Perth to Monkey Mia

We left Perth on June 30 and headed up to Cliff Head ...  Checking out a little spot we had heard about we took the car in to check to check it out.  There was a caravan and a coaster bus camped nearby so we stopped to check if they were happy for us to camp nearby.  And wouldn't you know it, Paul recognised one of the couples from old SEC and rally days (something tells me this may happen a lot !!).  After a quick chat we brought the bus down and settled in for a few quiet drinks.

 

Cliff Head

We had only intended to stay for a night or two but the weather was pretty good compared to Perth (a little cold at night), some spectacular sunsets and the company was fun.  In the end there was 4 couples within the area us so we made a few new friends over a few evenings around the fire :)

 

Cliff Head

A week after we arrived at Cliff Head it was time to move on ... getting a bit too cool and the ranger only allows max of a week.

Next stop Horrocks ... pulled outside the caravan park to find out where we were going and Barry n Chris popped out to greet us.  We had thought that they would have moved on by then but they had a few days left.  The caravan park was fairly full so being our size we were placed out on the front lawn !!!  At first we were a bit iffy about that but being school holidays (tons of kids)  n after checking out how little room there was in the park, we were quite happy to be outside.

We spent a week around the area and also visited Port Gregory and Kalbarri.  Sadly not much water in the gorges so we will have to return one day. ..

 Kalbarri

Port Gregory was entertaining when we found a couple of city slickers trying desperately to extract a Prado and boat trailer out of the water ...  After a minute or 2 we took mercy and gave them a hand to get out, cost to Prado ended up being probable blown diff and a nice big dhufish for us :)

Port Gregory

Once again it was time to start moving closer towards work at Monkey Mia so packed up intending to head to Nanga Station to catch up with friends for a few days.  Maybe we weren't supposed to move that day as just out of Northampton the tyre monitors showed one of the bus tyres deflating in a big hurry.  Pulled over and checked to see if the sensor was working properly and sure enough the tyre was very low.  Put some more air in it and thankfully saved the tyre ... During a lunch stop at Billabong we noticed that one of our fresh water tanks was hanging down and holding on with one strap.  Lucky escape again as we probably would have lost that tank if we had gone much further.  So a few roadside repairs and back on the road again.

After a the few delays we decided to stay at Hamelin Station Stay for the night.  Great little place to stay for a night or two, no power and very little fresh water available but that wasn't a problem for us.

Arrived at Nanga the next day after being told they were full and double booked ... place was near on empty so we pushed the point and got a bay.  Spent a week catching up with Flash (Alan Dancer) and his family and exploring the western side of Shark Bay

 Shark Bay

Eventually our short holiday had to end in Monkey Mia.  We are currently ensconced Monkey Mia working on their new power station so there probably won't be too much news for awhile ...

As always there are plenty more photos on the "Travel Photos" link on the top left.

Sorry for the lengthy one but will try harder to update when we are back on the road ...