The morning came and we packed up to leave – Trev left a New Testament and Gordie a booklet for Jason on his doorstep as he was still asleep as we started to drive out of Quobba..

A quick coffee and fuel stop at Minilya Roadhouse and we were back on the road to Warroora Station our campsite for the next 3 nights…

The station road was unsealed but in great condition so we travelled the 23kms from the highway to the station in no time. The land around the homestead was much greener than at Quobba – it looked like they had had some rain – but there were still no trees – just scrub…

Arriving at the homestead Trev had to use the unique 2-way to contact the staff as the office was unattended…

….we were soon sorted and were allocated the “Perentie Corner” which was a site for large groups – so we could park in a “wagon train” formation with the firepit in the centre – great!!

After the slight corrugations along the road, there was a find in the Hunter van that Branch had to check out – there were construction shavings throughout the van despite Kerry cleaning that morning…. The van is 3 years old and is still giving up shavings when shaken – as Gordie put it – LAZY WORKMANSHIP not vacuuming up the mess after drilling and screwing in cabinetry…

Kerry broke out the Dyson to fix the mess….

There were some interesting sights in the campground…but the main amenities were excellent!!

That night Kerry noticed a suspicious “blackout” and torch usage at the Well’s Franklin which Branch went to investigate…was the BMPro OK??….. no issue just trying to prevent a moth invasion according to Rose 😊

 The plan for today was to head out north along the Quobba-Gnaraloo Road to Red Bluff as the swell was large and the surf would be pretty spectacular at the point there….

As the road was fairly rough north of Quobba Station we let down the tyres on recommendation of Tim and Sara the Quobba Station owners…

Gordie had to do a quick tighten of his aerial prior to our trip out….

It was about a 50 km trip to Red Bluff – the first part was alongside the rugged limestone cliffs with seaspray coming over them due to the crashing waves of the big seas…

We moved a little away from the coast and drove though such a barren landscape it was hard to imagine how you could farm in the area – the sheep and cattle had little shelter from the searing heat and there was not much vegetation that looked at all edible….

There are 2 mine road crossings along the road where road trains take their loads out to the jetties to load the salt and gypsum onto ships… ( Rio Tinto salt mine and Lake Macleod gypsum mine).

We finally reaches the turnoff to Red Bluff…. And Trev needed an urgent wee stop – a bit hard to find a big enough bush!!!

On arrival to Red Bluff we could see how huge the surf was – it was pounding the shore with a huge shore dump…. And out on the point the waves were massive.

Red Bluff has a campsite and small shop – the landscape is very much desert….

It was very hot and the flies were horrendous but we got out and explored…

I got some great pics of the spectacular surf…it looked like the waves were eating the cliff face….

At a distance we could see the surfers taking on the waves….

We walked out to the point to watch the few brave surfers taking on the challenge – the hardest part was getting out and back in safely over the rocky reef – there were quite a few who struggled and some boards met their fate on the rocky outcrops – a few broken….

The surfers got some great waves…..

and there was some spectacular wipe-outs….

A couple of fishos braved the crashing breakers in an attempt to catch dinner – at their own risk!

Gordie and Trev had several chats to surfers and old mates getting all the latest info…..

There was a mixed bag of surfers out there – young, old, Aussie, European, experienced and novice (everyone was concerned about the 2 German newbies on Chinese boards- we were not sure they knew what they were getting themselves in to….)

We walked back to the cars…..

Rose, Dave and Klaus opting to return to camp while we stayed back for Trev to put up the drone – and he got some amazing footage of the surfers and Red Bluff…

The Red Bluff Café was our next stop for mango smoothies (the BEST mango smoothies EVER according to Gordie) – they were a welcome relief from the dry dusty heat! We met a young American/Canadian couple and had a long chat to them…

We then drove back straight to the aquarium for a swim as we were hot and dusty….the swell was huge on the reef outside the aquarium which led to small waves and a strong current in the lagoon – however it was great just to have a refreshing swim….

Branch was caught eating Twisties in the Titan – and NOT sharing…. Or was he just eating leftovers scavenged after Klaus had been travelling with the Hunters?????

Beryl had spent the day resting in the Weiss Lotus but was not feeling much better…..

Sunset was a great time as we watched the waves crash on the front beach and the light change…. and the flies disappear!!

