The end

So there you have it. After 11,000 kms and 85 nights on the road its time to wind it up. Apparently there’s a real world out there.

Thanks to jess, scosha, grace and zon for being the most amazing road trip comrades imaginable. FACT. You are the most amazing family on the planet.



For me, I’ve got some driving to do….oh and some surfing down south…did I mention that?

Until next time.

ahall

Monkey Mia

A night stopover over in Shark bay and the next morning we plated up some breakfast to a gang of spoilt dolphins.

Coral Bay

A couple of hours south of Exmouth and hello Coral Bay. A compact little place that is so underdeveloped that all 200 full time tourism industry residents live in caravans without wheels.



Coral Bay is one of the few places in which the coral is literally a couple of metres from the sand.

So Jesse chartered a 50 foot catamaran and took us for a spin to the outer reef.



From there we snorkled with turtles, a shark and countless other fish.

This net thing brought a mixture of wow this is great / get me off here!



The pub on the point was worked over on 2 nights followed by a short stroll back to the van. Arhhhhhhhhhhhhh. After 3 days here our pulse was vaguely present. A fitting end before we gunned it to Perth.

Exmouth

So we punched out at the coast at Exmouth after a couple of big driving days, the top end of the beautiful Ningaloo reef. But more importantly, the location of the worlds greatest snot block. We tried to eat one a day but we failed on day 2.



We quickly made it down to the beach and were stunned once again by the beautiful setting. The crystal clear water was just amazing and swimming in it is something you can’t miss out on. We got our snorkels out and went straight into the water.



The beautiful coral and stunning fish were one of the most amazing thing I’d seen on this holiday.



There where so many different shapes and sizes of coral and lots of
Beautiful coloured fish. Mum, Sophie and I were even lucky enough to see a huge turtle. He was hard to spot because he was so well camouflaged. As we floated on top of the water we were trying to fight the current so we headed back to shore to tell dad and Jess. As soon as we told them they were out to find it but didn’t have much luck.



We stayed in our caravan at a homestead right in front of the reef. We worked on our project book (we called this Nadia time) because she made us these amazing scrap books to record our travel experiences.



The next day dad went surfing and was hit on the head by a turtle in the shore break when he duck dived under a wave.

By Grace and Sophie



One night we went to a massive sand dune and watched the sun go down.



We then played star wars because it looked just like the planet ‘Tattoo Inn’ in Return of the Jedi. I was pretending to hold a light saber like Luke Skywalker. It was really fun.

By Jesse

Pilbara and Karijini

We left the coast in our dust and ventured into the most isolated and rugged land of our trip. The Pilbara.



The Pilbara doesn’t need an epic movie like Priscilla or Nicole and Hughs effort to be noticed.



In fact, the Rose Porteous and Gina Rinehart arm wrestle over Langs fine iron ore assets, also seems out of place. It’s far too down to earth for all this carry on. It’s a dramatic, tassle free, no fuss, blokey, petrol stationless (at times), land mass that is the perfect location for a King Gee ad. It’s the location of some of the biggest iron ore super pits the world over.

The jewel of the Pilbara would have to be Karijini National Park.



Jammed with gorges and water features, this park is as snappy as its name.



We spent a night at Dales Campground and guess who was camping next to us – no other than Dan Tyrell and fam – a former St Kevins student with whom I spent 7 years of my school life. How about that – out the middle of a very impressive no-where.

Anyway the next day we had a shower at the fern pool.



We also walked across the top of Dales Gorge and checked out Fortescue falls.



Then we snaked our way back to the coast in pursuit of Ningaloo reef.

Not a ski instructor

Just in case you thought Peta had picked up a ‘hot’ ski instructor in the snow you are wrong.



This is my cousin ‘Steve’ and while his partner ‘Justine’ may think he is ‘hot’, he is not a ski instructor and he is not in the snow.

Steve makes salt for Rio Tinto in Port Hedland. Here's how its done.

Sea water is pumped into a series of lagoons.



The water evaporates over 18 months and leaves behind a 2 foot thick slab of salt. It’s then graded, pumped into trucks, washed and used for a range of purposes including table salt, caustic products, mining and other things that I can’t recall right now.



Steve, Justine, Zac, Ruby and Clancy moved up here a couple of years ago from Gippsland. We had 3 great days at the Ezzy van park and timed our run nicely with Mary Ann and Brian also in town. Steve turned 42 on the Friday - he is so old!



