18 October: Headed a bit further down the coast to Dongara/Port Denison. Bit of a murky day so good for travel. Countryside rolling hills and wheat fields with the odd sand dune towards the coast. Very nice campground behind the dunes at South Beach. Sand nice and white but covered with copious amounts of sea grass. Weather improved and went for a couple of walks, one along the beach and around the Fishing Boat Harbour area and another along the Irwin River, both with good lookouts.

Another day headed to the Illegal Tender Rum Distillery. Had a guided tour and found out how to make rum! The Still was an impressive looking machine that had been designed in Germany and made in China. All the process is done by hand and until recently it was only the owner and his wife. Enjoyed a tasting at the end and purchased a couple of bottles for later.

13 October: A short drive south today to Oakabella Station (sheep and grain and rolling hills). Had a look around the old station Homestead, kitchen/cookhouse, barn, shearing shed, smithy and stables (from the 1850’s). The homestead is meant to be haunted but we didn’t see any ghosts. However we did have a very windy night mixed in with rain. Some campers left very early!

14 October: Back to Geraldton today via the  scenic Chapman Valley. Took the caravan and car through a car wash to try and get rid of some of the red dirt, it’s very tenacious stuff. 

Took the car in for a service and spent time looking around the town and foreshore. Spent time in the museum and saw another short 3D film about the HMAS Sydney and then looked around the shipwreck section (plenty of ships have been wrecked in the vicinity). A guide talked about some of the wrecks including the Batavia in 1629 (mutiny and murder included) and the Zuytdorp in 1712. Went to the Monsignor Hawes Heritage Centre and looked around the St Francis Xavier Cathedral which he designed and helped build. Had a late lunch a nice little cafe (Quiet Life) before picking up the car. Checked out a possible surfing beach for Danger to dust off his board.

Surf beach checked out so headed there a couple of mornings where Danger enjoyed honing his skills (pleased to have his wetsuit as the water a bit chilly).

8 October: Travelled the good dirt road back to Yalgoo, put more air in the tyres and headed off to Geraldton on the coast. Scenic drive through the grain fields with a few wild flowers. Settled into a campground slightly out of town and then headed into town to pick up mail and to stock up on groceries. A bit of development happening around the beach areas of town.

9 October: Heading north again, off to Kalbarri now that the school holidays are over and there is room in the campgrounds. Stopped off to look at the Hutt Lagoon, otherwise known as the Pink Lake (pink colour comes from a carotenoid producing algae). Colour not so bright as it was cloudy but all the same it was quite pink in places. Had a bit of a wander around the very small town of Kalbarri and looked out over the sea and Murchison River mouth (the Murchison being the second longest river in WA) in the afternoon. 

Next day we headed into the Coastal Cliffs part of the Kalbarri National Park after checking out a surf spot. Walked around the Rainbow Valley Nature Trail and saw different rock formations from worm tubes to multicolour layers of Sandstone. Also saw lots of whales playing quite close to the shore. Then did another walk along the cliffs and looked at “Natural Bridge” and “Island Rock” and had great views of the coastline and cliffs.

The following day we headed to the River Gorges area of the National Park. Good views back over Kalbarri from a lookout and then continued on to the West Loop to do the “Natures Window” walk (Murchison River framed by a rock formation). After that the opposite way to the Z Bend and another lookout and a walk/scramble and a couple of ladders down to the river. Nice and peaceful down by the river as lots of the tourists did not go down there!

Weather was not particularly good so no surfing or fishing.

4 October: Continued on our way, back through Sandstone and Mount Magnet and then to another little town, Yalgoo, to spend the night and top up with water. Had a few showers of rain during the afternoon. 

5 October: Lucky for us the rain was not enough to affect the roads as we were heading off up the dirt to Melangata Station. Had a quick look at the Monsignor Hawes Dominican Chapel of St Hyacinth ruins of the convent before driving to the station. The Homestead is the only private residence built by Monsignor Hawes and is slowly being restored by its current owners.

Plenty of space available, we were the only campers for the three nights we were there! Ken, the station owner, (partner Jo was away doing camp oven demonstrations) was very friendly and helpful. Suggested things to do and see. Did a tour of the Homestead and found out more about its history and owners and saw how it was being restored. As it was designed and built by Monsignor Hawes it came complete with its own chapel. Did some self drive tours around the property (mud map instructions sketched out in the dirt and we didn’t get lost!) and visited caves in the breakaways with aboriginal art. A peregrine falcon tried hard to scare us away by keeping up a regular dive bomb, apparently it had a nest in one of the higher caves. Checked out a couple of windmills, saw some remains of the wild flowers and crossed some rocky dry creeks. Ken then took is for a drive around (sat right next to his rifle!), to another area to show us more caves and views and a stick rat nest (rats are thought to be extinct). In the afternoon we tried to find an area of the local creek with water in it but were unsuccessful. Then in the evening Ken took us to another lookout spot for sunset drinks and nibbles.

