western australia : hamelin pool, hamelin station, shark bay, monkey mia

We deliberated about whether we'd stay at Monkey Mia and in the end we decided we needed to go and then decide whether or not we'd return. We'd heard it's very commercial and expensive and they are fairly accurate descriptions of the place but it's also quite beautiful and we met some really great families staying there who we'll keep in contact with. 

In the end we decided to stay at night at Hamelin Station on the way in which is only a few kilometres from the incredible stromatolites at Hamelin Pool. The station facilities are excellent with a recent upgrade. The amenities are clean and the commercial kitchen available to guests. We enjoyed this station stay. The stromatolites blew us away as these ones are thousands of years old. These are examples of Earth's earliest life forms. 

There's only one way to test the water on a HOT day when swimming is prohibited.

Of the 150 people on the shoreline watching the dolphins come in each morning on,y a few are selected to have the chance to feed one. I was lucky enough to be chosen to offer a fish to the dolphin, Nicki, who barely gave it a sniff. 

It was simply,magic watching these creatures close up. They are beautiful and we saw so many in the bay just off the beach up so close that after two days the kids didn't even raise their heads from their sandcastle building when we excitedly shouted out!

If our kids were a bit older we'd have taken them out on a cruise on Aristocat 2 to see the dugongs but it would have been a strength to have thm out for three hours. 

I had visions of meeting new friends on the road. We've met quite a number of travelling families on the road and kept in touch, sharing our experiences at different places and keeping an eye out for each other when were travelling. It's a real roaming community! We shared a meal with new friends in Monkey Mia. They had wine that they wanted to share and we had a roast beef we needed to cook and needed help eating. It was a perfect match!

The family grown, picked, produced and labelled wine, Corymbia, is a tempranillo and cab sav blend and is very drinkable. Grandfather Jack Mann was a pioneer of the Western Australian wine industry, being chief winemaker at Houghton from 1930 – 1974. I wish I had a decent photo of the Corymbia label but I'm sure it can be found online.

south australia: fowlers bay

We met this shingle back lizard on the road in to Fowlers Bay. He was not too pleased to see us! 

Remember Bob from Napperby? He suggested we stay in Fowlers Bay as he's visited many times over the years and  fishing for squid off the town jetty is popular. We didn't catch any squid but we did stay for two nights. 

View of Fowlers Bay from the sand dunes.

I've never seen sand dunes like the ones at Fowlers Bay and it seems they're slowly encroaching on to the town as the towns main road was where the dunes now stand.

It's an interesting town of only a few houses and feels so isolated given that the town's water supply is from an aquifer. What look like garden hoses run from the aquifer amongst the dunes to the homes of Fowlers Bay. The town uses solar energy and a generator kicks in when that runs out. 

If you're intending to stay at Fowlers be sure to fill your water tanks beforehand as you can't fill from the caravan park. There's also no dump point. 

We enjoyed sitting by the camp fire at night at the caravan park and the kids enjoyed meeting other kids who were staying too.