G'DAY TO OUR MATES: CORAL BAY TO PERTH

CORAL BAY TO PERTH

5 November to 21 December 2009

Coral Bay:

Located just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, Coral Bay is one of the most beautiful places on the coast. There is a beautiful big aqua-blue bay in front of the caravan park, strangely called the "Peoples Park". The bay is just made for snorkelling so each day out we go.

There are millions of reef fish as well as snapper that swim close to the edge of the water. This is a sanctuary for marine life and at a place called "Maude's Landing", there is a Shark Nursery - there were hundreds of sharks swimming in circles, about a metre long - dark in colour.

On the walk back, we saw the mum or dad swimming close to shore ... it was a black-tipped reef shark about 2 metres long. This is a haven for marine life and there are turtles, manta rays, and each afternoon, the snapper come in to be fed by the staff at the dive shop.

Nearby we found a cemetery for pets ... it wasn't a real cemetery, but just a place where some people have buried their pets. There were collars and name tags on the crosses together with their pets names and when they died. They were very old and weathered, so we couldn't read the words.

We went out on a glass bottom boat to the outer reef and saw the massive heads of coral - very different to the coral over in the east as it is all browns and caramel in colour. There was only 1 patch of purple and this is known as the lavender patch.

When we arrived at the outer reef, we went in snorkelling - just beautiful. This is a paradise. Divers from all over the world come here each winter to see the whale sharks and there are 200-plus species of coral here.

Carnarvon:
The trip to Carnarvon was a 240km journey with just flat, dusty and just nothing to see. We arrived at the Coral Coast Caravan Park – hot, dry, dusty and windy.

A satellite dish was built here by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission together with NASA which, combined with the dish in Parkes, was used to receive communication from the Moon landing to Houston. The dish is no longer in use, but it was interesting to see and read about on Browns Range which is a suburb just outside of Carnarvon.

The town is also famous for its fruit and vegetable plantations, all grown with water pumped out of the sand of the Gasgoyne River. The plantations extend for 16kms along the riverside, and there are mangoes, beans, tomatoes, melons, grapes, citrus and tropical fruits. The first day we took off with Mary and Michael and visited just about all of them and stocked up on nectarines, peaches, tomatoes, etc and generally had a wonderful afternoon talking to all the farm owners and tasting their produce. On the way home, we drove out along a dirt road to a beautiful waterhole where there were heaps of birds, kangaroos, goats and emus. It was so hot ... low 40's and we were tempted to strip off and have a swim, but it has been ages since they've had rain here and we're not sure of the bottom. Nevertheless, we had a paddle and took some photos.

The town itself isn’t too big, with a population of about 10,000. Not much in the way of shopping ….. there was one shop where I spent an hour and bought some Christmas gifts for my sisters ….. other than that there was Target Country. Not very exciting considering I haven’t seen a decent shop since Broome! As well as crays, there is a big industry for crabs, and we tried to buy some but all the crab boats have commercial licences and wouldn't sell us any, let alone give us any!

I noticed a door of a "donger" slide open and saw a couple of asian fellows with rubber boots, so I took off to see whether they could help; they sent us around to a side door .... in I went (the others stood back too scared to approach anyone) and was told to don a hair net, which I dutifully did but then I met the boss who told me that there was no way they would sell me a blue swimmer. Oh well, I tried, and I bet that if I had been successful, the others would have claimed the victory! As I didn't get anywhere, they all said "told you so"!

There is a Maritime Heritage Precinct with a jetty called One Mile Jetty, built in 1897, and you can either walk out to the end or catch the “Coffee Pot” train. We chose the walk – you don’t get much exercise on a trip like this. The pylons on the jetty are currently being replaced and the jetty is being restored but is still open for use by tourists and fishermen. It is renowned for its great fishing with big catches of mulloway, tailor, snapper, bream, mackerel, tuna and shark. Blue manna crabs are also plentiful in their season from May to August. We saw nothing.

Next to the jetty is the old lighthouse keeper’s house which has been restored and has memorabilia from days gone by. It was used until 1970 when the automated lighthouse was installed.