Next day with new mud map instructions we found the water (and there was plenty of it!) and saw lots of bottle brush trees and heard lots of birds. On our way to see a bower bird bower we were attacked by the farm geese, even got bruises. The bower was an amazing structure and decorated with lots of shiny objects like broken glass, bones and bright green berries. Then it was a drive around a fence line and a walk to another cave in a dry creek bed, it was a good one with more artwork and came complete with windows. Then further down the creek we saw a huge eagle (wedge tail) nest complete with a large chick.

Quiet afternoon watching the wildlife then evening drinks with Ken and Jo. Picked up a few hints about camp oven cooking and purchased a copy of Jo’s cookbook.

1 October: No rain waking us today but overcast and cool. Luckily the wind has abated so an uneventful drive to Leinster, a BHP nickel mining town with the campground open to the public. The town has a bit of a run down look as though it could be closing.

2 October: Off down the Goldfields Highway. Passed several mine sites, both current and abandoned. Some pretty big holes have been excavated! Stopped off at Gwalia (just out of Leonora) and looked around the Sons of Gwalia Goldmine Museum ( mine was a large underground mine which closed in 1963 and the town “died”). Museum was well done with lots of exhibits and information about the mine and what it was like to living and working in Gwalia. The first mine engineer was Herbert Hoover (before he was the US President). His house has been restored and is now a B&B. The has reopened as an opencast mine but the mine workers now live in Leonora.

Turned off at Menzies and headed to Lake Ballard. Picked a good sheltered campsite and set up then went off to explore the “Inside Australia” art exhibition on the lake (salt lake). The exhibition was created in 2002 for the 50th anniversary of the Perth International Arts Festival in 2003. It features 51 sculptures by Antony Gormley, derived from laser scans of inhabitants of Menzies and then cast in alloy. The weather wasn’t the best with big black clouds and a shower of rain. The edge of the lake was reasonably dry but further out it started to get quite soft so we skidded and plodded around some of the sculptures (they cover an area of 10square km so weren’t going to see all of them!). It was certainly worth while visiting.

3 October: A windy night and a cloudy morning with storms being forecast so we didn’t stay another day as part of the road in to the lake was dirt. Headed back out to Menzies and had a look around the very tidy little town before retracing our route back up the Goldfields Highway. This time we free camped at the Peter Denny Lookout. Good outlook over a breakaway, spacious and only a couple of other vans so quite ok.

30 September: Woke to the sound of rain again. Hastily made tracks as we had to travel from the station on a dirt track. Made it to the highway without drama and stopped a bit further up the way to have breakfast. Passed through Mount Magnet and then onto Sandstone. Landscape not quite flat, rocky formations know as breakaways scattered around. Sandstone was briefly a goldmine a gold mining town in the early 1900’s. Not much left in the town now but campground very good – even had some nice green grass and nice gardens. Drove the Sandstone Heritage Trail, looked at an old brewery with its cellars tunnelled into rocks (not quite Speights!), took a photo at “London Bridge” which is a rock formation which is over 350 million years old and an old state battery. Went into the Pub/general store and treated Danger to an ice cream. The very dark sky’s managed to produce a little bit of rain in the evening – the rain is following us!

29 September: A very windy drive today, wind from the north east which is not so common, and that was the direction we were going on our way to the Northern Goldfields. Landscape changed from grain fields to more arid outback cattle country. A couple of times had to pull right off the road to allow oversized loads to pass (trucks transporting huge mining scrapers). Camped at Kirkalocka Station for the night. Walked to a permanent waterhole and had a look around their old shearing shed. 

28 September: Off again, this time to Dalwallinu, which is another wheat producing Shire. A relaxing afternoon and a bit of a wander round the small town. Went in and had a look around the Discovery Centre with various displays including information on the grain industry, local wildflowers and rocks (bit about gypsum, from crystals to uses). Starting to get quite windy at times and woken by rain during the night and thunder and lightning in the morning.

27 September: A short drive today through wildflower and grain country. Massive paddocks of grain with lots looking like it’s nearly due for harvest. Stopped off at Depot Hill (an old rifle range from WW2 days),and went for a walk amongst the flowers. Then on through Mingenew and Three Springs to Carnamah. Set up, had lunch and then went for a drive around the area, saw more wreath flowers, looked around a restored stone homestead (Macpherson Homestead) which was built in the 1860’s and then to the Yarra Yarra Lakes (with lots of water!) Lookout.