Coral Bay

Not a very exciting drive from Karratha to Coral Bay.  Arrived around mid afternoon and set ourselves up at Bayview Caravan Park.  Quite a nice site three rows in from the main gate into the park.  Can't see the ocean from our site however Viv & Pam have front row at the People's Park so will be able to enjoy the view from there.

When Pam & Viv walked up to say hello and have a drink on the first evening there were 2 vans directly behind us with good friends of theirs from Bird Cameron days hence there was quite a lot of talking and laughing.

The weather is great around 30 and great for sleeping at night.

The Dockers were on the big screen at the pub which was good for all supporters, pies were bought from the bakery for lunch and with a good result Tone & Viv were very happy.

Went back to the pub for Roast Night, Pam likened it to a Myers sale, need to go early to secure a table as it is very popular!!  A very nice meal and pleasant evening.

Tone ventured into the water for a paddle, a bit cold for me but very nice watching from the sand.

Have had a wonderful relaxing 10 days here, not really doing too much except eating, drinking, reading, beach and lots of talking.

Enjoyed pies and and jam donuts from the bakery. Went out to the marina one evening and sat on the beach and had a couple of drinks which was very pleasant.  

On Friday morning went on the Glass bottom boat tour, saw lots of the reef and fish of all sizes.

Tone & Viv had a great day out on the fishing charter, with the "catch of the day"

Karratha

Enjoyed our night at Eighty Mile Beach, not a long trip to Karratha. Decided to stay for 3 nights before heading to Coral Bay on Saturday morning.

Karratha is quite a vibrant place with plenty of development taking place, have noticed lots of empty shops though in this complex.

Went to the Karratha Visitors Centre for all the info on the a area.  

Had a drive out to the Burrup Peninsular and went to the North West Shelf Project Visitors  Centre which overlooks the gas plant and watched  a very informative video on the North West Shelf Gas Project, there were plenty of displays and models that explained the origins of oil and gas throughout to the recovery, processing and transformation of energy today.

 

Dampier was quite a nice little town not very far from Karratha, fishing is obviously a big thing up here with plenty of decent boats in driveways.

 I was thrilled to finally see the flower of a Sturt Desert Pea here. 

It is Australia's highest value port with exports of $34 billion of WA's merchandise exports, and the second highest volume port, is also home to the King Bay Supply Base which provides important support to the offshore oil and gas industry.   

The caravan park at Karratha had large cement slabs and bitumen roads so Tone was able to give the caravan a wash to remove red dust from Broome and Eighty Mile Beach.  

Went and had a quick look at Wickham which is a typical mining town.  Point Sampson had a lot of development happening with some really once houses and resorts being built, if you had to live up here  it would be the pick for me.

Cossack a little further down the coast back towards Roebourne is a Historic Town, it had 80 pearling boats operating out of the port in the 1870's until they moved to Broome.  The town was abandoned in the 1950's until some restoration work began in 1979 and is still happening.  There are a couple of lovely old buildings used for accommodation.  We sat at the old wharf and had our lunch and watched a Japanese tourist catch a seagull with her fishing line.

There was obviously going to be a function held in this courtyard at the back of the picture below with lights being hung in the lovely big tree.

Eighty Mile Beach

Arrived at 80 Mile Beach just before lunch, not able to make a booking at this very popular place, however we were able to have a powered site.  It was a long stretch of road with very little to see.

The beach is magnificent with heaps of shells and people fishing.  Apparently not too many fish being caught, spoke to a man who has been here since the 11th Aug and has not yet had a bite!!!

It's not a beach for swimming, there are poisonous stone fish so advised to wear strong footware if walking on rocky reefs.

Broome

Stayed 3 nights at Gateway caravan park, there was plenty of room also lots and lots of red dust, it has been very windy up here for a few days.  Used the generator as there was no power.

Met Linda Butterly (ex Wiluna) for lunch on Wednesday at the Mangrove Hotel, unfortunately the wind was quite strong but a great view.

On Thursday morning I had a hair cut, then we drove out to the port about 4 klms from town and had great fish and chips for lunch at the Wharf Restaurant overlooking the bay and port facilities.  There was a boat loading cattle for export and another unloading very large steel pipes.

We had our lunch sitting under the trees on the right of the picture.

We walked down the side of the jetty to try and watch the cattle being loaded but unable to get a good view.

We called to say hi to Peter and Penny Treleavan after lunch, had a coffee and planning to have a meal together on Monday evening.

We have moved to the Roebuck Bay caravan park to stay for 4 nights.  It is just down the road from the Treleavans, there are some beautiful old homes in this part of Broome.  Dad knows Graham Campbell who owns this caravan park and actually spoke to him yesterday when we made enquiries about about staying here, he indicated he would find us a good site.  This is the view from inside the van from the front window!! 

Our stay here has been very pleasant especially as the wind stopped for the last 2 days.  Had a great rest here not doing too much, had a drive out to Cable Beach and a coffee at the Sunset Bar.

Had quite a social time here, on Saturday night Linda came and had a meal with us at the caravan park, and on Sunday arvo Peter & Penny also came to visit and have a drink.  We ended up having lunch with them at Zanders Cafe out at Cable Beach on Monday lunchtime.  

Packed up ready to leave early tomorrow for 80 Mile Beach, the photo below is the beautiful sunrise over Roebuck Bay just as we were leaving.

