Lynton Station Via Northamton and Kalbarri next to the Pink Lake

What an amazing time of year to be visiting this beautiful part of WA. We turned off the Highway at Northampton and took the picturesque drive out to Port Gregory. We called in at Horrocks and had some lunch, what a gorgeous little seaside town. In its day it would have been quite a hive of activity.The old fisherman's cottages line the foreshore and frame the lovely white sand and clear water of the beach, the kids played in the park and we just enjoyed 10 minutes of peace and quiet before hitting the road again.
The farms along the drive have their crops sewn for the year and look amazing as they are starting to flower. You can see the road ahead as it moves through the middle of paddocks and climbs up the hills. The flowers of the crops framing the road well into the distance.Green, yellow, white,orange, brown, purple, red and pink of plants and the ground and then the contrast of the bright blue sky and some white fluffy clouds and the sun shining brightly. Wow what a kaleidoscope of colours we are so lucky to have witnessed this awesome show put on by mother nature.
All of a sudden the hills open up and we get a great view of the ocean, we cross the Hutt river and arrive at Lynton our home for the next 4 weeks.

Lynton Homestead  was built by Henry Sanford back in 1853. It is a 2 storey limestone house built into the hills over looking the ocean. There is also a mill and stables and a convict hiring depot, with jail, out house, hospital and a care takers cottage. The hiring depot was complete in 1956 however the decision to close the station came only a short time later in 1958. The decision was made as there was illness and scurvy due to the lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables and clean drinking water. The costs associated with food,water and transport where reasons for its closure. The site is now heritage listed and works have commenced to restore the buildings.
The homestead itself I found beautiful from the outside. The sheer size of the limestone bricks and the beauty of the structure, but when walking inside I found it eery and almost like someone was watching me. Down stairs I couldn't;t even enter the house. I felt a force holding me back and an energy that was cold and unfriendly. Now believe in this stuff or not, this was my experience. I have since learnt that during the restoration works people couldn't even stay in the house due to the goings on in the night. It is something I would recommend to everyone travelling past. The history and the buildings are so interesting and are a great spot for viewing the passing whales and looking at the pink lake.

Lynton is owned by Greg and Jenny, two of the nicest people we have had the pleasure of meeting whilst on the road. Jenny has this endless source of energy and is so bubbly and friendly, Greg is a little quieter but a genuine and friendly guy. They have 2 dogs and a few cows on the property. Jim and Karen help them with the maintenance of the 800 acres and Ed the can do guy does, well nearly anything.
John thought when we arrived he was building a shed, however due costs associated with living so far from a major town this was scrapped and now John was helping to change an existing machinery shed into a closed aeroplane hanger.With such a short time and so much work John got to work straight away Welding, welding and more welding. The weather got hot and under instructions from Jenny and Greg it was tools down and over to the beach. They are all for relaxing and making the most of the good weather days.

The other beauty of this place was the beach, it was through the front paddock over a small sand dune and there it was. Virtually a private beach due to its location. It has beta carotene in the sand, so the colours change from deep purples, to black, to light purple, red and pink as well as white. the water was clean and clear and you can see the whales splashing and jumping.

The pink lake on the other side of the property really is pink just as the name suggests. The lake is mined for beta carotene. An algae growing in the water and occurs naturally and then is mined for its pigment. The colour of the lake can change daily, from light dirty pink to the brightest of bright pinks.

During this stay we where lucky enough to have the tinny in the water and have a whale and her calf swim right next to us. They are huge and the moment was surreal. I was also lucky enough to see a whale do a full breech. Its whole massive body came right out of the water. I feel so blessed to have had this experience but also that I was a safe distance so's not to be knocked out of the boat.We are so tiny when compared to them.

John had plenty of opportunities to go fishing, which he did on most evenings after work when the wind wasn't blowing. It was so nice to have fresh fish and salad for dinner.

I was lucky enough to be invited to go horse riding with the neighbor Steve. Steves property is surrounded in the most amazing wild flowers and being on horse back you could get up close and really have a good look. Steve had an orchid of mandarin trees and he gave us masses. We have never tasted sweeter, juicier mandarin's. Alex's record was 15 in one day. Lucky they where free and lets just say he gave his insides a good clean out.

We where close enough that it was a short drive from here to Kalbarri, the coast line on the way there is so dramatic, the cliffs have the most awesome colours and the water is so clean and clear. We saw whales,seals and dolphins.

