My Adventures – Up the West Coast

So hit Perth Friday afternoon. Hate city driving and the last 90 minutes was just that. I did however reward myself with a deluxe cabin at Big 4 Midland – about 35 min train from the city centre. Loved being back in a bed with some very ordinary TV – although did catch last hour of footy and rugby on TV. Sorry TDA your CB Bulldogs are ordinary!

Saturday, glorious – 27 degrees, into the city. Good train service, about 30 minutes. Had a walk up the mall – meh, typical city shopping. Outta there pretty quick! Down to The Bell Tower, Barrack Street Jetty and Elizabeth Quay. They’ve done an amazing job of this area. Full of eateries, family friendly fun, beautiful areas to enjoy the sunshine.

If you visit Perth forget the mall – head down towards the Swan River from the CBD. Zigzag along the streets – you won’t be disappointed. There are some interesting works of art, some beautiful buildings and some lovely gardens and parks. Take your time – it’s a very pretty city.

Now you would be very disappointed if I didn’t take you to an alcohol related venue. This one is Whipper Snapper whiskey distillery. These guys do a bourbon style whiskey and some neat flavoured moonshine. Super friendly staff, you can do a tour, master class or a simple tasting. Their whiskeys are super yummy – particularly for the bourbon drinkers amount you. They also do a quinoa whiskey (mmmmmm – sorry don’t think so!). Their Hot Cross Bun and Apple Strudel Moonshine are lovely – gonna try both with some milk (as suggested by my tasting guide!).

I was hoping to go the watch Freo v Carlton in the AFL, but the tickets sold out a week ago (it’s ok, Jeff, I would have been cheering for your Blue Baggers! 💙). So instead I looked up WAFL games and to my delight East Fremantle (my long time WAFL team) were playing Swan Districts only a few train stops from the CP I was staying in. Found a dozen or so Sharks supporters and sat down for an afternoon of footy and beer. At half time we were looking dodgy, down by nearly 6 goals (thankfully, due to several shouts I reckon I had downed at least 6 beers). However, the second half was a huge turn around with the mighty Sharks kicking 7 goals to 2 in the last quarter to win by 9 points. High fives all round – great fun. Interestingly, most of the EF fans were off to the AFL before heading back down South to their homes (f**king big day!).

Saturday saw a 4 hour drive up the coast to Geraldton. Only a pit stop here on my way to Shark Bay. Had a sleep in (two ordinary night’s sleep in my bed – must be too used to the tent?), before a late head off. Ok scenery on the way up – listened to the Cats taking on North Melbourne (better effort this week – unlike last week’s disgrace vs Hawks 😤). Arrived mid afternoon – had a bite to eat (town centre deserted!). Set up “mini camp” only gonna be here a night! Went for a stroll down to the beach – pretty! Dodgy caravan park – Drummond Cove Tourist Park. Not a lot of TLC of the grounds (f**k all grass, tired and shabby!), amenity block dated with half of the cubicles and showers out of order. Right next to a major highway with heavy traffic ALL day and night. Glad it’s only a night.

ANZAC Day saw me travel up to Shark Bay (Denham to be precise!). The trip up was ok, through wheat country first and then onto mallee scrub. After turning off onto Shark Bay Road the views became increasingly more beautiful, small bays of turquoise water and white sandy beaches filled the windscreen at every turn of the road! Eventually hit Denham – after having to slow down for a family of our feathered friends. Hot as balls, about 32 degrees. Thank god I got those drill in tent pegs – Shark Bay Caravan Park doesn’t have a single blade of grass (and very few trees for shade). Amenities are good though. Very quiet. Did some laundry, listened to some of the ANZAC Day clash at the MCG. Just ‘chillaxed’. Afternoon stroll down the foreshore – beautiful spot. Couple of frothies to finish off the afternoon.

