Jordan - couple of days in

We're sitting in the sportsman's bar of the hotel in Amman, waiting for a late lunch. I'm happy because the internet access is good, unlike in our room, and Michael's happy because Liverpool's playing in the first game of the season and it's live on the tv here.  The little things in life :)

We flew into Jordan on Thursday afternoon. Michael had a sliver of a view out the window, and all that could be seen was dust and sand... but fortunately there was a terminal there and we could get off. I have never travelled with so many kids - there were 47 children and 22 babies on the flight from Dubai! No school trips, just kids travelling with their parents. Amazing.  No screams on take off or landing, but plenty of noise otherwise, and boy the flight crew had their work cut out for them!  Once off, we found our way to Immigration, got out some Jordanian Dinar to pay for our visas, then went to what looked like the shortest queue for a visa. Of course Murphy's Law struck, and we noticed after a short time that the people in front of us were holding 10 passports. So every one of those had to be processed, letters checked, and only then could they progress to have a retinal scan done and go through passport control. So we waited about 20 minutes until our turn, and then wouldn't you know it, stamp stamp, scan scan, and we're in.  Down the escalator and then a couple of minutes later there were our bags.

Through customs and out, found our tour guide Ahmed, and off we went.  First room had two double beds so we asked for a change, got a room identical to the first but higher up and with one queen sized bed. Much better :)

Friday we were up early and out of the hotel by 8am.  First stop was Jerash, which is famous for an unbroken chain of human occupation dating back more than 6,500 years.  Jerash lies on a plain surrounded by hilly wooded areas and fertile basins. Conquered by General Pompey in 63 BC, it came under Roman rule and was one of the ten great Roman cities of the Decapolis League. The city's golden age came under Roman rule, during which time it was known as Gerasa, and the site is now generally acknowledged to be one of the best-preserved Roman provincial towns in the world. Hidden for centuries in sand before being excavated and restored over the past 70 years, it's now a magnificent site. It was also bloody hot!  One of the most surprising finds was in the amphitheatre, where we came across a piper ... yes, bagpipes!

Off we go!

Just enjoyed a delightful lunch in the qantas lounge at Tullamarine, couple of glasses of Bolly and we're just about ready to go. Oh the desserts here are to die for! Mine was a pav with strawberries and rhubarb and a huge pile of Persian floss, michael's a lemon Madeleine with creme brûlée ... Nom nom nom

Preparations

I started the day with a list of about 30 things to do before leaving work today - knowing that I was also going to the inaugural ACER Alumni lunch in the city which would chop about 3 hours out of the day. Happy to report that completed all but one of the tasks I had set myself, as well as a few others that popped up along the way. Oh and haven't changed my voicemail message yet :(

The house looks like a bomb's hit it, but once we start actually packing, it will all fall into place. I'm trying something new this trip and trying to travel light. It's always tempting not to when you know you have 96kg luggage allowance, and as Michael is travelling with me, he does too!  But I keep thinking about trying to sling a 32kg bag on and off a bus and I figure that I will try and start light.

Plans - Monday fly to Dubai - three nights at the Palace Hotel in Dubai, then off to Jordan.

After baking in Dubai, we head off to Amman, Jordan. We have a total of 6 days in Jordan, travelling through the north, then down to Petra and the Dead Sea. Petra's been on my bucket list since I saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!

Next fly through Istanbul to Cappadocia, then three days one balloon flight later fly through to Antalya and then head off across the south coast of Turkey, finishing up in Gallipoli and then to Istanbul. We're staying there for a week at a rather gorgeous hotel: Ishak Pasa Konagi in Sultanahmet, right next to (actually joined to) Topkapi Palace.  And I have to go to the conference - chairing one session, discussant on a couple and my own presentation... :)  should be fun!

Daisy's bath

Daisy

Yep, took her to a new groomer today and she did a spectacular job. From a smelly dirty matted dog, I got this beautiful one!  Good trade I reckon.

She's getting a little uncomfortable. Jess has been gone for a week and my suitcase is out. She's really going to know when Michael's also comes out...

Tomorrow I head in for a couple of nights at the Hilton South Wharf, chairing the ACER conference. One of the little perks of being the Director of Research that I do like! So it will just be Michael here with Daisy and Neo.  And then packing for our trip. Can't wait until we go, but I am going to miss this little face :)

Waiting in Dubai

Four hours layover in Dubai. Whisked through security when we got off the plane by some quite charming staff - pleasant surprise!  Didn't even have to take out laptop or ipad - yay!

