Around the W.A. Block

[kiwijim]

Howdy All,
Well after spending the last twelve months fixing up the Coromal, we finally hit the road for an extended holiday.
Our intentions were to travel right up the West Coast, from Perth and go as far North in WA as we could, stopping in all the coastal towns along the way.

We had planed to go as far North as Hedland, then down through the Centre until we reached Mt Magnet,
there we planed to do a left hander and travel East until we came into Kalgoorlie from the North
.
Un-luckily for us, all plans are made to go wrong, with all the sitting the "Dear Ones" feet became swollen and were giving her a hard time,
So the onlything was to head home from Hedland in a direct line, down the Great Northern Highway straight back to Perth.

We did have a great time while the going was good, covering a total distance of 4600 km over a period of five weeks and sawa hundreds of different places,
even managed to find a few Free Camp sites but, these were few and far apart, had no trouble finding hundreds of signs offering to take "On The Spot Fines"
off us, ranging in size from $100.00 to $1000.00 if caught camping in the wrong spot.

Over the next few weeks I will put up a few Pic's we took along the way,

First night away, we only travelled for a couple of hours, stopping in a Caravan Park called Gingin, darn near froze there as the ice on the Patrol shows....




More Pics to come , when I once AGAIN try and tame our hateful Photobucket.

kiwijim

[kiwijim]

The next morning we headed up the Indian Ocean Drive and by late afternoon had found our next Camp,

This Free Camp Site, called Cliff Head North,
was only a couple of km's short of where the Drive joins up with the North West Coastal Highway,

We could have easily spent a lot longer than the couple of days stop we had in this Camp,
Situated right on the waters edge, it was a lot warmer here with clear blue skies and fantastic Sunsets....







.

After two great days here on the beach, we next headed to Geraldton,
This is where we only stopped over night as a great storm came through, flooded the place out, and blew awnings all over the caravan park.
The next morning we were out of there like a rocket, heading further North to one of the most popular holiday towns on the Coast, Kalbarri.

More Pic's shortly.

kiwijim.

[steve rae]

well you seam to have found the pleasure of vaning,My wife and me have just finished a trip from camden near sydney to Darwin and across to QLD coast,took 8 weeks we traveled with friends and I was glad to do so my poor Pajero blew up 168 kys from Mt Iser my mate towed both my car and van to Mt Iser and took 4 days to fix reco heads etc
well it did not dampen my drive to continue with more trips
i loved the whole thing

[bobt]

oooh wooow!! he lives and breaths.... Nice to hear from you young fella.

Ice... Western Australia... I didn't think the two went together.

Love the pics. Keep em coming. Hope the dear one is better now.

Bobt

[kiwijim]

Howdy Bobt,
Yep, We're back with the living, The Missis has come good again, now that we are home.

I still hope to be off again shortly, we were weeks to early to see the Wild Flowers this trip so,
hopefully they will be in full bloom in the next month or so.

Howdy also to Steve Rae,
Darn bad luck with your Pajero there Mate, I suppose it's a risk we all take when heading off on what we hope will be a trouble free holiday.
I had my fingers crossed with my old Patrol also, she has long passed the 400,000km mark and with the Coromal loaded to the hilt with all the "Might-be-handy" gear that the Dear One managed to hide away in the too many cupboards, I reckon I must have been pulling the best part of 4 tons.
Luckily, the Nissan went like a rocket, never missed a beat and now, after the trip seems to be running a lot better.

Don't let this little set-back stop you from getting out on the black stuff in the future, as we found, it's a hell of a big country out there, and a hell of a lot of places to see.
Happy travels for the future. kiwijim.

[kiwijim]

Arriving in Kalbarri, we found the place alive with Tourists, both Caravan Parks seemed to be chock a block but we managed to score a site in the River View park, right at the back of the Park, this was OK as all the families with screaming kids, were out on the front of the Park.

The weather here was brilliant, once again clear skies and a mid-day temp of around 28C

This first photo is taken from the boat loading ramp on the foreshore, looking towards the entrance to the harbour, a very dangerous entrance for boats, rocks on both sides and a huge swell, plus a boat has to try and make an entrance sideways to the wind which whips up might waves.
A bloke lost his life here a week before we arrived, when he misjudged the entrance and capsized his boat....



This next shot is from the entrance looking bac towards the town ship of Kalbarri.....



On the foreshore, there is a very neat War Memorial..........





There is always the welcoming sign board to spend an hour reading.....



