Read all about it in the three blog posts I’ve already done below, Perth to Exmouth, Karijini to Broome and Back to Perth. There’s a few photos in the posts (click on them to see them larger and with descriptions), or see everything at my flickr account.

So touristy highlights were snorkelling with whalesharks and mantarays and snorkelling above beautiful coral and starfish on Ningaloo Reef, and climbing around and showering in the waterfalls of Karijini National Park.

Emotionally for me the highlights were seeing Nullagine and Bidyadanga again, around 18 years after I lived in both places briefly as a child. It was great to see the places again, and in Nullagine to speak to an old friend who I went to school with there. But it was also sad to see there had not been many changes, a lot of the same issues were still there. I hear the schools in both places are doing well, but I’m in two minds about the fact that some people work in the mines now. Working is good, but being away from your children for two weeks at a time isn’t. For now… I move on…I need to learn more about myself, the world and specific situations…I hope to be able to ‘do’ more in the future.

We ended up driving over 6000 kilometres, and I drove 90% of it. Somehow I enjoyed it. Partly it was that if I wasn’t driving, I was sleeping or reading, so while driving I got to enjoy the view. Amazed we didn’t do serious damage to the car or ourselves. We only got bogged twice and only got one flat tyre. Only got stung by a few mozzies and some sandflies, oh and a blue bottle, but that was suprisingly not *that* bad.

Umm, can’t remember what else I was going to write…

While on the trip I also didn’t get anything done for enjoyperth.com.au, and I really needed to spend more time on it before heading overseas.

So…we drove back together. Over 5 days. We did try to find a third person to share fuel costs, but noone was interested in driving back without stopping at the main tourist spots.

The way back wasn’t too boring though, we made different stops to the way up, so it was still ok, though not nearly as epic as the way up.

Click on the photos to go to Flickr to see larger versions and descriptions.

Sunday 26 July – Broome to Yule River

• Left Broome after visiting Town Beach and having a nice breakfast.
• Stuff was blowing/sliding off the roofrack, so at Roebuck Roadhouse we adjusted it but another 10kms further it moved again so we realised it would all fit in the car now with Doug gone!

Drove into Bidyadanga (previously La Grange Mission. And that website last updated in 1996…!), my first time back in 18 years (my family lived there for 10 months in 1991, my dad was building team leader) but everything was closed as it was Sunday, including the office, whose permission you need to enter the town :(  So we didn’t feel very comfortable looking around and/but did speak to one guy from the parish who also told us there’d been fighting with some people in the morning, so that didn’t help.
A disappointing visit, but it was good to seem some improvements in town (like bitumen roads, some new shops/buildings, new swimming pool and new power house), and I’m glad I heard from people in Broome that the school is doing well.

Bidyadanga is a dry (alcohol prohibitied) community, and I wonder how much that effects things there. Overall I’ve heard much more positive things about Bidyadanga versus Nullagine.

• Only in Bidyadanga for half an hour, before continuing to Port Hedland. Arrived late afternoon, checked internet (Raf had emailed couchsurfers in Hedland early this morning, but none responded), had noodles for dinner, and drove another 50kms south to camp at Yule River. Drove slowly as dark by this stage, and saw roos on the side of the road. Set up our tent next to Yule River (an unofficial roadside camping spot) and had a good nights sleep.

Monday 27 July – Yule River to Karratha/Dampier

• Raf emailed couchsurfers in Karratha while briefly in Port Hedland, for tonights accommodation, and luckily Damon had a responded quickly saying he could accomodate us, yay!
• Got up early, drove to Whim Creek where we had oats and banana for breakfast in the car, then drove on to Dampier
• Met Damon in Dampier, who showed us where the aboriginal rock art was on the Barrup Peninsula. He went back to work for a few hours, and we explored the area and lay in a park near the beach reading for a while
• Met up with Damon at his house late afternoon, went shopping for a bbq, and had a nice night having drinks with his friends, who got together for someone’s farewell
• Slept on Damon’s couch. Our first official experience as couchsurfers (instead of hosts), yay!