The morning started in a relaxed way – we had breakfast and then got together as today was Sunday to listen to the next instalment of Exodus – chapters 8-10 – the plagues on Egypt….pretty timely as we were experiencing a fly plague of our own…..

Gordie had taken a leaf out of the Wells Cleaning Handbook and was giving the Titan a spit and polish…..

The station at Quobba has some really unique outbuildings, some of which are accommodation, others just older buildings such as shearing sheds and shearer’s quarters…

There was a unique Quobba Blowhole which saw good use from the group over the time we were there 😊

The station homestead was up on a slight hill surrounded by some stumpy trees… with a tennis court that guests could use…

The surf was huge again, pounding the front beach which was not safe to swim at due to the closeness of the reef, however the scenery was ruggedly beautiful…

The station owner had told us about safe areas to swim, one of which was the “natural aquarium” near the blowholes so we packed up our snorkelling gear and drove the 10km down to the area.

It was a stunningly beautiful inlet that had an island in the middle and an opening out to the sea that had reef across it, making the area itself like a lagoon….

The water was clear and a beautiful colour in contrast with the white sand … an almost tropical vista….

We all went in for a snorkel and saw some small coral outcrops, lots of fish and some sea slugs, sea urchins and clams….

The current was quite strong once the tide was full as the swell came over the reef at either and flowed quickly along the beach…

Trev, Gordie, Sharon, Matt and I swam out to the island while the others soaked in the sun on the beach…

The island was very barren with a graveyard of bleached shells and coral… we had a look around and then made the swim back – that was our exercise for the day 😊

On our way back we stopped past the blowholes to take a look at the huge swell which was getting bigger by the hour… some amazing pics of waves breaking over the rocky coastline….

That afternoon we spent relaxing at camp – the flies were still fierce- it seems that WA is experiencing a record fly plague in particular inland – however the wind is definitely pushing them to the coast…. Flynets have become our best friend… the only relief is on the beach in the water….and when the sun goes down….

After watching the sunset over the front beach we had dinner together then sat around together having coffee….

Gordie invited Jason over – one of the campers who was on his own – camping in an old bus near us…. He had a sad life story… Gordie asked him some questions which he then opened up and answered… giving Gordie an opportunity to share his faith and explain to Jason that we were Christians…. Jason explained that his faith was in himself…. Sadly not much comfort as we cannot control all circumstances and cannot rely on self in particular when it comes to death and eternity….only faith in Jesus can give us that sure and certain hope of eternal life…

We packed up aiming to leave Denham at around 0800 as we had a fair distance to travel to Quobba today.

Exiting Denham Seaside Caravan Park, we met just outside Denham and commenced the journey planning to stop at Wooramel Roadhouse for fuel and coffee…

They were fairly friendly at Wooramel as long as you were a happy customer…..

The next planned stop was Carnarvon for groceries and other supplies as the next 6 days we would be off-grid…

Carnarvon has grown since the last time we were here – the foreshore has been further developed…. We stopped and had lunch overlooking the water….

There were 2 memorials on the foreshore – one to the HMAS Sydney II….

And one to the Kormoran (the German ship that battled the HMAS Sydney II – both were sunk).

The “Shelton’s Corner” shop was still there so I had a pic taken standing in front of it – for you Dad!!

As we left Carnarvon we drove through farms of mangoes and bananas – reminiscent of the Sunshine Coast in QLD….

We drove on from Carnarvon – the land becoming increasingly barren with mesas rising our of the dry and dusty plains…

The road in to Quobba is sealed – we drove past Quobba Lighthouse – a lonely beacon in an otherwise vast expanse of scrub…and in the distance we could see the Quobba Blowholes were really working as the swell was huge!

At the “King Waves Kill” sign we were to go right to Quobba Station but we decided to do a quick photo stop at the blowholes as they were going off!!

Dave got a too little close for Rosie’s comfort but he was OK… the blowholes were impressive!!

We checked in to Quobba Station, our home for the next 3 nights and set up camp….unfortunately Beryl was feeling a little worse for wear after coming down with a sore throat which seemed to be developing into a nasty cough… fortunately RAT negative 😊….

The moon was almost full so I had another go at taking some pics which turned out a bit better than those at Denham….

Our last day in Denham was spent relaxing and cleaning up after the days out at Steep Point….

Matt and Sharon had not been to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins, so we drove them out to take a look…. Slowed down again by the resident emus…..

What a disappointment Monkey Mia was!!!

