Caves, Pinnacles, an Old Bus and a New Baby

Dongara (or to more precise, Port Dennison) proved to be yet another pleasant seaside town, very much geared to tourism, where we stayed for two nights at a campsite by the beach. Whilst pleasant enough the town was not exactly exciting although one piece of equipment outside the Old Courthouse did set the blood racing and I am considering installing a similar corrective device to keep Sandra under control when we get home! On Saturday we set off from Dongara for Perth via the Stockyards National Park and the Pinnacles National Park.

Stockyards is a gully on one of the old droving trails where the cattle could be safely gathered for the night. The highlight was a tunnel which the river, dry when we were there, had carved through the rocks leaving a several hundred metre long tunnel similar to Tunnel Creek in the Kimberley. Unlike Tunnel Creek, we were the only people there at the time which, along with the total blackness, increased the spookiness factor. The fear factor was also raised as our ears were assaulted by a loud buzzing noise caused by feral bees whose hives could not be avoided on the approach to the cave – it was raised even further when we came across a sign warning of bee attacks. However we managed to get through the tunnel with no mishaps other than raised adrenalin – then on to The Pinnacles.

Australia has some amazing geological features not least of which are the Desert Pinnacles a couple of hours drive north of Perth. Along the shore the dune system has been stabilised by a variety of plants, however miles inland fire and wind have exposed the sand which has been blown away to expose the Pinnacles – thousands of them! Ranging in height from a few feet to several metres, these strange structures are spread out over the landscape like a disorganised Terracotta Army - with the reasons for their existence still not fully understood by geologists.

We have been fortunate throughout most of our trip to have come across people who have opened their doors to us and made us welcome - the latest of these being John and Marie. Marie is an old friend of Maureen Sturrock back in Scotland. John and Marie live in Darlington in Perth Hills about 25k from the city centre. It made a pleasant change to sleep in a proper bed, under a ceiling that didn’t flap in the wind and to have breakfast on a sunny deck overlooking the trees in their garden.

Long-time followers of this blog will recall the amazing number of coincidences reported and how these have tailed off over the last few months – well they’re back! Marie, who although English, redeems herself firstly by having lived in Orkney for 15 years at the same time that Sandra and I lived just over the Pentland Firth in Caithness, and secondly by being a friend of a good friend of ours in Orkney – the infamous Billy Dass. Mind you, as Marie said, how could anyone live in Orkney for 15 years and not know Billy!

Marie came to Australia in 1986 after a three-year overland journey in a converted 1956 bus – the story of that trip’s hair-raising experiences in Iran, India, Pakistan etc, told to us whilst drinking flagons of red wine into the wee small hours, would fill a book. The bus, named Mathilde, having lain in a state of increasing dereliction for many years, is now being totally renovated to an extremely high standard by John and Marie with the intention of Mathilde completing her circumnavigation of the world returning to Britain via the Americas. And people think Sandra and I are brave (mad?) for undertaking our trip – I take my hat of to, and are very envious of, John and Marie.

One of the reasons for being in Perth was to fly back to Sydney on 7th September in time for us to be there for the birth of Steven and Ana’s baby – our first grand-daughter – expected on the 11th. Sunday 5th was Marie’s birthday and the four of us were out for a birthday walk when my phone rang, it was Steven who announced the baby had put in an early appearance and had been born at 2am – six days before time. John and Marie had kindly offered to look after our vehicle for a few weeks whilst we were in Sydney and gave us a lift to the airport.

In Sydney we were met by Steven and whisked off to his house to see the new, as yet un-named, addition to the Douglas Clan. Sandra immediately ensconced herself with Ana to discuss babies, breast-feeding techniques, nappies and other alien topics whilst I twiddled my thumbs, had “shotties” of the baby when it wasn’t crying and gave it back when it started crying – I don’t know how I was ever a father! The baby is apparently in good fettle and even Steven, who before the birth had not exactly been full of obvious fatherly emotions, was heard to mutter proudly “She’s beautiful”

We are staying in Stretch and Johann’s house whilst in Sydney for the next couple of weeks and will no doubt be posting many more baby stories and photographs - watch this space.