School day

We worked hard on our schoolwork most of the day today.  Nadine did her maths and Haiku poems, Dom wrote his book summary and struggled with fractions, Joseph fiddled with his English and SOSE and Art, and Oskar read and wrote and worked out his Australian currency.

It started off a blowy, windy day but that eased in the afternoon.  So we headed off late to Turqoise bay for some more snorkeling,  It was pretty warm in the water and nice and calm, so everyone stayed in longer than usual, and Nadine and Grant even came out again with me so I wouldn't be too scared on my own.

Nadine and I saw an octopus this time.  It was sitting on a rock and looked like a rock, except when we swam over it Nadine noticed that it sucked itself down rely small and turned white.  She pointed it out to me.  She was very nice "I always see more stuff when I'm out with you mum.".

The octopus looked very soft and squishy, like a balloon.  I didn't see it's legs.

Grant saw a big lobster with Oskar.  Joseph and Dom saw lots of starfish - orange, black and red.

On the way back to the caravan park we stopped at the big sand dune, which is just that - an enormous bare sand dune.  Oskar is a fairly determined person, and when he wants something he just sets about getting it.  The same is true for when he doesn't want something.  All the way back from the beach to the sand dune he said over and over again, "I don't want to go to the big sand dune!". he tried various styles - slow, loud, mournful, angry, crying.  He staged an Oskar protest to get us to drive right past the dune and home, because he was hungry and cold.

Well, we stopped anyway.  We found him a dry shirt of Grant's and he trod up the sand dune, arms folded across his chest, face a storm cloud.  About half way up he turned around and I thought he was heading back to sulk in the car when suddenly his face erupted into a look of glee and his arms flung wide as he jumped down the last few metres of sheer sand dune.

That was the end of the Oskar protest and he ran up and down, leaping into the air with the others.  Even Cooper climbed up and down the nearly vertical sides.  Nadine rolled down.

Back in the car I asked Oskar "how was that?"
"Alright." he said.
He doesn't like to give away too much.

Nadine has discovered a wobbly tooth.  She keeps telling us, "I have a wobbly tooth.". This is her fifth one.

Dinner was lentils, pasta and tinned veggies.  We're running out of fresh veg even though we've been to the shop a few times, because it is just so expensive here.  I'll have to get some though.  Can't live on tinned peas and carrots forever.  I think we have a tin of corned beef left to eat...don't think that will go down well...we'll see what I can do to disguise it.

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Vicki

Day of rest

Off to church today.  We went to the Exmouth Christian Fellowship, who met in a little building in town, and held Sunday school in the children care centre across the road.  They filled the little building and there were heaps of kids.  They had a fantastic singing time with many of the songs written by the lady who led the worship and played the keyboard.  I really felt God present in their worship.

After church we went on a hunt for wooden clothes pegs.  Oskar found a wooden clothes peg in our collection and turned it into an aeroplane with some glue and paddlepop sticks.  So then all the kids got into it, so we needed some more wooden clothes pegs.  We tried IGA and the newsagents that also doubled as a toyworld agent to no avail.  We finally tracked some down at the home hardware down the road and bought their final two packets.  I think that was all the stores in Exmouth.  We now have a large fleet of planes.  We probably should have bought some more matches too, because we're now nearly out of them.

We sat at the beach at Exmouth for a bit using the phone and Internet, and watched a turtle swimming past up the shallows, sticking his head out for breath every now and then.

I showed the kids the photos I had sorted out last night, and Joseph said it looks a lot better when you are not so hot.  He said it's been a good trip, which was lovely to hear.

We went back to the beach in the evening, looking at the turtles and hunting for crabs.  Didn't see any crabs, and the turtles were all just sitting in the shallows still, so we came home and went to bed.

Oskar's beach drawing

Sand coloured rocks....

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Vicki

Snorkeling

We went snorkeling at "Lakeside" today.  After parking we walked 500 meters south along the beach and settled ourselves there.  We saw lots of different fish this time.  Joseph saw a reef shark, and decided they would be nice to hug.  Dom saw lots of sting rays and large parrot fish, and I saw a huge fish, about a metre long but I have no idea what it was, it was just BIG.  The water was pretty cold, though, and there was a strong current so no one lasted long.  

I enjoy the snorkeling, but it is a bit of an adrenaline rush because I am usually so scared!  First there's the current - you have to watch you don't get washed out to sea, or washed against rocks all the time;  then there's the animals themselves - sharks, sting rays, cone shells, stone fish, blue ringed octopus to name a few; next -  you can't really see that far around you - who knows what is just up ahead or swimming your way?  Water that looks nice and clear from the beach isn't when you get in.  One of the things that happens while you are floating along with your head under the water is a big school of fish swims past you going the other direction.  I ask myself every time "Why are they doing that? What is chasing them this way?  And how big is it?  Very nerve wracking.

However, saying all that, I think this might be one of the safest areas to snorkel, because the reef forms a barrier against the rest of the ocean.  I don't know how people can dive down deep into the sea and not die of fright...

After lunch it was a boy computer game afternoon, while I had a nap, which seems a bit strange when we're in such a nice spot, but everyone needs a rest sometime, and the boys had a great time.

About four 4WDs and a 4WD bus full of aboriginal men turned up this afternoon.  They are from around Newman and are here for a holiday.   Tonight they put up a big screen in their area of the park and watched Pirates of the Caribbean part 4.  Joseph tried to act like a tree and watch it.

I spent tonight sorting through the photos I've taken, trying to get some ready to put up on the blog.
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Vicki

Exmouth

A bit of a howling gale has come up this morning, and the sunburn on the back of my legs is stinging, so I don't really think the beach is the place for me today.

It was a bit quieter in our van last night.  We were left with Cooper once everyone moved out to the tent.  Funny how quiet it can get when there's just three of us.

What with the sunburn and the wind, we decided to drive around to Exmouth this morning and do some grocery shopping.  We drove up to the lighthouse again to see the view in the daylight.  We looked down on the thirteen antenna on the other side of the range, looking like a weird science fiction spectacle.

We met a geologist and electrical engineer up on top of the range  who said the antenna can't send signals through the salt water so can't signal submarines unless the sub has  an antenna above the water, but they do send messages to naval ships.  He is from Canada and studied these antenna for his masters degree or something.  He said there are only a few installations like this in the world. He is uniquely qualified in his field and works from Perth designing seismic equipment for the mining industry here.  His wife is from the gold coast and they have two small kids.

Next we drove in to Exmouth and poked around a camping store.  The owner chatted to us about fishing, and told us all about the antenna too.  He said they could talk to submarines under the north pole.  He also said the American's used to fly the personnel in with their cars, fuel and everything.  They built the airstrip at Exmouth and it used to be listed as an emergency landing place for the space shuttle when the space program was still running. 

Not sure how much of a fisherman story teller he was.

On the hunt for a few groceries we went into the centre of Exmouth. It's not very big, but there were two grocery stores, both IGAs, on opposite sides of the mall.  One was Exmouth IGA, and the other was Ningaloo IGA express.  I'm not sure what the difference was, but they were both very expensive.  We didn't buy much.

Today is the Queen's birthday public holiday here in Western Australia.  She is visiting Perth today for CHOGM, so they shifted the day back from Monday.  It got everyone out of the city so they could better protect the Queen.  She flies out tonight.  We did some school work anyway!  We had our holiday earlier in the year.

Later today we again headed off to Trisel beach to visit the resting green turtles.  We saw a lot again, and Grant and the kids and I enjoyed the walk along the beach at the end of the day.  Joseph encouraged everyone to collect the grass balls out of the bushes on the dunes and let the wind blow them down the beach.  One hopped and jumped it's way over a whole expanse of smooth rocks.  It looked like it was alive.

Cool again tonight.  23 degrees c at the dinner table.  Everyone has put on jumpers.  It's 17 degrees below what we were experiencing last week.

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Vicki

Fish and things

I think I was pretty nervous the whole time I was snorkeling,trying hard not to think of sharks,  but it was still lots of fun.  I was in so long I managed to get sunburned on the back of my knees. Mixing this with a sandy bed is a bit painful!

We saw lots of fish - probably not like on an outer reef- but cool nonetheless. Parrot fish, butterfly fish, blue fish, orange fish, purple fish, a flute nosed fish poking his nose into the coral, stingrays doing their creepy crawly job over the bottom, a few green turtles eating, sea cucumbers, a red and white patterned eel and some big fish yawning.  It was amazing.  I can't believe how many diffent fish are out there .