For $15 PER PERSON you could have the privilege of parking at the Monkey Mia Resort/ National Park area (and there was no where else to park legally!!)… and then when we went in just to enquire re the $15 fee we were told that there were no more dolphin feedings that day (even though the website says there are 3 feedings between 745 and 12 – we arrived at 10 and they had already done all 3!!) – to top that off it was $45 per person to watch the 5 – 10 minute event if it had have been on…. Way too expensive and not worth it!! While Trev was getting the info we spotted 1 dolphin a fair way out but we did not want to waste $60 to see nothing that we could not already see on any beach any day…..

We drove back home and stopped on the way to look at Little Lagoon – an almost perfectly circular tidal lagoon that was an amazingly bright bluey-turquoise in colour. It was a birrida – a rounded impression in the midst of sand dunes where ancient salt lakes had once been and had evaporated. It had now filled with seawater….

It was providential that we chose to stop there as 2 English girls in a hired van got themselves bogged in the sand in the carpark…. MacGyver got out the sling and snatch strap…. and they were out in no time – and very grateful 😊

Getting back to Denham we ate lunch then went for a snorkel out the front beach – the water was crystal clear turquoise – an unbelievable colour… we saw some interesting jellyfish, some small fish but on the whole there was just a sandy bottom and not much else… Gordie had a bit of a kayak as did Klaus who also through a line in… to no avail (again)…

That night was the full moon so we went to a nearby lookout to watch the sun set and the moon rise….while we waited Trev got a shoulder massage from sister Rosie – much to Dave’s disgust as he indicated that he NEVER gets one!

The still waters of the bay looked beautiful in the fading light…

Denham was glowing in the late afternoon sun…

The moon came up – large and colourful…

That night we went down to the waterfront as the end of the week long fishing comp was being celebrated with a fireworks display – which was actually spectacular and went for almost 15 minutes – a great way to end our time in Denham…

Sunrise at Shelter Bay woke us early in the tents…

Klaus was up and trying his hand at some more fishing with no success… no fish for brekkie!

A few had not slept perfectly last night as surprisingly the ocean swell made quite a loud noise even though it was a bay with no waves per se… the thought of an inundation into the tent made some a little nervous 😊…and the overnight temperature dropped quite significantly so it was a little cold…

While we were having brekkie on the beach we saw the barge come across from Dirk Hartog Island – you can take your cars across to the island and there is an eco-resort that people can stay in….

We took our time enjoying the beautiful location. Trev flew the drone and the pictures were great showing just how clear the water was and the remote location of our campsite.

There were no “big things” in the water apart from 2 manta rays that were a long way out… disappointingly no dugongs or turtles…

Sharon, Trev and I did some early swimming and snorkelling… Gordie and Kerry also jumped in a bit later…. the water was crystal clear and warm.

Everyone started to pack up slowly and the tide which was rising quickly was coming perilously close to the Titan… Branch noted that Gordie was furiously wiping down the driver’s side running board…. Had an inundation occurred??

Just as he went around to the seaward side, a rush of seawater came up and went right under the Titan, over the wheels and Branch was becoming very concerned that the Titan would not be able to exit the beach quickly enough….

The Loveday tent had water lap at the entrance, so we quickly put it down, the camp was packed up and we started on the drive back to Denham, everyone making it off the beach with no further issues…

The drive along the bay side of the peninsulas was much sandier and close to the water’s edge – a real contrast from the cliffs, rocks and open ocean views of yesterday…

We drove past the ranger’s station, and then past a private property with a beautiful old stone house on it that looked like it was being restored…. And ideallic location but so stark and remote!

As we drove over one small sandhill the road veered towards the beach and as we came over the rise we saw that the tide was still coming in and the road was half covered in seawater… Matt’s GoPro images say it all!!

We carefully navigated along the now partially covered road – at some points it was difficult to determine if we were on the right track, however we were and we reached higher ground….there were some people waiting to come across after us… Gordie could just get past them…

The Princess was bringing up the rear slowly as she was VERY reluctant to get her feet wet….

The journey became a bit slower as we caught up to some fishos also driving out… they were fairly rude and did not do the courteous thing of pulling over to let faster vehicles go… which was a little annoying – we had to have patience… and enjoy the views of spectacular rolling sandhills and the blue waters of the bay….

Gordie found a few “old mates” to have a chat to along the way….

