NEW NORCIA MONASTERY IN THE RAIN
New Norcia appeared, not as grand as in the tourist photographs and had not Rae advised me to take in their art gallery and museum I would have been totally underwhelmed.It had an abundance of dreamy adoration paintings by European masters, but what made the exhibition great was the contrast with contemporary works, especially the 'dot motif' three wise men, by an Aboriginal woman. the commemoration of the Aboriginal boarding school fully captured the catch 22 of attempts to both educate and assimilate indigenous kids.
GERALDTON FIRST STOP
HMAS SYDNEY MEMORIAL
WIFE WAITING FOR NEWS
We also serve who can but only stand and wait
Apart from the distinctive cathedral and the wonderfully sighted HMAS Sydney memorial,Geraldton proved to be a working port town much like Esperance, although they seemed to have done a better job of presenting their city centre.This where Randolph Stow grew up and first fired up his imagination-perhaps as I did in Manchester-to escape inside my mind.
It must rain very hard here as the camp site provided shelters under which tents could be pitched.
ACROSS THE 36TH PARALLEL-24/04/2008
The sign announcing the crossing of the 36th parallel welcomes you to the Northwest.
A side trip to Kalbari and its national park gorges was rewarding. It is a great family resort town and proved to be the best I encountered before Broome. Mining income investment was obvious in the quantity and quality of new homes.
The gorges were beautiful and even with a very low Murchison river. The red rock cliffs impressed. Sad that one was named after a primary school head and conservator who had died at the untimely age of 31.Another long drive from the highway to the coast(a disadvantage of this coast when compared with Vic's great Ocean road and the Pacific Highway north through NSW and Queensland)took me to Denham which I'm glad I didn't stay at-cafes very poor and no tea available after 4pm. Despite being warned that the Monkey Mia campsite was chockers, I pushed on and they were right. School holiday long weekend (Anzac day Friday)and the lure of the dolphins had really pulled the families in. I was told that if I could find a spot on the lawn I should come back and pay. My little swag fitted so neatly between 2 tents that their occupants almost trod on me in the night. Never do I want to camp like that again-give me the showerless and toiletless bush.
DOLPHINS NOT DIGGERS ON ANZAC DAY-25/04
Dawn at Monkey Mia
But, having the dolphins swim up to me within touching distance, in the early morning, made it all worth while.
COMMUNING WITH DOLPHINS
Such beautiful, intelligent, trusting creatures. I was fascinated by the snorkel hole in their heads through which they breathed. As they waited for food they posed on their sides, flashing their undersides like coquettish women.
APPETITES BIGGER THAN BEAKS AND BELLIES
These opportunistic guys would have liked a feed too but the dolphins were just too great a challenge
Then the long drive back to the highway and hopefully t be in time for the Carnarvon Anzac day service.Not many people on the road at 7:30 am but as I came round a bend I met two of WA's finest in a forward looking radar car. I stopped for a chat with these charming young men, one of whom grew up in Kununurra in the Kimberley and who gave me advice on walking up there, whilst his partner charged me $150 for the service. At least the demerit points did not apply to my Victorian licence.
Keeping my speed down to 110klms, I drove the rest of the morning to Carnarvon a town known for its bananas and tropical fruit. It was noticeably hotter, the flies very bad and plenty of Aboriginals with evidence of injuries no doubt caused by some form of internecine strife.
LEST WE FORGET
I arrived just in time to witness the closing phase of the Anzac day service at the cenotaph, including the last post and minute's silence for those fallen in all wars.I got away first and so headed the queue for breakfast at a nearby cafe. After a brisk exchange of text messages with melbourne from party invitees, I complimented the owner on the presentation of her food(not to mention the trio of delightful blond daughters who served at table)-Guess what, she hailed from Mordialloc in Vic and goes back at every opportunity.What is this thing between Mordialloc and WA?
Not much otherwise to commend Carnarvon and so another 150klms to Coral Bay which proved to be a mistake. Despite it being the jumping off point for the Ningaloo reef, it was again "Bogan" territory, crowded, noisy and without any town infrastructure at all. The dearest camp fee so far $30-I noticed petrol had hit $1.80per litre compared with the highway price of $1.65-it was nothing to write home about. A walk on the beach turned up an interesting companion, whilst sat on a rock, I asked a passing young man the cause of the continuous jet plane sounding rumble and he confirmed it was surf on the distant reef.He was on for a chat and told me that although born in France he now lived on La Reunion a French department island near Mauritius, where he had taught and planned to start a diving school.He was a marine biologist and had worked on research out of Exmouth to perfect his "diving" English and was now skivvying at the local bakery, on the way to Brisbane from whence he was off to Vanuatu with his cousin. So we found much to discuss, including the undemocratic EU and the antics of president Sarkozy.I invited Francois to call on me if in Melbourne for a guided tour.
In the evening I found a reasonable cafe which served decent Americam style ribs and not over priced beer. Much warmer now. No need for a sleeping bag that night. my passage north had been heralded by signs announcing 36th parallel, tropic of Capricorn and most attention grabbing of all-"This iss cyclone season-have you checked the weather forecast for the road ahead?" Welcome to the NW of WA.
CAPRICORNIA AND KANGAROOS
Rained at dawn and had to pull full canvas cover over my swag. Pleased to be away by 6:30am-big mistake as in the gloom a large red kangaroo leapt out of the roadside darkness into my car. It flew through the air and disappeared, stone dead into the bush.
POOR LITTLE CAR!
The bonnet was crumpled, fender bent and driver's door only partly openable-but after recovering from the shock I found the car driveable and went on my way.Passed police doing their job on a 4 wheel drive back on the highway.
INTO THE PILBARA
Suddenly the flat savannah gave way to cowboy movie-reminiscent red mesas and the road began to climb-many ranges in sight. Clearly I had entered iron ore mining country.Parabadoo and Mount Tom Price were awful mining camp towns-shades of old SEC barracks towns in the Victorian Alps. Tourist bureau closed, neither sign of mine tour facilities nor suitable look out point, so moved on.
REAL BUSH CAMPING ONCE MORE
Booked two nights bush camping in the Karajini gorges national park. No shower but real camping and a pleasure to get my big tent up for a while, to cook on my own gas stove and read until later in the night by my gas lantern, entertained by the death defying fascination of moths,crickets and even a preying mantis for the light.The night was one of magical full moonlight and a sparkling carpet of stars. I was awoken by a prowling dingo exploring my camp and the howling of it and its mates during the dark hours. Otherwise the bush was deathly quiet until the glorious dawn chorus chirruped a new day.
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