We headed off from Shark Bay a week ago and it has been a whirlwind week of amazing coastlines. First stop was Steep Point,  2 nights camping literally on the beach in Shelter Bay with waves lapping at our doorstep, wind blowing and our own private piece of beach…even managed to brave a swim!!  the first since Broome. By day we took some of the rough and sandy tracks to visit Blowholes, Lookouts and watch dozens of Humpback whales from the clifftops as they made their way past us with calves in some cases. It was a special spot, but we had to leave unfortunately.

After a one night station stay and a visit to the stromatalites at Hamelin pool, we treated ourselves to 3 night out of the elements and campsite nouse, in a Stayz homestay. 3 bed house with dvd nights and oven pizza ☺ We visited Kalbarri National Park for some coastal views, walks as well as some gorges. Some beautiful spots.

Today we have arrived at Cervantes after taking the lovely coastal drive, wildflowers and coastal towns featuring as we get ready to view the Pinnacles tomorrow and then its on to Perth for some time with family and friends.

As we continue our coastal journey south, we have started to explore some of the sights on and off the water. We spent 4 nights in Exmouth where we had 3 extremely windy and one very wet night, but days that were great for doing a bit of walking and exploring some of the beaches, lighthuse and the impressive Cape Range National Park. Slightly thwarted by the weather we were not able to camp beachside, but visited a few including Turquoise Bay and Town Beach. We also had a lunch stop and walk at Yardie Creek Gorge. We saw an echidna crossing the road as well as a large lizard and roos and emus. On way to our current spot in the beautiful Coral Bay we took the Charles Knife Road to a great lookout and views of both the ranges and the water.

Coral Bay has been great downtime with beach and shops in walking distance. Went on some walks and a glass bottom boat trip to see some of the fishes and corals which are in abundance in this area. Still a few light showers but much calmer and even fitted in a shoot at the local beach at sunset between visits to the bskery for THE best cakes!

Next stop Carnarvon in the morning for a couple of nights, before heading to Shark Bay and Monkey Mia, somewhere I have wanted to visit for a long time. Hoping it lives up to expectations. 😑🐋

These are my notes from our time in the Millstream and Karajini Natinal Parks. The coldest nights of the trip so far for sure………freezing!

Weather, holidays and rod closures. These seem to be all thwarting us on this part of the trip. After waiting out the worst of the rain in Karratha, we headed to Cossak in the morning, an interesting historic town to explore with a nice spot for lunch,  but our plan to head to Millstream and the Chichester National park was thwarted by multiple road closures into the park. After much deliberation we headed to Pannawonica, where we found a ‘transit’ camping spot and pitched tents for an early start to try the track in that way. Success the next day, with a couple of hours down a muddy road bringing us into Millstream :). An hour walking and exploring in the afternoon and then some relaxation time as we have all felt the frustration and tiredness of the last few days. Temps much cooler now so needed warmer clothes from the bags!

The Millstrean Chichester area had some lovely landscapes. We did a short driving trail called Snappy Gum Drive, morning tea at Python Pool, a small freshwater pool and then a lunch stop at Deep Pool, which was also a swimming spot but much larger. Favourite spot was the ranges on the drive to the pool, pretty amazing even with some leftover clouds and windy conditions.

From Millstream we did a long drive to Tom Price to stay for a few nights to prepare for Karajini. On the way there we visited Hamersley Gorge lookout for lunch stop, our first stop in the Karajini National Park and then as we had the extra night we decided to do the drive to Mt Shiela on the way, which had been recommended highly and we weren’t dissapointed with some fabulous views.

Our Tom Price day was mainly shopping and washing and sorting, but did manage a drive up Mt Nameless to view the late sun of the day. Much more of a 4wd track that one, so a bit of a buy ride but some great views of Tom Price and surrounds.

We then made it to Karijini (woohoo!) Where we spent the first day exploring some of the lookouts and viewpoints in the Weano Gorge area, including Oxer and Junction Pool lookouts, Joffre lookout, Knox lookout and also Kalamina Gorge which included a short walk down to the waterfall. Second day and we were up just after sunrise in the freezing cold to shoot Fortescue Falls and then a Gorge Rim for some great lookouts, flora and faunalive. Then back to campsite to warm up andthena night sky shoot to finish our stay in Karajini. Long drive then to the Nanuterra roadhouse for a nights sleep befor heading back t the coastal road.

Since departing the fabulous Broome 5 nights ago we have hit some challenging weather. 2 nights at 80 mile beach were lovely, including some shell collecting and a sunset shoot but the winds were strong on the first night making it a challenging night sleeping.

We then headed to Kurratha where we have had high winds and light to heavy rain for 3 nights and we even moved our camping to a couple of nights in a cabin to avoid some heavy rains which came through last night. This enabled us to prepare to try and get into the national parks on ouroriginal planned route, including Karajini that we are all keen to see. We will be heading off again tomorrow so stay tuned and fingers crossed. 🙄

A bit of exploring today and we visited Dampier, saw the famous Red Dog statue (see the movie if you haven’t already, Deep Gorge to see some aboriginal petroglyphs and a morning tea stop at Hearsons Cove and a drive to see Withnell Bay.

Let’s hope the weather improves for the rest of the week!

About 3 hours drive North of Broome is the beautiful Cape Leveque. We stopped on way at Beagle Bay for lunch and to see their ornate church.