Shark Bay is one of those places where, for a while at least, was thought to be the first place Europeans happened across the Australian continent. Of course the continent had been “discovered” tens of thousand of years previously by Indigenous Australians and had been long since visited by Macassans from Sulawesi, which is now part of Indonesia. An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616, becoming the second group of Europeans known to have visited Australia. (The crew of the Duyfken, under Willem Janszoon, had visited Cape York in 1606). The area was given the name Shark Bay by the English explorer William Dampier, on 7 August 1699.

The area is now a world heritage site. It features stromatolites in Hamelin Pool. These are formations, created by blue-green algae, which began being formed about 1000 years ago. These structures are the equivalent of the earliest forms of life on Earth – formally only found in fossilised remains (dating back some 3.5 billion years).

Tuesday saw me head off for an early date with some dolphins at Monkey Mia. The dolphins visit every morning for a snack, the “guided presentation” by parks and wildlife staff was entertaining and informative. Lucky I’m tall though – some people just don’t understand that there are other people in the world and barged to the front. Several small children were clearly blocked from view – no insight some people. Palms itched – so wanted to use my “free slap”. Got some good snaps though – worth doing, just get there early!

Stopped by the Little Lagoon on the way back to Denham. Beautiful spot!

Off to Ocean Park Aquarium. A nice spot with a really cool guided tour. Saw some shark feeding – highlight of the visit. Nice hot chocolate too!

On the suggestion of one of the aquarium guides headed to Eagle Bluff Lookout. The views were perfect. Even from high up you could see sharks, rays and sea turtles swimming in the shallows. So peaceful.

Next stop was a truly fascinating place. Shell Beach. What a unique experience. The beach is covered in shells for 69km (to a depth of between 7 and 10 metres). It’s one of only two beaches in the world to be made entirely out of shells. The shells are cockle shells. Due to the high salinity of the L’Haridon Bight the cockles have no natural “predators” and reproduce in unchecked numbers. Prior to World Heritage Status being applied to the area, the limestone formed on the beach was mined. With the bricks being used to build several of Denham’s historic buildings.

Last stop for the day was Steep Point. A good mate of mine was in Byron Bay last week and sent me a photo from the most Easterly point on the mainland. Thought I’d send him one back of the most Westerly point. Fair exchange!

Dinner at the Heritage Resort Hotel. Nice local Whiting and some more delicious Little Creatures Ale!

Wednesday saw me very sadly leave Shark Bay. This was definitely a highlight stop. I’ll definitely be back here again – but spend way more time here. One day!

Before hitting the North West Coastal Highway, I needed to visit why this area was a World Heritage Site – the stromatolites in Hamelin Pool. A really interesting volunteer guide had set up in a rotunda and gave an extremely informative talk about the history of the area and what the stromatolites are. Then had a look at these unique natural phenomena.

Then a four hour drive up the West Coast to Coral Bay. The scenery changed dramatically as I drove along. From coastal mallee, to dry plains – although not stunning, was interesting to see it transition. Surprised by Carnarvon – didn’t stop their, but it was interesting to see the amount of horticulture there. Abundant water from the Gascoyne River and a favourable climate see hectares of bananas, mangoes, avocados growing punctuated by field of other vegetables. A real food bowl clinging to the west coast.

Got to Coral Bay. It’s basically two HUGE caravan parks and a resort. Relying totally on tourism. And it was PACKED. I thought school holidays were over – there were still s**loads of kids though and young families with huge cars, huge caravans and huge egos. Wait till the interest rates go up people (as they are!) – see how you go then!

