All posts tagged Western Australia

Eucla
Border Village
Cliffs at Nullarbor National Park
Nullarbor Plain
Ceduna
Streaky Bay Jetty

The Nullarbor

The Nullarbor was exactly like everyone told me. I didn’t find the drive boring as such but just couldn’t really find anything interesting to take pictures of. I managed a few at the end. It took me 2 days to get across it and that was driving 900km the first day and another 500 today. I am so over driving right now 🙂 Still a long way from home… but at least I think the hardest driving of this trip are now done. From here on the distance between destinations are going to be lot more reasonable.

The first town I stopped at in South Australia was Ceduna. It was very much the first main town after the WA/SA border and was close to 500km from the border. It must be because it was weekend today; Ceduna was like a ghost town. Shops were closed and hardly anyone around. So I looked around for a little while then drove here to Streaky Bay. It is a very quiet seaside ‘village’. It does have come charms to this place though.

I found myself taking picture of every jetty in every town. Must be an addiction 🙂

John @ Streaky Bay, S.A.

ps. I am missing the dogs terribly 🙁

Images: 1. Eucla, W.A.; 2. Border Village, S.A.; 3. Cliffs at Nullarbor National Park; 4. Nullarbor Plain; 5. Ceduna; 6. Streaky Bay Jetty

 

13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 0
Great Ocean Drive 3
Esperance
Great Ocean Drive
Great Ocean Drive 4
Gossips Food Cart
Esperance Jetty

Esperance

Finally the rain has subsided a bit today. It was cool and windy but at least cleared. I only had to travel for a couple of hours from Ravensthorpe so arrived here quite early. Drove leisurely  on the Great Ocean Drive here for a couple of hours. This scenic drive was quite good. It went along the Indian Ocean then turned off to Pink Lake and back to Esperance town centre. Unfortunately, Pink Lake wasn’t pink today… must be too much rain in the last few days or could be the wrong time of the year.

After the drive, I stopped at the jetty here and had a hot dog from this ‘Harry’s Cafe de Wheel’-like place called Gossips. It was yummy… Frankfurt wrapped in bacon, pineapple, onion, mustard and crusty bread roll. Might have another one for dinner after writing this blog 🙂

It started to rain a bit in the late afternoon so I retrieved to the car. Processed some images and writing this post. It is completely dark now. I guess the day is over for me. Going to get some light dinner then might have a schooner or two somewhere.

Nite all

John @ Esperance, W.A.

Images: 1-4. Great Ocean Drive; 5. Gossips Food Cart; 6. Tanker Jetty, Esperance
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 0 0

Albany & Bremer Bay

The weather continued to be wet today throughout so not much chance even getting out of the car. Left Lake Grace early morning and it was bucketing down. Thought the weather might clear up a bit when I get to Albany. It did for about 30 minutes and I managed to get something from the supermarket and a quick walk up and down the main street. So feeling kind of deflated and thought this should be a sign of ending the W.A. part of the trip. So got in the car and drove towards the border and just stop at wherever I feel like at the time.

Bremer Bay was my side trip. It was a nice seaside holiday town and it seems like a little hidden treasure. I am sure not many people know about this place. It is a rather small town and plenty of holiday houses for sell I saw. The rain seemed to be travelling the direction that I was in. The sun shined briefly for 20-30 minutes and the rain started again. I managed to get a few shots of the birds on the beach. Nothing really excited today at all and looks like the weather is going to be a bit iffy until next week.

Maybe I should put a plastic bag on the camera and a large rubbish bag on me….. just keep taking pictures  🙂

John @ Ravensthorpe, W.A.

Images: Bremer Bay
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , , 0 1
Donnybrook
Growing Vines
Collie
Wave Rock

Hyden

It rained through the night last night at Margaret River and it was fairly heavy. So naturally got woken up this morning by the sound of the rain. I wasn’t going to any vineyards because I couldn’t really taste much wine (have to drive) and it was too wet anyway; so decided to drive inland a bit to see this Wave Rock near Hyden. The rock itself was a bit disappointing. It definitely looked more impressive in photos than the real thing. I guess many places are this way so no big deal. I took some pictures of it anyway.

What I actually like was the drive up. I drove through some pretty stunning countryside like Donnybrook, Collie and many other small towns. There were many fruit farms on the way and of course vineyards. I took as many pictures as I could when I could. The rain was just bucketing down throughout the day. It finally stopped by late afternoon and that’s when I went in to see Wave Rock.

I am slowly working my way to South Australia from tomorrow. I hope the Nullarbor is not as bad as many people told me.

John @ Lake Grace, W.A.

Images: 1. Donnybrook; 2. Growing Vines; 3. Collie; 4. Wave Rock
13 years ago /  Tagged: , , , , 1 0
Flinders Bay, Augusta
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
Sunset at Skippy Rocks, Leeuwin

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: , , , , , , 0 0
Ferris Wheel
Greg
Fremantle
Fishng Boats

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: , , , 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: , , , , 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: , , , 0 0
St Francis xavier Catherdral
Colourful Wall at Geraldton
Wiebbe Hayes
Pinnacles Desert

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: , , , , 0 0
Dolphin Viewing at Monkey Mia
Dolphin Feeding
Shells on Boardwalk
Emu at Monkey Mia
Pelicans in Monkey Mia
Shell Bay
What Shell Bay Covers In
Storm Approaching

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: , , , , , , 0 2
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