Tuesday 28 July – Karratha to Carnarvon

• Drove Karratha to Carnarvon arriving late afternoon at my friend Sarah’s place, and went out for dinner at the harbour and saw a beautiful sunset. And Miss 2 being very cute.

Wednesday 29 July – Carnarvon to Geraldton

• After buying lots of fruit and veggies we drove to Geraldton and stayed with Dave. Yay for Sarah and Dave having two houses right at this time, and being awesome! :D
• It was weird just driving straight on past Shark Bay and Kalbarri. But we did have a picnic on a hill with the view of Shark Bay in the distance

Thursday 30 July – Geraldton to Perth via New Norcia

• Back to Perth! Only a brief stop in New Norcia as we were just keen to get home before rush hour (I didn’t even take photos…but I have plenty previously)! We did buy some things like port there though, and pastries in Bindoon and some wine in the Swan Valley

• Left Exmouth at 8.30am and arrive at Dales Campground in Karijini National Park around 5pm
• Drove into Nannuntarra Roadhouse with fuel light burning, also stopped in Parabardoo to make phone calls.

Wednesday 15 July – Dales Gorge

• Walked to Fortescue Falls from our campsite and swam there, walked through the gorge (Dales) to Circular Pool where Raf swam.  This night was freezing, there was ice on tents.

Thursday 16 July – Kalamina Gorge

• Visited the visitors centre and Kalamina Gorge. Walked the gorge to the end then back to the waterfall for a freezing cold shower.
• Visited Jeff, Kiri and their gang at their campsite who are travelling to Broome for the wedding.

Friday 17 July – Weano and Hancock Gorge

• Visited Weano and Hancock Gorges. Climbed through Hancock Gorge, including the challenging Spider Walk to get to Kermits Pool.
• Heard a guy calling for help at the pool beyond Kermits Pool, Regans Pool. It’s a Stage 6 section and you’re not supposed to go there without qualifications and ropes and climbing/abseiling equipment. He slipped and went down the slippery slide to the pool. It as too slippery to get back up and climbing the rocks around the top/sides was high up and very dangerous.
• After Doug looked into helping the guy out, we decided to get help as it was too dangerous. I went back to his wife who was waiting before the spider walk and told her the situation. I decided to go for help (we had seen the emergency radio near the carpark at the top of the gorge) because I’d be faster than her. Took me about 30 minutes to get back up the top, then used the radio who contacted the Park Ranger (Karijini 1 to Emergency Radio bla bla, over) who contacted other rangers and told me one would be there in 10minutes to get more information from me. In the mean time he drove to the Visitors Centre(he was close) and called the Tom Price Police who contacted the SES. From me they mainly wanted to know if he was injured, as they’ed need to hitch him out from above with a stretcher if that was the case. But he wasn’t injured and looked around 35 and fit. And he was Dutch, heh. While I waited with the ranger to hear how long the SES would be I had some water and chatted about the park. When I knew it would be 2-3 hours, someone had to go down to get a message down that he shouldn’t try to get out, because if he injured himself it would mean a LOT more work. So I headed back down, taking extra water and some snacks from the car with me (chocolate and cashews). Part way down the steps I passed a couple who I’d seen down there and knew what was going on, and they told me the dutch guy had got out. I rushed back up the waiting ranger who passed it on to the park ranger and then got relayed to police and SES. I think they probably just hadn’t got in the car yet, so it was lucky we found out when we did. The couple also told me my friends were waiting for me in the gorge, so I had to go in again! When I got there Raf and Doug told me an aussie guy had helped the dutch guy out and they’d climbed around the side and it was very very dangerous. They also told the dutch couple and the aussie guy to find me when they got back to the carpark, but they didn’t, they didn’t come to the emergency radio/ranger’s car which was . Luckily the other couple told me! Anywayyyyy… then we climbed out again and went to Weano Gorge, which involved more climbing and a rockpool where I washed under the cold waterfall again.