Cooper had a good time playing in the sand, and after a brief snorkel Oskar joined him digging a big fort.  The tide was coming in and it wan't long before their big sandcastle was back to flat beach.  So they moved up the beach and went to digging deep holes instead.

Cooper grew braver as the morning went on and once, while I was talking to a couple from Cornwall, I looked over to see him happily walking through the waist deep clear water, cooling down I guess.  I quickly got down there, however, because the sea bed starts off nice and shallow, but drops away pretty quickly!

This couple have been here four times, and the first time the coral was beautiful and colorful.  but since then there have been a few cyclones which have destroyed a lot of the coral.  They thought it was starting to grow back on this visit though.  Although a lot of it was brown, we saw some big blue corals and yellow and green.

There are beaches all up the coast here, but the one we went to, called Turqoise Bay, was a reef bordered lagoon and pretty calm for us to swim in.  The waves broke out over the reef, which also hopefully kept nasty sharks on the other side too.  On the other side of the reef the ocean bed drops away down to the continental shelf.(?). It's supposed to be pretty deep out there, so I was happy where I was.  I find the sea very scary.

A wind picked up after a bit and the water was a bit choppier.  I wouldn't like to snorkel if the water was really rough, your snorkel would fill up all the time.

Everyone enjoyed the snorkeling, although it got a bit cold for Joseph and Oskar.  Dominic really enjoyed seeing the cone shells sitting up on their rocks, waiting to shoot you with their poison darts.  Not sure about that one, but he assures me it's true.

We stopped at the visitor centre on the way home and learnt all about whale sharks that visit the area every year, massive blue spotty fish with gynormous mouths that live on plankton.  People come to swim with them every year.   They grow huge.

There is very little known about whale sharks, except they can dive down to 1500m.  They have young that hatch inside the mother's body, but we don't really see whale pups under about 2 or 3m long.  No one knows where their breeding grounds and nursery are, so they are having trouble rescuing them...Might be an interesting field for someone to study.

We watched a great video about life under the sea in the area.  A group of jelly fish can be called a smack....probably the sound they make when dropped from a great height.  The turtles like to eat the lion's mane jellyfish, who's tentacles can stretch out 30 meters in the sea.  That doesn't seem to bother the turtles, though, who chomp into the jellyfish, tentacles and all.  The jelly fish just kept swimming while it was being eaten bit by bit...  they look very much like a plastic bag floating in the water, and many turtles die from mistakenly eating plastic bags.

Grant particularly liked the manta ray. (he was asleep for the rest of the video). Their name comes from the spanish word for blanket, and they  look like a huge black and white sting ray. They have no sting, and a huge mouth like the whale shark.  They live on plankton, unlike a stingray which sifts through the sand on the bottom of the ocean.  Manta rays are supposed to have a relatively large brain mass and are thought to be quite intelligent. We pictured all the animals of the sea coming to the manta ray for advice.  The lady running the caravan park once jumped in the water with a whole pile of manta rays who were frolicking, as they do at certain times of year, and got the biggest fright when one swam right up to her at speed, then swerved up, just touching her chest lightly.  It might have confused her for some plankton.

Apparently they used to use Exmouth as a centre of operations for whaling, until the population of humpbacks dropped to three percent and they became protected.  Now it's a national park.  Funny how things change.

After our educational hour at the visitor centre, we headed back for lunch and school work.  We passed the emu family that seems to come to the entrance to the caravan park every day, to drink from the water tanks set up there.  There are seven teenagers.

The caravan park we're staying at is not a four star park. Not even rated.    The signs are faded and some of the maintenance is a bit relaxed.  Not that I'm complaining, it just explains my fear in the shower the other day.  I was in a small cubicle,  with peeling paint, rusty hooks and support beams, and slightly yellowed tiles.  I'd spent some time adjusting the water, first too hot, then too cold, then too hot, etc etc.  I'd finally gotten in when suddenly, the water pressure went up, as it does in caravan parks,  and water started squirting everywhere, out the top of the shower rose, all over the walls.  I was a bit worried the whole fitting would fire from the wall and hit me in the head, so I quickly turned all the taps  down, and began my whole adjusting routine again.  Then the water pressure went down....

It's still a lovely place to stay and we're having a great time.  Grant finally put up the big tent yesterday, the one we've been carrying on the top of our car the whole way and haven't got down once.  Well, he pulled everything off the roof rack as we're staying for a week, and now our campsite includes the big tent, the big white table, the camp kitchen...it feels very crowded.  We're talking about shipping some stuff back.  You certainly get used to living with less.

So the children have decided to sleep in the big tent tonight instead of the caravan, and have carried their blankets and pillows out there.  With the wind that's picked up,though, it's getting a bit cooler, so we'll see how we go.  Joseph is making very clear rules about who can sleep where in the tent.  He likes his own space.

I haven't mentioned this one before...and now I think we are far enough away for no connections to be made...We were swimming in a waterhole when Cooper suddenly announced that he needed the loo.  There weren't many options, short of walking a long way to the drop toilet, and around the water hole were cliffs of rock with people sitting everywhere.  The water was running in and out, and one little three year old's pee couldn't make that much of a difference, so I told him just to go in the water. A look of concentration later and he was happy.

After we'd all cooled off and got out and dried ourselves, Joseph announced to me "I pee'd in there." 
I didn't have time to answer before Oskar piped up with "me too!" 
Then Dominic reported "me too!" and Nadine quietly "me too.". 
I was just about to tell them about Cooper, when Grant cleared his throat.  "yes Grant?"
"I did too.".
Well, that was almost a full house.  
I didn't.  Just so you know!

A little later Joseph read out of the animal records book about some south american worm that enters your body if you pee in the water.  Someone also told me that you're more likely to be attacked by a shark if you regularly use your wetsuit as a loo.  It certainly prevented Grant from relaxing in Turqoise bay today.

Just before sunset today, Cooper and I headed off to Trisel beach where we were told the female turtles come to rest during the mating season, which is now.

As we walked up the beach we passed about twenty turtles, just at the edge of the water, resting on the sand while the waves washed over them.  From a distance they looked  like rocks.  I think the males might have discovered their secret hideaway, however, because there were a few "pairs".  One turtle would swim up to the other, go to great effort to climb up on her shell,not an easy job because their shells are so high and sitting out of the water, then hold on with his flippers for dear life.  Because it was so shallow and the waves were washing over them, a few became top heavy and toppled over, but that male turtle just didn't let go, and there were flippers flapping and water splashing until they were righted again.  Good thing turtles can hold their breath for such a long time!  I'm amazed turtles manage to have any young at all.

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Vicki

On the Cape

We got started slowly this morning, and headed up to five mile beach, where we snorkeled and played in the sand.  

The kids enjoyed the snorkeling, although I think there might be better beaches around here to try.  They found some spiky grass balls that roll along in the wind and had races down the track leading out to the road.  They've named them, but already the balls have started to fall apart, so I hope they are not too disappointed when their new pets decompose.

On the way back to our van we passed kangaroos, some emus, and a very emaciated horse.  Hope he's alright.

We had lunch, did some school work, then swam in the pool.

After dinner we went in search of Internet and phone connection so we could call Katie.  We ended up on top of the tip of the range, where the old disused lighthouse is, in the dark.  We looked out over the lights of Exmouth in the distance, and the big construction of antennas that we'd passed on our way in yesterday.  At night each antenna is  lit up with rows of red lights running up into the sky.  Some of the antenna are almost 400 metres high and there are about 13 altogether.  At first we couldn't work out what it was and put forward theories of space ship landing pad, or rocket launch site.  but according to the internet, it is a naval installation of a hexagonal configuration of antennas designed to communicate with submarines.  Called the Harold E Holt communication station, it was first set up by the Americans to exclusively communicate with their subs, but after protests by the Australian public in the 1970s involving flying the Eureka flag, among other things, it is now a jointly managed site.  (It transmits 1 megawatt of vlf radio which i think is incredible - Grant)I think that's right.  It looks very mysterious anyway.  For those who don't know, Harold Holt was a prime minister of Australia who disappeared into the ocean one day and was never seen again. A very appropriate name for the naval station.

