Well we are back from our trip to Kalbarri in WA, it's only anout 700 K's from where we live in Rockingham south of Perth.
We had a great time and wish we were still on the road but we have to head over to South Aust in October as the B in Law has Pancreatic Cancer and is only getting worse. We will not be taking the van with us on that trip so we will not be doing any touring unfortunately.
In Kalbarri we stayed at the Kalbarri Anchorage CP, quite a nice park but poor ablution blocks, cost $28 per night or $352 for 2 weeks for a powered site and we could walk to town comfortably.
We did a tour of the National Park to see the Z bends, The Loop and Nature's Window, I will post some pics once I have downsized them for the forum. The road in is 27 k's of corrugated iron and I was still vibrating 2 hours after the tour finished, I must admit lying down on the back seat of the tour bus gave a great body massage, according to the tour operator the road was graded in 1993 and has not been touched since.
A trip to the Rainbow Jungle and the Seahorse Sanctury was money very well spent. The Rainbow Jungle was $10 per person on consession and the Seahorse Sanctury was $7 per person and the garden outside the Sanctury was absolutely great, all wild flowers of course and a joy to see.
The Rainbow Jungle has just about every type of parrot one could think of and a walk in aviary, they also have a whale watching tower and yes we were lucky enough on the day to see a whale breaching in the distance, the first time I have seen one of these magnificent creatures in the wild, I was stoked.
There is a lot of very rugged coastline and some of the pics we took are great, as I said I will post some as soon as I downsize them and figure out how to attach them to a message, a tip on what size is good for the forum would be greatly appreciated.
We were going to free camp on the first night but a thunder storm was forcast and we didn't fancy having to put up with all the mud in the rest area so we stayed at the S Bends CP for the night, $23 for a drive - through powered site and did it come down that night, I kid you not they must have been partying up above for a month without a pitstop.
Well if I keep on this will be too long and I don't want to bore you all, we had a wonderful time and the weather for most of the time was great.
Best Regards and Safe Travelling. John
Valderi said
06:20 PM Sep 28, 2008
Hi John. Before I start, sorry to here about your brother- in-law my thoughts are with you. I myself many years ago lived in Fremantle and worked at Calsel Tannery on Coogee Beach Rd and Rockingham is a great place (you have the best sea food) why leave. It sounds you had a great time and look farward to seeing your pics. Regards Frank.
-- Edited by Valderi at 19:38, 2008-09-28
dave06 said
06:56 PM Sep 28, 2008
John my sympathy also lie's with you for your brother in law, but oh boy what a trip, memories for a lifetime in amongst that lot, doesnt matter how many photos one takes of a whale breeching one will never capture the moment, I was so moved by my first I found a tear in my eye but I'm soft, mate I know the area well, fanbloodytastic is all I can say and I am as jealous as all hell, cant wait to get back there myself so much to see so much to do and the only state that either doesnt change or just seems to improve, I look forward to your photos, mate I AM DROOLING!! as far as thunderstorms go and rain you are in amongst the worst (or best) of it, the lightining storms, hell I used to just sit and watch for hours, mate all I can say is well done. and welcome back
Basil Faulty said
08:10 PM Sep 28, 2008
Not good news for your BiL John, My thoughts are with you.... When you upload pics the software automatically does all the sizing and stuff for you, as I have discovered....
JRH said
12:26 PM Sep 29, 2008
G'day all, As promised I have uploaded just a few pics from our trip, was a lot easier than I first thought. They are in the share a photo folder as you will have realised.
Many thanks for the kind thoughts and words regarding BIL, he has been battling this now for some 18 months so I would like to see him once again before he gets too bad. Once again many thanks for the kind sentiments.
Frank.
I don't know how long it has been since you were last in Rockingham but it has changed dramatically over the years. When we fist moved here in the 70's the population was around the 4000 mark and it was a sleepy little retirement village now the population is in excess of 80,0000 and we are offically a city.
Man has once again changed nature's beauty by putting up high rises along the seafront and ruining the natural beauty of the area, the bay is polluted and the traffic at times is horrific, of course this is only my opinion and I am sure there are others that would disagree with me, but what can I say I just do not like cities, give me the bush and desert any time.
Dave. Memories of a lifetime to be sure, photo's cannot possibly do justice to the area, you have to be there to see the natural beauty, to feel the atmosphere, to breathe in the wonderful aromas of the bush and gaze in wonder at nature's sculpture, something that has taken thousands of years to date and is not now nor will ever be complete, it is an ever so slowly changing scenario.
I am indeed a very lucky man, I have a wonderful wife who is also my best friend, we have been married for almost 47 years, a 1993 Falcon Station Wagon and a 1984 15 foot Jayco Songbird poptop. I don't have a lot of money or assets but what I have I own outright, I have reasonably good health and a bloody marvelous country to explore, my friend I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.
Well before I ramble on too long I had better do the right thing and end this little message.
Best Regards and Safe Travelling.
John
dave06 said
12:48 PM Sep 29, 2008
John, you are not rambling mate, you have taken my everyday thoughts and put them in to words, we are indeed lucky, money, who the hells got and who the hell needs it, as long as we can travel, got a bit of grub in our bellies, a good wife/soul mate, a place to sleep and good freinds to share the experience then surely we are all rich arent we, sitting, listening and smelling is the whole "atmosphere" effect sights sounds and smell cant be captured on a photo, but if one shuts ones eyes I can be back a the top of the falls of the kimberleys or bathing in the springs at mataranka, floating through some gorge or other, memories mate memories, thats what life is all about
JRH said
01:14 PM Sep 29, 2008
dave06 wrote:
John, you are not rambling mate, you have taken my everyday thoughts and put them in to words, we are indeed lucky, money, who the hells got and who the hell needs it, as long as we can travel, got a bit of grub in our bellies, a good wife/soul mate, a place to sleep and good freinds to share the experience then surely we are all rich arent we, sitting, listening and smelling is the whole "atmosphere" effect sights sounds and smell cant be captured on a photo, but if one shuts ones eyes I can be back a the top of the falls of the kimberleys or bathing in the springs at mataranka, floating through some gorge or other, memories mate memories, thats what life is all about
G'day Dave, I can't argue with the above mate so what can I say, your time is coming and I am certain you and your wife will make the most of it and enjoy every single moment, you deserve it. Take away lots of memories and photo's and leave nothing but footprints.