The famous battle between HMAS Sydney and the HSK Kormoran in 1941 was off the Gasgoyne Coast and there is a memorial in the town to the sinking of the Sydney as well as a DVD playing constantly in the railroad sheds next to the jetty of the tragedy. 645 were lost on the HMAS Sydney and 57 German survivors came ashore north of Carnarvon in a small lifeboat which is on display here. I couldn’t imagine 57 men fitting in such a boat which is only the size of a dinghy. (Forgot to take a photo!!)

Located about 70kms north of Carnarvon is a place called Point Quobba and we were told not to miss it. On the way we stopped at a Bibbawarra Bore, a hot water bore which was originally dug for coal in 1905 and is 940 metres deep. It has a continuous flow of water at 65 degrees centigrade. A tunnel was built to take the water underground to cool and then on to a sheep trough which drovers used to use.

The whole area was once a tourist attraction but is in disrepair now which is a shame because it is history, albeit only 70-80 years ago. We also took a detour to this most desolate beach - it was blowing a gale and I'd hate to think what was in the water!

Quobba was absolutely magnificent and beats Coral Bay hands down! We drove out towards to coast to a t-junction with a huge sign “Waves Kill”.

The cliffs beneath aren’t very high but the Indian Ocean look very, very dark and therefore deep with huge swells crashing onto big rock shelves which have been formed by smashing water into the cliffs. The rock shelves have lots and lots of rock pools that I was itching to get into, but it was too dangerous.

There are lots of blow holes here where the waves are forced with terrific pressure under the rock shelves and out through holes as small as 5cms and the water shoots 10 and sometimes 20 metres in the air. We stood close and could hear the roar of the water as it went under the shelves and then woosh – up it came and down with spray all over the rock ledges … and us!

Mary dropped her camera here and, although scratched and a bit of a gap at the side where the battery goes in, it still works.

Turning right at the t-junction took us to another HMAS Sydney memorial as this is where they believed the ship sunk.

Just a bit further north is Quobba Station which is a working sheep station with South African Meat Sheep.

Quobba Station is located on one of WA’s most spectacular coastal stations with 80 kms of rugged yet stunning coastline from beautiful swimming beaches to the sheer vertical cliff face at Cape Cuvier with a rise to over 400 feet. There is accommodation at the Station, although it’s pretty primitive. Just a bit further north is Red Bluff, an Eco-Retreat located at the southern end of Ningaloo Reef that is meant to be fantastic. It is here on the coastline at Quobba Station that the 57 German survivors came ashore after the sinking of HMAS Sydney. I cannot imagine what they thought when they got here – it would have been the most inhospitable region back then – it still is and is still treacherous to shipping. The 57 Germans were sent to Melbourne until after the war when they were returned to Germany.

We headed back south and continued straight along the road at the t-junction and there was a beautiful beach with crystal clear water and the most amazing coral I have seen – including that of the Barrier Reef.

I was annoyed with myself for not bringing a snorkel and mask, but as luck would have it, there coming down the beach was my ex-hairdresser’s wife from the Gold Coast, Cathy, with her daughter and they had just arrived for a snorkel themselves and she had a spare in the car so off I went. The water here isn’t that deep and the colours were magnificent – the clams weren’t as big as I’ve seen before but they were purple, orange, red, green – the fish were brilliant greens, oranges, black and white striped, pink and green striped – there were turtles and the coral – wow! The water is protected and is so still so fins weren’t needed …. I just floated on top of the water across the coral. There were many, many shells but all alive.

There is a camping area here with pit-toilets but no water or power. There were shacks that you can hire from the Ranger but there were caravans and motor-homes camped there as well. Quobba is just the best place!

