October 16, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider at Cable Beach Australia for Sunset

Zeb, Eider and the humans arrived in Broome, Western Australia. After getting a place to sleep, we headed to Cable Beach.

We are at Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia

Broome is on the Indian Ocean and well known for beautiful sunsets. We did not want to miss it. Cable Beach is a very wide beach.

Wide beach and you can drive here

Cable Beach pleases swimmers, sunbathers, and even sailboats.

Sailboat and people on beach.

Zander’s is the main restaurant on the beach.

Zander’s on Cable Beach

As you can see, this is a popular gathering place to watch the sunset.

This is the place to be for sunsets in Broome

At Zander’s you can eat in the main restaurant and watch the sunset. Of course, you will pay for this option. We sat in the restaurant, since we wanted the full experience. Hamburgers cost about $20 US, but the location was well worth it to us.

Zander’s restaurant. Eat inside or get take away

The part on the far right, is for ordering take away food from Zander’s, at a lower price. You can eat your food while sitting on a few benches outside. Everyone is ready to watch the sunset.

Anticipating the sunset

The sun is now setting.

Sun beginning to set in Indian Ocean

From the time the setting sun touches the water until it is completely gone is only 90 seconds.

Almost gone

Now, even with the sun gone, this is still a beautiful place and the weather was perfect, so many people still linger here. It is difficult to leave.

Still warm and beautiful

We are so happy that we ate at Zander’s and we able to see the famous and beautiful Cable Beach sunset. We hope you will visit here soon. It is wonderful.

October 14, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Duck Enjoy Western Australia’s Eighty Mile Beach

Zeb and Eider Duck and the humans arrived at Eighty Mile Beach.

Welcome

We stayed in a cabin at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park.

Our home for a couple days

In the U.S. we do not believe the RV parks have self-contained cabins for rent. But in Australia, many of these parks have places for your tent, your camper, cabins with shared facilities and self-contained cabins. They are great. As we approached the park, we admired these Australian greeters.

Hello

Isn’t she adorable? We love these wallabies. You may remember that a wallaby looks like a smaller kangaroo. Our park has this Memorial for Vietnam Veterans.

Vietnam Memorial

It was officially opened August 18, 2010. We like memorials that honor those that fought for freedom. Eighty Mile Beach is the longest uninterrupted beach in Western Australia. The beach comprises 220 kilometers of coastline between Cape Missiessy and Cape Keraudren. Let’s see the beach.

Our beach is wide and long

We enjoy the soft sand and the really wide beach. Many migratory birds come here in the spring to feed. Also between June and October humpback whales pass near this beach heading north. This is the Indian Ocean, but the sea is rather gentle. Humans can drive on this beach.

Driving on the beach

Fishing from the shore is popular with many humans.

Fishing on Eighty Mile Beach

There are many kinds of shells on this beach. We ducks like beaches, sand, water and shells. This is the path to leave the beach and return to our cabin.

Heading back to our cabin

One time when we left the camp, some of the residents did not want us to leave.

Please don’t leave

We waited patiently for them and soon they moved for us. This road sign certainly made us look twice.

What?? Turtle crossing?

Someone altered a speed bump sign. Flatback turtles do come ashore between October and April to lay eggs, but by the ocean. Not on the road. We are enjoying the view from our front porch. This proud, colorful bird really got the attention of our humans. Of course, being a fellow bird, we liked him also.

Our bright eyed feathered friend

As you can guess, the sunsets here at Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean, are beautiful.

Beautiful Indian Ocean sunset with a lone fisherman

A great finale to our time at Eighty Mile Beach.

Just beautiful

October 10, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Driving from Exmouth to Point Samson, Western Australia with Zeb and Eider Duck

Driving north from Exmouth, Zeb and Eider thought this was one of the best signs ever!

One of the greatest signs ever!

Further north, we spotted these rocks.

Pile of rocks

They are just all piled up. Rather unusual. We continue to see the many termite hills.

More termite hills

There are thousands of hills, so there must be millions of termites?? Arriving in Onslow, we decide to spend the night here. Our rooms are on the shore of the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean by our cabin

Aren’t these flowers beautiful?

Flowers in front of our cabin

They are growing by the front of our cabin. How can these trees grow and not fall down?

Growing sideways?

Leaving Onslow, still heading north, we find an Iron Ore mining area. The real mining area is fenced, but we see this plaque.

Plaque for Mr. Algy Patterson

The nearby bridge over the road is the Patterson Bridge, named for Mr. Algy Patterson, respected elder of the Kuruma and Marthudunera people. Much land in this part of Australia was owned by the aboriginal people and now Australia calls them traditional owners and they are involved in the use of the land. This is the case at the iron ore mining site. This is the Mesa A/Warramboo mine. Red dirt shows the work being done and the heavy red color of the soil, an indicator of iron ore.

