Our time in Perth was partly sightseeing and partly trying to rest and re-energize. I feel like we have all lost enthusiasm for travel now, and are ready to go home. But we still want to make the most of the time we have left and make the most of the things we will still see between now and when we get home.

So some of the things we did in Perth are:-

– Went bike riding along the Swan River and in Kings Park. We did this on the first full day in Perth and it was a beautiful day for it – about 22 degrees and sunny. We took the kid’s 4 bikes into the city in the car and parked at the bike hire place near the Swan River. We then hired a bike for Michael and I, and got a map for riding along the river foreshore and then into Kings Park and back. It was about 30km all up. The foreshore was mostly flat, but Kings Park had some hilly sections. We were surprised at how far above the city Kings Park is. We entered from the western end of the park and soon came to the ? Area of the park. This was a lovely spot. There was a cafe here and the kids were all very hungry, so glad for a hamburger or hotdog for lunch. The playground area was amazing – an island in the middle with a play area, as well as heaps of different play spaces around the island. As it was Saturday, there were lots of people and families there. It had a lovely atmosphere about it. We rode through to the eastern section of the park where there were some lovely wildflowers in the gardens. We went fairly quickly through this section, as we were trying to get the hire bikes back on time. We actually had trouble finding a good exit from the park to get back onto the river foreshore bike track. Our map wasn’t very good for this. Eventually we did find our way out and rode back, stopping at the bell tower to have a look.

– We went to church Sunday morning at a Church of Christ in Como, South Perth (just south of the Swan River). Interestingly, it is called Lifestreams Christian Church (our church at home is called Lifestream Christian Fellowship). We enjoyed the service and enjoyed a cuppa and cake afterwards. Hannah and Beth really enjoyed children’s church again.

– We went to the Fremantle Port area. Michael and Sam went and had a look at the Maritime Museum and did a submarine tour, while the girls and I went to the E-shed markets. Lauren really enjoyed this as it reminded her of Paddy’s Markets in Sydney, which she had been to a couple of times on a Girls Brigade weekend away. We found a few bargains and enjoyed the retail therapy. Dad and Sam enjoyed their time too.

– Our 3rd day in Perth, the tiredness caught up with me. I felt I couldn’t go out to Kings Park again like we had planned. So Michael took the younger 3 out while Lauren (who was also wanting a rest day) and I stayed home. As well as having a snooze, I also needed to do some planning for the rest of our trip, as I hadn’t done any reading on the area south of Perth before leaving home.

– That afternoon was quite hot, so we took the kids to a swimming pool in Fremantle – it was called Fremantle Leisure Centre. It had a 50m pool, a 25m pool and a water play area. The water play area had a really cool ‘turbo pool’ which I hadn’t seen before – it was like a permanent whirlpool set up in a side section of the pool. I had a turn in this and quite enjoyed it.

– Our last day in Perth, we did some schoolwork in the morning and then took a train ride from Fremantle into the city (Hannah and Beth couldn’t remember being on trains in Brisbane, so they enjoyed this). We went to a place called Scitech – a science and technology centre. This had been Michael’s suggestion and I had thought it might be too much like Questacon back home. But it turned out to have quite different exhibits and the kids really loved it. There was a planetarium theatre there which we all went into first. Apparently Lauren and Sam had been in one like this in Brisbane when they had visited Nana and Papa on their own. But it was the first time I had seen one and I found it really amazing, the technology they had to show us the different parts of the universe. I learnt quite a bit.

We had a slow start to the morning. Then drove into Toodyay town centre, parked and had a look around.

We had a walk through the old flour mill in the centre of town, which still has working machinery. We saw the different machines and learnt about the different stages of the milling process. We then walked along the main street and looked in a few shops. We stopped at the bakery and bought some pies and sausage rolls for lunch later on.

We then hopped back in the car and took a drive along the little country roads. Our plan was to find a nice picnic spot to sit and have our lunch. But we drove for about 40 mins without finding anywhere nice to stop and everyone was getting hungry. So we ended up stopping at the oval in the little town of Bindoon. We had our lunch, and then, because there was a cricket pitch in the middle of the oval, Sam wanted to have a hit. So we got the cricket bats and ball out and had a hit for 15mins or so.

