Category: WA

Places, WA6 Comments

Well Salted

Itching for Hitching

      At Shark Bay in WA, we swim at Little Lagoon just out of the town of Denham. It is one and a half times more salty than normal sea water and it is impossible to stay on the bottom. On a warm afternoon, we and others are bobbing about like corks. Nearby Shell Beach is home to millions of tiny Fragum cockle shells. They say there are 4000 per square metre but how did they arrive at that figure did they weigh them or count them? The water here is twice as salty as normal sea water. Any … Continue reading Well Salted

Places, WA3 Comments

Chookinup Flats

Itching for Hitching

At Nannup in Western Australia’s tall timber of the south we miss our turn off so we just take the next available road which becomes quite interesting if not a little bumpy. We see hand written signs for “Chookinup”. Well I guess everything around here ends in UP anyway. Eventually we find a free range chicken farm with hundreds of chooks scratching about in the dirt. Their hen houses are old caravans! Which only goes to show, that not all caravans end their lives up on blocks at old seaside caravan parks with signs nailed on the front declaring “This’ll … Continue reading Chookinup Flats

Places, Point of Interest, WA2 Comments

Port Hedland Seaman’s Mission Tour

Itching for Hitching

This is Australia’s busiest Seaman’s Mission with 70,000 seamen visiting the port annually. The chaplain conducts the tour and after learning about their work and what our tour cost gets used for we board their harbour boat and pick up and deliver crew all over the harbour. This is not a conventional port with piers and walkways so the Mission boat acts like a water taxi. In typical Pilbara fashion the statistics were mind boggling. It is Australia’s 2nd largest port. The world’s largest iron ore port and there are usually about 35 ships waiting out at sea to enter. … Continue reading Port Hedland Seaman’s Mission Tour

National Park, WA, When Things Just Go Wrong7 Comments

The Perils of Getting Up Too Early

Itching for Hitching

Normally we never drive early in the day or after mid afternoon because of the risk of hitting a roo on the road. We drive from Melbourne to Esperance, over 3000kms without seeing a single kangaroo. We’ve seen thousands of emus but where oh where are the kangaroos? Is this some kind of record for driving in Australia? Then just when we have to arrive early to secure a spot at a way too popular NationalPark camp ground, out pops a roo and wham. A couple of days later a policeman at a random breath test tells us to get … Continue reading The Perils of Getting Up Too Early

WA, Well Bugger Me!11 Comments

Top Spot!

Itching for Hitching

I am so captivated by the rock formations at Osprey beach and Camp Ground on the Ningaloo coast that each day I scramble head down across the rocks taking photos of fossilised coral and watching my every foothold carefully for fear of being shredded on the coral outcrops. Suddenly a French voice says “Elloo”. I raise my head and all that I can see is a perfectly tanned bare breast. “Top spot” I mumble and stumble off to leave her sunbaking in peace. I’m still wondering how she managed to balance her chair on the rocks.   Continue reading Top Spot!

Places, WA4 Comments

Of Time and Tide

Itching for Hitching

The historic Derby wharf stretches out into King Sound in an arc. This was a cattle export wharf in the early days and our van park backs onto what was once the legendary cattle route to the wharf. The causeway across the mud flats that joins the town to the wharf is about a kilometre long and once held a railway line. We arrive at high tide and the pier is busy with fishermen casting lines and tossing crab nets. The wharf cafe is gearing up for curry night. The mangroves are almost submerged in murky water. This place must … Continue reading Of Time and Tide

Places, Point of Interest, WA11 Comments

Salmon Holes, Torndirrup National Park, Albany

Itching for Hitching

We are intrigued by a place on the map called Salmon Holes. We discover that the steep, wet and slippery granite rocks are covered in fishermen and they are hauling in large salmon. The salmon apparently take refuge in the calm waters of this spot. They maybe calm waters for the salmon but they threaten the fishermen with every wave and over the course of the next few months of our travels through WA three fishermen are drowned at this place. Continue reading Salmon Holes, Torndirrup National Park, Albany

WA, Well Bugger Me!2 Comments

Renewing the Dead

Itching for Hitching

As it is only a short drive from where we are taking in the views at Kings Park in Perth, I drag poor Brian to the historic Karrakatta cemetery to find the graves of his great grandparents, Michael and Elizabeth Flynn. They had originally left Melbourne for the Kalgoorlie gold rush arriving in 1907. We find Elizabeth’s grave but not Michael’s, only the section where it should be. I get chatting to a woman who is photographing headstones for her website. I love those people their work is priceless when you live in another state or another country. She tells … Continue reading Renewing the Dead