I am a T.O.S.S.E.R.........

Last night was a bit of a damp squib, 1 X Turtle seen laying eggs but no hatchlings, torch batteries died so end up using iPhone with torch app and finger over bulb, just so as to get off the beach, God! It was dark...... Go to bed disappointed and feeling lethargic when I awake at 5am, can't be bothered to go for walk but then what with snoring, heat and boredom, I get dressed and go for a walk along the beach, the low tide being at 5.20am so it's over a mile out from the beach when I get there.  Wait! What's that? Is it? Yes it is, it's a turtle! It's obviously a female, it's late getting back into the sea! Oh and it's laid eggs...... 
The sun is up and Turtle lady is exhausted, she has crawled the best part of half way but now has come to a complete stop and appears disorientated........ I look around but am the only one on the beach, there is no telephone kiosk, so I take the chance and change into my T.O.S.S.E.R uniform and attend our lady turtle location. At first she is startled on my approach, although I'm just glad to see her move. I explain to her I'm a Turtle Ocean Search & Save Emergency Ranger and for the next hour and half, I guide her towards the sea when she veers off course because of being disorientated and I shield her head from the sun when it's out as it was heating up quickly.  Several times I think she has died as she does not move for five minutes or so whilst I get a sunburnt neck but she gets going again although rather feebly before repeating the rest and go method of getting home. The tide has now turned and is now getting closer to us, when at 07.23 hrs, the sea and she meet, she is invigorated, excited and summons all of her reserves in a last mad dash before she buries her head into the water and actual starts to swim, she rests, she swims, she rests, she swims, dives and disappears....... I am elated, over joyed, ecstatic and the heart monitor I wear when exercising shows at that precise moment my heart was beating faster than at any other time that morning....... 
Now I know some of you think that Big Boys don't cry but when I was standing in the sea up to my thighs with soaking wet shorts, a iPhone held above my head, saying Adios Mumma and a dark shell swimming away from me, I am sure I must have got something in my eye as my vision was all blurred as I walked ashore.......
I had previously made contact with my land based HQ and when I got back it was snubbing the media, tea, shower and the premier of the video footage and photos I had taken.  The media intrusion is too much for us, don't be surprised if you get a call from them....... So it's off to Port Hedland, where the trains are 3kms long, the ships are so big they have 4 tugs to guide them into Port as this is BHP Billiton, the Iron Ore people, but is also home to a group of volunteers/scientists/researchers into Turtles, who we are meeting and going out with at 6am tomorrow, Sunday, morning............

    Where's a T.O.S.S.E.R when you need one?

    Now I've got a T.O.S.S.E.R and all he does is play with his phone......

    Hooray! Home at last.

    Adios, Mumma!  

    G'day cry baby.........

Fishing Friday

After our late night with the turtles we actually had a lie in this morning until 6am...... Breakfast is had sitting outside before we notice a sand buggy taking some funny looking shelters over the dunes to the beach, best we see what's that all about......
Go for a walk and find half a dozen, Grey Nomads on the beach fishing and sitting in the shelters shaded from the sun.  Get talking to them and they are three retired couples who have sold up their homes, bought a car and a caravan which becomes their home as they travel about the country staying for several months at a time.  These three have chosen 80 mile beach until the new year and as there is nothing around here to do, they all fish at high tide, in the hope of catching a Thread fin Salmon. As we are talking to Jane she suddenly gets a bite, five minutes later and I'm taking the photo of her and her 17lb thread fin......  Off we go looking to see if any turtle hatchlings are about and also notice someone else also looking for them as well......
Walk back about an hour later and find Janes Husband pulling in a baby black tip shark, which he throws back, it's his only catch of the day, we walk over to Jane and bite, she pulls in a 21lb thread fin followed almost immediately by a catfish which she throws back. The female fishing persons win hands down and the fishermen pretend they don't mind, but..........
Afternoon is spent Chillin, reading, planning next weeks adventures and preparing for this evenings excursion onto the beach which is an hour later tonight, so Watch TV whilst the search light imbeciles go looking for turtles and then when they go to bed we will go out......

