On the move again

You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a lovely Alpine scene. However, that's not snow, it's sand! The landscape here in Western Australia is one we haven't seen before. Hot, dry (currently) and desert-like.

Since we left Malaysia, back in August, we've been trying to reach the southwest corner of Australia, somewhere near Perth, where we could lay the boat up for six months or so, to continue some land travel and also deal with the maintenance issues we've uncovered on the boat. This coastline has proven difficult, in more ways than one. There are very few harbours and very few facilities. The wind is usually strong and unrelenting from the southern quadrant, a problem when you're trying to get south. Weeks can pass before you might get a weather window to allow some southerly movement. Our progress has been slow.  We arrived in Dampier, which initially looked very nice. After being anchored in the harbour there for a couple of weeks, we'd changed our mind and couldn't wait to leave. The anchorage is open and the wind blew through at a steady 25 knots all night, every night, whistling through the rigging and creating a sense of unease that affected our sleep. After a few days we realized the wind was also bringing copious quantities of red iron-ore dust. It coated the boat and us. Even the pretty, usually white cockatoos flying around looked dirty brown. We haven't seen any rain at all now for at least two months, so, there was no hope for a rinse off. During the day the sun is white-hot and glaring, temperatures are hot, but, cool off very nicely at night and we are enjoying the lower humidity very much.

We moved from Dampier to Exmouth where there was a marina and no dust and spent a couple of weeks there waiting for another weather window to move us further south. It was just coming to the end of the whale watching season and we encountered many humpbacks with young, mostly lolling about, sleeping, in the warm waters of the Gulf. The area is also home to whale sharks, but, only from April -July. We took the van and had a look around the local area. These huge termite nests were an interesting sight that dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see.

The weather finally turned, wind still from the south, but, a gentle one that we could get through. When we finally rounded NW Cape it seemed like a significant milestone.

We'd hoped to make it as far south as Geraldton during this window, but, we had to cut it short and go into Carnarvon when we had another boat problem on the third night out. Due to its location at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, Carnarvon has many fruit and vegetable plantations and is known for their small, super-sweet, bananas. We've never seen bananas growing on the tree before, so, it was all very interesting and very delicious. The town is located in Shark Bay, another World Heritage Area along this coast where the water is turquoise and the beaches white and deserted.

This may turn out to have been a lucky stop. Although we're still in the cyclone area, we're out of the worst of it and we may be able to haul the boat out here at a much better rate than farther south.