Week 10 (27th May - 2nd June)

Leaving Perth, we trundled northwards with Paul, Saxon & Harley the sausage dog (Sacky’s “little Baba” and “the best dog in the world”) following behind. At Lancelin a few hours on the beach gave Harley the opportunity to have a run but towards evening we pulled off the Brand Highway and set up camp in an attractive rest area where, three and a half years previously, we had spent the night with Otto when he was 14 months! Even the kookaburras were still there giving us a fine rendition of their evening chorus, their peels of laughter creating a true Aussie atmosphere amongst the wandoo gums as we got the fire going to cook hamburgers over the coals.

Campsite at Wandoo rest area near Jurien - the site of Harley's bee-sting

How easily a relaxed and happy morning preparing to leave can change in an instant. Suddenly, Harley began retching, frothing at the mouth and staggering in a manner indicative of paralysis. The sheer horror that she may have eaten some poison lying around the campsite (1080 dropped by a crow?) crossed our minds. A very distraught Sacky and Paul rushed off in the direction of Eneabba (50km away) with Harley passed out in the car to see if they could find a vet. We followed on behind hoping to meet up with them and worrying ourselves sick. Phones were useless as we were out of range. We continued on to Geraldton (200km away) feeling sure that was where the next vet would be and we would have mobile reception.

There was still no sign of them in Geraldton so we sat in the forecourt of a service station anxiously waiting for a call. Two hours later – relief! Saxon called from the outskirts of Geraldton to say Harley had gone into anaphylactic shock as a result of a bee sting. They had been sent to a vet in Dongara who had administered a shot of steroids and anti-histamine. Sacky & Paul were convinced she had died but, like Kleinman the honey badger who got bitten by a puff-adder and came back from the “dead”, she was none the worse for her experience. Reunited and emotionally drained yet greatly relieved we continued on to Kalbarri (150km).

Setting up camp in the Red Bluff caravan park George experienced his first real problem trying to back the caravan into the site we had been allocated … even with the able “assistance” of Paul, Saxon and Lea along with three neighbouring caravan owners telling him which way to steer (“left-hand down!”, “right-hand down!”, “full lock!”, “forward” ….) Absolute chaos, made worse by discovering that once perched on its pocket handkerchief sized parking place (a concrete plinth), the corner stabilisers would not reach the ground and the van was far from level and … wait for it …. Lea and Sacky’s discovery of a drive-through site in a much better position (out of the wind and further from the road)! So, after all that Getaway had to be hitched up again and moved!

Paul and George planned a major assault on the fish stocks of the Kalbarri region, a recce of our surrounds followed the next day.

Looking down the barrel of a nose - the meeting of a crab and Harley the nosey parker

We checked out the fishing spots below Red Bluff, along the beach and at the mouth of the Murchison estuary; bought bait and prepared our gear but our first attempt, so typical of shore based marine angling, was a dismal failure. The surf too powerful, the gully we selected too rocky and slippery …. we may as well have just emptied our tackle boxes and bait into the sea!

The warm weather we had been hoping for never materialised. The fishing did not get any better. We tried poppers, lures, super jigs, sardines and prawns as bait …… but never had a touch and eventually resorted to taking a drive along the coast to have a look at the strikingly coloured sandstone cliffs of the Kalbarri National Park.

One of the most interesting spots is Rainbow Valley where, quite apart from colour of the multi-layered sandstones (some 400million years old) George was mystified by the array of sandstone tubes that hung vertically along the edge of the many overhangs.

Ancient remains of the vertical burrows of the sand worm Skolithos

Subsequently he learnt that they were burrows of a sand-worm (Skolithos) that lived in Silurian times on the floor of the ocean! The compacted sand that filled the burrows (this having been ingested by the worms) was more resistant to weathering and left standing after the softer sediments surrounding them were eroded away. The densely packed distribution of the burrows was staggering and suggested that the animal must have once been in incredible abundance on the sea floor.

Paul and his craftily snagged barred longtom

At last Paul succeeded in foul hooking a barred longtom by casting his lure on top of the poor things head, and to mark the event, we cooked the long ribbon of a fish for breakfast. Later, three undersized silver bream were caught (and released) by Paul. With the score now standing at four : zero, a family fishing competition (Begg vs Gee) was planned! The event took place at Chinaman’s Point and within minutes the Gee couple were two fish ahead. The Beggs struggled, George finally landing a tiny blowfish (vermin) and a bream so small that to avoid being accused of murdering juveniles it was hastily released. The Gees may be better fishermen but we still had nothing for the frying pan all week!

Just before leaving Perth we had lunch with Diana & Peter Ryan. Days later they met up with their friend Di Godson and told her to look out for a troopie sporting buffalo horns probably roaming around Kalbarri at the same time as she’d be visiting the region. Co-incidentally, Di Godson was at Arundel School with Lea, her brother at Peterhouse with George, so we had the unexpected pleasure of catching up one evening.

With Saxon and Paul returning to Perth tomorrow (Saturday) we will move on exploring the gorges of the Murchison River in the Kalbarri National Park.