Then it was off to Perth. We had rung up to book a van park that morning, but many places were booked out – WA school holidays were about to start and the Perth Royal Show was starting. We ended up being able to book in to a place at Fremantle, called Fremantle Village Caravan Park. They only had ensuite sites left, but gave us a discount on that due to the ensuites being fairly old. It took us about an hour and a half to drive to the van park in Fremantle. It was getting to late afternoon, so there was no more sightseeing for the day. We did our usual routine and looked into things to do in Perth.

It was still very cold the next day, and windy. And there were showers on and off.

Our first stop after packing up was to drive to a lookout just outside Cervantes. We looked out over the ocean, the town and lots of wildflowers.

We then drove to the Pinnacles., in the N NP. We got a map of the area and parked at the carpark. We could either do a walk through the Pinnacles or drive around (but would have had to take the caravan off and leave it). We decided to do the walk first and see if we still wanted to do the drive after that. When we got out of the car, we decided we needed our beanies (as well as our jumpers). We hadn’t expected to be walking around the Pinnacles with beanies on. We did a quick look thought the interpretive centre and then did the walk. It was pretty amazing to see these formations sticking up out of the ground all over the place. The walk took about 40mins and we got back to the car just as it was about to start raining again. We decided not to do the drive.

We then drove further down the coast towards Lancelin. This town is known for the sand dunes nearby, where people go 4WDing on the dunes or sandboarding. Sam was really keen to try sandboarding. Unfortunately, as has happened a few times on our trip, the weather was going to be against him. Due to the rain, the sandboard wouldn’t have slid very well down the dunes. We drove to see the dunes though, and Michael and the kids went for a walk and run up and down.

The next place to visit on our plan for the day was the Avon Valley. This is an area northeast of Perth city which is around the Avon River and is quite pretty. We had looked up a caravan park at one of the little towns around here – one called Toodyay (pronounced Too Jay). We saw some wildflowers as we drove along. We arrived at Toodyay nearing 5pm, so it was the usual set up, dinner and nighttime routine. Tomorrow we hoped to look around Toodyay and have a bit more of a drive around the Avon Valley before heading into Perth.

The bad weather continued today, with some rain showers on and off. It wasn’t too much of a problem though, as today was mostly a driving day (with a few stops).

We headed south from Kalbarri, and our first stop was Point Gregory near Pink Lake. As we drove past Pink Lake, it really did look pink in some parts and from some angles. This is due to a certain bacteria being trapped in the salt granules.

We had considered going to visit a place called Hutt River Province, nearby this area. It had been interesting to read about it. It is actually a sheep farm which succeeded from the Australian nation back in 197?. Due to some legal wranglings, this place was now it’s own province with its own stamps and currency, and with the farm owners being king and queen. We ended up deciding not to take the time to go and visit, but it had been interesting to learn about it.

Our next stop then was Northampton, a town with some heritage- listed buildings in it. We had a drive though and took some photos and stopped there to buy some drinks to have with our sandwiches for lunch.

Then it was on to Geraldton, another 50km away. We were planning to o some grocery shopping there and also visit a 2nd hand bookshop which we’d read about in Lonely Planet guide which had shelves of books floor to ceiling. It was probably the largest city we’d visited in quite a while. We found the grocery store and all helped with the shopping and then went and found the book shop. We weren’t disappointed by this shop. It did have lots of books and was quite well organised, compared to other 2nd hand book shops we’d visited. It had quite a good children’s and teen’s section and we found a few good quality books. We were probably there for about 40 mins, but then had to get going, as we still had about 200km to travel to get to Cervantes.

The next main town was Greenough, which was about 50km away. The Lonely Planet guide had said there was also a good 2nd hand bookshop there which had rare and out-of-print books. I would have loved to have stopped there also, but knew that would be pushing the patience of others and it would have made us later to get to our night stop. So we kept driving. We were driving through landscape which made us think of England (I guess the English names of Northampton and Greenough suited). There were also some wildflowers along the way as we drove.

