The Last Leg

Only when you are doing a trip of this scale doest the last 2000km seem like just a hop skip and a jump! We made the most of it, ensuring we got maximum experience of the far, and saving the near for another trip. A week in the Finders Ranges was awesome, but faced with extreme hot weather and a gazillion flies, we ended up doing more 4WDing and less walking than we had planned.
Melrose and the Clare Valley was great - would love to return here for a Mountain Bike Event.
As hort stay in Brighton Beach and Adelaide and then down to Victor Harbour, a few waves and then across to Kangaroo Island.
With a full week on KI, we made the most with a couple nights each staying on the South, West and North Coasts of the Island. The wildlife experiences were some of the best anywhere in the country.
Back to the mainland and we drove through the Coorong to Robe, then Mt Gambier and the Grampians. The walking was awesome and deserving of a longer visit with backpacks and boots. We knew we were back over east when a 'major rainfall event' covered most of Victoria and we fled north to Tumut. Thankfully a stunning site on the Tumut River and a playful Platypus helped us get over the hailstorm and torrential downpour. Climbing up to the Snowys, we drove in to the Long Plain and Coolamine Homestead and Blue Pools for some final wilderness walks. I had trekked in there before so we found some caves and took the girls adventure caving - it gave them an underground experience without guides, walkways or signs!

After all that it was nigh to rejoin with family in Canberra, Bowral and Austinmer before back to Sydney and school.

West Coast South Australia - video blog

From Cape Le Grand and Esperance we headed across the Nullabor, spending a could of nights free camping in the middle of nowhere. You know when you have arrived when its 40 degrees, blowing a gale and there is a gazillion flies swarming all over you.
Thankfully at the other side there are great waves and adventures to be had. Some Great waves around Cactus were worth putting up with the flies and dust. Further south on the Eyre Peninsula Streak Bay and Coffin Bay were pretty special. However on of the great highlights of the whole trip was swimming with Sea Lions out of Port Lincoln. A charter boat took us to to some remote islands and sheltered back beach where the Sea lions like to hang out. Cold water and warm sun combined with perfect visibility for a truly exceptional experience.

South Coast WA - Video Blog

Although its a little while since we crossed the Nullabor, we have finally got around to producing a short video. Such a stunning region of Australia with so many good experiences. Please note - the water really is this colour. There is no photo editing.
(The photos don't show how cold the water is).

The highlight was climbing the granite Frenchmans Peak at Cape Le Grand National Park. Scrambling up the slabs revealed a hollow summit, a cave that opened out both sides with view hundred of metres above the plains and coast.

Oh, yeah the surf was pretty good too!

Travelling with kids - Lisa

My lovely sister-in-law Milly asked me to write something about how it is travelling with children especially when coming from a busy working life straight into 24/7 family time. It's taken me too long to try and articulate this but here is my best effort.

One of the main reasons for checking out of the regular (real?) life for six months was to spend some more time with my family. One friend suggested before we left that spending that much time with their family was amongst their worst nightmares. So I started to feel a bit worried....

But what I have learnt is that unpressured time with Chris and the girls wasn't something to be concerned about, even six months of it. Sure there have been moments when I hankered to be able to sit and read a book without being sat upon by a child, or not hearing "I'm hungry!" 20 times a day would be nice - but these are not things that truly matter.

I think what I will most remember are learning what my kids are really like as people. I have discovered things like how Charlotte is the most gentle person, she truly has no mean bone in her body. At one stage we were having some fun (at Chris's expense) as he was getting pretty hairy so I showed the girls a YouTube video of Staying Alive by the Bee Gees (their dad I had begun to resemble a Bee Gee after 4 months in the bush). Despite the laughs, Charlotte had to turn it off because she didn't want to be mean. As her mum, I am always being amazed at how she can identify birds on sight and talk about rock types across the country - but seems unable to find her wash bag EVERY SINGLE night to clean her teeth.

