We have covered a lot of ground in the past week. After driving through the dry, hot, dusty Pilbara region, the vegetable crops and orchards of Carnarvon were a welcome sight. We spent three nights at Carnarvon. One day we drove to the Blowholes at Quobba, just north of Carnarvon. The blowholes weren't at their most spectacular but the coastline was worth the visit.
It was a very windy day and we held on to each other to make sure no one got blown over the cliffs.
It was a big weekend in Carnarvon with the annual Gascoyne Dash being run. It's a 500km offroad race, part of which is along the dry river bed of the Gascoyne River. There are a few different categories of motorbikes and cars - the kids were really impressed with this one. We left on the morning of the race but we got to see some of them doing time trials at the racecourse.
Our next stop was Monkey Mia - a place I've always wanted to visit. We were only staying one night because it was a really popular tourist spot and more expensive than any other place we've stayed, so I spent the afternoon at the beach desperate to see the dolphins - even though we were told they usually only come in to the beach in the mornings. No sightings!
I was determined to have my own special time with some dolphins before all the crowds arrived on the beach for the morning feeds. I woke up at 5:30, and then woke Casey up so I would have someone to talk to while I sat on the beach waiting! At about 6:30 we were so excited to see 6 or 7 dolphins swimming towards the shore. We waded in up to our knees and they swam really close to us.
I took this photo later when about 200 other people were there and the rangers were telling us about the family of dolphins that regularly visited Monkey Mia. That's the back of Casey's head, so although we didn't get chosen to feed a dolphin, you can see we got quite close to them. Brodie stood next to Casey, but Tara wouldn't stand near the water. Perhaps she thought they looked a little too much like sharks!
After Monkey Mia we had a total change of pace when we visited Hutt River Province. It actually became a separate country when they seceded from Australia in 1970. It's a very interesting story, but too involved for me to try to explain here.......so google if you want to know more!
We felt very privileged to meet Prince Leonard - a fascinating man with probably a greater knowledge of our constitution than anyone else. Tara was a little confused and wanted to know where the castle was! He issued us with a temporary visa after claiming we were illegal immigrants when we told him we didn't have passports! He then took us on a little tour of the place and showed us where we could camp in the van for the night.
Prince Leonard also told us we could take a photo of the kids next to his Rolls Royce.
The principality is an 18,000 acre farm, and we had the camp area all to ourselves that night.
The next morning we bought some Hutt River Province money as a souvenir, and Tara got to meet a real princess - Princess Shirley.
On our way out, we met these two characters walking across the dirt road. I got Darren to stop so I could take a photo out the window. They were feisty little things and turned, ready to take on the car and van like it was a large animal about to attack them. We drove off slowly, careful not to run over them.
The last two nights we stayed at Coronation Beach, north of Geraldton. It had a lookout which you got to by climbing stairs built up from the campground. From the top you get a great view of the campground and the ocean. It is the first time we've seen waves since Queensland. They weren't very big, but at least they were waves!
There are many historical sights around this area of Western Australia, including the Lynton Convict Depot (1853-1856). The grate that Brodie is looking through covers the old well.
We had a long day in the car and made it to Perth this afternoon. We intend to stay here for at least a week.
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