Karioitahi beach

We drove quite away along the beach so we had a private area to ourselves. You can see the vehicles in the bottom right of the photo.

Karioitahi beach is a popular place for hang-gliders and surfers. The black iron sand gets incredibly hot under foot by mid day.

The BBQ was a laid back way to spend Sunday along with a glass of wine and beer for the boys. All was peace and quiet until Laurence stood on a paper wasps nest and gave us a very credible version of a maori haka, yelling and hopping around on one foot. We, of course, just roared with laughter…

Araluen botanic garden

Araluen botanic garden, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

Jack admired this young woman’s beautiful costume and she was happy to have her photo taken. This led to an invite to lunch. The family have been in Australia 10 years and love Perth and the life style here in Australia. We admired the very strong family bond between the group.

 

Unexpected encounters with all types of people, and different cultures, are what makes travelling so addictive.

Kangaroo paw beds

Kangaroo paw beds, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

The Kangaroo Paw is the floral emblem of Western Australia and in Kings Park they have large beds of them and at this time of the year they are at their most vibrant best.

Kings Park botanic garden is, in my opinion, the very best botanic garden of the many I have seen. Of course it has a huge variety of native plants to display but it presents them so well and all are labelled with excellent information boards around the park. It brings together all the many plants and arranges them in sections representing the different geographic areas of Western Australia.

If you come to Perth you must not miss a visit to Kings Park.

Tag-along-tour

Skipper Road nature reserve (19), originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

Another great outing was with Alan on his tag-along-tour. He has 3 outings a week and as we did not have a 4 wheel drive we travelled with Alan in his vehicle. Three other 4 wheel drives tagged along and Alan took us along Skipper Road in to the sand plain area in search of orchids and other unusual native plants. It was a 4 hour search and we found a number of exquisite, dainty orchids.

Another area we visited was a newly saved nature reserve. It was to be bulldozed by the land owner to form more agricultural land, but Alan and a number of concerned conservationists fought a steady campaign to have it set aside as a reserve and thankfully they achieved their goal. It was in this area that we found the orchids.

Ready for the search

Lady bird on unknown flower

Blue fringed lily

Pink aluminium orchid,

White spider orchid, caladenia longicordia

Copper cups, Pilanthus peduncularis

Pixie mops, Petrophile

Darwinia

Star flower, calytrix

Early morning visitors

Early morning visitors, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

Another highlight from my 2005 trip around Australia on the Greyhound buses was my stay at Western Flora caravan park. It was great to meet up again with Alan and Lorraine Tinker and to find that Alan was still taking the early evening walk around the park, explaining all the interesting things that happen between the flowers,insects and birds, the reason things happen. Nothing is haphazard, every thing has a meaning, and having it explained opens your eyes to the world of flowers around you. I was also very pleased that Lorraine was still preparing the excellent home cooked dinner.

Alan pointing out interesting things on the 4-30 walk

Matilda parked near the BBQ area

Western Flora caravan park

If you are interested in the wild flowers of Western Australia this is a place you should put on the top of your list to visit. There are 60 acres of property to explore and the display of flowers is outstanding. We stayed 4 very enjoyable days immersed in the flowers.

Coral Bay

Coral Bay, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

We are now heading for Carnarvon, approx 350km from Galia Station. On the way we decide to stop at the beautiful small town of Coral Bay. I was here 5 years ago and loved it. I especially remembered a small bakery that had delicious pies and chocolate mud cake and yes it was still run by the same people and guess what I choose for lunch…

After lunch we had a walk along the beach and it was so lovely Jack just had to go for a swim. The caravan parks were all crowded and you had to book in advance to get in. I’m finding that every where there are far more travellers and tourist than 5 years ago, but I had decided to move on to a free camp area about 100km south to spend the night…

Paddling in the warm, crystal clear ocean

Picture perfect scenery

Pauline relaxing with Tyke the dog_

025 Pauline relaxing with Tyke the dog_, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

It has been a really good break from travelling to stay with Dave and Donna and do some work in the garden and of course the great experience of Forest Flying is a highlight of our journey so far. I’ enjoying a cup of coffee with the company of Tyke the dog.

Donna gave us a book, “Boomerang Road” by Quentin van Marle. Chapter 6 describes his visit and experience of the “Forest Flying” it is a good read, especially as he is biking through a lot of the places we are visiting.

Saying goodbye to the family…

Pauline and Jack getting ready to fly_

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017 Pauline and Jack getting ready to fly_3072x2304, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

Dave and Donna have built a 350 metre cable way across the top of the rainforest and called it “Forest Flying”  it is an amazing experience to glide across, safely fastened into a comfortable harness, and see the life of the rainforest from a bird’s eye view. It is breathtaking

Matilda fording creek_

005 Matilda fording creek_, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

We head towards Dave and Donna’s place in Finch Hatton gorge. Three weeks ago they experienced a catagory 3 cyclone with flooding and trees down. It took 2 weeks to clear the debris so people could get in. The creeks were still up and faithful Matilda just ploughed her way through.

Big tree just missed the car

Dave surveys the damage

Camilla Beach, Matilda on the beach front

Camilla Beach, Matilda on the beach front, originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

The camp site was right on the beach front, this photo is taken from the beach of Matilda, and shows some of the erosion from the high seas from the recent cyclone.

Getting ready for the cook up

We baked potatoe in tinfoil and a tin of beans in their can and then did toast over the embers using the long toasting fork. It was delicious, followed by a mug of milo…