Today I'm catching up on blogging for the last 2 weeks because our daughters have been here visiting. We took this opportunity to see some more of Western Australia. Here are some memories of the trip. I've uploaded a lot of pictures, and I'll give some text "snapshots" of our trip.

Aug 6 & 7: We started in Broome for a few days. Vicki and I saved the "tourist stuff" for the girls visit. We visited the Willie Creek Pearl Farm on Sunday,

Willie creek pearl farm

and woke early on Monday to do the famous camel ride on Cable Beach. This is high tourist season in Broome (its Winter here!) so the classic evening rides were all booked. We took the 8 AM ride, which I think has definite advantages. The morning was cool and crisp, the beach absolutely clean and fresh from the recent tide. We were surprised at how gentle the camels were. They have big brown eyes and huge eyelashes, and are fuzzy like a plush toy.

Broome Camels

Aug 8th: We leave early and drive all day to Cossack, south of Karratha. Cossack is a "ghost town", the first pearling settlement in WA. The shire runs a backpackers hostel there which is clean and very nice. We arrive at dusk, in time for a walk on the beach and a swim. Vicki and I walk through the small cemetary. We are both moved by the Japanese graveyard at the back. All the graves are arranged pointing back to Japan. "Such a desolate place, and such a long way from home for these young men to die. Their poor families!" says Vicki.

Cossack

Aug 9: Another day on the road. We begin the morning with breakfast in Cossack. As I am washing dishes, the sink faucet begins to leak. I tap it to make the water hotter and the entire faucet head shoots off, water geysering 8 feet into the air, drenching me and the room. I put my hand over the metal socket, both cold and scalding hot water shoot out. I feel like I'm in a Three Stooges movie as I holler for help. Of course there is no shutoff below the sink- my family has to run around and find the host to turn off all the water in the place. We mop it all up eventually. First time I've ever completely washed the communal kitchen before leaving.

The drive is long. Vicki does most of it- she likes being in control and says I am a distractable driver, which is probably true. We listen to radio, talk, the girls snooze. We snack too much till we're actually sick of Arnott's biscuits (hard to believe) and gummi bears. Toward afternoon, the country changes from scrubby bush to fields of sand dunes. We start up the peninsula to Exmouth and see skinny sheep. Come into Exmouth at suppertime, do some laundry, and run out to get Chinese food before collapsing.

Aug 10-12 Ningaloo Reef. We stay at the Ningaloo Reef Retreat, in tents. This was a great choice. Its an "eco retreat"- meaning tents, and "Nature-Loo" toilets and only 20 liters of water per day, for the end of day rinse off. However, the spot is one of the most beautiful places any of us have ever seen. All the meals are included, and the young guides supply us with snorkel stuff and wet suits and show us the wonders of the reef. There are no words to describe it, it is just dazzling. There are turtles and sharks and sea snakes and a billion brilliant fish.
We soak up the sun, listen to the wind, watch the roos come within 5 meters of our tent. We have nibbles at sunset and watch for the green flash. At night, the Milky Way extends from one horizon to the other- it is completely dark and moonless, but we can see the path in the starlight. (The Milky Way is amazing in the Southern Hemisphere. From these latitudes, we are looking into the center of the galaxy.) I wonder if there are other coral reefs on other worlds out there somewhere. Vicki says "if there are other worlds, they would be poor worlds without turtles...."

Ningaloo Reef

Saturday Vicki and I walk about 7 Km round trip into Mandu Mandu gorge and back. The rocks here are ancient seabed and conglomerate.

Ningaloo Reef 2

Aug 12: My 54th birthday and we, sadly, have to leave Ningaloo behind. We roll out after breakfast, and hit the road to Exmouth, stopping to stock up on food and arrange accomodation in Tom Price, a town named after the president of Kaiser Steel. Its another long day on the road in the car, and I am glad we booked ahead. Tom Price is a mining town, but we are impressed because it is a Tidy Town award winner. No garbage on the streets, clean public areas, a lovely library and park in the center of town. This shows the potential of WA, if only communities would pull together, and put the riches of the mining boom to good use.

Aug 13 & 14: Karajini National Park. We've gotton a line on a newly opened eco-retreat here which is having a 1/2 price sale for visitors from the Kimberly. So we forego the swags on top of our rig. Spend the night in another tent, this one inhabited by the largest spider any of us have ever seen in the wild. I unfortately cannot move him outside so have to incur bad karma by dispatching him. But not worth a bad bite or allergic reaction this far away from civilization. We visit several of the gorges in Karajini, but love Joffre the best. It is a 5 minute walk from the eco-retreat and we have it all to ourselves.

Karajini

The afternoon of the 14th we drive to Port Hedland. This town has a huge mining boom. We have booked a campsite well ahead, which is a good thing, as the lady at the caravan park takes 5 phone calls in 5 minutes as I check in, turning people away. We break out the swags for the first and last time. They are miserable. Vicki and I cram into one together and she goes to sleep in the car at 3 AM. There are dense clouds of gnats, the Port is noisy all night, the bathrooms are covered with dead bugs, and I have to get up in the morning for a teaching session as Visiting Professor for the Port Hedland students the next day. It is not a good night.

Aug 15: Teaching session with the Port Hedland girls is fun. We cover the knee and lower extremity exams. My girls check out the visitor center, get lunch and we are on the road headed home (about 600 km) by noon. Last long drive. The girls sleep, Vicki is bored driving, we jointly do crossword puzzles together... Finally we roll into Derby at about 7:30 PM. (The last 1.5 hours in the dark is very slow, on cow-alert!)

Total: 3310 KM in 10 days.