Here we are

G'Day all, here is the next installment in our journey. One house keeping point before we start. You may or may not know that if you click on a photo they enlarge so you can get a better view and don't need to squint to make out each photo.

To date we have traveled 2438 km on this leg of our journey.

Wicked Camper

12/06/16 Day 16 (Su). Yesterday we left Galena Bridge and kept moving north but as it was such a sunny day with light winds when we got to the next rest area we pulled up (approx. 1030 am) and decided to keep painting the van with the paint we picked up in Geraldton. We got plenty done but there was still plenty more. We painted til the sun went down, shared our one remaining beer, had dinner and went to bed.

Hamelin Pool

Today when we got up we checked the forecast but for the area we were in it was for rain so we moved 100 km’s up the road to Overlander where the forecast was for 20% <1 mm. And pulled over and got stuck into the painting again. As the suns going down and I’m writing this, the first coat has been finished all round and approx. 50% of the second has also. At this stage it looks as though we can finish it in another 2 days and then Bess will have                                                   her facelift.

Hamelin Pool

14/06/2016 Day 18 (Tu). After spending another day painting we spent last night in our gravel pit at Overlander. It is a Main Roads gravel pit next to the intersection for the highway and the road out to Denham and Monkey Mia just opposite the Overlander Roadhouse. Though we did complete the coloured sections on Bess Lib has still to finish the black outlines but we have decided that it can be done a little each day and us not being stuck out in                                                the middle of nowhere for another 24 hrs.

Hamelin Pool

Today we headed west towards Denham. We stopped at Hamelin Pool to check out the 3.5 billion year old stromolites. Then we stopped at Shell Beach which has no sand. The beach is made up of tiny little cockle shells no bigger than your pinky nail and can be up to 10 metres deep in places. In the past, as the shells were compacted together over time, they were quarried into blocks and used to build structures.

Hamelin Pool

Then we stopped at a lookout for lunch and took the dogs for a walk along another shell strewn beach where Lib and I saw 4 shovel nosed sharks swimming in the shallows. They were only young with the biggest measuring approx. 40-45 cm.

Tonight we have stopped and camped about 30 km’s south of Denham at Whalebone Bay. The vista is spectacular and was a great spot to watch the sun disappear below the ocean.

Hamelin Pool

16/06/16 Day 20 (Th). Yesterday we moved on to Denham where we have spent the last two days. We managed to stock up on supplies yesterday, get some housekeeping done and a few minor repair jobs. Lib continued with putting the final touches on Bess’ facelift. I tried squidding at the local jetty but came away empty handed though there was plenty of evidence on the jetty of others success.

Shell Beach

Shell Beach

Shell Beach

Today I tried again a couple of times with no luck. They are rebuilding the foreshore here and the water is all stirred up and murky which is hampering my success. Even the locals reckon the current situation is not all that great for squidding. I tried at high tide in the morning and then again in the evening after dinner which is supposedly the best time. I tried bait fishing at the jetty late in the afternoon but there was a big school of blow fish hanging around the                                                  jetty and I was fed up of catching them after landing a half dozen or so and nothing else.

Before lunch though, Lib and I took the dogs for a nice long walk along the beach and saw a couple catching sand whiting. Lib was able to find some nice shells for her ever expanding collection.

Shell Beach

Shell Beach

Shovel-nosed Sharks

17/06/16 Day 21 (Fr). Today we headed out to Monkey Mia for the dolphin experience. And we weren’t disappointed. After we checked into the resort ($36/N with a RAC discount for an unpwred site in a carpark) we took the dogs for a walk through the resort and down onto the beach. When we got to the jetty there were two dolphins swimming round in the shallows and at one point I was literally 2 metres from them. We got some really good photos and then continued on up the beach to check out the fishing spot we had been told about and where this afternoon I went down and caught only blowies. For lunch we stopped in at the resort restaurant to treat ourselves to Beer Battered Flathead and Prawn Caesar Salad. While I was fishing Lib kept on painting the van.

As the sun went down we went and had a beer at the bar and looked out over the ocean. It was magical.

We are looking forward to seeing more of the dolphins in the morning.

Sunset @ Narren Narren

Swimming 

Sunset @ Whalebone Bay

Sunrise @ Whalebone Bay

Camping @ Whalebone Bay

Emu @ Monkey Mia Resort

Monkey Mia Resort

Monkey Mia Resort

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia Resort

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia Resort

Dolphins @ Monkey Mia Resort

Monkey Mia Resort

Monkey Mia Resort

Lunch @ Boughshed Restaurant, Monkey Mia Resort

Hamelin Pool

View from Boughshed Restaurant @ Monkey Mia Resort