Enough adventure for us and we retired to the caravan park ready for the new day ahead. The next day before heading off, we called into the Carnarvon Yacht Club and met a fellow, Paul, who we had heard about on ABC radio. Paul is a deaf yachty sailing around Australia. He hopes to become the first deaf sailor to circumnavigate the country and left Wollongong in February. He had some trouble off the Kimberleys where he was hit by a storm and fell out of his bunk hurting his elbow. He said that he tied himself into the bunk and rode it out. When the boat stopped pitching, he said he put on a bike helmet, his wet weather gear and up he went into the dark. What he saw terrified him and he was sliding bow first down a massive wave and into the dark sea. He said he was tied on and the boat rolled 360 degrees and thankfully came back up. He said that he communicates by texting on his phone when he can get signal. He can talk on his VHF radio and makes sure that the water police or the Volunteer Sea Rescue knows when he is leaving or arriving in Port. We haven’t heard anything more about him since we left Carnarvon, so we hope he’s ok – he has everyone’s full support.

Some backpackers had the ideal setup in the caravan park .... an ensuite and the double bed outside!

On to Shark Bay Heritage Park and
Hamelin Pool:
198kms south – strong head wind – use at least a quarter fuel of petrol – caravan sway strong. There is no television or telephone signal at Hamelin Pool or water. The bore water is too salty to use but they have a rain tank that we used for cooking. Lots of goats around.

Shark Bay is a place to spend exploring pristine bays, inlets and islands, and to discover plants, animals, and birds only found here.

We decided against Monkey Mia and Denham, Denham being the main town, because it was another 129kms off the highway and it’s the same way back out to the highway when we leave. In addition, we were told that Monkey Mia is now very commercial and hundreds of people go there to see the dolphins but only 2 are selected by the Ranger to go into the water. Some people say it is just a push and shove exercise so we said “forget it”.

Hamelin Pool caravan park is on an old Telegraph Station and just over the sand dunes is the beach and the largest display in the world of Stromatalites, a living fossil created by a micro-bacteria located in the extremely salty water here. There is a boardwalk built out over the water with information bays located all the way along the railing – really good.

The area is protected so we can’t swim, but it’s too windy anyway. We have not been out of the wind since Coral Bay weeks ago, and we’re really sick of it!

The ground in the Shark Bay district is made up of tiny, tiny bi-valve shells and behind the caravan park is a shell-block quarry where they remove the hardened “soil” of shells in blocks and use them in building, the same way they use sandstone blocks.

We visited Shell Beach which is made up of 25-30 ft deep of these tiny seashells and were told it is lovely swimming, but the water was about ankle-deep (and it’s too windy anyway).

We walked out to where the water turned darker blue and were amazed at the hundreds of fins swimming in the shallows just before the deep. On closer inspection, the fins were a caramel colour and then we saw them coming toward us. Mary panicked, screamed and nearly dropped her camera again as she took off towards the beach screaming at Michael to get out! Ken and I stayed as we could now see that they were baby (about 1-2 metre) shovel nose sharks and they were just as inquisitive as us.

They would swim toward us and, when they got close, they would then turn and take off with a splash and swim away then they’d come back again and do the same. It was just beautiful. Eventually Mary came back out and bravely took photos with us.

We also went for a drive out to Eagle Bluff, which is a boardwalk at the top of this huge cliff face and you look down into the crystal clear water and can see sharks and manta rays swimming along. There are tiny islands just off the cliff full of nesting seabirds.

Across the sea here you can see the salt piles of a place called Useless Loop where salt is mined and also the point of a placed called Steep Point which is the most westerly point of Australia, like Byron Bay is the most easterly. It is a long drive on a dirt road and as per our past experiences, needless to say we’re not going! Steep Point is also the closest place to where the HMAS Sydney was discovered on the sea floor only 2 years ago.

Kalbarri:
240kms south – strong wind warning – overcast for the first time in 5 months – showers forecast.

First stop Overlander Roadhouse for fuel – $1.64/litre.

The highway to the turnoff to Kalbarri was some of the most uninteresting, boring scenery we’ve seen. There were lots of goats and emus on the side of the road and once again, we’ve got strong wind on our nose.

Once we turned off the highway for the 10kms to Kalbarri, the scenery changed dramatically with wildflowers along the road. Whenever I saw a different wildflower, I told Ken to stop so I could take a photo – this went on for about 12 stops with Michael and Mary pulling in behind us, and then Ken pulled the pin – no more stops. Men! We’ll just have to come back again!