Saturday 18 July – Karijini to Nullagine

• After swimming in Fern Pool(above Fortescue Falls) for our morning bath, we drove out of Karijini at 11.30am and headed for Nullagine with plans to camp near Marble Bar.
• At Auski Roadhouse we turned into Roy Hill Station Rd, a 145km minor gravel road on which we didn’t pass one single car (just saw a tractor on a side rd). Halfway we flat tyre and Doug and I changed it. All good. But we didn’t want another, we had another 70km to go on this ‘in the middle of nowhere’ road, and then another 100km on the highway(between Newman and Nullagine) which was also a gravel road though there would be more passers by.
• Made it to Nullagine though not till 5.30pm, gravel roads are slow going, especially when you are trying not to get another flat tyre!

It’d been 17 years since I’d been to Nullagine and it looked nearly exactly the same. We set up tent at the small caravan park, cooked dinner then headed to the very basic outback pub. We were warmly greeted by 4 backpackers (3 behind the bar) and around 8 people of the Irrangadji community, probably Martu people. I started chatting to them nearly immediately while Doug and Raf mainly chatted to the backpackers who were so happy to see other young travellers.
I soon discovered people I remembered, woah! D, who was in high school when I was there (1992, for 10 months, I was 10 years old), M, who I remembered flew with mum to Port Hedland for a social security course once, and V, who was my friend and is in some of my  old photos!!! It was all very cool and exciting for me, but also a sad, seeing that nothing much had changed. Alcohol abuse still a major issue with a part of the community, with people ending up in jail because of drink driving or aggression. But there was also a positive,  a group of people, including some girls like V herself, worked at the mine in Newman. V works 2 weeks on, 1 week off driving one of those big trucks. Unfortunately she is away from her kids in that time, but there are other family members to take care of them, as is the aboriginal culture, the whole community is family for children.
I promised to send her old photos and a new one I took of her, and she gave me the name of her sister-in-law in Bidyadanga/La Grange to say hi to when I’m there.

We were only in the pub for about 2 hours, but it was good times. A few drunk people, but everyone was really friendly.
Back in my tent I had a lot of trouble sleeping half the night, maybe partly because of a few people loudly leaving the pub later in the night, but mainly processing everything I’d experienced. I am very glad I made the crazy detour to get there, to see the surrounding area, the town itself and talk to some locals. Very excited I found people who I recognised/remembered and vaguely remembered me or my parents. Hopeful about the fact that some people are working in the mine. But depressed that so little had changed, still alcohol problems and still a lot of segregation. I have no idea what the solution is, and obviously there isn’t an easy one. My whole life after living in Bidyadanga and Nullagine I’ve been interested/aware of the difficulty of the aboriginal situation, more so in recent times, and I’ve been reading more about aboriginal culture and history. I feel I need to read and then do more.

Sunday 19 July  – Nullagine to 80 Mile Beach

• Got up before sunrise(!!) and took some photos at the lookout, then some around Nullagine
• Headed to the roadhouse/shop/garage when it opened at 9am(sunday…) to find out if they could fix our flat tyre. No. And the road to Marble Bar was in quite bad condition, so take it easy, was the advice. We made it, going an average of about 60km/h for 100kms. Marble Bar couldn’t fix it either.
• Had a nice picnic at Chinaman’s Pool and visited Marble Bar pool. The rocks around it are jasper, not marble as once thought. Marble Bar is known as the hottest place in Australia.
• Skipped Port Hedland as it was 50km out of the way and being Sunday they probably couldn’t fix it either so drove on to Pardoo Roadhouse. The guy there took a look and found a large hole on the side, he said the tyre is unfixable. Gah, a tyre I paid $90 for 3 weeks ago!! He said to up the tyre pressure (I’d made it low because of the dirt roads) as the car is so heavy, and stick to 90km/h going to Broome, as it makes a big difference with how hot the tyres got.
• Stopped at 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park for the night, the biggest caravan park I think I’ve ever seen!

Monday 20 July – 80 Mile Beach to Broome

• Drove to Broome. Passed Bidyadanga(I lived there for 11 months in 1991), planning to visit on the way back.
• At this stage we’ve been out of mobile range for 11 nights and had no internet for 6 nights. I am quite sure this is a record for me since I first got internet and a mobile phone :D

Tuesday 21 July – Wedding!