It was a late night, after chatting and surfing the web, and on the way home Cooper and Oskar fell asleep.  The camp ground was dark and quiet when we arrived so we quietly got ourselves to bed.
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Vicki

Cape Range

Today we travelled down the coast 590 km and onto Cape Range, where there is the  Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Marine Park.   We are staying at the Yardie Homestead caravan park.  We're not right on the beach - you stay at the national park to do that and people line up at the gate from 7am to get a spot.  We decided not to bother,  we're sheltered from the wind should it decide to pick up and we have flushing toilets, which are a bonus.  Tomorrow we are going out to the beach, where the turtles are swimming and laying their eggs.  Apparently there are clown fish to snorkel with and reef sharks.  yay.

Everything packed away nicely this morning.  Our clean up yesterday makes everything feel better.  We said good bye to our neighbours, and goodbye to the Sturt Desert peas outside the fence on the road, and drove off with our newly sprung car looking much better than when we'd driven in.

As we travelled further from Karratha, the traffic eased and we realized how busy it had been around there.  Lots of mining trucks and cars zipping to and from the port and the mines and the gas plant.

We drove through more red dirt and spinifex and scrubby bushes.  often there were little whirl winds on the horizon, with red dirt spiralling up high in the sky.  A few times the whirl wind was throwing dried spinifex up into the air in rolling tosses almost like a juggler, and once we drove through a whirl wind and were buffeted around for a second or two.

 I spent most of the drive reading Joseph and Dominic their science books.  Dominic is learning about inventions and technology. I'm not sure how many of the experiments he'll get done, but he enjoys finding out about it and it's something we can do in the car.  Joseph is doing chemistry this term, and I want him to read through the book Dominic used last term which was very interesting.  it was quite a battle to get them to listen long enough and well enough to actually understand what I was reading.  Never mind, Dominic enjoyed answering the questions for Joseph - shows how much he took in from last term.

An interesting thing about reading  both books at the same time was that we realized the action of Radioactivity was discovered and named by the Curies about the same year that Guglielmo Marconi  invented the radio.  I wonder which one was named first, and whether the two have any connection (apart from the very obvious Latin root...)

We can't believe just how remote it is in this part of WA and the other bits we've been visiting since Darwin.  Today it was about 250km between petrol stations, and the internet and phone connections were rare.  

Driving out onto the cape, we had to avoid numerous sheep, which we haven't seen before on this trip, who loved to run across the road just in front of our car.  They seemed to enjoy grazing between the large termite mounds with their lambs.   We passed one emu trying to blend in with a bush, and doing a very good job of it, and another emu with his four or five teenage sons (not sure if any of them were guys or girls, but you get the idea) running away around a tree.  Joseph said they kept bobbing their heads, trying to hide in the ground.  We also passed a snake playing dead in the middle of the road...

We passed the air force base and drove into the main town, Exmouth, which has a lot of new canals built and new fancy houses around the canals.  The big difference between them and, say, Sanctuary cove on the Gold Coast is these houses are all built of corrugated iron.  Colourbond.  I have never seen so many colourbond houses as in WA.  What amazes me is that they look so good.

The water seemed a much darker blue than at Broome or 80 Mile Beach, and I can't wait to go out and see the turtles tomorrow.  Hopefully the sky is clear and the water is too, because if it's murky....

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Vicki

Dampier and Liqud Natural Gas

Our van seems a lot more ship shape after a morning of sweeping and packing things away and throwing things away.  It was starting to get tricky to move in the jumble that we had.  Joseph and Dominic diligently beavered away at their school work and Nadine and Oskar and Cooper played with the little boy beside us.  I think it was nice for them all to have someone to play with so I left them to it.

It's been very warm here the last few days, with today having a top of 37degrees c, (it got to 38 in the caravan) with a minimum overnight of 22.  That is quite a lot hotter than Brisbane at the moment, and it's hard to imagine everyone at home still in jumpers with blankets on at night.

Later this afternoon we headed off to the Woodside Visitor Information Centre, between Karratha and Dampier.  On either side of the road leading in to the centre are big piles of red rocks, that look like they have been dumped there after being dug out of a mine.  I asked the lady at the information centre, and she assured me they were natural, and noone had put them there like that.  They are the wierdest thing.

This information centre tells about the liquid natural gas (LNG) project offshore from Karratha that began in the 1980s and is still growing to be a huge producer of natural gas in the world market.  One sign said the growth of the project in the next seven years will be bigger than the growth from the last 40 years.  There are currently three offshore rigs with pipes on the ocean floor in to a gas processing plant.  Two of the rigs house about 150 people each, the third is remotely operated and is not normally manned (nnm), which sounded like a good idea to me.

There were displays on the wall showing how the gas is collected, which rocks release the gas and which stop it from coming to the surface.  There were models of the different off shore rigs and the boats they use to ship the gas overseas.  They supply gas to Korea, Japan and China, as far as I could tell from the signs, but there are probably others as well.

The gas processing plant had some very tall towers to one side which often let off huge tongues of flame, like large birthday candles.  The optimization engineer that we met, who was hugely enthusiastic, said they were a safety mechanism designed to burn off any gas that was released to reduce pressure in the plant.  You weren't allowed within 160 meters of the towers.

The big gas tanks they had at that facility were mostly buried in dirt, to help insulate them and keep them at the 160 degrees below zero they needed, but also to stop the tanks from flipping over, which he said was practically impossible.  But at the time this plant was built, there were concerns storing gas from different drills in the one storage tank might cause the different densities of gas to layer and flip the tank.  All very interesting.

The hospital in Karratha is also mostly hidden by dirt banks up against the outside walls.  I assume it is to insulate it from the heat, but it makes the whole place look like a bomb shelter.

Up the road a bit further we drove through the town of Dampier and stopped at the statue of Red Dog, a wandering dog who lived in the area from 1971 to 1979.  He was a bit of a local legend, catching lifts with people to travel down to Perth and out to Karijini (Tom Price, the town is known as).  There is a movie made about him.

At the same spot were some information boards about the area, and how William Dampier was the first European to visit, about a hundred years before Captain James Cook "discovered" the east coast.  he was, according to the board, a bit of a pirate with permission from the British Parliament to do nasty things to any Spanish ships or settlements they cane across.   Apparently the flies really bothered them when they visited the area then, so not much has changed there!  I call them glue flies - you wave your hand ifront of your face to get them out of your nose or off your eyes, and they don't even move.  I'm sure I've accidentally breathed a few up my nose.  last night I cooked mince outside in the electric frypan, and the air was thick with them.  We needed a permanent fly guard to protect our dinner.

Also about Dampier, he wrote diaries (hence the info about the flies) which were used a lot by the guy who wrote Gulliver's travels.  Lillilput may have been based on the west coast of Australia...

Dampier and Karratha are very new towns.  Both have arisen from the iron ore mining boom in the 1960s and the gas mining boom from the 1980s.  Karratha itself was designed purely to house workers in the mining and construction industries that were building the infrastructure for the mining of iron ore, and the whole area was mainly populated by single guys in the 1970s.  

There is a causeway joining the two towns, because Dampier and it's port are actually built on an island, and on either side of the causeway are the salt evaporation lakes.  

The other thing we saw this afternoon was a LONG train, with 230 carriages (2.4km long) loaded with iron ore, driving out the the port at Dampier.  It's a bit of a worry how much dirt we dig up and ship to other countries.

Tomorrow we plan to drive down to Exmouth and camp there.  Grant said we have to be up and away early....we'll see how that goes.  I have really enjoyed the relatively bug free and dirt free caravan park...
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Vicki

Sunday Rest Day

A slow start this morning, but we toddled off to church at Resource City Church, a little late, but there nevertheless.  Sunday school was about Christmas, and Nadine, Oskar and Cooper doubled the class.  A testimony during the service was another encouragement to read the bible each day and pay attention to the instructions, otherwise, like an ikea chair, we might put things together wrong.  Seems like I've had that message a few times this trip, maybe God is trying to tell me something.

We spoke to a man afterwards who told us to be careful of sharks as we go down the coast.  He said you're more likely to be taken by a shark in murky water or with cloudy skies.  Didn't know sharks were so selective. Think I might just skip swimming on the beaches after Coral Bay.

We drove out towards Dampier and looked at a gas refinery and the flame at the top of the chimney.  We passed salt lakes evaporating water to leave the salt.  One had cut outs of shark fins and an arm in it.  Another had a green pipe made into the Lochness monster.

Egg and lettuce sandwiches for lunch that were favorably received.  We all huddled inside with the air conditioner running flat out, and it didn't really cool us enough, so we headed off to the shopping centre in the afternoon to beat the heat.