Then at one point he managed to get past the fishos and we could not see him for dust….. 😊

We drove back past the salt mine area across the long roadway between the 2 parts of the bay and decided to wait til we arrived at the sealed road to re-inflate our tyres….

A road train leaving the salt mine was driving slowly along – and thankfully at a wide section where it was easy to pass…

Finally reaching the tar we saw Gordie there inflating his tyres with the fishos doing the same…. Not much was said as we all got the Thumpermax’s working on the tyre pressures…

The Hunters and Wells went straight back to Denham, but we did the short 15 km trip to the Stromatolites ay Hamlin Pool so that the Weiss and Bowyer clans could take a look as they had not been there before.

Disappointingly the walkway out over the pool was in disrepair and the beach entirely fenced off… add that to the full tide and the stromatolites were just dark shapes under water in the distance… There was an information guide there who let us know that there were plans to restore the walkway which was great to hear… Trev and I were pleased that we had seen them on our first Wild Adventure in 2017….

We drove the hour-long trip back to Denham and got sorted out, unpacking and cleaning before heading out to dinner at “The Old Pearler” – a restaurant on the foreshore at Denham. The building was made with blocks from the “shell sand” at Shell Beach – a really unique construction.

Dinner was delicious with Kerry and I opting for Crayfish Mornay – Trev’s snapper looked amazing too!

Our planned trip out to Steep Point started at 0800 as we knew it was a long 4WD trip to get there over rough tracks and sand…. We had checked out the map and decided to tackle the journey along Useless Loop Road and turn off to Thunder Bay thus making our way up the left hand side of the peninsula to Steep Point aiming to see all the coastline….

Our camp for the night was at Shelter Bay – Blackie’s 1 and 2 campsites – a short drive back from Steep Point along the right-hand side of the peninsula – and from there we planned to drive that way back to Useless Loop Road thus covering pretty much all of the scenery…

We drove the 90 kms from Denham to the Steep Point turnoff …

and finally arrived at the section where the unsealed road began – we let the tyres down partially when we stopped at a clay pan as the road was somewhat corrugated already…the flies were horrendous, and Gordie was seen doing a rather random, awkward fly dance while Trev assisted with his tyre pressures…

A few of us took the opportunity to “find a bush”…. And behind a mound I found a large hole that clearly was home to a large marsupial ??? wombat???

The drive out was through some of the most barren and unforgiving land – it was difficult to imagine how anyone could live out here… let alone run a farm – but we passed the odd farmhouse and fenced off properties…

Further along Useless Loop Road was the turnoff to Useless Loop where there is a salt mine- the whole location is inaccessible to the public… The areas where water was collected to allow the acquisition of the salt were visible near where we stopped…

Just near the turnoff was the place that the NPWS indicated that tyre pressures should be decreased to 20psi Max ( we went to 18) so as to be able to make the 4WD journey out to the point.

The Titan had been rattling so much that Gordie had to get out the shifter and tighten the nuts on his driving lights – better safe than sorry as we had seen quite a lot of “spare parts” along the road already…

It was soon after that we hit the real 4WD track….

The trip out was 140kms of unsealed road, rocky areas, and sand tracks… which provided us with many laughs and spectacular scenery….

Trev could not help laughing at one point as we were bouncing over the sandy corrugations thinking of the Pearl and how the Wells were probably cursing the Lovedays for bringing the Princess out over such rough terrain….

Matt and Sharon in the back of the Ranger were having a great time…

Matt had attached his GoPro to our attachment on our front bullbar and captured some amazing footage on both days…

We stopped first at Thunder Bay – the swell was massive and the coastline so rugged, remote and wild….

Next stop Thunder Bay Blowholes – huge holes in the escarpment cliff area that you could walk around (carefully) – the wind blowing up them was incredible – no water today as the direction of the swell was not right however you could hear the seawater rushing below you in the caverns…

There were many small fissures and holes through out the area where sounds and wind were coming up (not due to any human interference although Trev thought Klaus was experiencing some more legendary rumblings) – the whole area must be undermined by the sea and full of subterranean caverns… we hoped that none would collapse as we walked around….

We drove through sandhills, over crests, narrow areas, rocky areas – the pictures tell the story….

The road was very rocky in parts and not always easy to distinguish… at one point it went very close to the cliff edge…

The next stop on the journey was Nor 6 a small memorial to the Nor shipwreck that happened off the coast nearby…

We finally arrived at Steep Point – the western most point of mainland Australia….

and of course took the mandatory group shots… the occasion must have been momentous because even Klaus managed to look excited!!

