A Few Days in Hua Hin

7th to 13th September 2018

Spent time in Hua Hin solely with the intention of relaxing; no rushing about on this trip.

The railway station is a tourist attraction in itself – there is even a royal waiting room though it doesn’t seem to have been used for a long time.

The hotel was supposedly 3.5 stars but personally I doubt that, there was nothing wrong with it and it’s main point was its convenient location but it wasn’t a patch on the Royal Pavilion where we stayed last time. You get what you pay for – this was much cheaper.

A lot of time was spent eating; good food especially seafood was everywhere. There was one notable restaurant which was always crowded. When we first came across it there was a queue waiting for a vacant table.

In the event we ate there several times and by coming early never had to queue. Most of their food was delicious.

They were popular (famous?) for their claypot, personally it, like the similar steamboat, left me cold – I just don’t like boiled meat; boiled fish is OK but boiled meat? Not for me! The rest of their food was fine.

Hua Hin has plenty of other restaurants.

There was food on the jetty, at the night market and just about every street in town.

A short walk from the hotel was all the usual sights and sounds of urban Thailand.

It is definitely the off season with only a few Europeans about; there are a few pommie accents but the majority seem to be German or Scandinavian. The mainstay of the tourism industry at this time of the year seems to be coach loads of China Chinese visiting for a few hours (that is my observation only it might not be the case).

19th March–Boorowa

Distance: 247 km
Fuel: 29 L

The temperature dropped sharply during the night. That is not to say it was cold but by morning it was no longer a heatwave but still pleasant enough wearing a T shirt.

Today’s journey was through well travelled territory – Young, Cowra, Canowindra, Forbes etc are all interesting towns in their own right but it was not that long ago that I visited.

Click here to have a look at last years’ visit to the area.

Made a brief stop at the Parkes Radio Telescope just for old times sake.

The scenery became more undulating as I neared Boorowa – probably why they describe themselves as “Hilltops”.

Boorowa Caravan Park was well sign posted, I was instructed to find a site and someone would see me later. I chose one with a reasonable amount of shade.

With the much cooler weather it was easier to walk about the town and explore than on the previous few days.

Did you notice the clock hands are missing from the Town Clock on the War Memorial?

9th November 2017–Out and About

Distance: 166Km
Fuel: 44L

Drove to Cowra to visit the Japanese Garden – we have previously visited the POW Camp and the War Cemetery but for some reason haven’t visited the Gardens before. As they opened at about 8.30pm we left straight after having breakfast and arrived at about 9am.

They are beautifully laid out gardens over a fairly large area with a mixture of flat and hilly terrain.

After a couple of hours walking the grounds had coffee and carrot cake in the cafeteria before setting off for Grenville the town where Henry Lawson was born.

I have visited before and it is one of those lovely country towns where time has stood still. Driving past an Enhance petrol station was pleased to see diesel at $1.22 a litre so filled up ($1.37 in Canowindra and $1.28 in Cowra). That should get us home tomorrow.

After looking around for a while set off cross country back to Canowindra to visit The Age of Fishes Museum. Never been before… I mean fishes? Pah! Big mistake…

It was absolutely fascinating – all about fossils found in 1956 by a bull dozer driver rebuilding the road who realised that these impressions in the rock might be important. They are the fossils of fish from the Devonian Period 360 million years ago when life existed in the water but not on land, when the fish were first developing lungs as well as gills. It preserves over 3000 fish from a drying pond. The admission fee included an audio visual package which was worth taking. The visit took well over an hour it was so interesting.

Afterwards walked around the town centre looking at the old buildings before returning to the caravan park at about 4pm.

2nd June 2017–The Bungle Bungles

Distance: 1.5 km

Another brilliant day… Was standing outside the caravan park at 8.10pm when the little bus picked me up to go to Kununurra airport. At the airport we were briefed on where we would be flying and the day’s schedule. The flight was due to leave at 9am so we didn’t have long to wait before we board.

The flight to the Bungle Bungles airstrip at Bellburn took about one hour and flew down the western side of Lake Argyle (the lake is far more impressive from the air than from a boat), over a couple of cattle station homesteads before reaching the Bungle Bungles.

Those rectangles (above) are the tailings dams from an abandoned alluvial diamond mine. It took this mine a year to produce the amount of diamond that the Argyle Diamond Mine produces in a week.

At the airstrip we were met by a 4 wheel drive truck to take us the 10km drive to Piccaninny Creek Carpark and the start of the walk into Cathedral Gorge.

The beehive shaped mountains have red and black stripes where the blonde coloured sandstone has either reacted with algae to form the dark colour or the iron has oxidised to form the red. When you find a flake of the surface rock the colour is only as thick as a fingernail over the underlying yellow sandstone. This coating protects the rock and slows down erosion.

Millions of years ago these northern ranges were as high as the Himalayas, in 30 million more years they will be gone and northern Australia will be a coastal plain.

The guide took us on a slight detour to see where the Qantas ad was filmed in Piccaninny Creek.

The walk is only about 1.5km to get to the gorge but the path is very uneven and is often just soft, dry sand (it was hard to walk on).