Continued our rage game from last night, I took pity on Joseph and gave him his ten points, and at the end of the game, he, Dominic and I had pretty well the same score.  Grant was about twenty ahead of us, but he must have been a strange phenomenon so we won't worry about his score...

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Vicki

Rest and Rejunvination

Thank you for all the comments on the blog. I read them all and it is very encouraging to know you have been enjoying it!

We are slowly unwinding here in Karratha.  We had a slow day, catching up on some phone calls and doing some schoolwork in the morning.  Then a bit of a swim and a chat with the neighbors.  

There is a young couple from Victoria next to us.  They have been on the road for seven months with their three children, Finley 7, Dakota 5, and Indigo 2. They sold their house and Lauren and her husband have been working their way through the centre and around the top, stopping at much the same places we have been, while he works as an in store marketer for Woolworths.  I have a feeling I saw him in Port Hedland while I was there grocery shopping the other day.

Lauren is very organized and has a very tidy van, I can't seem to escape from my feelings of inferiority when it comes to housekeeping and child raising!    I certainly am always watching people who seem to have it all together to work out how they do it.  Proverbs had a good verse for me the other day...Proverbs 12:24 The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work.  

Lauren said they returned home after a few months to see her sister who had just had a baby, and cleared out the van of all the extra stuff she'd brought that she'd thought they couldn't do without.  I feel a bit the same.  Might have to post some things home.

By this afternoon her children and ours were having a good time together.  Nadine particularly enjoyed playing with someone who liked gobblet (a board game a bit like noughts and crosses.)  We might stay a few more days and enjoy the company.

Grant got stuck into the van and the car today, greasing the leaf spring bushes on the van, and replacing the rear springs in the car.  Looked like hard work and he broke his caravan jack on the car, but Praise the Lord it all went pretty easily, with no accidents.  There is a man across from us working on a huge power boat - he had one of the two outboards apart today repairing it- and he lent Grant a jack and some other things to help.

Dominic is certainly in the wars.  He and Jo were playing boy-style tiggy in the playground next door, and Dominic managed to run straight into one of the poles holding up the shade cover.  Donged himself on the knee and the head.  When Joseph called out to me, Dom was lying on the ground groaning!  He has quite an egg and complains that his knee is very sore.  Wish I had brought some arnica!  But we used a hot compress tonight and will see how it's going in the morning.

After dinner, Grant, Dominic, Joseph and I played a card game called rage.  For this game you have to predict how many 'tricks' you will win for each round, and then your score is determined on whether you get what you said or not.

Well, we had a good time playing.  Dominic concentrated early on and his score kept climbing.  Grant concentrated and slowed the whole game to a halt. Joseph  was busy reading us about three toed sloths and other weird animals, and towards the end was trailing by a fair way.  For the last hand that he played, he told me that if he said one trick, he really meant zero, because that's what kept happening to him.  So he predicted one trick, and I wasn't sure what to write, so I checked..."what do you want me to write, Jo?"
"One," he said, "hear that cards, one!!!!"
So we played the hand, and Joseph didn't win any.  He was very excited, "yay, I got none!"
"But Joseph," I said, "I've got you down as one"
There was a very involved discussion after that, including Grant trying to illustrate to Joseph the problems involved with telling the McDonald's employee that if you order ten burgers you really mean one....

He never really got it.  But then again, neither did we.

On his way to bed he was still muttering "I want my ten points."

-----
Vicki

karratha

I am so glad that someone invented washing machines, and I am so grateful for cement under the washing lines so that I can be clean while hanging out the clean washing.

We are in Karratha, a smallish town on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia.  We arrived this afternoon and after some discussion, are staying in the Big 4 caravan park, with clean toilets, showers, a pool and a playground right next to our camp site.  Cooper is sorted!

Our first few hours were spent scrubbing children.  I washed my hair three times and used soap and a nail brush on my feet to get rid of the red dirt.  I sent Jospeh back into the bathroom to do his feet after his shower, because he still looked an unusual reddish brown from the knees down - not sun tan!

We've washed two loads of washing, and after tring to hand wash clothes for a family of seven, it was heaven.

Then, because we've eaten pretty well everything in the van, we went for MacDonald's for dinner (ugh) and a grocery shop.  Nadine kept telling me we had enough food now and should stop.  I think she was embarrassed at the size of the trolley load of food.

I found some potato chips on special - not sure if they tried these flavors in Coles in Queensland.  They had Sunday Roast flavour, Pizza flavor, and Meat Pie and sauce flavor....gee, I wonder why they were reduced to such a low price?  

Now everyone is fed and looking forward to real milk on their breakfast, clean (well, relatively) and asleep.

This morning our neighbors were up and away by 6am.  These bush travelers are unreal the hours they keep.  They would be up and away before 7, back again from their walk before lunch, dinner before dark, and asleep in bed by 8pm.  I came back from the loo about 7pm last night and the campground was silent and pitch black.  

We, on the other hand, amble along, eating our breakfast and slowly packing the van, playing with milk bottles in the creek, swimming in the river, and generally enjoying the lovely campground.  We managed to be all ready by about 11 am then drove back to the main road and up along the Roebourne Wittenoom Road through the National Park to Python Pool.  We had another swim there below the towering rock cliffs with hundreds of little spotty fish, then back into the car and on to Karratha.

Everyone was pretty cranky because we hadn't had much to eat.  A good learning experience I guess - not sure if it's a learning experience for the kids or the parents!  We'd had cereal and bacon and eggs for breakfast, and the last crackers and tinned tuna for lunch.  So it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We were driving through the red rocky landscape with spinifex again, it is so bare.

We passed Pyramid Station, with a free metal water cooler at the front boundary.  Joseph got out, looking forward to a nice cold drink, but  it was broken.

A little further on we reached the t- intersection and turned onto the Great Northern Highway.  Oh bliss, bitumen.  And lots and lots of other cars.

We drove through Roebourne which had a few cute brown brick buildings with white edging as you turned in, but that was about all.  There was nowhere to stay, so we drove on to Karratha, where people fly in and out to work in the oil and mining industry.  It's also very expensive here.

So we're back in the 'city' and it's such a relief.  Grant and I are amazed that some people have been traveling for a year with only an esky..I'm just not cut from the same cloth.

We're looking forward to a few days unwinding before we head off again. 
-----
Vicki

Crossing Pool

It's still hot here at Crossing pool, and there are flies and red dirt, but we are camped right beside the river and can go for a swim and cool off whenever we like.  It makes a huge difference.

Some school work this morning.  Very reluctant students, but we are getting there slowly.

Halfway through the morning a monitor lizard wandered past our van.  He's a little goanna, and we all took a break and watched him lick his way past in the dirt.

Little star finches are flitting around in the reeds on the side of the river, and Corella parrots (like a sulphur crested cockatoo, but no crest) are screeching in the trees overhead.  It is a lovely place.

Today we had pancakes, a little cereal, UHT milk and some tinned peaches for breakfast, then tinned spaghetti or canned tuna on rye crackers with cucumber for lunch, pikelets for afternoon tea, and tuna casserole for dinner.  We've eaten so much flour we won't be able to go to the loo for a week.  We have one litre of UHT left, but a bit of powdered milk, no bread, no fresh veg or fruit....we're really camping now!  It's been tinned peas and carrot or dehydrated peas and corn for a few nights now.  Certainly saves a lot of time in vegetable peeling and chopping!  We're planning on heading to Karratha tomorrow, a mining town on the coast, so we should be able to stock up there.  Don't think we'll get scurvy just yet.

Dominic and Joseph are enjoying the shallow rapids at one end of the camp ground, and made boats out of paper and plastic bottles to float down.  Nadine and Oskar love to chase them down on the bank.  They've come back a few times today soaking wet from head to toe.

Late this afternoon we drove back over near the visitor centre and swam in "deep reach", a stretch of the Fortescue River that is wide, deep and beautiful to swim in.  Grant and Joseph and Dominic swam across to the other side and back, while Nadine and Oskar jumped in from the edge.  There was a kangaroo watching us for a bit - they are sometimes spooky, kangaroos.  The water here is a little warmer than where we're camping because it has a spring deep under the river feeding it.

The sign at the waterhole said this was where the rainbow serpent lived and he swallowed two boys for killing and eating a parrot.  I guess this is a different rainbow serpent from the one who lives in Kakadu.  But they both have to do with water and killing little children.  Very nice.