It been amazing to see them grow as people, in the security of their family - but facing new challenges every day. Seeing Aurora step-up and realise she was brave enough to climb through gorges in Karijini on her 7th birthday was a highlight. We have also discovered how she needs to make everything a competition with her big sister (not sure where on earth she gets that from....)

School while we have been on the road has been a learning experience for me as much as Charlotte and Aurora.  The workload in doing distance education is significant and requires lots of motivation and time. We have perhaps had too many moments where, let's say we haven't had the most positive learning environment! I have found myself wondering why I was putting so much energy into getting the work completed on time. There have however also been some great creative projects such as the stop motion animation film we made(see link to Daredevil Dave video below). We even wrote some story books together. In recent months I have using the long drives as classroom time, and climbing in the back seat to sit between the girls and really focus on what they are trying to learn.

We have met a lot of families on the road, all with different aged kids, length of trip and travelling style. Most families out there seem to be younger than school age - which seems horrible for travelling (we can hear the toddler tantrums across the campgrounds). However other families with school aged kids have a wide range of strategies. I can say with certainty that I don't subscribe to the often stated belief by other families that formal schooling is unnecessary because 'they learn so much out here'! Yes of course they learn something about geography, culture and history along the way from tours, museums and interpretive signage. I thing the girls really appreciate this because scientist / tour guide Chris been able to succinctly explain and link together the geology, culture or ecology of every place we visit. 

This is all great, and part of why we are travelling - however in no way does it substitute for the reading, english and maths knowledge acquired in a school environment. Hopefully the distance education will fill some of that gap. It will be some time before i can appreciate if this experience has been of value or detriment to them educationally. We will also see what other ways it has changed their attitudes, understanding and behaviours. For me, hopefully the time is spent tutoring them has improved my understanding of the school curriculum and this will enable me to support them over the next years at least.

So with just a few weeks until we get home and go back into normal life it is simply time together I that I will miss the most. We have packed in so many fun and amazing experiences together over the last 5 months that it's hard to contemplate going back to busy city life where much of our interaction is all go go go and without the wonder of a new place to share every few days.

With all this in mind the experience is now even more special because time is limited. We have good friends, loving family and an ensuite bathroom waiting for us.

Cape to Cape Video Blog

Shark Bay to Rottnest Island Video Blog

Video says it all - check it out

Perth to Cape Leeuwin - Lisa

We arrived in the WA capital in sunny but cooling weather, a bit of a shock after months up North. Travelling through the new Northern suburbs with their branding and extensive McMansion developments was an insight in to suburban growth these days. As we made our way further in to Perth the older, richer beach suburbs with big houses and big views showed where all the boom money has gone. We treated ourselves to a couple of nights away from the camper trailer with a a holiday park cabin - and while we love the great outdoors, one can't appreciate too much a bathroom in the cabin in the middle of the night. Just for something different we turn on the television - and wouldn't you know it, our first night watching TV in months and he ABC has got live coverage of the the Liberal Party leadership spill.

Our time in Perth was mostly a haze of restocking, washing, schooling, car servicing and airport pickups. We had to get sorted quickly as my parents would be joining us for the next week in Rottnest and Margaret River.

Quokka and Joey, Rottnest

An unexpected alignment of the stars also meant that Chris and I were able to go to a gig by The Waifs at Perth Concert Hall. Not only was it my birthday, and Nanna and Poppa had arrived to babysit, but the Waif were touring for the first time in years and this was their only Perth Gig. The band were nothing less than amazing (as usual) and with so many of their songs about road travel in Australia, their music is like a theme track for our own journey. (Check the Ningaloo to Gnaraloo video for an example).

The next day and a ferry ride to spend 3 active fun days on Rottnest Island cycling, walking and exploring. It was really nice to catch with my parents, Chris managed to find some good waves and the girls made friends with as many quokkas so as they could find. With no cars, we did a lot of exploring by bike and the girls and grandparents did well covering a lot of kilometres. Rottnest is unlike any other place that we've visited which somehow merges wild places with a modern town centre, a significant history and unique wildlife. One of my favourite places of the entire trip so far.

