Wind, woe's and metatarsalgia

Molly stressing out!

 Cleaverville Beach camping area is about 35klm north of Karratha and is a nice spot to spend a couple of weeks. BUT – it hasn’t been all “beer and skittles” as we had strong 30-40Km winds for days on end which covered everything in dust and sand. The fish also went off the bite when it was windy - so a double whammy. Fortunately, the wind dropped most days around 4PM so we didn’t get sand in our beer during happy hour!

Nice bream!

There were days when the wind didn’t blow too hard, the tides were right, and we caught a bunch of whiting and flathead. Spent one afternoon with Linda down in the estuary amongst the mangroves and caught a dozen whiting – unfortunately Linda got mauled by the sandflies resulting in 3-4 days of agonising itching.

Not quiet waterfront but nice

Just when I thought I had experienced most ailments a 67yr old fella has to put up with - along came - metatarsalgia (met-uh-tahr-SAL-juh). This is a condition where the ball of your foot becomes inflamed/swollen and thus making it painful to walk. Apparently excess weight can be a contributing factor?? Doubt that could be the cause of my sore foot but I have noticed that a lot of my clothes seem to be shrinking after being washed in the Pilbara water?

Talking about washing – I have become a frequent “waterer” at the Roebourne free water tap (26km away) as Linda (when she gets bored), starts up the washing machine and washes everything. Luckily, I purchased two 90ltr water bladders for this trip and thus can collect enough to keep the washing lady happy and still have a shower every day.

What has been an upside at Cleaverville is that we are parked in “Collie Corner” with three other caravaners - all of whom we know quite well – so the social interaction and happy hours have been great.  We are off to Point Sampson on Monday for a week of glamping but will catch up with some of the gang for a week or two back at Gnoorea Point.

Short video is HERE

Gnoorea Point

a nice way to finish the day

 40 Mile Beach/Gnoorea Point is 65 km (about 40 miles in the old money – imaginative folk our pioneers) south of Karratha and is a very busy spot this time of year and rightly so with waterside camping with views and sunsets to die for, clean dunnies, bins, dump points and unlimited RO water (gold coin donation to the RFDS) at the nearby Devils Creek gas plant – all this for $92/week.

Whiting Queen

We were lucky to secure a large beachfront site so finally our little hound could wander freely without bothering others. We did have a few days which were a little windy but overall the weather was fantastic with 30C days and 16C nights – the perfect camping weather - swimming during the day and fire and pull up the doona at night!

After being here last year I came prepared for the long walks out onto the sand flats fishing the low tide for whiting and flathead. My new shoulder bag, back-pack, small landing net worked a treat and some of the days were diamonds with heaps of whiting and flatties and other days were not so good but 2-3 hours of walking in shin deep water watching the small sharks, stingrays, sea snakes, queenies, shovel nose sharks constantly swimming by wasn’t a bad day out.

crab eating people

On one of my unsuccessful fishing forays I was walking back to my car thru shallow water and came upon a large mud crab who was likewise walking the flats – straight into my landing net! To make good, better, as I walked up to my car I met a guy who was camping nearby – he taught me how to tie up a mud crab and better still gave me another crab he had sitting in his bucket – fresh crab for Linda and I that night – nice!

The two weeks we spent at Gnoorea Point were some of the best beach camping we have ever done and that’s a pretty big statement noting the beaches we have camped on over the years.

Heading off to another beach camp at Cleaverville for two weeks but will be back at 40 Mile for two more weeks before we head south in September.

Short video is HERE

A month in the sun

Bones Beach at high tide

 Wow – how quickly has our 4 weeks at Pardoo Station gone! We chose our site and paid a deposit 12 months ago and it’s a good thing that we did - with lock-downs, community spread, contact tracing, contactless payment, flattening the curve, hard borders, herd immunity and all the other Covid issues (and new jargon) - the parks and camps in WA are packed this winter and the Pardoo Caravan Park has had the “no vacancies” sign out on the main highway for weeks.

We have had endless 29-17C days and nights marred only by one day of no stop rain (50mm) which closed all the beach access tracks for 5 days (NO FISHING ☹).

Red Point at low tide

Not all beer and skittles though as we have had our share of car problems with a 3:30AM departure for a 700Km round trip to take Ian’s car to Port Hedland for temperature stress test and my Pajero now only a 2WD as the 4WD select system has stopped working. Good news is that Mitsubishi has agreed to put a brand-new engine in Ian’s car and because we have been to the places we plan to visit after here not having 4WD should not impact on our plans to stay north till September (did have to cancel our planed sandy beach stay at Giralia on the way home).

A highlight of our stay has been the company for the 4 weeks of Linda’s sister Wilma and hubby Ian (a very keen fisho), Alan and Sally’s 6 nights stay, and day visits from Neil and Sue, and the Collie bunch who were staying at Cape Keraudren. These, together with a sunset BBQ on the beach, Molkkey competitions (yes - Wilma you are the weakest link), day trip to Cape Keraudren, and shopping trip to Port Hedland certainly passed the time.