    A Grey Nomad BBQ tonight.........

    Turtles, Lizards, I don't mind......

    Formation flying fishermen......

    This baby nearly had a some fingers for lunch just after this picture......

    80 miles of beach and he has to chose our bit of it.....

Terrific Turtle Thursday

Just back from two hours of being on the beach in the total darkness, watching Turtles dig holes and lay their eggs and tiny turtle hatchlings racing to the sea. Absolutely amazing to witness but has to be done using red lights so as not to disturb them.  Sad moment spoiler alert........ Was watching one turtle dig her nest when two hatchlings from another nest stumbled straight into this nest, we managed to get one out and missy J the turtle heroine set him on course for the sea but alas the other was never seen again, we are hoping that as it managed to dig itself out of a nest initially, it will be able to manage the same again.......

Pity there was no moon tonight as that would have helped, however the sky, stars, Milky Way and planets were amazing, as there is absolutely no light, so no light pollution, heroine J states she has never ever seen such a brilliant sky.

Now you may recollect that I have what some would say, implied a certain level of critism towards the Australian tourist publicity machine in that they exaggerate somewhat, all I can say about tonight it is the most understated event we know of in Australia and beats the opera House and the bridge by far.  That said, we had enough imbeciles here tonight as it was, so just maybe there is some method behind the absence of publicity.

If you see the first picture of what looks like tyre tracks, it is in fact turtle tracks just by the beach entrance, so you can imagine how many turtles come ashore between October and March with 80 miles of beach to choose from.

No photos of actual laying as we are requested not to take photos until the turtle is on its way back to the sea after the laying. No prizes for guessing where we will be tomorrow night.....

Ps: I take back all I have said about the Aussies going to bed early, tonight was great, after about half hour, they all left to go to bed at nine and so we had the beach to ourselves plus the odd turtle or so.......

    Turtle Tracks

    That was hard work

    Can't a woman do anything without.........

    Out of my way, I'm coming through.........

    The tide is supposed to be in, where is it.......

Turtle Thursday

Am I up before the sun? Not quite, it's the first early morning walk for me where there has not been a visible sunrise, the storm clouds have moved on but the remnants remain in the east.......
Tea, shower, depart camp for breakfast, it's our first cafe breakfast since arriving and o boy do they send their workman off on a full stomach.......
Let's walk it off by following the joonjoo botanical trail, it recommends 1-2 hours to complete it and it's supposed to have everything.  We get there and the sign says, Watch out for snakes and other biting creatures.  We begin our walk and after ten minutes, start thinking the Australian publicity machine has been working overtime again, we do not hear a bird chirp, any leaves rustle, do not even see any ants or have to swat away any flies, this botanical woodland walk is like Monty Pythons parrot, Dead!
Half hour in, give up and turn back, let's drive the 536kms to 80 mile beach.......
This journey is now embedded in our minds forever as being the most boring journey undertaken so far this trip, it starts off going through Cattle Farming territory and stops and starts repeatedly because of cows on the road....... But after that, Yawn! It was dull, although we did get overtaken twice......
In at 80 mile beach and wow what a lovely camp site, right on the beach, hardly anyone here and when we ask about the turtles still laying/hatching, the receptionist says, "YES"
We skip out of office, park up and go to look at beach, OMG........
Not only is the sea a stunning turquoise colour, the beach is white sand with thousands upon thousands of sea shells and better still, there are so many, what look like tyre tracks, but are in fact turtle tracks coming up the beach, we get so excited we go look for the toilets......... We also spot small turtle tracks going in the opposite direction, high tide is about 9pm tonight, I feel a very late night coming on but unfortunately no photos as the flash disturbs and frightens the adult turtles and disorientates the baby turtles.........

    Moo ve over.......

    80 mile beach losing its colour

    40 miles of sunset..........

