Our Aussie Adventures

It was freezing as I crawled out of bed at 7:30AM this morning. Cold enough that while the dogs jumped up onto the bed to keep themselves warm by snuggling with Bec, I put the coffee pot on one burner of the stove, then lit a second burner just to try and warm myself up.

The early start was a necessity, to ensure we have enough time to make the drive to Denham, while allowing for a few stops along the way. We had originally planned to split todays drive up, taking it easy by staying overnight in a freebie camp along side of the road. With the extra day spent in Carnarvon caring for the dogs, we made the decision to do it all in one hit. Not that we are talking about any great distances, as it’s only about 340Km, even accounting for a couple of quick detours along the way.

Anyway, back to the story at hand, while I banged about in the kitchen, trying to make my coffee in abject silence, while trying to warm my icy hands over the gas hob, Bec and the dogs enjoyed a further ½ an hour of shut eye. With my coffee warming me from the inside out, I ventured outside, the crystalline droplets of dew glittering like diamonds in the early morning sun, as I got underway packing up the pipes and hoses and cords that would otherwise tether us to our site.

Bec was soon up and making good inside the van, before letting the dogs out for a quick morning amble about the park. We made relatively good time in packing and hitching up, although would have been somewhat thriftier in our use of time had we not had to struggle to line ‘The Beast’ and the caravan up. A task that was made all the more difficult by the proximity of the front end of ‘The Beast’ to the shrubbery fence line. Never the less, we were all hitched up and ready to roll by only 10 minutes after our designated time of departure of 9:00AM.

Then, we got chatting. This is not the first time this has happened, but you are all ready to go, just going through the final few pre-departure checks, and the next door neighbor will say G’day. As a result of this mornings interaction, you can expect us home another 25 minutes late. We were able to glean some helpful info from our new friend however, as she has travelled from the south, and was able to advise us on a few dog friendly places to visit.

Along the way, we were reflecting upon what wildlife we have seen so far during our travels. We keep saying that we haven’t seen that much, but when we started listing the animals we’ve spotted, it was quite an extensive list. And, today, we got to add another specimen to the catalogue. We spotted something that looked like a cross between a goat and a sheep. I told Bec that they were Geep, half goat and half sheep. Do you know what she did? She laughed at me. Surely no such thing existed she asserted. Naturally, she didn’t believe a word of it, until such time that Wikipedia confirmed my assessment. With the head of a goat and the body of a sheep, they are an odd looking creature, wandering about the low shrubs along the road.

It was another 2 ½ hours later before we wheeled off of the main road and pulled into the car park of the first of our two diversions. We were at Hamelin Pool to view the stromatolites, earths earliest known life form. Walking out along the boardwalk, peering down through the glassy water, the stromatolites look like nothing more than rock, but they are actually living organisms that grow at a rate of only 0.3mm per year and produce oxygen. It was stormatolites that changed the make up of earths atmosphere to allow for the evolution of life. We can add them too now, to our list of wildlife.

That’s them. The Stromatolites reaching out into the bay.

We then had another ¾ of an hour drive to our second planned stop, at ‘Shell Beach’. We first sat in the caravan for a bite to eat for lunch before making the short trek down to the beach. Unlike the shell beach at Exmouth, this is a true shell beach. Where you would expect to find sand, the ground is covered in millions of tiny little shells, all crunching noisily beneath your feet with each and every step. There are several hard packed shell dunes over which to clamber, before reaching the waters edge, where the shells are strewn loosely across the ground. Everywhere you look, these tiny little cockleshells form a sharp, crunchy beach. Despite the unusual ground covering, the water that gently laps the shore is of an indescribable clarity. It was of an almost similarly indescribable coldness, although wading in, its chilly effect was diminished as the extremities of our legs numbed to its influences.

It was colder than it looks.

We spent nearly an hour, stretched out prone, shells needling our backs, as the sun warmed us and the water tickled our toes. If not for the threat of severe lacerations, I could imagine laying here and making the equivalent of snow angels.

The name really does say it all: ‘Shell Beach’.

Ouch, gotta watch where you step (or sit for that matter).

Handfuls of shells.

It was straight to Denham and our caravan park from the beach, where we checked in and surprisingly reversed the van into our allotted space with little effort. It took us a couple of hours to set up the awning and an annex wall in an effort to prevent Alvin and Bethany spotting the big, bouncy, friendly pooch in the site behind ours. We also spent some time carefully aligning the TV antenna, only to find that the ABC is the only channel that is broadcast terrestrially in these parts. At least that ought to prevent any arguments over who has control of the remote control.