We drove past Jurien Bay and on to Cervantes, arriving about 6.15pm at the van park. I rang to order pizza as we were driving in to Cervantes, and was able to go and pick it up after we had set up. The cold front that was coming through was even colder by now – it was jumper and beanie weather when we arrived at Cervantes. We had pizza for dinner and then it was bedtime routine. We were glad we had a warm caravan in this cold, windy weather.

We all liked Kalbarri. The little township was nice and had an attractive foreshore by the Murchison River Inlet, with the surf beach a little further out. It was a great place for young children to swim. Not far out of the township the cliffs rose on either side and there were some spectacular views of the ocean, the bays and the coastal heather. On either side of the township is the Kalbarri NP. The northern part of the park follows the route of the Murchison River through gorges and spectacular cliff views of the river. The southern part of the park follows the coastal route with 6 or 7 stopping points for short walks or great lookouts.

Our first day at Kalbarri we did the following:
– Went and saw the pelican feeding which is held daily at the foreshore at 8.45am. It started in 1975 when a shop owner on the main street used to walk across the road most days to feed the pelicans at the beach. Occasionally he couldn’t make it there to feed them, so they started to walk across the road to his shop instead, causing a traffic jam as people stopped and watched. So since then , different volunteers have continued the pelican feeding. The volunteer gives a talk about the pelicans for 15 mins or so as they all arrive and then the children can line up to take turns at throwing a bit of fish to them.
– Went for a drive into the northern part of the NP. There were a few different lookouts, but we just went to 2 of them – the loop trail lookout and Nature’s Window. Nature’s Window is a natural attraction pictured on many of the brochures of the NP. It is a protruding outcrop of rock with a hole in the middle large enough for a few people to sit in – if you sit in the hole, the surrounding rock forms a picture frame. We took some photos there.
Just the drive to the lookouts was lovely as we went past many lovely wildflowers.
– We went back to the van for a rest in the afternoon.
– Mid-afternoon we planned to hire a catamaran on the estuary of the foreshore, but the hire place was closed when we got there ( despite the sign saying it was open until 5pm). So instead we went for a drive to look at Jakes Point which is the surfing beach just north of the township. We found the beach, but it was quite rocky in places, so wouldn’t be good for beginner surfers (who might accidentally surf onto the rocks). We drove to the next beach along, but by now the weather had turned quite windy and the surf at this beach was quite rough. So we all just waded our feet and enjoyed the view of the Red Bluff cliffs.
– The kids were then happy to go back to the caravan park for a swim in the pool. And then it was into baths and dinner etc.

It rained quite a bit overnight, which was the first rain we had had in about 2 and a half months (since Qld).

On our second day in Kalbarri, the weather was a bit iffy. We had some showers on and off. So some of our plans changed. But this is what we did:
– Went for a drive into the southern part of the NP, stopping at a few of the coastal cliff lookouts – Red Bluff, Rainbow Valley, and Eagle’s Gorge. There was information about some of the shipwrecks on the cliffs in this area – the 2 most well known were the Zuytdorf and the Batavia. Looking out to the seas and cliffs, we could certainly see how it would have been (and still would be) a treacherous place for ships in a storm.
– Went to see about hiring a catamaran again – but the rain started up as we were planning to do the sail.
– We went back to the van to have lunch first. Then when the sun came out again, we went down to the boat hire pace again – he was closed up again ( and it was only 1.30pm) – how frustrating.
– So then the kids had a play at the playground on the foreshores and a swim in the calm water estuary area.
– Sam spotted a squash courts sign and suggested having a game of that with Michael. It turned out to be run from the pub and was only $7 per hour ( including hire of ball and racquets). So Sam and Michael did this, while Hannah, Bethany and I went for a bike ride along the foreshore and Lauren, who was feeling tired, rested at the van. Hannah, Beth and I enjoyed our bike ride as it was an easy path and the girls are both riding very well now without training wheels. We came back to the squash court after 45 mins, so that Hannah could have a turn of squash (which she’d wanted to try).
– Then it was back to the van park for another swim before dinner.