Strolled down through the miles of shiny duty free and lift up to the Emirates First Lounge - one of the perks of Platinum status!  Down to the end of the lounge to the dining room, where we seem to be the only customers. Had a lovely breakfast (must remember to get Jess to cut the crusts off my toast from  now on!) and then basically we've just crashed here in the lounge.

Emirates have been delightfully helpful in trying to organise the limo transfer in Paris that Qantas seemed unable to do. Cross fingers and hope that the car will be there when we get into Charles De Gaulle.

Looking forward to being back in Paris - last time it was so cold, weather looks perfect for Sunday and our trip out to Giverny to Moet's Garden... cannot wait! Tossed up whether to go to Versailles in the morning but I think we might just wander from our hotel through to the Eiffel Tower.

en route to Paris

sitting here in the Emirates lounge in Singapore, waiting for the flight to Dubai which leaves at 0140. Have a nice glass of Moet to dull the pain (LOL) but bloody tired and just want to go.

It's been so hot here in Singapore, alternating with the frigid airconditioning of the lecture rooms at the University. Outside, drenched with sweat, then inside to have it evaporate and leave you freezing. Rinse and repeat 6 times a day until you collapse in the hotel room.  The haze from the fires in Indonesia has largely abated this week, and it's just been the usual haze from other things, probably mainly humidity.  We went to the new Gardens by the bay, which were spectacular. Loved the design, the supertrees, just the fact that everything is environmentally sustainable. Beautiful architecture.

The conference has been good, catching up with old buddies that I see at various events and meetings during the year, others whose paths I only cross every few years.

Now back at Changi, waiting for the A330 to dubai then the A380 to Paris. We (Lisa and I) have a couple of days there this time before catching the train to Liege, in Belgium. 

If it's October then this must be India!

Wow.. can't believe I haven't been anywhere out of Australia since March - well other than that quick trip to Dubai, but that hardly counts... ;)

Anyway last Friday saw me back in the Qantas international lounge at Tulla heading for Malahide, just north of Dublin, where I had the honour of representing Australia in the IEA General Assembly. Five days in beautiful Ireland and then time for me to head back south again, to Singapore then across to Delhi. The day started well in Dublin where the girl on checkin blithely tagged my bag as 'heavy' at 27kg but didn't even hassle me about excess baggage - let alone charge me for it :) Then had the good fortune to be upgraded to business on the London-Singapore flight, and was already on business for the Singapore to Delhi so arrived feeling a bit worse for wear in terms of time adjustment, but not as bad as it could have been. Bag arrived safely, driver from the hotel there to pick me up, all's well!

So to bed at about 12.30am, then up again at 4.45 for a 5.15 pickup to take me to Delhi Station to catch the train to Agra. Interesting. Would probably have paid extra to be in a more comfortable cabin, but it was ok. Just after we left the hotel a little piglet trotted past. Yep, I did say a piglet.

Arrived in Agra at about 8.30, got out of the bedlam they fondly refer to as a carpark then headed for the hotel. Road fairly chaotic, cattle everywhere, horses with carts, tuktuks, bike rickshaws and people on scooters, bikes, you name it.

Car screened before entering, checked underneath with a mirror and in the boot and under the bonnet, then bags scanned on the way in. Rested until the afternoon then off to see Agra Fort. Very lovely, especially with all the red sandstone. Walked all around with the tour guide explaining all about the palace. Big pack of monkeys near the entrance to the fort had a major domestic dispute, much to the amusement of all there, resulting in the large male (and yes, he was QUITE large...LOL) climbing up a tree, angrily shaking it and glaring down at the younger monkeys. Very amusing, although one of the little ones was shaking.....

Way back fairly uneventful except saw a camel on the side of the road in amongst some cattle, dressed up and loaded up, and a guy on a bike with a little trailer with a water tank on the back. Other than that just lots of people, dirt, rubbish and life!

Early night tonight after a delicious meal in the restaurant - very indian, very yummy! Pick up at 5.15am I think to go to the Tak Mahal at dawn.

Must show the driver how to focus my camera - he took rather a good shot of me with the Taj in the background - except it is in focus and I am not....

Too tired to blog!

OK this is just an internim blog because a few funny things happened and I wanted to get them down before I forgot.

Today we'd booked a trip to go to Pisa, San Gimignano and Siena. We're waiting to be picked up at 7.30am downstairs when this guy pulled his car up on the street and asked if the scooter in front of us was ours. We said no, and so as he obviously ewanted the parking spot, he picked it up and moved it back abit so he had more room. Then he did the most pathetic attempt at parallel parking, which resulted in him scrunching the scooter between his bumper and that of the car behind him! SO he stormed out of the car, picked up the scooter and dragged it about 10 m down the road and continued with his efforts backing into the parking spot. CRUNCH into the car behind him... then we left. We've seen quite a bit of this bumper parking here in Florence - despite people largely driving tiny cars!


