Tom Price to Derby

(click the map for details)

Yellow route: Tom Price to Derby - 2 190 km
Total so far: 18 030 km

We started this part of the journey with one of WA’s highlights – the Karijini national park (NP). The system of Gorges is fantastic and quite unique. Another cyclone was announced in the Exmouth area for the beginning of May and people staying in Cape Range NP had to be evacuated. This led to a influx of these tourists to Karijini. Over this very weekend the Karijini Experience took place, a cultural event with different happenings such as an outdoor Opera, tours with Indigenous guides and a series of adventure-travel films. This suited us perfectly in the rainy and overcast weather. We saw four very good movies with different crazy travel stories. Walking, crawling and climbing the gorges was spectacular. And once the sun was out again, the colours and shapes of the rocks appeared even more brilliant and unique. For the "Spider Walk" we didn’t take our camera and therefore we can’t offer any pictures of this most loved walk.

 Kilmana Gorge – Karijini NP

Road in Karijini after a night of heavy rain – sticks perfectly everywhere, car, shoes, clothes.....

Fabulous camping just out of Karijini – Alberto Tognolini Lookout

The drive to Port Hedland wasn’t very eventful but interesting for us as we listened to an audiobook which we can highly recommend. Outback Stations - The life and times of Australia’s biggest cattle and sheep stations by Evan McHugh. It comes in 11 chapters and we were once more amazed by the size of this country and how people have successfully survived in very remote and harsh areas. 

Port Hedland opened a new world for us with the busy harbour which ships off iron ore in enormous quantities. The operation Seafarers offers tours and lets you hop on the boat which taxis the ships' crews off and on the vessels. This allow them a shore leave and a rest in the mission of the Seafarers. It is a worldwide organisation which makes the wellbeing of the seafarers their goal in the first place where the church aspect is second.

 Around 12 ships leave the harbour daily – most of them loaded with up to 200'000 tonnes of ore

Seafarer's personal welcoming

Also in Port Hedland we witnessed the famous Stairs to the Moon and on the way to the lookout, Cooks Point, we were amazed by the business of the hermit crabs.

Broome was surprisingly nice and the grocery shopping was great, too. The Green Mango is probably the best cafe in town and meanwhile we had two lunches and a breakfast there. After a noisy night at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse we stayed three peaceful nights at the Broome Bird Observatory. This is such an interesting place and the very knowledgable staff gets you into birdwatching in no time.

Roebuck Bay where the migratory shore birds are counted by the Broome observatory staff, every day

The Dampier Peninsula is often visited in a one-day tour from Broome. Fortunately. we are not so much under time pressure and allowed 5 days and 5 nights on the Peninsula. Apart from the breathtaking sunsets and sunrises wherever we were, we got a good insight into the interesting industry of Perls at Cygnet Bay, the only productive Pearlfarm in Australia which is open to visitors.

 Sunrise at Cape Leveque

 Private beach at the fabulous Goombaragin Eco Retreat

One of two available camp spots

Oliver with a drip torch, assisting John with the burn-off at Goombaragin 

 A fantastic tour through the pearl farm at Cygnet Bay.; we even got an idea of how expensive the pearls are and what method is applied to set a price.

We got supply for the Gibb River Road (GRR) in Broome but didn’t want to start this adventure before seeing  and enjoying the Horizontal Falls from above during a scenic flight from Derby.

 We had the pilot to ourselves during the 100 minutes flight over the Horizontal Falls and the Buccaneer Archipelago

 Horizontal Falls

 Uninhabitable land in Stokes Bay, just out of Derby towards King Sound

Baramundi-breeding farm

Boab trees will follow us through the GRR

(In-) famous prison tree in Derby

Cervantes to Tom Price

Yellow route: Cervantes to Tom Price - 3280 km
Total so far: 17'380 km

After a pleasant but grown-in little road from Nambung Station to Cervantes, which took us a while to get through, as Oliver was cutting quite some branches or even part of trees, we just made it as far as Cliff Head for a peaceful camping. In Geraldton we didn’t do much apart from stocking up with food, water and fuel. The camping at the well known Coronation Beach was pretty full and therefore not as pleasant as it could have been. 