Doug and Veronica came and stayed with us at Lynton for a week and we all had a fantastic time. The kids loved having time with Nan and Pop. We took short trips to show them around the area and along the beach. We went back to Kalbarri to go to the National park and see Natures window and just enjoyed being together for a short while.

John managed to weld together 8 massive door frames during our time here, and really would like to have seen the project all the way through to the end. however we have made a commitment to work in Broome and we have to be there for the 1st of September.

Lynton will forever have a special place in our hearts and would really hope to get back here again some day.

Geraldton

Well here we are in Geraldton, looking back we are so far from home, wow we have covered  some kilometres. Geraldton is a city with a major shipping port.
We couldn't believe how big and spread out the town is, we didn't realise the population was almost 36000 people. We stayed again at Big4 although disappointed this time as the park was very old and in need of some TLC it certainly didn't meet the standard we had come to associate with the brand. They had nothing there for the kids so it was up them to entertain themselves without getting into to much trouble. The park was on Sunset beach which did live up to its name with an amazing sunset provided both nights we where there.

The kids wasted no time in making friends and set about building a tree house in a vacant corner of the park. When they weren't building the cubby they where riding bikes so they where happy.

We took the opportunity to visit the museum whilst we where there. They where running a school holiday exhibition on mining in WA. The kids where given work sheets to complete as they walked around. When we had finished they handed in the work sheets and as a reward where given a pet rock making kit. What a fantastic day and all for a gold coin donation. It is something I am finding more and more frequently, the free and cheap experiences are the best. To top of a great day we went for a walk along the boardwalk around the marina, fish life in abundance and boats to die for. We didn't know where to look. Home to the van for dinner and bed to recharge the batteries as tomorrow was another day and there was still so much to discover.

We decided a visit to the farmers market was our first port of call today, before hitting the shops for some retail therapy.
 We discovered a yellow submarine down on the foreshore. This was actually operational once. They used it in the rock lobster fishing industry before it was found to be in practical. The kids thought it was cool. We headed back to the van to start packing up as tomorrow we are heading out to Northampton and our next work place. The days are ticking by so fast!

The Pinnacles and Jurien Bay

The Pinnancles are amazing limestone formations that rise up out of the ground almost eerie in appearance, I'm sure some had faces. They are sporadically scattered across rippled sand dunes. They vary in size from some as little as a mouse to those that stand about 3.5metres tall. The shapes are also varied and each unique. We drove around the 4km track hoping in and out of the car to inspect the formations. What an amazing place, Mother Earth really is clever.

We continued our drive up the Indian Ocean Drive to Jurien Bay a popular little fishing town.We where told it was the home of the rock lobster fishing fleet. We however never saw any signs of rock lobster.
We set up and went for a walk out on the jetty. The kids had a swim and a play on the playground before we watched and amazing sunset.

John and the kids made friends with an old guy also named John. He had been coming to Jurien for the past 30 years and he was telling them all the ways to ensure a catch whilst here. Before I knew it they where having lessons and then I turn around to see John holding this guys rod while he rigged up another for himself to use.

They all fished for the next 2 hours, I asked the kids if they wanted dinner and No came a quick response. To this fellas credit he could put his money where his mouth was and fish after fish where being caught. Much to the dismay of many other anglers on the jetty. (Most other people could only catch Toadies as they where in plague proportion here). Finally it was getting to cold and the catch bucket was full so it was decided to call it a night. Old John said to come by in the morning and we could have a share of the fish.
Morning came and John was on our door step with a huge amount of fish. We couldn't thank him enough as he had already given us a full filled night the evening before. Fresh fish, chips and salad for dinner YUM.

Unfortunately it started raining and it wasn't letting up. We decided that the 2 nights here was long enough and tomorrow we would move onto Geraldton.

Fremantle for the night, then onto Ledge Point

Ledge Point via Fremantle

We had heard all sorts of thing about Perth city and Fremantle and decided we needed to have a look and make our own judgements. We decided to spend the night in Fremantle. The city is full of historic buildings and of course a very impressive port. We need to push on so maybe one day we can get back to explore further. For now though I'm happy to have at least had a quick visit. Using the freeways we where able to get to the other side of Perth quickly and hassle free. We even managed to get bargain Diesel $148.9 a litre, just the North side of the city.
We pulled into Ledge Point at lunchtime after having a fantastic run on the road. The only caravan park in town was a nearly new Big4. What a lovely park, clean and spacious, plenty of activities for the kids. What more could parents want? That right cheap prices, we got that too. They had a special for Big4 members that children stay free YEAH!