Cycling with the family, Rottnest

After a lovely stay on Rottnest we took the ferry back to pick up the car and trailer for the continuing journey south. We decide to approach the Margaret River Region from the north at a spot called Yallingup apparently meaning 'place of love' and made famous in the early 1900s by Caves House hotel as a honeymoon destination. Couples would spend two days on the train then another full day on a horse carriage from Perth to get here. Like us they explored the local limestone caves and coastal areas.

Yallingup - Pumping Surf!

We spent some time in the first afternoon getting lost amongst the coastal heath and wild flowers and adjusting to the now icey on shore wind. The coastal landscape differs down here from further north with more dramatic sea cliffs and lashing waves.

Chris managed to find himself some waves while my parents (apparently the swell was 'pumping' for days!) The girls and I explored the Ngilgi Caves, coastal walks and the Yallingup maze. My parents said goodbye after a couple of days and headed back to Perth for a flight home. I had been worried they might be bored while with us so had filled the last week with so much walking, riding and exploring that in the end I think they were looking forward to a rest.

Yallingup had the best surf themed kids park!

We spent a couple more nights in the region camped in the bush at Conto's in the heart of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. It was nice to be back in the bush again, no crowds - just beautiful camping and kangaroos everywhere. We explored further south including a visit to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. The tour up to the top of the lighthouse was a fascinating insight into local and Australian history and spectacular views of the south west coastline.

Sunset out the front - Yallingup

Margaret River - Surfers Point

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse keepers cottages

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Theres a line between the oceans - apparently!

View from a lighthouse

Coastal Walks on Cape to Cape Track

Shark Bay - from Lisa

From the surfing enclave of Gnarloo we continued to head down the coast. The sudden cooling of the weather and ocean as we travelled southward was refreshing but not an entirely welcome surprise.  We are now layering up more at night and the ocean swims less frequent. I was no longer feeling so smug listening to stories of the cold Sydney winter.

We first touched the eastern inland point of Shark Bay at Hamelin Pool.  Hamelin Pool is an inlet populated with stomatolites, the most ancient of life forms formed by bacteria in very salty waters.  They look a lot like small rocks in a bay but are apparently geologically very exciting (so Chris tells us...).

Stromatolites gone wild!

We camped at a Bush Heritage property, Hamelin Station which was previously a sheep station now restored as a historical site and for land conservation.

Hamelin Pool was the first of many surprises of Shark Bay.  To be honest I really only knew of the dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia before we visited.  But as we ventured into the area the discovery of Shell Beach, a beach entirely made up of small white cockle shells and crystal clear water and the view of sharks, fish, stingrays and abundant sea life from Eagle Bluff and then the remote coastline of Francis Peron National Park which make it a special place.

Who gets the fish?

Our early morning visit to Monkey Mia for the dolphin feeding wasn't so much a disappointment but more managed than I expected.  After decades of feeding dolphins with buckets of fish each day it turns out us well meaning humans were doing more damage than good.  The dolphins were losing their hunting skills and the young dolphins were not surviving.

Are you sure thats a dolphin behind you?

A small crowd of 200 people turned up for the 7:45am talk and feed and Charlotte and Aurora were lucky to be chosen as one of the six to hand a fish to the two dolphins that came in for feeding.  It was  amazing to see dolphins cruising up and down the beach in reaching distance and in flat water but it was also all over pretty quickly.

We spent the rest of the day swimming, snorkelling, fishing and 4WDing the National Park which we shared with just a few other people and much much more wildlife.