• Bought a new tyre, sorted out some other errands (I snapped my drivers license in Exmouth!), got a haircut and in 10mins bought a dress for the wedding I got invited to that afternoon! I know Kiri vaguely from Bridgetown, and when she knew I’d be in Broome she and Jeff were kind enough to invite me :)
• Wedding was at Cable Beach, which was closed because a crocodile had been spotted. But there were still heaps of people on the beach. Nice ceremony which included a lot of song lyrics and Justin Walshe played a song while the others were signing. A few drinks on the beach during sunset, then the reception at Matso’s Brewery, awesome!

Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 and Friday 24 July – Quondong Beach

• Wednesday afternoon headed north on the Cape Leveque Rd and turned left after about 30kms. First checked out Prices Point then headed south to Quondong Beach. No camping spots (we flattened grass), no toilets no water, no bins, no tourists, only some locals.
• Raf bogged the car looking at spots, it was very soft sand. Another 4WD kindly helped us out.
• Lay on the beach the most of the 2 days, and saw some people, but literally noone walked past our spot on the beach!
• Strong tides made the water up to the dunes one moment and way down low showing all the rocks and rockpools the next. Lots of hermit crabs and other crabs
• Raf and Doug also spotted octupus, a sting ray, a puffer fish and some kind of sea centipede.
• Remembered why I fear the ocean, it was definitely living up this way as a kid.
• Awesome sunsets. Crazy amount of flies (not on the beach tho).
• Headed back to Broome on Friday afternoon and went to see Samson & Delilah at Sunset Pictures. Cried. A lot.

Photo on right by Raf.
Saturday 25 July – Alison, the camel lady

My family met Alison (and maybe even Solomon, the name sounds familiar) while living in Nullagine (near Marble Bar) 17 years ago. She was known as the camel lady then, and still is now. She spent years in the pilbara/kimberleys trekking with camels. Then living in Nullagine for ~8 years. Now has been the owner of Broome Camel Safaris (the camels in blue!) in Broome for at least 10 years I believe.
I don’t think my family has had contact for about 15 years now, but my parents had seen her on the news regarding something about the camel rides in Broome a few years ago. So I picked up some brochures, found one that mentioned Alison the camel lady and called, the visited. Alison made sure I was on the first camel (Solomon) so we chatted the whole way, awesome!

This day we also met up with some couchsurfers in Broome and had dinner at Divers Tavern. And this morning we said goodbye to Doug, who found some english backpackers to travel with to Darwin. Aww!

The next morning, Raf and I headed south.

Our transport was my blue Toyota Corolla. It had to get back to Perth as my brother was buying if from me.

The main stops on our trip were Exmouth/Ningaloo and Karijini, as Raf and I both hadn’t been. But there are many stops on the way, and for Doug’s benefit we included a few more.

Sunday 5 July – Perth to Geraldton

• Visited the Pinnacles at Nambung National Park and took silly photos
• Stayed the night with Dave, my friend Sarah’s partner, in Geraldton. Thanks to Dave for the hospitality, panadeine fueled conversation and driving us to get takeaway!

Monday 6 July – Geraldton to Kalbarri/Murchison River

• Visited Hutt River Principality – Prince Lennard showed us around and stamped our passports, funny man
• Visited the coastal cliffs of Kalbarri and The Seahorse Sanctuary

• Kalbarri National Park with Z-bend and Natures Window road closed due to heavy rain
• Finlays Fish Pub was shut so had pizza then drove to Murchison River 24hr rest stop and on the way visited Ross Graham Gorge in Kalbarri National Park by moonlight (only about 5kms off the main road).
• Got bogged driving into camping spot next to Murchison River and even with sticks and help pushing from two guys couldn’t get out so their 4WD pulled us, and even it slipped a bit doing so. I got quite worried for a while, my car came dangerously close to a tree too@
• Slept in the car… Doug on the back seat with his feet leaning on an esky outside the car (he’s tall…!)

