Shark Bay - Francois Peron National Park

We took our car and caravan 4WDing for the first time through Francois Peron National Park to our campsite at Gregories, where we stayed for 3 nights. And both the car and caravan went really well :)



This is a photo of our campsite at night...



We went to the tip of the peninsula - Cape Peron





We walked from Cape Peron to Skipjack Point. If you look carefully at the next pic you will see where the photos were taken from the lookout of the plentiful marine life below.



We visited Skipjack Point 4 times over our stay - spending over an hour each time searching for marine life and close opportunities for these memorable photos...

A stingray rising from the sand below and swimming in the shallow water.



The school of fish below was as thick as seaweed - then all of a sudden 3 reef shark disturbed them. On the attack, thousands of fish jumped out of the water.



The sharks continued to circle the fish, occasionally striking with an attack.



It is the Eagle Ray's mating season, and we were lucky enough to catch this one flying through the air - showing off!



A group of Eagle Rays swimming around.



A Green Turtle meandering past.



I did try to zoom in on the above photos so you can get a closer look... but they came up as the original photo was taken. See if you can zoom in or check my facebook profile!

We went to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins that come up onto the shore each day for a feed. Both the kids were chosen from the crowd to hand feed the dolphins...






It was an amazing experience and the resort has a great atmosphere... so we asked at reception for availability in the caravan sites and we were lucky enough to get 2 nights this close to Easter, due to a cancellation. YIPPEE!
So next destination Monkey Mia!!!

Kalbarri

We spent 5 nights at Kalbarri.
Kalbarri is at the mouth of the Murchison River, which travels over 700km inland eastof the Indian Ocean.We visited Kalbarri National Park, which contains gorges travelling along parts of the Murchison River. The gorges have been forming for over 400 million years by wind and water erosion. We stopped at 'Nature's Window' for the 'must do' photo...



And viewed the gorges from numerous lookouts...


We have actually travelled in the dry season, so the Murchison River wasn't flowing. I imagine spring would be the best time to visit to watch the powerful river flowing around the 'Z bends'.

We hired a boat for half a day and putted over to Cliff Rock and climbed the hill for awesome views over the Murchison River...



We threw in a few fishing lines at 'Tina Turner' (simply the best according to a local), but only caught fish a little bigger than the bait we used... so no keeper! But it was a lovely day on the water and we enjoyed a picnic lunch:)

Our caravan site was opposite the river so an evening fish, watching the sun go down, was a great way to end a day!

Port Denison

We spent 2 nights at Port Denison and found an awesome spot at the caravan park looking over the beach and near the port...



We were in prime position for when the storm hit...



The second day, we had an early afternoon storm and then it cleared again and we watched a perfect sunset...



And Rod particularly loves this photo he took of the moon...



As you can see, we didn't do an awful lot at Port Denison, besides admire the view, take a few walks and played basketball together.
And when the kids don't do there school work - the HULK comes out...

The Pinnacles

We are now staying in Cervantes, a seaside fishing village.
Nearby is the Pinnacles Desert, which consists of thousands of limestone pillars.
Some stand up to 4m tall. They vary in shape and colour and we were amazed by their uniqueness....







Although you can find these limestone pillar elsewhere in Australia, this area has the most in one place !?!?!?!

There are lots of emus in this area of Western Australia and we evn spotted some at the Pinnacles...

Fremantle and Rottnest Island

We spent one and a half weeks in Fremantle.
We spent time shopping and eating in Fremantle and Perth.
But the highlight of our stay was most definitely our day trip to Rottnest Island.
We caught a ferry over to the island which is about a thirty minute trip. We hired a bike each for the day and rode all over the island, covering approx. 22km.



There were numerous bays to stop and swim at. We parked our bikes at "Little Salmon Bay" and headed out for a thirty minute snorkle around the reef, which had information plarks under the water that you could snorkle around and read. There were plenty of different fish to view also.



The island was named after the noctural marsupials found on the island called 'Quokkas' - which were originally mistaken for large rats - hence 'Rat Nest' Island.



We thoroughly underestimated what we could do on this small island and had an awesome but exhausting day trying to fit everything into one day...



We would definitely fly back to Perth and spend a week, riding all over the island and snorkelling in many different bays - just so much to do yet peaceful and gorgeous. We loved it!

Margaret River

We spent 4 nights camping in the Margaret River region, south western WA.
The beaches were lovely and supposedly the best surf beaches in WA (if you're talking to the locals).
We went cheese tasting and bought marinated fetta and marinated ricotta. We went olive tasting and bought olives and olive oil. We couldn't end it with out wine tasting and wine purchases. We were fully set up for an afternoon with cheeses, salamis, olives, crusty bread and red wine :) :)
Another day we bought some fudge from the local fudge factory and gazed through numerous bookshops.
We drove to Cape Leeuwin and the Historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse which is situated at the most south westerly tip of Australia, standing at the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

Albany

3rd - 5th Mar, 2010.

We spent a couple of nights at Cosy Corner near Albany. We spent Rod's birthday in Albany, killing time while our car received it's 30,000km service.

The next day we went to Whale World, which previously ran as a whaling station up until 1978. It told the sad story of the killing of around 3000 whales - it was the last whaling station to close in Australia.



For further info google "Whale World Albany".

Munglinup Beach

1st - 3rd Mar, 2010.
As we travelled from Esperance to Albany, we decided to stop midway at a camp on the beach. We travelled on some dusty red roads, feeling like we were in the middle of nowhere.... but we found a gorgeous camp ground at Munglinup Beach.
It had a reef wall just out from the beach which created a lovely calm lagoon for us to swim in. We went snorkelling but there weren't many fish to see.



We spent two nights here. We swam, went for beach walks, ran up the sand dunes and just relaxed on the beach.