For once the driver had the easier job on the way out of Nambung Station and no ticks afterwards

The Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs offered pretty amazing scenery and lovely walks along the coast. The rain of the last week made burst the flora: flowers and a lot of very green meadows but also insects were the result. Hence we constantly have been wearing our fly nets ever since as we don’t like the particularity of the Australian flies, scrambling in every uncovered orifice which potentially offers some moisture or protein for them….

The fly nets prevented us from going mad with these flies

In Kalbarri we were impressed by the vastness of Murchison River’s mouth, delivering a constant flow of brown water into the clear blue sea. With 820km of length Murchison River is the second longest in WA (Gascoyne River being the longest with 978km). On the following day we got to see more of it in the stunning Kalbarri Gorges. Due to the floods some of the walks were cut short, but we still get done some decent walking in beautiful weather and therefore the colours were just amazing. 

Murchison river flows into the Indian Ocean

Gorge in Kalbarri NP

The next highlight was to follow shortly. After a wonderful camping at the highly rated Hamelin Station (Wikicamps shows a rating of 4.8 out of 5) we headed off to François Peron NP. On the way to the parks entrance there was much to see. We started with the Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, the picture perfect Shell Beach, the ancient Coquels Quarry and the Eagle Bluff where we spotted two types of sharks, dolphins, an Eagle Ray and some unknown fish. Unfortunately no Dugong, maybe we were not patient enough. We spent 3 days in the park, but camped twice at South Gregory campground, which we really liked. The walk and the lookout platform at Cape Peron were so nice that we could have spent the entire afternoon there but didn’t for the flies.

On our way back we just had to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. Even though it was one of the most touristic places we came across so far, it was worth it and they treat these lovely creatures in a sustainable manner. We made sure to go back to Hamelin Station on the way back in order to meet up with the lovely hosts Shane and Jason.

Hamelin Station - a traveller's dream

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

Coquels quarry - the bricks were used to build houses and last....

 Unique Shell beach

Eagle Bluff – a wonderful spot to observe Marine life 

 Cape Peron - 360° view at its best

Camping at Cape Peron NP

For once we had a real sun-downer

What a fabulous place to have lunch - unfortunately we preferred to sit inside because of the flies:

Ocean Restaurant near Denham

Carnarvon was very much a service stop for us before we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. We approached the Ningaloo reef from Coral Bay and first had to do a Scuba Diving refresher course as our last dive was in Hawaii some 13 years ago. Apart from the two very enjoyable dives we got the chance to swim/snorkel with 3 Manta Rays which was an amazing experience. After the busy Coral Bay we enjoyed the remote camping at Maggie’s beach in Waaroora Station very much as well as the snorkelling next to the beach we had to ourselves.

For the famous Navy Pier dive we went to Exmouth but the cyclone Olwin destroyed part of the pier and therefore no diving is possible at the moment. As an alternative we did two dives on the upper Ningaloo reef and saw not only more colourful corals but also more fish. At the very start we were face to face with a white-tipped reef shark. The snorkelling in the Cape Range NP at Turquoise bay and the spectacular Oyster Stacks was fabulous and just like swimming in a aquarium.

We think that camping can't get any better than that !

Another spectacular sunset at Waaroora Station

Diving at the Ningaloo reef

From Exmouth we went straight to Tom Price and got a new spare tyre (the old one got an irreparable cut from a stick down at Waaroora Station) and couldn’t resist to drive up Mt.Nameless. A real 4 WD to the summit which offered a magnificent view of the Rio Tinto mine, the town and the adjacent hills and valleys.

 View from Mount Nameless, Tom Price

Iron-ore mine Rio Tinto 

Margaret River to Cervantes

Yellow route: Margaret River to Cervantes - 1600km

Total so far: 14'100km

We liked the area of Margaret River very much. Especially our camping at Glenbrook Station, 8km south of town, was a gem, which we found through Wiki Camps. Camping in farmland with trees, close-by paddocks with horses, a donkey, lots of kangaroos, basic amenities including a camp kitchen and very interesting other campers made us stay there for 4 nights. 

We did a wine tour by bike, although the lady at the tourist information strongly discouraged us from doing so because cycling is soooo dangerous (obviously she was a non-cyclist)! At Leeuwin Estate we had a fabulous lunch but didn’t buy a bottle of the award winning Chardonnay priced at a hefty $95. With fully loaded „batteries“ and in beautiful weather we cycled to Prevelly, the Margaret River mouth and the famous Surfers Point. 

