The Long Road Home

We woefully left the tropical setting of Coral Bay and began our long drive back to Perth. Our first stop was Carnarvon, about 900 km north of Perth. It is located on the coast and at the mouth of the Gascoyne River. Back in the day, it was a booming port town and supply centre for the region. It is currently a prime spot for growing tropical fruit, more specifically bananas. Our main purpose in returning to Carnarvon was to ride the "Coffee Pot" train out to the end of the jetty. We have seen many jetties since coming to Australia, but this one is the longest in the region at one mile or 1.6 km and it is also the only one we've seen with an operating train on it.

We spent the next day in the van. We try not to have too many driving days, but in Western Australia it is unavoidable. It was the last day before the end of summer vacation and the roads were quiet. We covered the 450 kms to Kalbarri fairly quickly and had no trouble finding a spot at the caravan park. In fact, we were one of only three campers in ninety six spots that first night. What we thought was a positive turned out to be a negative as we discovered that most of the tourism industry shuts down in February. The half day canoe trip we were anxious to do wasn't likely to be going due to a lack of participants so we went out to the National Park, we toured the aviaries at Rainbow Jungle (a parrot breeding centre) and we swam in the pool at the caravan park. As luck would have it, there was a last minute booking for the canoe trip and it was a go for the next morning. Our tour guide, Frank, picked us up at 7:30 am and we headed out to the Murchison House Station, a working cattle ranch just outside of town. Our group consisted of the two of us plus Roz and Wendy. After canoeing for several kms along the Murchison River, we stopped at a tranquil (a.k.a. isolated) spot along the bank and Frank whipped up a breakfast of bacon, eggs and snags. Lucky for us, it was only the equivalent of a warm winter's day. Apparently, summer temperatures in Kalbarri frequently reach 50 degrees celcius. Like everywhere in Australia, water is at a premium. In some places, the river is so shallow that it is only ankle deep. The down side when you are canoeing? Sometimes you had to get out and pull the canoe over the sand bar. Frank refers to this trip as a "family outing." Not only did we get some much needed exercise, but we had an opportunity to try something new in Australia. All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.

Next stop: Geraldton. (We are certain it must be one of the windiest cities we've ever been to, but wind seems to be very characteristic of the west coast.) We stopped here on the way up, but we had to come back for the Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative Live Lobster Factory Tour. We had such enjoyable experiences at the coffee plantation in Mareeba, the sugar mill in Tully, the chocolate factory in Margaret River, etc. that we couldn't pass this by. Yet again, we were the only people on the tour. We were amazed to find out that lobsters are placed in cold water for three minutes to induce hibernation. Once they are asleep, they are packaged in polystyrene cartons with wood shavings, refrigerated and transported by air or freight. When they reach their destination, they are placed back into tanks filled with ocean water and they wake up. A lobster factory is a very interesting place. Many thanks to Annie for sharing her sense of humour and her knowledge with us.

We spent the last night of our trip in Leeman. This allowed us to rise early and make a short drive into Perth. We left the caravan park ahead of schedule and had only gone about twenty minutes down the road when nature called and Craig pulled off the road onto the shoulder. Well, it wasn't actually the shoulder because that was covered with gravel and it was on a slope, so he had to pull off onto the area beyond the shoulder. Business conducted and back in the van, he drove forward and attempted to get back onto the shoulder. Except that now the grassy area had turned into sand and ...wait for it....we were stuck. Yes folks, life is about the adventure and with Craig, it is always lurking around some corner.

Thankfully, our guardian angel Dave, a local rancher, showed up within five minutes. When he did, it was in a ute and he just happened to have a chain with him. In no time flat he pulled us out of the sand and we were back on the road. 17 days, 3141 kms, one flat tire, one sand pit, (oh yes, and the car battery that burned up while we were in Coral Bay) and many happy memories later we are back in Perth with ten days to spare before our Australian adventure comes to an end.

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