Still Cruising………………..Exmouth to Perth 1463 kms

Kilometers Travelled to date: 12,653 kms

Heading south on the North West Coastal Highway towards Carnarvon I passed a couple of little roadhouses, but it really feels like your in the middle of nowhere!  A sensational drive.

Carnarvon is a quaint little town with lots of caravan parks, it reminds me of Coffs Harbour in a lot of ways: on the coast, pretty and green, surrounded by agriculture with banana and mango trees everywhere.  There are lots of caravan parks to choose from, I stayed at the Carnarvon Caravan Park which boasts the “shadiest site’s in the north”, everyone was really friendly. Next door was the local fish and chip shop, which serves good fish and chips (I’ve sampled a few serves of fish and chips along the way).

The next day I turned off the highway at the Overlander Roadhouse onto Shark Bay Road heading towards Denham and Monkey Mia.

I crossed the 26th Parallel.

Some people say that I operate in a parallel universe at times.

Denham is the western most town in Australia.  The 150 kms part of the road linking Denham to the highway is called World Heritage Drive.  It was an absolutely stunning stretch of road.

Nature’s incredible colours

A truly magnificent coastline

Lucky the rocket has good brakes, we got as close to the edge as we could.

Denham is just up from Money Mia, where you can’t find any monkeys but you can find quite a few dolphins.  A windy place, probably because it is so far West.  I stayed at the Denham Caravan Park, again full of really friendly people.  There is a great pub right on the beach which has a fully supervised creche for husbands.

The next day I got back onto the main highway and about 100 km down the road I pulled off at Kalbarri.

 When your on the road there is nothing like a large sign to point out the important things.

Kalbarri is on the mouth of the Murchison River surrounded by magnificent beaches, cliff faces, lot of bluffs and points – Red Bluff, Bluff Point, Shoal Point, Horrack’s Beach to name a few, all worth a look.

 Sunset at Kalbarri Beach

There is the dreamtime story of the Rainbow Serpent forming the Murchison River as she came from inland to the coast here at Kalbarri.  The colours and the sunset’s were incredible.

So much spectacular coastline,  cliffs faces dropping into the ocean, white sandy beaches and wild seas.

 It was a long road to Gerladton, a great drive, but a long way.  Geraldton is a big port town with lots of industry, lots of cray boats and plenty of action.  I really like Geraldton so I spent a couple of days here to unwind and have a base.

Geraldton Beach

Again another spectaculatr sunset at Gerladton

Past Geraldton and the 7 Mile Beach is a place called Dongara, the rock lobster capital of Australia.  I set up camp here as there were a few things to check out.

Camping Mick Miller Style at Dongara

I checked out the local rock lobster pot manufacturing specialist in town.  All the pots are still made of  timber.  The lobster will not enter a trap made out of fibreglass or carbon fibre, people have tried and failed and farming doesn’t work.

The pots are all made by hand using Australian timber

The finished Lobster Pots

Its great to see an Australian product still being built from woe to go and kept on Australian shores.

There were some big cray boats, the rocket may have a bit on towing this girly!

 The Indian Ocean Drive is a new coastal road which pretty much starts at Gerladton and goes all the way to Perth.  It is an incredible stretch of highway, no trucks, just people travelling through exploring the coastline.  I stopped at Leeman and hung out at the famous Snag Island Pier.

I got to Lancelon – Lano as the locals call it and decided to stay for a week, the following photos probably explain why.

 The Beach at Lancelin

This was the view from my tent

The campsite was right on the beach, I liked it here.

The salt water lagoon.

The Loan Ranger was in town, so I though I would join him on the beach.

I lurked around for nearly a week at the beach, watching the kite surfers and kicking back.

After a few encounters with some really fit sandflies,  these little champion sandflies are still able to latch on and bite despite it blowing 40 knots, I ‘m still itching, it was time to pack up camp and head to Perth, only about an hours drive south.

I arrived in Perth and stayed in Cottesloe with Teague Kowalski, Anna and Eva.  Some great home cooked meals, lot of laughs and some great sleeps.  I was very grateful for their great hospitality.

I also caught up with Andrew Bloom his wife Sue and his four kids Rach, James, Nick and Hannah.  Another fabulous fun family dinner it was great to see them, we had lots of laughs.

Life is better when you laugh!

Keep Laughing

Mick