Camping at Glenbrook Station

Entrance to cellar door at Voyager Estate

Rose garden at Voyager Estate

Margaret River mouth

Sufer's Point at dusk

On Saturdays a farmers market is held in Margaret River and reason enough for us to stock up with good food. It was so far the best farmers market we came across. A wide selection of products, growers who sell these and just a very good and busy vibe. The most exclusive thing we bought were Cantucci from an Italian lady; they go very well together with Port, we find! All in all we agree with the town’s nick name „Mark-up River“, as not only the prices for the wines but for everything (our camping excluded) are steep. At the same time the service provided there lacks the personal touch we like so much in most of the places in Australia.

 Impressions from the farmers market

We followed the coast towards North, were impressed by the natural spectacle of the Canal Rocks (a series of rocky outcrops forming a natural canal), enjoyed the white sand and the turquoise sea, a scenic walk at Cape Naturaliste as well as the fabulous cafe at Bunkers Beach.

Canal rocks

In Yalgorup NP (north of Bunbury) the campground at Martins Tank recently got a full work-over and is now very flash. We enjoyed the privacy before the Easter rush. Lake Clifton impressed us with the Thrombolites (rock-like structures but actually living organisms, which are descendants of the earliest living organisms on Earth and known to have existed for over 650 million years) which can be watched from a nice boardwalk. The other walk in the area left us unimpressed, at least we got to see the typical peppermint trees which are typical for the area. 

Thrombolites - not just normal rocks

Port Mandurah reminded us of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, where Oliver once was involved in a project of building a futuristic steering control system for a luxury catamaran. Although the houses along the channels were less posh and less roomy than in Fort Lauderdale, Port Mandurah is still amazing, knowing that more than half of the properties are holiday only residencies.

Channels in Port Mandurah

A full week in Perth was about to follow. We wanted to escape the Easter traffic and at the same time get Kasbah serviced by professionals. Therefore we were very thankful that John opened his driveway — and in fact his house — to us and made our stay very special and enjoyable. 

Greater Perth is very much a cyclist friendly city and puts a lot of money into cycle lanes and paths. We got the most out of this by cycling twice to Fremantle and once to the CBD. The geographical disposition of WA’s capital is quite spectacular and offers many beaches as well as the beautiful Kings Parks and some trendy neighbourhoods. Over Easter the Street Arts Festival was on in Fremantle and we were thrilled by the Cuban band El Son Entero which managed to „infect“ everyone with their rhythm — so much that the whole crowd was dancing and at one stage most musicians were replaced by people from the audience – and the sound was just as good!

We also did a tour in the Fremantle prison which was very worthwhile. Another part of recent history: last inmates left 1991. We most enjoyed the evenings with John and Julie on the veranda, but got also some culinary highlights in cafés and restaurants. Bivouac Café in Northbridge offers a 

Wagyu Burger to die for and the Mary Street Bakery Café in Mt. Lawley serves a coconut rice which is so incredibly flavoursome and creative that I have to try to copy that into our camp kitchen repertoire….

 View of Perth's CBD from Kings Park

 Lighthouse in Fremantle

 The cuban band el son entero

 Entrance to tourist market in Fremantle – about the only attraction open on Good Friday

 His majesty's theatre in Perth

 Fremantle prison

We left Perth for New Norcia, Australia’s only monastic town, as they advertise it. The visit which included a 2 hour tour, the Art gallery and museum were all very worthwhile to spend a full day there. 

 Monastery New Norcia

 Abbey church New Norcia

The Pinnacles meant to be the next stop and as our Hema map lead us the wrong way (we wanted to take back roads to Cervantes) we ended up at Numbung Station, which is a working farm and since 12 months an excellent camping spot. Brian, the farmer, drove us to the national-park boarder where we could climb his „own private“ sand dunes, explore impressive Pinnacles and even the sand boarding worked out well in the wet sand. It is so pleasant there, that we stayed two additional nights. 

 Nambung Station with camping

 Spectacular sand dunes....

 ... and Pinnacles

 Sandboarding is fun

On Sunday, Brian took us on a scenic flight

Since Easter Monday we have had rain every day. Fortunately most of the time during the night but these rainfalls were quite heavy at times. This makes the landscape very green, but we would still prefer sunshine. We are sure to find this up North!