Day 34 - A Royal Encounter

• Kalbarri - Coronation Bay
• 209 kms 
• 27°c

Ella & I were up early this morning as we really wanted to feed the pelicans before we headed off for Coronation Beach. First time i've set the alarm in a loong time! But didn't want to miss the 8:15am feeding, you can imagine how delighted we were to get there just on 8:15 to find the area empty, front row for us.  The delight faded just a little when I saw the sign that read Pelican Feeding Daily at 8:45am! I was early for something, now who would've thought!!

The volunteer told us the story of how the pelican feeding began in 1970 when local fisherman Cliff Ross would feed them the scraps after cleaning his mornings catch of fish at about 8:45 every morning before he would open up his shop which was just over the road. 

When Cliff was out of town and wasn't there to feed them, the pelicans would walk or fly across the road to his shop/house where they had seen him go with the bucket of fish every morning and wait outside. This became a traffic hazard so the locals would feed them to keep them on the other side of the road.  A group of volunteers now take turns feeding them keeping the tradition alive.

We had four come for feeding, Percy the large dominant male, Rosey & 2 other females. Ella & I both got to feed them, Ella tried to throw hers to the girls and I handfed Percy who tries to get all the fish, he doesn't share well!

We're leaving Australia! I told Steve I had read about "The Principality of Hutt River" and would really like to go, after all it was only a short detour inland. He wasn't really all that keen but humoured me and turned off the coast road and onto a dirt corrugated road that seemed to go on forever! After stopping a short way in to gaffa tape the vents - red dust everywhere, we eventually arrived at the unassuming gates of the Principality!

Oh my we met the Prince! Introducing Prince Leonard of Hutt River, what an interesting man! He came out to greet us and took us through the building showing us all sorts of interesting things and pieces of history!

The Principality of Hutt River seceded from Australia in 1970 when Leonard declared it to be an independent province in response to a dispute with the W.A. Government. The government issued wheat production quotas in which they were allowed to sell only 40 of their 4000 hectares of harvested wheat.

We headed over to the chapel and he explained that the Princesses chair is on the right, because they always are!

Prince Leonard told us to take a look in his garage at his Rolls Royce which he told us he never drives. When I asked him "why not"? His reply was "Could you imagine a Prince driving himself into town!" I guess not! Loved the Royal Principality licence plates on the beat up station wagon!

In the government office our identities were checked, visas granted and our passports stamped for $2 a piece.

After an interesting detour Steve graciously agreed to go back down the corrugation to the coast road so we could see the Pink Lake!

It is a naturally occurring phenomenon when the microscopic algae blooms and produces a mix cartenoids including beta-carotene.

We arrived at Coronation Beach and were greeted by our new friends Gary & Shell. I think we got the last site available and it was quite uneven but Grey 8 came to our rescue and lent us some levelling ramps.  A friend of theirs was very kind and gave us a step which came in handy cause it was about a 2 foot step up! So, Steve the Tinker got right to work fitting it to the van.

Coronation Beach $7 a night per adult & children under 16 free!! Bush loos, no water or power

Day 33 - National Park

• Kalbarri
• 26°c

Headed off to the National Park mid morning before it got too hot.  Wasn't too far out of town to the entrance, however the drive in to the carpark was about 20kms of corrugated road. Don't know that I could do a full day of travelling on that type of road!

What an amazing landscape, truly beautiful. It quickly became apparent that thongs were not the smartest choice of footwear for todays outing, but we were ok. We were also very thankful we had lathered on the sunscreen and had our hats cause the sun was super hot out there!

We made the trek to Natures Window which was a beautiful rock feature that frames the landscape, really quite a special spot.  Ella wanted to do the full hike but we had to explain that we were not prepared for that kind of trek.

This is the ONLY place on the planet where the Kalbarri Cats Paw grows! 

We returned to camp for lunch then headed to the Pirate Theme Park which the name in itself had Ella & Oscar sooo excited.  It took us a bit to find it and i'm not sure that "theme park" is the correct description but nonetheless they were still excited.  It looked like a house where the downstairs was the games room, office, cafe etc and the giant backyard had 4 inground trampolines, a mini golf course, large sandpit and the piece de resistance.... The Spider Web!

I cannot believe we've never come across one before, low trampoline at the base and then 8 levels of elastic webbing, at first i thought $7 was a bit steep to go up it and come down but once they figured it out, it was sooo worth it!  Steve has said that he shall build them one in the next house! Better get that big property! After an hour or so we headed indoors and introduced them to the awesome game of air hockey - it's also been decide that there will need to be room for one of them in the house too!!

We caught up with our new friends Gary & Shell back at the camp and they have very kindly taken us under their wing and we will follow them to our first free camp tomorrow!

Day 32 - It's a hot one today!

