No grave but the cruel sea.

They have no grave but the cruel sea,

No flowers lay at their head,

A rusting hulk is their tombstone,

A’fast on the ocean bed.

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old …..

The Navy Ode

Geraldton, the coastal town 415 kms north of Perth is no stranger to tragedy at sea. The excellent Museum of Geraldton is a reminder that many of the first Europeans to the West were shipwreck survivors. Over 1400 ships lie as wrecks off the WA coast, with the 17^th century ships Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zeewijk and Zuytdorp among the most famous of the Dutch East India Company vessels which ran aground on route to what is now Indonesia. In the days before accurate longitude, navigation was imprecise and treacherous. Thousands of ships found their way by heading west until land was sighted and then turning north. Sadly, weather and darkness meant that this strategy often ended in disaster.

Geraldton also bears tribute to another maritime tragedy. On a hill overlooking the town and to the sea beyond is a magnificent multifaceted memorial commemorating Australia’s worst Naval tragedy when HMAS Sydney II was sunk by the German raider Kormoran on 19 Nov 1941 about 100 nautical miles west of Shark Bay. A dome of 645 steel gulls (one for each crew member lost) is a stark reminder of a sea battle that lasted less than an hour, but claimed an entire RAN crew, including their Chaplain George Stubbs. Without exaggeration this is the finest and the saddest Naval Memorial in Australia. It is a special honour for one current RAN member to visit this site, having proudly served in HMAS Sydney IV.

Geraldton’s historic foreshore, resplendent with a red and white metal 19^th  century lighthouse, has in more recent times undergone a 21^st century upgrade with walking tracks, parkland, fabulous playgrounds and public art at its best. Horizon, a 1.5metre sphere by artist Lucy Humphrey, turns the view beyond upside down due to the water inside.

Geraldton is the final stop on Coral Coasting our 3400km adventure, Perth to Exmouth and back. Camping fees and fuel cost us just $78.50 a day making this not only one of the best two weeks we have ever had, but also one of the cheapest.

We end our adventure in the richest style with take away fish and chips from Gone Fish and Chipping, a little shop just around the corner from our campsite at Sunset Beach. The staff are very friendly, the Shark Bay whiting is mouth-watering, the squid rings are perfectly tender and the chips take us back to our childhoods. Yum! 

Grey Rookies

Our experienced, outback-camping grandsons, Matthew and Amos, refer to their nemesis – the grey no-mans. They are the travellers who have always left their campsite before they get up – and when they arrive at their destination the next night the blessed grey no-mans have the best position and are already enjoying afternoon drinks and nibblies. We would not presume to number amongst their ranks. We are old and grey enough. However, compared to real grey no-mans we might better be described as grey rookies.

Having turned south our original plan was to motor from Coral Bay to Geraldton. Real grey no-mans, who are retired, might take two weeks to do that distance, but as work beckons in a few days we are short of time. After some consideration we decide to break the 700kms into two sections, so we search for somewhere to stay overnight. No towns. A couple of roadhouses – no thanks. And then we discover Gladstone Bay, a campground on a large rural station only 6 kms off the highway.

This is freedom. No militant caravan park aficionado telling you what numbered site to occupy – this is find your own available and almost level spot (which was actually challenging) and set up. No power, no water, no utilities block, but still a crowd of fifty or so vans including one family travelling with a pet goose!?!

Somehow the rookies survive and thrive. Our trusty A-van, Morrie, switches to the gas fridge and gas hot water. All our lights are 12 volt and run off the battery. Morrie stores 120 litres of water and the pump works off 12 volt as well. A $75 shower tent is erected with the precision of a failed apprentice – actually it went up fine - it was just that Richard somehow found himself on the inside of the erected tent rather than being on the outside. And don’t ask about getting it down, that was really challenging. Morrie’s external hot shower (well more like a warm hose) cleaned us up and we settled down to bacon and eggs, baked beans and fried bread for dinner, with two fruits and cream for dessert.

Off grid, almost off the beaten track and the most amazingly beautiful starry night light show.

Not official grey no-mans yet, but maybe a promotion from rookie to novice.

 

Emus, sharks and a coral reef

    

                                                                     

Travelling from Perth there is only so far you can go due north, before turning North East towards Broome. That pointis Exmouth; the homeof what was once the US tracking station North West Cape. The Americans handed the base back to the RAN in the 80s and it was renamed Harold E. Holt Station. Today the base is run for Defence by a private company, but still carries the sign on the gate NAVCOMMSTA – Navy Communication Station.