So Pisa this morning - first we saw this dog - there were three daschunds - but this one had the weirdest bright blue eyes! It wouldn't stand still for me to take a proper photo!

Second - gotta love these shorts - how classy are they? I thought the ones with Davids's willy on them were the ultimate in class but these ones go one better I think!Now the third thing. We're in San Gimignano this afternoon and I spy a Westie strutting down the street. He's a very handsome boy... I thought about pattng him but every time the woman walking him would even slow down a faction he'd be hard at it humping her leg.... LOL Michael and I nearly fell over laughing...but we did make one animal friend today ... this guy...

Pompeii

Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 metres of ash and pumice, and it was lost for over 1,500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599.
On the left you can see the entrance to Pompeii - up a steep slope from what was quite near to the sea - so named the Porta Marina. Sailors used to come to Pompeii frequently. The people of Pompeii used to flood the streets to keep the city clean, and the big stones you csn see int he road int he picture to the left is so that people can cross the street without getting their feet wet! They are all evenly spaced so a chariot could go through the gaps!
On the right right is part of the Curia - where the senate met in ancient times.

Below : the first is a bronze statue of Apollo - just imagine him holding a bow... Next to that is one of the many dogs in Pompeii - they are very sweet and there is a program underway to cull the numbers in the most humane way - by people adopting them and offering the dogs homes and love :)

Next - two of the victims ....

Below.. this mosaic is believed to be the earliest "Beware of the dog" door mat!
On the right, part of the public baths, or Terme, in Pompeii. These are beautifully preserved.

Now it is apparent from all the bits and bobs in the Napoli museum, that the Pompeiins were not prudes...

On the ground, embedded in the stone, is a phallic symbol, apparently pointing the way to the brothel area... one of the brothels is very well preserved, and apart from the fact that I find it hard to believe anyone could have sex on stone beds, I guess it all depends on just how long you'd been at sea!

Vesuvio and Pompeii

Ok I am going to try and be a bit better about this seeing as we are in Firenze with free wireless access :)
Tuesday, as I said, we took a couple of trains - first the fast train to Napoli, then into the basement of the station to catch the local train to Sorrento, called the Circumvesuviana - love it! Disembarked at Pompeii and decided that as it was furthest, we would take the bus as far as went up Mt Vesuvius. Of course Vesuvius is still an active volcano, last erupting in 1944. It's main claim to fame, however, is the eruption in 79 AD when it covered Pompeii and Herculaneum.
So we zig zagged up the side of the mountain, stopping about halfway to "admire the view" of Napoli, and of course buy postcards and souveniers. There were a bunch of dogs hanging around, and we had to give our money to one of them, who then took it over to the till...

Anyway we continued up the mountain, up to the 1000m point, at which the bus stopped and let us out in a rather drab parking area.

The rest of the way was on foot. OMG. I looked at it, I started it, I really did not see how I could possibly do this! Michael was forging ahead, however, so I kind of had to.This is what awaited us .....

However 40 mins later we made it to the Caldera - where this view awaited us...


Fabulous and spectacular - no lava of couse but lots of sulpurous clouds smoking away.

Climb down much easier - and then back ont he bus and back to Pompeii.

And that, my children, will have to wait or another day.

After what seems like half a cow for dinner, plus red wine and then cider in the Irish pub on the way home, Michael is snoring gently away and I am fzalling asleep. Nighty night, will try and do some more tomorrow. In the mean time there are tons of photos on Facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=274193&id=532332283&l=9b3255ba3f

for these ones...

xxx Sue

Trying to catch up

The view over the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Hill

It's clearly been a very busy few days.

The weekend was absolutely flat chat, with walking walking walking - all over the Forum, Colosseum, back to the Trevi.. all over the place.


Monday it was off to work for Sue while Michael gadded about Rome. He visited the cats at the Largos Argentinos, went over the Garibaldi bridge onto the Island, visited a heap of churches, the Pantheon, and then popped out to the Vatican to buy tickets, went to the church at Repubblica and then took me out for a romantic Valentine's Day meal... hahahaha


Tuesday I played hookey ... we caught the early train to Napoli, then the Circumvesuviano to Pompeii Scavi, a bus to the parking lot at Vesuvius (1000m above sea level) and then climbed the remaining 283m (was it only that??? rubbish...) to the summit and the mouth of the volcano. I will add pictures. This was not a stroll to the top, this was a frigging climb. I really did not think I would make it - makes the thousand steps look a bit pissy... ;)

Day 1 Rome

Well here we are, 10 hours sleep and I feel human again :0

Quick post before we head out for the day.