Banningarra Creek

And yes, we did a little fishing.

Red Point, Bones Beach, Banningarra Creek, and Pardoo Creek mouth all  being visited when the tides suited. The fishing was a little more “boom and bust” this year but we still managed to fill 70% of our new 40ltr freezer with fish fillets! 

Talking about fishing – a little story about courage, determination, and reward:

one very happy lady

As a lot of you would know Linda’s second hip replacement was not a successful operation and she has suffered from debilitating nerve pain brought on any time she walks a short distance. 

So - a 100 meter walk/slide along a steep muddy creek bank, 60 metres of mud/rock river crossing, 30 meters of knee deep water crossing, up a muddy bank and 150 meter walk on mud and sand flats to fish takes courage. Then to cast a heavy plastic on a short boat rod with an unsuitable large reel for an hour takes determination. The reward came with a 500mm threadfin salmon on the bank – not a huge fish but a huge effort – immensely proud of my lady!

Already looking forward to our stay next winter – booked the same site fort two months this time.

The short video (link is HERE ) highlights the various locations we fished/visited and also some shots from around the Park. Some of you “older” folk may remember the sound track from the Benny Hill show.

Drive, cut wood, drive, find camp, start fire, drink beer, eat, sleep (repeat 5 times)

 It’s just over 2000km from Collie to Pardoo Station up in the Pilbara. For us old people that’s a 5 night run from the jarrah forests of the SW to the red dirt of the Pilbara. Linda and I have made this trip several times now, so it was a lot of familiar camps and sights for us but on this trip we had Linda’s sister Wilma and her hubby Ian accompanying us and for them it was all new once we passed the Shark Bay turnoff.  We try and limit our daily runs to less than 400km but more than 300km so our camps were on average about 350km apart which allowed us to arrive between 2-3PM to try and secure a flat spot where we can have a fire. Ian unfortunately had problems with his car overheating and boiling on two occasions – so we were all a little stressed at times. But every cloud has a silver lining!  – apparently there have been ongoing overheating problems with some models of Mitsubishi Challengers and Tritons and at the time of posting this blog it looks like Mitsubishi will completely replace the motor at no charge. 

There is a Pajero at the end of every rainbow

Night 1 – was at Cliff Head (again) just south of Dongera. Nice spot but the local shire has decided in its wisdom to now charge $20/night per van (policed by a lovely Lady Ranger) so out of principal we won’t be stopping there again noting there are nice spots for free not far away. A bit of excitement for us on the way there was - in the famous words of Kenny Rogers – “you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel” – a dual axel van in front of us lost one of its wheels which went careering out into the bush. We called many times on CB, flashed lights but despite listing 10 degrees to port they drove on regardless and we never saw them again. 

At the Billabong Hilton

Night 2 – was at the back of the Billabong Roadhouse not far from the Shark Bay turnoff. This is the second time we have stayed here and its not a bad option for a one-nighter with free camping, free shower, and the cheapest fuel this side of the black stump. Not flash and close to the main highway but surprisingly quiet.

Night 3 – was at Minilya River free camp (again) 140km north of Carnarvon. This had been closed for weeks after the cyclone but was once again well patronized and is a comfortable stopover heading north.

Hunting budgies - Robe River

Night 4 – was at Robe free camp (again) – very busy so we secured the scenic spot opposite the toilet dump point 😊 – surprisingly odour free thanks to the prevailing easterly wind.

Made it!

Night 5 - was supposed to be at the Turf Club at Port Hedland so we could do final shopping before heading out to Pardoo Station but because we had to wait four hours in Karratha to see if some testing could be done on Ian’s car we were late on the road and ended up staying at Yule River free camp 60km south of Hedland. Never stopped there before so something new – not a bad spot if your fully self-contained (only bins no toilets or dump points) – and from a walk I did with the hound in the morning there looks to be options well away from the road. A good spot to consider as an option to Port Hedland next time we are heading north.

Now a little story on odds – according to Google there are around 24 billion trees in Australia and each tree has at least 3 branches. So there ae roughly 72 billion options for a goanna to choose from for a hollow branch to hibernate in. So - what are the odds that an aging grey nomad would stop at an abandoned gravel pit, jump a fence and walk up to that tree with his chain saw and cut you in half? Found the bottom half of the lucky goanna but never found the other half!

A video record of our trip north can be found HERE

My Town

The old Electric Shovel at the mine lookout

Collie is a town of around 7000 people with a history in Coal Mining and Power Generation dating back to circa 1890’s for coal mining and the opening of the first coal fired power station in 1931. Coal mining and power generation are still dominant forces in Collie’s economy but with transition to “green” power accelerating at unprecedented levels there will be a needed shift in focus for the years ahead. 