We stayed at the Tudor Caravan Park which is behind the main street, thinking that we might get a few days/nights of peace without the wind, but no – we just couldn’t get away from it. Outside our caravan in a huge gum tree, was a willie wagtail nest with 3 most beautiful balls of fluff inside.

Mum and Dad flew back and forth with insects for dinner and after 6 days, we watched as they left the nest and ventured out onto a limb to try their wings. The day we left Kalbarri, they had also left the nest. Nature at its best!

Kalbarri is a really lovely holiday town with lots of weekenders and beautiful beaches. There are coastal gorges with vividly banded cliffs with the Murchison River snaking its way through the lower reaches of the gorges for over 80 kms and out to the sea. Just out of town is Red Bluff, and a walk along the top of one of the many rugged cliffs here showed us views that were breathtaking looking both north and south along limestone and sandstone ledges.

The cliffs to the north are called the Zuytdorp Cliffs, which were named after a Dutch East India company ship which hit the reef and sank in 1712 just off the rocky ledges below. They say that the fate of those onboard is a mystery. (We were nearly blown away up there, so perhaps that’s a clue!)

This is a very dangerous coastline and there are many shipwrecks at Kalbarri.

Most of them were Dutch and it was the Dutch who were the first to explore the WA coastline. One famous shipwreck on the West Australia coast was, of course, the Batavia, and here at Kalbarri at a place called Wittecarra Creek, it is believed that 2 seamen were banished to the shore in 1629 for their part in the Batavia mutiny and massacre, making them supposedly the first European settlers in the country. There is no evidence, however, that they survived.

We visited the Kalbarri National Park, specifically The Loop Gorge and Z Bend Gorge.

At Loop Gorge, there is a rock called Natures Window but it is a bit of a climb so Mary and I stayed put while the guys did the climbing to get some photos.

On the way back we stopped and took more photos of the wildflowers – knew I’d get my way! Most of the wildflowers here are found nowhere else in the world.

There are lots of rock pools to explore here and for hours Mary and I wandered along the rock ledges. There are heaps of abalone for the taking and lots of shells. It’s too windy for a swim but it is beautiful.

This is also red lobster country; if it wasn’t so windy, we were told that we could have gone into the rock pools and found them underneath the rock ledges. We’re here in lobster season, so maybe the next stop if the wind stops. There are lots of oysters here on the rocks and Ken, Michael and Mary spent ages breaking open the shells and eating them straight off the rocks. Yuk!

We visited a Seahorse Farm which is farming the animals for aquariums and hopefully conserving seahorses in the wild, which are often the target for private aquariums. Although personally I don't believe it will, because in the wild they're free and the asians use them in medicine.

Every morning at 8:45 the pelicans are fed down on the town beach by volunteers. I know it sounds corny, as I think everyone has seen pelicans fed, but this was excellent!

After gale force winds and 26 degrees, we decide to move on. After Coral Bay, it was just like we had crossed a line and the climate has changed dramatically.

Port Gregory:
84kms south of Kalbarri is this tiny fishing village with a beautiful beach and a natural harbour surrounded by 5km of exposed reef … what a pretty spot. Like the tiny villages we have visited on the way, Port Gregory is also famous for its rock lobsters, and a cray boat came in while we were there with crates and crates of them. They were transferred to a waiting truck to take them into Geraldton to be processed for export.

It is still blowing a gale and we get sandblasted down at the beach, but the water is aquamarine in colour with white, white sand.

On the way to Port Gregory, there is a lake called Pink Lake and it really is pink. The colour is due to bacteria trapped in the salt granules and this provides a rich source of beta carotene which is harvested from smaller man-made ponds. It is really beautiful. In addition to lobsters, salt mining is also an industry here.

Horrocks:
About 40kms through the wheat belt and south of Port Gregory is this beautiful holiday spot. There is nothing there but holiday houses (huge ones), a general store, a caravan park, a jetty and the beach. We were so pleased to arrive with no wind – not even a breeze. The scenery that greeted us was breathtaking.

We stopped off at convict-built buildings – some restored, some in ruins. In the 1860’s, convicts were bought here to work in the Geraldine Lead Mine and they built a small settlement for themselves and the soldiers who guarded them to live. According to story, many of them died of lead poisoning and lung disease; what a sad existence.

