Our First International Trip and a Trippy Pink Lake

Saturday 24^th August

Today we travelled to the Principality of Hutt River. Hutt River is an Independent Sovereign State having seceded from Australia on Twenty First Day of April 1970.

Leonard Casley seceded because of unfair Wheat Quotas imposed by WA government. When they then threatened resumption of the Casley’s lands, Leonard went to the Governor and stated that land resumption was unlawful and was there any reason why he should not secede the lands to protect their lawful rights. He did not get a reply so he issued Secession Documents.

Hutt River Province was now a Republic but the Commonwealth Government got involved. The P.M. Billy McMahon offered Commonwealth powers to the state to deal with Leonard. Leonard went to his people and said that if the Republic was a Principality the British Laws of Treason would protect them and put a heavy onus on McMahon. They voted in favour.

Later, when Malcolm Fraser was P.M., Leonard actually declared War on Australia. Three days later he sent notice declaring that State of War had now ceased and under the Laws of War, sovereignty goes immediately to the Government that is undefeated.

He further gave notice that the Principality accepted and applied the Geneva Conventions of 12^th August 1949. In doing this he undertook a Political Duty and if anyone hinders or obstructs him in his duty, they are guilty of an offence under the Australian Crime Act.

He is now Prince Leonard of the Principality of Hutt.

When we arrived, he greeted us personally and showed us around. It was my first time being presented to Royalty

 

Prince Leonard was rather informally attired (but it was Saturday!).

I was a little put out since I had gone to the trouble of wearing lippy especially for the occasion!!!!!!

He obviously saves his flash gear for more regal occasions!

 

 

He did, however, issue our visas personally.

 

We went for a wander around.

 

We went to the Administration Building containing the Government Offices and the Post Office (where we were issued our visas), the arcade housing the Memorabilia Dept., the Information Bay with the carved wooden bust of Prince Leonard and two metal sculptured knights and the Crystal Monument.

 

 

 

Our final stop was the Inter-Denominational Chapel.

 

At the front, facing the congregation it had two chairs; one for Prince Leonard and one for Princess Shirley (who sadly passed away just recently).

Ron immediately fell into character, and it appeared the mantle of office was weighing heavily upon him.

 

 

I on the other hand, as Paul would have it, am purely ornamental and therefore fulfilled my role most regally.

 

It was a most fascinating place. I’m surprised there is not more publicity for it. Ron chanced upon a mention of it on a map and when we interrogated the lady at the Kalbarri Info Centre, she produced a brochure from under the counter and told us about it. It does also have camping available (very basic) for $5.00 per person.

 

From here, it was off to the trippy pink lake.

 

It is called Hutt Lagoon and is a salt lake which is pink because it contains carotenoid-producing algae which is a source of B-carotene, a food colouring agent and source of vitamin A. (That is so boring……I prefer to think it is magic!!!!)

 

The pink colour is as it was today. It has NOT been Photoshopped!!!!!!

 

 

It is amazing!!!! It is different shades at different depths and there are flashes of blue when it is choppy. It is like pink musk sticks where it is really shallow.

It is quite close to Port Gregory and we drove round for a quick look.

It is a pretty little spot with a lovely white sandy beachfront.

 

From there, it was off to the nearby Convict Ruins.

 

There were lots of old buildings in various states of disrepair. There was also a lot of interesting written information about the area.

Then we headed off to Northampton and booked into Northampton Caravan Park ($28.00 per night).

 

Sunday 25^th August

We arose this morning to grey skies, thunder and spits of rain. We decided to head off anyway because there wasn’t that much to see and do in Northampton on a Sunday and our next stop was (436) Coronation Beach. How appropriate in light of our recent hob knobbing with Princes and all!!!!!

Well the rains worsened! Mustn’t grumble though; it is our first real rain in WA!

 

 

It was eventually so heavy that we missed the turn off to Coronation Beach, travelled several kilometres down the road and took our lives in our hands negotiating a particularly tricky three point turn across the highway (Indie actually stalled on the second point) only to be confronted by this sign when we finally got back to the turnoff!

 

Undaunted, we drove into the beach anyway. The colour of the water was not at its usual best turquoise (in fact it was quite a dull grey) but the sun did appear to be making an effort to break through. Lulled into this false sense of security (and the fact that a couple of people had obviously just vacated) we decided to stay the night. ($6.00 per person – bargain!) 

 

 

 

 

We parked Indie and settled in, as did the rain.

 

 

It wasn’t all grey skies and pouring rain; there was the occasional patch of blue sky and sunshine.

 

You could tell it would be lovely in fine weather. We did a bit of a walk between downpours but mainly just hid out in Indie hoping that we would not be blown away.

We spent the night hoping the road out would not be too boggy and that we would manage to get out and head for Geraldton tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dodged Denham and Kicked Back at Kalbarri

Saturday 17^th August (Cont.)

Without having decided on our short term destination yet, we have stopped at (457) Gladstone Scenic Lookout for lunch and decided to stay overnight. The lookout is the only high point in an otherwise extremely flat and dusty landscape. The thin blue line on the horizon is the ocean.

 

And there are lots of gnomes (left by travellers) gazing out towards it.

 

 

Our neighbours, Leicester and Sue, were from New Zealand and were swapping motor homes with a couple from Perth.

 

They were borrowing theirs while they are here and the other couple will use theirs when they go to NZ shortly. They arranged it all on line and didn’t know each other beforehand.

They were singularly unimpressed with our flies but otherwise enjoying their holiday.

We had a lovely sundowners together and indeed, we had a lovely sundown!!!!