Today was planned as a driving day to get to Kalbarri, our next destination, however we ended up making a few sightseeing stops along the way – all still in Shark Bay. These were some of the stops we hadn’t made on our way up the peninsula the first day.

So first we stopped at Eagle’s Bluff, which was a steep cliff with a boardwalk perched high above the bay below. There were great views across Shark Bay to Useless Loop. Much of the waters below we’re quite clear and we had a good look for any sharks or manta rays or other marine life, but couldn’t see any.

We then stopped about 15mins later at a place called Shell Beach which is an amazingly white beach that has been created naturally from hundreds of millions of tiny seashells (Fragum Cockles). We made pictures in the shell sand and splashed our feet in the shallows of the water. This is also where the fence for Project Eden is constructed as it is at the narrowest part of the peninsula.

Then we drove back to Hamelin Pool and decided to stop there again as we’d seen some things in the gift shop there that we wanted to have another look at – we’d hurried through a bit last time. We also had lunch while here.

Then it was time to make haste for the remaining 200 or so km to Kalbarri, as it was almost 2pm by this time.

Nothing much of interest between Overlander Roadhouse and Kalbarri, apart from noticing more and more wildflowers on the side of the road. This was a nice sight.

We eventually got to Kalbarri about 4.30pm and did some research on caravan parks and settled at staying at the Tudor Caravan Park, as it had a pool, playground, and jumping pillow – and when we rang them they offered to give us a discount on the children. So we went and set up. We had a good location again right across from the playground and jumping pillow. The kids enjoyed these for a while before dinner.

Lauren, Sam, Michael and I had a fun game of 500 tonight – we’ve often been too tired to play cards, but we made the effort tonight and it was fun.

We had a slightly less busy day on the Saturday. It was my turn to feel a bit unwell, so I stayed back at the van while Michael took the kids down to the playground at the foreshore and then to the Shark Bay Discovery Centre which had a lot of information about the history and natural resources around the area.

They learnt that Shark Bay meets all 4 of the natural values criteria for a World Heritage Area (there are only ? Of these in Australia). These 4 criteria are : 1) Natural Beauty – there is much of this at Shark Bay, from the white beaches to the red headlands and cliffs, from the glittering sands and shells of the fringing islands, to the red sands of the Peron Peninsula, from the oddly shaped claypans called ‘birridas’, to the turquoise coloured Big and Little Lagoons. 2) Earth’s History – the stromatolites. 3) Evolutionary Processes- some marine species and some land species are distinct to this area due in part to the isolation of the area, and also due to the environment created bybthe presence of vast amounts of seagrass. 4) Threatened Species – it is the last stronghold for 5 critically endangered mammals, and is also a haven for the endangered humpback whales, dugongs, loggerhead turtles and green turtles.

They learnt that Shark Bay has the largest bed of seagrass (which dugongs, whales and turtles love). They learnt about Project Eden, whereby a feral-proof fence has been erected across the narrow section of the Peron Peninsula to keep out feral goats, cats and rabbits etc. Once all the feral animals were gone, they reintroduced the threatened mammal species from the nearby islands onto the mainland and they have been increasing in number.

They learnt that the western most point in Australia is called Steep Point. It is on the most western and less inhabited peninsula of Shark Bay and is hard to get to (we didn’t go there). Interestingly, you need a permit to go there as it is private property. Also on this same peninsula is a place called Useless Loop. It actually has a salt harvesting industry there.

They learnt about the first explorers to arrive in this area – Dirk Hartog (Dutch) in 1616 (stepped ashore at what is now called Dirk Hartog Island). Then Dutch Captain De Vlamingh revisited the site in 1697. It was then visited in 1699 by William Dampier, the first English captain to explore the WA coast. It was Dampier who gave Shark Bay it’s present name after noticing the prolific number of sharks in the area.

