Our Travels from Perth to the Northwest (to see some of the places we missed)
Table of Contents – 1 Trips in Order 1:
1: Perth to Wyalkatchem then back to the
coast.
1: Onslow, Karatha, Roebourne & Eighty
Mile Beach
1: Broome, Cape Leveque & Returning to
Perth via Wittenoom
1: Perth to Wyalkatchem then back to the Coast.
After a visit home it is time to once again hit the
road to fill in some of the gaps created by our previous trip diversions. We
are both very much enjoying learning to fly an aircraft so first we are heading
to Wyalkatchem for a few more lessons at the “Sports Aviation Academy”. We
arrived on Monday the 27th of September 2010 and after a short time
established ourselves at the Wyalkatchem caravan park. The sites are all
ensuite but as 
there are only 8 sites we had booked
this prior to heading up (or should I say across). Monday is the “flying school
closed day” so it was Tuesday morning when we fronted for the first of our
lessons. It was great to get back 
to our learning but unfortunately the
weather was not good for beginners which meant we were only able to get in
around 5 hours of flying time each by Friday afternoon. Thursday though bought
with it a wonderful surprise when Brian & Joan Foster came up to have lunch
with us. The flying was all over due to high winds before lunch so we showed
them our aircraft, introduced them to our esteemed flying instructor then
headed back to the caravan park with them. They had prepared a complete picnic
including gourmet meats, cheeses breads etc. There was even desert and a
selection of beers and wines. Wow – Thanks Brian and Joan!
Then came yet another great treat – We had invited our
daughters and their partners to join us for a first flying lesson as a gift
from us. They arrived at 10PM in the evening on Friday and after meeting them
at the local roadhouse (I had to wait there to head them off as none of their
mobile phones worked on the many different carriers they used – It is all
Telstra or nothing after you move from major population areas) I took them to
their accommodation to settle them in for a good nights sleep so they could
turn up well rested for breakfast at 7AM. 
Unfortunately for them it was 
Wyalkatchems young people’s party next
door to their accommodation so they arrived for breakfast with around 1 hour of
sleep accumulated in 5 minute bites. Breakfast was still enjoyed then it was
out to the airfield. They all sat in on the lecture and then it was time to
fly. Unfortunately it was not looking good for the weather so only Nick was
able to get in a flight before the instructor, just before taking off with
Aranaea at around Midday 
“called it as over” due to increasing
winds. With a full afternoon available we took them to Yorkrakine Rock before
taking them back to their accommodation for a rest. We met up again for a
barbecue dinner then they left to duplicate the previous evenings procedure but
without the party. Sunday at 8AM the weather was great so it was off flying for
Hayley then followed by Aranaea. All great! We are all now aviators or
aviatrix’s so a 
celebratory lunch was in order after
which they headed for home and we packed up ready to leave in the morning.
Monday saw Mary and I set off for Port Dennison
heading across country via Wongan hills and Badgingara before heading northward
on the Brand Highway. Badgingara held a surprise in a lovely wildflower walk,
which takes about an hour. From there it is an easy 
drive to Port Dennison, which turns out
to be something of a resort style township. There are an abundance of
boardwalks and planned walks for all to do in Dongara and Port Dennison (They
are adjoining townships) and there is no graffiti anywhere to be seen. We both
noticed the absence of the previously mentioned visual vandalism so could not
help but mention it. The view shown is from the “obelisk” on the “shipwreck
walk” looking back towards the Port Dennison township. As a bonus we witnessed
the launching of a very large fishing vessel and the removal of another ready
for de-scaling of the hull. After very much enjoying our stay in Port Dennison
we packed up and headed for Onslow.
1: The
West Coast up to Onslow, Karratha, Roebourne, Point Samson & Eighty Mile
Beach.