Derby, pronounced Derbee

That was some storm, loads of rain, thunder and lightening, being in a small metal box is not the ideal place to see the storm out....... a few puddles outside this morning, cloud still about so not so hot, oh and look lots of wildlife out getting an early morning breakfast of 'washed off the trees' cicadas, lots of them on the ground and the birds are having a field day. One of whom is a Blue winged Kookaburra, so before breakfast we are out trying to photograph him in flight between cicada and tree branch, when suddenly there is a scuffle going on by another tree, two goannas fighting, forget Kookaburra, let's get photo of 'Goanna get ya' before we can do so one runs off leaving the other to reign over his territory and never mind the humans, this is his domain, so he stays and does all things Goanna, ignoring us totally.  Then there is a little girlie shriek as Goanna 2, comes out of hiding and brushes against the legs of the lady photographer, both are surprised as each other and Goanna 2, leaves by a rear exit.......
En route to Derby and a lot more water about which whilst it adds another dynamic to the surrounding countryside which we are glad to see,  we also feel our timing for leaving the north is just about right...... As a woman we were speaking to later in the day said, "you could get stuck here for up to 6 weeks, if it really rains".......
In Derby first stop is to see the Boab prison tree and the Old Derby Gaol, no doubt in my mind, the first Europeans here did abuse the locals, if the Historical facts displayed alongside these National Heritage Sites is to be believed.
Second and third stop, coffee, try two places both closed, the summer up here being not only the Wet season but also the quiet period when tourists stay away........ Doh, where did we go wrong?
Nowhere! we don't feel we got it wrong, we love the fact that it's not heaving with tourists, otherwise it will be like Javea, in August......... Also the fact is, that yesterday's ramblings about the roads was not putting them down, here we have the roads almost to ourselves and we worked it out that in over 7000kms we have possibly overtaken at most 25 other vehicles and been overtaken by certainly no more than 50 vehicles......
Anyway find nice coffee shop where staff treat us really well, even showing us a photograph of one of the waiters with Robson Green with their arms around each other, having been extreme fishing together, he was so proud.........Back there tomorrow for our first non porridge breakfast....
Check into campsite and rest during the hot part of the day, 40degrees again today and nothing/nobody is moving.........
Off to the Jetty where the highest tidal range in Australia is, and the second in the Southern Hemisphere, (the Amazon being no 1, James) for the sunset picture, when we get there it appears Mother Nature may have other plans, there are storm clouds a brewing....... We see a family of 4 turn up, pull out 6 folding chairs and a short while later Mum and daughter appear with a fish and chip takeaway for all to eat whilst the sun sets behind the storm clouds over the Dampier Peninsular..... Does not help the photos though, I wanted the family to be silhouette by the sun but that would have possibly involved in me becoming either a Sharks or Crocodiles dinner............

    Breakfast on Kookaburra Airways.....

    And the winner is.......

    Savouring Success!

    Mother Nature teasing me.....

Wipeout, well almost, Tuesday

The day starts with me saying 'Hasta Luego' to my Lake Kununurra early morning walking group....... They have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about........ and we set off on a 634kms road trip to Fitzroy Crossing during which we almost get wiped out by a four car road train, he was definitely speeding around a bend when we saw the last car creeping over the double white line, new underpants please....... It missed or rather we missed it but I did learn a few new words from my passenger and they were not Spanish.........
Now it did get me wondering that some of you may believe that because we are in the modern progressive country called Australia and because we are travelling on one of their main highways being the Northern Highway, which goes from Perth to Kununurra being 2000 miles, you have a picture of us driving along something similar to the M25, uah hah........ nearly all of it is a two lane single carriageway with dust as the hard shoulder, the speed limit is 110kms (66mph) and it is as smooth as a crocodiles back.....
That said Boredom is the main hazard, well other than road trains, so it is no wonder dear reader, when we arrive at the destination, the stress, angst and tension is somehow relieved by means of a medicinal glass of red wine.......... Percentage wise that's not bad, we have driven over 7700kms and have got through less than 35 bottles of wine.......
Whilst en-route today we are happily driving in sunshine whilst in the distance to the left of us is a storm and to the right of us in the distance is another storm, what lucky little POR's (Poms on the road) are we, when just as we are approaching Halls Creek, the two storms meet........ The winds are making any forward movement in the Motorhome hard work and dangerous as we are continually being blown sideways and the rain has reduced the visibility to possibly 20 feet.  We take shelter in a housing estate from the wind, park up and put the kettle on...... Next I am rushing for the handbrake as I think we are rolling backwards, plonker...... it's the water/river on the road surface being blown by the wind that's moving, we are perfectly still and safe, except it's bin collection day today and they have collected them, that leaves a lot of empty green wheelie bins outside people's houses, only not the owners houses, we are suddenly being overtaken by empty green wheelie bins as they race off down the road in front of us.  This is an obvious danger for others, so with no thought for my own safety, disregarding the torrential rain and high winds, I take a photograph...........
Let's chance it and within five minutes we are back in glorious sunshine with two storms fighting it out behind us.  We arrive in Fitzroy Crossing an hour before one of the storms, it's not looking good for a rejuvenating relaxing nights slumber.........