VEry tired when we got in last night and fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book, with the result that thecabbie ripped us off 50 euros. Gave him a 50 and he held a 10 up and said I had not given him enough - without thinking (tired tired tired) I gave him another 50, but then of course I didn't have any 10s did I? I feel so stupid getting caught like that first day here :(

Ahh well, lesson learnt... off to explore Rome!

Random thoughts on life

Well here I am sitting in the study looking out at a back yard that's pretty well under water. I'm trying to finish a report that I promised I would send off today, then have to finish off another article to send off to Japan, and prepare for a meeting in Sydney on Wednesday. The weather is bloody awful - I have mum's birthday present and want to get it to her, but I don't want to go out in this weather. maybe tomorrow that will be a possibility.

Along with Karen and Stuart, we've bought her a Kindle. I love mine :)

And at the same time I have to start packing for Italy. We leave next Thursday at midnight, and arrive in Rome late afternoon on the Friday. One week in Rome and then 3 weeks travelling north. I can't wait. I am excited to be seeing Rome again, with more time there than I have ever had, and then a leisurely tour through the fabulous cities of the north - Firenze, Venezia, Vicenza, Verona, Milan, and the towns of the Cinque Terra. This will be Michael's first trip to Italy, and he is also looking forward to it, although I suspect we might both be asleep before the plane takes off.

Daisy came in from outside yesterday absolutely filthy. She needed a nail cut so we took her to have a bath and pedicure today. She looks (and smells) gorgeous. Damn. I'm going to miss the little terror so much.

Back to work.

The Top End of WA

We left Derby early on Thursday morning with the aim of getting to Fitzroy Crossing for the 11 am Geike Gorge boat trip. Got there right on time - booked the tour andwalked onto the boat - about 35 degrees in aluminium boats.... Geike Gorge is the remains of a Devonian Reef system that once stretched 1000km along a vast inland sea in the middle of Australia - or probably Gondwanaland. The Fitzroy River flows through the Gorge and at present is at its low point - in the middle of the Wet season it is about 15m higher and the flood plain is 25km wide. It's really hard to get your head around just how much water these rivers carry!
Anyway quick drive around Fitzroy Crossing - now a fairly dry community - no alcohol over 2.5% at the order of the women of the community - same in Halls Creek as we found when we went into the bottle shop and had a choice of 3 different types of light beer. No wine at all, not even our beloved 1litre bricks!!!
So we headed on to Halls Creek - figured there was really nothing in either Fitzroy or Halls Creek that we really wanted to do, so we just went to the Halls Creek Caravan Park - dry dusty and locked in overnight - and then out the next morning at 7am.
The road to Kununurra is spectacular - through several sets of mountain ranges (all low - these are very very old mountains and although many were once the size of Mt Everest they have eroded over the millenia) and through some spectacular Kimberley countryside. Arrived in Kununurra early afternoon and parked at the caravan park near the lake. Lots of bugs and a few mozzies but not too bad.
When we went through Turkey Creek we booked our flights into the Bungle Bungles - or so we thought, When we called the office to confirm and tell them where we were staying they cancelled our booking and moved it to Monday. Not much we could do about it, so we "did" Kununurra - difficult as most things were closed because it was Saturday afternoon! Went and had lunch at Ivanhoe Crossing, went to a rum distillery (too sweet for me) and Zebra Rock Gallery. The highlight of this was feeding the fish - a thousand disgusting black catfish all with mouths open trying to get the food. However this soon turned to great amusement as Michael was "attacked" by one of the Archer fish - who seemed to have it in for him - circling and then squirting him with water until he was really quite wet. :)
After a really hot uncomfortable night we had a day to kill. Michael decided we would go have a look at Wyndham. We knew this would be an auspicious trip when we crossed over Cheese Tin Creek and then Dead Horse Creek, but little did we know what delights awaited us!
Twent-five km out of Wyndham, the most northerly town in WA, we came across our first traffic light since we left Perth 25 days and 6,500 km of road later. Waited there in 35 degree heat until the road cleared of the two cars coming in the opposit direction through roadworks and then headed on into Wyndham.
Made it to the outskirts when Constable and Sergeat Plod pulled us over and breathalysed Michael. 12.20pm on Sunday. We went on to the fiver rivers lookout, looked out, had lunch, fed brown kites and tried to get them to fly in close enough to take photos and then headed back into town.


I was all for going straight back to Kununurra but Michael insisted on seeing the port, so we headed out there. Very old, very dingy, trying to make history out of bugger all. For example the hospital which opened in the late 1890s and closed in 1909 because it was riddled with termites, or the magistrate's residence, which was built with inferior mortar and never occupied because it was so far away from anywhere and the local aboriginals were very hostile.