 Wandering emus, palm trees and military secretsgive Exmouth a special vibe. Founded in the 60s as the support town for the communications base which in its day hosted over 200 US personal and over 400 Australian Navy staff. The RAAF also have a bare airbase here which doubles as the domestic airport. Although the town is near the coast, it is not on the coast. These days most visitors come to explore the nearby Ningaloo Reef. We are glad to have visited this outpost, but also pleased that we had planned to spend a couple of nights further south at Coral Bay.

 

                                                                                            

Coral Bay we have been warned is also very remote, without any proper town structure. We also noted the need to be self-sufficient with water as that too is in short supply. Three well equipped, grassy an

d fully booked caravan parks seem to dispel the myth about water, but it’s a bit like the Rime of the Ancient Mariner- Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. That is, there is plenty of bore water – you just can’t drink it or connect it to your van as it is too salty. We are delighted to find a decent bakery and a small but well-stocked supermarket which along with the caravan parks complete the town. Sunset here, like so often in the west, is magical.

Earlier in the day we notice what looks like a small shark just metres from the shore at a nearby bay. In spite of this we had packed snorkelling gear and as the temperature climbed to 25 degrees we decided to put it to the test.  To our huge surprise the reef begins literally metres from the shore. Fish in their hundreds, and dozens of different species live in this highly accessible section of the reef. No doubt the day cruises which allow you to swim with whale sharks (@$400pp) give you a much more complete reef experience, but we are amazed at the diversity and plethora of marine life we can enjoy with a cheap set of snorkelling gear and a good decision to brave the water on the day after the winter solstice.

Sax and the fruit loop

At a caravan park we overheard two young ‘lap of the map’ families discussing a visit to Carnarvon. ‘It’s the worst town in Australia’ is one guy’s bold accusation. ‘I heard it was bad – but that bad?’ his mate asked. ‘Yep- worse than you could imagine’. This did not spark joy as we had pre booked two nights in Carnarvon. Surely Carnarvon couldn’t be as bad as suggested. We hoped that this rich agricultural district which produces almost all of WA’s bananas, 62% of its capsicums, almost half of its tomatoes and avocadoes and 25% of its melon’s would be like an oasis in the desert. Not to mention the zucchinis, grapes, avocados, sweet corn, mangos, citrus  and stone fruits. This small district of only 1500 hectares which produces 44,000t of fruit and veggies a year can’t be that bad.

Carnarvon, truth be told could not be described as ‘a looker’. It’s a tad down at heel. The Woolies, while well stocked, is possibly the ugliest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Sadly, the glorious Gascoyne River, is a big disappointment as it is completely devoid of water- absolutely bone dry. But beauty is only skin deep and with a little digging Carnarvon begins to shine.

The Saturday Farmers’ Markets are a hit. As well as wonderful fresh fruit and veg, there are hot food stalls, leather products made from goat hide and the highlight, ‘Sax and the Single Girl’; a mature but spritely woman belting out on a tenor sax almost as big as herself.

The food production district is easily explored around a 10km circular drive affectionately known as The Fruit Loop. The whole area is efficiently irrigated by drip irrigation from underground aquifers. The river only flows a couple of times a year refreshing this underground liquid lifeblood. The plantations are abundant and diverse with produce. Many of the farms practice crop rotation and some follow organic and biodynamic principals.

75 kms north of Carnarvon are the Quobba Blowholes. Australia has many coastal blowholes, and on most days, they promise, but don’t deliver. Today the seas are calm, but this blowhole delivers with abundance. A low rocky coastline hides a series of underground caves which fill with water and then as each wave arrives water is propelled into the air with great force, considerable height and an earth-shaking roar.

Finally, the town boasts a beautiful palm fringed waterfront walkway, originally built as a flood levy, The Fascine. As the sun is setting, we admire the low sandstone wall which houses a Walk of Remembrance where 645 A5 size brass plaques line the wall for hundreds of metres - each one commemorating an Australian officer or sailor who perished at sea in the mighty cruiser HMAS Sydney II, west of Carnarvon on 19 November 1941.

Great fresh produce, quirky locals, stunning natural scenery, fitting memorials and sax and the single woman. ‘A lap of the map’ certainly wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Carnarvon. 





 

Natural Recycling

Shark Bay reveals two dramatic lessons about natural recycling.

There are only two places in the world where living marine stromatolites are known to occur. Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay is the only place in the world where they can be seen from shore. Microscopic organisms, too small for humans to see, concentrate and recycle nutrients which combine with sedimentary grains to form rigid reef structures called stromatolites. These formations first appeared in the Hamelin Pool roughly 3000 years ago but the organisms that built the structures could date back as far as 3 billion years. A boardwalk allows visitors to walk above the shallow water and observe one of the most unique, ancient marine features in the world. Some describe them as the oldest living fossils on earth. They are believed to grow only 5 cms in 100 years.

