4 September - 7 September Carnarvon Coral Coast van park Pack up and head out of Ningaloo. It had been blowing its ring out for the last 6 days and the water was very choppy and no more fish since we left the bottom camp. Got hardly any sleep with the flapping of the tent so it was not all that sorry that we left the lovely Ningaloo. Probably came a month or so to late . Anyway after heading to the homestead and dropping off the firepit and the porta loo ( horrible thing ) we headed out and turned south. We stopped in at Coral Bay and Matty pointed out to me that the wheel lock wasn’t on Bay’s spare tyre. Matt had unlocked it when we set up at Ningaloo and I hadn’t relocked it before we left so it is somewhere back on the track. Wasn’t too happy about it as had been pressie from Tracy and had to modify it to fit Bay’s wheels. Still have my chain so can lock Bay up when we need to. To windy at Coral Bay to go in glass bottom canoe but boys and Tracy went for swim to have a look at the coral that was there. Will have to go back in better weather for another look.After our short stop at Coral Bay we headed again for Carnarvon getting there late arvo. We stopped at the Info center and after speaking to a very helpful woman there we got into Coral Cove van park just down the road. Great little place and we set about setting up and getting ready for our stay. Ground was a bit hard in places so had to adjust a few pegs after it was all up. Pulled one peg out and got hit in the face with a jet of water, no the boys weren’t hosing me , Id hit a water pipe 4” under the ground. Quickly shoved my hand over it and then the peg back into the hole. Tracy got onto the park manager as I set about trying to stop the flow abit. After several minutes and taps getting turned off with no reduction in the water flow the manager turned up and they finally found the right one and I was able to safely let go. Appears that the site we were on is generally used for vans and pegs aren’t put where I was doing it. The manager set about cutting the section out and replacing it. They were all pretty good about it and there was evidence that a few others had come fairly close to doing what I had done. I’d put one of my big pegs right through the center. We had chicken this night and Tracy was mortified while she was down there to hear the lady in front of her , the info centre lady , telling the workers at the chicken shop about these ‘city slickers’ that had come in complaining about the wind. It was us. Tracy was a bit to stunned to say anything at the time so she sent a complaint into the Carnarvon website. She received an email, didn’t come across as a reply, a few days later from Debbie Merritt who was the lady involved. I am quite happy to send it to anyone that would like to read it. While we were at Carnarvon we paid a visit to the railway museum where the boys took a ride on the train along the one mile Jetty that has been there for the last 100 yrs or so. We had a good look around Carnarvon while we were there and the fruit growing area that surrounds the place. There was a lot of damage that occurred during the floods at the end of last year and put quite a few people out of business. Damaged a lot of the fruit growing around the region. We took a drive out to the Blow holes north of Carnarvon and nearly got blown over at the lighthouse there. Had a look at the camping area and the shacks and then the holes. Sounded like a train as the water came up through the holes. That night we were given some fish by another camper who had caught a heap out at the blowholes.
8 September – 9 September Nanga C’van Park We packed up and after Liam had his final lesson with his teacher for the yr we headed out and aimed Hervey south again. We stopped in at Parkwood Upholstery on the edge of town to see if they had a slider for Bay’s lid zipper. It had worn out the central groove and wasn’t pulling the teeth together at all. They didn’t have one , sz 7 , but were very helpful and gave us a few names of other places that might be able to help us. We passed over the latitude of our house at Hervey Bay and took a couple of photos before continuing on and getting to Shark Bay Road and heading west. We veered into Hamelin Hmstead for a quick look but decided to continue on towards Denham. We pulled off at Nanga Bay Van park which looked empty but out of the wind so we checked in for $30-night. We got a spot up the back out of the wind and after setting up camp we took a walk down to the beach which was absolutely beautiful and calm and no wind. The next day we headed up to Monkey Mia for a look at the dolphins and got to see them being fed. Boys were pretty intrigued but wasn’t overly exciting and the water was a degree above freezing. After we had had our fill of dolphins , they tasted bloody nice, we came back to Denham and had a spot of lunch in the park. Got talking to a couple from Canberra , Darrin and Tracey , that had a camper and couple of girls that the boys had great fun playing with. We yacked for an hour or so swapped blog sites and headed our separate ways. We stopped at a couple of other spots on the way back to camp and they would be nice spots in a better time of year. We got back to camp and after having a shower I tried to pick up Liam and throw him over my shoulder but succeeded in scaring him and getting my glass’s broke in the process. The nylon strip that holds the lens in broke on one side so wasn’t able to use them at all. We had a chat to the lady that was behind the counter and nearly got work for both of us for a while there but decided to head further south to Geraldton and try and get some there. I would have loved to stay for a while and work at something different but they wanted both of us full time and Tracy had worked hard to get the boys up to date with their schoolwork and it would have been difficult to look after them and both of us work as well.
10 September – 11 September Galena Bridge Murchinson River We packed up again , starting to lose count now, and started to head back out of the Shark Bay area. We had a brief stop at Shell Beach and then at the Stromatolites as we left.
When we got back into phone coverage Tracy’s ph got a msge. We were very saddened to hear that Matty Woods had died the night before. He was the main inspiration and idea for us to take our family trip around Australia. His diagnosis made us realize that life is short and we should do as much as we can while we are here. Tracy Matty Liam and myself would like to send our sympathies to Julie and the kids for their great loss and know that Matt is in a better place. RIP Matty Woods.
We continued our journey south until we got to the Murchinson River and the Galena Bridge. We stopped on the northern side and found a sweet spot under some trees out of the wind right beside the river. We looked over to the other side and the place looked like a caravan park. We met a couple , Mick and Janet , from SA that had sold up and were travelling around and heading north. We had a great night around the campfire swapping stories and a few ales. We headed into Kalbari the following day and were very happily surprised with what we saw. It’s a small seaside town which would become extremely busy in the tourist season. We did a drive along the cliffs and stopped in at various spots such as Natural Bridge and Rainbow Valley to name a couple. Some amazing scenery and we were enthralled watching a few whales perform just off the shore. It would be a great little spot to visit for while. We left Kalbari after lunch and then headed into Kalbari NP to the Loop which is where the Murchinson river loops around on itself before heading into the ocean. We got back to cam and took a photo of the ‘caravan park ‘ on the other side of the river before dinner and bed.
12 September – 13 September Ellendale Pools We left Galena Bridge and set off for Carnarvon where we visited the historical info center before going into town and booking appts to have our tax done and talk to one of the staff at the hospital about work the following day. We made our way to Ellendale Pools which would be our camp for the next couple of nights. We got our tax done and were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Enough money to keep us going for a bit longer so we gave the apt at the hosp a miss opting to wait a bit longer to work. We headed back to camp after making a few calls to some upholstery places trying to get a zip slider but to no avail. I think that I will import some from overseas when I get back as they are very hard to get hold of. Will have to try when we get down to Perth.
14 September - 16 September (Present) Dongara Port Denison We left camp and headed for Port Denison to catch up with Janine from the Xavier college P&C. We arrived early in the morning and after dropping Bay in the front yard sat down and caught up on a bit of news and some washing. A few beers down at the Priory that arvo and back home for a feed of Kangaroo stew. We made a trip out to the Migenew Ag show and took Ben , Janine’s son, for a drive while she had to stay and work at the Bakery. Lifes tough. Really nice just to sit in a house and relax after a while on the road. We intend to head off tomorrow and after visiting a few spots on the coast go and catch up with Fred and Beck
Hope you’ve enjoyed this instalment and it finds you all well and enjoying life.
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