Perth and Beyond

Hi,

(You can click on the photo to enlarge it)

Continuing our journey we left Newman heading to Perth. First night was a free camp just north of Meekatharra then we passed through Mt Magnet and overnighted at Paynes Find, arriving at New Norcia in the afternoon. The weather blew all the way with rain, not the most pleasant drive.

Free camp companions, 2 road trains

 Once we arrived at New Norcia we booked into the Caravan Park (ha ha) at the back of the roadhouse. Very poor but we wanted power for the heater, it rained cats and dogs that night so we went to the pub for tea which was nice but no fire to keep warm so back to the van. The following day we went on the morning tour to see the Abby etc. 2 hours of walking round looking at old building what a joy this was (no rain). After a quick lunch we moved on to Perth.

The girls school

Carved pictures on the walls of Abby Church

Some of the original paint walls in Abby Church

Inside the old flour mill

Inside the Boys school chapel

Inside the Girls school chapel

The New Norcia Hotel, built for the Queen of Spain's visit

 When we arrived in Perth we stayed out at Caversham again with views of the vineyards, planes and lots of birds. We visited with Shirley and Brian, Michael and Lorraine. Ian changed the wheels around on the van as the tires were scrubbing. On another day we went down to Freemantle for lunch with John and Wendy who we had not seen since 2009, we had a lovely time with them. We also decided to visit the Botanical Gardens as the wild flower  festival was on. The sun shone all day, we had morning and afternoon tea as we did a free escorted garden tour. this turned out to be fantastic.

Swan River Daisy

Little Blue Orchids

Gum Nut and Bird walking round the garden to entertain the kids

The bird again but not sure what type of flower the worrier was 

Gum Nuts and flower

Kangaroo Paw

Banksia flower growing out of the mulch

Just loved this flower

 From Perth we moved onto Mandura to visit more friends. On the day we arrived we decided to do the river cruise, looking for the dolphins (no dolphins) good thing as the rain the next day we bad. We had dinner with Brian and Lucy on Friday night (we had not seen then since 2010 in Mt Isa ) then on Saturday we had lunch with Sue and Vic what a great few days we had visiting our travelling friends.

War Memorial on banks of the estuary

Halls Cottage

An unusual curved front on this multi million dollar home, it was also pink

 From Mandura we continued south west to Picton to have the van wheels aligned then onto Manjimup.
We spent a lovely couple of days with Bev, Cliff and Phyllis. One afternoon was spent doing Mottram family tree stuff, I still have heaps to do on that, then we had a visit with David and Margaret out at the farm, and went to see a little church that the pioneer families built in 1883, we had a great day (still cold and raining).

Bev and Marilyn looking at old family photos in the Mottram slab home

Inside the old home

Outside the old home

David and John (on the forklift) putting up some guttering on the timber mill

The plaque on the little church

The little church restored

Bev outside the church

Marilyn and Ian outside the church

It has been cold and wet since we left Newman, I think we may be getting used to it (NO NO) Since leaving Manjimup we have been heading EAST, we travelled the Muirs Hwy through Rocky Gully, Cranbrook, Gnowangerup, Ongerup stay overnight at Jerramungup, next day had coffee in Ravensthorpe which was nice, then onto Esperance for a few days. (Up at the end of the name means water).
Hope you like the photo's it is hard to keep the number down as I want to put them all in.
The weather is still bad, blowing with rain even in South Australia which is were we are now.

Love to all see you soon.
Marilyn and Ian

Broome to Newman - August

Hi all,

Here is a bit of a catch up on our travels.

We left Broome after 3 months stay and turned South, our first stop was 2 nights at Barn Hill. With walking on the beach and sitting around, Sunday night was roast night for $15 each. Very nice meal and we meet lots of people, also had a craft market as well, jewelry, wooden jewelry boxes, scarfs and stuff.

Setup at Barn Hill

Sunset at Barn Hill

Beach decoration

Beach and cliffs at Barn Hill

Waiting for the tide to come in

From Barn Hill our next night was at Pardoo Station then onto Marble Bar for 2 nights. We had a drink in the Iron Clad pub and met the locals, looked around at the mine at off course the Jasper (Marble) Bar pool.

Sign to let you know where you are

Iron Clad Pub at Marble Bar

All that remains of the Comet Mine

On our drive round the area, we saw the solar plant that powers the town, the Coongan River had an interesting water flow (Flying Fox) devise strung across the valley. The valley floor seem to be full of Jasper rock but you couldn't get down.

Coongan River Valley

We then went onto Marble Bar Pool for a bit of a look, this pool was beautiful, still with lovely reflections of the surrounding hills and trees. We did the usual and took a bucket down with us so that we could see the Jasper wet. Wow the colours.

Pool at Marble Bar Pool

Colourful Jasper at Marble Bar Pool

Wet Jasper at Marble Bar Pool

From Marble Bar we continue on our way through Port Hedland onto a free camp for the night. We had not seen much in the way of road kill till the road into Marble Bar, but once it started  there was a lot of it , FREE RANGE GRAVEL FED BEEF, the truck must just keep hitting them. After our free camp we went onto Tom Price for a few more days to visit Karijini National Park. We drove to Hamersley Gorge & Weano Gorge area, past the Eco Resort ($30 a night, no power, no water) which we had though we may stay at for a night or two, no way were we going to take the van on that road after our drive out. We had a nice coffee & cake at the resort for morning tea. The lookouts at Weano Gorge and Hancock Gorge are fantastic. Next time we will walk down into them.

Junction Pool Lookout, Karijini

Iron rocks at  Oxer Lookout, Karijini

We also did a mine tour of the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Mine, big trucks, big hole, Mt Tom Price gone to China. The ore trains are huge 2 K's long. Red dust every where.

Car park at Rio Tinto Mine

Rio Tinto Iron Ore Mine

Whats left of Mt Tom Price

On another day we drove out to see Hamersley Gorge, 70km this included 46 kms of gravel. We got to the turn off and noticed a sign to notify trucks if you are driving into the gorge so we did, had to wait for 2 trucks to come out, but the drive down into it was great, one lane wide, black top, red cliffs of rock towering above us then out to the flat plains again. We turned round and did it again back to the turn off so as to go to the gorge the we came to see. What a pretty pool at the bottom after you climb down over the rock steps 100 mtrs, then of course back up.

The road to Hamersley Gorge

Road through Hamersley Gorge

Folds in the rock at Hamersley Gorge

Pool at Hamersley Gorge

More of Hamersley Gorge

After leaving Tom Price we went to Dales Campground for 2 nights and went walking to Circular Pool, but the best was Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool, walking to it over rocks and through paper bark trees with water seeping from the rock walls of the gorge that had maiden hair fern clinging to the rocks.

Fern Pool at Dales Gorge, Karijini

Fern Pool

Fortescue Falls, Karijini

From Karijini we headed to Newman but more on that next edition of the blog. We have managed to keep up with our walking about 3 km's most days. The van and truck are so red with dust and you can't wash them anywhere. Hope our blog finds you all well as it leaves us.
Cheers
Marilyn & Ian