Shark Bay

24th September to 3rd October, 2010

We stayed at Francois Peron National Park near Shark Bay. We had a great secluded spot adjacent to the beach where we caught whiting and bream and ate oysters fresh from the rocks.

We checked out the dolphins at Monkey Mia and the whales, dugongs, turtles, sharks and dolphins of Cape Peron.

It was a birdwatchers paradise and a reptile lovers heaven with skinks, bobtails and thorny devils to be found. The wildflowers have come out as well and gave us a perfect backdrop to admire the red cliffs and white sands of this area - beautiful!!

Starfish at Monkey Mia



Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Dugong mum and calf at Cape Peron

Red Cliff Beach

Baby lizard kids found inside a sea urchin at camp.

I can catch fish too, my first decent one, a bream.

Artesian Hot tub at Francois Peron Homestead

Views from the sand dunes in the National Park

Lonely footprints in the red sands

More oysters there for the shucking mmmm!

Gladstone

23rd September, 2010

Not having left Carnarvon till late, we pulled in late to this campspot at Gladstone Beach, enough time to set up and enjoy the sunset over the water.

Carnarvon, WA

22nd September, 2010

We spent one day here checking out the town and One Mile Jetty. We caught the old train out to the end of the jetty checking out all the seagrass in the water. Before we left town we drove along the Gascoinge Food trail, picking up fresh produce for the next leg of our journey. The choc coated frozen bananas were the best!

The Fascine

One Mile Jetty

Cape Range National Park

Ningaloo Reef

Exmouth

11th to 21st September, 2010

This place is an oasis of azure pristine waters and stunning white beaches nestled next to an untouched haven for kangaroos, emus and lizards.

We had an amazing time here swimming, walking on the beaches, wildlife watching, but best of all was the snorkelling. It was like swimming in an aquarium in Finding Nemo, incredible!!

Wayne's dad and Keris joined us for most of our time here and continued on with us till Shark Bay.

So many turtles. Close to nesting season so they gather here to mate.

Roos aplenty



Sturt Desert Pea



Miss Amber enjoying the white sands

Funny crab that ran about like mad

Big whale shark at Exmouth

More roos, check out the sign

Blake posing, post snorkle

Sunrise at camp

Karijini National Park

9th & 10th September, 2010

The big detour from the coast to see this amazing place was worth it. We were able to check out all the massive gorges from either above, via lookouts, or below, by walking down into and through them. The descents were quite steep and the kids did really well to manage the big rock steps.

We learnt alot about the flora and fauna of the park and the kids did an educational program where they became junior rangers. The Pilbara dirt is so dry and dusty - our car will never be the same again!

Fern Pool


Fortescue Falls

Junction Pool lookout

Our camp, the kids got filthy dirty here!!

Top of Fortescue Falls

Millstream National Park

7th & 8th September, 2010

The dirt road to Millstream took longer than expected, with us copping our second flat only kms away from the park entrance. Our 2 night stay here was leisurely. We went for walks around the old homestead to get an idea of what life was like in the early 1900's, we checked out the beautiful wildflowers, spinifex, palms, snappy gums and paperbark trees.

A great camp kitchen, hot water AND a BBQ!!



Water lily


Billabong near Millstream Homestead

Eamon loves sticks, especially throwing them in the water and watching them float away!

Playing with the paperbark. Blake has not gone anywhere without his whip since his birthday!

Cleaverville, Karratha

26th August to 6th November, 2010

We drove through Port Hedland toward the Central Pilbara Coast. Our first night here was almost our last. Midgies attacked us from every corner all through the night. None of us had much sleep as we scratched our way through till morning. The only thing that persuaded us to try another night was the stunning.

The second night wasn't so bad, so we stayed on. We checked out neighbouring towns of historic Cossack, Pt Samson, Roebourne and Wickham.

We caught up with friends from home for a couple of nights and enjoyed the comforts of being in a house and seeing familiar faces.

We celebrated, Eamon and Darcy's and Blake's birthdays and Father's Day here.

We explored Karratha and Dampier and their offerings of saltfields, gas plants, aboriginal rock art and were lucky enough to be there for the Staircase to the Moon.

Our camp in the bottom left hand corner

Happy 3rd birthday Eamon and Darcy




Nearby inlet




Happy 10th birthday Blake

Blue Ringed Octopus

Cape Keruadren

19th to 25th August, 2010

Another top spot on the beach, not a great spot to swim, but the sealife was incredible at lowtide. There was living coral that would pop itself back into its shell when you went near, lots of octopus, blue swimmer crabs, sea slugs, dolphins, whales and kangaroos bounding along the beach.

There were oysters galore there for the taking, a delicious entree every evening, you just had to shuck them yourself.

The kids had fun with "crazy crabs" they adopted as pets and watched them change shells as night fell and they all came out from their holes beneath.

We often woke to the sounds of cows moving about the campground having a midnight snack.

Sunset at camp

Some of the shell collection from 80 Mile


Sunrise from our campsite

Camp at daytime

Wayne's golden trevally