Finally, our first sign of Wild life, as we pulled out of Kalbarri......



Our next destination is Carnarvon, the home of the Big Banana, coming shortly.

kiwijim.

[kiwijim]

After leaving Kalbarri we spent the next night at a rest area called Nerren Nerren,
on the Northern Coastal Highway, the rest area was large enough to hold at least 100 vans, and by Sunset there was around 30 vans all set for the night.
There had been a lot of work done on this site to please the traveller with the installation of Solar Powered lights, unfortunately the batteries for the lights had been stolen so the metal box that housed the battery had been welded shut, never to go again.
This was the same in every other campsite that we came across right around the Coast, thanks to the thieves the sites were in total blackness after dark.

When we came into Carnarvon we drove down Memorial Drive, Here, there are trees planted for every sailor who perished in HMS Sydney that was sunk off the WA coast dueing the war......



Here is one of the Memorial signs in front of a tree.......



Coming into Carnarvon we couldn't miss the Big Banana.......



Next we went to the North West Caravan Park and booked in two nights, Now the camp fee were a bit of a surprise, On asking the cost, the Bird behind the counter fired a question back at us....PENSIONER'S "Yep" came the double reply, O.K. she said, how is $30.00 per night sound. this turned out to be the cheapest stopover anywhere in the whole trip.

After setting up the Coromal, we headed off to have a gander at the ( now non-operational ) American Saterlite Tracking station, which is built on a hill overlooking Carnarvon......



From a distance this dish looked pretty big.....



When we got right up and under the dish, this thing was gigantic, towering hundreds of meters above us......



After a couple of really warm tropical days, we next set our sights of another couple of roadside stops then left the Highway at the Minilya Roadhouse and travelled 222km towards Exmouth.,

more to come. kiwijim

[ForumMod]

Crikey!...Here I was thinking he must have fallen off the edge of the Earth, or that his computer must have really carked it...but instead the ol' codger has been out and about giving the Coromal a really good road test!!

I'm interested in hearing how the Coromal went, with all the repairs you did to it beforehand. Anything you'd change if you had the chance?

Good to hear from you again.

cheers,
Al.

[kiwijim]

G'day there, O mighty One,

The Coromal went pretty well overall, had a slight sway only once, that was when we were heading towards Onslow, this, I put down to the 4 tons of extra's that someone snuck aboard while I was distracted.
There again to could have been caused by the side wind out on the flat empty country we were traveling through at the time.

The LED lights I fitted in place of the 12v interior lights were more than satisfactory but, I should have fitted some more over the stove area, we used magnetic LED's in this position which did the job but not as well as the strips would have done.

The Deep Cycle battery I fitted into the van kept the lights working for around 4 days, then I plugged the Solar Panel into the battery and with-in a few hours there was enough power back in the battery for a further 3-4 days use.

As I said, when we called into Geraldton, there was a mighty storm came in off the Coast, there wasn't a leak in our Coromal, but the guy next to us had a brand new Coromal which leaked badly through the Air Con and ended up shorting out his whole van, you might say, he was "NOT HAPPY JAN"
Swearing like a trooper he said that he had been having nothing but trouble with his van ever since he left Brisbane some 4 months back.
The last I heard from him was that he had been on the phone and ordered a new van, ( And it would NOT be another Coromal ) this would be ready for him when he reached Melbourne in a couple of months, he also said that he didn't care what he got for the Coromal, he was out of it as soon as possible.

The 3 way fridge which I did up and fitted into the van, worked like a rocket, kept everything frozen while traveling on 12v and running on gas while camping.
The other thing that I fitted, The roll out awning was a God send while camping in temps up to 35C .

All in all, very happy with the van but, at over 7m overall it was a hell of an act to get in and out of our driveway, we had the traffic bailed up for quiet a few minutes while backing in and getting the van at right angles across the front of the house.

cheers kiwijim

[kiwijim]

On our way up to Exmouth, we called into Coral Bay, what a big disappointment this place was, compared with when we last saw it 14 years ago.
the place was so crowded with people and shops had sprung up right across the entrance to the bay,
there were so many that we couldn't even see the beach or water any longer.
Five minutes there was enough for us, we turned around and headed straight to Exmouth.....



Calling into the local Information office we were told that there were some vacant sites available right out on the tip of the Coast at the Lighthouse Caravan Park,.....



