Weird and wacky

Rain. Full bodied drops of camper cleansing rain. Aaaahhh bliss. Nothing like a rainy day, gazing out to sea as the wind whips its fury across the crest of a wave. Passing through coastal cray fishing towns we landed at Jurien Bay. A smaller town than we had presumed, but a great vantage point to discover the weird and wacky of WA.

It's raining- on our way to Jurien Bay

Stockyard Gully National Park- a natural gully once used to yard droving cattle, is home to some secret caves. A walk along the gully floor leads you 300 metres through the main cave. Armed with torches we trod the sandy floor- it was seriously pitch black inside.

Inside the Stockmans Gully Cave
Stockmans Gully, leading to the secret cave

The old limestone walls were nothing special to look at, but the sheer size of the cave, which appears out of nowhere was pretty cool. Lucky the day was rainy, as a swarm of bees have set up camp at the far entrance, but where stilled in the wet weather.
Returning home, we detoured through the ‘drive through’ Lesueur National Park. We have now seen many wildflowers along our travelling route, however the wildflowers in is park where pretty special. The park actually contains 10% of WA’s flora, including plants found nowhere else in the world.
Lesueur National Park

Sweeping valleys of shrubs and flowers are enclosed by a ring of hills and plateau’s, segregating the plants from beyond.
But it was Nambung National Park that had the wackiest feature. The Pinnacles- limestone pillars rising like gnarled fingers grasping for air out of the yellow sand dunes. Scientists are not really sure how they formed and the mystery of these thousands of structures may never be solved. We had both heard of the Pinnacles, but were shocked to see how many there were and how yellow the sand, given the surrounding white sand dunes.

The Pinnacles

The weird and wacky delights continued with a viewing of more stromatolites and their cousins- the thrombolites. Were stromatolites grow in layers, thrombolites grow in clusters. They all end up looking pretty much the same though- like lumps of rock.

Stromatolite and Thrombolite

Things are not always as they seem though- the lumps of wood lying on the road were actually Bob Tailed Skinks, there were so many of them, we were constantly dodging these slow lizards so as not to run over them. Some we had to stop to move out of the way, although they were not always agreeable to being moved off the warm road.

Bob Tailed Skink- not happy about being moved out of the way

As we head south, to the bottom of WA, we have truly left the outback behind. Although we still peer out of the window to endless countryside, it is no longer the wild Australian bush. We have now entered the ‘country’ with her man made fields, chopped trees and livestock. Our drive south, was a big one covering nearly 500 kilometres in one day. Weary and in need of a warm shower, we decided to stopover at Kojonup for the night. The brisk evening added to the Blue Mountains feel of this town, but 1970’s style buildings and plentiful sheep had us elsewhere.
Refreshed it was onto Albany. Now at the southern most point of WA, the coast is broken up into many bays with granite islands rising out of the sea. It is a spectacular coastline and was the last sight for many Australian soldiers who were to die at Gallipoli.

View across to ANZAC monument and out to sea

Albany is actually the town where the first dawn service was held in 1918, now a tradition of every ANZAC day. Mt Clarence, rising majestically above the town, was where the people of Albany gathered in 1914 to watch the convoy of ships destined for Egypt. The soldiers were then trained there before landing at Gallipoli. Now it hosts a monument to those who will never return to the harbour and a poignant spot, reflecting the ANZAC spirit.
Albany and her surrounds are full of natural beauty, including Little Beach. Finally, I had found a great beach.




Little Beach, Albany




The water was so clear and blue it looked like a jelly slowly wobbling, as the waves lapped the shore. Alas, the weather was not commensurate to my beach ideal. So, it was off to admire the coastal cliffs. With surging seas straight from Antarctica, the huge granite boulders of the coastline have been weathered into many interesting formations.

Natural bridge formation, Albany coast

A wind farm takes advantage of the weather here, the turbines towering above the mesmerising granite strewn landscape. The granite strewn Albany coastline

Our parents are aliens

Kalbarri is a popular seaside holiday town and the nearby Kalbarri National Park is where the famous WA wildflowers run rampant. Although now at the end of the wildflower season, the National Park still delighted us with many diverse blooms and colours on show.












Wildflowers, Kalbarri National Park

Gorges are the main feature of this park, with many rock formations having been carved over millions of years from the strong winds. Natures Window, the most famous, is a magic spot to take a photo framing the Murchison River below.

Nature's Window- Kalbarri National Park

With many options available Dave and I played tourist and visited all the ‘must do’s. Rainbow Jungle breeds all number of endangered (and some not so) parrots and native birds. Meandering through the ‘jungle’ we encountered many colourful birds we have seen in the wild and those that are now only seen in captivity.

