Travelogue 2015/2 Northampton to Galena Bridge #5

Travelogue 2015/2 Northampton to Galena Bridge #5

#5

G’day,
       We stayed at the Northampton Caravan Park for two days while we toured the town, restocked the larder and filled up the fresh drinking water tanks. It's quite amazing just how much water is used for drinking by two adults and a small puppy. For all other water uses we used what I could find, mostly not suitable for drinking without filtering. Northampton is an attractive country town with a population of 900. It is classified as a Historical Town. After leaving Northampton we travelled west to Horrocks, population 130, and the coast. The town was named after Joseph Lucas Horrocks, a convict. The plastic lady in my GPS called Horrocks: Whore-Rocks. Correct pronunciation is Hor (as in horror) followed by icks. ie Hor-icks.We had lunch on the beach and after lunch we went for a walk along the beach and were fortunate enough to come across a nesting Sea Eagle. I started taking photos when we were 500 yards away and kept taking photos as we walked along, expecting the bird would fly away before we got close. However we were lucky (walk a little way and stop to reassure the bird and then walk some more and stop) and the eagle was still in her nest when we left.  As a consequence I took far too many photos, which I edited down to just four, two of which are reproduced below. The Eagle has set up her nest in a man made structure especially provided for Sea Eagles to nest in. The nest is sited on top of an old power pole.

 img-1423 Sea Eagle

 img-1424 Sea Eagle

 img-1418 Surf's up. Horrocks Beach

    I thought I might be creative and add some background music to this site. Looked up "add music to a BlogSpot" and found a number of sites that explain "how to" in a few very easy and simple steps. The people who wrote the very easy and simple steps must have a completely different understanding on what those three words, very easy and simple, mean, 'cause I have not the foggiest idea after reading two explanations and then watching a tutorial on Youtube. Not to give up though as I have access to computer savvy Grand-kids.

 img-1427 Grevillea leucopteris

 img-1431 Grevillea leucopteris

img-1444 Banksia prionotes

 

img-1435 Banksia prionotes

 img-1437 Banksia prionotes

 

 img-1445 Banksia prionotes

 img-1439 Grevillea leucopteris

 img-1441 Grevillea leucopteris

         A convict hiring depot was built at the mouth of the Hutt River in 1853. Convicts were hired out to work in the lead mines at Northampton. Two buildings have been restored, with a third, just a ruin, awaiting restoration. A further half dozen buildings are nothing more than piles of stones. The dormitory housed up to 80 convicts stacked two high in hammocks. Imagine the oppressive heat with all those unwashed smelly bodies in the height of summer when the temperature exceeded 40 degrees and a high temperature easterly was blowing.

 img-1449 Convict Depot.The Governors house

 img-1450 Convict Depot. The Dormitory 

 img-1453 Convict Depot. ruins. The Jail

 img-1455 Pink Lagoon at the Hutt River Mouth

      Following are five photos of the Kalbarri Cliffs.The 90 km road from Horrocks to Kalbarri is a fairly new road built to service the tourist industry. I can't see that it would serve any other purpose so where did bureaucracy build the road? For no reason that I could fathom the road was built far enough back from the coast so that neither the cliffs nor the ocean can be seen nor anything else that could be described as scenic. Nor can the coastal flora be seen. It may as well have been built a hundred miles inland from the point of view of seeing anything of the coast. So why build a tourist road in the first place when there is already a perfectly good road accessing Kalbarri? All that was needed was a road south from Kalbarri to access the cliffs. Each scenic attraction required a 5 kilometre detour to the coast and then back. Bloody idiotic bureaucrats.

 img-1460 Kalbarri Cliffs. Indian Ocean

 img-1468 Kalbarri Cliffs. Indian Ocean

 img-1483 Kalbarri Cliffs. Indian Ocean

 

img-1494 Kalbarri Cliffs. Indian Ocean

 img-1499 Kalbarri Cliffs. Indian Ocean

 img-1500 Wave breaking on reef

img-1513 Mouth of Murchison River in far distance

       The coastal flowers were worth the three or four detours to the coast from George Grey Drive and the cliffs were a bonus. Below is a scene of the coastal heath that was ablaze of colour in early October when we drove along the coast. George Grey was an explorer and was the first European to see the Gascoyne River. He and his fellow shipmates landed at Kalbarri in 1839 in a wrecked ship. His party then walked 550+ kms to Perth.

