Perth to Tom Price

This is a long one! It’s the first time I’ve had a second to get on my laptop.

August 4
We left Perth a lot later than anticipated…around noon. One of the brand new spot lights stopped working and we don’t really know why. We decided to leave anyway since getting it fixed would keep us back for a couple more days. We have everything loaded on the roof rack and in the boat and we head north towards Geraldton. We arrived at Coronation Beach just north of Geraldton. It’s a caravan park on the beach that looks like its run by the state. Camping is only $7 per person and dogs are allowed. We finished setting up just as it got dark and started cooking dinner. We’re fully set up with a water tank, gas burners, mini weber grill, table and a fridge. Except now it’s the fridge that wasn’t working! The frozen stuff at the bottom was keeping everything cool enough for the day but it wasn’t enought. Mat switched some of the wiring the next morning and was able to get it up and running. Anyway we had sausages, cheesy noodles and brocolli for dinner. I did the dishes in the ocean water in our little wash basin.
It was a relaxing sleep to say the least! All you could hear the entire night was the waves less than 200 metres away. It was a little windy but all the campsites were situated around tall groups of shrubs and brush to keep the gusts at a minimum. The weather was beautiful, no clouds and all we needed in our stretcher tents was a doona.
August 5
We woke up early and after a little beach walk with Wally we packed up and headed out. We were heading a little inland to Murchison for a 4 wheel drive “adventure” park as recommended to Mat. We arrived somewhere around 11 and immedietly cracked open a corona. We had just missed a big weekend with a 4wd competition and were the only people camping at the park. The owners live on the facility which is a working sheep station. We decided to stay at a campsite off the beaten path named “reflection pond” by the river. Assuming the river was running (stupid idea!) we booked 2 nights down by the river only to get there and it’s a bone dry river bed. It was a beautifil location otherwise with heaps of shade from huge trees (white gum trees I think) and there was a little puddle of water in front of the camp and another larger one a bit down. Wally was loving it! The river bed was his racetrack. He would run into the larger bit of water until it got to about his chest then he would scare himself and nearly run on water to get himself out. After he realized he wasn’t in any danger it became a game of his…he would run flat out into the water, turn straight around and fly out of the water and rip cirlces around us going 100 miles per hour only to repeat the process about 4 more times. Then he would chase the ducks and egrets around until they got too far away.
The wildlife was pretty good as well. We saw a fair few sheep around (it was a station) and heaps of parrots including gallahs, white and yellow cockatoos and 28’s. There was also a few raptors around…eagles, hawks and a kestrel that hung around our campsite. There were heaps of kangaroos and emus as well.
August 6
After spending one night we decided we’d had enough and headed out mid morning. We wanted a shower before we left and walked into the dingiest and filthiest bathroom that I’ve seen…hardly any light, the sun hadn’t warmed the hot water up yet so it was COLD! And they hadn’t cleaned the showers since their big weekend and there was hair, dust, old hairy soap and shavers laying around. It was the quickest shower I’ve ever had but it did feel good to get all the dust off. Walking to the main house to tell the owner we were leaving early I saw a few emus walking through the river bed by the house and had to stop to let some of the station’s horses to cross my path after they checked me for any food they wanted.
All in all it was a really cool park. I wish there would’ve been more people there. A little more adventure would have been good as well, and had the river been running it would have been a lot better. There were probably a hundred kms worth of 4wd trails and they offered trial rides on horses and some other touristy stuff.
We headed out on the red dirt track about 40 minutes until we were back on the main highway north to Shark Bay. On the way out we had to stop for an emu and her 4 or 5 chicks they were so funny running as fast as their little legs would carry them trying to catch up to their huge mom. On the coastal highway there are a ton of little goat herds everywhere on the side of the road and running in front of traffic to cross the road.
We drove for a few hours up to Shark Bay and then onto Monkey Mia (my-ah). We were hoping to camp at Monkey Mia and see all the dophins it’s known for but there wasn’t a caravan park so we turned back around to Shark Bay. We arrived at Shark Bay Caravan Park around 5pm and immedietly set up camp and started dinner. Chicken curry on the camp stove was a success! The facilities here were much cleaner and brighter! I was able to do the dishes in a sink and even put in a load of laundry.
After we were all cleaned up I took Wally on a walk down to the beach and to the jetties. The stars out here are so bright and you can see so many! It definetly rivals Lyndon! Wally had a good run on the beach and we headed back to camp.
August 7
