mitzy&me

Kaya! This is my blog where I'll be keeping track of my travels around Australia in 'Mitzy', my Delica. Let's hit the road!

[mitzyandme]

Cape Peron NP

Despite having a lot of people warn me how difficult the 4WDing into Cape Peron National Park is, I decided I just had to do it...and I did! Let down the tyres and Mitzy smashed it! I camped a night at stunning Big Lagoon and then at Gregories, where I watched dolphins hunting, stingrays and sharks cruising by and some dungongs in the morning!

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Peron Homestead

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Shark Bay

I'd completely forgotten just how beautiful and diverse this area is! Certainly helped by the fact that when I arrived, it was almost glass-off flat without a puff of wind. Magic! Shell Beach was a must, where I bobbed around on the super salty water like a cork, and I continued up the coast exploring random tracks that would take me to one beach more beautiful than the last. I did get bogged at one point, but nothing lowering the tyres couldn't fit and I was out! Staying in Denham now at the CP right on the beach. Nipped out to Monkey Mia which honestly is a rip off to enter for $15, which I didn't realise. Ah well. Beautiful beach still and I saw some dolphins milling around. Checked out the Peron homestead on the way back and had a soak in the bore spa at a cosy 40 degrees!

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Surf 'n' bananas

To Carnarvon! My memories of this place is limited to a long jetty, frozen bananas coated in chocolate on a stick and a seafood restaurant we always went to on our way through. The town is a bit run down and tired, and sadly the jetty can no longer be accessed due to cyclone damage. Still, I enjoyed the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and was able to restock all my vital supply needs. I headed to the Blow Holes, making a stop at the iconic 'King Waves Kill' sign before admiring the power of the ocean smashing the rugged coast line at the blow holes. The campsite was excellent; spots scattered amongst fishing huts and curled around 'The Aquarium' where I was able to enjoy some decent snorkelling with lots of fish. I has two nights there before letting down the tyres and heading up the track to Red Bluff, passing Quobba station and a lot of goats. I can see why Red Bluff is regarded as such a special place! An imposing headland shapes a bay fringed with rocks and some reef and a famous surf break that draws keen surfers from all over to try. There wasn't much swell at all when I was there, but that was welcome as it made it a bit easier to get in for a quick swim or two, as it's really not a beach for paddlers as there are big dumpers right on the sand. I nabbed a spot right on the cliff with the best views, and while windy, it was worth it!

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A trip down memory lane

Making the turnoff and driving down the little winding road into Coral Bay brought back some of the happiest memories of my childhood. Coral Bay was our family holiday destination for a number of years, and the only place I ever saw mum actually swim in the ocean! Cresting the hill past the Welcome to Ningaloo sign, the backpackers was still there, the shopping arcade, the red quad bikes, the green strips of lawn with hot, salty sprinklers...ah! The nostalgia! Thankfully, it's still the quaint one-street town I know and love.

Sadly, I can't say the same for the reef. When I eagerly dove in, I was horrified to discover the reef completely dead, covered in algae, and no fish life. The eeriest part was that it was totally silent; no clicks and crunches that indicate a healthy reef ecosystem. I swam and swam out desperately to try and find any life, but came across nothing. I couldn't bear it any longer and swam quickly in, had a little cry and then did some research. Surely I would have heard of a mass reef death somewhere before now?! Well, turns out that in March of this year, 2022, there was a freak massive spawn, which is a natural thing, but the issue was it happened at the time of some bad heat waves and no wind. So the spawn literally suffocated the reef and fish of oxygen, killing the coral and thousands upon thousands of the fish that rely on the coral. It was devastating. In my lifetime this is the first real concrete evidence of climate change I've experienced. Heartbreaking.

So I didn't snorkel again, it was just too distressing. I enjoyed the beach and wandering up and down the town. I even ran into some friends, Deb and Simon, and had sunset drinks at their holiday home. But I have to say I was okay with leaving as planned, hoping to find some healthy reef again down Carnarvon way.

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Bye bye Exmouth!

While I planned to stay a few weeks longer as I had a pretty sweet deal of a free campsite ay Yardie and some relief work, the wind was too too much. So, time to move on! Stopped in for the Mandu Mandu gorge hike and then Charles Knife canyon on my way to Coral Bay.

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Sunsets and sand dunes

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Where the reef meets the range

I didn’t plan on gunning it all the way from Tom Price to Exmouth, as it’s an 8 hour trip, but something came over me and I felt an uncontrollable desire to just get to the coast. So I did. 

When I finally first saw the ocean again I hooted and hollered like a maniac and drove straight through Exmouth town into the National Park, getting to my campsite at Osprey right before sunset and leapt straight into the water. I actually cried a bit! One thing 3 months inland of Australia has taught me is that I NEED to be by the ocean to live, no compromise. 

I was lucky enough to ab two nights at Osprey, which was a lovely little campsite with a beach fronted by rocky outcrops and white sand. The snorkelling wasn’t bad, but it’s not known as one of the big 3 (Oyster stacks, Turquoise Bay and Lakeside) but I still found an impressive cleaning station with lots of fish and a leopard shark, and best of all TURTLES! Every snorkel I saw at least one, and I even saw 4 turtles one snorkel. 

