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After Karijini we headed slowly to Broome. First we spent 2 nights (26/05 & 27/05) in Port Hedland which is the largest Iron Ore port in the world (the one in Brazil is closed due to Covid). We went on a tour of the harbour run by the Seafarers Mission (a Christian non for profit organisation supporting seafarers in terms of disputes, illness, pay etc). It was amazing seeing these Cape class container ships (named cape as they can’t use the canals like panama) up close.

Our second stop was Barn Hill Station, a homestead and caravan park right on the beach 150km south of Broome. A beautiful spot to have a couple of nights (28/05 & 29/05) with some downtime.

On the morning of 30/05 we drove the short distance into Broome to Tanangau Caravan Park. Broome, largest city in the far north of WA. A truly 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.

After setting up and doing the laundry (still need to wash even on holiday 🤣🤣) we headed to Cable Beach for a swim. Lovely and warm with the right amount of waves for a bit of excitement. We then sat in the surf life saving club for a beer watching the sunset. Loving Broome already.

31/05/2021 started with a visit to the hospital for our first COVID-19 jab. This was followed by shopping for supplies including the bottle shop which is aptly named as no cask wine in Broome due to strict alcohol laws in certain country locations for locals, although being tourists we were allowed to fill our boots…..

01/06/2021 saw us take a bus tour of Broome with a small group including the highlights like Cable Beach, Gantheaume Point, Entrance Point, Japanese Cemetery, Town Beach, Sun Pictures and Broome Town. It was a good flavour of the town.

In the evening we watched the sunset followed by a scrumptious dinner at the Cichetti Club.

02/06/2021 we had a down day….. well, as much as the Tedder’s have down days ….. in the evening we drove down at low tide to watch the Pearling Lugger and the camels along cable beach as the sun set.

03/06/2021 we drove out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm for a tour. We had an excellent guide who covered the process from birth to death of an oyster. Very interesting. Nothing goes to waste. But boy, are the pearls expensive! The day ended with a wander around the weekly market at town beach.

On our last full day we drove to the southern most beach of Broome (Cable and Town being the other two) called Riddell. The tide was going out so there were lots of rock pools to investigate and hermit crabs to annoy!

We have absolutely loved our time in Broome. Another reason we love WA.

Tomorrow (05/06/2021) we head north to the Dampier Peninsula. A remote part of WA which is slowly getting more accessible as the tar road is just about to be completed. We are staying a week at Banana Well which will allow several day trips to Cape Leveque, Kooljaman and Cygnet Bay.

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 😄.

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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.

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On 13/05/2021 it was a short drive from Coral Bay to Exmouth (the north of Ningaloo Reef). After a quick set up we investigated the town and then went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant. The seafood we’ve had since we arrived on the WA coast has been amazing. I had the seafood curry and Paul, the seafood gumbo. Wow, best dishes we’ve had for ages consisting of soft shell crab, prawns, mussels and snapper.

On 14/05/2021, Paul got up early for a dive on the Exmouth Navy pier, one of the top 10 best shore based dives in the world. He was not disappointed seeing 6 sleeping white tipped reef sharks, shoals of big eyed Trevally and Snapper, moray eels, many big Cod and a 300kg, 2m long Grouper, known as BFG (big fat grouper), who hangs around the divers keen for attention. Due to onshore winds there were many Red Jellyfish on the surface which made the entry and exit from the dive more interesting. They are not poisonous but give a nasty sting (hoping they bugger off soon).

Bit of history…. The town of Exmouth was constructed in 1964 at the same time as the Harold E. Holt naval communications station to provide support to the base and to house dependent families of U.S. Navy personnel. The U.S. turned over control of the station to Australia in 1999 and withdrew all its personnel. It is the largest VLF (Very low frequency) installation in Southern Hemisphere used for communicating with submarines.

On 15/05/2021 we went on a coral viewing and snorkel tour to the other side of the North West Cape. We were picked up from the caravan park and driven to Tantabiddi boat ramp. Great knowledgeable crew who showed us lots of different coral and fish including 3 sleeping white tipped reef sharks. Very enjoyable snorkel. Ningaloo Reef is an incredible ‘bridge’ reef (a new term to us but means it is close to land so easy access. However, that brings other issues as it is closer to humans to ruin it! Presently it is very healthy with little bleaching. Hopefully it will stay that way.

