Hello to all our friends near and far!
The dream for us continues and it looks in no threat of slowing down.
Here are our most recent adeventure.... Enjoy!
Exmouth
We split our time between Cape Range National Park and the town as it was school holidays/Easter, thus we had to plan ahead a few weeks in advance as everything more or less books out.
Cape Range National Park was a beautiful place situated right on the world famous Ningaloo Reef. Within the National Park, there are about 10 places to camp, each of which have great snorkelling and super beaches at each spot. The snorkelling was easily the best so far and we managed to tick off just about everything from the must see list including turtles, nemos, reef sharks and gigantic stingray.
The town of Exmouth is hardly anything exciting but we managed to spend it with some new (but old by association!) friends, Micko and Sally aka Terry Transit. Lots of hot cross buns were consumed, as well as a few sessions at the Cadillac Bar watching game after game of footy. The highlight for Maddy and I though was our day out on the reef swimming with the whale sharks.
We managed to strike it rich and swam with about 6 or 7 whale sharks throughout the day. The sheer size and grace of these creatures was breathtaking and the elegant manner in which they go about their business is seriously so cool to see. The whole day was brilliant which was bookended by two snorkels on the reef, with the marine biologist guides on the boat, we learnt heaps and saw so many cool things that we probably would have otherwise swam straight past.
-> Ningaloo Reef
-> Whale Shark!
-> Mr Turtle
-> Stingray
-> Charles Knife Canyon
Karijini National Park
From Exmouth we loaded up for a big day travelling about 700kms inland to Karijini, which is surrounded by massive iron ore mines in towns like Tom Price and Parabadoo. The National Park is crazy in its appearance as you drive literally through hundreds of kilometres of nothing, then all of a sudden these huge mountains and rock formations seemingly appear from nowhere.
We haven't heard one person utter a bad word about this place and with expectations high, we were still blown away. This is some sort of surreal oasis in a semi tropical desert wonderland!!! Breathtaking gorges, stunning waterfalls and mind blowing swimming holes meet you at every turn. At risk of sounding like a complete madman, I'll stop there and let some photos do the talking.
On our way out, we visited the abandoned town of Wittenoom; famous for a few reasons but primarily it's a defunct blue asbestos mine and secondly the song reference in The Midnight Oils hit 'Blue Sky Mining'. We are really glad we visited this place but very glad we didn't get out of the car as there are some interesting stories that are told about the 3 remaining residents whom refused to leave all those years ago!!
-> Handrail Pool
-> Spa Pool, Hamersley Gorge
-> Knox Gorge
-> Fern Pool
-> Dales Gorge
Karratha/Point Samson/Port Hedland
Now I'm sorry to the good people of Karratha and Port Hedland, but these towns are real shitholes. The old saying about "not letting your cat grow up there" really applies to these places; more so Port Hedland where there is sadly a significant divide between the miners and the Indigenous population.
Fortunately, a little place called Point Samson exists between the two and this is where we found ourselves spending a couple of days cleaning out red dust from Clancy and from our hair! They also have apparently the best fish and chips in WA here and we were more than willing to test out such statement; and we can confirm positive outcomes from our taste test!
Finally, just back to Port Hedland quickly, we did attend the dawn service and learnt about the Japanese bombings that occurred here at the conclusion of WWII; a sad but interesting part of Australia's history that we were unaware of.
Fitzroy Crossing/Djugerari
Over a short period of time, we clocked up a heap of k's along the coast with a couple of stops at places like Eighty Mile Beach and Barn Hill Station, before then heading well inland to Fitzroy Crossing; or more specifically, Djugerari.
Djugerari is a very small and remote Indigenous Community bordering The Great Sandy Desert. One of Maddy's co-workers has a niece up here, Adelaide, who teaches at the school and helped us arrange some time to teach first aid to the kids.
The few days we spent here was honestly the most rewarding part of our trip so far and definitely one of the most rewarding things we have ever done. We learnt so much about the community; the extreme struggles they have faced in the past and the struggles they face today; specifically the limitations in access to healthcare and challenges within education.
The school and it's 3 teachers are doing an incredible job in these difficult circumstances, by giving the children something to strive towards whilst encouraging them to be proud of their community and their culture.
We can't thank Adelaide enough for allowing us this wonderful opportunity to witness first hand the goings on of a genuine remote Indigenous Community.
-> Eighty Mile Beach
-> Barn Hill Station
-> Djugerari
-> Djuerari
Cape Leveque
Back we headed to the coast and up to Cape Leveque which was an area we were very much looking forward to. We stayed at Middle Lagoon, Gumbana and Kooljiman which were all recommendations from friends so thank you guys!
Not even the slight threat of crocs could take away from the beauty of this place; azure blue waters alive with fish, crazy tidal variations and as for most of WA - surreal sunsets. We had one of the best days of our trip so far when one of the elder's son took us out fishing, hunting and showed us around some special places of Sunday Island. I think he is probably still laughing at the thought of watching the whitefella with long blonde hair anxiously running through the mangroves with a spear trying to get the mud crabs the size of large dinner plates!!
We made a special effort to soak up these beautiful beaches as the next two months look like lots of waterfalls, gorges and plenty of red dirt!!
-> Middle Lagoon, Cape Leveque
-> Cape Leveque
-> Middle Lagoon
-> Maddy @ Cable Beach, Broome
-> Luke @ Cable Beach, Broome
Currently we are in Broome about to spend a week with the Power family followed by 3 weeks across the Gibb River Rd with my parents....to say we are excited to see our families and what lies ahead would be an understatement! Bring it on!!
Love Maddy & Luke
(Chapter 5 written by Luke)