They then came back to the van for lunch and a rest. Everyone was feeling a bit tired today. We had planned to go for a drive into the Francois Peron NP in the afternoon. We had found out that for some of the more northerly tracks it is recommended that you have certain types of recovery gear with you (as you are driving through a lot of sand). We didn’t have all this gear, so had thought we might just visit the Peron Homestead and then Big Lagoon. We got away a bit later than we should have and so just ended up going to Peron Homestead. This was enjoyable though. It had an artesian hot tub (like a hot spa) where we all had a relax. We saw a whole group of emus drinking from the creek where the spa water ran off. Then we had a look at the sheep shearing quarters which was quite interesting and Michael gave them all a lesson on the sheep shearing process. It was getting too late then to venture further into the NP, so we headed back to Denham.

We had thought we might get fish and chips for dinner and eat them while fishing off the jetty. However there was quite a cold wind blowing back at Denham and so instead we got fish and chips and went back to the van to eat. This was the first part of WA where we started to need our Long pants and jumpers again. It was still warm during the day, but the mornings and evenings were cool, especially if there was a wind.

From my reading, I had learned that the dolphin interaction takes place usually 3 times a day from around 8am to 12 noon. Because the dolphins are actually wild, the exact times that they come in to the shallows are not controlled by staff. But the dolphins are so used to doing this now, that it is a reasonably regular pattern that they follow. It is very rare for them not to come in at all. The first interaction and feeding usually takes place around 8am, but we had read that it gets so busy at the first one and it is often better to wait for the 2nd or 3rd interaction. So we didn’t get there until 8.30am. It was a 20min drive from Denham to Monkey Mia. There was a small fee to get into the Monkey Mia Resort area.

The first feeding was just finishing as we arrived. We went and read some information about the dolphins, and specifically the 5 female dolphins that they feed here. Apparently practices have changed significantly here over the last 10 yrs or so. Previously they would feed any of the dolphins that would come into the shallows and also visitors were allowed to touch and feed the dolphins. But they found that as the visitor numbers increased, the dolphins were being handled too much, so they moved to a ‘no touch’ policy. They also found that by feeding any of the dolphins and feeding them any time of the day that they came in, the dolphins started to act like they were begging for food, rather than being able to forage for food themselves, like wild dolphins should. So they changed the policy to only feeding dolphins from 3 family lines and only 3 times per day maximum and only in the morning, not afternoon. They feel this is a balance between encouraging the dolphins to still come in to the shallows and ‘interact’ with the visitors, but to continue to be able to maintain its survival skills for the wild and pass on foraging techniques to its young. So when they notice 1 or 2 dolphins coming in to the shallows, one of the staff goes down to the water to ensure no one touches it and to check if they are going to settle and stay in for a while. They speak with other staff via walkie talkies. Once they decide the dolphin/s are going to stay for a while, the ‘interaction’ begins. One of the senior staff stand thigh deep in the water and instruct us visitors to stand in a straight line about knee deep in the water. The staff member has a microphone which they use to speak to us about the dolphins. They do this for 20mins or so while the dolphins swim around. Sometimes they are joined by other dolphins during this time. But generally only the 5 that are fed come in quite close ( and not always all of them). After this time, some volunteer staff come down with buckets of fish – usually only about 4-5 fish per dolphin. They stand at the same depth of water as the senior staff member, facing the crowd. One volunteer stands beside each dolphin ( the dolphins know what is happening at this point). Then the volunteer with the bucket chooses a visitor from the crowd to come and give the dolphin a fish. About 4 people are chosen for each dolphin – a man, a lady, a child, and then someone at the volunteer’s discretion. Considering there can be 100 or more people at some feedings, and sometimes only 2 or 3 dolphins, only a minority of the crowd usually get to give the dolphin a fish.