Here's where we really got a shock... How much per night please I asked the Bird, "Oh" she said.....only $52.00 p/n but how long are you staying ??
I think she saw the shocked look on our dials, because before we could say anything she said... You are Pensioners aren't you ? we could only nod.
In that cast, you can have the site for $44.00 p/n "oh" and there's a deposit of another $30.00 for the shower key.
Well we stayed two nights and made sure we saw all we could in that time.

Right behind the Caravan Park there is large hill with a look-out and Light House,....



just in front of the Light House there are the preserved remains of an W.W.2 gun emplacement, the following pictures show the Sand bags still in place and some gun machinery......







This photo was taken from the look-out looking down on the Caravan Park......


Whack the Zoom on Boy'o,, That's better.....



Here we are looking South....



Leaving the hill we followed the road South, down the Coast in the direction of Cape Range National Park,
WE were driving along when the nose told me there was a Classic Van in the bush, way off on the left.....



It took me all of two minutes to find the track into this old Franklin van, now being used as a sign board. ( they should be shot )......



That upset me so much we had to return to the Caravan Park for a good dose of cold amber (Medication).....





More to follow later. kiwijim

[bobt]

$52 per night. hemmed in on dirt sites?? I think I call that gotchya Nice piccies do keep em coming

[kiwijim]

G'day Bobt,
Yep, sure was expensive in that part of the world,
The "Dear One" was talking to a women who had a van behind us, she said that they had been coming up to this Caravan Park
for the last 5 years, they dragged their van up from Perth every year and stayed for 3 Months !! just think what that must have cost them. "Jeeez"

As we got ready to pull out of the Park and do the 30 odd KM run back around the cape to the Township of Exmouth,
I spotted the first Wild Flower of the trip, growing in the Sand Dunes that seperated the Park from the Ocean,
I don't know what it's called, but here it is..... ...



At the entrance to the Park I spotted a sign saying....Cheapest Fuel for 100s of km so I filled up the Patrol..... $169.9 Cpl

Arriving back in Exmouth we fought our way into an overflowing car park oppoite the local shopping centre.......



Here's the place where one has to pay around $10.00 more for a block of xxxx....





Opposite the shopping centre there is a new water playground, because water is so scarce in this part of the world,
they have made hundreds of water jets shooting water ( probably recycle ) out of the ground



At the local Information Centre, there is an excellent large parking area, toilets and Free showers,
also one can fill the van with fresh drinking water from three well spaced taps......



On leaving Exmouth, we drove past the new Harbour estates,
Built right on the water's edge,  I'd hate to live in one of these houses when the next Cyclone arrives.



Next stop is a few road-side over-nighters then make our way towards Onslow.

kiwijim.

[ForumMod]

Hmmm...sounds like a bit of a "Catch 22" situation in some parts of WA, kiwijim...

Expensive to stay in a caravan park, but expensive (fines!) to try and free camp to save on Park fees.

Still, by the look of your photos so far, it sure seems an interesting place to visit. I'd just need to get a 5000 litre fuel tank installed so I can fill up here on the east side at respectable prices, and never have to refill again.

Thanks for giving us a bird's-eye view of your wonderful State.

cheers,
Al.

[kiwijim]

You're not wrong about the cost of fuel and Site fees, Al.

Yep, that big tank would have been real handy on this trip,
at one stage I had to empty the 30l I carried into the Patrol, just to make it to the next reasonably priced fuel.

We found the further we went off the main road, the dearer the fuel...Transport costs Ya know, but to double the cost is a rip off in my book.

There are authorised camp sites along the way, many have drop toilets and some with a bit of a sun shelter but,
as I have mentioned, they are all right beside the highway and there's no getting away from the truck noise.

[drylander]

the wildflower Jim is I think a bush tomato (native) we have a similar plant here except its thorny AND poisonous. I'll try and get the proper name for you later

Pete

[kiwijim]

A Bush Tomato!! That's interesting Pete. Like I said, I'm no expert on Native plants by any stretch of the imagination,
so if someone could identify it, I bet there is more that one person out there that would find out something they didn't know.

Thanks Pete.

[kiwijim]

Back on the Highway, from Exmouth we spent a few days winding our way further North, the days were clear and getting warmer with every kilometre we clocked up.

After calling into the Nanutarra Roadhouse for fuel, ( pretty close to $1.80 Cpl ) we travelled further North for another 40km, stopping for lunch at the turnoff to Onslow.

