Pink Lake (Hutt Lagoon)

Kalbarri

In 2019 we stayed just out of Kalbarri at Murchinson Station, and explored Kalbarri National Park. You can check out our blog post here. This time we stayed in the town at The Kalbarri Tudor Holiday Park.

With temperatures hovering around 45°C (113°F), we headed for Blue Holes on the coast, to snorkel each day.

We found that there is an ideal one hour window to snorkel at Blue Holes, starting at one hour after the low tide. Before that, the water is too shallow to snorkel, and after that the waves start crashing over the reef, stirring up the sand causing visibility to become very poor. However, those waves bring fresh nutrients into the lagoons and the fish go into a feeding frenzy, which is spectacular to watch.

Gladstone Bay

We intended to spend a few days at Gladstone Bay Camp, but with temperatures around 45°C (113°F) and flies swarming around our heads by the millions, we decided not to stay. The camp was empty, no one around. The 7km dirt road into the Camp area was quite corrugated in some sections and gave the van a bit of a shake up.

Carnarvon, WA

Needing somewhere to stay with power and water, Carnarvon was the obvious place. We stayed at Carnarvon Discovery Park, which was almost deserted.

Our old car fridge had stopped working and our van fridge was struggling to keep cool in the heat, with the fridge sitting around 15°C and the freezer on -1°C. We purchased a nice, new car fridge in Carnarvon.

Carnarvon Space & Technology Museum

• The Carnarvon Tracking Station provided the ‘go/no go’ confirmation that sent the Apollo spacecraft out of Earth orbit and on its way to the Moon. 
• On 21 July 1969, the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Casshorn antenna which stands beside the OTC Dish relayed Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon from NASA’s Honey Suckle Creek Tracking Station to Perth’s TV audience via Moree earth station – the first live telecast into Western Australia.
• Built in 1963, the Carnarvon Tracking Station was an Earth tracking station in Australia, located 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) south of Carnarvon, Western Australia. It operated from 1963 until 1975, during which it supported the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab space programs.

Cyclone Mitchell

Our plan to head north to Ningaloo Reef on North West Cape (Coral Bay and Exmouth) has been cancelled, or at least put on hold, depending how much damage Cyclone Mitchell does. Caravans Parks have to evacuate and close when there is an imminent cyclone. So we will head far enough south out of Mitchell’s path, and wait to see how it unfolds.

It is just on 11 months since tropical cyclone Alfred changed our planned route on the east coast.

Our thoughts are with all those being impacted by Cyclone Mitchell. Helen & Tim