Had some eggs for breakfast and unloaded to boat of camping gear to head out fishing. There was hardly any wind or waves it was perfect for the little boat. It took Wally a little more convincing. He HATES being on boats…at least he didn’t get sea sick this time! The water here is bluer and clearer than I could have imagined. Every beach I’ve been at in Australia has the best water. Nothing like the Gulf of Mexico in Florida for spring break! You can see the sting rays as they come up **ahem, Uncle Horst** and you see them a lot! As we headed out to a bay off of the main town we nearly ran over a 4 ft hammerhead shark! Mat had to stop the motor and everything, silly shark! We threw out some lures for some trolling to no avail. The line snapped the first go and we lost our lure. The second rod had some heavier line and we tried again. Nothing. We saw heaps of dolphins though! One was right on the boat racing in front of the boat, switching sides underneath the boat and turning it’s body sideways to look up at us! We could’ve touched it when it jumped up for air it was so cool! She wasn’t all dark blue-grey like flipper (haha) but was a lighter grey with darker spots everywhere. I assume she’s a she and I shall name her Freckles.
After no fish and a few more dolphin sightings we decided to call it a day and head back. The wind and waves picked up! Wally was miserable as the waves were pushing the boat around…I’ve never seen anyone so keen to get off a boat when we got to the jetty (pier)! We got back to camp and had a few beers before having a long shower to get all the salt spray off and then headed into town for a feed. We got to the Shark Bay Resort pub for some food and to watch the sunset. We got a couple bundy’s and cokes. Mat got the surf and turf and I got the locally caught whiting. Very good dinner! We walked down to the main charter jetty’s to watch the locals fish. The light from the end of the jetty attracted schools of fish grabbing the bugs that fell in from the lights. Not sure exactly what kind of fish they were but the main concensus was either whiting or mullet. There were also squid we could see swimming around and we saw a stingray hanging around as well.
Sleeping at the caravan park tonight was a little harder than the first night that’s for sure! One of the local houses was hosting a party complete with screaming people, country music blasting and fireworks at midnight. They were so close I could hear what the girls were fighting about lol “who spills their drink everywhere anyway you idiot!”. I was able to fall asleep soon enough anyway. Mat didn’t even know there was fireworks over our heads he slept right through the whole thing! The weather at night is a little strange at Shark Bay. it wasn’t foggy or raining or even cloudy but water condenses on everything. It was dripping from our awening onto our stretcher tents making a fat drop noise each time. It even gets into the rain fly and drips onto the fly screen and onto your forehead. It’s distracting! The second night I draped a towel over the fly screen part and was fine. No drips on my face tonight!
August 8
We woke up at sunrise…around 6:30 I think. Shook all the water off our tents and the awening and packed up. We had left over curry and some frozen chicken noodle soup I made a few weeks ago for breakfast and we are off north to Coral Bay (7 hours Mat reckons). We’ve been using way too much fuel and the patrol is getting hotter than Mat would like. We’re going to put all of our stuff in the boat instead of the roof rack in the hopes it was all the wind resistance causing the troubles and so far so good. He seems to be running much smoother. It’s a he. mat named the patrol Kevin. “Come on, Kev, you can do it!”.
Wally uses the car rides to charge his batteries…he’s always sleeping stretched all across the back seat for at least 2 hours.
The stretch up to Coral Bay was a long one but it was beautiful. It’s very dry and very much a desert but there are patches of green shrubs and pretty little purple and white flowers dotted everywhere. We made it to the jetty Mat wanted to show me and no shock it was stunning. Crystal clear water and cliffs surrounding. The bay is a protected area so no fishing, no dogs and in some spots you aren’t even meant to swim. This means that the fish aren’t too afraid of you and they get big. There’s a 7 foot cod that hangs out at the jetty and his name is Merv. We got to see him hanging around the boats and he is every bit as big as he is rumored to be!
We hung around for a few hours before setting up camp in the sand dunes next to a wind farm…what a strange noise to fall asleep to!
August 9
We woke up again at sunrise and we drove into town for breakfast at a local bakery. The town is a lot of travellers and temporary workers. Campers everywhere and even the few locals live in what looks like shack towns. We went to another bay and I walked in the water to look at the fish swimming all around.
After avoiding wandering cows, goats and sheep on the road to Exmouth we arrived around lunchtime. We’re meeting up with Mat’s friend, Lisa who lives up here. We met her at work where she makes windows and screen doors and such. She was just finishing up when we got there. She grabbed her dog, Buddy and off we went to find some accommodation. We decided to stay at the caravan Lisa’s mum is staying at. The weather is fantastic!
We got ready for our dinner reservation at a local place called The Whalers I think. The food was excellent and it was BOYB. After a couple bottles of wine we were ready to paint the town and we absolutely did! Dancing, drinking and socialising we finally stumbled home around midnight ish I think after jumping the fence because Mat didn’t want to go out the front door… No trouble sleeping tonight! And no condensation on the tents either.
August 10
SO HUNGOVER! Lisa woke us up for breakfast and we walked back to Whalers for a big breakfast. We also got stuff to make bloody marys. We need some hair of the dog today that’s for sure! It’s already warm all through the night and the days are getting pretty hot. I did some laundry today, these caravan parks have just about everything you would need to get by. We also did some shopping to replenish the fridge. Pretty low key day as we lick our wounds from last night…cuts, bruises, hangovers and all.