However part of it still stands. Go figure.

Left is the main street.

10 minutes later we were on our way back across the mudflats with a big 4wd up our clacker. I was driving at this stage, so when the red and blue flashing lights went on all I could think of was whether for some insane reason the speed limit over the mudflats was only 60.... however , it was another pair of Constable Plods doing random breath testing, so I was also tested (2.30pm Sunday). We were doing well so far - 2 breath tests and a traffic light - so we got the hell out of there as fast as we could, and back to sunny Kununurra. We may be getting a but jaded, but beer o'clock couldn't come fast enough!! OH - I forgot to mention the giant croc didn't I? hmmm. This is Michael wrestling the giant croc in Wyndham...

Broome through to Derby

Went swimming at Cable Beach Monday and Tuesday mornings at 7 am; great time for a swim and the water was superb. Not much else to do in Broome - it's a great place if you just want to sit and do nothing but neither of us wanted to do that - we wanted to do things! We went out to Gantheaume Point, hoping to see whales - saw some great rocks against the stunning turquoise ocean, some dinosaur footprints (well copies in concrete as they are only visible at extrememly low tides) but no whales. However we did see a sea eagle nest, full of squawking complaining babies, and the their mum and dad came along to feed them - so that was a bit of a bonus.

We left Broome early the next morning and headed the 230km north to Derby. We stopped in at the boab prison tree and the world's longest cattle trough. Hmmm. This knocked two of the highlights off the list of things to do in Derby even before we got there. Oh well... we went off to see the long jetty and the high tide - this is one of those places with enormous inter-tidal zones - almost 10m at times.

Wednesday, today, we were picked up at about 9am and taken to Derby airport to fly to the horizontal waterfalls at Talbot Bay. The flight was fantastic - in a little single-engined deHavilland seaplane -we got a fantastic view over all the mudflats around Derby. Sounds boring but they really are beautiful. Landed on Lake Talbot after several flyovers of the horizontal waterfalls. What are these horizontal waterfalls you ask?

Located deep within Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago are the Horizontal Waterfalls. Massive tidal movements create a waterfall effect as water banks up against one side of the narrow cliff passage, to be repeated again on the turning tide.

The twin gaps are part of the McLarty Ranges, which have two ridges running parallel approximately 300 metres apart. The first and most seaward gap is about 20 metres wide and the second, most spectacular, gap is about 10 metres wide.

On a slack tide it is possible to drive boats through the two gaps to the bay behind. The tides in this area have a 10 metre variation which occurs over six and a half hours from low tide to high tide and vice versa. The effect of the waterfalls is created by the tide building up in front of the gaps faster than it can flow through them and there can be a four metre high waterfall between the bays.

The waterfall phenomena has been described by David Attenborough as "one of the greatest natural wonders of the world".

We got onto the boats, which are superbly luxurious, with flatscreen plasmas and lovely beds! We should have stayed overnight!!! Anyway, after a wander around we went off on a boat to Cyclone Creek. Cruised up there, admiring the rocks and the beautiful colour of the water. Lovely and relaxing, but no swimming as there are lots of saltwater crocs in here, not to mention hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks and sea snakes. There were also supposed to be turtles and dolphins but we didn't see any :(

Back to the boat and lunchtime - superb barbecued fresh barramundi, spuds and salad. Then a couple of hours just sitting around talking and watching the wildlife.

Oh did I mention that we couldn't go swimming? Well after lunch we saw one of the best reasons for this - 8 or 9 bronze nurse sharks... swimming around the boat, waiting for scraps. Yes alright they aren't huge scary sharks but are still sharks nonetheless!!

After the sitting around we went out onto the little wave shooter and headed off to the falls. This was absolutely awesome. You can see the water being pushed through the gap in the rocks, dropping about 2m at this point. We went through and back several times, and when I can get photos off the little camera I will post something. But it was great fun and one of the highlights of the trip so far.

Last time in the Pilbara

We went back into Karijini on Wednesday and went on a 4WD tour with a guide called Geoff, who took us into the gorges that our vehicle couldn't handle. On the way in there we came across the grader ... that bit of road was so much better! However it was nice for someone else to be doing the driving for a change.

Aboriginal legend has it that the gorges of Karijini National Park were formed by giant serpents who snaked through the rocks and now reside in the park’s glistening waters.

Basically, in terms of geology, this whole area is an ancient sea bed. Over millions of years, layers of silica and silica and iron oxide built up, squeezing out the water to become tough, well-bedded rock. Colliding continental plates caused these rocks to buckle and develop vertical cracks before being lifted up to become dry land. Erosion over millions of years has caused the landscape to become how we see it today.

