Central West Coast - Western Australia

The Central West Coast heading North from Perth, loads of deserted open roads, hardly any people and long open stretches of beaches, wheat fields and National Parks.

New Norcia - monastery settlement established in 1846 by Benedictine monks as an Aboriginal mission. Still in use today with 8 monks in residence. They also run the New Norcia Hotel and brew their own beer to sell at the bar, the Abbey Ale is indeed a fine use of the monks time and at 7% happy hour in the monastery must be fun. 

The Pinnacles Desert in the Nambung National Park features thousands of limestone spires up to five metres tall. The lime rich desert sand originated from seashells, which was compacted with rain and then subsequently eroded to form the individual pillars. The girls are playing hide and seek behind the rocks.

Geraldton - HMAS Sydney Memorial, which commemorates the 645 Australian Sailors who were lost in a World War II naval battle in 1941. The memorial contains a silver dome constructed with 645 steel seagulls and a statue of a women gazing out to sea. The wreck was not found until 2007 some 66 years after its sinking.

Coronation beach - overnight camping spot on the beach. Lovely free camp, very windy but the bay is protected by an  offshore reef so loads of kite surfers and windsurfers playing in the bay to entertain us for the day. View from the lookout with Carrie and Larry in the middle. 

Kalbarri National Park - over 1000sq km of bushland, river gorges and coastal cliffs. The Murchison River has carved a gorge over millions of years to form dramatic sandstone faces. Here Penny, Fleur and Ellie are sat within 'Natures Window' a natural rock arch forming the view down into the upstream side of the gorge.

Kalbarri coastal gorges features towering cliffs, and dramatic rock outcrops with names such as 'Mushroom Rock', 'Island Rock' and 'Natural Bridge' as seen here. Very similar to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria without the crowds of people but in their place the biggest number of flies so far encountered on our entire trip. We had to run from the car to the view, take the photo and then run back to the car before becoming fly food.