This turnoff is on a slight rise and there was a shaded rest area there, we found a nice breeze blowing there, so were able to give the Air Con in the Patrol a well earned rest,
It had been going for the last couple of hundred km's, the temp was now in the high 30's.

The road from the turn-off to Onslow is about 80km of near straight tare seal is in excellent condition because there are a number of mines all the way along it, and the number of Ore Road Trains
is continuous.
About half way along we came to the Salt farms, these are very large lakes which they can drain and collect the salt after it has dried.....



Arriving in Onslow, we headed straight to the local information centre, amongst other questions we asked was, Where is the local Super Market ? Answer.... Don't have one, Burnt down !
O.K. Where is the Local Bakery ? Answer....Don't have one, Burnt down as well !!
We finally found out that there was a temporary supply base set up in the local gym , but the only bread available was frozen stuff carted all the way from Perth.
Now the info joint is situated in the Main street and that is the only place, apart from the Caravan park to get any fresh drinking water,
So here we were parked in the main drag, filling our two tanks from a tap in the centre island that only piddled water at around 5lt per min........



Hours later we made inquiries about getting a site in the Caravan Park, NUP full to overflowing, cost $43.00 p/n ( I think ) but there was room at the Overflow site in the main street,
But NO Power, NO Water, and NO Shade, how much I asked.....SAME PRICE !!

Back to the Info joint and we were told of a free camp site 38km out of town on the way to Old Onslow, having not much choice, off we went.
Although the road was un-sealed for almost the entire trip, it was in pretty good condition, but as dusty as all get-out.

We spent the next two days camped beside the river along with another dozen traverlers from all around Aussie.......





We didn't go anywhere near the muddy water because we saw Warning Signs stating Croc's had been seen in the area........





The dirty water looked far better at Sunset as we settled down under large shady trees for a great rest.....



Tomorrow we are heading out to see the Ruins of Old Onslow.

kiwijim.

[drylander]

Just an update Jim the plant could be Solanum quadriloculatum or wild tomato and is very poisonous to humans and can cause liver damage or a very similar one Solanum elliptcum velvet potato bush or S. coactifilerum (most likely given the area) tomato bush.
Hope that helps
Pete

[kiwijim]

G'day Pete,
Sounds a bit confusing to me, I wonder what, Or if it fruits, sounds like a cross between a Bush Potato and a Tomato plant,
There were a large number of these bushes growing in this sandy very dry area,
The one bush that I pictured was one of the larger ones.

[kiwijim]

Now I never believed in U.F.O.'s until I was sitting in the dark one night while camping on the river on the way out to Old Onslow.
I was sitting back watching a very clear sky, millions of bright stars and the occasional shooting star, when something caught my eye,
looking back down the track which we had travelled into the area on, I saw three very bright lights coming towards me,
there were two beside each other and a third, above and slightly off to the left, they were about the size of a small plate ( or saucer )
As I watched, they became larger, there was not a sound on this very still calm night, which made them more spooky ?!!
Can anyone guess what they were ?

kiwijim

[kiwijim]

I'll wait a while before I answer my last Post, there might be a Bright Spark who can name the objects I saw that night one the river.

Leaving the caravan coupling hitched and in the care of the other campers, we travelled in the Patrol another 5 km out to the site of Old Onslow .

Very near the town site there was a sign pointing towards the Old Cemetery, this was definitely a 4 wheel drive track with ruts in the road, some half a metre deep .



Just lake a look at the dates on some of these Head Stones.............





After bouncing over a sand hill we arrived at what remains of the Old Onslow Police station...............











This is an under ground water storage tank, hand made from locally produced bricks and stones........



I hung the camera inside the tank, just to see if there were any prisoners still in there, no luck........



Looking into one of the cells, notice the shackle buried into the floor, I guess the "Naughty Boys" were chained down at night.......



The Old Prison was about the last thing standing in Old Onslow, we did find a sign saying where one of the Hotels had been, this was obvious by the stack of old broken bottles scattered all over the area.......





Well that's Old Onslow, back to the van and check the ale is still cold, tomorrow we move on again.

kiwijim

[kiwijim]

When we moved away from our camp site near Old Onslow, we decided to return to New Onslow to do two things,
catch up on our washing and get some fuel,
As there was no laundry in the town ( not surprising ) the person at the information centre, said that if we went to the caravan park, we could use their machines.