Tuesday 7 July – Murchison River to Denham

• Got up early and at the next roadhouse cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast on our stove
• Drove to Shark Bay, stopping at a point before Denham for a stroll on the beach and sandbank
• Drove to the homestead in Francois Peron National Park, 10kms above Denham mid afternoon and lazed on the grass, sat in the 44 degree hot tub (water from an artesian spring) and had a bbq at sunset
• Stayed at a caravan park in Denham

Wednesday 8 July – Denham to Carnarvon

• Got up early to catch the dolphins at Monkey Mia. Made breakfast (porridge) in the carpark
• Drove to Carnarvon, stopping at Shell Beach and the Stromatolites in Hamelin Bay on the way
• Stayed with my friend Sarah and her daughter in Carnarvon. Thanks to them for the beds, interwebs, organising our camping spot in Coral Bay and washing machine use :D

Thursday 9 July – Carnarvon to Coral Bay

• Left Carnarvon stopping at some farms along South River Road to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, mango chutney and choc coated banana and mango icecreams
• Arrived in Coral Bay, checked in to a caravan park before quickly rushing to the beach to see the salmon feeding at 3.30pm.
• Raf and Doug snorkeled as I came to the realisation I couldn’t snorkel with glasses on(or without, I’m -5.5) and that I couldn’t find my emergency contact lenses (were a trial pair that weren’t that comfortable and hadn’t used in 6 months). My sprained foot didn’t help with flippering either.
  So I was a bit down thinking I wouldn’t be able to snorkel at all on this trip, but thinking it is still a beautiful place and I could do a glass bottom boat or quad bike tour.

Friday 10 July – Coral Bay to Exmouth

• Inquired about tours and discovered they hired out prescription snorkel masks!!!!! And they’re highest prescription was -5.5!! Woooo!
• Got into the water at Paradise Beach(Coral Bay) and within two minutes, before even reaching the coral, I felt something sting my back, looked behind me and I was dragging along a blue bottle jellyfish by it’s long thing (nearly invisible) tentacles. It tangled itself all over my back, and Raf and Doug helped get it off while I was slightly panicky. I’m not a big fan of the ocean. Main reasons: jellyfish, octopus, sea snakes, scary looking fish and salt/sand. So typical. And they’re not supposed to be there. It’s not the season, *and* they usually don’t end up in sheltered waters!
• Walked the 20mins back to the town, bought vinegar but by that time the pain had nearly subsided anyway and I just had a bit of a rash.
• Got back to Raf and Doug who had happily snorkeled without sighting another jellyfish,
• Jumped back on the horse and went snorkeling. It was awesome! No scary looking things and no more jellyfish(except tiny nearly invisible ones). Lots of colourful fish and plenty of colourful coral in between lots of brown coral.
• Left Coral Bay at around 2pm and drove to Exmouth, arriving at Andy and Jenny’s house, Raf knows Andy from Fremantle. They’re english backpackers working in Exmouth for 6 months.
• Drove to the lighthouse to view the sunset and ate tuna caught, cleaned and cooked by Andy for dinner.
• Went out for drinks and dancing at the pub with Andy, Jenny and a bunch of their friends

Saturday 11 July – Whale shark diving!

• Got up early to go out on a boat for a day with Ningaloo Dreaming
• Snorkeled for an hour with a 5.5 metre whale shark, snorkeled for 20 minutes with 3 big manta rays and saw turtles, dolphins and humpback whales
• All three of us experienced sea sickness, Raf all day, and so badly she didn’t swim long with the whale shark and not at all with the manta rays unfortunately. I was fortunate that my sickness only last 15 minutes and only resulting in me losing morning tea ;)
• Snorkeled over nice coral in the afternoon

Sunday 12 July – Cape Range National Park

• Drove into Cape Range National Park and were lucky to get the second last camping spot in the park (previous days all full), and at the best camping spot, Yardie Creek. 50m from the beach and 500m from Yardie Creek Gorge.
• Relaxed on the beach and late afternoon had a swim in the gorge/creek.

Monday 13 July – Snorkeling and Exmouth

• Walked the track further along the gorge, spotting wallabies and a feral goat on the other side.
• Snorkelled at Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay. Oyster Stacks was best by far. Turquoise Bay there was less coral, less diversity and it was much busier, but it was a nice beach to relax on. Apparently South Mandu is also really good.
• Drove back to Exmouth, did a big shopping expedition for our 5+ days in Karijini, and stayed with friends again

Spent a few days in Bridgetown last week, enjoyed it.
I’m just testing the flickr to blog posting.