Drove around the
coastal lookouts in Kalbarri NP and pleased to see whales from the Grandstand - 2 smallish black ones (Right Whales?) and a
very large humpback. They gave us many (distant)
views of surfacing, spouting. Walked
down to Mushroom Rock where we watched small colourful crabs feeding.
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| Diplolaena grandiflora Tamala Rose |
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| Calandrinia remota |
2 Sep Tue Morawa
Intended to do a
big shop at Coles or WW in Northampton, but it just had a small IGA, so we
drove into Geraldton.
Decided to skip
Mullewa where we stayed in 2008. Got a
map showing flower sites around Morawa and headed for the council CP at Morawa
– basic but clean & cheap. Flowers
were same as before – carpets of white, yellow and some pink. Found one orchid where there was supposed to
be a great variety.
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| Banksia prionotes |
Some pretty and/or interesting plants which I can't identify.
Saw Carnaby cockatoos, blue-winged kookaburra and brown honeyeater.
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| Diuris laxiflora Bee Orchid |
3 Sep Wed Bindoon
Left Morawa at 9
and walked around Caron Dam an hour later.
Lunched at
Dalwallinu, a prosperous town with nice park opposite a very busy bakery/café,
where we bought delicious cakes. Also
went to an op shop, buying 4 jazz CDs for $8 and a curtain for $3 ( to cover
the extra rubber between our beds).
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| Ring-necked parrot, Dalwallinu park |
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| Grevillea eriostachya |
 |
| This stopped the traffic! |
Had intended to
stay overnight at New Norcia but found the ‘camp’ awful and the place
unbearably commercial. So drove further
under overcast skies and hoped for a better place. Bindoon is a small town but the 6 powered
caravan sites beside the oval looked ok.
At Bindoon the
Post Office doubles as Information Centre and is also the place for booking a
caravan site. We got plenty of
information about possible walks tomorrow morning to fill in time before getting
Cub canvas reset at Fremantle dealers at 1:15.
Walked around
the town beside a wetland where we saw
only yellow-billed spoonbills.
4 Sep Thu Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Walked 1.5k at
Blackboy Ridge, Chittering, 89km from Perth.
Beautiful wildflowers, many ringnecks.
Drove on to Cub
Campers where Andrew did an excellent job fixing our bent pole and
shortened the Cub’s troublesome feet as well.
Next stop was Clark Rubber to buy a piece, so we could convert our
single beds to a double bed. Cost $78
but well worth it.
Shopped at
Beeliar, then on to Coogee Beach. The
caravan park has many permanents and needs a revamp, but we had nice neighbours
and a concrete slab in a sheltered position.
And TWO keys for the amenities blocks!
5 Sep Fri Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Drove a long way
to Armadale. Info centre led us to
Churchman’s Dam where I eyeballed a Spotted Pardalote and saw little else.
Went to Bunnings for a saw to cut down bed
board and make a good double bed. Went to Fremantle where David bought new
walking shoes from Mountain Design, as his Keens fell apart for the third
time.
Had Japanese lunch.
Looked at crowded boat harbor and South
Beach.
Fremantle was attractive – no
skyscrapers, many old brick cottages, some semis, reminiscent of inner Sydney
suburbs. Near the beach were modern
homes and unit blocks, none more than about 4 storeys.
6 Sep Sat Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Windy,
rain. Drove to Perth to visit Museum and
Art Galley.
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| Perth Art Gallery garden |
Museum was old and scattered
– had to walk in light rain from one section to another. Never found the café. Paid $13 each to see the Kabul treasures we’d
missed in Brisbane – enjoyable and interesting.
Joined a guided tour in Art Gallery and learned more than I wanted to
know about donors and modern art, especially Aboriginal art. Too tired to look
at other sections. Late lunch at Art
Gallery café. Checked out Bibra Lake on way home – saw
coots and swans. All bleak as weather
worsened.
7 Sep Sun Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Walked cycle
path beside caravan park, seeing 5 Carnaby’s cockatoos munching cones on a
callistris. Coogee Beach Surf Club café
had few customers as weather looked threatening. Did not try to walk to Woodman’s Point as
planned. After lunch we drove there and
explored some of the area, including a Nature Reserve with ammo bunkers inside
and train tracks still evident from 1940s(?).
Shame about the weather as the walk from our trailer would have been
very pleasant.
100km winds
overnight and some rain. Took down extra
wall and scrunched it under outside table. Trailer shook but we were dry and safe, though
didn’t sleep until 1am.
8 Sep Mon Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Shopping,
organizing bank accounts and lazing around.
Searched for bird watching sites for tomorrow in hope of better
weather. Strong winds but not nearly as
bad as last night.
9 Sep Tue Coogee Beach, Fremantle
Frustrating
drive to Lake Monger – never got there but looked at Lake Cooloongolup. No access that we could find.
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| Nice to see this Ringneck in the weed |
Then we searched for Alcoa Wetlands at
non-existent address of Zig Zag Lane.
Found them eventually, more luck than good navigation. Great place for birding, though some paths
were very muddy. Saw 17 species,
including Musk Ducks and about 30 Hoary-headed Grebes.
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| Musk duck |
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| Hoary-headed grebes |
Decided we’d had
enough of Fremantle and searched internet for interesting places between here
and Fitzgerald River NP. We are
determined to find new experiences. Also
David is having problems with his right leg which affect sleeping, and with
pins and needles in his feet. He fell
over in trailer which I found alarming.
I think we should aim for home ASAP.
He still wants to visit new places.
Drove to a new
lookout at West Gorge. Facilities
everywhere were very new and the whole place rather sanitized (staircase
instead of rock hopping …).
Went to Bunnings for a saw to cut down bed
board and make a good double bed. Went to Fremantle where David bought new
walking shoes from Mountain Design, as his Keens fell apart for the third
time. Had Japanese lunch. Looked at crowded boat harbor and South
Beach.
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