Carnarvon

Bye bye Tamala

We arrived in Carnarvon on Sunday 14th and have been staying at the BIG 4 Caravan Park. The girls love it because there have been plenty of nice kids to hang out with. There's also a jumpy castle, play ground and swimming pool (although much too cold to swim right now).
I did 12 loads of washing - so glad we have our own machine. It costs $5/load & $5/dryer if you use the park facilities. The park provide a free sausage sizzle and prizes every Thursday for their guests. A nice touch and a great opportunity to socialise.

The weather here has been nice, although mild. Not as hot as I expected. Went to the local PCYC to find out activities for the children and we went roller skating. So different to Perth. You can skate in any direction. Scooters and skate boards acceptable. But it was organised chaos with a local police officer present.

 

Rosie and Angie with officer "Christie" after issuing the girls with infringements for speed skating (LOL)

We visited the  "Carnarvon Space and Technology Centre". That was very interesting. The OTC dish is huge. Well it was for it's time. Built in 1966 by NASA it cost 3 million dollars to build with the station being completed within 12 months. It played a very important part in the "Apollo" missions.

Note the car next to the dish

 

Tomorrow we are heading to Point Quobba to check out the blow holes, then onto Ningaloo where we'll spend 6 weeks camped on the beach with a group of friends.

Paul has recently embedded the following "YouTube" links in previous blogs, but if you haven't seen them, here they are:-
 

http://youtu.be/99Z9QkKNb54

http://youtu.be/BZ3Ja3uxjqo

http://youtu.be/LFtOlTKIEfg

It's lovely the people you meet when travelling. Our neighbor "Ollie (a gold prospector) was having trouble with his solar panel. Paul was quick to offer assistance. Not long after, his coaster bus wouldn't start, so through the process of elimination and a bit of re-wiring, Paul had everything up and running again.

Ollie showed us a nugget he dug up, over 6oz in weight (pictured). It was beautiful to hold. He gave Angelina some rocks with specks of gold in them. Angie collects rocks, so she couldn't believe her eyes. The night before Ollie left, he visited our camp and presented me with a small nugget to say "thank you". OMG! Paul does all the hard work and I get the reward! What a lovely man (Ollie that is...)

 

We've spent time with our other neighbors Robert and Maureen Skeet (Robert pictured on the right holding legless lizard) . There was exchanging of fishing techniques, secret spots and stories of times gone by around the camp fire. They are a lovely couple - like second grand parents to the girls.

 

We hiked 6km to the highest hill just so Angie could phone her best friend Lilly. Here  is the view from the top of the hill. Luckily we had reception (Paul's phone not mine).When we do get phone reception, it's usually around midnight so it was nice for the 2 girls to chat.  

 

 

 

 

I caught this Yellow Fin Bream from in front of our camp. Lovely to eat but I let this one go.

 

 

 

 

 

The girls painting shells and Sea Potatoes

 

It was amazing.... We were sitting under our awing and there I saw in the distance, 2 emus walking down to the water. Then they had a swim and a drink!! The emus got out of the water and walked straight up to the back of our van, then back into the bush. So incredible to witness two wild birds do that.

 



 

 

 

We are constantly in touch with nature. Rosie found a pretty gecko hidden in an old pipe and this moth perched on her camp chair. Note the eggs laid on Rosie's index finger.

 

 

No excuse. Must still exercise.

 

 

Paul's pride and joy.

 

 



 

An exert from my diary Friday 12th July - Last day in Tamala...

 

"We're slowly packing. The girls ;have played all day. We sat on our "love seat" and enjoyed a light ale. Later, Paul went out in "little boat" for a fish. The girls were playing on the rocky headlands making bridges and homes for their little toys. I had the music turned up singing my old favourites. It doesn't get better than that.... Paul's happy, the girls are happy and so am I. I watch Rosie singing and dancing around in circles on the beach. I haven't yet heard the sentence - "Mum I'm bored" and Angie is Rosie's little shadow. They play so well together.

 

Last day in Tamala... Such a wonderful beginning to our journey...