What is so amazing with these gorges is not just witnessing the absolute power and strength of the earth in lifting and warping the rocks on the sides - it's the whole thing - including the depth that some of the rocks have been lifted and the resulting depth of these gorges. A lot of them you can't get into without a guide, proper abseiling/climbing equipment and a lot of experience!

We went first to Knox Gorge. This was pretty mind-blowing, but soon it was time to head off and so off we went to have a look at Joffre Gorge, a spectacular gorge which has been cut down into by water and has a waterfall at one end, crystal clear water at the bottom. We then went to Oxer lookout, which is where Red, Hammersley, Joffre and Knox Gorges all meet. WOW! This was absolutely fantastic. The colours of the iron-rich rocks are amazing.
After lunch we headed off for a bit of adventure - to go into Weano Gorge and go down it to the handrail pool. This necessitated us walking around narrow rock ledges in waist high water , clinging onto rock handholds, to get to other parts of the gorge that were not otherwise accessible. We then had to carefully clmb down through a narrowish gap across very slippery rocks to get to a pool almost entirely enclosed by 80m high walls of sheer red rock. Next step, which Michael did but I was too lazy to do, was to go through a narrow opening, and descend into the pool using a handrail (duh!). Then back and up and out of the gorge, Fantastic experience.

Next morning, we set off very early heading for Hamersley Gorge. This one is on the far north of Karijini and is quite different to the others. The rocks are pushed and twisted in strata of colour and texture - stunning.

After this it's back to reality - 55km of unsealed road, back through Auski roadhouse and 40 litres of petrol at $1.59 a litre then off on the road to Port Hedland. That was a long and boring drive and unfortunately a foretaste of things to come!!

Port Hedland - a BHP town, covered in a layer of red dust, a typical mining town, with few sights and experiences really. We had a nice meal at one of the hotels, watched the giant ships come into port and get filled with iron ore to be shipped off to China, and then sold back to us in the form of cars, and then headed out of town on the VERY long trip to Broome, which we broke over two days. We got to the 80 mile beach turn off after about 4 hours of solid driving, but then the last 9km was on a very rough unmade road. Saw a big goanna run across the road in front of the car as we turned in - just caught him on camera!

80 mile beach is a little oasis - spectacular long white beach, stunning clear water - just a pity you can't swim in it as there are nasties there like stingers and stingrays. Ahh well. We got up at 5.30 the next morning to see the sunrise and seee what offerings the tide had brought us in terms of shells, but not much interesting - lots of volume though!

After that we were off to Broome. The landscape deteriorated at this point - nothing but low scrubby plants from horizon to horizon. For 450 km. Yikes. Never mind - we made it, hot and dusty but we're here in Broome, recharging our batteries for the next adventure into the Kimberley!!!

Tom Price

Tom Price is an 'interesting' town. Sitting at the botton of Mt Nameless, which the Indigenous people point out is not nameless at all but had a name for thousands of years before we came along ... the town is named after a mate of Lang Hancock's who died before seeing plans for mining iron ore here come to fruition. There's not a lot to do here, but we went for a walk late afternoon up to the base of said Mt Nameless, which in the King of the Mountain last year someone ascended in a little over 18 minutes.... as I said we made it to the base but big sooky la-la that I am I piked and so Michael reluctantly didn't make the ascent (which at this time would have been in the dark!). We stopped and chatted to some others at the top of the first really steep bit, and they pointed out the 8 foot long olive python we had possibly just stumbled past!!!
However we watched the sun set and walked back to the camper.
Next morning v. lazy, doing washing, sudoko and reading. Exhausting but someone has to do it!

Early afternoon we went along for the mine tour of Tim Price mining operations (Rio Tinto). This is an operation on a giant scale - everything is huge. We can only remember a few of the amazing stats.

The trucks hold about 200 tonnes of iron ore each. The fuel 'economy' is about 20 litres per kilometre - yes you read that right!! They hold about 560 l of oil, roughly the same in water, and petrol we think about 800 litres. Ye gods,
They have 3 fire retardant canisters that engulf the tuck in foam if they catch fire.
The tyres cost about $100,000 each and they prefer women drivers because they are more gentle on the trucks !! HA!
The drivers work 12.5 hour days, 3 on, 3 off, earn about $100K a year with subsided everything and airfares to Perth 3 times a year. Some of the executives don't want to live here, these guys are refwrred to as FIFO - fly in fly out - which explains the derogatory stubby holders we've seen that say "FIFO - fit in or fuck off"!!! LOL
Trains - 230 carriages each carrying 116 tonnes of iron ore - about $5 million in every train load and there are 28 trains on the system 7 days per week. Train drivers earn about $150 - $180,000 per annum. Yes that is a lot! They do the run from here to Dampier in about 7 hours.
Tomorrow we are off back into Karajini to go to the other gorges that we missed out on due to their shitty roads.

