Our second day in Carnarvon we had a bit of a drive round town and found a nice little coffee shop down on Babbage Island.  We came back into town and got a few provisions there and then had a quiet afternoon back at the van.  The next morning we got packed up and headed out to a caravan wash bay we'd discovered on the outskirt of town.  Our van was so dirty - the last wash it had was in Darwin and since then we'd been all through the Kimberley and the Pilbara and it had a thick coat of several different shades of red dust!  Goodness what a difference that made - thought we had a new van! 

Our next stop was a little bit of a backtrack up to Quobba Blow Holes for two nights.  This is a wilderness camp with lots of tin fishing shacks and spots to camp just behind the dunes.  The blow holes are amazing at any time of the day but Craig and I went up at sunset and captured the sunset with the blow in front - spectacular!  It was quite blowy and cool so we didn't swim there but had a couple of nice walks along the beach and then one afternoon went up to Quobba Station where Ken and Susie were camped and had afternoon drinks with them.  The school holidays had started this weekend so there were families pouring in and the place got quite crowded.

However we were on the move again and next stop was Wooramel Station.  We'd found a great spot there right beside the river bed.  The river was wide and totally dry and apparently doesn't flow that often.  Wooramel has artesian hot pools and so we had a lovely long soak in them. Craig felt that it really helped his shoulder which although improving slowly still aches a lot especially at night. The station has a 4WD track which you can follow - though they do charge $10 a car for access which we thought was a bit steep but off the four of us set and had a drive along the edge of the Shark bay reserve where we saw a couple of remains of dugongs and then onto the old shearing shed and shearers quarters.  They're no longer used as they've gone to a breed of sheep which don't required to be shorn.  We came back onto the highway and carried on down to the remnants of the Gladstone jetty - here we were in Gladstone again but on the opposite side of the country.  This jetty was where they shipped the wool from Wooramel Station.  Its now a popular camping spot.  We got back onto the 4WD track again and while driving along spotted an emu with several chicks though didn't get close enough to get a photo.  We stopped by the riverbed and had a picnic lunch before heading back to camp again.  At night we'd booked to have the slow cooked pulled beef dinner.  While the beef was very tasty there wasn't a lot of it and for $25 each you got the beef, a wrap, a bit of salad and half a corn cob.  We left after the meal - you bring your own plate, cutlery and chair and went back for another soak in the hot tubs before heading for bed.

Next day we moved down the road a bit to Hamelin Outback Station which is actually not a station any longer and has been bought by Bush Heritage Australia as a one of their conservation projects.  It's a beautifully laid out site with no powered sites, no water provided to vans and you need to take your rubbish with you.  But they have beautiful hot showers and you can fill water bottles etc from the rainwater tap in each of the really well equipped camp kitchens.  We had a drive out to see the stromatolites - fossils some of them still living and growing in the water.  However the cyclone last year destroyed the boardwalk so its currently closed and you can only view from the beach.  We then went round to Hamelin Pool caravan park where they have the old telegraph station.  In this area the beaches comprise millions of little shells which can be compressed into blocks and used to build and we saw a few examples of walls and house walls made from them. They had a large communal fire pit so we lit that and had a nice night round campfire.  Next day we were up and away around 7am for the three and a half hour drive out to Steep Point which is the most westerly point of Australia.  We'd a good drive out through all types of surfaces and roadways - some sealed, some quite good unsealed, some horrendous corrugations and some exciting stuff up and down over sand dunes many of which had massive ruts in them where people have been bogged.  But we got through it all with no issues and arrived at Steep Point.  After checking it out we found a slightly more sheltered spot and with the portable gas stoves cooked bacon and egg sandwiches for lunch - so good. Then we headed back reaching camp around 5pm - utterly exhausted - it was a big day.  We just had a frozen pizza for tea, a couple of drinks then crashed.

Time to move again and next stop was Denham or Shark Bay as its often known as.  And that's where we are as I'm writing this.  Its a beautiful little town with such a good vibe to it. Though once again its very busy with it still being school holidays.  But we're in a nice little caravan park with our own ensuite toilet and shower - all they had available when we booked and only one street back from the ocean.  The water looks beautiful and when I had a paddle the other night was really warm and lots of people snorkelling.  The first night we took our drinks and nibbles down to a little shelter on the beachfront and watched a beautiful sunset.  But we'd been warned the forecast was for rain yesterday.  Early on it was still fine but then down it came and we had squally showers and strong winds all day.  The first rain we've had in five months! Nudge and Carol got up early and headed over to Monkey Mia but we decided not to bother as it was cold and miserable.  I had managed to get an appointment at the hairdressers in town for a haircut - only my second in five and a half months!  That was at 3pm.  We had a drive around town, called in for a coffee at the cafe but it was so busy and no seats so we got them to go and sat in the car watching the waves and whitecaps in the bay.  We went up to the fish market and bought half a kilo of prawns and came home and made prawn sandwiches for lunch - delicious! Craig dropped me off at the hairdressers and she gave me a great cut and I'm really happy with it.  We toyed with the idea of going to the pub for tea but instead got fish and chips from the cafe and have to say even though they were damned expensive they were scrumptious. 

So this morning the weather has fined up and I think we might drive over to Monkey Mia. We move on tomorrow to Kalbarri and have a bigger drive than we've been having - about 370km tomorrow so we'll have an early night and get on the road promptly in the morning. See you soon.