Coral Bay

So an early morning stroll along the deserted beach reveals nothing other than I'm on my own, so I think back to last nights conversations whilst sat around the Billabong campfire where we are told about the Reef Shark nursery/sanctuary on the other side of the bay we have been swimming in.   So naturally we take a 20 minute walk along the beach and come across 28 Reef Sharks and numerous Rays swimming in the shallows at times only 6-8 feet away from my little piggies being lapped by the gentle swish swish swoosh of the incoming tide. Photos are taken and later deleted and we walk back before the incoming tide cuts us off and forces us into the water, without my waterproof action camera to capture the result of the meeting between woman and beast..........
The afternoon is spent snorkelling and one of us exuding so much wasteful energy diving down to capture and immortalise some of the fish forever in film but failing miserably as they dart off and leave him swimming through a cloud of fish poo.........
After a quick rendezvous with 'Mr I have been everywhere, got everything (even a Land Cruiser) and know it all' we embark on a cross town walk, 5 minutes later having reached the start of the Bush, we think, 'We are coming back here for Christmas' .......... And then think, Bliss, probably, just what we will need after galloping around the Northern Territories for several weeks, as even he is not stupid enough to go swimming much further north of here, well except for New Years Day when we are staying in Shark Bay, now I wonder why they call it that?

Week 1

Well we have been on the road for a week now, covered 1512 kilometres and settled into the routine of a nomadic lifestyle reasonably easy, one of us says what she wants and the other say's "Yes! Mistress"..........
A quick pop around the corner of 265kms and not only do we enter the Tropic of Capricorn, we arrive at Coral Bay, where the only thing to do is relax, snorkel and drink beer, ours is now under lock and key after two swigs Julie's antics the other night.........
As you can see from photo, not a bad place to chill for the weekend before some serious driving next week and a self congratulatory beer is about to be consumed after successfully erecting the canopy shade on the side of the van, with a table and chairs underneath so as to enjoy the outside lifestyle I'm feeling a confident little camper man.......... and whilst I may be looked down upon by the true caravan/tent brigade because we are in a motorhome, I just don't want to turn into some of those that we have met so far, who talk nothing other than vans and the 4wd cars that pull them........... But should any of you be interested, go for a Toyota Land Cruiser, version 2 now it's been updated and modified, with turbo chargers, especially as there is always a Toyota dealer nearby, cannot remember the rest as we both turned off and started to fantasise about the possibility of checking the air pressure in the tyres......... which of course, don't forget to reduce if you go off road for extra grip. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ

Such a Busy Day

We awake and one of us ask's the other, "So, how do you clear your head the morning after" I reply, "By Snorkelling!" So it's before 10am and not only are we on the road, one of us is on the wagon.......... However by chance, we come across a group of Eagles and Crows feasting on something beside the road, having been told that Wedge Tail Eagles can kill if you hit then in a fast moving vehicle because they will easily come through the windscreen, we stop, bail out and cause huge consternation to the one and only other vehicle on the road, he had to go around us on an empty road........ 
After testing ones stalking skills again and finding they had not improved, we move onto the blow holes, which really need no explaining, unless of course you are the driver that had to drive around us............
Our ultimate destination is one kilometre further along the road and wow, not only did it clear her head and nose, a picture she refuses to let me publish, she was smiling more than me. We spent an hour and ten minutes swimming with the fishes before we found out about the reef sharks that also swim these same waters........ Don't worry Kathleen, I was perfectly safe, Julie was furthest from the beach........ Then as the tide turned we saw a flock of birds diving into the shallows snapping up the fish who had just been smiling at my camera, two of which were Albatross, so all in all we all had a great day, we'll all bar some of the fish........
Then to cap the day off we returned to the 'CLOSED' one mile pier, the longest in Western Australia apparently, to take the statutory sunset picture, of which there will be more, as someone took a better picture than me...........
Update: Someone is feeling better, as I bought her a book this morning on Birds of Australia, she has just spent 30 mins looking through it to find out that the local man who has been in these parts for 20yrs, who told me the large bird was an Albatross, was wrong, it's a Pacific Gull....... 

It's ............. Unbelievable she is turning into a Sheila......

No jolly jaunt this morning, one of us was up most of the night after having been bitten he thinks by the 'Aching muscle Arachnid ' or the 'Muscle pain midge' whatever Nurse Jules managed to snore her way through most of it until, due to the lack of sympathy, he managed to unintentionally wake her.  Her diagnosis, it's a virus, two paracetamol, now go back to sleep.....
Rest of the day spent driving 460k to Carnarvon in temps of 45 degrees, loads of road trains, masses of flies, flocks of budgerigars, lots of birds of prey and way too much road kill, with a couple of tea stops along the way, one of which was at what we thought was a town called Wooramel as it was signposted forever, and then we arrived........ Not exactly a town, more a Petrol Station, Cafe, Camp Site and Tourist gift shop......... as can be seen from photo, we were the only visitors but managed somehow bring a little cheer to the residents by means of purchasing some home made biscuits and coffee, whilst complementing them on having the most modern 'iPad' style till I have ever seen.
Meanwhile in Carnarvon we discover the 24 page holiday advertising pamphlet we have picked up is basically 12 pages of adverts and 12 pages of bumf for attractions that are closed, so decide on shopping for a new memory foam comfort pillow in order that Nurse Jules does not get disturbed tonight.  However we get invited to the camp Beef in Gravy roll dinner and meet and talk to our fellow campers, all of who are Australian and carry base ball bats, machetes and chain saws in their vans....... They explain to me that they have never had any trouble whilst travelling........... BUT more importantly, now picture the scene, a table of 8 persons, all talking loudly, all drinking alcohol except for one, in possibly 31 degrees, the day turning to dusk, dusk turning to night, the food being devoured with relish, no tea making facilities, no means to purchase a drink as its bring your own, when I suddenly saw a hand reach out and grab my beer...... Now had it been Mr Neanderthal a fight would have commenced but NO it was Nurse Jules hand around the can and lips that began to swig from my can........ Two swigs later as I assist her home she says 'Cann ve buy a Shain Saw toomorwo'............