Ken’s brother-in-law’s family farmed in this area and had a holiday house at Horrocks. As a result, they know everyone in the area and a mate of their’s, who owns cabins and lots of land itching to be developed in the area, brought us over a couple of rock lobsters, still warm from being cooked. They’ve got a few cray pots that they put out each day and they were absolutely delicious. I’ve never tasted lobster like it and probably never will again. We could have bought one at Kalbarri in the IGA store but it was frozen and who knows how old.

There’s nothing much to do at Horrocks – just explore the beach, but the next morning we woke up to a north-easterly gale. The beach, however, was sheltered so in for a swim – how lovely. I walked for hours up the beach to a point known as “smelly point” because of all the seaweed that comes ashore. Talk about smelly – I soon turned back!

Northampton is the township where all of the outlying wheat properties and those from Horrocks go to the shops. It is only 20kms back out towards the highway and is one of the oldest settlements outside of Perth. The town is now classified by the National Trust and is set amongst rolling hills and has lots of colonial history.

Geraldton:
70kms south of Horrocks and a 4.5 hour drive north of Perth – strong south-east wind to make driving difficult.

The scenery is beautiful with rolling wheat fields and lovely farmhouses. We stayed at the Belair Gardens Caravan Park with a lovely pool and green grass with shade. The beaches here are amazing but it is so windy. They say that Geraldton is always windy and that Western Australia is known as the “windy state”. Gosh – they got that right!! In January each year, the International Kite Surfing Championships are held here in Geraldton – that’s proof in itself!

When we were setting up, Michael’s jockey wheel collapsed and his caravan fell in the front just missing his foot. He was very lucky! Now he needs to buy a new jockey wheel and as we are so sick of the wind, we’re going to buy some walls for our awning. Our first day was spent investigating he purchase of both – Michael found a jockey wheel, usually over $200 for $75 and we found a trimmer who will make our walls. After giving him the appropriate measurements, they were ready the next day. The best thing we’ve bought on the trip!

Geraldton is a key port for the live export of lobsters to China and Japan (apparently worth $90m a year!), live cattle to Indonesia, and grain – lots and lots of grain. Ken did a tour of a live lobster export company and was told that the lobsters are put to sleep by placing them in ice, then they are placed into boxes full of woodchips to protect them if they wake up. They are then sent overseas and, when they arrive, they are sold at market to restaurant kitchens. After a restaurant buys a box, the lids of the boxes are removed and the lobsters are placed into tanks where they revive, ready to be selected and cooked for the table.

Geraldton has a population of 33,000 and the Shire is spending millions on improving the beach front with parks and walkways. The Visitors Centre was built as a hospital and then became a gaol. Now it has been converted into commercial offices with the visitors centre on the ground floor.

There are lots of restaurants overlooking the water and boutique shops are starting to spring up. The main street has tiny shops on either side – lots are closed with for lease signs in the windows and there are lots of “$2 shops”, but I think this place is about to explode.

The memorial to the HMAS Sydney is beautiful. There are 645 seagulls cut into the stainless steel dome representing the 645 lives lost. The bronze statue of the lady represents a Mum looking out to sea for her lost son. The memorial is extremely beautiful and very emotional.

There is a Roman Catholic Cathedral at Geraldton which was built from 1916 and finished in 1938.

The Catholic Priest, John Hawes, who also designed and built the church in Northampton, designed and built this one in the 1930's. They do tours here for a $2 donation, and it was so interesting. The photos show how beautiful it is. There is also a crypt which is indicative of the time – they don’t build churches with crypts anymore.

60kms west of Geraldton lie the Abrolhos Islands, which are littered with tiny fishermen’s shacks and surrounded by many ship wrecks. In fact, the most famous, the Batavia in 1629, lies here. The Houtman Abrolhos Islands and the reefs that surround them form one of the most unique marine areas in the world. These are a complex group of islands, reefs and lagoons that lie near the edge of the continental shelf, and there are no other coral reefs of the type found here anywhere else in the world.

