Beautiful, peaceful Coral Bay

We managed to get a caravan site right at the back of the nicer of the 2 parks in Coral Bay. Even though the park is always full being at the back was very peaceful. This park has fresh water in the showers (as opposed to salty bore water), and lovely green lawns that are permanently being watered by the warm, artesian well water. It only took us about 5 minutes to walk down to the bay and fall into the warmest water where we would go swimming and snorkeling every day. It really is a paradise as the only thing you can do there is relax. We didn't move our car for 7 days!!

We met a great couple, Jim and Jeanette, who are volunteer workers for the Dept of Env and Cons. They are absolutely amazing for their ages - 70 and 75! They live permanently in their 5th wheeler. It was great going for a coffee with Jeanette at the only coffee shop while Chris repaired all of Jim's computer. We also shared a great roast meal together which I cooked in my tiny oven that I store under our bed and only bring out when I feel the urge to bake!!

We love Coral Bay though we met a couple in Exmouth that found it too boring. Oh dear. We didn't!

Swimming with the dolphins

After leaving Geraldton we made our way to Denham, skipping out Kalbarri which we have visited a few times before. We love the remoteness of Denham with its turquoise blue ocean views and white, white sand. While we were there we decided to take a 4 wheel drive trip into the Francois Peron National Park which was a long, long dry, dusty red drive.

We also spent a lovely day swimming at Monkey Mia and watching the dolphins come into the bay to have a "bite to eat" from the humans. After they had been fed we went swimming further down the bay and couldn't believe our eyes when the dolphins returned .....we were actually swimming with them all around us. It was a magical moment!

Monsignor John Hawes - architect and priest

After the goldfields we were keen to make our way back to the west coast and the ocean - through Mullewa and onto Geraldton - where hopefully the wind would blow the fies away! Along the way I became absorbed in finding out all I could about Monsignor John Hawes, an eccentric, English architect priest who designed, and built (Mullewa), beautiful churches and a cathedral (Geraldton). He was almost commissioned to design a cathedral for Perth but a more Gothic design was eventually agreed upon - a pity! I felt it was a privilege walking around the churches and especially sitting in a small prayer alcove that he probably built with his own hands. Because of his eccentricities he often had run-ins with various clergy. On the side of the church in Mullewa there is a gargoyle that supposedly represents a bishop that had given him a hard time. We were very lucky to meet the head of the parish council who was working around the church when we visited. He took us all over the church and the original house of Monsignor Hawes. The zebra type orange and grey stripes in the cathedral in Geraldton are most unusual and "hit" you surprisingly as you walk in. After 24 yrs in WA Monsignor Hawes settled on Cat Island in the Bahamas where he lived as a Franciscan hermit until he died. (I remember watching a fascinating program about this eccentric architect priest on ABC a few years ago and have always been keen to get to see the churches he had designed.) Another interesting, yet very sad sight, is the memorial in Geraldton to the sailors who lost their lives in HMAS Sydney which was sunk in November 1941. The dome of the memorial is constructed using 645 stainless steel doves which represent each person that was on the sunken ship.Close by is a beautiful sculpture of "The Waiting Woman". We stayed in Geraldton for a few days before heading up to Denham.

Red dust, Lake Ballard and the sculptures

I had to go and see the outdoor gallery of human sculptures at Lake Ballard. We found the huge salt lake west of Menzies after a bumpy, dry, (red) dusty 55km drive. The evidence was all over our gorgeous home on wheels - inside and out! Nevertheless, we thought the trip was worth it to see this most unusual outdoor gallery on a huge salt lake. The sculptures stand scattered over 10 square kilometres of the lake and have been derived from laser scans of the inhabitants of Menzies. They were sculptured by the world renowned sculptor, Antony Gormley, for the Perth Arts Festival in 2003.

We decided to spend the night at Lake Ballard so we could walk around the statues in the late evening and early morning because of the glare of the sun in the day and the flies! (Chris found his fly net that he put over his hat but I had to improvise using a tea net that for some reason I had packed in the caravan! I felt like a bride who needed to get married in a hurry!!)

Apart from the flies it was a unique experience. The lake fully resembled a moonscape. We were the only people there.Looking up at the milky way before we went to bed was awesome. SO many stars.

Through the Goldfields

After leaving Esperance we headed north to Kalgoorlie and through the Northern Goldfields to Mullewa (wildflower country in the spring!) The scenery was in stark contrast to the beautiful oceans and white beaches we had left behind! Mostly brown, dry, fly infested territory inhabited by miners, and their families -if they were lucky - and great, big open pits scoured into the earth for the collection of gold and other resources.

The superpit in Kalgoorlie was a sight to behold! Kalgoorlie itself is a fairly big city with a population of over 30,000. This was where I noticed the sculpture done by the father of my special friend, Trish. She always speaks of him with great fondness as do the words on the plaque.

The small towns along the way - Menzies, Leonora, Mt Magnet, Leinster - survive mostly on passing visitors and FIFO miners using a petrol station, or a pub in one last remaining hotel from the early days of the goldrush. (If you're interested, the petrol station and roadhouse in Menzies is up for sale!)

In so many ways I was reminded of my early childhood growing up on Crown Mines - climbing the stone dumps and mine dumps and living in a small house constructed of corrugated iron!

It was very interesting driving through the ghost town of Gwalia which was once a thriving mining community.

Apart from a few caravans the only traffic on the roads were mining vehicles and abnormal loads of HUGE mining gear being transported to dig out some more precious resources!

Esperance, the bluest of blue

If you want to swim in the bluest of oceans and walk on the whitest of beach sand go to Esperance. The beauty of the coastal scenery is breathtaking.

I spotted a few other interesting sights too!-a hippie bush camp, a barefooted groom, a mermaid leather place which actually tans fish skins (we wanted to buy a piece and tell Eva, El and Al that it was real mermaid skin but decided against it as they would want to know what happened to the mermaids!) and the lovers' scooter (saw the lovers way down on the whitest beach ever).