    Road Train coming through....... 

    The Northern Highway

    The one in the middle got a speeding ticket........

Mirima Monday

Today starts at 04.30hrs and once again I am not alone at being up at this ridiculous hour, there is almost just the same amount of movement as yesterday but not one boat has been launched from the boat ramp so far today........

We are joined once again by the various lizards for breakfast, one even bringing his own breakfast, before setting off for Mirima National Park.  We enter at 09.20hrs, it's already 40 degrees and guess what it's a walking and climbing up morning...... Brilliant rock formations that are 340 million years old and lo and behold I take my hat off to the little lady that climbed up to the lookout with me, even though at times there was no safe edging or hand rail.  She did call it a day when the edge disappeared down to 6inches of rock to walk along with a 75ft drop, she wouldn't even watch me do it but good on her for getting to the top.
It's too hot for any wildlife and us so off to the town centre for an iced coffee.  Now bear in mind the temperature we walk into a cafe and ask for a coffee over iceman, sorry we cannot do that, we do not do ice......... This establishment is not alone in this, it's as if the cut backs have done away with buying ice in, I suppose their take on it is, every thing comes out of the chiller so why bother, everything that is, except proper coffee.........
After a peppered pie and hot coffee we head for Ivanhoe Crossing, where according to the tourist literature, Barramundi fish are queuing up to get up stream, which makes it an Anglers delight if true, we have noticed the Australian tendency to exaggerate where tourism is concerned, one place said, come and see the RARE Red Goshawk, it's so rare it's not been seen by the locals for three years due to drought......... I digress, back to the fishing....... We arrive and find a husband and wife team walking back across the crossing and he is carrying a two foot long Fish, I ask if it's Barramundi and he confirms it is, saying its the third one he has caught this morning but the other two were smaller. The wife puts the fish in an Esky whilst hubby goes out and throws a circular weighted net out, it sinks, he pulls it in and he has three fish in it, he throws two back and gives the other one to his wife, if you are Squeamish turn away now, she then cuts the smaller fish in half and puts the back half on a 3in fish hook and ties that to a fishing line on a spool, something like a giant strimmer spool, by now hubby has put his net away and is laying down rolling about in the water, totally disregarding the 'Do not swim -Crocodiles inhabit this area' sign. The wife explains they throw it out so the current makes it look like a fish swimming against the current so the Barramundi will grab it from behind. She then wanders out to join hubby, throws the line out and plonk, down she goes into the water as well, see picture of how some do their fishing in the heat out here.......
We then go to a different part of the lake, than we are camped on as someone desperately wants a picture of a particular bird, we get there and it's impossible, not only is it too hot, there are loads of bikini clad women, sitting, talking, swimming, eating, drinking oh did I mention they were in bikini's, not that I looked of course........
So back to camp, past a Police road check, for once we did not get stopped, thankfully due to the car in front getting a tug instead....... Shall we go in the pool or sit in air con, that is the 64,000 dollar question..........

    Up with the Kookaburras

    I've Brought my own this morning.....

    Mirima National Park

    Fishing for Barramundi, Australian Style........