The Cathedral Gorge is immense and the acoustics are unbelievable. It was so cool and an incredible place to sit, relax and have the packed lunch provided for us.

After hiking back to the carpark we were driven to the company’s Savannah Lodge for afternoon tea.

After cake, biscuits and tea it was time to return to the airstrip for the flight back to Kununurra which included passing over the massive Argyle Diamond Mine.

The plane landed at about 5pm so it was a pretty full day.

BTW I remembered to count the seats on this plane – there are 12 plus the seat beside the pilot.

29th May 2017–Derby to Fitzroy Crossing

Distance: 308km
Fuel: 58 L

Was out early buying fuel for the journey to Fitzroy Crossing and was on the road by 7.45am.

Easy drive to Fitzroy Crossing where I arrived about 11am. Found a Caravan Park right next to the IGA store, Checked in and the lady told me that there was a boat tour at the Geikie Gorge at 4pm.

The Geikie Gorge is only just over 20km from town and that sounded a good idea so at about 1pm I took off for the Geikie Gorge National Park. Of course I arrived in plenty of time for the boat trip, originally I had intended to suss it out and return later but there were a number of walks at the park so I decided to try out a couple – I was carrying plenty of water in the car.

History: Geikie Gorge is a reef from the Devonian Period (250 million years ago?) when the area was a sea. As I understand it it is limestone from a combination of algae and coral.

Anyway my first walk was in among the reef formations. BTW this is a story where too many rocks are just not enough.

Then it was a walk along the side of the Fitzroy River to the sandbar and the Margaret River. (In case you haven’t working it out yet Fitzroy Crossing is so named because it was a place early settlers could get across the Fitzroy River).

Here you can see both the start of the sandbar and where the Margaret River joins the Fitzroy to the left of the sandbar.

These were not arduous walks being about a kilometre or so each but the path was mainly soft sand (silt from the river flood) which made it hard going. They were well marked.

Suddenly it was time for the boat trip…

These are birds nests made of mud and saliva stuck to the underside of overhanging rocks.

The dark areas of the rocks are oxidised limestone while the light areas show where the river comes to at its peak. The limestone is eroded and scoured by the river. The ranger’s pagoda roof has been under 2 metres of water and it is not an insubstantial structure perhaps 5 metres high and many metres above the current water level.

The crocs are Freshwater Crocodiles much smaller and less threatening than the Salties further north, the river is quite safe to swim in they don’t attack humans.

This rock island is sacred to the local aborigines and is the only place where swimming is not allowed.

The boat trip finished just as the sun set so the drive back to town was at my least favourite time of day (for driving). As it happened I had to stop several times for wallabies with all the road sense of a two year old but I didn’t hit anything and got back safely.

I decided I didn’t want to cook so I went looking for a restaurant… Nope! the only food was at the servo but I really wanted a meal so I just bought fuel for tomorrow.

The diesel here is $1.43/L compared to $1.52 at Derby – how does that work?

28th May 2017–Derby

Distance: 21 km

Today I exhausted the charms of Derby. I had to wait for the park shop to open for me to buy ice but once that was done I set off.

First stop the Visitors’’ Centre where I parked the car and followed the Heritage Walk Guide. It was a typical self guided town walk a mixture of what had been but was gone, a brief town history and an explanation of what still remained. It passed a pleasant hour or so in the cool of the morning.

There were the Boab Trees down the main street.

The propeller and anchor of a ship, SS Colac, that was damaged and sank at the wharf in 1910.

The Derby Museum.

The Old Woolshed and Tramway restoration project.

Finally the Derby Picture Gardens a once typical bush open air cinema, alas only the screen remains.

By now I was a bit peckish so I called in at the Jila Gallery Cafe for coffee and cheesecake.

Finally back at my starting point I decided to revisit the wharf because I had missed the Centenary Mosaic when I visited yesterday.

The tide was out so the tidal mud flats were visible.

I drove to Derby’s Old Gaol next to the Police Station. What an awful place it must have been, just a cage with a tin roof and rings in the floor for attaching chains, No toilets. Terrible!

The original Police Station is long gone having been eaten by termites but even termites didn’t like the steel cage.

Finally I was out walking looking for lunch when I came across this hollow Boab tree which was just part of the streetscape. From one side it looked a healthy solid Boab from the other it was a different matter.

27th May 2017–Broome to Derby

Distance: 243 km

Shock… Horror… I was awoken this morning by what sounded like raindrops on the roof… except instead of a continuous pitter patter it was about 4 or 5 drops then perhaps 30 seconds pause then 4 or 5 more drops! when I finally got up sure enough the ground was damp but the surprise was that it was foggy! Thank goodness this didn’t happen yesterday.

Performed my usual ablutions and set about dismantling my camp, making breakfast and topping up the Esky with ice (I am multi-tasking).

By 8.30am I was ready to leave but I had still not decided where I was going; was it Derby or Fitzroy Crossing? A quick look at the map – Derby was only 40km from the highway – so it would be a visit to Derby first; if it looked OK then I would stay, if not I would carry on toward Kununurra.

