On the road with Flynn and Aidan: Kalbarri to Coral Bay

After a quick stop at Geraldton to re-stock, we were off to Kalbarri, eager to see the national park that so many people have told us about. We had a great few days exploring the park, which is made up of beautiful gorges with the Murchison river flowing through it. The land is rugged and rocky with shades of reds and browns, and we were lucky enough to see some wildflowers. It was quite busy here and Flynn made lots of friends at the national park, and ditched Mum and Dad at lunchtime in favour of having lunch with another couple! There are lots of retired people missing their grandchildren here and as Flynn is so friendly, he was given a biscuit, a piece of cake, a block of chocolate (yes a big one and mum and dad were pleased!) and a drink, all in one day by separate people. Not to mention being pushed around the car park at a quick pace, in his pram by a very fit Grandpa who loved hearing the squeals.

Flynn and I did a small walk down to the river on our last day and it was so lovely to see how Flynn loves the outdoors. We sat on the edge of the river throwing stones in for ages and Flynn was laughing at the sounds they made and the splash. Actually I think he was laughing at himself saying 'plop' very loudly for each stone that was thrown in.

We changed our plans regarding where we were staying next due to a late start in the day. Nicks phone completely packed it in and he spent a few hours speaking to Johnny in Taiwan who fixed it. We made it to the Billabong roadhouse for the night. Nick met a local in the bar (they were the only two in there) who was an interesting (actually no, sad) character. He lives on a property in this remote area that his father built up but is now run down. He has been unable to get work for several months and spends a lot of time alone on the property. He visits the roadhouse once a week to buy alcohol, a bag of potatoes and a bag of onions, which is what he lives on. He also kills a lamb and that feeds him for a couple of months. The roadhouse is his only outing and only social engagement each week. Made us wonder how many other people live such isolated lives.

Natures window

After the Billabong roadhouse we were all looking forward to a quiet night in a bush camp somewhere. We were lucky enough to get into Fowlers Bay, which is 25kms from Denham in a world heritage area. You need to book early to get in, and there is a $1000 fine for not having a permit. There is no cost to stay here, and they only allow very few people, so we had a grand total of 5 people to share the bay with, and it was spectacular. We went for a long walk around the bay and enjoyed some sunny weather. The boys loved the freedom after a busy caravan park at Kalbarri. We watched a spectacular sunset and chatted to our neighbours.

Our camp at Fowlers Bay

I found a crab!

Next we headed to Denham which is a costal town about 20kms from Monkey Mia. It is school holidays and very busy, but we are staying right on the beach again. We headed to Monkey Mia the following morning to see the dolphins being fed, but unfortunately it was raining and windy and the dolphins didnt come in, even though we could see them swimming further out. It did give us plenty of time to read up about the dolphins though, and at Monkey Mia they are studying individual dolphin behaviours, which is aparently quite rare.

Nick is not one to let a bit of rain get in the way of seeing the dolphims, and although we were due to check out of the caravan park by 10am the next morning, Nick got Flynn up at the crack of dawn and headed out to Monkey Mia. It was a nice morning and they saw about eight dolphins who were feeding in the shallow waters. Flynn was pretty happy to have seen them, and let me know that there werent any 'raaaaagh' sharks, only dolphins.

Rainbow in stormy sunset sky

We had planned to stay just over 150kms away from Denham, however there was a lot of rain and the campsite we planned to stay at was flooded, as was the nearby roadhouse. Guess what- there was nothing else for miles and it was so wet that there was no way we could stay off the side of the road anywhere, so we just had to keep going. The flooding was amazing- we went through about four floodways that were somewhat deep and flowing pretty fast. So we kept going and made it to Carnarvon for the night. After a re-stock of everything again, we headed out to Quobba Point.

For a minute, we wondered where we had arrived. Was this some sort of weird community by the ocean with tin shacks and lots of sea shell windchimes? There was a huge long line of caravans and tents all fully kitted out like they were staying there for a long time. Finally we passed the 'ranger' who was about 90 years old with leathery brown skin wearing a fake red leather cap. Lovely lady who pointed us in the direction of a spare spot. We soon realised that we were in heaven. What Point Quobba didnt have I was wondering- actually there were no showers, no water and only 3 toilets, so it was BYO for everything. So we set up the van and strolled across a sand dune to the beach to have a beer before dinner and the boys were having a great time. We were watching some big sea birds dive into the water and come out with fish, avoiding the waves, and thought this was fantastic. Then we saw a shark swimmimg around in the waves, not sure whether he was trying to get the birds or the fish we could see jumping. Then we met our neighbour who pointed out the whales in the ocean. When we looked we could see their spouts everywhere!! Amazing place. So I could go on and on but quickly- we met heaps of people, playmates for Flynn, fresh fish from the neighbour and Nick caught his own!, went and saw a lighthouse, blowholes, swam and snorkled each day in nearby lagoon and Nick had some fishing lessons. Met a real character- Bob- see below, who has been travelling for 14 years and we shared a camp oven meal with Michael and June who loved the boys and made damper with Renee and Paul and their kids. Camp fires each night and fantastic weather. Now we know why people look set up for the long haul- they are!!