The Kowsas' Big Lap: We are really in cruise mode now!

Slowly we head south and slowly the winter clothes are being peeled out once more. To be honest though the weather has been wonderful so far on this trip, so when a cloudy day comes along or "shock-horror" some rain presents, we look in disgust at the heavens above.

We spent two more days at Coral Bay and enjoyed some lovely time down at the beach and wonderful snorkeling. Imogen and I (we are the cold frogs of the family) managed to score a loan of our friends' wet suits and on our last full day at Coral Bay, all four of us had a ripper snorkel drifting along exploring the coral and sea life. There was lots of muffled yelling through snorkels, waving and pointing as we each saw the next fascinating thing. Just as well you can't hear yourself as you're floating along sounding like an alien! The girls also enjoyed (as did Mum and Dad) their last night at Coral Bay having dinner and a movie with our traveling companions the Kenagy family. It was hard to say goodbye, but the prospect of new things to come moved us on.

Our first stop on the road south was in to Carnarvon. We didn't really see the lure of this town and the only thing that was of interest to us was the train ride along the very long jetty. Unfortunately though, the afternoon was incredibly blowy and there were no rides going for the rest of the day. Groceries were achieved though and we were all set to move on the next morning.

The short drive allowed us to take in some sights on the way into Denham, with the first stop being the Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool. These rocky looking lumps are the oldest living organisms on earth and date back 3.5 billion years. I found them impressive, but the other three mainly enjoyed the walk I think.

Another short stint in the car and we were able to stretch our legs again and see Shell Beach. This unique beach is made up of countless tiny cockle shells layered up to ten metres deep. Not the most comfortable beach to lay on, but such a beautiful sight to see. Our day's journey ended at a free stay just south of Denham called Whalebone Bay. It was a ripper spot and for the first hour we thought we might be lucky enough to have it all to ourselves, but within no time three other vans had joined us for the evening. We attempted a fish and enjoyed some lovely walks along the beach.

The next morning we moved on to Denham and set up camp for a few days. It was a nice little holiday village, but once again extremely windy. Our highlight was definitely our morning at Monkey Mia, watching the dolphins come to shore to enjoy their morning's treat. Libby was very persistent and hovered at the water's edge at each of the three feeds, but much to her disappointment, was not picked to feed the dolphins. It was still very special to be so close to them though and watch them laze around in the shallows.

We picked up another two free nights staying at Coronation Beach just north of Geraldton and endured once again another terrible site (just joking) with views to the Indian Ocean. Hard job this is, but someone has to do it! We cooked up a few mean dinners on the Weber and even enjoyed a lamb roast. I also lashed out and made some special desserts one night. There was a lot of games of cards and Sequence and more attempts at fishing too.

Yesterday we arrived in Geraldton and we spent the afternoon taking in the sights of this lovely coastal town. It has a thriving port, a beautiful redeveloped foreshore and spectacular beaches. Due to Geraldton having consistent summer winds, it is a mecca for wind and kite surfing. There is also the HMAS Sydney II Memorial, which is a beautiful sight to see with its silver dome featuring 645 seagulls commemorating each life lost when the ship went down in 1941. This morning it was a little cool and also very overcast, so we decided to splurge and have an outing to the movies. The Smurfs movie was picked and the girls enjoyed it immensely. It also brought back some childhood memories for Padyy and I. Dare I say...it was Smurfilarious!!!