• Kalbarri
• 35°c

After a slow start to the morning it was decided that we would go fishing! We headed south to try and find a good spot but was very much cliffs the whole way down.  We stopped off at Red Bluff, good surf beach but not so good for fishing but we did get a great view of the coast and some "real" seagulls, big ones!

The visitor centre seemed like a good place to get some local knowledge on the fishing spots but alas they weren't very in the know!  We decided to try the entrance where the ocean meets the river, a lovely spot to lay down the towel and do some beach fishing.

Ella & Oscar were happy to play in the sand as there didn't seem to be any fish about.  Headed back to camp empty handed for a swim in the pool.

We met a lovely couple next door that have given us quite a few handy hints.  It's nice to have friendly folk around! 

Day 31 - Kalbarri

• Carnarvon - Kalbarri
• 468kms
• 36°c

Up and at em early today, packed up camp and headed off about 9am!
We passed by the Satellite nicknamed the "sugar scoop" which was used in getting man on the moon, somehow? It beamed the first live broadcast to W.A. which was man landing on the moon!

It was a windy ol drive today, the van was blowing around quite a bit as we headed South East down the highway. Lots of red dirt today although there were a heap of wildflowers today - it's wildflower season at the moment. There is even a wildflower trail that people follow up the west coast! Hmm maybe that's what that crazy cyclist was doing - yep we saw another one on the highway.

We were planning to stay at Wagoe Chalets & Camping, which was about 20kms south of Kalbarri.

The road brought us in tho the north of Kalbarri and it really is a lovely little town on an estuary, the Murchison river.  We drove through the town which had a really good vibe to it and the further south out of town we got, the more we decided we'd rather be in the town itself.

So we tried calling a few caravan parks and they were booked until Saturday or only had an unpowered site for $52! I don't think so.  It was starting to feel a bit dejavu ala Coral Bay!

We headed round the corner and tried one more park and were lucky enough that they had one spot left for the next couple of nights, right up the back but it'll do us fine.

Whilst Steve setup camp, Ella, Oscar and I headed to the pool for a swim. That was just what we needed after a hot day in the car.



Now be honest, who knew that the triangle next to the petrol pump picture actually points to the side of the car the petrol tank is on?!

Anchorage Caravan Park, $40 night powered site, shady, pool, walk to beach, river & town

Day 30 - Heading down the coast

• Exmouth - Carnarvon
• 387kms
• 43°c

See ya later Exmouth, we're going to Coral Bay! or so we thought...

We turned off the highway and headed into Coral Bay, looked like a great little town, had a good vibe.

Looking forward to hanging out for a few days, but it wasn't to be, both the parks in town were booked out till next week :( at least we know why Exmouth wasn't so busy, they were all in Coral Bay!

Nevermind, we'll head down to Carnarvon! Had a nice refreshing dip in the pool after a hot day.

Booked in for the night at the WinterSun Caravan Park, $36 a night (duck kids!)

Head off tomorrow for Kalbarri

Day 29 - Ningaloo Reef

• Exmouth
• 39°c

Today we went on the Ningaloo Reef Ecology Cruise. We had a very informative guide Kim, even 

though we had been to the Vlaminghead Lighthouse and the Jurabi Turtle centre earlier in the week we learnt a lot more.

We also looked at the shipwreck the SS Mildura that was damaged after hitting the reef whilst trying to avoid the coming cylcone in 1907. It was carrying cattle when it struck the reef and because of the Captains actions a lot of the cattle made it to shore as did all the crew. The wreck was used for bombing practice in World War II.

After that we headed out to Tantabiddi, where we boarded the "Bathtub with 4 windows" as the skipper affectionately called it. We set out to sea and before long we were over the Ningaloo Reed, the glass bottom boat was amazing, in some parts we were only about 15cm above the reef. The coral wasn't as colorful as we thought it would be, but i guess we were expecting it to be like the other reefs we've seen before.

As part of the cruise we stopped for a snorkel on the reef, Ella and I went in but the boys decided to stay on the boat. This was the first time I'd dipped in the West Coast Ocean and boy was it cold, like take your breath away cold! Even after seeing my reaction Ella was determined to snorkel the reef, such an adventurous spirit! We got the hang of the flippers and i gotta say the good ole pool noodles were a huge advantage.

Didn't see much marine life, a few fish here and there, and a lot of coral. I'm glad we went in but to be honest I think we saw a lot more through the windows; brain coral, a turtle, electric blue fish which are an indication of the health of the reef - so if they're missing something is really wrong!

After a bite to eat back at camp we headed over to the pool for a dip which was super refreshing, even I went in!
It's our last night in Exmouth, plan is to have some dinner and then we'll head over to the moonlight cinema to watch "Nims Island".
Well that was the plan but on the way over to get ice cream Occy had a big stack and grazed his knee, chest & elbow - they call him SCAR!
Happy back to school day to our Melbourne friends!