Of course Dave could not resist getting a pic of the Pearl in the iconic location… with Rose working the camera…flyhats and all…

The cliff area was very treacherous – sheer drop offs into deep water…

The Steep Point camp ground was deserted so Trev put up the drone and gave a different perspective to the point…

The drone went a bit rogue and Matt had to try and catch it to land it – but its obstacle avoidance managed to ensure it eluded him – Trev ended up manhandling it and bringing it into submission….

Dirk Hartog Island was visible with the surf at Surf Point looking good – from Gordon’s perspective he thought he saw the best left hander ever!!

We drove on to Shelter Bay….

…. and located our campsites – the Hunters, Wells and Bowyers were on one site, and the Weiss’s and ourselves were on the other.

Just as we arrived a turtle popped it’s head out of the clear water to check out what was going on..

We set up the tents – some appeared rather close to the high tide mark, but time would tell… the Hunters had opted to sleep in the back of the Titan and Gordie felt he had pole position closest to the sea…. A bit risky as far as everyone else thought anyway…

Gordie and Kerry had a struggle squeezing their 2 single airbeds into the Titan’s rear tray, but Trev was happy to jump in and assist ….

Each couple’s set up looked quite cosy….

The sunset arrived and Klaus threw in a line in a couple of places to no avail…. But if you were going to fish, this was the time and place…. If you didn’t give it a go now you never would….

We ate dinner together after having happy hour as the sun went down – there were some very happy moths that could not stop drinking Trev’s cider…

The almost full moon came up and the beach was beautiful in the moonlight – the stars were amazing and it was so quiet and peaceful listening to the ocean gently lapping the shore…

Trev shared a reading from Luke Chapter 9 and we spent some time discussing the section which was on the 3 different men who Jesus spoke to about the cost of following him…

We all hopped into our tents hoping for a good night’s sleep listening to the sounds of the sea….

Today was planned to be a fairly easy day with time to prepare for our camping trip tomorrow to Steep Point – the most westerly tip of mainland Australia.

The day started out with a visit to Eagle Bluff and the boardwalk. The landscape around Denham and the Shark Bay area is extremely dry and arid with no trees at all except in the township…

The views from the bluff were great with Eagle Island in the foreground and the rugged coastline with the turquoise waters below.

Eagle Island is an important nesting place for rock parrots, pied cormorants and silver gulls.

Unfortunately, the boardwalk was under repair so we could not walk the full length but did get most of the stunning aspects to look at… the flies again were pretty bad here unlike back at Denham where they seemed to have abated….

We noticed in the distance what looked like a white sandy beach at the end of a track with a beautiful inlet of water, so we made our way down there – it was very picturesque and the water was lovely and clear… and warm! It was actually Eagle Bluff Campsite – a free camp – with no one camped there! It would have been a great place to stay.

A bit further along Shark Bay Road was the turn off to Ocean Park – the aquarium. After parking, we noticed that TREVOR HOMES was in the carpark…. the same car we had seen at Twilight Bay in Esperance a few weeks ago – they must be following us around 😊….

We grabbed a coffee at the aquarium and then went inside for the tour and shark feeding. The tour was excellent and very informative in particular in relation to the local species of sea life that can be found in the Shark Bay area.

There were lionfish on display that are venomous with the 13 spines on their back containing the venom which is very painful if you step on them…

The puffer fish is poisonous if eaten…. Unless of course it is prepared by a Japanese Fugu Chef – who knows how to remove the poisonous section leaving the delicacy called fugu that can be eaten.

They had a school of clownfish living the symbiotic relationship with 2 anemones…. Beautiful little fish – the black variety is the local clownfish species…

There was a beautiful black and brilliant blue fish cleverly created with the blue to indicate it is poisonous – just a defence mechanism to avoid predators as they are not actually poisonous…

We also saw large snapper, bream and other varieties of fish in the bigger outdoor tanks…

They had some lemon sharks and a juvenile tiger shark affectionately named Rex.

Rex will be released into Shark Bay when he is old enough – the population of tiger sharks are needed to keep the dugong population in check as tiger sharks are their only predator here… if the dugong were to proliferate they would strip the sea grass beds and the salinity of the water would change affecting the unique environment of Shark Bay…

None of the sharks were particularly hungry at the feeding time – they just circled around the pool…

There was other sea life such as rays, sea snakes, barramundi and the timid shark – a small shark that Shark Bay was named after due to the numbers of them found in the very saline waters…

On the way back to camp to have lunch we came across some local emus hogging the road…

Back in camp Gordie got busy cooking scones….

