Dongara / Port Denison

We headed south along the coast to the twin towns of Dongara and Port Denison. Dongara is the older part of town, north of the Irwin River mouth, while (Port - usually not included) Denison is the fishing wharf and lobster processing south of the river.

What a pretty place! We called in for maybe one or two nights, ended up staying for eight!

We stayed in a caravan park on the water at Denison. We had water views, but thankfully were a little tucked away behind some beach-front villas which sheltered us from that constant sea breeze we have experienced continually for about six or eight weeks now.

We walked into Dongara along the beach front and boardwalk.Hold on to your hat!

Lobster potting, rather than fishing, dominates the port. All the boats are built to the same design, with a large open duck for pulling up cray pots.

Not a fishing net to be seen.

Communal drinks and nibbles of a Thursday afternoon.
With music. Lovely.
And pancake breakfast on Sunday. Very nice.
We'll catch up with a couple we met here when we're in Perth in a few weeks.

Denison from the hilltop lookout at the southern end of the bay.

We enjoyed having grass under our feet.

That blue thing is a 140L water bladder we used to top up the water tanks last week at Ellendale Pool. We can pop it in the car and drive somewhere, fill it with water and fill the van tanks from that, rather than packing up the van to do so.

It mightn't get used again for a month or more so it's good to put it away dry.

Nice as it is, it's time to move on.

Fires where we're headed, fingers crossed where we want to stay is OK.

Ellendale Pool

Ellen was obviously a popular name in the 1800s, as this is the 2nd Ellendale free camp we've stopped at, the other being where John had an overly friendly bovine experience.

This Ellendale is a pool of water.

However, given the local signage we decided to sit in the shade and read instead.

It's only about 50km from Geraldton so is an easy spot to camp up and do a shop or run into town to refill the water bladder there as needed.

We stayed here for four nights.

This enormous Alinta Energy wind farm is nearby. 

We had to duck in to Geraldton so called by the iconic light house 

Just opposite the lighthouse

We drove from here a little further south to the twin towns of Dongara/Port Denison.

Mullewa and Canna

An hour east of Geraldton, very much in the wheat belt, is the town of Mullewa. It's the home of WA's 2025 Australian of the Year nominees, announced today while we were here!

The priest who designed and built the cathedral in Geraldton was a busy chap... he also did this one in Mullewa.

Mullewa town from the lookout

The town has a couple of trails to drive that tell you the history of the place, from its beginnings as a result of a gold rush through to the present day agricultural focus.

Well, well, well...

Not sure why these teddy bear trees are here!

Our spot for the night. We'd have stayed here in this free camp for a few days if the flies weren't so biblical plague-like. They won - we moved on after one night.

We drove an hour south to Canna. The news is talking about the heatwave that's moving through WA... yep, can confirm it is indeed!

We stopped at another free camp at Canna beside the old church and church hall. 

We defeated the flies by sitting in our little mesh tent in the shade of the local hall, built by the progress society. Thank you!

We stayed a couple of days here.

The next day we drove to nearby "War Rock". 

It's an outcrop of rock with a very low stone wall cemented in place around it to capture the water and divert it to a small dam 500 metres away.

 

Wildflowers are all but finished, sadly.

Was once a playground outside the store

Not to make light of it, but possibly not if I lived here.

Definitely in the Wheat Belt!

Moving on tomorrow.

Geraldton

As mentioned, on our last morning at Kalbarri, while sitting eating breakfast we noticed one of the van tyres had a deformity in the wall.

Rather than risk a blow out on the highway, we changed the tyre before we left. 

So glad we did as it made for a more relaxed drive to Geraldton, about 250 km south where we bought a replacement tyre. $330 well spent we think.

On the way we stopped at Port Gregory to see the famous Pink Lakes. You know how sometimes something is given a name that vaguely describes that thing? Not these... they are certainly pink!

We got to Geraldton around lunchtime and went to where we are staying; a spot in the backyard of someone's house about 5km west of Geraldton city. 

It's nice here. Quiet, six chickens, friendly hosts, a couple of other travellers to talk to, private and spacious.

Being a little inland, the wind, while constant, isn't sandy and gale-force as it is closer to the beach and harbour where caravan parks are.

Geraldton has the feel of a proper city. It's the 3rd biggest population in WA with about 45,000 residents so is obviously the biggest place we have been to since Darwin in August (more than 2x the size of Karratha or Broome). 

We spent six nights here. We got the tyre replaced, did a bit of maintenance to the van and car and wired in Starlink properly so it's easy to turn on.

We visited the local museum. Lots of local land and sea history, including of course HMAS Sydney II and Batavia. The Batavia story is amazing! Mutiny, murder, rape. Quite the yarn!

Another HMAS Sydney II memorial here. 645 lives lost so it's going to feature prominently up and down this shipwreck coast. This one really well done. There are 645 gulls in the sculptures, great symbolism. Loved it.

HMAS Sydney II

Geraldton from HMAS Sydney II memorial

Geraldton from HMAS Sydney II memorial

HMAS Sydney II memorial - the waiting women

HMAS Sydney II memorial

HMAS Sydney II memorial, pointing to the spot where the Sydney went down and giving the coordinates.

Another busy working port. More Iron Ore and Lithium and grain.

Love this sundial

Really interesting Catholic Cathedral

Nippers on a Sunday morning down at the beach.

On the waterfront is an art installation called the Horizon Ball. The locals refer to it as The Big Marble. We thought it was pretty cool. 

Its very windy in Geraldton in spring and summer.

Some great playgrounds along the foreshore.

Moving on about 90 kms inland to a couple of free camps for a few days. Just an hour's drive so a slow start to the day.

Kalbarri

We left Denham and Shark Bay and just HAD to go past the Thong Shack down the road for Robyn to make her contribution. 

Before hitting the main road, we also pulled in to visit the old Shell Quarry, where early settlers cut shell blocks for building. 

The flies!! Pretty bad!!

We had these nets from a visit to Uluru about 25 years ago. Glad we brought them! We've used them a few times. At first you feel stupid, but after a while you simply don't care!

After a couple of hours' driving we arrived at Kalbarri, quite a pretty little town. 

We stayed on a goat farm about 10km out of town. Quiet, peaceful, safe. 

On the property was a fascinating old shearing shed, which dates back to the 1860’s. In its heyday up to 35000 sheep would be brought to this shed for shearing.

A few years ago the Kalbarri town installed two cantilevered structures over the gorge. 

Very impressive. 

Travellers visiting the coast north of Perth include it in their travels and we can see why. 

Sympathetic, striking, beautiful. 

Another short walk takes you to the Nature's Window.

We braved the wind along the beach and were fortunate to watch a gull repeatedly drop a shell onto the rocks and eat the crustacean inside. Fascinating. 

The wildflowers are beautiful in the National Park here. 

We were in Kalbarri on the first Tuesday of November, so as well as keeping an eye on the US election (!!) we went to the pub to watch the Melbourne Cup.

Robyn's first ever watching the Melbourne Cup at a pub! (All those years of being in a school.)

As we were leaving we noticed a small bulge in the wall of one of the van tyres. We've read some stories of travellers having blow-outs at speed on the narrow highways so we changed the tyre before heading to Geraldton after three nights here.