Geraldton Shire also encompasses a town called Greenough, a town about 20 mins drive south. Greenough contains many National Trust properties as well as private ones. There is a street of restored houses, a court house, a church that has been listed by the National Trust but you have to pay to walk up the street. This makes me mad – it’s one thing to ask for a donation, but quite another to pay $18 per person to walk up a street. There were 2 houses, a court house and a church.

We visited the Hampton Arms Hotel which we were told not to miss. It is famous for not only it’s history, but for it’s antique book collection of thousands. When we got there, it was a bit of a shock – a couple from Chester in England have lived there for 26 years (they live in the shearers’ quarters out the back), and the hotel is an absolute mess. The “antique book collection” were just a lot of old novels with broken spines and covered in spiders’ webs. The smell of mould nearly knocked us over. There were thousands of books but it certainly wasn’t the image I had painted in my mind. We couldn’t sit and browse because of the smell of mould and we were a bit hesitant to take a book from the shelves in case it fell apart! The dining room of the hotel was furnished as in the 1950’s. Mary pushed me into a hallway out the back and into the kitchen – well, I cannot describe the mess ….. AND, they were expecting 40 people for lunch. The gentleman who owns he place told me that they have a ghost – I told him that I wasn’t surprised! I must say, however, that given the mess, the owner showed me some beautiful Bibles from the 1600's that he was restoring for an antique dealer in Perth. Talk about Walter Mitty, and I only took video .... I was in shock and forgot to take a still photo!

On the side of the road on our journey back to Geraldton were these gum trees which grow horizontally because of the southerly winds. They are a specific type of gum that has a week trunk, and grow this way when the wind makes them bend. I know I keep going on about the wind, but here's the proof!

Back in Geraldton, we decide to buy an electric hotplate to cook with instead of using our gas. As I’ve mentioned before, the West Australian coast is so windy, it takes ages to cook anything as the gas burners on the stove in the kitchen of the caravan are constantly being blown about and there is no direct heat. We got a good bargain at Harvey Norman.

In the centre of Geraldton was a beautiful park that used to be the cemetery, but it ran out of room and they moved the cemetery elsewhere. However, as the graves were so old, they left the remains in the park and removed the headstones to a "memorial garden", seen here.

Jurien Bay:
200kms south – wind, wind, wind – sick of it! – but so very beautiful. Clear, aquamarine water with white, white sand, but too windy to enjoy it.

This is a tiny fishing village with 2 pubs, a couple of cafes, an electrical store and an IGA. There is a large marina with lots of cray boats, the biggest industry here. It’s such a pretty place.

We had some night time entertainment at Jurien Bay.

Visited a big marina and were lucky enough to be there when a cray boat came in with a full load of live lobsters. A big smile and a hello was all that was needed – a freshly cooked lobster arrived at the caravan park the next day!

A short drive south is the tiny village of Cervantes, much the same as Jurien Bay and “the gateway to The Pinnacles”. Cervantes was named after a ship that was wrecked just off the coast.

The Pinnacles are in the Nambung National Park and is an area with thousands of sand coloured, limestone pinnacles ranging in size from 5 metres tall. It is the weirdest place I’ve ever seen. There is no vegetation – just these strange pillars of stone in the sand. It’s amazing to see.

There is a lake nearby, Lake Thetis, with more of those stromatolites – the world’s oldest living fossils (talked about when we were at Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay).

Guilderton:
On the road again! 190kms to Guilderton. Note the fly net!

Stopped off for a look at a town called Lancelin, a small town on a huge bay called Lancelin Bay. Again surrounded by a reef, it is supposed to be the safest natural anchorage between Fremantle and Geraldton. We saw lots of dolphins and the beach would be beautiful if it wasn’t so windy!

Off to Guilderton. How beautiful is this place!! We are now only 89kms north of Perth and if the wind would stop, we would stay here longer. The beach is magnificent and the caravan park is at the mouth of the Moore River. Fishing is the major activity here or just combing the beach for shells.