We are camping at Kooljaman, a lovely spot on the coast. Sunday spent exploring the area including Cygnet Bay, Gumbanan, One Arm Point including the hatchery, middle beach and a lookout.  Then back to the campsite and a cool drink in the bar overlooking Western Beach followed by a sunset viewing down at the beach with a few photos

Monday we had a fairly relaxed day, did a bit of exploring of a few tracks and then headed back to Cape Leveque for lunch with a view and then a swim on the nearby beach, a bit of beach time and then back to the campsite for a camp meal and some wine.  Final day was mostly driving along a few bumpy tracks, with one of my favourite spots, a place called Whale Song, which was a campground and also had a lovely little café with an amazing view across the places we had just been.  Arrived back in Broome yesterday afternoon in time for dinner and then an early night to catch-up on some sleep..

This is the second part of our trip on the Gibb River Road…..

We have taken a few days off the Gibb River onto the Kalumbaru road with the intent of seeing Mitchell Falls. The track in from Drysdale Station took about 5 hours, 3 of which was very corrugated and rocky, so we arrived around 3pm and set up our campsite. This morning we got up early and tackled the 2 hour walk to the main falls. It was hot and humid but at least we got there by 10am and had plenty of time for a swim and some snacks and a walk around to the lookout. On the way back we then took the helicopter transfer option, about 6mins flying over the falls in a figure 8 with no doors on the copter so a chance for some photos and an adrenilan pumping ride. Here are a few pics from the walk to the falls, lookouts and from the chopper!

Back on the Gibb River Road again, we returned to Drysdale station for one night after the long bumpy road. Treated ourselves to a meal out in their restaurant which had a choice of 2 meals – chicken tikka was lovely! Managed to not lock myself in the toilet this time which was lucky as there were reports of a brown snake in the amenities block – yikes!! Currently at Manning Gorge for a few nights, after a night at Mt Elizabeth station (which was a litle pricey but had some wildlife in camp), preparing to walk to the gorge and have a swim in the morning. Lots of insects trying to infiltrate my tent and another humid night. They say that it is about 5 degrees warmer than average for this time of year and its been really humid as well. Makes the swims in the rivers and waterholes more enjoyable anyway.
The walk out to the Manning gorge today was rocky and hot but we were rewarded at the end with a lovely swimming spot and a waterfall to cool off. About 3 hours round trip followed by a swimming the local waterhole. In the afternoon we did a quick drive to Galvins Gorge for a walk and then back to camp for showers. Lots of water involved today ☺

Spent a couple of nights at Chandley River, a lovely grassy campsite and did some of the 4wd tracks and short walks to some of the swimming spots. Met a tour guide during one of the walks who chatted to us a bit about his tours and travels and also caught up with a couple who we have met at a few spots along the Gibb. Had a rum and a chat last night as we will probably not cross paths again. Have arrived today at Silent Grove campsite and setup for  couple of nights. A busy spot as one of the most popular gorges is 10k drive away, plan for tomorrow.

Introduction
The Gibb River road was the longest stretch of camping we have done on the trip so far and covered many gorges, waterfalls, swimming holes and some wonderful natural and amazing locations. This is the first in a series of 3 blogs on this part of the trip that I wrote on the road but with no phone or internet at the time, I will publish over the next few days ☺

Today we began our 2 1/2 weeks exploring the Gibb River road with the first stop, 3 nights in El Questro.

It feels a little bit like a holiday park with a restaurant, shop and live music at night, but along with all that is the howl of dingos, kangaroos crossing the tracks and remote 4wd tracks and walks, reminding me this is a wildnerness meca. Spent the afternoon swimming in the river, scanning for crocs, nibbled by a few fish. Very cooling and pretty relaxing. A nacho feast for dinner with our own ‘happy hour’ glass of wine.

Next day was spent exploring some of the many 4wd tracks including Pigeon Hole lookout, billabong and the fabulous views from Brancos lookout. Lots of rocky tracks including a long rocky river crossing. Another river swim at our local swimming spot and a relaxing afternoon reading and soaking up the sun.

Visited some more swimming spots today, including an early visit to Zebedee hot springs followed by Jackaroo waterhole and Moonshine Gorge, then returned for a final swim in our local waterhole, even saw a small river snake.
Then an afternoon cruise in Chamberlain Gorge with champagne and orange and spitting fish a drink at happy hour and listening to a local musician before calling it a day.

Did the famous Pentacost river crossing on the way out of El Questro and stopped at a lookout for some pics. Arrived at Ellenbrae Station, our camp for 1 night, around lunchtime. After one of their famous scones we setup camp and headed down to their local river swimming hole for a cooloff. Got talking to a few other campers and got some track info and tips about some of the next leg of the trip. Helpful to be prepared and get some recent info. Lots of bugs but a nice campsite and hoping for another serve of scones tomorrow 🙂
Reached our next stop at Drysdale Station around lunchtime and after a sandwich and hot chips for lunch setup camp. My priority was then a nice long warm shower followed by a lemonade as we watch other campers arrive and setup a round us.
Now theres a first, literally locked in the loo when the lock broke. After getting some attention tried unscrewing the lock with a screwdriver someone passed me but couldnt free the lock, so some kind person kicked the door down for me!
Seems like a good place to finish part 1 of this adventure. Stay tuned for part 2!

It’s our last night at Kunanurra before we hit the infamous Gibb River Road for just under 3 weeks of exploring. Did some stocking up and also explored a few local spots including an amazing local cafe for mango cheesecake, local markets and the Hoochery (rum distillery) for lunch. Highlight definitely a cruise on Lake Argle yesterday where we learnt a lot about the area, spotted some wildlife and watched the sunset and the moonrise over the water.

Very hot and humid week and today is no exception. Spent a bit of time at the caravan park trying to stay cool.