Halls Creek to Broome

Arrived in Halls Creek mid morning only a short trip from the Bungles, decided to write a comment on

WikiCamps about the facilities we had just experienced there.

The town of Halls Creek is surprisingly well kept for an outback place.  Has a very well stocked visitors centre with plenty of souvenirs, books, cards etc.

Took a drive out to see the China Wall not far out of town.  It was fascinating, it is a sub-vertical quartz vein protruding up to 6 m from the surrounding surface, lining the surrounding hills it's length is a mystery.

We actually put our bathers on thinking we would have a swim at a couple of the pools mentioned on our trip today however the road was really awful and the best pool was 50 klms from town hence we gave it a miss.

Old Halls Creek  where gold was discovered in 1885 is16 klms from the present town, by Charlie Hall hence the name Halls Creek.  There is very little to see, a few plaques and the old post office which was built from mud brick now a ruins that has an enclosure and roof to protect from further detoriation

 

We were going to free camp along the way to Broome, stopped for lunch and decided to keep going,  staying at The Gateway caravan park about 30kms from Broome for a couple of nights.

Bungle Bungle

Our journey from Kununurra to Bungle Bungle Station Stay was only 252 klms, a drive through more picturesque ranges.  We had booked a helicopter flight at 4 pm, got ourselves organised and Tone set up the satellite dish so we could watch the footy a little later.

The Station Stay is on Mabel Downs a large cattle station, 52 klms from Purnululu National Park.  The conditions here are quite primitive (they have a captive audience). We are glad we have our own facilities, it's the most expensive place we have stayed at $50 per night, however the bush setting is nice and we are quite happy where our site is.

 

The flight was wonderful, just the two of us and a young pilot.  Had great views of station country on our way to the Bungles.  They rise 300m out of the desert and are 350 million years old, it is hard to comprehend the magnitude and size of them.

The colours and formations are hard to believe, it was certainly a great way to view them from the air.  We did think about driving there today however it's a 53 klm dirt track to the visitors centre and then you head 20 klms north and 26 klms south and not in wonderful conditions gave it a miss.  

Watched the Dockers last night, Tone was quite restrained not happy with the umpires!!!

Lovely cool breeze last night, no air conditioning which was very nice.  Have had a relaxing day catching up on the blog.  

Heading to Halls Creek, then Broome to see Peter & Penny, also Linda Butterly ex Wiluna for a couple of days.

Planning on staying at 80 Mile Beach and a few free camps along the way to Coral Bay, have booked into Coral Bay for a week from the 23 Aug, Viv & Pam will be there which will be great to see them again.

Kununurra

Staying at Ivanhoe Village Caravan Resort for 7 nights.  Visited Coles to stock up on fruit and vegies after coming through the Quarantine check point at the border, didn't have much left only a couple of 

onions, garlic cloves and a bit of celery!  Coles certainly had plenty of travellers in the fruit & vegie

section.

Had a quiet day on Sunday, washing sheets towels etc and even washed the floor in the van.  Cooked a lamb roast for dinner, it's great having the oven.  Have used the air conditioner since Darwin even some nights which makes it very pleasant.

Monday 4th Aug. decided to visit Wyndham just a day trip, only 100 klms from Kununurra.  A nice drive   with ranges both sides of the road for most of the way.  Wyndham is in the same category as Port Kenny and Elliott!!!  The only good thing about the town was the up The Bastion Range for the Five Rivers Lookout which was 330 metres high above sea level with a great backdrop of Wyndham.  5 Rivers flow into the Cambridge Gulf (King, Ord, Durack, Forrest & Pentacost ) at Wyndham, the water is all brown from the tidal movement.  

This picture is quite typical of the country side that has had a fire through fairly recently.

This jetty is a recent addition to the town.

A view from the lookout.

Another view from the lookout of the Cambridge Gulf.

We stopped on our way home to look at "The Grotto" about 30 Klms from Wyndham.  A large and deep rock pool surrounded by huge vertical cliffs. The sign says the water is 300 foot deep, it would be really beautiful in the wet season with the water falls.

Had a lovely day out on Lake Argyle on a cruise on Tuesday.  A bus picked us up at the caravan park and headed for Lake Argyle which is about 70 klms from Kununurra back towards the NT/WA border. 

Had a quick look at the Argyle Homestead Museum, it was the former home of the Durack family who were prominent pioneer pastoralists in the Kimberley's in the 1880s and sat on the Argyle Downs Station and was carefully dismantled and reconstructed stone by stone at its present site in the 1970s during the construction of Lake Argyle.

We drove over the wall of the lake to view the hydro plant we were amazed how small the wall was holding back so much water.

Our cruise was on a 50ft Kimberley Cat, we sailed the Eastern Straight of Lake Argyle it was a bit windy some of the time but very relaxing, took a bottle of white wine as it was BYO. The amount water is massive just like being on the ocean.

Did some more sights of Kununurra over the next few days just a few pics below

Ivanhoe Crossing  just out of Kununurra this was part of the original road from Wyndham to Katherine. Signs say: Fishing is a favourite pastime around the Crossing but please be crocodile aware and definitely No Swimming.

Scenic view over the town and valley from Kelly's Knob Lookout.

This is the Hoochery where we had lunch and sampled and bought some Ord River whiskey and liqueur.  Just down the road was the Sandlewood Factory, there are some quite large Indian Sandlewood plantations around Kununurra.

 

This is Lily Creek Lagoon from the Celebrity Tree Park close by the centre of town, with some very large boabs.