So we had spent a half hour or so looking through the displays and information, and then started to go down to the beach near the interaction area where the kids played in the sand for a bit and Michael and I sat down on towels to watch. Not long after sitting there, we noticed some dolphins playing around in the water not far out from the beach. It started off as 2, then became 3, 4, 5. This was fun to watch. After about 10 mins, 1 of the dolphins came in closer to shore and one of the staff members went down to the water and more people started to gather. We went down to the waters edge as well. After another 5-10 mins the interaction started. We ended up with 4 of the female dolphins that they feed, and one had a baby with her. I took lots of video during the 20 mins, knowing we would have to edit it. When it came to feeding time, Hannah and Beth were both chosen as the child to feed a fish, so that was exciting for them.

After the dolphin interaction, we walked down the beach a bit to where you could swim ( outside the interaction area). The kids had a bit of a play in the shallows for a while, and then decided to go up to the pool for a swim ( day visitors to the ‘resort’ were able to use all the facilities. The main pool was a bit cold, but there was also a warm spa tub there. So the kids enjoyed this. We had read that there were BBQs for use, so had brought some sausages to cook for lunch. We did that, and had lunch at a table near the pool. Then the kids were happy to spend another hour and a half getting in and out of the pool and spa and sun baking. Sam and Michael also had a half hour game of tennis during this time as there was a tennis court right next to the pool which we could also use – there was no charge for the court or racquet hire. So it was a reading few hours.

Eventually around 2.30, we thought it was time to go. We got back in the car and started driving back towards Denham. We had passed a place called ‘Little Lagoon’ on our drive this morning, which we liked the look of, so decided to stop in there on our way back. It is almost completely round and is quite shallow (only about 3m deep throughout). You could see the lagoon from the main road, so it was just a short drive to the edge. There were driving tracks along the edge of the lagoon and you are permitted to 4WD along these. So we did this for a while, and found a spot we thought we’d like to stop and try fishing (in the creek area leading from Little Lagoon to the ocean). We didn’t catch anything, but it was fun (Lauren even went for a swim to unsnag us).

We drove back to the van park and then it was the usual night time routine.

Thursday 20th September was another driving day. We didn’t leave Carnarvon until after 10am because I had to stock up on a few more grocery items and we got the kids started on some schoolwork before driving today. It was 325km to Denham, which was where we were going to stay. It is the most westerly town in WA (and therefore Australia) and seemed like a good place to base ourselves for a few days to see things around the Shark Bay area.

We drove straight through to the Overlander Roadhouse which was 200km from Carnarvon, and was the turnoff from the North-West Coastal Hwy onto Shark Bay Rd, which took you out onto the first peninsula. The area called Shark Bay is actually made up of 2 peninsulas and a number of islands on the most westerly part of WA. The whole area is World Heritage listed and there are a number of places of interest to visit, not just Monkey Mia. After a brief toilet stop and stretch of the legs at Overlander Roadhouse, we started the drive along Shark Bay Rd.

We decided to stop at the first tourist attraction, Hamelin Pool, which was only 25km along the road. The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is the name of the bay area at the very south-eastern end of the first peninsula of Shark Bay. It is one of only 2 known places in the world with living examples of marine stromatolites. These dome-shaped structures are formed by tiny single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria that can tolerate the highly saline waters of Hamelin Pool. We parked in the visitor parking area and went to the store to find out about viewing the stromatolites. I was expecting we might have to pay to do the boardwalk, but we didn’t! It seemed a fairly casual setup as there weren’t many signs around telling you where to go. The lady at the shop showed us a map of where we could walk – either do a 20min walk to the boardwalk area, which included a lookout area and a shell quarry. Or you could drive closer to just do the boardwalk. We decided to do the longer walk. The shell quarry was quite interesting. The Shark Bay area has lots of tiny seashells growing in parts of it, and these were once quarried for building blocks to be used in buildings. We came to the boardwalk and walked along viewing the stromatolites – they looked a bit like cauliflower coral growing in the shallows of the bay.

It was then straight through to Denham where we checked in to the Shark Bay Caravan Park and set up. The ground in all the van parks is tiny shells mixed with sand. That evening I did a bit of reading up on Monkey Mia – the facilities there and how it all works. We planned to go there for a few hours tomorrow.