Anthony and Charlie doing what they do best and putting the world to rights
Well where do I begin this blog - we have been to so many places since I last wrote something - I think I may have been a bit slack!!
WA is beautiful but someone said that WA stands for "windy always" and we certainly agree with that although it has kept the temperature down during the day and the nights are lovely and cool so we can snuggle down in the doona.
We stayed at Quobba Blowholes for 3 nights which is north of Carnarvon and just $5.50 a night (our type of camping). This natural phenomenon is an awe inspiring sight to see. Powerful ocean swells force water through sea caves and up out of narrow holes in the rocks and jets of water erupt into the air. The literature states they can sometimes reach a height of 20 metres. The coastline in this area is very rugged and very different to what we have seen up to now. Just a kilometre away is a perfectly safe and sheltered lagoon where we went snorkelling again and saw lots of lovely coral and coral fish. Unfortunately (well for Charlie, not the fish) it was a fish sanctuary so there was no fishing there. We loved this spot.
We left there and made our way just 75 ks down the road to Carnarvon - we're not called The Wandering 2s for nothing. We don't go very far in a day!! Here we met up with a lovely family again who we met in the Cape Range National Park, Anthony, Karla and their 2 children, Madeline and Jayden. Carnarvon was a fairly interesting town on the Gascoyne River. The Carnarvon Heritage Precinct which is located on the site of the 1890's Port of Carnarvon includes the One Mile Jetty. There is a very quaint Coffee Pot train which runs along the Jetty which is one of the longest in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately some low life had burnt part of this heritage jetty a couple of days before we got there so the train wasn't running and we could only go half way along. Apparently the same thing happened on the same day 3 years ago. We also went to the Precinct museums and had a walk through the Lighthouse Keepers Cottage Museum which has been restored to the times of the pioneers who looked after the lighthouse, the Shearing Hall of Fame and the Maritime Museum, all very interesting.
We had a trip around the Carnarvon plantations and a few visits to the strawberry farm for some yummy strawberries and bananas at $3 a kilo - haven't had bananas for a long time before then!! We were due to leave there but some friends we met, Barb and Trev, arrived the day before we were due to leave so we stayed an extra day and played more card games in their big bus, tasted Trev's home made spirits and had a beautiful seafood lunch with oysters and fresh prawns bought from the wharf. If this is what's called "roughing it" give me more!!
After a week at Carnarvon it was time to move on to Shark Bay World Heritage Area and we stayed at the lovely little town of Denham. Met up with Anthony and Karla again. Denham has a lovely foreshore where you can picnic and watch the local fishing boats come in and if you are lucky and get there at the right time you can even buy fresh fish straight from the boats.
We did the tourist sights and one of the most amazing was a place called Eagle Bluff which is approximately 20 km south of Denham. There is a boardwalk which goes right along the cliff and the water is so clear that you can see sharks and rays swimming in the water. Don't think I'll get in the water after that - I still remember the movie JAWS!!! We also went to a place called Little Lagoon which is a lovely shallow lagoon good for fishing and picnicing. Shell Beach was another special place as the beach is comprised of countless millions of tiny shells. The beach has got ridges and ridges of these shells - quite remarkable. We went and saw the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool. Hamelin Pool is a historic telegraph station with the old telegraph station and post office still standing. From here we went on to the boardwalk to view the stromatolites. These creatures, yes they are classed as creatures, date back to over 3500 million years ago and are the oldest living organism on the planet. Apparently you can only see them in 3 places in the world, 2 of them in the Bahamas, but the Hamelin Pool ones are the best and most accessible.
The highlight of this area though was Monkey Mia and our visit to see the wild bottlenose dolphins which come into the resort 3 times a day to feed. It is a great tourist attraction and there were plenty of people there at 7.30 am. including my grumpy husband!!! Didn't like getting up early - GET OVER IT CHARLIE!!! One of the dolphins had given birth and there was a 2 week old baby star attraction so we didn't interact for too long with them as the baby had to be fed every 10 minutes and if the mum stays in the shallows putting on a show for the tourists, the baby can't get underneath her to feed but it was well worth the visit. Monkey Mia resort is also a lovely resort.
From here we travelled on towards Kalbarri with, yes you've guessed it, Anthony, Karla and kids but we didn't get all the way to Kalbarri pulling in instead to a lovely free camp on the Murchison River. It was a perfect spot and we just relaxed there (I'm still perfecting this), drank, ate and did some exercise in the form of kyaking. Anthony has 2 inflatable kyaks which were great, I felt quite safe in them although it was a bit of a challenge for me getting in and out but then Charlie says I'm like a "cow with a gun" so the fact I didn't fall in is a miracle. Anyway one of those is on our shopping list as there will be plenty more rivers for us to explore. Karla is a really good cake maker so she has been making a few chocolate date cakes which of course we have to sample!! Charlie and Anthony have really hit it off and when we mentioned that he was only a year older than our eldest son, he has started calling us Ma and Pa!!
After a couple of days we headed into Kalbarri which will be another blog at another time. So for now its Adieu from The Wandering 2s. | 
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