After our cooling and cleansing dip we drove further up the road to the visitor centre, and walked around the homestead trail next to it to the Jin...... Pool.  The whole path was full of little streams crisscrossing the area, and they were some of the clearest streams I have ever seen.  They looked like mountain springs, but were 27 degrees.  You can't swim in this pool unless you're invited, because it is sacred to the aborigines, but the little boy who lived here when it was still a cattle station did, and he loved it.  His grandmother even planted the water lillies that make it look so lovely...

We've had a lovely few days, this is the nicest camping spot we've had, but we think we'll keep heading out to the coast tomorrow, to catch up with Katie by phone, get some food, and pick up more post that Grant had delivered to Karratha.
-----
Vicki

Millstream Chichester National Park

Packed up and set off this morning.  Joseph was very keen!  We spent a bit of time clearing out the car and making ourselves comfortable again without the litter around our feet.  This National Park asks you to take your rubbish with you, so we have a big black garbage bag of rubbish in the van, waiting for the nearest town.



Circular Pool



We drove by the lookout for circular pool and had a quick look out....that was the pool that we didn't quite make it to on Monday afternoon.  It was very spectacular - sheer cliffs down into a round swimming hole.  A long way down.

We also stopped by the bee covered water tower and filled everything up again.  If anything, today they seemed more angry.  Someone must have upset them.  But we filled up with no incident, so that was good.  Once again I did the honours.

It was quite a drive out to the Munjina Roadhouse, where we filled up with petrol again, and Joseph put a great amount of effort into cleaning squished bugs and red dirt off all our windows.  I looked for some bread to buy, but there was none.  No fresh fruit either.  So we're down to tinned peaches and crackers.  It certainly makes you more creative.

We turned left at the roadhouse and headed off towards Wittenoom, a small town that is known for being shut down because of asbestos mining.  Everyone there kept getting sick so they just told everyone to just go.   It should really be called Wittendoom.  Apparently it only recently appeared again on maps of the area because the government didn't want people coming to see the asbestos site and getting asbestos poisoning themselves.  We passed a large "asbestos area" sign and turned off the aircon and fans.  Bit hot. 

The road was rough red dirt, and Grant got out of the car to plug the vents in the van to keep the dust from sifting over  everything inside.  Suddenly a big truck roared past, leaving the biggest cloud of dust  behind.  I couldn't even see out the windscreen.  After it settled, Grant opened the door of the car and dropped into his seat.  He wasn't completely red, but it was a close thing.

Up the road a bit we picked up some internet and phone connection so stopped for a while in some shade.  Then we continued along the long red stony road for a long way, turning off eventually to the Millstream Chichester National Park.  Along the way we passed through stretches where there were just tree stumps and red dirt on either side of the road.  Not sure what happened there, but it didn't look like a nice place for a picnic.  Then the trees grew taller, the spinifex was joined by a few more plants, and at one point crossing the Fortescue River in the national park, the surrounding trees and bush reminded us of Queensland - thick trees and undergrowth. It was lovely.

This area has year round rivers fed by an underground aquifer, and supports a huge variety of plant and animal life.  The aquifer is filled from runoff from the Hammersley Ranges, and stores a lot of water.

We reached the Visitor Centre, the old homestead from Millstream Station, and found it was open but un-manned.  We looked around at the bark hut on display and the outdoor kitchen, then wandered along a hot red track and found the ranger.  He was south African and very helpful in directing us where to stay and what to do.   Bit more of a drive along the dirt track and we stopped in a lovely, small shady campsite beside the Fortescue river, called Crossing Pool campsite.  It was so nice after the exposed campsites at Karijini.

Our neighbours are the couple I noticed at Cable Beach caravan park in Broome, Gary and Trudy, who stopped to help at the bad road accident on the road to Port Hedland.  They reported that the ambulances made it to the accident, but the injured passenger was very badly hurt and may even be paralysed.  He was flown to Perth Hospital that afternoon, while the driver was taken to Port Hedland Hospital with bad bruising.  We had a nice chat with them, it really is funny who you keep running into!  They have been travelling for 11 months, but are from Perth and are due back in Perth in three weeks.

Everyone had a swim in the beautiful  river , we had some dinner, and then it was time for bed.  Let's try that school work again tomorrow!  I think we forgot about lunch today....
-----
Vicki

Hancock Gorge

We started off today hot and tired, covered in red dust and flies, and a bit cranky to boot.

Joseph and the others were adamant this morning that we had to move on today. "we've had enough!" declared Joseph.  "We want a powered caravan park.  Even better, how about we just go home!" It wasn't working doing the schoolwork in the heat with the flies, so we thought it might be wise to head out towards the coast.

We packed up the campsite, bit by bit.  Clearing off the bed ends, folding away the chairs and sweeping the ants off the floor mat.  Ate our breakfast behind the van, in the shade.  Shade makes a huge difference to the heat, and I'm learning to move to it, not just sit where the chairs are and hope for the best!

Once we were all ready,  we checked with the camp hosts if it would be okay to leave the van for the day while we drove to the other gorges in the park, had a quick look, and headed off this afternoon.  "Sure," they said "just leave us the keys and a cold beer in the fridge.". They get pretty hot out here, too.  Unfortunately we had no cold drinks for them, but they said it was okay anyway.  Nice.

On the way out of this campsite we stopped at the water tank to fill all our water bottles up.  Yesterday on our afternoon walk we really didn't carry enough water, and on a middle of the day hike we wanted to be prepared.  We had water in the caravan that we'd put in at 80 mile beach, but I couldn't drink it.  It was really salty or something and I couldn't swallow.  It must have been bore water, and we'd filtered it before putting it in the van, but it was still yuck.  I was a bit worried that it was so hot and I was struggling to drink enough.  Sunday night Grant had come and filled up some Jerry cans at the water tank and it tasted much better, so here we were.

The water tank is on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and when we arrived the dripping tap had attracted a huge swarm of bees.  They were swarming all over the tap, flying around in the air, and under the tap on the  ground around a tiny muddy puddle.  Grant stood there looking for a little, trying to work out how to get close enough to pick up the hose, and then turn the tap without being attacked by a mass of angry bees.  They have such an intimidating  hum.  He looked like we might be there a while, as h e began putting on sneakers and protective gear, so I thought I would lend a hand, and we filled up the jerry cans and drink bottles lickety split. Some things you just have to do yourself.

Satisfactorily loaded with water, we drove the 45 km dirt road out to the Weano Gorge area.  Whoever came up with that name should be shot!  We know not who.  In fact, we know nothing....  You get the idea of the jokes we c ame up with all the way there.

We're in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, surrounded by the Hammersley Ranges.  They are rolling green and red hills with the same line of red ridges as the ranges further north.  They are stunning to look at, particulary as the surrounding area is so flat, covered in spinifex and the occasional scrubby eucalyptus tree.  The range just stands out.

We detoured past a few lookouts, taking in Joffre Gorge and Knox Gorge, but our goal was to get to Hancock Gorge and try to walk down into it and along the spider walk for a swim.

Nadine Overlooking Joffre Gorge

Pulling into the carpark we were met with the usual expanse of dry, red dirt, spinifex, and corrugated iron toilets.  It was hot, and getting on for 11 o'clock.  I was wondering how wise we were, setting off with young kids into this gorge, but we went anyway.

Cooper and the others did a remarkable job of climbing down the steep, rock steps, down the iron ladder, over creeks and slippery boulders, and then swimming through the narrow gorge (Cooper and I went along the rocky ledge) to the final destination, Kermit's pool. It was a lovely walk, we took our time and really enjoyed ourselves.  Down in the gorge by the water it was much cooler, there is shade from the rock walls, and there are less flies.  It was actually the right time to go for our walk after all.  

Grant walking Cooper through the Gorge

Hancock Gorge Narrows

Jo and Dom swimming through Hancock Gorge

Grant helping Cooper past the swimming section

Dom looking back through Hancock Gorge

Resting after the swim

Sitting for Lunch around the 'Auditorium'

Heading into Spider Gorge

Jo and Dom in Spider Gorge

Walking through Spider Gorge

Near Kermit's pool was a slippery rock 'slide' and the kids all enjoyed slipping along it on their rear ends.  Dominic climbed a little higher, aiming to cross behind the pool, slipped with his wet feet, and slid down a metre or two on his bottom.  He is a bit bruised tonight.

Sliding into Kermit Pool

We had such a lovely time.  On the way out in the car we stopped at one more lookout, viewing the junction of the four gorges in the area.  It was here  in 2004  that they retrieved the body of a State Emergency Worker who was drowned in a flash flood that occurred at 4am while they were rescuing someone in the bottom of the gorge.  Signs at the start of the walks all say that if there is rain in the area, get out of the gorge quickly.

