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Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

Greg went back to Sydney this morning and it all felt a bit strange. Having friends around for a few days and now I am all alone in the car again 🙁 It was a bit hard to get back into my routine at first. But once I started to see photo opportunities; am feeling ok again.

I went as far south as I could to a town called Augusta. It was about 40km south of Margaret River. If lucky, sometimes whales can be spotted here at Flinders Bay but I didn’t today. Not far from Augusta was the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. There were many caves in this N.P. as well as beaches and a lighthouse. I found myself a spot called Skippy Rocks for some seascape shots. I have always wanted to try taking long exposure shots on water but never got around to it. Finally I have tried it today and I am rather happy with the result.

It is a bit of a slow start to my trip again but will try get back into it from tomorrow. I have a few destinations in mind and should get me going again.

John @ Augusta, W.A.

Images: 1. Flinders Bay, Augusta; 2. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse; 3. Skippy Rocks, Leeuwin

13 years ago / Tagged: Augusta, Australia, Leeuwin, National Park, Sea, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Fremantle

Another late post as we had a few again last night 🙂 It was a rainy morning when we got up yesterday. We had our coffee and hung around the apartment for awhile then we decided to head over to Fremantle for a stroll. It was only a short drive away.

The weather cleared up by the time we got to Fremantle. We parked the car in the parking station and just wandered the streets of Fremantle. There were so many old buildings around town and very well maintained. Love them! Greg and I visited the Maritime Museum here and saw the Batavia Shipwreck exhibition.

We headed back to the car park just after midday and the rain started again. It was a good timing for us 🙂 We agreed to cook a hearty home cook meal for Eamon and his family as a “Thank You” for his wonderful hospitality in the last few days. So we went to supermarket and picked up the ingredients needed. Went over to Eamon and started cooking. They all seemed to enjoyed it at the end.

John & Greg @ Perth, W.A.

Images: 1. Ferris Wheel; 2. Greg Outside Fremantle Maritime Museum; 3. Beautiful Old Buildings in Fremantle (Don’t remember what this buiding was..); 4. Fishing Boats at Fishing Boat Harbour

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Fremantle, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Perth

I have to be honest that I didn’t do much today with Greg being around. We went to Kings Park for a walk and a stroll around the city. That’s really all we did today. We will definitely do a bit more. Maybe head down to Fremantle for a afternoon.

Eamon arranged Greg and I a great studio apartment here in Subiaco. It is really nice of him 🙂 As usual, Greg had a afternoon nap and I just hang around in the room playing with my computer. After he got up, we decided to head back to Kings Park where I wanted to get some shots of Perth city. We arrived there about an hour before sunset; I set up my tripod and “hogged” the spot. Not long after, all other photo takers started to arrive and seemed everyone trying to get the same shot.

This is going to be another short post as we are getting ready for dinner with Eamon out.

xox

John & Greg @ Perth, W.A.

Image: Perth City Skyline

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, City, Perth, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Video: The Pinnacles Desert

Sorry guys, had a day off yesterday…. here is a little video I made the other day. The weather in Perth has been a bit unsettling. Pouring down rain one minute and sun shining the next. It looks a bit the same today. I will try to get some shots today of the city. For now, hope you enjoy the little video 🙂

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Pinnacles Desert, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Geraldton & The Pinnacles Desert

Geraldton like I expected, it was a very nice town. It’s quite big, bigger than I thought. It has interesting architectures around the city. Lots of art deco buildings and also bit German feel to it.

I am not a church goer as such but do like a good cathedral or church. I went into one here today, the St. Francis Cathedral. It was not as outrages as the ones you see in Europe. It just had a nice feel to it…. After the cathedral, I wandered around the city for an hour or so and took some street shots.

Couldn’t stayed in Geraldton too long as I had to get to Perth and wanted to visit The Pinnacles before hand. I has a quick stopover at Jurien Bay, a small seaside town to have a ice cream and coffee before moving on to the Pinnacles Desert.

The Pinnacles was as strange and interesting as any place could be. Thousands of these sandstone pillars raised from the desert floor. How did they get here? I did the desert drive instead of the walk as it was getting a bit late. I made a short video and will post it shortly.

Arrived in Perth at my friend’s place just before 7pm. Had tacos for dinner and a few beers. Nice to be in a home after 6 weeks of adventure. One thing though, it was really weird to see traffic again… It is amazing to me that the 6 weeks make such a impact on me. I felt like I was away from civilisation for lot longer than I actually had.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing Greg and hanging out with Eamon and Nicholas for a few days. I better not get too comfortable here 🙂

John @ Perth, W.A.

Images: 1. Inside of St. Francis Cathedral; 2. Colourful Exterior Wall (Random Street Shot); 3. Wiebbe Hayes Statue; 4. The Pinnacles Desert

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Desert, Geraldton, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Monkey Mia, Shell Bay & Kalbarri

Another long day of driving again 🙂

Left Carnarvon at 6am this morning and got to Monkey Mia just after 10:30. They already had the first dolphin feeding which is normally the more certain one. What I meant was that the dolphins are come and go as they wish but they have been coming everyday for 3 generations now the staff said.