With the van all set up and feeling like home again, we all bundled back into ‘The Beast’ for a quick look about town. To drive from one end of town to the other takes all of about 30 seconds. There is one main street, which runs along the waterfront promenade. Here, a handful of small stores, a couple of hotels and the visitors centre overlook the waters edge. The town rises up the hill from the esplanade, but there is little more to see here. It is however the western most town in mainland Australia, and only separated from the extreme western point of Australia by a hundred or so kilometres and a rugged dirt track we have already decided we won’t be attempting to navigate.

I figure you’d all be sick of sunset pics by now, so we turned around for this photo. I can say it was pretty nice though.

We stopped briefly at the northern end of town to take the dogs for a walk along the beach, but it was only a narrow strip of rough sand leading to the high tide. We found the beach at the opposite end of town to be more conducive to a walk, although Alvin decided to have a go at wearing me out again, by continually tugging at his leash until such time as I gave him a run. Thus, we spent the final minutes of sunlight, waltzing energetically up and down the beach as we watched yet another fantastic sunset.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

It was with more than just a touch of trepidation that we awoke today and rang the vets for an appointment for our two babies. Having been mostly worried about Bethany all weekend, Alvin decided to join the party too last night, spending a good deal of the later periods of the evening vomiting and regurgitating his dinner. Now, we had two sick puppies on our hands and twice the worry.

Thankfully, the nearby veterinarian hospital was able to squeeze us into an early morning consultation slot, so we hurriedly dressed and rushed out the door, dogs in tow. The staff at the vets were fantastic, while the vet herself seemed to be very thorough in her examination of both Alvin and Bethany. She poked and prodded at both of them, waved her stethoscope over them knowingly and checked things that don’t even bear discussing in an open forum. Her final prognosis was that Bethany was crook, but definitely on the improve, while Alvin was still pretty sick. This was most likely caused by a bug or a virus that they have picked up somewhere, somehow. Pills were dolled out for both of them and we walked out feeling a sense of relief. Both in our minds and our wallet, not that cost was an issue. I might scrimp and save when it comes to buying the odd bottle of cheap plonk, but when it comes to these two, money really is no object.

As well as the medical diagnosis, there came a short term dietary requirement, that they both be feed a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice for a week or so. This would not be their first choice for dinner, but they are going to have to accept what they are given.

The other suggestion we were to be given was to hang around in Carnarvon for an extra day at least, to see how they recover. This was a suggestion we could see the benefit of as there are no vet services in Denham, our next port of call. I would hate to think that either of them requires any further treatment when we are hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest vet.

On the way back to the van, we stopped in at a couple of hardware stores, both of which lacked the bits I have decided are necessary to attempt a repair to the plumbing. Looking at the itinerary for the next couple of weeks, I think we are going to have to make a few changes so as to give us some time in a larger town to affect the repairs, or go without the washing machine. I know which solution Bec would prefer, so we will have to hit the books again before long.

Two separate supermarkets were also delved into, after the first one had no chicken in stock. Can you imagine a supermarket that doesn’t even stock chicken fillets. That meant a trip all the way into town to the second grocery store, a detour of at least 5 minutes. You gotta love these small towns. With dinner supplies for all four of us, we headed back to the van, for another very quiet afternoon.

We still weren’t too confident about leaving the pooches on their own, so any sightseeing we had planned for today was cast aside to look after them. While we spent the day lying in bed watching tele, Bethany curled up between us, happy for the chance of a cuddle. Alvin on the other hand, took himself off to his own bed, where we stayed for the entire day, sleeping and hardly even raising an eyebrow for the occasional pat on the head. This was quite out of character for him, as he is usually rolling about, scratching and chewing at his paws. For him to lie, prostate, unmoving for several hours was a good indication of how unwell he was feeling.

On his sick bed with the canine equivalent of the dreaded ‘man flu’.

He did at least perk up a little when a walk was offered, as we took them both outdoors for a wander about the park. Thankfully, there was no repeats of the weekends flaccid bodily functions and we ended up sitting outside to enjoy the final rays of sunshine streaming obliquely across the grounds. It was a lovely end to an otherwise imperfect day.

They were both up for a little walk which was promising.

Just ’cause I’m not well…

Putting on the sad face.

All that was left to do was to boil up a giant pot of rice for the four of us for dinner. At least we got to enjoy the addition of some apricot flavoured chicken, while the dogs had to make do with the bland, tasteless and rather revolting looking plain boiled fillets. Alvin having dispensed much of last nights dinner at various locations about the park, was so hungry, I don’t think it would have mattered what we put down in front of him. At least his appetite is back to normal, and touch wood, but there has not been any further vomiting since.

Having paid up for an extra nights accommodation here earlier in the day, we are hoping that tomorrow when can venture out again in an effort to see a few more of the Carnarvon sights. It would be a shame if we weren’t able to see many of the well respected sights around town, but time will tell.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.