Day
1 saw us arrive quite late in the afternoon at Carnarvon where we booked into a
caravan park. Note - We will often stay at the roadside camping areas but we do
not do this to save money but rather to enjoy a location if the time and
inclination suits us. Day 2 and we arrived at the Ocean View Caravan Park in
Onslow. We had researched the park so were not surprised when we arrived at a
very run 
down park in a superb 
location (2½
star would be generous). On Saturday morning we headed off to see the old
Onslow town site, which is a 41km drive followed by a track that challenged our
new car at several turns. It was amazing to feel the computerised drive system
kick in as Mary & I held our breath in mud then later a bulldust car trap.
The town site is a great example of how nature takes things back very fast with
there being only one building left in the police/gaol complex. Sunday was stay
in and watch Bathurst day before taking a walk to watch the newly arrived ship
being loaded with salt. Monday morning and it is off to Point Samson to use it
as a base to explore the Karratha etc area.
We
arrived at Point Samson Caravan Park, which we chose as our base for our
exploration of the Karratha, Roebourne, Dampier areas. Our small boutique park
was well located, shaded, paved etc but with old poorly cleaned ablutions was
not the best choice as “The Cove” is a beautiful new caravan park almost next
door for the same money. Tuesday saw us head for Karratha where we visited the
information centre as we were about to enter the city of Karratha. It was
decided to go straight to Dampier with a diversion to the “North West Shelf
Visitor Centre” on the way in. It is a very informative 
centre with two video’s and some
excellent displays. The views of the refinery are spectacular and it is
astonishing to be told that they produce 1% of Australia’s GDP. I asked why if
they earned so much money there dividends were so poor but could not get an
answer to that one? On the same roads that lead to the visitor centre there is
a diversion to the “Deep Gorge Petroglyphs” which is aboriginal rock art –
Looks like they were bored and scratched the art into the rocks everywhere –
guess there was a lot of food to be had here so spare time was at a premium.
Then into Dampier, which is a pretty little township with oceanside, parks
yacht club etc. The trip back took us through Karratha where we did our big
shop ready for the Eighty Mile trip that is coming up. Not 
much else to do there. Wednesday we went
to the Roebourne information centre to join the Rio Tinto subsidised tour of
the Cape Lambert Loading Centre, Cossak Heritage Town, Wickham and surrounding
areas. It cost $10.00 per person and there was an extra charge for our pre
ordered lunch of $4.00 each. A really great tour of just on 4 hours. When we
finished the tour it was off to have a look at the Harding River Dam on what
our tour guide had described as a good road. Thanks for that – we still have all
our tyres in tact and it was worth a look when we eventually arrived there. On
the way back to Roebourne we stopped for a look at what appeared to be a
deserted station where the homestead was located a short distance from what
appeared to be many rudimentary shelters that were probably occupied by the
aboriginal station workers and their families. Wednesday night half price steak
dinner at the tavern could not be let pass (we had even been told at the
Karratha visitor centre about how good the tavern meals were) especially with
it being less than 20 metres from our caravan site. Thursday is a rest and
recreation day so it is off to Honeymoon beach for a swim (yes me too) before a
short drive to look at the Wickham yacht club then down to the local wharf to
buy some seafood for dinner.
Friday 15th of October and we
are off to Eighty Mile Beach. It was an unbelievable trip into headwinds of 30
knots. Our fuel consumption went up by as much as 50% but we soldiered on
anyway eventually arriving at around 4PM. As the season is nearly over the
caravan park that has been rebuilt after having been almost totally obliterated
in a cyclone last year was mostly empty. We chose one of the front sites and
watched as many more travelers came in for the night. Saturday was all walks
and a little fishing (for Mary) with no results. Sunday saw us both enjoy an
early morning walk albeit it separately as by the time I was 
ready Mary had finished hers and was in
fishing mode. Success was Mary’s with the catch being a Bluethread Salmon –
Dinner! The rest of the day is spent watching bike racing until late in the
afternoon when a shell collecting walk was in order. Monday and Tuesday were
spent in much the same way but it must be said that Eighty Mile Beach is
probably one of the best spots in all of Australia for an extended holiday
break with no interruptions.
1: Broome, Cape Leveque & Returning to
Perth via Wittenoom.
