Billy's Camps no's 41 through to 53

15/09/2014
Hi all,
I have condensed my camps into one blog to save myself time, and the photo's are limited anyway.
All towns from here until Kalbarri are mostly mine reliant. The wheat belt starts at Kalbarri. The towns to Perth after Kalbarri are mostly small cray fishing villages

Camp 41..... Karratha. 1/7/14 - 4/7/14
I left cape Keraudren and travelled through Port Headland and stopped in at Roebourne and Wickham on the way through.
I visited Dampier, of Red Dog fame, and the North West shelf gas sites. Karratha is an expensive town, property values are ridiculous.
No pics available, still in the laptop. 
F
Camp 42......Onslo. 4th and 5th of July.
A small town with a mine just out of town and a salt mine. Most localities mine salt.
No pics.

Camp 43......Emu Creek Station. 5th until 15th July.
A station with a peaceful permanent water hole. The still water reflections were great. I hung out here to avoid the school holiday crowds on the coast. Newman and other inland town residents flock to Exmouth during the hols.
No pics.

Camp 44.......Exmouth. 15th July until 11th August.
Famed for the Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range Nat Park.

Yardi Creek. 

Ditto

Ditto

Osprey nest at Yardi Creek. 

From land looking over the reef edge

At my feet

From my boat just outside the reef

 Ditto

Cape Range looking towards Exmouth Gulf

Ditto

Vlamingh lighthouse...overlooks the reef. 

Due to the lack of trees birds nest in a lot of power poles etc. 

Camp 45..... 11th until 14th August.

A working cattle station, previously a sheep station, as are many up here.

 Typical donkey hotwater

Open air shower

Camp 46......Quobba Station. 14th until 18th August
A working coastal sheep station.

These guys were nearly washed off by a king wave earlier, there are several memorial plaques nearby for guys killed whilst fishing. 

He was about 1.8m long

Camp 47.......Gladstone Bay. 18th until 21st August.
A camp site on a station but remote to the homestead. Most station stays are close to the homesteads

Looking back at camp at low tide

Dawn, ie before sunrise, looking west

This guy was on a jet ski before the engine let go...he had a flare ready..then jumped off. 

Camp 48......Denham. 21st until 24th August.
A township famed for the nearby Monkey Mia and dolphins. Also the surrounding national parks and drives.

The road to Cape Peron.....the pic doesn't do the colours justice

Camp 49......Hamelin Station. 24th until 27th August.

Another station getting extra income from tourism, some stations make more from tourism than farming. This station spent heaps on infrastructure, whereas most do it on the cheap.

Stromatolites.....exciting for some...

The scenery on the way to Steep Point Australia's mainland most western point, the red colours of Cape Peron are only 100 k's away !

Still used 

Camp 50......Kalbarri. 27th until 30th August.
A coastal town with its industry being the cray fishing. Otherwise a gorgeous coastal holiday town.

The Murchison bar crossing....on a good day

He's behind the waves, not under.

Kalbarri N P. Murcshison River 

Camp 51......Coronation Beach. 30th until 8th September.
A bush camp just outside of Geraldton.

HMAS Sydney II memorial in Geraldton, 645 seagulls for 645 lives lost

Lady in waiting...looking out over the ocean towards the last known area of HMAS Sydney..

Camp 52......Sandy Cape. 8th until 12 Sept.
Another bush camp just outside of Jurien Bay.

The Pinnacles, near Cervantes

Camp 53......Perth. 12 Until 17th Sept.
I stayed at a caravan park near the Swan Valley wine region. No pics taken...not here for the cities.

I have moved on to Point Heron on will leave tomorrow and follow the coast all the way around to Esperance, thereby completing a loop of WA. 

There are heaps of camp spots and NP's on the way, the most in any area of WA.

The fishing has been exceptionally hard and it is accepted the marine Eco system, as far as fish numbers go, is in big trouble. It is also generally accepted by local WA residents, that it is other WA residents that travel and hammer an area for 3 months and then return home with a freezer full of fillets. The in possession max per person is 20 kg, so that's 40 kg for a couple. That is a lot of dead fish.

This blog is now done on an iPad and the app is extremely frustrating to use. 

I left Canberra 5 months ago and have only done 17000 k's.

Ooroo

Bill.