Many years ago I heard a song by Marty Robbins entitled "Man Wa;lks Among Us" and the last verse burned it's way into my brain, I would like to share that with you.
Soon will be gone all the desert, Cities will cover each hill, All this will be, Just a fond memory, Man walks among us, be still, be still. Man walks among us, be still.
Unfortunately the way things are going there may not be any wilderness left in years to come.
Well we are back from our trip to Kalbarri in WA, it's only anout 700 K's from where we live in Rockingham south of Perth.
We had a great time and wish we were still on the road but we have to head over to South Aust in October as the B in Law has Pancreatic Cancer and is only getting worse. We will not be taking the van with us on that trip so we will not be doing any touring unfortunately.
In Kalbarri we stayed at the Kalbarri Anchorage CP, quite a nice park but poor ablution blocks, cost $28 per night or $352 for 2 weeks for a powered site and we could walk to town comfortably.
We did a tour of the National Park to see the Z bends, The Loop and Nature's Window, I will post some pics once I have downsized them for the forum. The road in is 27 k's of corrugated iron and I was still vibrating 2 hours after the tour finished, I must admit lying down on the back seat of the tour bus gave a great body massage, according to the tour operator the road was graded in 1993 and has not been touched since.
A trip to the Rainbow Jungle and the Seahorse Sanctury was money very well spent. The Rainbow Jungle was $10 per person on consession and the Seahorse Sanctury was $7 per person and the garden outside the Sanctury was absolutely great, all wild flowers of course and a joy to see.
The Rainbow Jungle has just about every type of parrot one could think of and a walk in aviary, they also have a whale watching tower and yes we were lucky enough on the day to see a whale breaching in the distance, the first time I have seen one of these magnificent creatures in the wild, I was stoked.
There is a lot of very rugged coastline and some of the pics we took are great, as I said I will post some as soon as I downsize them and figure out how to attach them to a message, a tip on what size is good for the forum would be greatly appreciated.
We were going to free camp on the first night but a thunder storm was forcast and we didn't fancy having to put up with all the mud in the rest area so we stayed at the S Bends CP for the night, $23 for a drive - through powered site and did it come down that night, I kid you not they must have been partying up above for a month without a pitstop.
Well if I keep on this will be too long and I don't want to bore you all, we had a wonderful time and the weather for most of the time was great.
Best Regards and Safe Travelling.
John
Before I start, sorry to here about your brother- in-law my thoughts are with you.
I myself many years ago lived in Fremantle and worked at Calsel Tannery on Coogee Beach Rd and Rockingham is a great place (you have the best sea food) why leave.
It sounds you had a great time and look farward to seeing your pics.
Regards Frank.
-- Edited by Valderi at 19:38, 2008-09-28
When you upload pics the software automatically does all the sizing and stuff for you, as I have discovered....
As promised I have uploaded just a few pics from our trip, was a lot easier than I first thought. They are in the share a photo folder as you will have realised.
Many thanks for the kind thoughts and words regarding BIL, he has been battling this now for some 18 months so I would like to see him once again before he gets too bad. Once again many thanks for the kind sentiments.
Frank.
I don't know how long it has been since you were last in Rockingham but it has changed dramatically over the years. When we fist moved here in the 70's the population was around the 4000 mark and it was a sleepy little retirement village now the population is in excess of 80,0000 and we are offically a city.
Man has once again changed nature's beauty by putting up high rises along the seafront and ruining the natural beauty of the area, the bay is polluted and the traffic at times is horrific, of course this is only my opinion and I am sure there are others that would disagree with me, but what can I say I just do not like cities, give me the bush and desert any time.
Dave.
Memories of a lifetime to be sure, photo's cannot possibly do justice to the area, you have to be there to see the natural beauty, to feel the atmosphere, to breathe in the wonderful aromas of the bush and gaze in wonder at nature's sculpture, something that has taken thousands of years to date and is not now nor will ever be complete, it is an ever so slowly changing scenario.
I am indeed a very lucky man, I have a wonderful wife who is also my best friend, we have been married for almost 47 years, a 1993 Falcon Station Wagon and a 1984 15 foot Jayco Songbird poptop. I don't have a lot of money or assets but what I have I own outright, I have reasonably good health and a bloody marvelous country to explore, my friend I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.
Well before I ramble on too long I had better do the right thing and end this little message.
Best Regards and Safe Travelling.
John
I can't argue with the above mate so what can I say, your time is coming and I am certain you and your wife will make the most of it and enjoy every single moment, you deserve it. Take away lots of memories and photo's and leave nothing but footprints.
Many years ago I heard a song by Marty Robbins entitled "Man Wa;lks Among Us" and the last verse burned it's way into my brain, I would like to share that with you.
Soon will be gone all the desert,
Cities will cover each hill,
All this will be,
Just a fond memory,
Man walks among us, be still, be still.
Man walks among us, be still.
Unfortunately the way things are going there may not be any wilderness left in years to come.
Best regards and Safe Travelling.
John