We
arrived in Broome at around 1:30PM and checked into Cable Beach Caravan Park,
directly behind the famous “Cable Beach Resort”. Once settled we drove into
Broome to do a small shop to replace essentials then we went back to our
caravan for an early night. Next morning (Thursday) we went straight to the
information centre as we had decided to go on a tour to Cape Leveque in
preference to driving there for a short stay. We decided this after considering
that even the best accommodation at Cape Leveque at $250.00 per night was basically a tent on a platform 
without any air conditioning and with
temperatures sitting at around 38ºC it was not
attractive to us. Sadly we were told by the staff in the information centre
that there were only two seats on the Friday bus, two on the next trip and so
on which also made us a little reluctant to book with the high temperatures but
we overcame our reluctance and booked a tour with them for Friday. Friday
morning came and we were waiting at our caravan park entrance as instructed
when our giant 27 seat 4WD bus arrived. On entering it we found the truth in
that we were two of only eight passengers – yeah! The tour took us first over
around 90km of rough dirt road to the Beagle Bay Aboriginal community where the
famous church built by the Pallotine Monks in 1918 with the shell alter is located.
Next it is off to One Arm Point to visit the aquaculture hatchery then to the
Cape Leveque resort. Interestingly all the roads other than the basic trip in
are bitumen so of the 440km (total distance traveled) 
we did only 180km was
dirt. Lunch at the resort is basic, frozen fish piece and chips then it is off
to the Lombadina Aboriginal community. All of the aboriginal communities we
visited and most particularly the Lombadina community are very impressive and
nothing like aboriginal communities are generally portrayed to us by the media.
I guess good news is no news? The resort beach is shown above and the Lombadina
bush church is pictured at right. The trip back is our second encounter with
the 90km of dirt road but this time it is after dark for most of it. Rrrough on
the tummy but what a great day. The company we traveled with was Pinnacle Tours
and the trip along with their equipment is to be recommended. We also saw the
remains of a caravan that had apparently disintegrated a week or so earlier on
the first 10km of the dirt road at the beginning of our tour.
Saturday is market day ho hum. Then car racing on TV all afternoon
before taking a walk on the beach. Sunday brings more car racing then it is off
to the Roebuck Bay side of Broome at The Mangrove Resort Hotel for our first
viewing of the staircase to the moon. Unfortunately there was too much cloud
cover for it to be much good but we very much enjoyed the entertainment, bucket
of Tiger prawns and especially the aboriginal didgeridoo player who played the
moon up for us all. We have one more chance on Monday night so we will
re-present in hope as it is the last chance this year. Most of Monday was spent
looking at every piece of pearl jewellery in Broome until it was time to go
back to the caravan park to get ready to go to the Mangrove Hotel to witness
the Monday staircase to the moon. Unfortunately it turned out to be 
much as per Sunday’s
staircase, very much compromised by cloud but we did get a quick glimpse of the
event when the moon
poked its head out between the clouds for a short time. Tuesday saw us
revisiting some of the stores we visited on Monday 
followed by in the
late afternoon / early evening Mary going on a sunset camel ride with Broome
Camel Safaris. She was at the very back of the camel train, on the last camel
so I guess that makes her the guard if I were to be kind. No I did not join her
as they are smelly but worse they are very, very high. On the way back I
noticed a sign declaring Cable beach as being closed to swimmers with there
having been a crocodile sighting so it was a strange sight to see everyone on
the sand with no one in the water – Not much use to the Crocodile either.
Wednesday the 27th of October and Mary took a morning walk on the
beach where on the way back she was lucky enough to see the rogue crocodile as
it was being nudged away from the coast by a boat that has been trying to get
rid of the offender for 4 days now. Cable Beach is still 
closed for swimming
but you are allowed to walk on it – I guess that crocodiles can’t walk on sand!