At last - into the Pilbara

Left Karratha early in the morning and headed out the new sealed road towards Millstream-Chichester National Park. This is a glorious drive, with the roadsides covered in mulla mulla, wattle, sturt pea and other flowers, with snappy gum shining in the light. It winds through the edges of the Chichester Range, alongside the Rio Tinto railway line, so you regularly see huge trains - 3 locos and hundred of carriages, all full of iron ore being taken to Karratha for shipping. At the end of the bitumen we took a left turn onto the dirt road to Python Pool. This was unfortunately very corrugated and so we had to slow right down - and made us realise that we really couldn't take this vehicle onto roads like this. Python Pool was spectacularly beautiful, with sheer red rock cliffs rising out of the water. I'd love to see it with water flowing but then not sure that I would like to be in the Pilbara in the wet season! Chatted to a couple who had been swimming there - awkward as he had taken his togs off and had a very skimpy towel wrapped around his middle - leaving pretty much everything on show - lucky I had my dark sunnies on!

Drove out of Python Pool on the Roeburne Road - still dusty and rough but not nearly so rough as the way in. We decided that we would head to the Great Northern Highway just short of Port Hedland and then go down the bitumen to Karajini National Park - very much the long way round but all on sealed roads. Promised Michael a Barra Burger at the Whim Creek Pub - apparently something they are quite famous for - but got there and found the bloody place closed for lunches from the start of August. Made our own lunch and then headed off - very long drive with very long stretches of pretty much nothing along the way - the only gripe with WA is that it is so big and things are frequently 400 - 500km apart!

We approached the Auski Roadhouse at about 5 and decided to stop there the night rather than go into Karajini and try and get a place to stop. Just after I told Michael that there were often dingoes in the Dales camp ground one appeared on the side of the road! Auski is interesting - the site we had was great - really nice thick grass.. but the toilets and showers were yicky! I loved the sign that warned to turn out the lights when you left so as not to encourage the insects and snakes!!!

Went into Karajini the next morning and set up in the Dales camp ground. Red dust everywhere but here we are right back in the middle of the magnificent Pilbara. I love this area - the colours of the hills and rocks, the trees and the vast expanses of tussocky spinifex. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am drinking it all in thinking it's unlikely I will ever come back here. We walked along the rim of the gorge, then down into the falls and fern pool area. Very steep climb down and back, much steeper than I remember from 15 years ago!!!

We walked back at sunset to see the sun relected on the rocks - stunning. At night we could hear dingoes howling and stood outside in the cold to look at the billions of stars. We are so lucky in the southern hemisphere to be able to see so much of the Milky Way, and despite Stuart's astro-photography coaching, I am not sure that I can capture it all. There are stars from horizon to horizon, and until the moon rose and ruined it we just stood out there and looked.

Next morning we though we would drive to the other camp ground but after doing 10km in 45 mins turned back. The roads here really are very very poor, corrugated and rocky. Rather than damage the camper we will come back and do one of the day tours into the area with someone elses 4WD, This is one of the few times I wish we had taken a 4WD, but then as 90% of the trip is on bitumen it would have been a bit of overkill. So we headed to Tom Price - to the only caravan park, and a very nice one it is too. Booked for the Hammersley Iron mine tour and then will head back to Karajini for another night and into the other gorges the next day. Have taken today as R&R - reading and relaxing this morning, catching up on washing (and this!) and maybe a bit of a stroll later on before the mine tour.

North of the 26th parallel

OK, we're here in Karratha, around 1500 km north of Perth and a longgg way from Melbourne!

Last blog was Shark Bay, which seems so long ago!

We left Denham and first stops for the day were Shell Beach, which is, as one would expect, very shelly - in fact is completely shells, up to 5m deep, and then the stromatalites, which are thousands of years old and grow about 1mm per year. These are primitive forms of life and were here long before we were - and contributed to the atmosphere we now breathe.

Next we headed north to Carnarvon, an area rich with farms growing all sorts of veggies and fruit, an abundance of fish, and not much else. We went out to one of the town's advertised attractions - one of the longest jetties in WA (or maybe the southern hemisphere?). Well this was a bit of a let down.... we paid out $2 each to walk out on the one-mile jetty, but found a gaping hole about 2/3 of the way along.... so we grumbled a bit and then walked back...