Chasing fish in Shark Bay

The Pinnacles - nowhere near Shark Bay

Ningaloo and the NW Coast

Video Blog - click to play

We popped out on the Coral Coast at Exmouth and the North West Cape. I very different sort of town, originally built to support the defence installations, its now part oil town, part tourism and of course part defence. Camping under the Lighthouse we had an interesting view toward the huge aerials, and a huge stretch of Ningaloo Reef at our doorstep.
My first surf since the Sunshine Coast was is pumping waves at Dunes. A fast barreling left on a building swell was a heap of fun - until my last wave and my lack of surf fitness almost put me out of action. Pulling in a fast backhand barrel and my position was wrong and the lip landed on my head, instantly I felt a twang in my hamstring and I was left hobbling for days. Thankfully I was still able to surf the rights, albeit gingerly. Its a wild coast but the snorkelling off the beach is unbeatable.
Heading down to Coral Bay we enjoyed an awesome snorkelling cruise on a sailing catamaran. I have now recovered from my phobia of sailing catamarans and coral reefs and this one expertly avoided getting wrecked on the reef.
At Carnarvon we turned back north toward a less visited part of Ningaloo, Quobba and Gnaraloo are home to some of the most legendary surf breaks in Australia. Its an intimidating coastline, extremely remote with big powerful waves and an ocean full of creatures great and small.  I had a few surfs at Red Bluff and 3 Mile as my hamstring slowly recovered. But when the swell peaked with triple overhead sets sweeping down the reef I realised that I was not up for that just yet.

The lefts at Dunes

Ningaloo - the water really is that colour!

Red Bluff

The shorebreak at Red Bluff

The view from our camp

The Bluff Lining up in all its glory

Karajini and the Pilbara Video Blog

We knew that the Pilbara is full of iron ore, but we didn't expect how beautiful it can be when shaped by nature. The Banded Iron Formations are not what you expect, they are so dense and hard the rocks clink or ring like steel when dropped. This incredible hardness has meant the plateau erodes very very slowly, creating smooth, stunning red rock scales. The other unexpected feature of Karajini is its alpine nature. Most of the plateau is well over 700m and some of the peaks are over 1200m. It feels alpine, it can be very cool at night and the vegetation is almost like a heath.

After a few months of rock hopping and bushwalking, the girls were loving all the scrambling through the gorges on this wonderful hard rock. Aurora celebrated her 7th Birthday by completing the class 5 (hardest grade walk) through Hancock Gorge

Broome & Dampier Peninsula - Video Blog

Everyone know of Broome and Cable Beach - but imagine that scene without the thousands of visitors. A scene where strong Aboriginal communities live their culture and are involved in low key tourism businesses. This is the Dampier Peninsula, with Kooljaman at Cape Leveque, Bundy's tours at Djaradjin and a hist of other interesting options. Not to mention Pearl Farming at Cygnet Bay

Kimberley Traverse video edit

You seen the blog, now check the movie!

I love still photography, unfortunately its limited in what it can capture. The joy of this digital world is that now its so easy to shoot video that stills are heading toward obsolete. My new Nikon D7200 shoots awesome video as well as stills, and of course the trusty GoPro goes where no Digital SLR will go.

One of the best things about video is when you capture wildlife in action - some great Brolga dancing in there!

The choice of soundtrack was too easy, Kimberley Calling by Dan Sultan

Kimberley Traverse

Emma Gorge, El Questro

There is no doubt about it, The Kimberley is an icon. Its that legendary place that is on everyone's lists - but its hard to define why and what its all about. Probably because it is so huge and  varied, it can be so many things, depending on what you are up for.

My experience as a tour operator reminded me that the Kimberley is bigger and badder than the most pessimistic expectations. It has a habit of breaking things, be they vehicles, people or budgets. However it is also very achievable and becoming more so all the time. The last time Lisa and I visited the Kimberley was 15 years ago with our friends Tom and Miki. We were pleased to report that there is still big drives on rough roads, crazy little leeches under the waterfalls and big King Brown Snakes.