 Sunday 18^th August

After my coughing fit at one o’clock this morning (when Ron and I both thought I would bring up a lung) I finally settled back to sleep to be woken at about 5.30 am by a text message on my phone. It was OK though because it was photos of Xander. (Ben obviously forgot the time difference!!) He is now having Swimming lessons and standing up in his cot….talk about upwardly mobile!!!!!!

 

We were still deciding ‘do we, don’t we do Denham’ and settled on ‘Don’t’. The weather is overcast and cold and there isn’t much there except Monkey Mia (which neither of us are interested in and lots of (apparently) lovely beaches. It is too cold for swimming though so we have gone on to (446) Nerren Nerren Rest Area

 

There are lots more wild flowers about now and even some at the camp area.

 

The weather is so foul, we spent nearly all of today indoors. I did venture out a couple of times. I spoke to a lovely young English couple who were still coming to terms with the size of Australia and figured they could have driven to Scotland today if they had gone that far back home. Mind you, I am still coming to terms with the size of Australia, especially northern WA where there is so much distance between towns and most of those towns so far have ranged from small to teeny weeny!

Monday 19^th August

  We have decided to move on and so packed up ready to go and this time we actually did not get away at our usual 9.30. In fact it had just gone 10.00 and Ron had fired up Indie and we were just about to move off when our path was barred by caravan, the owners of which turned out to be none other than Aidan and Mary. They had pulled in for a morning cuppa. What are the odds? Anyway they kindly made us coffee and shared their Tim Tams (an extreme act of generosity).

 

 

As we drove on, we noticed fields of crops for the first time in WA.

 

We arrived at (444) Galena Bridge (Murchison River) and set up camp next to each other. It was very windy and the flies…..!!!!!!

 

But at least this time there was water –granted not much, but water none the less.

Ronnie and I went for a walk and took in the scenery.

 

We saw wildlife and more wild flowers.

 

I still can’t identify most but Mary, after much consultation with her Wildflowers Book, assures me that the white ones may be a variety of Mulla Mulla.

It seems Mary thinks most flowers are a variety of Mulla Mulla and it has become rather a standing joke between us all.

Did I mention the flies? Ronnie lent me his fly net and while it may not strictly be haute couture it is extremely effective.

 

  Later in the afternoon, who should rock into camp but Judi and John?

  We met them back on 5^th July at (619) Goldwire Rest Area when we were still travelling with Bob and Fran. (It seems like eons ago; we have done so much and been so many places). We have been leap frogging down the coast and have crossed paths a couple of times. This was the first time though that we have actually been able to sit down and catch up. They came over for sun downers and the six of us had a great old catch up and a chin wag.

Tuesday 20^th August

What a wonderful, lazy day. We read, we dozed, I did some drawing. It is still very windy and cold but Indie is our safe haven. And inside with the sun shining through the windows; snug as bugs we are. All our friends, Aidan, Mary, Judi and John had left us. They were going as Ron and I were getting breakfast.

But we weren’t alone for long. I reckon there would be at least forty vans of various size and type here tonight.

We will head off towards Kalbarri in the morning.

Wednesday21st August

As we drove to Kalbarri, there was a sign saying that ‘Natures Window’ was closed from July to October. This would me the most iconic natural rock formation in the whole of Kalbarri National Park and the one spot that draws tourists from all over. The road in is being bituminised and they are upgrading the facilities. And of course, what better time to do this than the height of the tourist season. (Turns out, they are still allowing tourist buses in but it would cost us $108.00 and that’s three nights’ accommodation!!!!!). 

We arrived in Kalbarri mid-morning and decided to stay at Murchison Caravan Park ($35.00 per night). There was nowhere to park Indie so I walked in to register and Ron parked over the road in the car park. Five minutes I was gone! Five minutes! And I come back and there’s Ron chatting up a blonde!

Turns out, it was Terri. We first met Teri and hubby John on 15^th June in the Northern Territory. Since then, we have seen them a couple of times. Meanwhile, they have been to Perth, had a trip to Bali, come back to Perth, headed back up to Kalbarri and found Ron in a public car park. Teri invited us back to their Caravan Park for Sun Downers.

Aiden and Mary are here but they had gone out by the time we had settled in. 

After lunch, Ronnie and I went for a walk up through the town

 

It is such a pretty little town and sits right where the Murchison River empties into the ocean.

 

We walked over to Teri and John’s. Just as we were getting close, John arrived to pick us up. They had invited their neighbours, Bev and Jim over as well and we had quite a little party going for a couple of hours before we staggered home.

It was wonderful to see them again and a little bit spooky about the chance way of running into them. (Very Twilight Zone!)

Thursday 22^nd August
This morning we did the Kalbarri Coastal Cliffs (a 12km drive along some staggeringly beautiful sea scapes).

Our first stop was Red Bluff.

 

 

 

It was a lovely sunny day, but the wind was still howling. I thought my skirt was going to blow away at any moment or indeed I would do a Mary Poppins and just fly away.

  

We saw whales breeching and pods of dolphins – quite magical!!!

We went to Mushroom Rock and Rainbow Valley.

 

Then it was off to Pot Alley with our intrepid, all terrain Indie doing a splendid job of negotiating hills and bends.

 

We walked across the top of Eagle Gorge and Shellhouse Grandstand

 

 

The water is so clear.

From there, it was back to Indie for a delicious lunch before sallying forth along the 3km boardwalk from Island Rock to Natural Bridge.

 

Apart from the fear of plummeting headlong over a cliff and disappearing into Davey Jones Locker, and fighting an almost impossible battle with flies, the walks along the Coastal Cliffs had been just gorgeous. Just to top it all off perfectly, we saw more whales and another large pod (probably 10 -15) of dolphins.

 

 

Friday 23^rd August

Today is another rest day before we head off again tomorrow.