Hello lovely people no. 25 (no. 2 in Australia)

OK. A confession. Since night 1 at the Vous we have not spent one under canvas. Our excuse – and extenuating circumstance – the weather. You will understand why we are keeping a keen eye on the forecast. We all checked average monthly temperatures and rainfall before we booked BUT it appears there is no such thing as predictable patterns any more. This antipodean west coast winter the rains are later and temperatures – especially night time – cooler, in places colder, than usual

Expecting two days of rain we booked a cabin at Jurien Bay, about 230Ks north of Perth on the coast. We drove in glorious sunshine and stopped for our first (of the trip) proper Aussie pub lunch  in Lancelin, a classic low lying ugly building but blessed with a fabulous lawn terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean. Lots and lots of seagulls threatened our pizze, the only food option, but we kept them safe!

Our cabin at Jurien felt luxurious after the tent and sure enough the rain started that evening and didn’t really stop for two days. We had to move cabin the next morning because of a problem with the boiler and then there was a town-wide power cut. We headed south a few Ks for a lunch of local seafood and then to The Pinnacles national park. Desert location, spectacular rock formations, the road trail was closed even to 4WD vehicles, we bought rain ponchos and walked

Big spaces, big skies, highly photogenic and pretty much devoid of other visitors. Spectacular

The weather didn’t look enticing enough to keep us on the coast, or camping, so we headed inland to the heart (well start) of wildflower country and with the intention of visiting one or more wildlife sanctuaries. Not many accommodation options, we picked a motel at Dalwallinu. The drive was through flat flat wheat land – vast empty spaces, we passed hardly another vehicle on the three hour drive

Dally – as all locals know it – is an agricultural centre. On the suggestion of the motel owner – he had only been running it for his father for a couple of months – we drove to Ballantine Rocks, a little way north. The recommendation was to climb the rocks and see the 360 degree view. We were therefore expecting a climb – but it was about 4m above sea level!! The view was good though, and interesting because it showed clearly how much natural bush has been cleared for agriculture

The next day we decided to take a punt on being allowed entry to one of the two wildlife sanctuaries in the area, either the Charles Darwin nature reserve or Mount Gibson sanctuary – both clearly marked on our map but about which we could find no information in our guidebooks, local tourist information centre or on-line. It’s a 300 K round trip . . . . .

Long straight national highway, road trains, not much else! No sign yet of any wildflowers in bloom

At a junction after about 125 ks there was a big sign for Mount Gibson Sanctuary advising access by appointment only and providing a telephone number. We rang and fortunately the call was answered, yes we could visit. We were given the code to the gate, asked to drive to the office and told it would be another 25 Ks. Red road, perfect Australian bush and a large, beautiful dingo. Roberto even managed to get a snap!

Then a red lake (its iron ore country) more perfect bush and our first kangaroos. Four of them, too shy to pose for photographs unlike the dingo, but Andy got a bouncing roo

Hamish, the Sanctuary manager, talked us through the projects, explained that visitor numbers are controlled to protect the environment that is being restored (flora and fauna, all native, the latter in a compound of 8,000 hectares protected by a feral predator-proof fence, regularly patrolled and maintained). There are however wild camping facilities and self guided drives and walks. We did two: the greenstone hills, with a walk through an acacia plantation, a walk to the radio mast – more 360 degree views – and a bird walk through some magnificent gum trees where the birds were being very shy, we saw nothing!

Our second tour was to mushroom rocks and lake Moore. First bit of proper rugged road, with dips full of water. Andy confident at the wheel and rightly so as he did not even need to engage the 4WD. The mushroom rocks, carved by wind and water, were entertaining, the lake in the distance vast. We had the place entirely to ourselves

The fragrances of the gum and wattle trees is fabulous. My favourite eucalyptus  of the day is known as the “stocking gum” – because its bark changes very distinctly out of the initial rough “stocking” to a smooth, lustrous finish

We asked Hamish for a recommendation for dinner on the way back to Dally – the suggestion was Wubin Roadhouse, Wubin being the closest town (townlet!!) on our route back to Dally and some 130 Ks to the south west of the sanctuary. . . We stop to investigate. It has a pub (you remember the scene in “American Werewolf”?) serving pizza and the roadhouse was attached to the petrol station. We decide to head back to the pub in Dally instead. That was lively after a local AFL match 

That evening we did some serious planning for the next phase of the trip: an overnight in Geraldton then on to Kalbarri, Shark Bay and Coral Cove. Traumatic evening. Apart from an apartment for one night in Geraldton everything further north on the coast appeared booked. Our attitude to planning has been: we have seven weeks, none of us know quite what to expect or where we will like and how long we will want to stay in any one place. There is plenty of accommodation and we can play it by ear. Our downfall: the two weeks winter school holidays starting four nights into our trip. The whole of Perth, and indeed WA to the south of Perth, seems on the move north. After a lot of googling, emailing and a few telephone calls we secure four nights in a cabin in Kalbarri

The next morning a few more phone calls gets us six nights in a campground in the south of Shark Bay at Hamelin Pool, then rooms in Denham, the heart of Shark Bay and a  cabin in Coral Cove. Phew! Crisis averted and a mix of solid structures and camping await

Relieved, our journey from Dally took us through the wildflower route – although we are too early and there is no evidence of any! Instead, heading north and west back to the coast, the drive is through flat wheat fields with the occasional tree and then flat bush with low lying scrub, mostly wattle. No more gum trees! But, the sun is out and our overnighter in Geraldton on the marina is thoroughly civilised, and we see our first spectacular sunset

Until next time, g’day to you all

ALISON 

PS: map below shows where we have stayed so far and the side trip to the Mount Gibson sanctuary 

PPS: I have “plugged in” a piece of software which claims it will rectify the image rotation issue – please let me know if it doesn’t

PPPS: blogs are slow: not to write but to find mobile coverage or wifi good enough to upload photos and send . . . .