    The only punters in Town

    Road Train

The Second Summer

So during our early morning jolly jaunt where one of us proves he is no Chris Packham as he, so he believes, stealthily approaches a group of Pelicans, only to have them scatter down stream, we decide to try the Pelican Feeding sequel.  Two Pelicans, forty odd people and one large arse woman giving a talk on Pelicans, try as we may, someone/kid would always get in the frame of a semi decent photo, so off I go to the waters edge to await, The Return of the Pelicans.  
After that it's off to the Murchison River Gorges we go...... Now it's been 30-33 degrees at the coast with a breeze, as we go inland it's 37 degrees at the top of the gorge and 45 degrees at the bottom, phew! Summer has returned.......... We think, time for lunch but where, there is no shade, so we drive looking for some shade and only find it when we return to the campsite. 
We now realise why they call the bush, the bush......... 
After a shaded lunch we go in search of some bread similar to Granary and meet a delightful lady in the Kalbarri bakery, we talk for close onto 10 minutes and end up not only with Linseed & Grains homemade bread but some typical Australian fodder home made meat pies, of which I can now testify, were one of the best I have ever had! She also advised us that this weeks temperatures are not normally like this until the middle of December.........
Next we are back on site when Mr Camper decides time for his first real bit of camping maintenance, re fill the vans water supply, now I do believe it is possible to complete this task without soaking the outside table and chairs, washing down one side of the van and basically flooding site 18, but we will not know until this task has to be undergone again........

Up with the Galahs.....

LToday's 6am brisk walk went without incident apart from the rant and rage of yours truly when he should look up and see he is being watched by a bird of prey, (tonight I must eat more) But there I am, with new sports socks (forgot to bring some) but NO bloody camera ........... So we later attend the Pelican feeding, guaranteed Pelicans, every day, even when they have daylight changing time, lo and behold we had to watch some tourists kids pretending to be Pelicans throwing fish into the sea for the sea gulls to eat.........apparently first time there were No Pelicans..........
So off to see the dramatic coast line but, big BUT here we find a group of fledgling Australian Hobbys.......... One of us totally disregards the Danger Cliff Erosion signs whilst the other shouts out "..... don't be stupid" Having survived the danger of Cliff eroding we retreat to a bar where we meet Mr Neanderthal, we want to sit outside, so we do but one of us does his usual thing of removing the ash tray from our table, OMG, Mr N starts up, advising us of where the non smoking section is and then telling everyone within ear shot it was Un F......... believable that non smokers have all the inside and part of the outside to sit but they still have to sit in the smokers section, it was at this point that one of us restrained the other from trying to wind up Mr N further and then later said, if he had started I would have given him a right mouthful....... and so we endear ourselves to the locals once more........ And now whilst I sit here with my feet on a portable table sitting outside in camping chairs with a glass of red wine awaiting some culinary delight as the sun sets over the Indian Ocean, breathing in air that has not touched land for thousands of miles,  I think, if those Galahs roost in the eucalyptus tree above me I'm going to get covered in bird sh*t.........

Girlie Pink Day

Starting to live the Australian life, up at 5am, out by half past to join in with the walkers, runners, dog walkers and anybody else who has just sobered up........ So there I am briskly walking along a remote costal path when I see a figure in front of me, not so much as staggering but walking from side to side wearing a hoodie, pulled up over their head, so I am unable to gage the type of occupant, needless to say, I decide this is a mugger waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim, Ho Ho Ho I thought, as I approach the hooded miscreant, I'm not so unsuspecting, you are going to have one hell of a surprise when you pounce on me............ I approach with confidence, my heart beating slightly faster with the adrenalin surge the anticipation/excitement is causing when suddenly I am along side hoodie and they turn to face me, SURPRISE, I'm stunned and my reactions are slower than I expected them to be as I say, "Morning" to a little old oriental woman with a bad leg/limp, Good Morning she replies as the tension in my body is released and I continue on my way with a smile on my face thinking, 'Steve you Plonker'.
350kms further up the road we go past a Pink Lagoon, a huge salt lake which gets it's colour from a beta-carotene producing algae, it's at this point when the fuel reserve light comes on and we still had 70kms before the next petrol station that I fell for and admired the attributes of my other female companion, namely TomTom Sheila, she has two buttons, Sound off, Voice Instructions off, If only............
Now at Kalbarri with the constant twittering of the Galah's flying around and roosting above us, I have a feeling we will be awake at 5am, again tomorrow morning........

Pink Lake

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Wakes Wakey

See you at 5am