Heading back to the campsite, we passed Mt Bruce (a most distinguished name for a mountain) and stopped where we could get internet and phone reception to talk to Katie. It sounds like she is doing really well.  Go, Katie, Go.

By the time we got back to the campsite, it was almost 6pm and the camp hosts were a bit worried about us.  They'd even driven up to our van to check if we'd come back from the gorge!  They were the ones who said we should be ok taking the kids on the Hancock gorge walks and felt a bit responsible.  Anyway, we let them know we were safe, and that we'd stay an extra night (much to Joseph's disgust) and head off in the morning. 

There is a breeze this evening, so less bugs.  The stars are sparkling in the sky and the campsite is quiet and dark.  We're so glad we stayed the extra day.  Now we can agree with Rowan who told us Karijini was a beautiful place.
-----
Vicki

Red dirt, flies, heat

Back into school today.  We got started this morning while Grant worked on fitting polystyrene that we'd found on the side of the road around the fridge.  I'm not sure how it all works, but he's hoping this will fix the problem of the fridge not staying cool enough.  Unfortunately the day is so hot, and the sun is shining right on the side of the van where Grant is working.

No one really wants to sit and do books in the heat with the flies crawling all over them, and it was a bit of a stressful morning.  By lunch time I was ready to pack it all in and drive home.  How are we going to manage this school work and traveling in this little van in the heat?...probably should have thought of that a few months ago!  

One thing they did enjoy doing, (apart from making paper cranes from Nadine's english reading book) was completing the junior ranger's activity sheet, with lots of puzzles, information and jobs to do to earn a junior ranger badge.  They all had to sit still and draw the wildlife they saw (ants) and collect a bag full of rubbish among other things, so we finished the sheets  off, learning about a few things in the process.

I learnt that this grass that spikes you whenever you go near it, but which covers all the hills and plains we've passed on our trip, is called Spinifex.  I never knew what spinifex was, but now I do.  It is unbelievably needle sharp, and I thought it was pretty useless, apart from making walking through the bush extremely unpleasant.  However, I learnt in my junior ranger course that the inside of these little green hummocks (they look so soft and fluffy from a distance; monsters) are dead, and full of creatures using them for food and shelter from the hot sun.  They no doubt get a fair bit of protection from the spikes as well.  I have heard of spinifex hopping mice, well there's also spinifex pigeons and  spinifex lizards as well as lots of other little things sheltering in there.  They began to look completely different - like little Eco houses for animals, all over the place.  Pretty cool, really.

Anyway, we all slowly wilted as the sun climbed into the sky, and pencils were lost and maths sheets crawled slowly to completion.  We ate lunch and very lethargically and unenthusiastically decided we'd better go look at something, since we were here.  Everyone got into their togs, and their sneakers, and their hats, and by that time I was really ready for a nap.

We took our ranger sheets to the ranger and were duly awarded four junior ranger badges (Joseph did one too), then after much discussion we decided to just head back to the swimming hole we went to yesterday, Fortescue Falls, because it had a shallow spot where we could take Cooper in.  At the car park we realized we only had a few litres of water, but it was getting late in the day and not too hot, so we set off down the trail, holding Cooper in the iron grip he hates.

By the time I arrived at the pool with Cooper, the others had been in with their snorkels, and were getting out after cooling down in the freezing water.  Nadine was still doing a fish impersonation, however, so we got in with her for a bit.  The water was just what we needed to bring back our energy, and after drying off on the hot rocks, we put our sneakers back on, and thought we'd try the walk down the gorge to see how far we could get.

After the initial whinging and complaining, everyone really got into the rock hopping and crossing of streams, and before we knew it we were right down the other end of the gorge, near a swimming hole called circular pool.  It was starting to get late, though, so we headed up the 399 steps to the top of the gorge, and walked the track around the rim back to the car.  By the time we got back we'd drunk every drop of water we had, and decided we'd better make sure we always carry more.

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon, the walk was just so much fun.  I couldn't believe how well Cooper and Oskar and Nadine walked.  It was three kilometers in the end, all over rocks and steep cliffs and they did so well. Cooper fell asleep in the car in the five minutes it took us to drive from the car park to our caravan.  He was well and truly worn out.

Arriving back for dinner, our ground sheet was covered in ants. I swept them off a few times, and they just came back again.  Sitting around eating we all had to lift our feet up or they would crawl up our legs. And they were biting ants!  Joseph has decided it is time to move on tomorrow!

One of the interesting things about traveling around is seeing all different types of toilets.  Here they have a little corrugated iron out house on a metal frame, with a corrugated iron door that closes off the back half which holds the toilet. Because it's all corrugated iron on a metal frame, it is very noisy closing the door and sliding the bolt.  Everyone knows when someone is visiting the facilities.  Even using the toilet paper dispenser creates an echoing screech of the metal walls.  Everyone can tell how much paper you're going through. There is generally a warm breeze coming up from below, which blows the paper you are using to cover the seat off the edge before you can sit down.

Sitting on the toilet in the dark, balancing the torch and  toilet paper, the thought crossed my mind that if my torch took a dive, I wouldn't be retrieving it, and it might cause people to wonder if there was a wierd glow coming up from below for a few days.  I wonder how long the batteries would last?  It turns out Grant had the same idea and thought of throwing one of his super bright glow sticks down.  At least you could see what you were doing!  Might spoil the delicate balance of the composting loo though.

This morning I was busy packing up the van and Grant was chatting with the neighbour, when I heard Cooper calling out.  I realized he was over in the toilet, and was after some help.  There  was a young girl standing outside looking a bit bewildered at all the noise coming from the loo she was wanting to use.  Cooper had locked himself in, and as I walked over I could see under the corrugated iron wall, his undies and his shoes sitting on the ground beside the toilet bowl.  Big hand cleanng session after that.

Some of the loos we've used have a weird maze like entry, with a wire mesh door that you bolt to keep people from walking into the maze and discoving you there.   

A lot of the roadside loos have bolts on both sides of the door, so you can bolt it to keep people out if you are in, and also so you can bolt the door closed to keep animals from destroying the toilet in between visitors.

One morning we'd stopped at some disgusting loos at the side of the road and I had visited.  Trying to open the door after however, proved a bit difficult, because Cooper had slipped the bolt on the other side.  Dominic, and Joseph tried to open the bolt, but it took a fair bit of wiggling and manoevering and I began to imagine the newspaper headlines - Mother dies in Roadside Cesspit....etc.  It was pretty funny.

-----
Vicki 

Karijini National Park

Bea bea rest stop had a dried out creek bed, a few rubbish bins, and lots of rubbish blowing around.  We packed up as quick as we could and left.

Waiting at the nearest roadhouse while Grant topped up the fuel, we heard two truckies in conversation on the radio..."think we'll head off" " just going to finish my sandwich" "what kind of sandwich is it?" " it's a very good sandwich, very expensive, but very good, bacon and egg".  Made us all hungry.

We listened to a few focus on the family podcasts for Sunday.  They were very good.  About really living for Jesus and being intentional about what we do.  There were lots of things to think about.

It was only a few hours to Karijini National Park, so we arrived nice and early for a change.

Karijini has a great visitor centre and lovely gorges.  Everyone I meet, though, kept warning me about the slippery rocks, and saying to hold on to the kids and wear sneakers not thongs etc.  It was all very helpful, but felt a bit weird, until I read the note on the noticeboard that explained on 4 October this year, a man and his 7 year old son went over edge on one of the walks and the man died.  The staff are obviously feeling very cautious and it put me off walking a bit, but we spoke to a ranger and he said we should be fine, just to keep away from the edges and not to let the kids run ahead - the fences at the edge of the paths are not safety rails, just guides to show the path.

We had lunch then walked to Fortescue Falls, which is the walk the man and the boy fell on, and there are a few very new looking signs advising just what the ranger said - the fences are not to keep you safe and to hold on to your kids.  I feel very sad for that family.  However, it was a spectacular swimming hole with impressive rock layers.  My Dad would love it. 

We also walked a little bit further along to "fern pool" which was a lovely shady swimming hole with a waterfall down one end.  It was too deep for Cooper, though, so we watched  the others snorkel over to the waterfall and back.  The rock pools in these gorges are spring fed so have water in them all year round.  