Branch got busy inspecting the Weiss fridge which had a bit of a fail… or was it accidently left open all day by a user (??? Beryl???)

After checking out the situation Branch returned home to find some very suspicious items on the clothesline at the Loveday van… lots of cleaning cloths and wet paper towel…. Had something happened they were trying to keep under wraps???

A closer look revealed that MacGyver was at work under the sink – a leakage had occurred causing some minor water issues in the kitchen cupboard… the pipe had loosened and whoever had done the original plumbing job had put the seal on back to front – an issue quickly rectified by Branch and MacGyver but the event had caused some extra cleaning work that was not usual in the Loveday camp….

We sat down to a delicious afternoon tea of legendary Hunter scones…. then got to work packing for our camping trip tomorrow…

The sunset was superb – far superior to yesterday’s and that was saying something!!

The moon under some fluffy clouds made a somewhat eerie sight above the caravan park.

Sunrise over Coronation Beach this morning was spectacular!

Dave appeared early and filled us in with the events at Geraldton Hospital overnight… yes Rosie did have a reaction to the cocktail of drugs…. Too many Nurofen added to the Celebrex the chemist in Geraldton gave her did not mix well with her antihypertensives… and she threw in some antibiotics for good measure that then created the perfect storm for a very red and itchy whole body experience….. not the way you want to spend the evening however 2 shots of adrenaline later and she was so much better…. Dave was on his way back in to pick her up first thing…. They were planning to get the prescriptions the doctor at ED had written for her for effective (and suitable to take with her other meds!!) pain relief and as Rose was feeling a little better they decided to drive on to our next destination as soon as she had the scripts…

The rest of us packed up and got ready to leave…. Branch noticing that the Wells were absent after going to do a check…..he was very upset that he could not locate them despite multiple knocks on the door…

He decided to do a bit of a sneaky and check out Rose’s meds…. And nearly disappeared in the pile but did a thorough spring clean and threw out anything that may cause further issues – as always very helpful in a crisis!

We left Coronation Beach and no sooner than we were up the hill, Rose called me and let me know she was feeling great… but they had decided to stay in Geraldton as she now had made an appointment at 330pm with a local dentist to get her tooth looked at… she and  Dave were back at Coro Park and were going to get some sleep before the appointment… Tracey was kind enough to allow them to stay another night and they would see us in Denham tomorrow…

A stop for coffee and fuel at Billabong Roadhouse and to stretch our legs on our way to Denham was necessary….

At the Roadhouse they had a wall covered in all different notes and coins from around the world…always something unique in the outback roadhouses!!

As we continued on the red dirt was becoming more prevalent, lots of big farming equipment around, and feral goats and random loose sheep were seen by the roadside….

We turned off to Shark Bay and then Rosie called again with a further update…. She had managed to get hold of her own dentist in Sydney who advised her not to go and see the dentist in Geraldton… just take the painkillers and antibiotic the ED doctor had prescribed and it should settle – and he will sort out the impacted wisdom tooth when they arrive home in July…. So she had cancelled the emergency dentist in Geraldton…..

Along the road to Denham was a short turnoff to Shell Beach so we drove in for a look as Klaus, Beryl, Matt and Sharon had not been there before. The salinity of the water there is extreme – almost twice as salty as the open ocean. This salinity allows one particular species to flourish in the millions – the Fragum Cockle… this tiny white shell makes up the majority if the sand on Shell Beach… hence the name! The salinity is caused by a living barrier made up of sand and seagrass called the Faure Sill.

The shell “dunes” were very firm to walk over – a really unique environment!

We then had a call with yet another Rosie update!!! She and Dave had jumped in the car and decided to do the 4hr drive to Denham to catch us up this afternoon…. ETA about 7PM…. As they had not had much sleep we were a little concerned about fatigue and encouraged them to take plenty of breaks…

The Shark Bay area is very arid with red dirt, low scrubby saltbush and plenty of clay pans… no trees in sight as we drove from Shell Beach toward Denham.

We arrived at Denham Seaside Caravan Park and set up on our allocated sites – we were not all together as they were very busy with a big week-long fishing tournament in progress – but our sites were great and fairly close by…..and we had a great view over Shark Bay from our spot….