We saw a really cool musician after having “the best italian food in WA”. It was a 19 year old guy playing guitar, didgeridoo and stomp box. He was his own full band ha ha ha He was pretty good. We left and went to bed early only to be kept awake all night by our very rude neighbor partying all night and making every camper in the vacinity pretty angry. He was threatening to stab that guy camping next to him. What a pleasant man…we only got a couple hours sleep.

August 11

We got up early and headed out as soon as we could. Get us outta that campsite! We started right away for Tom Price. It took the better part of the day to get here and its beautiful! The last stretch of road was all gravel and so bumpy the boat went airborn a few times ha ha ha but we made it in 1 piece! The camp we’re staying at doesn’t allow dogs so we’re going to have to board Wally along with Cobber and Derby. It sucks not having him around but it will be worth it to make some extra travel money working with John and Boothy.

Our campsite is made up of sea containers modified for living. There’s a bed, tv, fridge and shower all in that one little space! It’s pretty cool. There’s a huge kitchen and washing on site too so we can get all our laundry done a few steps from our container. We don’t really fit on one bed comfortably, though, so we brought in the cots to lay on in our little hallway past the bed and into the bathroom…but if you’re sleeping on the bed don’t plan on going to the toilet! It completely blocks the way.

August 12-22

We’re working on the new Tom Price Sports Pavillion that John has been managing. It’s a pretty cool building with tons of red dust. Mat is doing general carpentry work and I’m cleaning. And it sucks. Bad. This red dust gets everywhere, stains everything including the people, and doesn’t seem to go away. I’ve been cleaning for about 10 hours a day every single day and it still is everywhere! I can’t wait to get out of here and up to Broome finally! Mat is leaving on the 22nd to go see the kids so I’ll have to take Wally up there with John and Boothy. I’ll be towing the boat with Kevin ha ha ha it should be fun! Finally I’ll get to drive a little 🙂

We’ve been able to get the dogs out of jail a few times. There’s visiting hours so some days we’re able to get off a little early and take them to the park for a bit.

We were able to drive to the peak of Mount Nameless while we’re here for a camp dinner it was breathtaking! It’s definitely a desert here but it is still very beautiful and surprisingly green at the moment. But still covered in the red dirt.

There are giant flocks of black kites. They look like hawks but a little smaller. There are HUNDREDS flying around at any time of the day and they all soar together in huge numbers it’s really cool to watch. There are supposedly dingoes around here as well, we haven’t seen one yet.

At work on Sunday I was on the floor of the downstairs kitchen vaccumming all the damn dust from under a table when I saw a dead lizard shoved into the corner. He had a super long tail but his body was still about 8 inches long I’d say. I felt bad for the thing, wondering how long he’d been stuck in the kitchen. I was apprehensive to grab it…what if it’s tail fell off or something! I started poking it with the vacuum and it was stiff as a board as I tried to get it from under this table. I decided to just go for it and I grabbed the tip of it’s tail giving it a tug AND IT RAN TO THE OTHER CORNER! I screamed a little bit out of pure happiness he was alive! Now me and 3 of the guys are in this kitchen chasing a lizard from behind the freezer and under tables and into corners. I finally got him and brought him outside to get warm. He was so cold I’m surprised he was able to run! We got him warmed up and put him under some construction stuff so the black kites wouldn’t get him. He’s called a Ta Ta. When they’re on the hot ground and their feet get too hot they’ll lift a leg at a time to cool it off and it looks like they’re waving goodbye… “ta ta!”

More to come when we get to Broome! I’ll get some pictures uploaded as soon as I can too.