Week 9
Hi Everybody, At the start of the week, we left Perth and made our way to Northam. Northam is the only place in Australia where you will see a Mute, (White) Swan and Alistair was lucky enough to see and photograph one. We also went for a drive and saw some of the historic buildings there. After that, we went to the Train Yard Museum, where we saw a long train with accessible carriages. I found it interesting to see some old cameras there. After Northam, we drove to Toodyay (Tood-yay or sometimes pronounced Too-dge-ay) and stopped off at a caravan park for the night. At the caravan park, there were emus, Mascobi ducks from America, and a peacock named Henry. That night, all we wanted was a working heater but the caravan park’s power system wasn’t reliable, even though they were only half full. The next morning we had a visit from some Western Ringnecks. They are brightly coloured and they are featured in our week 9 videos. They loved eating Dad’s seeded bread. James wasn’t too sure about them though, and there was one sneaky magpie that got some bread. After most of the birds had gone, we saw one of them eating margarine out of an empty container under the trailer. I had an idea and I put some bread on top of Ali’s bird book and succeeded in getting a Western Ringneck on the book in a photo. Next, we left Toodyay and went to New Norcia, home to the Benedictine Monks. First of all, we went into the art gallery where unfortunately we weren’t allowed any cameras. But then, we went on a tour of the town. I found it fascinating to learn that the whole town was originally shaped like a cross. Then we went and had a look at the boy’s school and the girl’s school. I was surprised at the similarities in layout to the Geelong Christian College, i.e. the long chapel in the middle and the school buildings based around it in a ‘U’ shape. They were also similar in height as they were three stories tall, which is about the same as Christian College’s two, tall stories After leaving New Norcia, we drove to Guilderton where we were reunited with the coast. Unfortunately we didn’t realise that the spot we chose right near the beach, meant we took the full force of the strong wind and got close to getting frostbite. In the morning our minds were focused on one thing, to pack up and leave! On our way to Jurien Bay, we stopped off at Gin Gin where we found the Gravity Lab. There, we saw a large 13 storey building that was open to the elements. As we got closer, I saw stairs leading up to the top, I didn’t like the thought of climbing it. It was strange for another reason as it had the largest lean in the southern hemisphere with an angle of 15 degrees. Alistair and I couldn’t understand why it was built on such a lean but Mum and Dad just smiled. ‘Wait and see’, they said. I conjured a few ideas in the short time until we parked. Inside, we paid for entry and I got excited when the woman behind the counter gave each of us a balloon. My ideas were coming to fruition. | We joined a tour group for the first half hour or so. But after that, we were free to do whatever we liked. My favourite thing was the giant model black hole. It was made of shade cloth and shaped in that familiar funnel shape and was a couple of stories high. Ali and I had to go upstairs to use it. Tennis balls had to be rolled in a circular direction and the path they took enacted the end of a planet into a black hole. There was a bucket of tennis balls with string attached so that it could be lowered and filled by someone below, then brought back up. But finally, we headed towards the tower, hands shivering from the water and cold air reacting from recently filling up our balloons with water. Dad and I made our way up to the top of the tower, I had almost dropped my balloon a couple of times and I could see on the stairs that mistake that many others had made. The wind got stronger the higher we went up and I was shivering, definitely something that didn’t help me balance the balloon in my cupped hands. There were people coming down that had just dropped their balloons, ‘you’re only halfway up’, they said cheerfully. I was scared at the height of the building, now shivering for two reasons. Finally, Dad and I reached the top and saw three coloured chutes. I chose the left one and Dad went for the middle, we counted together, ‘three, two, one,’ and the balloons went flying. Then, unsatisfied, Dad and I made our way down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, we realised that the balloon that Mum got would be going to waste as she hated heights, I laughed but then realised that that meant that I would have to go up 45 meters again. After filling the balloons I reluctantly trudged up the stairs, this time, Alistair was with me. ‘Could be worse,’ I thought as I looked at Ali with his balloon and Mum’s. We then left the Gravity Lab, heads full of new facts, and went on towards Jurien Bay. When we were almost there, Dad took a right turn and I read some of the signs as we drove on. ‘The Pinnacles National Park,’ one sign read. We drove in and unhooked the trailer as it wasn’t permitted due to a rough road. We went though fields of strange rocks that pointed out of the ground, Dad explained that they were old tree roots that had been fossilised and then water had washed the dirt away leaving… the Pinnacles. Although it was a natural phenomenon, it was very common in the area and venturing into the national park was not necessary to see them. After we came out of the trail and hooked up the trailer, I thought about the sign that said no trailers or long vehicles, I couldn’t understand why they had put that there and I knew that the car and the five and a half metre long tandem trailer could’ve easily made it through the track without any trouble. That night, we stayed at Jurien Bay and got some good sleep in for the next day on our journey to Geraldton, and the next days traveling went without any real tourist attraction stops. Once again, our stay at Geraldton was only a spot to stop for the night and the next day we went to Kalbarri where we stayed at the Murchison River Caravan Park named so after the Murchison River just a throwing distance from the front of the park. The last two days of the week were spent at Kalbarri exploring the magical coastline. We saw giant rock formations like Island Rock (called so after it’s appearance) and the Natural Bridge (also called so after it’s appearance!) We also quite literally explored Pot Alley down to a little cove hidden from above with a sign warning us about tidal changes, hidden objects, and quick to rise waves, just the usual warnings. James would’ve loved to have had a splash but we decided to abide to the warnings. And that’s what we did on week 9 of our Journey Around Australia. Cameron |