 img-1481 Coastal Heath

 img-1467 Alyozyne

 img-1472

img-1470 Beetle

img-1477 Beetle

There were hundreds of these beetles sunning on every available  fence post.

img-1480 Ptilotus divaricatus

img-1484 Melaleuca scabra

img-1486 Scholtzia capitata

img-1488 Scholtzia capitata

 img-1490 Yep it's a bird
Unable to identify this bird which is most unusual for RMB

img-1503 Coastal Spotted Sand Dragon

 img-1507 Banksia attenuata

 img-1508 Banksia attenuata

img-1512 Banksia attenuata

img-1511 Conospermum boreale

The preceding photos from img-1460 to img-1512 were all taken along the coastal heath-lands directly above the Kalbarri Cliffs within Kalbarri National Park.. The remainder of the photos were all taken along Ajana/Kalbarri Road within the national park.

 img-1518 Verticordia eriocephala. Wild Cauliflower

 img-1520
Verticordia eriocephala. Wild Cauliflower
 

 img-1521.1
Verticordia eriocephala. Wild Cauliflower

        Verdicordia, what ever the variety, are always spectacular and none more so than the White variety. The common name for this Verticordia is Wild Cauliflower or Lambswool. Both names are an accurate description. The "flower" above is made up of thousands of very tiny flowers all jammed together forming almost a solid. The picture represents less than 100mm across.

img-1521 Actinostrobus boreale

The remaining 22 photos in this series were all taken with no fuel being burnt in our Toyota and hardly any exercise being undertaken by the photographer. I would not have walked more than 50 yards to take all of the remaining photos.

 img-1523 Verticordia

 img-1525 Verticordia


img-1527

 img-1529 Verticordia

 img-1531 Verticordia + Kwongan

img-1533 Banksia attenuata

 img-1534 Banksia attenuata

 img-1535 Xylomelum occidentale. Woody Pear

 img-1536 Lachnostachys eriobotrya

img-1537 Lachnostachys eriobotrya

 img-1541 Lachnostachys eriobotrya

 img-1542

 img-1543 Beaufortia squarrosa

img-1544

 img-1545 Kangaroo Pad

 img-1546

 img-1547 Calytrix Brevifolia

 img-1548 Anigozanthus manglesii Kangaroo Paw
Nearly finished.

img-1549

img-1550 Beaufortia squarrosa

 img-1552.1 Beaufortia squarrosa+ European Honey Bee

 img-1557 Banksia spc.

img-1560 Banksia spc.

img-1562 Galena Bridge. Murchison River

         Up river and just to the east of Galena Bridge is a main Roads 24 hr Rest Area and when we passed here there were dozens of people "camping" in the approved and free overnight camping area. The term Free Camping means different things to different people and this site holds no appeal to either of us. In recent years Main Roads have established 24hr free camping spots on all the major highways in Western Australia. They include toilets and sometimes barbecue pits and some have sealed surfaces and designed parking bays and many include the dreaded bollards. This is not free camping it is Government Controlled Camping.  Free camping in Western Australia is frowned upon in most places unless some bureaucrat has given their approval. The term Free Camping seems to have taken on the same meaning as it has in Europe ie. Camping approved by officialdom, where a few years ago it meant camping where one chose to camp. We camped here but on the west side of the highway a kilometre from the road and most likely broke somebodies law??? The following is an extract from Carnarvon's web site:
There is no free camping in the Shire of Carnarvon. ” Camping” includes sleeping in a vehicle, tent, caravan or swag including at roadside parking and stop areas that do not display 24hr stopping signs. It is an offence to camp, other than in a registered caravan park or designated camping ground/nature based camping area. $100 penalty. Includes Rocky Pool which is now designated "Day Use Only".................  
If you happen to own an off road vehicle then best you return it to the car sales yard for a refund for it has no use in the Shire of Carnarvon.

         Please, where do I stop the train, I wish to get off before the inevitable train wreck.

Where society is heading???

internet image. The Dreaded Bollard. 

I dislike them with a vengeance.

Sorry to end on a grumpy note.

Travelogue 2015/2 Northampton to Galena Bridge #5 - Ends

 Next Travelogue is along the North West Coastal  Highway and includes one of the most amazing spots I have visited for natural wildflowers. It is an unbelievable spot for wildflowers.

Geoff

 

mmmmmmmm