Iron Ore being mined

Further north, we observed this unusual sculpture.

Unusual sculpture

We stop at Point Samson and admire the lighthouse near our room.

Lighthouse at Point Samson

These ships are lined up for the docks at Port Hedland.

Ships lined up for Port Hedland

The ships will take iron ore to Asia. We use this path to get to our beach on the Indian Ocean at Point Samson.

Path to beach at Indian Ocean

The next town, heading north, is Roebuck. We really liked these memorials for Australia’s military heroes. This one is for those that perished during World War I.

Honoring World War I Veterans at Roebuck

This one honors all fallen veterans.

Honoring all veterans. Roebuck, Western Australia

At a rest area we again were amazed at the way trees can grow.

How can they grow like this?

We also love the white bark. Here is another sculpture by the side of the road.

Unusual road side sculpture

We don’t know what it is, but it captured our attention. Today we have shown you some of the scenery we liked driving up the coast. Next time we will take you to 80 Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean.

October 9, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Exmouth Australia During World War II with Zeb and Eider

During World War II Australia and the United States often worked together. Remember that the United States entered World War II after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The US declared war on Japan. In 1942 the US had ships docking in Fremantle, Australia which is southwest, near Perth. A refueling port further north was needed for the submarines. The US and Australia each built bases near Exmouth.

Operation Potshot Monument

The US stayed here from 1942-1944. The two countries worked very close in this area.

Balls of Steel

These balls of Steel, or ball float, were anchored in the nearby Gulf and used as a mooring point by boats or barges involved in Operation Potshot.

Zeb and Eider visited the site of the former US basis, called Operation Potshot. At this monument, there are several signs explaining the differences and similarities of conditions for the soldiers from each country.

Operation Potshot Monument

We think you would find these signs interesting. During this time the Japanese military was very aggressive in southeast Asia. Japan had moved through Thailand, into Malaysia and Singapore. Singapore is very close to northern Australia. During World War II Japan bombed northern Australia very heavily.

Australia attacked by Japanese

Broome and Darwin were frequent targets. Operation Jaywalk, a joint effort of 14 men from Australia and Britain, left Exmouth from the US base, September 2, 1943.

Tank Float

Tank floats were steel pontoons hitched together to form floating docks.

These men conducted a raid on the Japanese ships in Singapore. As result, 7 Japanese ships sank or were seriously damaged. All 14 men returned to the US Base at Exmouth October 19, 1943.

From Operation Jaywick

From Operation Jaywick also

The US base was heavily damaged during the Cyclone of February 3, 1945. We, the Colorado Traveling are not history experts, but we are happy to see that both countries were able to work together to help end World War II.

Operation Potshot

These monuments are very interesting and informative.

Submarines need refueling port

We think they would be worth some of your time when you are in the area of Exmouth, Western Australia. Standing by the monuments, the Indian Ocean in on one side and sheep grazing in a pasture are on the other side.

We love this guy

We like seeing all the sheep.

Grazing sheep

More peaceful now than during the war.

Operation Potshot Monument

October 7, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Exmouth on the Ningaloo Reef with Zeb and Eider Duck

From Coral Bay we continued north to Exmouth. We made it!

We are in Exmouth, Western Australia

Turtles are born here. However it was not turtle season when we were there, but this is the path to one of the nesting beaches.

Turtle Rookery

Looks like a nice beach.

Turtle nesting beach

Further along the beach we liked this turtle sculpture.

Turtle Sculpture

The small town was very nice and the people friendly. This is the Koobooroo Oval, and sports field.

Koobooroo Oval in Exmouth

We liked the trees planted around the oval. In Coral Bay we showed you the beaches, so today we will show you the Vlaming Head Lighthouse.

Vlaming Head Lighthouse

This lighthouse is 17 km from the town of Exmouth. Since it is built on the northern most tip of Cape Range, it is one of the few places in Australia where you can watch the sun rise and also set. Building the lighthouse had been under consideration for few years, but in 1907 when the SS Mildura sank here and many good men were lost, the lighthouse building date was accelerated. The lighthouse was completed in 1912 and was a welcome addition to this coast. This is the anchor from the SS Mildura.

Anchor from SS Mildura ship

The view from the lighthouse is wonderful. Many people report seeing the migrating whale shark from here. The ocean current here made an unusual pattern on the Indian Ocean.

Unusual currents viewed from lighthouse

From the lighthouse 13 tall towers are visible.

13 tall towers

During the 1960s the US Navy was granted permission from Australia to build these towers to aid in the US communication network. During our visit to Australia, we learned about many joint military efforts between the United States and Australia. We will show you more of these sites soon. Leaving the Vlaming Head Lighthouse, we saw this friendly emu.