We checked in and set up and the went to the next town Lancelin to go sand boarding on the sand dunes.
What a fantastic afternoon, so much fun. Both the kids and John and I had a great afternoon and the weather was perfect as well. We did find climbing up and down the sand dunes exhausting, so after 3 hours we hit the local milk bar for a cool drink and an ice cream each before returning to the caravan park for dinner and a well earned rest.

We also decided that we would extend our stay for another night and take the opportunity to explore more tomorrow.
The town has a strong professional fishing fleet. We visited the local fish shop for some fresh fish bargains, and went back to play in the amazing Lancelin sand dunes.I am so grateful for days like these as this is what this trip was to be about. Very happy after our second day we had an early night ready to move onto Jurien Bay.

Denmark to Augusta to Busselton

We finally said all our goodbyes and it was 3 in the afternoon, we really should have stayed another night and left in the morning. But with the goodbyes said and the decision made we hit the road. The goal was to make it to a free camp site about 200kms away, we had estimated we would take approx 2.5 hours to get there and that would work in well with dinner and bed.

2.5 hours ha ha more like 4 hours and the further we travelled the hungrier the kids got, the more tired the kids got, the grumpier the mum got at the dad and well you can imagine being a fly on the wall inside this car. We came to a town perfect I thought we could get the kids some fish and chips for tea, but as the Nissan Patrol passed the main Street at what was far from the slow speed requested the arguments started again. Hungry and tired equals grumpy in this family, so with cranky faces and hungry tummies we all sat silent for what felt like hours, only to all start getting verbal again after another 30 mins. Thankfully we finally reached our rest point, it had been moved as the intersection had been changed and the signage hadn't been replaced. It was 8.45pm so much for 2.5hrs. Tea consisted of a sausage in bread, and apple and a muesli bar. We all fell into bed as soon as we had finished the last mouthful, waking at 9 the next morning, we really must have been tired. Then drove the next 45kms into Augusta. What a beautiful town, so worth the pain of the previous day. The water is a magnificent color and whales, I have never seen so many in my life.

We had a good look around, checked out the lighthouse and the surrounding coast before deciding to have a picnic lunch and move on up the road further. We came across the Jewel cave the 2nd largest cave system in the World 243km long. What an amazing place, a dry cave system so the pretty glittery effects you get from a wet cave system was missing but the enormity of the place was mind blowing. At one point inside the cave you could have stacked 10 buses on top of each other and then put 5 of them end to end. This gives you an idea of how big parts of that cave system where. The kids really loved this tour and asked heaps of questions. 

After the tour we continued heading North. There where other cave systems to see, but we where afraid they would be a let down after seeing the Jewel. We found ourselves in Margret river a town we had heard so much about, people where always raving about it. Unfortunately we found that it was busy and lacked personality, so we decided to keep going as it was still early.

Finally around 3.30pm we found ourselves in Busselton, a quirky sea side town with an amazing beach and the largest jetty in the Southern hemisphere. The caravan park was on the foreshore and had an amazing playground for the kids just across the road. We quickly set up and set out to explore.

Unfortunately we where to late to catch the train that travels the length of the jetty, so we set upon a walk to the end. No where could we find the distance written anywhere we just new it was a LONG way.

As it turns out it is almost 2kms long 1841 metres. Construction began in 1853 after being approved for shipping. The length came about as a necessity as moving sands made the waters of Geograph bay to shallow and in 1960 the jetty made its length as it stands today.  The last commercial ship visited the port in October 1971.

 Over the eighties and nineties 15 million dollars had been invested in restoration and then in 1999 a fire burnt a 65 metre section down to the water line. The cost of repairs was $900,000. I'm so glad it had been restored giving us the opportunity to enjoy its magic.

When we finally reached the end the kids had chatted with every fisherman along the way and inspected their catch. The night lights came on and added to the beauty. Alex and Luke somehow still had enough energy to run back the almost 2kms whilst Jarrod enjoyed a more leisurely stroll with John and I. Tomorrow we will be heading up to Perth and Fremantle. Sad really as I would have loved more time here, although the possums dancing on the caravan roof at night are something I wont miss.