G'day Everyone
I have been extremely slack over the past weeks with my blog. I think I am about 14 days behind and getting behinder. I am jumping ahead and will just put pictures with some text to let you know where they were taken.
I will start with our trip northward towards Broome. Our first stop was at a free camp called Freshwater Point on the Indian Ocean Drive.
Freshwater Point Looking North
Freshwater Point Looking South
Happy Hour at Freshwater Point
Sunset at Freshwater Point
From Freshwater Point we traveled to Geraldton where we visited the HMAS Sydney II memorial.
HMAS Sydney II Memorial. There are 644 sea birds representing a sailor lost
A close up of the sea birds and the eternal flames. Port and Starboard running lights
The 645th sea bird with the wingtip in the Pool of Remembrance marking the last resting place of the Sydney
There was a Buck on the Sydney
The waiting woman, waiting for her menfolk to return
After visiting Geraldton we decided that it might be nice to visit Monkey Mia. This is where wild dolphins come in to shore to be fed and if you are lucky you might get a chance to feed them.
We had to go a little off the main track to get there and because of the popularity of the area there are no free parks. We got into conversation with a lady at the Billabong Roadhouse and she suggested that we might like to stay at the Nanga Bay Resort. They had powered sites at reasonable rates.This was about 75 km from Monkey Mia.
Our spots at Nanga Bay Resort
We were up early on the 29th September headed for Monkey Mia. The first feeding of the day takes place at 7.45 am and then intermittently until noon depending on the number of dolphins. They don't give them a big feed, because they want them to find their own food. The signal to the dolphins is when all the crowd move into the water. You're only allowed in ankle deep but the dolphins can hear that.
Dolphins cruising around waiting for a feed
Cheeky Pelicans trying to get in on the act
Crowd at Waters Edge
Lucky Member of Audience Selected to feed Dolphin
Feeding a Dolphin called Puck
We have been travelling north since Nanga Bay and the roads are very hot, between 38 and 40 degrees during the day and very similar scenery. We did see a very interesting sight just north of Port Hedland. From a distance it looked to me like one of the electricity pylons had a funny round structure on top. When we got closed it turned out to be a helicopter with a basket underneath doing maintenance.
The pilot must have nerves of steel and a very good auto pilot
Broome
Town Beach Broome - Yes the sea is this blue
Cable Beach - Broome
Andrew (Deb and Jan's brother) is the skipper of a Fisheries Patrol Boat the "Walcott" and he came in while we were in Broome. We couldn't get onto the wharf because of security so we had to photograph from afar. I have circled the "Walcott".
Western Australia Fisheries Department Patrol Vessel Walcott
Chinese and Japanese people have a long history in Broome and there are cemeteries for Chinese and Japanese people dating back to the late 1800's when pearling first started.
One of the weathered headstones in the Japanese cemetery
Chinese Cemetery
We visited Gantheaume Point to have a look at some of the rock formations that are typical of the Broome area. Not only did we see the rocks but we saw some sea eagles with chicks in the nest. Unfortunately we weren't able to photograph the chicks so we did the next best thing, we photographed the nests.
Sea Eagle and it's Nest
The colours of the rocks around Broome are amazing.
We found some interesting foods here in Broome. A couple of local delicacies are Kruffins and Kronuts. A kruffin is part croissant and muffin and a kronut is part croissant and donut. If you have a look at the picture the Kronuts are the round ones and the Kruffin are at the right of the picture.
Kronuts and Kruffins
We are now on our way south so I will try and get some more stuff into the blog soon.
Regards
Den
