Shay Gap Rock Art

Linda's 98cm threadfin

 After 55 days at Pardoo Station of fishing, beer, fishing, fishing, beer, food, wine, fishing, and more fishing we decided to take a day off to visit the Aboriginal Rock Art out towards the deserted Shay Gap townsite. 

After the late autumn rains up in the Pilbara the countryside has that rare green tinge to it and the early flowering of some of the native vegetation hints at a spectacular spring to come.

It’s a 170 kilometre round trip out to the area where the rock art is situated but an easy drive on mostly good condition dirt road.

The original punk rocker

The rock art is surprisingly in good condition and looks as though the local indigenous group return occasionally to touch things up? Looking at my photos and visiting the rock art made me realise how little my generation of Australians know about the culture and lifestyle of the first settlers in Australia. I probably know more about the ancient Egyptians than I do about our Aboriginal culture – a sad fact.

It’s a good half hour walk through the spinifex into the rock outcrop where the art is displayed but well worth the walk.

Railway to nowhere

The rock art site is adjacent to a section of the now abandoned Port Hedland to Shay Gap railway line (closed in 1994) – the Shay Gap townsite prospered for over 20 years and I am told that it was one of best mining towns in Australia to live in at its peak. More information on Shay Gap can be found here - Shay Gap

No drone video this blog as since I had last used my drone my phone had an update and the drone app no longer worked – bugger!

Very short video is - HERE

 

 

 

 

Giralia Station

Entrance to station

 After spending an enjoyable week at Coral Bay we did the long 105km haul to Giralia Station (no blog for Coral Bay this time – but snorkeling, swimming, bakery, pub for dinner, and seafood platters – same as always) . 

Plan was to stay at the Homestead camping area and spend a day checking out the beach sites as possible camping spots in the future.

The Homestead camping area is well set out with heaps of level spaces, a good camp kitchen, laundry, dongers and a cottage and a shearing shed converted to toilets and showers (with a view overlooking the paddock). But there is very little to do around the Homestead so if you were not going to the beach sites two nights would be more than enough for most. There was at least a half dozen campers/vans in the two nights we were there.

Camped up  near shearing shed

It’s almost an 80km round trip from the Homestead if you want to visit all the beach sites and the track suffered some damage during the recent deluges but apart from the usual corrugations wasn’t too bad. The tracks along the beach were sandy in places but easily navigated in 4WD high and 25PSI in the tyres.  There was one washout on the way in that would stop me taking in my caravan as it would drag its bum coming out of the ditch. There were lots of vans down on the creek and beach but most were slightly higher/shorter than my van. 

There are primarily two types of beach sites – one area for 8-10 vans alongside the creek with a reasonable high tide mud ramp, and numerous sites (>20) along the beaches with pretty good access. All were nearly full on the day we visited but several were pulling out as another deluge of 30-40ml of rain was forecast that night/next day.

Old man and hound

The day we visited most tinnies were still anchored up waiting for the tide. We did have a chat to a couple who were packing up who said they caught some good whiting the day before (but hey – fisherman tell stories).

So would I go back to Giralia – probable not - as the Homestead while nice, is limited in things you can do, and the spread out beach sites (which would be spectacular in good weather) are fairly exposed and not as good as other options.

Short video can be found HERE

Coal to Coral - winter 2022

 On a cold and miserable day we left Collie behind for the winter and headed north to our first extend stay at Coral Bay. Its only 1300km to Coral Bay but in our usual fashion we took our time planning six overnight stays before we got to Coral Bay.

Hardly lady like!

Day one saw us travelling inland thru the sheep and wheatbelt areas to a free camp on the Avon River just south of York called Gwambygine Park (Ascent). It’s nice to head this way as you avoid going through the hustle and bustle of Perth and instead meander thru the wheatbelt towns of Williams, Narrogin, Pingelly, Brookton and Beverly. The Gwambygine Park (Avon Ascent) camping area is primarily set up for picnickers but there are a few level spots where a caravan can park up for the night. It’s a pretty campsite area but unfortunately lacking a little maintenance/TLC – and could easily be a great campsite for grey nomads if there were more dedicated caravan size overnight sites. But in saying that I would come here again.

Day two saw us continuing north thru more wheat belt towns like York, Northam, Dalwallinu, Wubin to a great little stopover at the Recreation Center at Latham. Spotless facilities with hot showers, room for a hundred vans, wood delivered most nights and internet faster than the NBN at home – all for a voluntary donation – these little country towns go out of there way to attract the Grey Nomad brigade. Only three vans parked up when we were there so nice and quiet. Its next to a main road but not many trucks during the night – and there are some advantages of getting old and a little deaf.

Just flogged  me at Yahtzee :(

Day three was a fair hike to Galina Bridge – skirting around Geraldton and stopping to top up with water, bread and beer at Northampton. We have stopped at Galena Bridge many times and included this stopover in many blogs so only comment this time round was that it hasn’t changed and is still a popular, well organized and serviced spot. 

As we had friends staying at Gladstone Bay we decided to stay a couple of nights to catch up and check the spot out (we had driven past the turn-off many times but never ventured in) - so nights 4/5 were spent at Gladstone. Gladstone Bay campground is about 70km north of the Shark Bay turn-off and is located on the ocean edge of the eastern gulf of Shark Bay. Lots of waterside level parking spots, flushing toilets, bins, dump point, and primitive showers that are heated by the sun on the pipe that runs from the bore some kilometers away. At $10/night/person it’s probably priced toward the top end of what you would expect to pay up this way. Unfortunately for the shore bound angler there didn’t seem to be much happening in the shallows around the camp area and after a couple hours of flick my favourite whiting popper I gave up. 