The caravan park at Guilderton:

One of those gum trees like the ones we saw at Greenough - the strong winds force it to bend:

Perth:
We made it! We’re staying at a caravan park in Karrinyup – the Karrinyup Waters Resort. It was just our luck that where they put us, the road is being dug up and rerouted, so we’re camped in the dirt …. well, builders sand, anyway. We have to start being a bit more assertive and saying no – we want another site. We’ll manager, but “not happy Jan!!”.

About 5 mins drive from the caravan park is a beaut beach called Trigg Beach. The water is beautiful and the rock pools are great for swimming.

Our mates, Joan and Roald, live here in Perth so the first thing to do is make contact and arrange a catch-up. Dinner next Saturday, with a stopover!

Karrinyup is about 5kms north of Perth CBD. There is a beautiful shopping centre here – there’s even a David Jones! - so Ken dropped me and Mary the next morning for a full day of Christmas shopping. What a wonderful day. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous – all purple, lilac and white with silver. It truly captured the magic of Christmas. Gosh I love this time of year.

We swim each morning at North Beach before the wind comes up. Mary and I do the usual fossicking for shells – there are abalone all along the rocks here but you can’t take them until the 1-week “season” opens in September. Apparently hundreds of people descend onto the beach and take every abalone they can see.

We had a great time at Joan and Roald’s place. Their home is beautiful with a lovely garden and pool. It is 2 stories and filled with all their treasures from their time in Indonesia. Joan cooked an amazing dinner (recipe came home with me) and we all talked and talked – sometimes at the same time! We had so much to cover and I reckon we covered it all with lots of champagne and wine. Went home to the caravan on Sunday afternoon and had a very early night!

We really miss our oven so off to the shops and we purchased one of those “Easy Cook” round glass bowl ovens you see on television. It is fabulous. We can now have a baked dinner and it cooks beautifully. Second best thing we’ve bought, the first being the “walls” for our awning to keep the wind at bay.

Ken’s sister called with a lovely surprise – her husband, Colin, was given 4 tickets to the VIP section at the WACCA for the first day of the cricket – Australia vs West Indies. We drove to Warwick Train Station and went into Perth to the WACCA to meet Col. It was the best day ever! The sav blanc was chilled to perfection and was free! We were given a lovely lunch of chicken, green salad and potato salad, followed by a cheese plate with chocolate and strawberries for desert. We watched the Aussies knock up 3/339 before we had to leave to get back to Karrinyup. We had a really good day.

We went to Burswood Casino one day and that was a disappointment. The gambling laws are difference here and the poker machines are not as we know them in other states. They are all card games and the free games aren’t much. We were given $10 each by the Casino to tickle our gambling urges, but it didn’t work. We played for a couple of hours before losing our $10 then we left. The Hyatt Hotel is attached to the casino and it is a beautiful hotel with a lovely foyer.

Rhonda and Barry, Joan’s sister and her husband, arrived Joan’s for Christmas, so Ken and I went over for lunch to catch up with them. We haven’t seen Ronnie and Barry for about 4 years so it’ll be everyone talking at once again! We had a really great day with lots of laughs and the best Thai beef salad I’ve eaten. Still waiting for the recipe though!!

Rottnest Island:
It was a cold and very windy day when we went out to Rottnest. The waves crashed over the top of the boat that took us out and Mary was terrified.

Rottnest would be lovely in fine weather. As with any trip, the weather can ruin your day. It is a beautiful place, however, and if we could have got out of the wind, the swimming would be glorious.

The island is located just off Perth's coastline and can be plainly seen from the shore. It was named by a Dutch explorer and the name meant "rats nest" as he thought the Quokas were giant rats. In the early 1800's, it was a penal settlement for aboriginies, then an internment camp during both world wars. It is 11 kms long and only 4.5 kms wide. There are no cars and the mode of transport is bicycle, although they do have a small shuttle bus that you can get around on. When we were there, it was full of backpackers. The old hotel is undergoing refurbishment and the new part has opened; as you can see from the photos, it was pretty expensive.

We leave here on the 21st to drive to Ken’s sister’s for Christmas, so we’ve decided to do Perth and Fremantle after Christmas. Before we left, Mary and Michael cooked a fabulous Christmas dinner for us. Here's Ken with his Christmas present!