 

Last fire on the beach.... http://youtu.be/99Z9QkKNb54

 



Still at Tamala Station

 
Once we arrived at Tea tree campsite, it was fantastic to see flat calm blue/green water gently lapping on a isolated white sandy beach... With no one in sight for as far as you could see.
We set up camp overlooking the bay, lit a fire and virtually inhaled the first of a few very cold beers. We were looking forward to exploring this new found paradise. - Paul.
                             ......

Over the next 10 days, we've encountered many wildlife experiences...Click on the following link to hear Angie's comments on just one day of exploring in the dinghy.....
http://youtu.be/BZ3Ja3uxjqo







The fishing is amazing. Paul and Rosie have been out a couple of times together and both caught large Pink Snapper (returned to the sea), Yellow finned Bream (lovely to eat) Black Spotted Tusk fish and 1/2 dozen squid. We've seen dolphins, little sharks, turtles,  and sting-rays.

Angelina's angling skills are astonishing.  She's very capable of pulling in a nice size Pink Snapper  by herself. In fact 3 nights ago we were fishing with our neighbors  Robert and Maureen Skeet (camped 2kms away) at dusk on a ledge. Angie out fished the men by bringing in whopper Pink Snappers - The largest being 3 kilos.

We have also had success fishing from the beach right in front of our van. The girls run down to the shore when they hear the bells ring and wind the fish in. It's fantastic!

http://youtu.be/LFtOlTKIEfg


The water while crystal clear is just too cold for swimming and diving. However, Paul has taken us exploring in the dinghy onto near by islands where we've discovered rookeries of Black Crested Turns, Cormorants (their chicks were so cute and fluffy) ,thousands of butterflies and a massive unoccupied Sea Eagle's nests . The children named this island - "Bird Island".

We also came across a small Island 100's of metres off the coast with a resident goat - how strange... (and of course the girls named this one "Goat Island"). We've spotted other land animals during our exploring - emus, kangaroos, snakes (little), Wedge-tailed eagles and geckos.






















Paul says,

Even though there is "no where to go, no-one to meet and nothing to see", life on a deserted beach
is still full-on every day. The home schooling is going really well and while the children would rather do other things, they understand that schooling is part of this extended holiday.

Lucky for me, home economics is also on the curriculum. And Simi is the perfect tutor.
After a couple of hours of fishing its nice to come home to fresh damper, cupcakes, jelly and Anzac biscuits. Needless to say the kids love the whole process...

Perth toTamala Station

Hi everyone... Welcome to our first posting of our "Round Australia Tour".

To begin, we left our home on Thursday 30th May and towed our van to our very good friend "Victor" in Cottesloe, where we stayed in his back yard for a couple of weeks. Not a bad spot - Cottesloe..... 10 out of 10 to Paul for somehow managing to reverse 15metres plus rig into this tight spot and then get her (The Rosalina - named after our 2 girls) out again.

We headed off on Monday 17th June bound for Geraldton to catch up with Paul's nephew Adam and his wife Nicole. We stayed there for 3 days whilst Cherise (our car) underwent a major service (thankyou so much Adam...) and The Rosalina had her wheel bearings overhauled (great job Paul - messy business).

Thursday 20th June was our official start date for our journey round Australia. We drove to Shark Bay - Hamelin Pool where I found something - older than my husband! Yes... Stromatolites... What are they you might ask? Only the oldest recognised living organisms in the world - our kids can tell you all about them. They date back 3.5 billion years and take 30 yrs to grow 1cm. You can see them in the water of this photo.

We free camped on the side of the road as it was getting late in the day and not worth risking a dirt track that you haven't travelled before. We lit a camp fire and the girls had toasted marshmallows. Not a bad way to end day one.

The next morning we arrived at the Useless Loop Road turn off. 42kms along the dirt road, we arrived at Tamala homestead. We were greeted by the wife Yoke (pronounced Yorka) and 3 gorgeous joeys being hand raised and bottle fed (orphaned by car accidents and a goat trap). Rosie and Angie loved cuddling the little joeys. They couldn't believe this experience so early into our holiday.

 

 

We paid our fees (not cheap considering no amenities approx. $250/wk) and received our key for the locked gates. We proceeded down some very rough tracks.We had to go so slow that it took us an hour to travel only 12 kms. Still managed to break all the shelves in the fridge and spill a bottle of anchovies.