Left Carnarvon and reached Exmouth mid-afternoon. It's still one of the most beautiful places I know. Went out to Vlamingh head lighthouse and watched whales cruise by along the humpback highway, and the sunset over the beach. Next morning we headed out to YArdie Creek and went on the boat trip up the creek. We were lucky to see a black-footed rock wallaby with joey in the middle of a rock face in a little cave. These are endangered species. We also saw heaps of grey and white egrets nesting, and an emu with some chicks.

The ranger told us that the emu dads mind the chicks, and to present themselves in the best possible light to the emu ladies, they 'steal' chicks from other emus to make it look like they are virile and also good at looking after the kids. We found this most amusing....

We went to Osprey Beach, which was absolutely stunning, and then on to Turquoise Bay for swimming and snorkelling... which was disappointing but still fun. The coral has been badly damaged from last time I was here, but the water is still crystal clear. We stopped a little further up the road at Turtle Cove... and discovered it was the local nudist beach ... I was staring at this guy trying to work out what sort of togs he was wearing... and then the brain clicked that no one wears togs with pubic hair on the outside!!!!!! hehehehehehehehehehe

Next morning we were picked up early for a trip out to the outer reef and some snorkelling. We went out a little way and snorkelled for about half an hour - lots of parrot fish, humbugs and other fish.. pretty colours. We then went out up the humpback highway and before long we caught sight of a mother with her calf. She was about 20m from the boat and it was pretty awesome seeing them so close. During the day we encountered many other humpbacks, but this one, and the mother and baby that swam under the boat, were the most exciting. Except for the one that waved his flipper at Michael!!! We got some awesome photos and they are all on the photo page qhich is linked here (http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sue.thomson). Got home on a bit of a 'whale high' and had fish and chips for tea!

Today we got up at sparrows fart, filled the car ($96 of diesel thank you very much - $1.49 per litre) and headed off for Karratha. We drove in stints because the landcape is not terribly exciting, and got here at about 1 - 540km in all.

The Pilbara has begun. It is stunning. The colours are superb, and I love it up here. There are wildflowers everwhere, in stark contrast to the reds and greens. We may never come back to Melbourne - I'm sure ACER needs an office in the north west. :)

Tomorrow we are looking around the area, which is heavily industrialised with iron, salt and natural gas. There are also a couple of historic towns which we will go to, then we will hopefully see the staircase to the moon. After that we are off to Millstream Chichester and Karajini National Parks and will be offline for 5 days. GASP!

Until then.. these shots of the beautiful Pilbara...

Day 4 - Shark Bay World Heritage Area

Ok - Day 4 we decided to take it easy. This meant a 7am start... go figure :)

We drove out to Monkey Mia for the first dolphin feeding for the day - to find this girl - Nikki - who was there with a baby when I was here with the kids 14 years ago! She is also in calf now, and they are hopeful that this one will work out alright. Apparently she is not a very good mother and her babies tend to die. Those that don't get eaten by Tiger Sharks!
There were also several superb looking pelicans on the beach, minding their own business but being stirred up y some of the Asian guests.

We booked a cruise on the Arisocat - a twin-hulled catamaran that specialises in finding dugongs, sat back at the cafe and had a latte while we waited in the warm morning sunshine...

Now - why is Shark Bay a World Heritage Area I hear you ask? There are a few reasons. Firstly, it is an ongoing geological process. Over thousands of years, sediments and broken down shells and skeletons of marine life have been trapped by seagrasses to form large seagrass banks, which are the largest in the world. These seagrass beds support one of the largest and most important dogong populations in the world. There are about 16,000 of them in the waters here... but I can assure you it took a lot for us to find the three we found. However thanks to Anthony's skills up the mast, we did find and follow them. I was rapt - have never seen dugongs before! We also saw a turtle and a manta ray, and a couple of dolphins played with us on the way out. The weather was perfect, the sea was calm and crystal clear, and it was a fantastic morning.
On the way, we visited a black pearl farm (VERY beautiful but VERY expensive), and got to see the stunning Peron cliffs, part of the Francois Peron peninsula... the red cliffs meet the pristine white sand and the turquoise blue water.

After that we headed back to the ranch for a bit of a nap, then out to the Peron homestead and shearing shed and then out to Eagle Bluff to see the sun set over the still, glassy waters.

One of the other reasons this is a World Heritage area is that there are several hypersaline pools in which stromatolites grow. These are ancient organisms, about 3000 years old. In preCambrian times, 600 million years ago, these were the dominant form of life... but look at them now - no ipods or imacs... they just basically sit there. We will go there in the morning so photos tomorrow!
Other reasons are that it's one of the most important breeding grounds for loggerhead turtles, and that it has become part of a project to eradicate introduced vermin and bring several native species back from the brink of extinction.