Luckily, couple of dolphins hung around so I saw them when I entered. Touching the dolphins is not allowed anymore they said… since there was a biting incident happened few years back. I love dolphins not sure why though… but doesn’t everyone?

The ones here are almost like pets really, they kind of know when the feeding is happening and they have their own spot and, of course, packing order. It was nice to be able to stand in the water and have them swimming around your legs.

There are also, pelicans and emus in the park. They are so used to human that you can get really close to them. I literally stucked my camera in one pelican’s face and she or he didn’t even blink.

I stayed in Monkey Mia much longer than I intended that made it difficult for me to get to Kalbarri National Park. So I just took it easy and stopped wherever I desired.

Not far from Monkey Mia is Shell Bay. At first glance, it just looked like any other beach, sand and blue sea. However when you look closely it is not sand…. the entire beach is covered in these tiny shells. I mean the whole beach. Amazing!

After Shell Bay, I decided to still take the Kalbarri route to Geraldton. So I could at least have a look through the area. The National Park is kind of blend in with the town Kalbarri. It’s nice around the N.P. Unfortunately it was a bit late to visit. So I stopped at Kalbarri township to have a look around. It was a very nice seaside town. Some nice houses around 🙂

I continued my driving and another 180km later, I arrived Geraldton. I had a quick drive around in the dark but I have a feeling that I will like this town. Let’s see in the morning/ The storm is approaching WA southwest. It was blowing gale bear the water at Kalbarri and here in Geraldton. I am now parked by the water front here and I can see and hear the storm doing it’s things.

John @ Geraldton, W.A.

Images: 1. Dolphin Viewing at Monkey Mia; 2. Dolphin Feeding; 3. Shells on Boardwalk; 4. Emu in Monkey Mia; 5. Pelicans in Monkey Mia; 7. Shell Bay; 8. What Shell Bay Covers In; 9. Storm Approaching

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Kalbarri, Monkey Mia, Sea, Shell Bay, Travel, Western Australia 0 2

Coral Bay, Lake Macleod & Carnarvon

It was a rainy night last night. I heard it this morning on the radio that storm hit the southern part of WA pretty bad. Rain was heavy at times where I was but nothing too severe. Also heard on the news that a 37 year-old Victorian woman fell 60m to her death at Mitchell Falls yesterday. I felt sorry for the woman 🙁 It was also a destination I was going to visit but skipped all that part of WA because meeting up with Greg and a friend, Eamon, in Perth.

I left Exmouth around 7am. While I was driving, I saw a rainbow and quickly pulled over. Took a few photos. Got back into the car and drove again… but couldn’t go very far. I noticed something at the corner of my eye and thought it was some reflection on the car window. I opened the window and there it was….Â a rainbow arch with no colour. I named it “Rainbow Albino”. It was the strangest thing to see. I had to get the shot of it and whoala… it came out just how I saw it. Trust me…. wasn’t photoshop effect 🙂

Continued driving and again…pulled over for more rainbows. I love this shot that I took and later Greg told me there’s a legend saying: At the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold. LOL… I am sure that wasn’t a pot of gold… or was it? Nah,..

Finally the sky cleared up a bit so no more rainbow stops and arrived at Coral Bay, my first destination for the day. It’s very tranquil here… white sandy beach and turquoise water. However, I didn’t stay for very long as I had my next stop to go to.

Lake Macleod, saw some images on Google that the lake is pink at certain time. So I wanted to see if I could see it. Well…. the lake was mostly dried or just a shallow bit of water. However, I did find one pool that was what I was looking for. It was pink as I saw on the web.

One of the surprises today for me came after Lake Macleod. I knew it was only just over 10km from where I was to the edge of Australia shore and I saw the sign says “Blowhole”. I had to see what it was. It’s the power of nature alright. A big sign “King Waves Kill” stands at the T-junction. Here you can really feel the power of those waves slamming onto the shore. Honestly, it was brutal.

Among all the battered rock cliffs; there was this stream of water shooting up into the sky every now and then. It was really like a whale blowing water through it’s blowhole. So… that’s the Blowhole

I took many shots of water shooting out of the Blowhole but the one I love the most was this older man tried to see it in close proximity. I love the shot 🙂

It was only about half an hour from here to Carnarvon where I will be spending the night. Did some grocery shopping at Wollies then checked in to a caravan site which I booked last night. Once settled, I did a load laundry and a shower. Now I have clean clothes again 🙂

John @ Carnarvon, W.A.

Images: 1. First Rainbow I Saw This Morning; 2. Rainbow Albino; 3. What’s at the End of the Rainbow? 4. Lake Macleod; 5. Coral Bay; 6. Seagull in Flight; 7. King Waves; 8. The Blowhole; 9. Carnarvon Water Front

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Carnarvon, Coral Bay, Macleod, Rainbow, Sea, Travel, Western Australia 0 1

Exmouth Gulf

I had a quick look around Dampier but didn’t find any interesting things to photograph. It would be nice going to the islands but didn’t really have time. So got myself ready and left Dampier. I have to say from Port Hedland all the way to Dampier is not very photogenic or could be just ‘me’ 🙂

I decided to follow the coastline down and my destination was Exmouth Gulf. I mainly wanted to visit Cape Range National Park. I tend to get drawn to more remote places. Exmouth is definitely one of those places. It is definitely not easy to get to. Either 2 hours flying from Perth or 1300km of driving. Your choice..