Friendly emu

Emus are very common in and around Exmouth. We are still enjoying our road trip up the western coast of Australia. We hope you enjoy some of our explanations and photos also.

October 3, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Duck Drive North to Coral Bay on Australia’s Ningaloo Coast

Zeb and Eider left Carnarvon and drove north toward the Ningaloo Coast. We love car trips. We can see so much of the land and watch the terrain change. Soon we stopped here at the Minilya River Roadhouse.

Minilya River Roadhouse

Those humans think they need a Magnum Ice Cream bar every day. While they are eating (again) we admire the display of old farm equipment.

Old equipment

Continuing north, we begin seeing strange things in the fields. First we think they are large rocks, but soon realize they are termite hills.

Hundreds of Termite Hills

Termites are a type of ant. There are many types of termites and they build many different shape and size homes, or termite hills. This one is pretty large and very lumpy.

Big, lumpy termite hill

We showed you a few smaller termite hills on Kangaroo Island in our August posts. We have arrived at the Ningaloo Coast.

We are here on the Ningaloo Coast

This is another World Heritage Site. First we will visit Coral Bay.

Beautiful Coral Bay

Another beautiful view of the Indian Ocean. Coral Bay is just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. The Ningaloo Reef forms a natural lagoon.

Coral Bay

The Ningaloo Reef runs for 80 km off shore, starting about 300 meters from the beach. This is the boardwalk to the public beach.

Boardwalk to the beach

Much of Coral Bay and the Ningaloo Coast forms the Ningaloo Marine Park and much of that is an animal sanctuary. Turtle hatching takes place in February. Whale sharks can often be seen from March to June. Human activity on the water is limited, but on this beach we can enjoy the beach and swimming.

Swmming and sunning here

Isn’t this a pretty beach? We think it is.

Lets take a boat ride

We ducks think this boat is here just for us. But, the humans would not let us take it out on the water. They said it was not ours and not for rent to tourists.

Beautiful beach and not many humans

Notice that like so many other places on Australia’s west coast, the beaches are not at all crowded. This is so nice.

Ningaloo Reef Resort Hotel

This is the Ningaloo Reef Resort Hotel and is the perfect place to stay while enjoying the Ningaloo Reef. We could stay here for a long time if the humans would let us.

October 2, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Carnarvon Australia with Zeb and Eider Duck

It was raining when Zeb, Eider, and the humans left Monkey Mia in Shark Bay, Western Australia. The road was flooded in places, but we were able to drive through.

They drove through the water. So did we!

Apparently the roads flood a lot in the rainy season, and also in the drier winter. This was a common sign along the road.

Common sign along the road

We are still driving north and decided to spend the night in Carnarvon. Carnarvon is famous for its great climate and banana plantations. Carnarvon is the commercial center for the rich Gascoyne district. We went to the historic One Mile Jetty, built by Matthew Price in 1897.

Carnarvon’s One Mile Jetty

It was built to accommodate State Ships bringing supplies and passengers from Perth and allow the export of livestock and wool from the region. Today there is great fishing from the jetty. Nearby is the water tower lookout.

Water Tower Lookout

From this lookout we saw great views of the mouth of the mighty Gascoyne River.

Indian Ocean from Water tower lookout

There is also a Railway Museum here. We liked this restored G-Class dropside railcar from 1884.

Drop side rail car

This information carriage was not open when we were here.

Information carriage

These vehicles were interesting.

We like these

This wagon was much taller then Zeb and Eider.

Big wagon

We especially liked this Coffee Pot train.

Looks like a fun ride

We could not stay longer in Carnarvon, but it was a very nice and interesting town on the Indian Ocean.

September 30, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Zeb and Eider Visit Monkey Mia Resort at Shark Bay, Australia

The World Heritage Drive ends at Monkey Mia Conservation Park and Reserve. Entering the reserve, we stayed Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort.

Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort

This resort is famous for dolphins. The wild dolphins come into the bay. The rangers at the reserve feed a few wild dolphins a little food each morning between 7:45 am. and noon. The rangers greet the dolphins when they arrive, so there is no strict time schedule. Like many tourists, we went to the beach at 7:45 am.

Waiting for the dolphins to come. Rain came first

A couple dolphins came in, and then it stated to rain. Most of the tourists, including our humans, left the beach. We did see the dolphins and they are beautiful animals.

Wild dolphins

This pelican was on the beach also.

Matching blue feet

We like his blue feet; they seem to match the human feet with blue shoes. From our patio, we enjoyed watching the ocean.

From our patio. After the rain

Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort has many thing for humans to do. Chess anyone?

Help us play chess. We cannot move the pieces

Anyone want to rent a canoe or kayak and go on the ocean?

Let’s get a kayak

Let’s go swimming when the sky clears.