On our way into the gorge we met the young couple we camped behind at Cable Beach caravan park.  They are traveling around Australia from Melbourne for six months using a camper trailer.  

It is very hot here and there are lots of flies.  We were going to stay for a week, but might not make it that long.  With the outside light on, the attracted bugs hitting the awning sound like spots of rain - but it doesn't look like rain any time soon.  Gusts of wind bring red dust in clouds and dump it all over you.
-----
Vicki

Moving right along

It was a big toss up whether to stay another night at 80 Mile Beach.  Grant had heard it was very good for fishing, and Dom still wants to go fishing somewhere, but we arrived yesterday at low tide, and the next high tide was at midnight.  So to go fishing around the high tide, we would need to stay until lunch time, or stay the extra night.

When it is low tide, the water goes out about a kilometer and leaves a very wide beach but it's a long way to go to fish.  The boys went out on the beach at low tide in the morning, walked out a long way, and then had to walk fast to beat the tide rushing back in.

Although I could have stayed for a week to collect the lovely shells and soak up the long beach, the decider was when the sun got very hot about 9am.  We just felt so hot and miserable, the van park was just a huge paddock by the sea with very little shade, that we decided to press on to Port Hedland, where Grant had some specials from Repco on hold!

I had spent the morning  searching for a lost earring that I thought may have fallen out when I took Nadine to the toilet in the night.  I walked the way there and back several times, my eyes glued on the ground, and asked a few people if they'd found anything, but no joy.  Nadine even walked to the toilet and back and reported that she found nothing.  She was pretty quick.  It isn't the first time I've lost an earring camping, and God has been very kind and answered my prayers every time, and I've located them again, twice in thick grass in a field when they could have been anywhere.  Well, I was wondering if God had something else to teach me this time and was trying to be joyful anyway.  I thought I'd pack away my bed and have a good look, and after I removed the doona, there it was, sitting on the bed, where I'd already looked twice before.  I'm very thankful that God returned it once more. Nadine said she was thankful she hadn't looked harder and embarrassed herself peering at the ground.  Good on ya, Dini!

So, muddling around, we managed to pack up and head off for Port Hedland. 80 Mile Beach was a place we'd visit again, but we were keen to be on the move.

A way along the road, a white sedan sped past us.  It's interesting who you pass and who then passes you or who you see at a roadhouse beside the road.

About 40 km out of the Pardoo Roadhouse, I noticed some nice skid marks on the road.  Then we saw a group of cars on the side of the road.  Then I noticed they seemed to have decided here was a good place for a picnic, because they'd put up a tarpaulin, using an old car wreck for one side.....hang on, I don't think that's an 'old' car wreck at all.  

"Grant, I think that's the car that whizzed past us earlier, I think they've crashed."  We had a call on our radio - "do you have a satellite phone?"  "no."

 We turned around to see if we could help, but a big truck had stopped by the time we'd returned, and he'd called the ambulance and the police.  The driver was, apparently, almost unhurt, but the passenger was very cut up and the car was a disaster.  They'd ended up almost ten meters away from the road on the opposite side, on their wheels, facing the road.  The roof of their white car was red from all the dirt.  It must have been a very wild ride, to say the least.  The driver said he'd swerved for a bird

One of the people who'd stopped had been camped at Broome at the same time as us - I recognized the car.  He'd helped to put up the awning and wet the ground around the injured guy to try and keep him cool.

There was nothing we could do so we continued on our way.  About fifteen minutes later we passed two ambulances and a police car zooming along the other way, so hopefully they got there in time.

Port Hedland was not raved about by anyone we've spoken to on  the road, and apart from Repco, which Grant loved, it was a tired, dirty town, that looked like a red dust storm had just been through it.  If anyone is hanging out for the wet season I would pick Port Hedland.  It needs a big wash.  It is a mining town, with large equipment and huge fuel storage tanks everywhere.  I saw one green shed in a dusty yard, sitting on the muddy bank by the water, declaring itself to be  "Bruno's Ocean Lodge".  I think the name might have been stretching it a bit.  The port had three large ships in, waiting for their cargo of Western Australian ore.  We passed numerous road trains full of dirt and kilometer long trains, with engines at the front and the middle.  

Today was probably our busiest day for passing large trucks traveling in the opposite direction or having them pass us.  The Great Northern Highway is the elected heavy vehicle route so that's the way all the big trucks travel up and down the coast.  We left our radio on the trucking channel, and listened to them chatting to each other and telling each other when it was safe to pass.  Jo was scared we would go on the radio and give ourselves away as 'newbies'.  "You'll sound like newbs, going 'Hi everyone, how ya doin''" he said.  I think his parents embarrass him sometimes.  

There was also someone with a funny accent who kept coming on and saying "you free point one?". His Chinese accent just didn't seem to fit with the rough Aussie trucking speech.

We phoned Katie from Port Hedland and  connected to the internet while Grant was off shopping in Repco.  Cooper was a bit restless, jumping around the car while I tried to hear what Katie said, until he did his little escape artist act and opened the side door.  I got off the phone from Katie, looked up to see Grant returning along the red, dusty roadside with two shop assistants in tow carrying his purchases, and looked behind me to see Cooper peeing on the ground just outside his door.  Boy, do we look feral now!  

Next stop, Woolworths, and I took Cooper with me where I could keep an eye on him.  Grant spent the twenty minutes on the phone trying to locate a fuel station in Port Hedland that sold LPG, with no luck.  On my way into the shopping centre I saw a large truck being loaded by a few ladies with crates of Milo tins, tinned beetroot, bundaberg ginger beer, tetra juice packs and so on.  I asked, and they told me they were from a remote school, about 7 hours drive from Port Hedland, and they were there for the six monthly shop.  It would take them a few days to buy everything - they had a big assortment of eskies for their fresh produce, and some portable freezers for their meat.  It looked like a big job.  Good on them for living on the remote school in the first place.  I did my 'little' shop then we headed off inland towards Karijini National Park.

It was an ambitious distance, and once again we have made a road side camp, this time at Bea Bea campsite, arriving after dark.  We avoided a few cows on the way, including a frolicking calf who I hope survives the night.  One bull gave me a big fright, looming up as I passed him, black and staring with his big white horns shining in the headlights.

Once we had to stop for Cooper to pee, then everyone had the same idea and piled, one by one, out of the car, avoiding the spiky grass, then clambering back in again.  These are some of the things we wouldn't do so easily a few weeks ago!  Oh, the achievements we applaud...

One thing I wanted to do was stop for a dead Kangaroo and check it's pouch for a baby Joey.  There isn't that much road kill now, so my opportunities haven't been great, but I'm pretty sure it's the season for joeys.  When we visited the wildlife stall in Broome, they gave us a brochure on rescuing joeys, and it wasn't as simple as I thought...in fact the whole procedure becomes rather gruesome and involves a fairly specialized roadside rescue 'kit'.

Joeys can survive for up to five days in their mother's pouch after she's become road kill.  The safest way to remove the Joey is to cut open the pouch from the  top with some strong scissors (she assured me there'd be no blood). Item one: strong scissors.  

Next thing you need to know, if the joey is very young (hairless, or lightly haired) it's mouth is probably fused together around the mother's nipple so you have to cut the nipple off...same scissors would do.  Still no blood.  yeah, right! Pick up the Joey with an old towel..item two in your kit, making sure to rub some of mother's scent onto the towel.  Don't bother if she's starting to smell.

Next thing you might need - a safety pin - to pin the nipple to the towel so the Joey won't choke on it now you've chopped it off -  I think I'm going to have nightmares.  Don't worry, the Joey should stop sucking on it after about three hours.

So now you have a Joey wrapped in a towel sucking on a pinned on nipple - you have to produce a nice hot water bottle to keep him at a constant temperature....item four, or is that five?...Grant told me not to stop under any circumstances to look for Joeys.

Everyone pitched in again to set up camp and we had a nice dinner and sit under the stars before bed.  There are a lot of bugs here, and Nadine found it all a bit much.  "I want to keep driving until we are home where there are no bugs," she said.  She ate one burrito, but then had had enough of bugs falling in her dinner and in her water and went to bed.  Cooper did his usual strip routine, then I told him a bug might bite his bottom, and he was very keen to get dressed again, even went so far as to ask for a shirt!  "so the bugs don't bite my back" he said.

I just had to go for some bug spray - they love this computer screen.  Time for some games on my iPad now everyone is in bed.

-----
Vicki

80 Mile Beach

Packed up today.  Our first pack away without Katie.  she is usually the one that gets everyone going, but in the end we all pitched in and got away ok.

