western australia: karijini national park, circular pool

Circular Pool was the third walk we did with the six children. They grabbed their walking sticks and rock hopped like the confident rock climbers they are! We did have a tough time reigning some of them in though!

The walk takes you down the side of the gorge in to the valley between Fern Pool, Fortescue Falls and Circular Gorge.  Unlike the other walks most of the walk is along huge flat rock shelves. I can imagine the waters flooding over the edges and down in to the gorge during the wet season. It must be unbelievable!

The Pilbara had some rain a fortnight ago and their was still plenty of water about.

Circular Pool is surrounded by high cliffs and was a cold treat after a warm walk. The kids weren't in the water long but they explored the surrounding rock environment.

Photos courtesy of Vivid Imaging. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vivid-Imaging/151857428215142

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western australia: cape leveque

When people think of Cape Leveque they will probably think of the eco resort, Kooljman. A number of communities call Cape Leveque home. Tourists are advised to 'check in' with the community office before visiting the communities. There's plenty to see up there including the Cygnet Bay Pearls, Beagle Bay Church (decorated with pearl shells), One Arm Point and Whale Song Cafe. 

Kooljman looks like a neat place to stay. If we hadn't taken the van up there we'd have booked a shelter on the beach and erected the tents. What a magic place to wake up! Kooljman has a restaurant so we treated ourselves to a delicious lunch.  

The beach at Cape Leveque was one of the most beautiful I've seen. Though the photos don't do it justice the red cliffs edged on to the white sands and out in to the turquoise ocean. The water was warm and we had a great time mucking around in the current with the kids. Baby A and I returned back to our towels and clothes just as they were floating away on a rising tide so it was a scramble to collect our bits and pieces but it didn't take long for everything to dry!

We'd hope to visit Lombadina and Beagle Bay after Kooljman but we'd cut it fine and pulled in to Middle Lagoon in time for dinner. In retrospect, if it fit the budget, the best way to see the Cape would be by air and then car. You can fly in to Kooljman. The seal we'd road will open it up to tourists though and make the trip more bearable. For better and for worse. 

western australia: Middle lagoon, cape leveque

Middle Lagoon is a bush camp on the Dampier Peninsula about 130km from Broome. It is only one of two places you can take a caravan. From the stories we'd heard about the place we had prepared ourselves for the rugged road and booked ahead. 

The drive took us a little over 4 hours with no stops. We lowered the type pressure to about 20/25 and took the corrugated sections really slow. Our kids did great. They listened to their audiobooks and snacked constantly but they didn't whinge. Thankfully!

We'd been told that there was 70km of dirt but there was more like 110km in total. Those last 30km from the turn off into Middle Lagoon were almost unbearable (in that we just wanted to be there!) 

We arrived to find people on our site. They hadn't let the office know they were staying on so we had to drive around to find another site where our van wasn't going to take out low branches and where we'd have plenty of shade. In the end we had site 45 which was shaded by the most beautiful gums that were also ideal for a hammock and slack line. 

We had six nights up at Cape Levecke and our friends, the Nelson's-Hauers, (ourfamilygapyear.com) were with us for five. The kids had a ball. The Wrights (wrightroundoz.blogspot.com) and their family of four girls joined us later in the week and surrogate grandies, Gail and Terry, whom we met at Warroora Station were up there too!

We also met another family from Victoria, author Kate, Roo and their four kids (tothekimberleyandbeyond2015.blogspot.com). 

As it turned out we had quite a gathering up at Middle Lagoon. It was good fun!

There are two beaches to choose from at Middle Lagoon, toilets and showers. At $50/night for our family we utilised the facilities. 

If you plan to stay you do need to take your rubbish with you when you leave. It's a bit ordinary but locals reckon the road will be sealed within two years which will make it easier to get services up there. Bitumen has been approved and local industry have been campaigning. 

There are plenty of things to see on day trips from Middle Lagoon including Kooljman, the pearl shell decorated Beagle Bay Church and Whale Song Cafe (which is only 5km away). 