Rainbow Jungle friend

The Black Cockatoos and Macaws were a favourite, but boy do they have a squawk on them.

Black Cockatoo, Rainbow Jungle

The Seahorse Sanctuary was set up for conservation purposes, to stop the pet shop trade of taking seahorses from the wild. Not used to eating ‘frozen shrimp’ most wild caught only last 6 weeks. However, there are no protection laws for these fish and up to a million are collected from the sea each year.

Seahorses!

At the sanctuary they are bred and then taught to eat frozen shrimp. Thankfully, many pet shops globally, are now sourcing their stock from this sanctuary. So if you are in the market for a seahorse, make sure you demand one that has been bred in captivity! We were also lucky enough to see the bubs- seahorses that had been born only 2 hours prior! Less than a centimetre long, they were miniature replicas of Dad, who had given birth to them (yes, Dad gives birth).

Baby seahorses

An afternoon drive took us along the cliffs surrounding Kalbarri. The scene reminded us of the Great Ocean Road, complete with a bridge and island (apostle) formations formed by the fracturing and decaying of the cliff. With a southerly wind gaining strength and making it rather chilly, we also felt like we were back in Victoria too.


Kalbarri Coastal cliffs

This part of the coast is home to much European history, with many ships having become wrecked in the uncharted waters. A small inlet near Kalbarri can boast to be the site of the first European’s settling on the mainland of Australia. Dutch sailors Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom de Bye, survivors from the shipwrecked Batavia, were marooned here on November 16, 1629. They were mutineers, however being of a young age; the Captain took pity and did not implement the same death sentence their comrades received. They were given provisions and materials for shelter yet it is a mystery what became of them- did they perish, or did they survive with the help of local aboriginals?
Leaving Kalbarri, we also left Australia- just for a short while, as we entered the Principality of Hutt River. Back on April 21, 1970, having seceded from the Commonwealth of Australia, the Principality of Hutt River became an Independent Sovereign State. Located 595 kilometres from Perth, the principality is about 75 kilometres in area (about the size of Hong Kong). We met with HRH Prince Leonard, who showed us around, having processed our passports in the Government building. This building and the Post Office displays all the stamps, coins and other memorabilia from the past 40 years of existence.

Having my passport stamped by HRH Prince Leonard

It was here we also learnt that our parents are aliens. In 1948 Great Britain withdrew citizenship from Australians, probably worried that we would all journey back to the mother land to settle. We had become British Subjects, or Commonwealth Citizens without citizenship. Therefore, on January 26, 1949 Australia’s Citizenship Act gave citizenship to everyone born in Australia after January 26, 1949. Then in 1973 Australia’s Citizenship Act deleted recognition of ‘British Subjects without citizenship’. This means that unless persons born in Australia before January 26, 1949 are naturalised, they are by law ‘aliens’!!
Bidding farewell to the Price, we were soon back on Australian soil, and stopped for a coffee in the historic town of Northampton, on our way to Geraldton. As Geraldton is our first big town for a long while it was time to stock up the pantry. However, Dave took me somewhere special first- to the local Health Clinic for a Swine Flu vaccination. So romantic..... (hee hee).
With the story of the HMAS Sydney fresh in our minds, having been found only last year, we visited the memorial. It is an impressive tribute to the 645 men who lost their lives, when attacked by the German Kormoran in the Second World War. A visit to the museum enabled us to view pictures of the watery grave, where all on board had lost their lives. The attack of this ‘Pride of the Australian fleet’ was kept quiet for 12 days, and with only accounts from the German survivors much conspiracy prevailed.

HMAS Sydney Memorial












The museum also houses many relics salvaged from the Dutch Ships, which became wrecked in the 16 and 1700’s, off the coast of this uncharted land.
The Francis Xavier Cathedral, built in 1916 (but not completed until 1938), is an impressive Roman style building in the heart of town. Not of a religious nature, we still like to view these beautiful buildings and feel the spiritual power within. However, the Francis Xavier Cathedral makes you feel like you have entered a lolly shop. The entire inside of the church has been painted in grey and white stripes with an orange and white stripe trim!



Inside Francis Xavier Church





With the winds having abated, we continued hugging the coast and are settled in the fishing town of Dongara. Our home is 20 metres from the town beach, however we couldn’t miss the opportunity to stroll around to South Beach- one of Australia’s Top 10 beaches. We didn’t make onto this beach, the raw stench of huge piles of rotting sea grass made us retch. Possibly it is not always like this, but I am still on my quest to find a good beach in WA.