After we left Gladstone we stopped at Carnarvon for water, food top up (Coral Bay is rather expensive), fuel and then headed out the 130km north to Minilya River free camp for the last camp before getting into Coral Bay.  Like Galena Bridge we have stayed here many times and included in previous blogs. A sign of the unseasonal heavy rain up north was that when we arrived the river was running hard and fast – we have only ever seen it as a dry riverbed.

Fuel prices have been steadily increasing as we get further north with prices per litre (diesel) around:

$2.00 at Dalwallinu

$2.18 at Carnarvon

$2.28 Minilya, and 

$2.33 at Coral Bay

Not much you can do about it – its hard to tow a 21ft caravan with a push bike.

a short video is HERE

Well well - Tenindewa again

the camp for two  nights

 After we left Gnoorea Point we bolted (if traveling 1000km in 6 days constitutes bolting?) south to Tenindewa Reserve near Mullewa to try and catch the end of the wildflower season. Unfortunately the massive carpets of wildflowers were just about finished but there were still lots of to see – just had to look harder for the individual flowers. 

Tenindewa/Wolya Well is a favourite camping spot of ours for the return journey from our northern winter getaway – we have probably been there at least five times over the last 8 years. 

Plan was to stay two nights and do the 115km Mullewa Northern Loop Drive during the day.

well well

The Northern Loop Drive is well sign-posted and starts not far from where we were camped. 

Wolya Well (where we camped) is Site 3 of 14 Sites so in the video (link at the end of this blog) it gets more airtime than the other sites. 

a dogs not a camel - water!

I have put the Sites in order in the video but fear it will be repetitive content for most -  as it was very much “you had to be there” day out.

I would recommend the Loop Drive (takes 3-4 hours) if you were visiting the area towards the end of August during the height of the wildflower bloom. It was a good day out for us but more for the history of the area than the flowers.

beaut Banksia

After leaving Tenindewa we stayed at Latham Recreational Centre south of Morawa – I only mention this as this is my last blog for our 2021 getaway and the place deserves a mention – free (donation if you wish) spotless hot showers, toilets, water, wood and a flat quiet area to camp on. Its on our return list.

Video of Northern Loop is HERE. Hope you enjoy the song Jane 😛

Gnoorea Point (again)

 After spending a week at Point Samson we decided to spend our remaining 17 nights up north back at 40 mile beach (Gnoorea Point), as despite being further from Karratha it has easy access to good water, beach front sites (if your lucky) and good fishing at times for those big fat whiting.

Drone view over van to beach

We were once again lucky to secure a beach front site next to some nice folk we had met at Cleaverville. We were lucky that they sent us a text saying a site was becoming available on the day we were arriving, but they were leaving around 9ish – so a 7:00AM departure from Point Samson saw us pulling as the other van was hooking up to leave – great timing!

There used to be two street signs at 40 Mile - Stillrootin Avenue and Dunrootin Avenue - sadly only Dunrootin is left - must be an indication of age of the campers?

Inky Britton

We soon fell back into our Gnoorea Point routine – up early on dawn, coffee and tea in bed watching the news, walk the hound, breakfast, move the solar panels, go fishing when the tide and wind was favourable, go fill up the water bladders, lunch, shower, poppy nap, happy hour with friends, dinner, Yahtzee and TV by the fire if not windy else TV/book in bed. Most days were around 30C and nights around 18C – so great weather 75% of the time with a few very windy days to test the ropes and pegs.

The 30C days were taking their toll on the hound so Linda spent two hours with scissors one day giving the dog a trim – wasn’t going to win any grooming shows but the dog was a hell of a lot cooler.

Linda's huge shell

Highlights of our stay were the good company of people we knew from previous camps, the big chunky whiting caught on surface lures on the flats and out in front of the van, a nice squid caught on a surface lure, Linda’s huge shell she found amongst the rocks which she spent days cleaning, and just relaxing looking out over the ocean. 

Heading south from here out thru the wildflower country – going to be a shock to the system to be cold at night and see rain!

Short vide can be found HERE. Older folk may remember the sound track from Led Zeppelin.

Point Samson Glamping

 This is now the second year we have spent a week glamping at Point Samson Beach Caravan Park. Like last year we timed our stay to coincide with our wedding anniversary – 32yrs on the 19th August. 

small rock pool we found

After almost five weeks "roughing it" out on the beach campgrounds we treated ourselves to a week of power, water, swimming pools, washing machines (to keep the missus happy), food and beer at Point Samson Beach Caravan Park. 

The caravan park is very small and coincidentally happens to be adjacent the Samson Beach Tavern which has happy hours every afternoon and “famous fish and chips”.

Cocktails for the girls

Our 32nd wedding anniversary was a little more special this year with a dozen friends dropping in for a beer and meal at the Tavern.

I did a little fishing in the bay in front of the caravan park, but you will note from the lack of bragging photos and fish stories that it was a fizzer with only about 18 whiting caught over 4 fishing expeditions. 

No fishing here!

While we were in town, we did a bit of “touristing” (yep the fishing was that bad!) around the area with a visit to Harding Dam (about 25km east of Roebourne) which is the primary water supply for Karratha, Dampier, Roebourne, Wickham and Point Samson, a trip up Mount Welcome to Roebourne look-out, and lunch at historic Cossack Settlement. Nice day out.

Plan is to a repeat next year when we are north again for winter.

Short video is HERE

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