J also got out on his kayak. It was the same day that L (the Nelson-Hauers) went spear fishing. Jo and I had the kids and while we were sitting there another camper generously dropped off a bunch of excess fish they'd caught. The boys came home with nothing but we shared with them! It was a huge feast that night!

Playing in the red dirt after ringing Ma for her birthday. 

Love this dirt!

This is pretty much how the camp looked. A playground!

western australia: karijini, kermits gorge

The Kermit's Gorge walk was an unforgettable trek along narrow, slippery ledges and through cold pools, and waterfalls with towering cliff faces of that orange red rock. 

We, six parents, attempted and finished the gorge walk with seven kids under seven years. I hope the kids look back on the walk with a sense of pride of their achievement. It wasn't always easy. We had to work closely to ensure the kids took each step carefully, aware of their plan ahead on the narrow paths. In the narrowest sections we could reach both sides of the gorge. 

Some of us braved a swim at the end of the gorge walk but it was chilly! 

Thanks to our friend, and photographer, Jo for these shots which capture the light, the challenges and the achievement of making it through the gorge and back with our mob of kids!

Photos courtesy of Vivid Imaging. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vivid-Imaging/151857428215142

western australia: karijini national park, fortescue falls, fern pool

A few walks in Karijini National Park are achievable with kids. A few others are achievable but I would also describe them as a challenge. The kids staying at Karijini were all good bush walkers and accepted some great challenges for their ages and abilities. It turned out to be a week for teamwork all around - for the parents and the children.

The walk down to Fortescue Falls and then on to Fern Pool was the easiest of walks as well as picturesque. A swim in Fern Pool was refreshing. Tiny fish were attracted to the dead skin on our feet which was amusing and ticklish! The pool must have been special place for locals for thousands of years.

Photos courtesy of Vivid Imaging. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vivid-Imaging/151857428215142

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western australia: karijini national park, dales gorge

Karijini National Park is north east of Paraburdoo and south of Port Hedland. The predominant industry in the area is the mining of iron ore but the National Park attracts thousands of visitors each year and it's not hard to see why. This part of the country is overwhelmingly beautiful. The landscape is dotted with huge termite mounds and rocky outcrops change from black to orange to red throughout the day depending on the sunlight. We spotted a couple of dingos during our stay.

Thanks Jo for the photo of our girls! 

A bunch of travelling families happened to all be staying in the same campsite area (Warlu Way)at Karijini. We met New Yorkers Miranda, Jay and their twin boys at the Bay of Fires in Tassie and then Carnarvon. Luke and Jo are travelling with their two children from Newcastle. We met new friends, Ben and Saskia, from Belgium with their two children too. It was inevitable that the kids would play and they had a ball wielding sticks, creating hideouts and generally getting bronzed by the red Pilbara dust.

Meanwhile we prepared up a huge combined feast for brekky - bacon, eggs, pancakes and fruit salad. It turned out that none of us can live without coffee, so we compared coffee grinding and brewing techniques in caravans, campers and camping trailers. There can be some in-depth conversations on the road!

The days at Karijini went like this - wake, breakfast, kids play, Baby A's sleep, school work for all the kids, lunch and a gorge walk before dinner and then happy hour, ukulele and a drink under the Karijini stars once the children had gone to sleep. What a great week!

J had to drive to the car park to let Jay and Miranda know that we wouldn't be joining them on the first day for a gorge walk. He recognised Robert Irwin from a book B has been reading, Dinosaur Hunter, and which we'd only bought a few days prior in Exmouth! B was so envious that his dad met the Irwins but they kindly gifted an edition of Australia Zoo magazine. It turned out J's friend, Paul de Gelder is featured in the mag too! It's a small world!! We hope we'll get to Australia Zoo in Queensland and B is desperately hoping Robert will be home!

western australia: bullara to paraburdoo

western australia: exmouth

On occasions we've encountered parts of the country where we had no prior expectations. When we were heading to Exmouth, though, I was certain I wanted to swim with the whale sharks. However I did not expect to be so blown away by these magnificent creatures and the opportunity to be in the ocean with them.

