To Exmouth and and everywhere in between

My learning curve continues often at a precipitous rate!! At one stage I crossed the 26 parallel (whooo!) and now I have crossed into the Tropic of Capricorn – so I am not cold, but I am very wet!!

Geraldton was a lovely place. A nice town again about the size of Bendigo. I do wish I had appreciated its facilities a little more for it was the last substantial town I have seen in the last 2 weeks (I had the faint hope that Carnarvon would match it – but it didn’t. There is a gorgeous harbour in Geraldton that is well stocked with fabulous watercraft that humble ones such as me can only dream of cavorting on decks of in luxurious splendour. All of the fishing vessels and such were hidden away in an area that I couldn’t find – they certainly would not improve the ascetics of the place, but Geraldton is renowned for its fishing. There is a magnificent catholic cathedral there designed by an architect monsieur in 1914 – it would rival the biggies like St Pat’s in Melbourne. I had a coffee in the coffee shop attached to the cathedral (perhaps hoping it would bestow some exigent blessings and it should have for I nearly fainted at the cost - $6 – just for a little cup (they don’t do mugs)).

I didn’t actually camp in Geraldton I camped 65 ks out at a gorgeous little place called Dongara. It was a lovely little country town full of lovely people right on the water. I explored the coast by walking, drove to the little hamlets in between Dongara and Geraldton and had a lovely time. One of those hamlets by the way was a place called Greenough – again for the prurient amongst us was the site of a dreadful crime in 1993 where a mother and her 3 children were killed by a drug crazed idiot.

It is a historic part of Australia all centred around the water for both First Nations and settlers and the remnants of the old farms are everywhere. I suspect that the corporations are buying up the luscious part of the world and the abandoned homes stand in silent lamentable testament to this.

Moseying our way along to Carnarvon the landscape changes quite dramatically. For now, you are in outback WA. Even this close to the Indian ocean. The highway now sweeps inward, and I was stuck by what a very different type of outback it is. In SA, NSW ad QLD the outback had a thirsty aura to it, the dust permeates the leaves of the trees and the bark and sits on the backs of the animals. Mulgas predominate the landscape, and the scrub scatters the land leaving large spaces of bare red dirt. For someone who was accustomed to the verdant landscape of Gippsland – even when the farmer would complain that it was dry it is always a shock when I see it. WA on the other hand doesn’t have that thirsty feel – even though it is distinctly scrubby it is a lush scrub, and the soil is the richest of red holding the moisture that feeds the land. Of course, there is every possibility that I am simply seeing it in a good year for I did see a sign warning that dust storms can reduce visibility. There are no Mulgas, and the eucalypts are few and far between there are lots and lot of trees that remind me of Tryptamine trees, but I had no idea what they were! Wherever I am in the outback though I always have the feeling of being on the bottom of the sea and am constantly reminded again of the rhythm of the nature around me!

I had realised that Monkey Mia was on the way to Carnarvon, and I decided I wasn’t going to miss it – renowned as the place where people cavort with the dolphins. Monkey Mia is on a little peninsular that hangs off the mainland a bit like an intestinal polyp – although I hasten to add much prettier. You turn off the highway and come upon a world heritage drive which is lovely – it is monochromatic with every shade of green that you can imaging all on a ruby red pallet that only peaks through occasionally – to kill the monochrome theory! It is about one hours drive through this glorious sight to get to the end of the peninsular – on one side of the peninsular is this gorgeous oh so touristy town called Denham – full of bars, surf shops, a lovely little bakery that does a good coffee etc all on the water. Over the other side of the peninsular is Monkey Mia. This part of the world is now regimented too, I suppose it benefits the dolphins. They now turn up at 7.45 each morning. They have a 99.8% show up rate and – yes you guessed it they didn’t show the first morning I was there. I saw some the next morning but have to confess that the dolphins I saw showing off in the bay at Port Augusta were much more impressive (if that be heresy so be it!) but the peninsular is glorious and I am so pleased I made the trek to see Monkey Mia.

Carnarvon was a long trek and we overnighted in a little blip on the map called Billabong. The nights are beginning to warm up and I was thinking I should start free camping again. I had halted the practice for I had a miserable cold night one night on the way to Geraldton and made a pact with myself not to be miserable again when camping and the nights warmed up!

Carnarvon is a lovely little country town. It is very interesting historically. WW2 came to Carnarvon’s front door! The German war ship the Korman and the HMS Sydney engaged in battle off the coast of Carnarvon. HMS Sydney was lost with all hands – so too was the Korman the wreckage of these ships were only located in the early 2000’s. We are all so familiar with the bombing of Darwin, but the war certainly came closer than that. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith got his start in Carnarvon before he was a Sir! He and his mates thought with there mechanical skills they could replace camel trains with trucks for the mail run – and they did - out to Mt Augusta. Apparently, it was a treacherous journey and the stories around Charles Kingsford-Smith skills have him carving ball bearings out of Mulga wood and using soap for lubricant on his truck joints. These stories have entered facts around his time in Carnarvon – he also was a big drinker and brawler and spent more than one night in the local lockup! He sold his mail run which gave him the money to buy an aeroplane and the rest is history!

They have a great space museum! I hadn’t realised that the dish at Carnarvon participated along with the one in Parkes in the moon landing in 1969. I got to behave like a kid for a while and had a ride in a simulator launching me into out of space and I even got a photo of me on the moon!!

I realised in Carnarvon that I would have to embrace free camping like it or not! This part of the world and up to Broome is packed with folks fleeing the cold in Perth! They are everywhere. The park I was in at Carnarvon would have been great to stay in for a while – they had knit and natter sessions in the morning, different food carts coming in every night and entertainment on set nights for these hoards! I suppose in Victoria we are used to people escaping to QLD for the winter here they just try to get to the 26 parallel!!

I struck out from Carnarvon knowing that I would have to free camp for 2 nights which was great again (I confess to being deeply in love with my generator!) and we turned off another peninsular nowhere near as majestic as Monkey Mia on our way to Exmouth. Driving into Exmouth I was appalled at my historical lack of curiosity. I had heard of an air force base at Exmouth never associating it with Australia but here it is! It is about the size of the one at Sale and all the streets are named after American admirals (such as Thew) or ships (such as Nimitz) as it was the Americans that set up the base in WW2, and it is hot and steamy and touristy. Last night the heavens opened and for the second night out of 3 nights in my underwear along with everyone else around me battening down hatches that had been left open when you went to sleep because it was so damn hot!!

Next destination is Karratha with all of the little adventures in between!