Our place - plenty of room for vans

We moved to our “new” (circa 1955) house in Collie in February 2017 and have slowly become locals meeting lots of great people and joining some of the community organisations. Linda has been an active supporter of the RSL (volunteer bar person before her hip got worse), Vinnies (volunteer staff on Wednesdays and Thursdays), and a significant financial supporter of the Collie Football Club Bingo night 😊. Likewise, I have been providing some support to the RSL (sampling Linda’s bar goods), learnt the manly art of “wooding” out in the jarrah forests, and acquired skills in the cementing, tiling, painting, brick laying, and general renovating areas - all of which were required to make a 1955 house and yard look a little more presentable. 

Hard work in the coal  mines

Collie is a small town but is packed with facilities and services - Coles, Wollies, hardware shops, numerous pubs and bottle shops, small restaurants and coffee shops, more churches than you can poke a sinner at, lawn bowling club, swimming pool, library, mountain bike trails, sections of the famous Bibbulmum Track, numerous lakes, dams and camping grounds, RSL, multiple primary and secondary schools, doctors surgeries, modern hospital, footy and sporting clubs, speedway, motorplex, trotting club, race course, swimming holes in the river and a lot lot more. Only thing we are missing is Bunnings – but that’s only 40 kilometers “down the hill” In Bunbury and a good excuse for a day out. 

Recently a Collie Mural Trail was established which is an extensive outdoor art gallery with 40 mural sites around town and the surrounding district https://www.colliemuraltrail.com/ . This was my incentive to do a quick blog and video around my hometown. I haven’t covered all the Murals so come and have a look next time you are this way! Short video is HERE

Mingenew Moments

 

A sea of yellow

Mingenew  If you have watched TV recently you would have heard of Mingenew a smallish town 360km north of Perth inland from Geraldton in the centre of wildflower country.   We try on our winter excursions north to time our return trip to at least spend a few days in the wild flowers. As they had done a couple of times before our good friends from down south headed up to north to could catch-up and spend a few days together taking in the sights around Mingenew. 

Pink wind mill on the way to Mullewa

Day one saw us heading north to Mullewa, across to Pindar to check out the Wreath Flowers just outside Pindar. Unfortunately, we were a few weeks early and the wreath flowers had not achieved famous “wreath” shape yet. With a diversion via Morawa back to Mingenew it was still a great day out driving thru the wheat, barley and golden canola fields and stands of wild flowers.

Is that a Koala ?

Day two saw us doing a shorter run to Coalseam Conservation Park (no dogs - so the faithful hound was confined to barracks for the day) Coalseam  which is promoted as one of the best wildflower areas in WA. It is truly a very pretty place with Irwin River cutting through rolling hills to provide small gorges, valleys, meadows, and riverbeds all bursting to the seams (that’s a poor pun) with flowers.  We even found some coal at the old coal mining site at a Miners (strange name?) camping area which also has a big camping area suitable for large caravans (no hounds though).  Great day out in a pretty place with friends.

Photo of photographer

The town of Mingenew was once the rail hub for all cattle shipments south to Perth from as far north as the Kimberly and is a clean and tidy town with lots of history.   The “famous” Mingenew Bakery lived up to its reputation and the local pub served up a bloody good steak for dinner. The caravan park in town is well priced, and like the town, is clean and well run.

My Mum loved Kenny G and her flower garden so this video is dedicated to her and can be found HERE 

The Art of Bugger All

That arrow is pointing at us!

There are times when your travelling when your just killing time for a few days or a week where you don’t unhitch the van and practice the art of doing bugger all. This was the case as we travelled south for seven nights to meet up with friends at Mingenew Caravan Park. Three nights at Galena Bridge free camp and two nights at Ellendale Pool were spent refining our “Art of Bugger All” techniques.

Doing “bugger all” is not for everyone as it takes time to get used to slowing down to a bugger all pace. 

Nothing happening here!

A typical day looks like:

Hake a cup of tea/coffee in bed, have a second cup of tea/coffee in bed, align the solar panels towards the sun, have breakfast, take the faithful hound for a long walk, drag back some wood you found on the walk,  re-align the solar panels, get the chain saw out and cut up the wood, have you seen the dog?, sharpen the chain saw, cup of tea dear?, where’s that dog?, read the book I found in the last laundry we were at,  re-align the solar panels, have lunch, have you seen that mongrel dog!, read my book, have a poppy nap, cup of tea dear?, take the hound for another long walk, did you see that blue wren?, align the solar panels, where is that bloody dog!, read my book, that duck has eleven ducklings, here dog here dog, check out the swans and four cygnets, re-align the solar panels, yak to the old fella in the next van, get home dog!, cup of tea dear?, what’s for dinner, get the fire ready to light, re-align the solar panels, have a one minute shower, tie that bloody dog up!, open that first cold beer, light the fire, get thrashed at Yahtzee again, more beer, cook dinner, wash-up, take the faithful hound for its last walk for the day, cup of tea dear?, read my book in bed, get off my bed dog!, same stuff tomorrow.

Time to move those solar panels

Sorry for rambling on but we are at Ellendale Pool doing bugger all!

Short video is HERE