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Broome, largest city in the far north of WA. A truely tropical location and gateway to the Kimberley region (land of Crocs and Barramundi).

A few interesting facts about Broome: Broome owes its place as a tourist destination to Lord Robert Alastair McAlpine who built (amongst other things) the Cable Beach Resort along with many other improvements; there are no traffic lights due to potential power cuts during cyclone season, instead it has hundreds of roundabouts; house roofs do not have gutters as they get destroyed by the power of the rainfall, houses do not have water tanks as there is too much dust in the air that washes into the tanks; it has the 2nd largest tidal range in the Southern Hemisphere at 10.8m; it has a population of 15,000 residents that swells to 40,000 during the high (winter) season.

We have absolutely loved our time in Broome.

In the Pilbara region of north west Australia, Karijini NP is in the middle of Iron ore mining country with its dark red rocks, red dust, spinifex grass and a myriad of gorges. We booked 4 nights to explore the park from the “so called” Eco retreat (over priced cods wallop). Our time in Karijini was gorge(ous). Paul’s joke not mine 😄.

A long drive day on 18/05/2021 inland towards Karijini National Park (NP) our next big destination. Before then we have a couple of stops, firstly to Cheela Plains Station for 2 nights, a working station that has diversified into a camping destination and secondly Tom Price for 2 nights to visit the big mine and stock up.

We have loved our 5 night stay in Exmouth. Amazing diving, snorkeling and scenery. We could have stayed longer.

Another short drive up the coast to the southern tip of Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay. I’m sure if we’d visited Coral Bay 30 years ago we’d hate it here, it’s one big caravan park. However, the reef is amazing, the best we’ve seen in Australia (comparable to Lady Elliot Island).

What a lovely town Carnarvon is. Only a 2 night stay but we’ve packed in a visit to the Space and Science museum, snorkelling at the aquarium, visit to the Quobba blowhole, the ‘fruit loop‘ drive and a walk along the Fascine boardwalk. Phew I’m exhausted thinking about it.

Our time in Shark Bay is coming to an end. We are so pleased to have spent a longer than usual time in one place. There has been so much to see and do.

Part 2: Francois Peron National Park (NP), Sunset cruise and Ocean Park Aquarium.

We are back on our plan with a 10 day stay at Shark Bay Caravan Park in Denham. A long break from travel to see all the attractions, as such a couple of blogs are required to cover our stay.

Part 1: Monkey Mia, Steep Point and the Stromatolites.

Due to the damage caused by cyclone Seroja we were unable to stay in Kalbarri nor were we able to visit Kalbarri National Park (NP). So, we have made the most of some downtime with relaxing 😊. We tried to volunteer to assist in the cleanup, but they need qualified safety certified tradies not cowboy IT geeks. We have loved our time in Northampton including the Anzac dawn service.

We have made it to the west coast of Australia. We both feel pretty pleased with ourselves. We arrived in Geraldton on 19/04/2021 for a 2 night stay at the Geraldton Caravan Park for a scheduled car service, stock replenishment and car/van cleaning (mud and red dust everywhere).