After Osprey I headed back to town to stock up and managed some sneaky free camping, enjoying sunset at town beach with seemingly every other van lifer. I was able to book 5 days in the NP at different sites, enjoying Yardie Creek, Neds, North Mandu and Tulki beach. 

I don’t think I could ever get bored exploring Ningaloo reef. Right when I think I can’t find a better snorkelling spot, it’s bested by the next. Turquoise Bay gives you a beautiful drift loop over big chunks of coral, but Oyster Stacks is a solid carpet of delicate reef with a dazzling array of colours and fish. However, I think my favourite spot so far has bee Lakeside, which is a bit less accessible as you have to leg it from the carpark about 500m, then swim again a pretty strong current to these huge coral bommies, but when you get to them it’s out of this world! Colossal lumps of brain coral in either vivid green or electric purple, fringed by many different types of coral, squat merrily over white sand and is prime real estate for a city of fish. So many varieties of all shapes and sizes, with gropers and little sharks hiding underneath the ledges, rays nestled in the sand and huge clams. 

I’ve decided I can’t leave quite yet, so am going to be doing a ‘work-for-stay’ deal at Yardie Homestead, which is located just out of the National Park. In exchange for a couple hours cleaning, I get a free campsite! Good deal to me. Happy days in paradise. 

[mitzyandme]

Gorge-ous!

Just want to say that of all the gorges I went to, I think Hamersley was my pick. Really interesting rock formations, you could swim up the gorge, there is the spa pool and right opposite it is an excellent free camp! Win win. Joffree gorge probably was the scariest to get into due to the very long, steep ladders, but no less gorge-ous (heh heh).

Last stop inland from Tom Price; Tiger Eye pool, which wasn't a pool at all as it was bone dry. Very happy memories there when we came as kids, even though it was where I got a significant scar on my foot as I let go of the rope swing too early and smashed my foot on the rocks at the pool. I crossed the dry creek to a spectacular spot with full views of the range, and got to put my washing out to dry.

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Karijini

This spectacular land crosses the country of the Banyima, Innawonga and Kurrama people and holds sacred significance, and it's not hard to understand why. What a privilege it is to have access into gorges and fresh water swimming holes framed by cascading water falls, lined by graceful river gums and a spectacular blue sky. I remember so vividly the first time I came to Karijini with my family after a Coral Bay stint and recalling that it was the most beautiful place I'd ever been, and I have to say that little me was so right! I managed to squeeze in 3 nights at Dales campground, and each morning made the pilgrimage before 7am into the gorge to beat the crowds. Each time I had some time with the whole of Jubula (the serpent's pool or Fern's Pool) to myself, and happily found the early morning crowd were always very respectful of the sacred space (sadly can't say the same for the midday and afternoon crowd). So I'd just hang out at camp, do some painting or maybe go for a little walk until I could watch the sunset over the ridges.

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Mt Robinson

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Red dirt, white gums, blue sky

Northward bound! Finally reaching some water as I tiptoe past the Gasgoyne and get closer to the gorges. Good to really restock in Newman, ready for a couple weeks without shops when I get to Karijini.

I came to camp at a very special place just out of Newman called Wanna Munna gorge of the Nyiyaparli People. I. checked at the Visitor's Centre to see if it is in fact okay to go there, and they said it is, but they did ask to not camp right down the bottom in the actual gorge and to obviously be respectful. This site has very sensitive men's business rock art and petroglyphs (which means the art work is carved, not painted with ochres) and so out of respect for this, I won't be posting images of the art works.

The track in was rough (definitely needed the high clearance) but only short (about 1.3km to get in from the highway). You can immediately feel it's a very special spot, with the biggest river gums I have seen yet and probably hundreds of rock carvings scattered throughout the gorge. They were either of animals (I spotted kangaroos and emus) and what seemed to be men in ceremonial paint. There was one being speared through the leg. Some were so high up the gorge it was a marvel at how they got up there to carve them!

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Rock art and ghost towns

Onto Cue, only an hour north. A very pretty little town dotted with some amazing historic buildings made from stone, I made my way to Walgahna (Walga) Rock. A very special place, the Wadjarri people have allowed the sacred site to be open to the public and have the privilege of not only experiencing the 'Uluru' of the West, but what is thought to be the largest gallery of Indigenous painted rock art in WA. In particular, the ship is a chilling insight into just how frightening and bizarre the sight of such a thing arriving from the ocean would have been for First Nations people. Spanning a decent length of the rock, the more I looked at the work the more details, shapes and figures I could find. It was truly a moving place.

I camped the night and on the way back to town stopped at Big Bell, which used to be quite a grand town in it's heyday, but like so many communities out here, died out when mining stopped. I especially enjoyed the derelict pub with its many rooms and passages hiding graffiti and street art.

Then it was lunch at Lake Nallan and onto Meekatharra.

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Mt Magnet

Arriving in Mt Magnet, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was Astofest, a little festival celebrating the land and night sky. PLUS it was the annual Racing Cup, so the little town was absolutely buzzing with activity! The highlight for sure was when I joined in with a astrophotography session out at the Granites.