I thought we had better check with the park management to see if this was O.K.
First time we didn't feel like we were being ripped off, was when the Park manager actually said yes go for it and its "FREE"

While the "Dear One was filling three machines with "Dirties" I took off to get a few Pic's of what it looks like "living like Sardines in a can".......







One good thing about this Park, One didn't have to go far for a dip in the Ocean, it's right at the end of the Park......





On returning to the Park laundry I found the "Boss" ready to go, the next shock coming was when I found out the cost of Diesel at the only Pumps in town.....$ 2.13 cpl[/sub]

Being rather fed up with forking out heaps of the Hard earned stuff, I checked the fuel in the Nissan,.... 3/4 full plus another 30l in jerry cans so,
I decided to try and reach the next Fuel station which was back to the highway = 83km then, North = about 43km, then turn right and head for the Mining town of Pannawonica, a further 46km.

Heading away from Onslow, we passed hundreds of Termite Nests, some being well over 2m high........


A few Pic's of Pannawonica, pretty rough here, only 5 bays in the local C/Park and not enough room to fit our van into,
we managed to get permission to Free Camp at the rear of the Park, much to the annoyance of the other campers who were paying $27.00 p/n........



This, would believe is the main street into this dusty town........



Now here we saw the biggest pair of Bras that I've ever seen.......



Calling into the only super market here I purchased FRESH BREAD, " Yep" Home Made and a giant 900gm size, only $1.00 for a half loaf, the best bread of the whole trip.
After spending the night there and getting a tank full of fuel... $ 1.64 Cpl we next set our sights on Karraatha, a couple of days drive away.

kiwijim

[kiwijim]

After a good nights sleep and a free shower in the morning,
we left Pannawonica and drove back 46km to the Highway, turning Right we then drove to our next campsite which was a few K's North of the Fortescue Roadhouse.

This ripper spot was right beside a medium sized lake, we weren't the first to arrive, there was a camper trailer there which looked like it had been there for days,
also one other camper who had a motor home.
As usual, by the Sun set, the place was again choc a block with an additional 8 vans arriving for the night........





The following morning we arrived in Karratha, this place was a real surprise, I think it must be one of the fastest growing towns of the North west.
with a population of 22000 the place is the centre of the Mining boom.

You enter Karratha over a hill and just as the town comes into view, there is a Information Centre on the left, here you have to pay for drinking water, $2.00 per 50lt nothing for nothing in this part of the world.
There is a very steep drive up to a lookout just behind the Centre which is where the towns Water Supply tanks are situated......



From here we got a great view of the town.



We headed to the only caravan park that had a spare site which was a couple of km East of Karratha, the cost here was at the top end of the scale, as had to be expected in this part of the world where all sleeping quarters
are quickly grabbed by the mining industry ( around the $40.00 p/n ) and it was here where I had to fork out $ 39.70 for a gas bottle refill.

By midday, the temp was nudging the high 30's again, so we fired up the Air Con and sat back, enjoying a very nice cool one, or two, or three.

Tomorrow hopefully, is a day that we have been looking forward to for a long time.
If any of you have seen the Film..... RED DOG then you may recall at the end of the film, they say there is a monument near Dampier of Red Dog,
Well that's where we will be heading

kiwijim

[kiwijim]

We woke pretty early the first morning in Karratha and headed off towards Dampier,
this was about 27km East of Karratha and an excellent road all the way.

It seemed like no time at all before we were standing at the Information sign board on the side of the road, just outside Dampier.
And there he was, "RED DOG"..............







And there is that Old Codger, pulling it's tail...........



We then travelled into Dampier and out to a lookout above the port................

.




Dampier, being an Iron Ore export Port, there were the Iron Ore Carriers being loaded at Dock..............



Behind the lookout , sitting on the top of the hill, there are large blocks of what used to be Single Man's Quarters, about 7-8 in all, they seem to be all but abandon now...............



On our way back to Karratha, we called into a small picnic spot called Hearson Bay, looks nice but, that's not sand in front, it's gravel, right to the water..............


Off again and around the corner I spotted our second Wild Flowers ( Sturt Peas ) growing on the side of the road..............



There are many Gas Plants in this area, we passed one letting off a bit of flame..............



Back to Karratha, then away again, on the road tomorrow .......

kiwijim

[bobt]

Hey Kiwi fella, Nice pics. looks like a loverley part of the world, some of the park fees are a bit on the hefty side. Hope the facilities provided were suitable for the price.

Keep the piccs coming... so I can keep the dreams alive.. one day I will get there..

bobt