The sky will become clear and the sun will shine

Maybe beach volleyball or join the seagulls at the outdoor bar?

Come have a drink with us

You can always be entertained by the many pelicans near the resort.

So many pelicans here

How about food? You can sit outside by the fireplace and enjoy meal, or of course, you can enjoy your food inside. This fireplace is visible from both sides.

Cozy fireplace behind us

For more information visit http://www.monkeymia.com.au We enjoyed our brief stay at Monkey Mia, even though it was rather rainy. Mom said if we are even back in this part of Australia we will definitely stay here again.

September 26, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Shell Beach at Shark Bay World Heritage Site with Zeb and Eider

Zeb and Eider Duck, with the humans, visited Shell Beach. We have never seen anything like this before. The beach is entirely made up of billions of tiny cockle shells layered up to ten meters deep. The beach stretches for 120 kilometers.

Shell Beach is huge

Upon entering Shell Beach we started reading the information signs.

One of many signs at Shell Beach

The first one started “imagine living in a super-crowded super-salty soup”. The Fragum Cockle does that. There can be over 4,000 cockles living in one square meter of the very salty water. The water in Hamelin Pool, which includes Shell Beach, is about twice as salty as normal ocean water. The water here arrives from the ocean and the evaporation rate is so high, that a higher salt content results.

Sitting on shells by the edge of the salty water

Closer to the water, there are more loose shells. You can see us sitting on the many shells.

Individual shells

Further from the water, the Shell Beach has dips, looking like waves.

Shells form ridges similar to waves

This beach is really made of shells.

Millions of shells here

These shells can be made into building blocks

Sitting on shell blocks

They can adhesive together and are very strong Many buildings are made entirely or partly with shell blocks. These are shell blocks.

Shell Blocks at Hamelin Pool

You can see the individual shells that make up the blocks.

Shells adhesive together to form shell blocks

Shell blocks were the main building material for many of the homesteads. Shell block is a wonderful insular. Isn’t this a pretty beach?

Shell Beach from the World Heritage Drive

It is Shell Beach from a higher lookout point on the World Heritage Drive. We liked Shell Beach, but for humans walking without shoes, the shells are rather sharp and cause some pain.

September 25, 2015 by coloradotravelingducks

Shark Bay in Western Australia with Zeb and Eider Duck

Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site on the western coast of Australia, and we are going to visit.

Entering Shark Bay World Heritage Site

Shark Bay is an area, not just one place. We are driving on the World Heritage Drive.

World Heritage Drive is quite long. We will here a few days

First stop is Hamelin Pool to see the only remaining Telegraph Repeater Station, established in 1884.

Hamelin Pool. Mrs. Lillian O’Donahue helped NASA in 1964 from this station

We like the gas or petrol pump here also.

Old gas pump

Inside the telegraph station, there was a sign explaining the evolution of communication: from dot dash to dot com. On 1964 the first Gemini space capsule was to be traced across Australia, but there was a temporary problem with the phone line. Mrs. Lillian O’Donohue using the Morse code link, spent 4 hours relaying important information through Hamelin Pool until the phone line was fixed.

Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station of 1884 with petrol pump and telephone booth

NASA gave her a special award for her help. Next we went to see the stromatolites. Walking along this boardwalk,

Great viewing boardwalk

we read the explanations of stromatolite and also looked at them growing in the water.

Natural growing stromatolites

Many growing stromatolites

Hamelin Pool is one of a few places on earth where living marine stromatolites exist. The rocky looking lumps in the water are the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth dating back 3.5 billion years. The water at Hamelin Pool is twice as saline as usual sea water, due to sea grass banks situated across the bay’s entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water.

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

At Eagle Bluff we looked into the shallow water of Shark Bay Marine Park and saw Cowtailed stingray. They were visible and we saw them move but photos were not successful. Walking along the boardwalk on the edge of the cliff, we saw Nervous Shark. This photo shows one of the shark.

Nervous Shark

We saw more than 3 of them, but again, photos were not great. Seeing the sharks and stingray in the ocean was wonderful! Part of the coastline was rocky and really beautiful.

Love the rocky coastline

These islands are now important bird breeding colonies.

Island primarily breeding area for birds

Further along the World Heritage Drive, we stopped at Little Lagoon.

Little Lagoon

The lagoon is almost a perfect circle in shape. This was once a land-locked birrida (gypsum pan) that was inundated by the sea several thousand years ago. Linked to the sea by a small tidal channel, Little Lagoon is a natural nursery for several species of fish. Also when we were here, a man was having a problem getting his dog, Smiley, in the truck to go home. Smiley wanted to play and swim. We hope Smiley and his human got home without much trouble. Next time we will tell you about a special beach at Shark Bay World Heritage Site.

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