There are plenty of places in Australia called Shelly Beach, but Shell Beach, Shark Bay is altogether different. From a distance the beach sparkles with what appears to be white pure sand. Close up, there is no sand. In fact, Shell Beach is one of the few places on the earth where shells replace sand in the most dramatic way. Over 60 kms long, up to 100 metres wide and 10 metres deep the beach is made up of tiny cockle shells. The beach is a series of gentle undulations – a stunningly beautiful rubbish heap of billions of billions of discarded tiny white shells. In previous generations the locals quarried the shells, added cement and made building blocks. The Anglican Church in Denham may be the only church building in the world built almost entirely of shells.

In 1991 UNESCO declared Shark Bay a World Heritage Area. We humans are beginning to learn to recycle, but the earth has been doing it naturally and stunningly forever. 

Fishing with a difference

Before breakfast we are fishing with a difference. Not trying to catch fish for ourselves to eat. Not catching fish for sport. No, we are watching dolphins in the wild coming to the shoreline for a feed. This is no crass, commercial, dolphin show in a tank. Since Pre-European times the dolphins have been coming here to be fed. Several decades ago a couple of scientists from the US visited and were horrified that these wild animals were being overfed and harmed by humans in the process. The program is now run as a rigorous scientific project funded by the WA National Parks. The dolphins receive only ten percent of their daily needs. The humans love it, but so too do the dolphins, who come as much for the social interaction as for the fish. No pens, no patting, no tricks, no hype just a crystal-clear morning and several dolphins enjoying a free breakfast. They also give us a dramatic demonstration of their own fishing skills. Watching a large dolphin accelerate to rapid speed just metres from the shoreline, as a small fish does his best, including a few skips into the air, to unsuccessfully avoid becoming breakfast, is amazing.

 

Monkey Mia is quite a flash, but very remote, resort/caravan park on the eastern side of Shark Bay, not far from where the Dutch tourist Dirk Hartog nailed a pewter plate to a tree in 1616. It is also very close to the most western point of the Australian mainland. After yesterday’s rain, the weather today is clear, mild and warm.

Deflation is almost never good. Economically it comes with all sorts of complications. In 4WD terms deflation is something the serious off roaders do. To travel to the extremes of the Francois Peron National Park requires tyre deflation to avoid getting bogged in the sand. We think this is beyond us, until we meet the ranger who gives us information, advice and lots of encouragement to give it a go. The park provides an air pressure hose, so we ‘seize the day’ and deflate!

The 44km track is rough, sandy and challenging but not beyond Izzy (our deflated Isuzu D Max). The destination is Cape Peron where the desert meets the sea. We delight in the turquoise water, clear skies, iron red cliffs, huge fish and masses of sea birds as we walk 3km along the cliff tops through red desert sand.

Walking back along the beach a mother dolphin and her calf are catching fish just three metres from where we walk along the water’s edge. Just like this morning the dolphins seem to be delighted to share this remarkable part of Australia with us.

Kalbarri Rocks

Kalbarri National Park’s coastline rocks in three significant ways.

Firstly, the scenery is as stunning as the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, without the crowds. The National Park hugs the coast and a number of short detours off the main road rewards the visitor with amazing vista, after amazing vista: Red Bluff, Eagle Gorge, Grandstand, Island Rock and Natural Bridge. 

In spite of today’s calm seas the powerful surf break continually pounds the coastline into submission producing magnificent sheer cliffs, rocky pillars, natural bridges, vast rock shelves and small sandy beaches.

Secondly the rock is a feature in itself. Unlike much of WA, the rock here is sandstone not limestone. Not the grey weathered sandstone of the East Coast, but a vivid red sandstone infused with WA’s greatest natural resource, iron ore. An hour circuit walk (you have to love a circuit walk) takes us down a rocky gully to a feature aptly named Mushroom Rock. The softer limestone is worn away and the harder sandstone is left, producing remarkable shapes and contours.

Thirdly the wildlife is lavish. Bigurda is the Nanda (local Indigenous) name for the small kangaroo that we see less than 30 metres from cliffs on a low rocky outcrop. Without a blade of grass in sight these animals survive in the steep rocky hills. Cormorants drop dramatically from dizzy heights as they dive into the sea for a snack. Dolphins cruise past far below the cliff top lookouts. A tiny bird with brilliant red features darts through the low vegetation at extravagant speed. Animals from the past continue to haunt this coastline. Extraordinary pipe rock is made of fossilised burrows created by ancient worm like organisms known as Skolithos.

Kalbarri rocks!