We chose to swim with Exmouth Diving Centre who ran a tight ship. There were two marine biologists onboard and it did make us want to get in to the water in our SCUBA gear!

J and I decided the best way to enjoy the swim was to alternate over two days so it was decided that J would swim on Saturday and I'd follow him on Sunday. J was lucky that after his swim with the largest fish in the sea that a mother and child blue whale - the largest animal on Earth - swam by.

It's difficult to describe my swim with the whale shark other than to say that on the first swim I hadn't imagined what it would feel like to be up so close to such a beast. I was almost surprised when it swam by. The next three swims were different for me. I didn't take a camera (there was a videographer onboard) and I decided I wanted to be completely "in the moment." I'll treasure these moments in the water forever. Not to be outdone by the appearance of the blue whale we had a humpback whale breach close by to our boat.



Photo credit: Marcus Lorenz

western australia: exmouth to bullara

Getting away in the mornings requires everyone to 'pitch in.' In other words the kids have to limit their craft, J & I work flat-out packing away each thing in the van (other caravanners and those with camping trailers know how it is!) and Baby A has to amuse himself which usually mean she crawls around the caravan inspecting everything. 

It seems Baby A enjoyed the week at Osprey Bay, Cape Range National Park too. 

We left Osprey Bay, dropped in at Exmouth to refuel, do laundry, fill the fridge & the water tanks. We pulled in for a night at Bullara Station which has a good set-up. There are showers, toilets and washing machines. I should have waited to do the washing there. 

Happy Hour, around the fire pit, is at 5 o'clock and camp host, John, cooks a damper to share. Coincidentally John is far from his home near Goolwa, South Australia, a stones throw from the Seaview Grove Olive Oil olive grove where we stayed with Andrew and Emily on our way through! 

If you're lucky you might stay on a night when John cooks a sourdough damper from his two year old starter!

John was kind enough to use the coals to hear the bbq plate so we could cook the hamburgers I bought from the Exmouth Butchery. We stocked up with meat from these guys and it's been very good. I served these on fresh rolls with fresh beetroot, carrot, lettuce, homemade relish and my sauerkraut!

western australia: cape range national park

Osprey Bay at Cape Range National Park was a welcome relief after three nights in town. We love free camping - free of power and the pressures of a small plot in a caravan park. Osprey Bay free camp was only opened earlier in the year. There's a bush loo, the cost is $15/night and you can book online. Bore water is available near the visitors centre at entrance to the park. The kids would have played all day on the beach making huge castles.

The sunsets were beautiful. 

Yardie Creek Gorge was an interesting walk with the kids although it was the hottest part of the day so it was very warm. The gorge was amazing - with ospreys, goats and cockatoos. 

There are half a dozen great snorkelling sites a short drive from Osprey Bay. We spent our first day snorkelling at Turquoise Bay after two friends recommended it. We had the perfect day - little wind, clear sky, no swell and incredible visibility. Over the course of the day the older two kids mastered snorkelling - using a noodle to keep bouyant. We swam with sea turtles, black and white-tipped reef sharks, blue spotted fantail sting-Rays, anenome fish, trumpet fish, a huge groper, octopi, a huge rock cod and hundreds of beautiful tropical fish. There was so much to see which made learning to snorkel easy for the kids. 

The following day we attempted Oyster Stacks at high tide but it was a struggle with the strong current and big swell. I can imagine that with the right conditions the site would be interesting. After Oyster Stacks in the morning we drove back to Turqoise Bay with our travelling friends, the Belson-Hauers, and spent the rest of the day jumping in and out of the water. 

The boys headed out early one morning and ran (when the gravel wasn't too slippery) Mandu Mandu Gorge. 

J decided it was time to separate with his decade-long facial hair. Our poor girl cried for a day and asked him when the old Daddy was coming back. This was actually half way through his shave. J is not particularly fond of having a mo'. 

These beautiful flowers are native to Cape Range National Park. Each petal looks like a little bird and our bird loving boy was fascinated.