Day 37-42
May 28th -1st June
Dancing in the moonlight it’s got me by it’s spotlight…
Last night in Kalbarri under a beautiful moon, lovely meal prepared by Sarah & Trish. We were talking about Queen and Live Aid, then we heard Radio Gaga.. coming from the next van, so invited Rod & Ruth over who arrived late in the afternoon. Both retired, like all of us Grey Nomads enjoying all that Australia has to offer.
Only traveled 90 klm to Galena Bridge for the night. Free camp right beside the Murchison River. This is the river than runs through the gorge in Kalbarri, the steep canyon walls are behind us. The river is 800 klm long which in Australia is a reasonable size, but the further east large salt lakes form and it flows only in the cyclone months further up stream.
Great rains today, never appreciated it so much now that we are not in the city. The rain has stopped, mild conditions and some of our colourful parrots quickly on the scene rummaging for food. they are about the size of a pigeon
29th May:Rained a lot during the night, and a fair amount the next day, so this is a first experience for spending most of the daylight inside reading, listening to music, reflection, cups of tea, a nanny nap zzzzz…Brighten up late in the day so a good chance to stretch the legs in a different direction following the river upstream. I enjoyed the solitude and exploring & observing nature. Interesting, we live in a world of sensory overload & hyper-stimulation, when these are absent you start to notice whats around you in much more detail than I otherwise would have.
A few images of the resilience of plants able to survive in a harsh environment between drought and flooding rains, and soil low in nutrients.
This area along the river lead was discovered, and in 1851 Francis Pearson an experienced smelter from Newcastle UK,(brother Tim is back in my thoughts and his days of study there) so he constructed a smelter at the Geraldine Lead Mine. The bricks in the 32 mtr chimney were ballast in the ship from the UK, the lead from the mine was used as ballast for the return trip. For our friends in the USA people from Newcastle UK are known as Geordies, remember Jack Simpson he was a Geordie (ANZAC Day post), also you may be interested to know that Jeremiah Dixon was a Geordie, his other half was Charlie Mason, hence the famous Mason-Dixon Line sent out from England to settle a dispute over the free states to the north and the southern slave states. There is a town in Delaware called New Castle. Some American Historians place the significance of this feat up there with the moon landing, wow that’s a big call.
Other notable Geordies, Dire Straits, Sting, Eric Burdon & Animals, Ross Noble, two guys from Britain’s Got Talent
One ton of lead was carted 100 klm to Port Gregory (Pink Lake) and required 6 bullocks to transport, this return trip would take two weeks.
Clear skies, time to light the fire, able to eat outside and take in the Milky Way. Due to modern light pollution it is difficult to see the MW in all it’s glory, no problem out here, the view is staggering. What looks like some thin hazy clouds, is in fact the cosmic gas and dust within the MW…. so dense. It is easier to appreciate how easily the Star signs of Sagittarius, pisces, etc. were visible to those that named them in ancient times.
On this day in 1969 our family set sail from Southampton for Australia. Beatles Get Back was at No1, remember them. Talking about celestial skies, Aquarius by Fifth Dimension was in top ten, also Galveston by Glen Campbell.
Departing about 8.30am for another free camp, Nerra Nerra for one night as our intention is to make the following day with less kilometers to travel, so we can arrive in Denham (Shark Bay) at a reasonable time.
At Nerra Nerra we witnessed a wonderful celestial display, it was either a meteor, or a space junk that came crashing through the stratosphere, it streaked by covering half the night sky. Sarah thought it was fireworks.
May 31st Denham,Monkey Mia (pron.Mya) 220klm away. Denham has a pop. of 800 and is situated on Shark Bay, named after it’s name sake who sailed into these waters in 1699, saw so many species of shark that he named it accordingly. I decided on a swim, rode the bike down and dived in to cool off, happy to report no shark sightings, probably due the the 2′ of water I was paddling in.
Cycle down for a swim
The first pearls were discovered in Shark Bay in large numbers. A number of tour operators for both land and sea operate out of this region, as the whole of the bay and peninsula is heritage listed.
The rain we had at Galena Bridge, extended up here in Shark Bay. The national park is closed due to dirt roads being risky, due to open again on Wednesday 2nd June. A little late for us, so we look at other places of interest.
Famous for it’s fishing due to the temperate waters of the southern part of this coast and the meeting of tropical waters as we are at 26 deg below the equator. Talking to locals (see photo) part of his catch for the day, seen here filleting Turk & Spanish Mackerel (tropical) and Snapper (temperate waters) He said he had too much so offered us some fillets, had to decline as we were walking and had nothing to carry them in, what a missed opportunity, now that is “fresh fish of the day.” By the way he caught these spear fishing.
Turk Fish
Spanish Mackerel Fillets. Public facilities provided for the days catch
Went to Monkey Mia 20 klm from Denham, lovely beaches turtles and dolphins in the water, amazing. There is an RAC Resort, and they manage the tourism for this area.
In the 1960’s the local fishermen after sorting the days catch discarded excess fish after filleting and found large numbers of dolphins gathered to feed on the scraps. This created a problem as they became too reliant on having their food supplied. The offspring then lost the ability to hunt independently, so the survival rate was extremely low. Now they only feed them 10% of their natural daily intake, for 2-3 times for a few hours in the morning. This enables them to survive at the normal rate.
Little Lagoon 
Pre-drinks for tea, sunset view for tea, and Red Emperor for tea, a local Shark Bay fish recommended by Michael in Perth. Great choice Michael, one of the best fish I have tasted.
A little lunch on Shark Bay. 
Some of the first forms of life on Earth are recorded in stromatolites present in rocks 3.5 billion years old. Although stromatolites continue to form in certain areas of the world today, they grow in greatest abundance in Shark Bay in Western Australia. They were the first known organisms to photosynthesis and produce free oxygen.
Heading to Carnarvon today 2nd June