Thanks for the tours, chainsaw impersonation, power and general good times.

This is Steve with a hat and some strange buccaneer pose.

Middle Lagoon

After staying in Cape Leveque for 2 nights we drove south 100 kms to Middle Lagoon, where we stayed for another two nights in a beach hut.



The beach hut was placed about 4 to 5 meters from the water!



We decided the hut was so enclosed that we ditched the tent and slept in the hut with our blow up mattresses and sheets.



It didn’t long for as all to fall in love with middle lagoon, it was heaven!

The next day we got in our bathers and got out snorkels and we snorkelled around this huge rock pool. It was so big and deep I spotted a string-ray wedged between a rock but it didn’t hang around for long when it heard be scream and swim (very quickly) to the nearest sand bank. I wasn’t really all that keen to get back in the water after that.



2 nights quickly passed and we had to leave middle lagoon and go back and pick up the caravan. I think we all wanted to stay longer, it was just amazing!



By Grace

Mud crabbing and whales

Next day we travelled 50 Km down the track to a place called Middle Lagoon. Before we departed the boys and girls went on an adventure.

Boys
I managed to get a mobile number of a local aboriginal 'crabber' called Fred – apparently he takes the odd tourist out to catch mud crabs. After driving the 30 k’s to his community ‘Mudnum’ Fred was gone so we went out with his cousin Dominic. We caught nothing because the tide was too full, so we came back the next day and ventured deep into the mangroves with Dominic and his brother Peter. A couple of thoroughly delightfull blokes.



Here’s Jesse’s account.

Peter showed me how to use the hook to find mud crabs hiding under the mangrove roots and in the tree trunks and in mud.



Peter was good at mud crabbing.



Peter showed me a mud crab hiding under some roots and I used my hook to get him. The trick is to get the hook around the claw and lift him up. You have to be careful cause their claws are so big they can snip a finger or toe off. Peter and Dominic were really nice they called me Jesse brother all the time.

We caught 2 huge mud crabs. Mud crabbing was fun!



Later that night we made a fire at our camp in the sand dunes and cooked the crabs in the coals.



Then we ate them. They were yum.



Girls
While the boys went mud crabbing us girls went on the glass bottom boat it was amazing. Most of the time we were watching whales and dolphins so we didn’t look through the glass much. The first thing we saw was 7 dolphins which was amazing the way theywould dive up and down. One even came right next to the boat. The next thing we saw was a reef with coral and fish and for the first time on the cruise the tour guide spotted a barramundi cod. Then we went whale watching and saw at least a dozen whales, they were my favourite part.They would just jump out of the water one by one and make a big splash.
They were amazing.
By Sophie

Cape Leveque

So we left the apartment and gave our van a holiday in a storage facility in Broome and travelled the 220 km sandy, corrugated road up to Cape Leveque on the Dampier peninsula. Dotted along the peninsula are 6 camp spots owned and operated by indigenous communities. We made our way to the tip at Cape Leveque and setup camp.



Given the access issues this place doesn’t see many folk, and that is where the magic lies. You can walk for hours up here and the only person you will see is your reflection in the water.



The rest of the day wasn’t all that complicated.

We went for a bit of drive…



Then had a dip…



…snared a few rays



…tide went out a bit.



Then the sun went and warmed someone else up.



So we ate and then nested.

Cable Beach

After seeing Cable Beach for the first time I decided it was my favourite beach in the world! Cable beach is absolutely amazing, the sand here is white and it glistens when the sun hits it. Not to mention the beautiful clear water! The water is clear and in the shallows it’s almost white, as it gets deeper it turns into beautiful greens and blues.

As soon as we arrived we quickly set up our caravan and headed down to the beach. The temperature was 30 degrees out of the water and 22 in. We were straight into the water and were amazed by how warm it was! The waves there were nice little 1 ½ footers so Sophie, Jesse and I got out our boards for the first time in 5 weeks. Although the waves there weren’t much we still had an awesome time surfing at cable beach.

When we caught a glimpse of the sunset we decided to bring our little BBQ down and have some sausages.

We sat in our deck chairs and watched the beautiful pink, orange, purple and red sky as the sun slowly went down for the night .Cable Beach was one of the most fabulous places I’ve ever been to and I really hope to come back some time soon!