Day 54...Perth

 

Today we decided to catch the train into Perth for the day. It worked out really well...easy, inexpensive, no parking spots to find and pay for. The trains are different here. The seats run lenghthwise along the carriages...it seems really strange sitting opposite people all the time when we're used to NSW trains.

These lovely, healthy vegetable gardens are right near the station. It's a great area...no graffiti or rubbish lying around....really well maintained. They have security cameras to keep an eye on things.

We went to the museum. You didn't have to walk far or cross any roads to get to it. As you walked from the station, past the vege gardens, you walked across a plaza, and there were the museum and art gallery. Dave took a photo of what I think is his favourite animal..the thylacine...he'd love to find one somewhere in the wilds of Tasmania!

Day 53....Swan Valley

This morning we set out to explore the Swan Valley....not far from where we're staying at Midland.

We discovered a place called Whiteman Park. It's quite amazing...a family-friendly, inexpensive place, with lots of things to see and do for children and adults. The land was originally donated, then the WA govt expanded it and looks after it.

This is in the Print Shop....it has old printing machines in excellent condition, and samples of all sorts of printed materials.

Dave liked this poster...and bought one!

Another shop was an art gallery. The artist and his wife made all the items for sale...not as expensive as elsewhere but really good. Above is one of his little paintings.

This bird is an example of his ceramic work.

There was also a car museum with all kinds of cars...you can see some FJ holdens at the back.

These old trains were in another museum, that had the history of transport in WA, from walking, to riding camels, trains, trams, buses, etc,, etc, etc.

On the way back we stopped for an icecream at Oggie's Ice Creamery....delicious!

Day 52....to Perth

We left Perenjori this morning and headed for Perth. On the way we stopped off at Caron Dam where we saw some native orchids.

This is typical of the scenery on the way...the wildflowers at the sides of the road are so beautiful.

We stopped at New Norcia and had a picnic lunch.

There were lots of very old building built by the Benedictine monks

There is a lot more agriculture now, the main crops being canola and wheat. Each town that we passed through had huge silos and grain bunkers. They have a pretty good railsystem over here, that transports a lot of the minerals and grain to the coast.

We ended up at Midland, a town on the way into Perth, just past the Swan River Valley, where there are lots of food and wine outlets to explore.

Day 51....Perenjori

Dave was up early this morning looking for parrots...I love this photo!

We went and had a look in the local Perenjori museum...it's in the old bank. The rooms were all set up as they would have been a hundred or so years ago. I liked this recipe!

After lunch we went for a drive to look at more wildflowers. On our travels we saw this camel soak....used by camel drivers in the old days to water their camels.

 

The Rabbit Proof Fence was along the road near the camel soak.

Dave found these Twenty-eight parrots in the caravan park. We've seen quite a few of them now.

Here is one of the beautiful flowers from today...there are heaps of them along the sides of the road as well as in the bush.

Day 50...to Perenjori

Here's an update of where we were last night...at Geraldton.

Today we left Geraldton and headed east towards wildflower country...to me the whole of WA has been wildflower territory....the flowers have changed as we've gone through each area.

The above flower is a wreath flower....apparently it's the prized flower you must see!!

We called at a wildflower exhibition at the town hall in Mallewa. There was a wreath flower there, so I photographed it in case we didn't see one in the wild!

After a picnic lunch, we went for a wildflower walk along this track...it was about 2 1/2 kms walk through the bush. There were lots of yellow, white and pink flowers, and some purple creepers. Not all the flowers are out yet...however it was a lovely walk.

Our setup at Perenjori at the end of the day...a nice, quiet, bushy park, and a glass of white!

Day 49...Geraldton

Dave caught this pee-wee sitting on its nest in the gum tree beside our caravan....

the nest is amazing...it's made of mud.

We went and had a look in the museum. It's pretty new and very well organised.

There's a great display about the Batavia, that was shipwrecked in the 1600s off the coast of WA.

This cool lighthouse is just around from the caravan park we were staing at.

This afternoon we went to the art gallery. There was a great display of ceramics, plus aboriginal paintings from several artists of WA.

Day 48...Geraldton via Hutt River Principality

This morning we left Hamelin Pool and headed for Geraldton. The wildflowers at the sides of the road were just beautiful....the colours were continually changing.

