Perenjori to Nicks Camp - Ningaloo Coast  - 13th to 20th May

This is the start of our serious portion of this trip.

Finally we're feeling as if we are actually on holidays.

Perenjori to Kalbarri was supposed to be a fairly quick and easy drive, until the GPS took us on a crazy route.

But oddly enough it took us to some really interesting way-points.

We would never had ended up in Carnamah if we'd taken our preferred route. And that meant we would have missed the BIG TRACTOR!  By far the biggest "thing" we've ever seen in Australia.

Life wouldn't be complete without seeing the BIG TRACTOR!!

And it was really big

The tractor is 11.5 metres high, 16 metres long, and was constructed using 42 tonnes of steel.

The Chamberlains made two 40-horsepower prototypes in Melbourne, and after World War II, the WA Government enticed them over west.

Chamberlain in the 1960s held one quarter of the Australian tractor market, then around 13,000 units per annum; the business also made scarifiers, ploughs, and seeders.

The 40K was the first commercially produced tractor made in Western Australia, so the model celebrates WA manufacturing, agriculture, and engineering.

Kalbarri

We arrived a day earlier than the very rough plan we'd made months ago in Sydney. We decided to do a couple of extra long driving days for an extra night in Kalbarri.

The caravan park is across the road from the water and we had nice water glimpses from our site.

A nice mornos at the Pelican Cafe, just next door to the van park.

We went to the Kalbarri National Park, specifically to see the Sky Walks, as they weren't even thought of on our last visit years ago.

The two Sky Walks are just great, especially considering the remoteness of their location.

Nature's Window hasn't changed since we were here last, although last time it was filled with a group of giggling Indigenous school kids.  It's a very touristy area with lots of backpackers and tour groups, so we were lucky to have a few minutes in the Window all to ourselves.

View of the Murchison River through Nature's Window

Talk about a toilet with a view!

The main reason to go to Kalbarri, was meeting up with Merv and Jen, our friends from Perth. They're on their way to Darwin and we arranged to meet up for a few days together.

Starting with Sunset drinks

And continuing with a "fancy" seafood dinner at Finlays, and a few glasses of Stout

One major attraction at Kalbarri is the pelicans! Every morning at 8:45 am, 365 days a year, or 366 if its a leap year, they turn up for their morning feed of fish. This young guy "Naughty Boy" was very cheeky, and the kids loved him.

The last time we were in Kalbarri there wasn't a pelican to be seen, as apparently they all flew to Lake Eyre when it filled with water. It was surprising they were here this trip as Lake Eyre is filling up again. Maybe in a few weeks Kalbarri will yet again be pelican free?

After 4 nights there it was our plan to continue on with with Merv and Jen to Wooramel River Retreat for another 2 nights.

Carnarvon

But ... On the way there the Landcruiser let us down. Unbelievable, as on the way to Kalbarri we were praising the Landcruiser as being unstoppable. We stopped for mornos and it struggled to start, but it did. That was the first time this Landcruiser has ever given us a concern. When we got to the Billabong Roadhouse for lunch, it just wouldn't start at all.

The starter just cranked the motor at full speed, but the engine wouldn't fire. There were no warning lights on, and the trusty Scan Gauge which reads all the error codes from the engine management system also showed nothing.  Just a cranking motor. It tried to fire for so long that we were worried that we'd flatten the two batteries.

We rang the NRMA/RAC Road Side Assistance.  The closest service vehicle was 200kms away, so we were in for a long wait. They were as helpful as they could have been and were in the process of organising 2 tow trucks, one for the car and the other for our van.

After sitting in the van for about an hour out of the heat and flies, it was decided to give it 'one last go' to start the beast. And it started, with a bit of spluttering, but nevertheless it came to life. Not game to turn the car off, we decided to continue further on to Carnarvon where there is a Toyota Dealer.  We had to skip Wooramel, and leave Merv and Jen behind.

Not understanding why the car was giving us grief, Alan decided to put a post on the Landcruiser 200 Caravanning Facebook page. Within minutes he had the first hint that it was a fuel issue. Normally when the Landcruiser has a fuel issue there's many warnings of an issue with fuel supply. Within 30 minutes we had many more people telling us its probably fuel. Wow, the power of the internet is just great.

Among our many tools and spare parts, we also carry 2 spare fuel filters.  So faced with the probability of not being able to get Toyota Carnarvon to look at the car on Monday morning, Alan changed it on Sunday. This along with a fresh tank of Premium Diesel, the Landcruiser turned back into the never stopping beast that we're used to. It hasn't missed a beat since.

Our faith in Toyota Landcruiser 200's has been restored.

So we missed Merv and Jen at Wooramel River Retreat, which was a real shame.

We did have a cheers to Merv and Jen!

Our stay in Carnarvon was great. There was no wind, which is extremely amazing for Carnarvon.  Most of the trees are at an angle from being constantly blown around.

It's now back on Jayne's list of good places!

Nicks Camp - Ningaloo

With the car running at 100%, or hopefully so, we headed off on time to the Ningaloo coast and Nicks Camp where we haven't camped before. There just are so many places along the Ningaloo Coast, you could spend a lifetime exploring them all.

About half way to Ningaloo there was an EV Car charging station. In the middle of nowhere.

Complete with its own solar plant providing electricity

I can imagine you'd have to plan your EV trips really well out these parts. At least its a "Fast" Charging Station. Not much to do out here while your car is being charged. It's not as if you can duck into the local cafe or air-conditioned shop!

Then we arrived at Nicks Camp and wow!

Jayne doesn't cope well with flies.

Complete with our own concrete slab

The road in was 31kms of dirt. The first 23kms were like a freeway, just some minor corrugations every now and again. The next 7kms were ok. The last 1km and especially the last 500m, just over rocks. But with the tyres at 20psi we didn't have any trouble.

After sunset the flies went to bed, and out came the moths! In force!

Here they are enjoying the end of our Aperol Spritz

But it's all worth it

We're not sure how long we can last with the relentless flies during the day, and millions of moths at night. Nature!

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