The rest of the day was spent sightseeing before at 5PM we packed up and went
for a drive on Cable Beach. We passed through the nuddie beach where we did see
a couple of white pointers then off down the costs for about 8 kilometres. It
is a great experience and can be done without letting tyres down as the sand on
the beach is quite hard in most places. Thursday brings with it some relief
from the heat with a prediction of only 35ºC which increases the time you can
spend out of your vehicle without melting or getting quite smelly. When in
Broome central Mary and I have to move quickly from retail outlet to retail
outlet just to remain relatively comfortable or at least that is what she tells
me. Friday brings with it a cooler day at just 33ºC and we decided to go
fishing. Mary purchased the local lures and we were advised as to when and
where to go. We headed down to the Broome Deep Water Port jetty and located
ourselves half way down the walkway. Fishing started at 12 noon with the tide
changing over as instructed and continued for two hours. I had one 
bite using my plastic
fishy thing as bait but Mary with her new lure had nothing. It was only when
Mary was back at the car packing the gear away that I spotted that her lure still
had the protective covers on all of the hooks on the lure. Why don’t ladies
wear glasses when they know they need them? Saturday morning saw us back at the
courthouse markets where this week there were more stalls than last week but
worst of all where the mangoes had increased in price. That’s ok we just didn’t
bother with them as they are hanging out of trees everywhere in Broome anyway.
On our arrival back at the caravan park our air conditioner when turned on made
a clunk, clunk, clunk, sound so we had to turn it off. I opened it up from
inside the caravan, cleaned the filters and then turned it back on. Nope still
making a racket so it was time to send Mary up on the roof to investigate and
remove what was we thought a stick that had fallen on the roof and somehow made
its way into the outer fan unit. After all sweeping the roof is a girl job and
that could be done at the same time??? It turned out to be a snake of around a
metre in length that Mary very bravely removed and is pictured at right as holding.
The other park patrons have now named Mary the “park snake lady” and assured
her of all the snake removing business in the Park. Sunday & Monday were
spent enjoying dinner at Mangoes then lunch at Matso’s with some minor 
sightseeing mixed in.
Tuesday is Melbourne Cup Day (a horse race in Victoria) which is for some
reason celebrated at a local bar “Zeebar” in Broome where they offered free
drinks and canapés for the first hour. We met many of the local business people
and Mary was asked to parade in the “fashions on the field – Ladies Parade”
held shortly after the fashion parade. A lot of fun was had with the balance of
the afternoon being spent around the pool. Wednesday 5th of November
brought with it the arrival of my mother and sister who both stayed at the
Cable Beach Resort next door to our caravan park. They were settled in by late
afternoon so Mary prepared a picnic and we picked them up for a drive down
Cable Beach. After driving for around 10 kilometres we turned back to find a
nice place to enjoy the sunset. From there it was a quick drive around Broome
before dropping them back to their resort for an early night. Thursday we
showed them the sights of Broome including lunch at Matso’s brewery and ending
with dinner at Mangoes. Friday as they had a tour booked it was not until the
evening that we were able to join them for dinner at the Cable Beach Resort and
to say our farewells as we were heading home on Saturday morning. We departed
Broome at 8AM and astonished ourselves by getting to Bea Bea creek some
817kilometres away to spend the night. On Sunday morning we traveled the
remaining 42 kilometres to reach the Auski Tourist Village. 
Once established there
we headed off to Wittenoom to see the remnants of the town and the asbestos
mine. The government has 
removed all signage
that would have been helpful as it is supposed that they do not want visitors
but Google Earth showed the way well. A four wheel drive is a must to get into
the gorge where there are many beautiful water holes etc. The ground is covered
with asbestos fibres and there are piles of asbestos carrying ore everywhere.
We were also surprised by the steady stream of traffic visiting the area but
assume that it will be blocked off as soon as the last 5 remaining residents
leave the area so are glad to have finally been there to see it. Sunday evening
saw Brian Turner visit us for a lamb dinner – Yum, It could have been cooked in
the open with it being 43ºC in the shade. On Monday we decide to head for home
so we stayed overnight in Mount Magnet before arriving back home on the Tuesday
afternoon. We are both very happy with our new car which it turns out with not
only being very economical (figure published in “Vehicles & Equipment”) but
is also extremely comfortable allowing all day driving stints.
Future Trips
Future Trips
Future Trips.
Future Trips.
Last
revised: Date Monday, November 15, 2010