As we drove south, Dave saw the turn-off to Hutt River Principality. I'd heard about Prince Leonard years ago, but didn't realise his principality was in this area. We drove about 40kms along a dirt road to get there.

Herer is HRH Prince Leonard!....in his Post Office. He just turned 80. He seceded from Australia in 1970. He's quite a character....seems to know his stuff as far as laws and governments go.

These everlasting daisies are growing in his garden.

In his post office, you can see examples of his money, stamps....if you have your passport with you he'll stamp it with his Hutt River stamp! Have a look online for more info, it's fascinating!!!

www.principality-hutt-river.com

As we got closer to Geraldton, the countryside became much more agricultural...

the main crops seem to be canola and wheat.

Geraldton is a nice town...quite big. It has a busy port....major exported for grains in WA...

also iron ore and talcum powder.

Day 47...Denham

This restaurant in Denham is made from shell bricks that were cut at the shell quarry in Hamelin Pool. There is also a church in Denham made from these shell bricks. The bricks can only be quarried  now for repairs to the few existing buildings in the area.

Today we went for a trip for the day up to Denham, which is on Shark Bay. When we arrived, we had morning tea along the foreshores...beautiful views.

This is the font inside the Anglican church.

We stopped for a look at an aquatic centre on the way back to Hamelin Pool. As we looked out over the water we saw lots of sharks....in Shark Bay!

This boardwalk is at Eagle Bluff. It looks out over the coastline and across to a couple of islands where cormorants breed. This boardwalk, and a couple of others we have seen, is made using recycled plastic. We've seen it in other colours as well....pretty neat, and no problems with white ants.

Day 46...Hamelin Pool

Today we had a quiet day around camp. After breakfast, we went and had a look at the museum at the old telegraph station. The caravan park is situated on the old telegraph station site.

 It played a major role in communication during the moon landing, back in 1969.

There are heaps of these beautiful daisies growing everywhere through the bush.

This afternoon we went for a long walk through the bush...we saw an emu and a red kangaroo. After a while we headed back towards the coast, and came out where early shell brick-cutters had their camp. There were still bits and pieces of stuff lying around.

It's not sand in the above photo, but small white shells.

Day 45...Hamelin Pool

The wildflowers were spectacular as we travelled down to our next stop,

 Hamelin Pool, near Shark bay.

After we had set up Rosie, we went for a walk up the hill behind the shop. The view was spectacular...also fascinating. The quarry above is made up of tiny shells. They're joined together in a solid mass...some sort of chemical reaction over time.

 In the past, bricks were cut from them and used for construction in the area. Instead of sand on the beaches, there are millions of these tiny white shells.

Another major feature of this area are the stromatolites. The water in the area is extremely salty, so not much lives in it.....cyanobacteria do survive and they build these structures, and in the process give off oxygen into the atmosphere.

This is Rosie's campsite at Hamelin Pool. Instead os sand , or the red dirt we've seen so much of, it's crushed shells underfoot. There are so many of them in the area, that they are mined on one of the beaches and used in gardens and for pathways.

Day 44...Carnarvon

On our way out to The  Blowhole today, we saw these emus at the side of the road.

Further along, we saw more salt production....Rio Tinto Dampier Salt mines.

Towards the top of several telegraph poles, were old wheel rims attached to them,

 and birds had built nests in them.

This is one of the blow-holes in action....they actually went up a fair bit higher than this.

It's really rugged coastline here....the water a beautiful deep blue,

 and the rocks you walk over to get a closer look are very rugged.

While we were watching the blow-hole, a couple of whales came past....they were amazing, they came right out of the water, and were hanging around for ages.

The wildflowers are beautiful over here, we've seen many different ones already.

Dave had a fish off the beach while we were out there, but didn't have any luck....but what a spot!!

This is One Mile Jetty. We started walking out along it late this afternoon. It was quite breezy, and very rough, so I went back to the car, and Dave walked the whole distance. When he got to the end, there were people fishing. One bloke had cought a huge fish.

Dave photographed this cute little bird this afternoon. It's really cute and quite friendly. We saw some the same the other day up at Onslow, they were flying down and looking at us through the windscreen when we stopped the car to look at something. I don't know what sort it is, we'll have to look it up in the bird book when we get home.