The day started with some washing.  Not the best plan, I know, but somehow yesterday got away from me.  I'll carry it wet and hang it out tonight whewe stop.

One of the storage spaces under a bed had let in some red dust on our unsealed road travels, so we pulled everything out, cleaned out the cupboard, and Grant caulked it using caulking and a screwdriver.  then I filled it up again, packing away a bit more of the stuff we just don't use.  

took Cooper to the edge of the road next to our van and practiced crossing, hooding mummy's hand.  I don't think it did much!  

A fter tying everything down, and exiting the park one last time, we headed into town for the much anticipated trip to Vinnies.  Grant dropped us off and went to fill up the car, while we had a lovely time looking through the racks, and particularly, looking over the old books.

The road from Broome to Port Headland is very boring.  It's straight ahead, flat, with scrubby bushes other side.  after a bit the scrubby bushes give way to brown grass, but it's still flat.  then it turns into green grass, still flat.

After about 350 kilometers, we reached the Sand Fire Roadhouse, where a flock of peacocks were roosting on the roof, and used all the available facilities.  Then we turned off the highway onto a dirt road and drove out to the 80 Mile Beach caravan park.  Grant stopped at the start of the dirt road to attach the piece of carpet he hangs over the back window to prevent rocks flicking up and smashing it.  Originally he taped it on with gaff tape, but it used a lot of tape and kept slipping off.  Joseph suggested tieing it to the roof rack and holding it in place with the windscreen wiper.  Grant calls it the J-string solution.

Anyway, while he was out attaching the carpet, Cooper unplugged himself from his car seat,  wound down his window, leaned out and opend the door from the outside (the child safety lock is on), then climbed out of the car to play in the red dust.  He's a bit scary is our Cooper.

The caravan park reminds me of an army installation, straight rows of caravans, side by side.  The toilet facilities are demountables.  But it's very tidy, and when we walked over the low hill and out onto the beach, we loved it. The tide was way out when we arrived at 5pm. But there were white shells and sand dollars everywhere.  They re like flat sea anenome shells.  You couldn't walk without stepping on shells.  We had a lovely time collecting al the best ones we could - Katie would love it here - and Grant said the sunset was spectacular.  Might have to revise our plan of only spending the night...

Fixing the van

Another go at school work this morning.  We have been doing less and less of it each day, but I think we will get the hang of it eventually, maybe after about six weeks or so.

I think it's made a bit harder because children in western Australia are on holidays at the moment.  the people camped behind us last night said if we timed it right we could follow the school holidays around australia and minimize the amount of school time we had to do...  

They were a funny pair, a guy and his uncle, traveling around Australia from Sydney.  They left on 1 September, and will be home for Christmas.  the uncle was fairly old and originally came as an immigrant from Yugoslavia after the war.  he started as a ballet dancer, but he was the only 'artist' who arrived in the refugee group and they told him they didn't know what he would do because there were no theaters here.  he said they put him in a town, told him the grape picking season was nearly there, and to pick grapes until he had enough money to move on.  He said it worked for him and he had no patience for people who came to Australia and then lived off welfare.  No arguments from me.

his nephew, who had bought their winebago I understood, works for the Sydney Opera house as a technician.  he used to be a stage manager in England, but got sick of being the meat in the sandwich between the actors, directors, producers etc.  he was very interesting to talk to as well.  According to them, the Sydney opera house is really the Sydney Concert Hall, because it just doesn't have enough stage space.  while the refurbished convent garden in London has the equivalent of three extra stages behind the wings where you don't see them, so they can leave changes of sets there for quick scene changes or switching between shows for a matinee and evening performance, the Sydney Opera House has an extra three quarters of a stage.  Barely any space in the wings means for ballets, where the ballerina is leaping or pirouetting or whatever off the stage, they have to have spare ballerinas, about to make their entrance, waiting in the wings with padded mats to catch the ones coming off so they don't smash into a wall.  Being a former ballerina (he went into musical theatre after coming to Australia) the uncle finds this situation horrific!  We had a nice chat.

Grant swapped the the tyres on the van around, because he noticed an unusual wear pattern on one of the treads.  he also let the pressure down a bit.  he had them at 45 psi, now they are 35psi when cold.  it was hard to keep Dominic on his maths while the van was being jacked up and wheels removed...not sure which was a better learning exercise. 

After persisting for a few hours, we gave up and went for a swim.  We leave tomorrow and who knows when we'll have such a nice pool again. 

It was a bit of an effort, but with the incentive of St Vincent de Paul for Joseph, (he wants a jacket and a hat for dressing up) we got everyone out of the pool eventually and into the car.  We headed over to the deep water wharf again to see it in the daylight and at high tide.  

Getting out the car, Cooper ran across the road after Joseph and Dominic, right into the path of a big, blue landcruiser.  it was only that the car was still a  distance away and moving slowly around the parked cars that meant he was safe.  Praise the Lord.  needless to say, we held onto him very tightly on the wharf.

The water is a beautiful light blue, and the current of the tide going out was very fast.  around the legs of the jetty the water was swirling, and we saw loads of brown jelly fish float by.  We also saw a big turtle stick his barnacle covered head out of the water and despite the water looking so clear, he didn't take long to disappear when he dived down again.

There were a lot of people fishing off the wharf, but no luck today.

Next we stopped at the Kleen gas depot and Grant finally got the refill for the gas that we needed.

after promising to go for a few days, it was a bit disappointing for Joseph to arrive at St vinnies (the second hand store) and find they'd closed at 12pm, half an hour before.  tomorrow on our way out, then.

on we went to the post office to collect the final two parcels we'd been waiting for.  Parts for Grant to hopefully fix the fridge, and Joseph's school English reading book (and a few other books he doesn't know about).  He had the  book read by 5pm.  He's back to the creation magazines again.  There's a whole line-up-lane in the post office for people collecting mail delivered to the post office.

Back to the shopping centre to return things to target, buy some snorkels (which took a great deal of thought), and get some groceries.  
We were well and truly ready for home.

As soon as we got back, everyone headed off to the pool to try out the snorkels while Grant dismantled the fridge to try to install the new fan.   It was pretty funny our four children floating around the pool in weird masks, every now and then blowing water from their snorkels.  Nadine could have stayed in all night.  someone commented to me that they must be seeing some lovely fish down there!  More like floating bandaids.

While preparing dinner around Grant and my dismantled fridge, we realized tonight was the only night to go and watch the moon rise over the mud flats.  this is called 'the staircase to the moon'.  it only works on the low tide, when the mud flats are exposed, and on a full moon.  The rising moon reflects in a ripple effect on the mud flats, creating a shining 'staircase' leading to the moon.

Because Broome is on a small  peninsula, at Cable beach where we are staying, you can watch the sun set into the sea, while on the other side of the peninsula, at Town Beach, you can watch the moon rise above the Indian Ocean.  the brochure was very specific, the moon would rise on the 13th October, at 6.51pm, so we had to rush.  

When we turned up, it was a regular carnival.  The same stalls as at the Saturday markets were out again.  The beach comber selling beach debris necklaces and playing his clay flutes, the pearl sellers with necklaces and earrings layed out on velvet cloths, the flame juggler with dreadlocks, tattoos and baggy trousers, plus a lot of food stalls this time.  But just past all the stalls and away from the light and noise, about 1000 people were gathered in the darkness on the rise overlooking the beach, shadows waiting quietly to watch the big, round, red moon slip silently above the horizon and light up the mud ripples, in a stairway, just as the brochure said!  It was lovely to watch, but the big, full red moon is lovely to watch rising anywhere here in Western Australia.  I took a few photos, but they didn't really work out.  a flash can only reach so far! The couple standing beside me kept arguing aout how to take the best photo of the moon, and the moon quite unconcernedly kept rising, and rising, until it was too far away from the mud flats to make a stair case, and the question of best practice for moon photography became moot.  (got no idea if that is correct English or not!)

In any case, it was a lovely thing to do, and we made it home before anyone fell asleep in the car, and they all managed to eat their dinner before it became too much like a zoo.  It puts the pressure on when the neighbor  tells you that she hasn't ever met such well behaved kids - might have stretched that one a bit tonight.  But nice to hear anyway.

I seem to be washing up later and later each night.  Not really any different from home I guess.  

Tomorrow we pack up and head south.  It's a bit scary being nomads.  So much easier to stay in the one place with what we know.

-----
Vicki