We couldn’t understand the number of termite mounds but no trees to eat. Apparently, they drag plant roots into the mound and eat the fungi that grows on the roots. The mound has chambers that keep the temp at a constant 28c. The petentie lizard (4th largest in the world) lays their eggs in the mounds as it’s a perfect incubator. You gotta love nature!

In the evening we drove to Charles Knife Canyon in the North West Cape National Park (NP) to watch the sunset with a drink. Had we realized how amazing the NP was we’d have gone earlier to spend more time exploring. The drive and views of the canyon was incredible. After the sunset we drove back encountering a kangaroo. I wish they would stay off the roads 🤣.

On 16/05/2021, Paul had a full day to see the whale sharks. My sea legs are not good enough 😢. So I had a quiet day catching up on chores and some reading. Lovely!

Paul is a happy boy with good weather, not much swell and 6 different whale sharks all cruising slowly and happy to be filmed. A first swim with whale sharks. They are the largest fish in the sea. Locally between 3-9 meters in length. Not much is known about life cycle because once they reach 30 years of age they live at depths of up to 700m. Another fun fact is that Whale Sharks are negatively buoyant so when they want to descend, they just stop swimming and eerily sink (very beautiful to watch).

On 17/05/2021, our last day in Exmouth, we went on the Yardie Creek cruise. Good fun with a very knowledgeable guide showing us osprey, rock wallabies, mangroves and egrets to name a few.

On the way back we saw a very rough looking dingo before lunch at Kurrajong beach. Too many red jellyfish for a last snorkel but we’re very happy with our Ningaloo experiences.

We have loved our 5 night stay in Exmouth. Amazing diving, snorkeling and scenery. We could have stayed longer. On 18/05/2021 we start heading east inland for a week. Firstly at a station stay, Cheela Plains.

Another short drive up the coast to the southern tip of Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay. We arrived on 10/05/2021, set up and went for a snorkel. Haven’t seen so many people on a beach for a long time but the bay is huge so we never encountered anyone in the water. As we were putting fins on in the shallows huge fish were circling us and it only got better. The coral was lovely with a huge variety and abundance of fish in about 4 metres of water.

On 11/05/2021 Paul went on a dive to see manta ray. First time and so close! He also saw: 4 grey reef sharks, 2 turtles and a parrot fish in a coral bomie. And watched a shark from 2m away, on a cleaning station, with her mouth wide open having her teeth cleaned by very brave and fast cleaner wrasse.

After the manta experience, we drove on a 4wd sand road south to Five Fingers reef for a beautiful shore based snorkel in less than 2m water with good visibility. My favourite fish are the tiny iridescent blue fish which hide on the coral making it seem blue and as the fish scatter the coral seems to open up like flower.

On 12/05/2021 we went on a snorkel trip. Firstly, to a gap between the outer and inner reef called Ashan Cutting and then to the inner reef. The reef is amazing but does not have as much colour as tropical reefs as it’s sub tropical and so photosynthesis is not as active as in tropical waters such as the Great Barrier Reef.

On 13/05/2021 we head further north to Exmouth on the top of Ningaloo for more diving and snorkeling.

On 08/05/2021 after an easy drive from Denham we arrived in Carnarvon. As soon as we arrived we visited the Space and Science museum which is on the site of the NASA tracking station operational between 1964 and 1975. I’m glad we went but it’s a shame that the facility was dismantled on closure so the history has been lost.

Carnarvon is protected by 2 islands (Babbage and Whitlock) which we drove across but unfortunately the one mile jetty has been closed due to storm damage.

The next morning (09/05/2021) we drove to the ‘aquarium’, a coral filled lagoon. The lagoon was awash (excuse the pun) with fish (Paul was told a tiger shark was spotted the day before. I said I’d have rather heard that after the snorkel 🤣). There was a strong current so it was a drift snorkel. Beautiful. We forgot to take the go pro…..Our next stop was the Quobba blowhole. Great fun to watch. Amazing coastline with huge waves.

On the way back to Carnarvon, we drove the ‘fruit loop’, an area of market gardening: bananas, grapes, avos, grapefruit etc etc, in fact everything you can think of. It was good seeing some agriculture as we’d not seen any for a while on our recent travels. Lastly a walk along the Fascine boardwalk bordering the Gascoyne river estuary which is bursting its banks after the recent rains.

A very short but enjoyable time in Carnarvon a lovely town with lots to see and do. We’re all stocked up as tomorrow (10/05/2021) we head to the southern end of the Ningaloo reef (Coral bay).

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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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