Thursday saw an early-ish get up for a “Manta Ray Snorkelling Adventure”. The lovely people at Coral Bay EcoTours took a group of 15 of us on what, in my opinion, was one of the best experiences of my life. A short boat ride took us to Ningaloo Reef (a place that is quite notorious with those at DPS – a much loved unit of work was based around the book Blueback by Tim Winton, a long time ‘champion’ of the reef). We were first allowed to “free float snorkel”, being taken along by the current across the beautiful reef with its incredible collection of fish. The colours of the fish covered the spectrum and shone iridescent in the sunlight. Fish of many shapes and sizes swam within the chaotic shapes of the coral. Next we were promised the chance to swim with manta ray. The spotter plane was in the sky, we got word there was a big one in the “feeding corridor”. In we all went again. Well, there wasn’t one but two and they swam at a pace that allowed us all to swim along with them. These majestic creatures can grow to have a wingspan of over 4 m – the staff assured us these two were “big ones”. WOW! A nice cruise followed where we spotted a pod of dolphins foraging, a beautiful Tiger Shark cruising the reef and several green sea turtles. Lunch was served and hurriedly eaten (eating just takes up snorkelling time – get us back in the water). Then onto a part of the reef called The Blue Maze – where the sea turtles go to get cleaned by the cleaner fish. And we weren’t disappointed, several big sea turtles and over 45 minutes in the water left us all amazed and in awe of this beautiful place. A quick sprint back to shore saw us reluctantly step foot back on dry land – all of us wishing we were still on the water. Amazing place, amazing experience (one of the best of my life), amazing staff! – get your arses here and do it one day!.

Needed a couple of James Squire Ginger Beers at Bills Tavern to debrief.

Friday saw me once more on the NWCH, heading to Karratha. A solid 5 hour drive saw me reunited by the red earth traditionally associated with the interior of Australia. Spotted some interesting ant hills – standing about a metre and a half tall. The hills serve thee main purposes – they act as an entrance to the main part of the nest (which is located underground), they regulate the temperature of the nest and the protect the nest from predators!

I’ve shared lots of coastal photos in this blog – time to turn the camera inland. Some pics of the landscape on the road to Karratha.

Drove past a number of iron ore mines. WA has about 30 percent of the world’s reserves of iron ore and supplies about 40 percent of the global demand.

Getting closer to Karratha saw a couple of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) plants. The North West Shelf Gas Field had been producing LNG for export since 1989, with some of the largest and most sophisticated gas plants located in the region.

Arrived in Karratha – was impressed by the well resourced coastal town. Checked into the Pilbara Karratha Discovery Tourist Park. Due to the expected hot temperatures (high 30 degrees) I booked a cabin for the couple of days I am here! Ok cabin – old and dated, but nice bed, good aircon and tidy bathroom. It’ll do!

This week’s music …..

Soft Cell’s new album, Happiness not Included, their first album since 2002. Now I reckon Tainted Love (released in 1981 by Soft Cell) is one of three perfect songs for me – the other two being Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Marillion’s Neverland– my three favourite songs ever! Soft Cell’s first album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is one of the greatest, sassiest, naughtiest New Wave albums ever produced. Their latest offering is ok – I did give it a fair crack. But only just ok. Some glimpses of New Wave genius, but only some. Three out of five stars for me. Really enjoyed Happiness not Included, Nostalgia Machine and I’m not a Friend of God. Worth a listen. Now this album isn’t released in Oz til May 6th – you’ll just need to wait till then (thank you Vladimir for the sneak peak!).

The Weeknd’s new album Dawn FM. The concept behind the album is that it’s a radio station in purgatory, playing tunes for the dead awaiting atonement for their sins hopefully allowing them into heaven. I’m not sold on it as much as I loved the 2020 album After Hours – but would still rate it a solid 3 and a half out of five. Good driving music, solid beats that encourage steering wheel tapping. Go back for more of the following tracks – Best Friends, Don’t Break my Heart and Less Than Zero.

Third album that I just loved was Kate Miller-Heidke’s 2020 release – Child in Reverse (although this was the deluxe edition released in 2022 and includes live versions of songs from the album as well as a couple of live acoustic versions of previous hits and covers). Now, Kate is Australian (which does surprise some people) and I just love her music. This is a brilliant album – well crafted and beautifully sung, loved, loved, loved – Deluded, Twelve Year Old Me (should be played to every adolescent girl – “Twelve year old me
I know there are people
Who are making you feel like you’re not pretty enough
I know one day you will say
“Who gives a fuck?”” ) and Little Roots, Little Shoots. Brilliant. Four and a half out of five stars for me!

Plus – Marillion’s new album – An Hour Before it’s Dark. Have I mentioned they have a new album and that you REALLY should give it a listen! If not “do yourself a favour”.