The sunset from the viewing platform near our van was spectacular and increased in beauty well after the sun had gone below the horizon!

After dinner the Wells arrived – everyone was really pleased to see Rose fully recovered and cheery – an answer to prayer…

We awoke to another beautiful day at Coro Beach…. and no decrease in the fly population so the flynets were getting a workout!

Being a Sunday, we went to church at Geraldton Baptist Church and enjoyed a great morning of fellowship hearing a good gospel message and meeting some interesting people.

One such person was Belinda, a woman who had moved to a farm at Ajana north of Geraldton with her husband and 6 kids from Perth to start a sheep farm as first-time farmers! The area they have their farm is near the junction of the highway and Kalbarri road… very arid and remote… their story was amazing! It took many years to get the farm to be profitable and how they managed over those years was really interesting to hear.

After church we went to visit the Geraldton Museum which housed some very interesting exhibits….

There was a 3D movie of the wrecks of the Kormoran and HMAS Sydney II which was really interesting!

Displays of local wildlife and sea life were very informative…

The artifacts from many of the wrecks along this coast including the Batavia were also on display…. The coast is so treacherous that countless ships have been wrecked over the last couple of centuries…

The Batavia was carrying a large portico in pieces all of which have been recovered and reconstructed inside the museum…

Rose had left the museum before everyone else and was sitting in the car as she was continuing to have issues with her wisdom tooth. She explaining to us that it was impacted (and had been for a long time) so it was a little confusing that it had seemingly finally broken through her gum… the pain was getting increasingly worse and she was sucking down Nurofen like there was no tomorrow with little relief… she had also started an antibiotic she had from her GP at home which was supposed to be for her to use if she got another sinus infection… possibly not the best idea to do however she was getting a bit desperate and planned to call her dentist in Sydney tomorrow morning for some advice… and maybe try and see a dentist in Geraldton or Denham….

During lunch at the beach near the Jaffle Shack, Rose explained that she had reached her maximum dosage of Nurofen for the day and was still quite uncomfortable so she and Dave went off to find a chemist to see what else she could take to help alleviate the pain…

We got changed in the Rubik’s Cube toilets and went for a swim and snorkel at the beach…

Rose called us from the chemist and explained she had been given some stronger painkillers – and they were not going to join us at the beach but were heading back to camp after grabbing some supplies. We all did some quick shopping for some essentials and drove back to Coro Beach just in time to go across and order dinner from the food truck….

Trev and I had the baked potatoes stuffed with local lamb stew – awesome!

We all ate in the gazebo…. And somehow Matt’s trademark smile seems to be catching on….

The sunset was not particularly spectacular but still worth a couple of pics…

During dinner Rose explained that she and Dave were going to stay behind tomorrow morning to call her dentist in Sydney and see if they could get an emergency appointment in Geraldton that morning to get her wisdom tooth looked at… they would then come on and meet us in Denham our next destination.

The remainder of the evening was spent listening to our 3^rd podcast on Exodus chapters 5-7 and discussing how God can use hardship to not only benefit the individual and help their spiritual growth, but also to benefit others around the person – as He did with the suffering of the Israelites in captivity and then His rescue of them which was a great demonstration to Pharaoh and the Egyptian people of who God is….

That night everyone went to bed expecting a good night’s sleep…. However, there was a knock on our van window about 1130pm with Dave asking us to come to their van quickly as it seemed Rose was having some sort of reaction to the medication the chemist had given her that afternoon….

We got to the van to find Rosie very distressed – itchy hands and feet that were unbearable, and her skin glowing red… and feeling very nauseous…

After calming her down I got her to explain what actual drugs she had taken…. And after looking at the meds she got out for me I realised that the cocktail of meds she had taken had clearly caused her to develop a significant drug reaction…. certain meds had compounded the effects of others and should not have been taken in combo….  Anyway, after checking her BP Trev and I bundled her into the Pearl so Dave could drive her in to Geraldton hospital as by now she was vomiting and itching all over…. Trev put all her meds into her handbag bag and told Dave to make sure he took it to show the doctors….

We returned back to our van and went to bed….. half an hour later my phone rang…. It was Dave asking me could I remember what drugs Rosie had taken as he had left her bag back in the van…. So I told him what they were and he wrote them down as they were just going into the hospital ED….

After saying a prayer for Rosie we went off to sleep…..wondering what the morning would bring….