Derby looked OK, the caravan park had vacancies so I checked in until Monday, set up camp and took off for the local visitors’ centre. Just outside town I had noticed a sign for the Boab Prison Tree so asked about that and the lady also gave me a self guided walking tour brochure. Unfortunately the local National Parks are not yet open so the day bus tour I was hoping for was not available (the problem of travelling early in the season – remember Kakadu last year? a lot of the crossings and parks were not open there either).

Anyway after the visitors’ centre I drove down to the wharf area for a look. The tide was on its way in so was flowing very fast under the wharf. The wharf was not a hive of activity except for a fishing boat being refuelled and the odd fisherman along the pier (not entirely sure that fishing can be classed as an activity).

At the entrance to the wharf was a restaurant/takeaway called “The Wharf” which reminded me that I was hungry. Went in to look at the menu and discovered they had a selection of Indian dishes. I selected one called Prawn and Scallop Curry, I was tempted by Rogan Josh or even Vindaloo but this won the day. It was excellent – fairly spicy (but could have been more) and plenty for a lunch.

I took a photo of the Mangroves just before I went for lunch and when I had finished took another from just about the same place. Gives you some idea of how quickly the water rises when the tide comes in. Actually it was going out again by the time the second picture was taken.

After eating decided that there was plenty of time for a visit to the Boab Prison Tree.

At the same location was a couple of other historic objects.There was Myall’s Bore and Cattle Trough. The trough is 120 metres long, was built in 1917 and could handle 500 cattle at one time. Unfortunately the bore pressure failed so now the water has to be pumped to the surface with a windmill.

Finally there was Frosty’s Pool built in 1944 for troops stationed in the area during WWII. It was constructed by the 3rd General Transport Co and nicknamed after a platoon member. BTW I hesitate to call this ‘historical’ as it was built only three years before I was born.

20th May 2017–Port Headland to Sandfire

Distance: 293.2 km
Fuel: 30 L

Went for an early morning walk to an “attraction” nearby called, ‘Staircase to the Moon Lookout’. It was quite a nice view but as it was billed as one of Port Hedland’s tourist hotspots I felt the day would definitely be better spent getting closer to Broome.

The caravan park was an outrageous $42 for a pretty average powered site but looking at the washing lines I suspect they can charge so much because the accommodation is sought after by the local workers (FIFO?) – the washing lines were 50% boiler suits and hi-vis shirts. Anyway, I wrote that money off.

One thing I must say about Port Hedland; industry is busy – from the caravan park in the distance you could see the railway line to the port. Every few minutes an incredibly long train arrived with full wagons of ore while on another line even longer trains were being made up of empty wagons presumably to return to the mines. I mentioned the road trains I encountered yesterday I overtook about a dozen but they were only travelling 10kph slower than me so presumably there were ore carrying road trains every few minutes along the road. The airport had several commercial jets in and out morning and evening.

People have to be doing something they are not on the street, when was in the town centre yesterday (Friday) you could have fired a cannon down the main street with no fear of hurting anybody.

Back to today’s journey:

The first part of the trip was shared with many road trains but they thinned out after the Marble Bar turn off. I was tempted to visit Marble Bar but a nearly 400km round side trip seemed a bit excessive. I am planning to do a similar journey through WA in the future but staying away from the coast to take in Mt Magnet, Newman and Marble Bar so it can wait.

The scenery varied from rugged low hills to flat scrub.

As I type this in the late afternoon I am surrounded by poultry, there are chickens, geese and a large number of peacocks and peahens of various ages. In the paddock next to the caravan park part of the roadhouse is a Brahman bull and a camel.

I was amazed that the powered site at the roadhouse was only $20 (they make it up by charging $1.59 a litre for diesel). Anyway, time for a beer or two after another day of perfect weather – I hope Queensland sorts its weather out before I get there.

17th May 2017–Karijini National Park

Distance: 295 km

Spend the day in Karijini National Park – the road was open. I would have been majorly surprised if it hadn’t been; I haven’t seen a cloud for a week.

There was an entrance fee but basically it was an honesty system.

After that it was just a question of finding interesting things to look at – there was plenty (well, I thought so).

One thing you can’t forget is that only a few km away is the notorious town of Wittenoom. The Hamersley Ranges is where asbestos occurs naturally.

15th May 2017 – New & Old

Distance: 96 km
Fuel: 54 L

Up early… and yes, the sun rises within the ANZAC Badge.

Went for an early morning walk on the Onslow boardwalk along the waterfront.

From it you caught glimpses of the two local industries – salt mining and LNG export.

I wanted to see the old town. After a long drive along a dirt road beside the Ashburton River…

…I got close. Actually I didn’t find any old buildings but there was the town’s cemetery.

It was amazing how young the people were when they died; mostly in their thirties or forties very few were over fifty, It must have been a hard life a century ago.

On the other hand, when I got back to new Onslow I was pretty hungry so called into the only pub for a meal.

Funny thing, I asked for a schooner of beer but they only sold pints or middies. Never come across that before, silly really because I would have bought two schooners but not two pints (I had to drive to get fuel)

At 9.30pm the power went out so I had to upload this using candle power. (The bit about the power going off is true)