Besides driving through a rain storm; the drive to Exmouth was quite boring. However, things started to change when I entered the gulf itself. I started to noticed turquoise water over my right. It was quite lively here, many visitors around.

I first headed to Cape Range National Park which is about 10km from Exmouth. If you like fishing, corals, dolphins… this is the place to be. Unfortunately, all camp sites were full by the time I got here and I could understand why. It is a great place to camp for a few days or even a week, There are many different sites here so you could stay at different every night. You can snorkel and see coral and fish.

The main landscape attraction here is the Yardi Creek Gorge. It is the only gorge in this park that is with water permanently. I guess the water would be from the Indian Ocean when the tide is high.

This place gives me a feeling of Byron Bay but without the hussle and bussle. Just the bare nature and a lighthouse. 🙂

I really enjoyed this place today but sadly I have to leave tomorrow 🙁

John @ Exmouth, W.A.

Images: 1. Exmouth Gulf; 2. Vlaming Head Lighthouse; 3. Pelican at Cape Range; 4. Parrots Self Cleaning; 5. Yardi Creek; 6. Yardi Creek Gorge; 7. Sunset Behind Vlaming Head Lighthouse

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Exmouth, National Park, Sea, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Port Hedland & Dampier

Not much had happened today…just mostly driving. I was planning to go to Dampier Peninsula but apparently it only open to visitors Monday to Friday. So another destination bite the dust 🙁 Never mind…plenty more places to visit. So the only choice was to head south. Port Hedland pretty much was the only town after Broome and it was over 600km away. I left Broome at 6:30 and arrived just after midday.

Had another scare today with the tyre when I arrived Port Hedland. I thought another tyre might have a puncture as well as it looked a bit flat. All services in Port Hedland (maybe the whole WA) closed half day for Saturday and don’t open until Monday. So what do I do?? Panic a little…

Greg suggest checking the air pressure so I did. All 3 tyres except the one I changed the other day were way over the recommended pressure. It dawned on me that the service I had in Alice Springs. They must have bumped all the tyres way too much and that’s probably why the tyre blew on the dirt road. It simply had no give….. damn. So set all the tyres to what they should be and the car felt much better and… I felt much better 🙂

Didn’t really want to stay in Port Hedland as it is a major mining town. BHP, Rio Tinto…they are all there in force. Another product here, salt. So drove another 200 odd km to Dampier where I planned to get to today. It has a much nicer settings. I could also see that salt is one of this town’s (or Rio Tinto) main source of income. The salt farm here is huge.

I got here just before sunset so didn’t have time to look around. Will do that tomorrow. So a short and uneventful post today.

xox

John @ Dampier, W.A.

Images: 1. Port Hedland; 2. Salt Farm in Port Hedland; 3. Sunsetting at Dampier

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Dampier, Port Hedland, Travel, Western Australia 0 0

Broome

Broome, a country town by the sea. It is a happening place, people is everywhere here. I would think they are mostly tourists. There are some great looking resorts by the beach. I spent a lot of time today at Cable Beach. I suppose it is the ‘Bondi’ of Broome. It is over 20km long, beautiful light coloured sand and stunning blue water from the Indian Ocean.

But right next to Cable Beach is a place called Gantheaume Point. It is a completely different experience. The soil is bright red like the outback. They called this is ‘where the desert meets the sea’. Honestly, it is quite a sight. You have all this red sandstones and dirt but only a few km away the sand are light colured. It is almost like 2 different worlds join together somehow.

I had to visit some of the pearl farms and shops here as it is part of Broome’s history. The Broome Pearl does look so much better than the fresh water ones. Of course, they are lot more expensive as well.. 🙂

In the town centre here, there is an old movie garden called Sun Pictures. It says it is the worlds oldest operating movie gardens and I might just believe it. I was able to walk in during the day when it was not opened and took some pictures of it’s interior. I love the few antique camera equipments in there.

To end the day, I went back to Cable Beach to watch the sunset. We don’t see sunset over the ocean in the eastern states so this is quite an experience. You can even drive onto the beach and have a picnic. Wish we could do that in Sydney. It was the first time I tried shooting sunset over the water. I tried but didn’t really like the results… guess will have to try again.

This will be my last night in Broome. Hopefully will come back one day.

John @ Broome, W.A.

Images: 1. Cable Beach; 2. Where Desert Meets the Sea; 3. World’s Oldest Movie Garden; 4. Sunset at Cable Beach; 5. Indian Ocean at Dusk

13 years ago / Tagged: Australia, Beach, Broome, Sunset, Travel, Western Australia 0 0