Hugging Boabs, Moonshine Gorge, El Questro

The Kimberley is not managed as a single protected area like Kakadu, its much more interesting! Its a giant mosaic of huge Cattle Stations, iconic tourism properties, expansive Aboriginal lands and smaller islands of National Parks.  The diversity of tenure ensures great variety in adventure opportunities, attracting a broad cross section of travelling types.

One of the joys we experienced is the travelling community. There a few routes across the Kimberley, even less if you follow the Gibb River Road as spine. The result is that you soon start to recognise the faces and the 4WD touring rigs. Next you see them you acknowledge with a nod, then a chat - before you know it you are dropping in for a drink at the neighbours camp! Extend this over a couple of weeks and it is a very, very social wilderness!  

Camp Oven Lamb Roast, Drysdale Station

The Gibb River Road is well travelled and well known. The Kalumburu Road and Mitchell Falls almost equally so. Yet they are more remote than most imagine, and remain a committing undertaking. The tourism industry of which I have spent most of my career has been very effective at making these places just another place to go.  But in the rush to provide a seamless travel experience the adventure of just reaching these incredibly remote places has been lost for high end tour groups. 

While walking amongst the cliffs and lookouts at Mitchell Falls (at least 3 days travel from Kununurra on 4WD roads and a then a 3 hour trek in 35 degree heat) I heard a couple of guys talking. The had been helicoptered in from a luxury cruise boat offshore and were a bit shocked by the fact that it was both hot and rugged

First cruise passenger: "Its a bit of a disappointment, the falls are nothing like the photos"

Second cruise passenger: "Yeah, I reckon its deceptive. Charging us all this money and then its nothing special!"

Frist Cruise Passenger: "Bugger this, lets not bother with the lookout, lets go back to the helipad"

These guys did not even bother to walk another 150m further along the cliffs to take in one of the Kimberley's most expansive viewpoints. 

At the top of Mitchell Falls.
A great walk in after a long journey to get there

Nothing to see here, just a 4 tiered waterfall
surrounded by 100 metre cliffs.
Still flowing strongly 4 months after the last rains!

The good news is the wildlife is abundant as the cane toads have not yet reached the North, Central or West Kimberley. You can still find Mertens Water Monitors in every pool, something that was lost in the Top End over a decade ago. The Brolgas still dance and even the snakes are large and healthy, like the 2 metre Mulga Snake we spotted at Winjana Gorge

Big Freshies at Winjana Gorge

Mulga Snake (King Brown). We have not seen any venomous snakes in 5000km across the Top End, until we found this 2 metre Mulga Snake at Winjana. Must be a good habitat because the last time we were here 15 years ago we also had an encounter with a big Mulga Snake

One of the joys of the Kimberley is that it is a destination beyond the reach of mobile phones and the internet. For a couple of weeks or so, travellers stop staring at their devices and start noticing their surroundings. People talk to each other!  There is much to share and conversation usually begins on with what has broken on the 4WD or trailer today! But the land itself soon takes over and all are soon reflecting on the specialness of the country

Wanjinas near the King Edward River, North Kimberley

 The Kimberley is not a pure wilderness, there is a lot of activity - however despite the apparent comfort of the tourist friendly Stations and a couple of roadhouses, you need to be pretty much self sufficient. With only a couple of places to get diesel over our 2000km journey its not like you can drop down the shops to get the paper. Time becomes less structured, the day of the week is largely forgotten, progress is measured in how much food/beer/diesel you have left. Ultimately once supplies get low, travellers regretfully start to make their way back toward Derby and Broome. All are planning their next Kimberley Expedition as they drive in to town

Sunset over the Pentecost River and Cockburn Range, Home Valley, East Kimberley

Crossing the river en route to Manning Gorge, Gibb River Road

Camp, King Edward River

Manning Gorge, the most idyllic aquatic playground in the Central Kimberley

Bell Gorge

Mertens Water Monitors abound in the North and West Kimberley as the Cane Toads have not arrived yet

Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek

Winjana Gorge