Heading for Shark Bay Red bluff echoed in our minds, really a sensational place !

We drove through wonder-full scenery at Shark Bay WHA and onwards to camp in Francois Peron National Park. Here were serene empty beach-scapes that were empty of other humans - they were full of life. I could easily let a few weeks slip here. ... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177209&id=616999551&l=25afd70ffa ...these photos show a little of what it is about.

Later we stayed at the infamous Monkey Mia, here we greeted the indo-pacific bottle noses and set sail on the Shotover to see the many Dugongs. Kaiden and Jamala seemed at home on the catamaran, climbing in all directions. It was 60ft ex-ocean racer, from memory I think the beam was 31ft? or there abouts. This cat still held many speed records on the open ocean. Within 5 mins sailing we spoted a mother Dugong and calf, and was not long before we caught sight of many more. A great day out.

We did not much else. It was a resort. Such strange places, all these flashy advertisements do this do this and this and this. Seems so busy with things to do and mostly nothing inspiring at all, except perhaps to move on and be away from such surreal scenes.

Here was the second time in our trip that a person used "Aborigines" to describe something he was digusted about. What is it that being Aboriginal had to do with his story I had no idea at all, except to claim something against Aborignal people. What is heartening for me is that this is only the secondtime in the trip I had heard such a claim. I have heard from others who have travelled through Australia to meet many people who express uncompassionate words and even hatred towards the traditional people of Australia. This is even described in Bill Bryson's book about his travels through "Down Under", Bryson seemed just as puzzled by it.

Reminds me, we were both surprised and dissapointed when an employee from the Department of Environment and Conservation introduced "Shark Bay" as being unnamed prior to William Dampier in 1699. This place in fact had a name long before William set his eyes on this place. The traditional name for Shark Bay is Gathaagudu meaning two waters.

we bumped another family we have been seeing since Broome and was great to see some familar faces, and seems we'll be seeing them some more although their time schedule is much tighter than our own.

In Monkey Mia the vege-oil availablity was dry as my own tanks.... the resort recycled thier vegetable oil to use in their diesel generators and cars. This is far better than hearing how some places simply bury it 'somewhere'.

We visted the fascinating Stromatolites. 3.5 billion year old life forms !! wow, walking out onto the board walk it was easy to imagine what the world may have looked like all that time ago, even though these colonies were a mere 3,000 years old. It did not take much of a leap to contemplate how the dominant culture has so rapidly been undoing the rich evolutionary story that followed. Perhaps assited by a recent reading of Daniel Quinn's "Story of B" and current reading of ecologist Edward Wilson's "The future of Life".

Next was Kalbarri, I had been looking forward to seeing this places for ages - there is superb overhanging rock climbs and one of WA's best surfing breaks, Jakes Point. The drive through the National Park was a real surprise so much of the sandstone heath was in flower. stree I was loving the familar sense of wandering through sandstone heath and the scenery was inspiring. Inspiring to wander through for days. Perhaps another time when the kids are older.

Disapointingly Jakes Point was a mere 1-2ft. I could see the potential watching two grommies flying along the faces of the hollow perfectly formed two ft waves. Kalbarri is the first town Nicole considered as a place to live. Kalbarri certainly has a lot of potential. Unfortunately the recent land developments are indicating a new style for the village. One called "Eco-flora" with street names to match the names of the plants that were wiped out to make way for the development itself (ironic huh?). The next one Nicole thought was a new correctional facility being built, a gated community with a high pointy barred fence around it ! None-the-less we could spend a bit of time here while it is still low key.

Driving south of Kalbarri was a spectacular limestone coastline, as was the pinklakes, and the coast at Port Grey and Horrocks. We decided to stay at Corranation Beach a Kite and Windsurfing mecca, this comes with the character of being windy ! So we only stayed a night.

Onwards to Geraldton and other busy places like Perth, we are contemplating what to do over the school holidays. We are going to be in one of WAs holiday hotspots - Margret River. This may mean booking places to stay with an itinery of where we will be and where. "How?" we ask ourselves.