay – again seeing many dolphins frolicking in the water. What a gorgeous place to spend time.

Wooramel River Station & the Artesian Bore Baths

 

On our way to Wooramel Station we drove the 5km from the North West Coastal Highway into Carnarvon as we needed to stock up with some groceries before going off grid again for another 3 days. Carnarvon is a small coastal town, very quite, with a lovely foreshore area and a few cafes. We took a little walk along the foreshore area, had coffee and a BLT and managed to grab a couple of replacement bike tubes (well worth the detour). Did notice however that after our shopping and the cafes closed, the place was actually quite deserted. A bit like a Sunday afternoon – but it was Tuesday!

After another 120km’s we reached Wooramel Station. Again, we were greeted by a European back packer (this time French) who told us to choose any site we liked along the river front. We drove almost to the end, choosing another lovely remote site with a terrific view of the wide, dry riverbank nestled amongst a few white gums and a great fire pit. Delightful!

After settling in, we had a roaring fire going, cooked some salmon on the BBQ and toasted another great spot with a glass of wine.

The next morning we headed down to the rustic café for a coffee and home made damper and a long soak in one of the artesian bore baths. So relaxing, the water for the baths comes from the Birdrong Aquifer and travels from a depth of 240m below ground. The water at the source is between 42-49 degrees and cools to around 32 degrees after flowing through pipes into the spas. The artesian waters have a high mineral content including magnesium, iron and salts and are reputed to have a soothing effect on tired muscles. The high concentration of iron oxidises with the air and so the water after a while looks quite brown, After a rather long soak we did look like we had an extra tanned glow and our cossies needed a good rinse to get rid of the brown – but we enjoyed so much that we went the next day as well!

That evening we enjoyed the live entertainment provided and caught up with Paul & Tania from Cronulla, whom we had met way back at Ti-Tree and Daly Waters in the NT.