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Zauners Lap of OzZauners Lap of Oz
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Zauners Lap of Oz

March - May 2024
An open-ended adventure by Zauners Read more
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  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    2
    Day 17–19

    Murchison House Station and Kalbarri NP

    April 7 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    This is where we well and truly hit the heat (37 degrees!) and the flies (in the millions!). The fly nets and 12V fans had a great workout so that we still managed to enjoy camping on the Murchison River at Murchison House Station, a working goat station founded way back in 1858.

    We visited Kalbarri National Park, owned by the Nanda people, braving the Skywalk in gale force winds and marvelling the Murchison River Gorge and stunning sandstone rock formations from various (also windy!) look out points. Taking advantage of the car aircon, we drove down south to Port Gregory to see the incredible Hutt Lagoon, a pink lake with salt levels around 10 times higher than the ocean! When exposed to sunlight, the beta carotene created by underwater algae gives the lake its pink colour.

    The ocean inlet at Kalbarri was the perfect swimming spot to cool off in the afternoon. We were excited to spot two emus as they headed down for a swim in the ocean on the opposite side of the inlet.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 19–21

    Shark Bay

    April 9 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    A definite highlight of the trip so far, the billions of flies didn’t stop us from loving Shark Bay for its rugged landscape, spectacular colours and abundant sea life! Our upcoming Ningaloo campground booking meant we only had one full day to explore the Francois Peron National Park, but we certainly made the most of our time here on Gutharraguda and Wulyibidi land.

    First stop was a swim in the 40 degree artesian hot spring tub at Peron Heritage Centre. From there we lowered our tyre pressure and hit the sandy and incredibly bumpy 4WD trails on our way up to Cape Peron, the northern most point of the National Park and Skipjack Point. From the lookout points we marvelled groups of manta rays, a turtle and a number of sharks as they swam by.

    After watching the sharks in their element, what better next stop than a spot of snorkelling along the reef around the point at Gregories. And that’s exactly what we did. We didn’t see sharks, but lots of fish and the kids even watched a sting ray close up as it swam past. Our last stop was Herald Bight where the sand on the 4WD track was so soft that we managed to get ourselves bogged! With some digging and well placed max tracks we were thankfully out in no time and back bumping down the track.

    On our way of Shark Bay the next morning we stopped at Shell Beach, 15km long and 1km wide, twice as salty as the open ocean and home to more cockles than anywhere else in the world. Fragum Cockles are one of the few species able to thrive in this salty desert and the resulting lack of predators has allowed the cockles to grow to a population of billions. With a lifespan of just one to two years, Shell Beach is covered in dead cockle shells.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 21–24

    Ningaloo Part I: South of Coral Bay

    April 11 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Ningaloo reef was the most eagerly awaited part of our WA west coast journey and it didn’t disappoint. After a rainy drive up north to our campground, during which we crossed over into the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun came out for our visit and we were able to spend our days driving along 4WD tracks to discover not just the beautiful reef north and south of Coral Bay, but also the giant poo-emoji-shaped termite mounds!

    Five Fingers was the definite highlight. We snorkelled and paddle boarded together for hours, marvelling blue spotted rays, colourful clam shells, giant blue starfish, diverse coral gardens and all sorts of reef fish. The ocean at Oyster Bridge was a little rough while we were there (probably more suited to snorkelling at low tide), but also amazing. We even saw a small shark swim by as we were gearing up; unfortunately it had gone by the time we got into the water.

    Looking forward to more snorkelling on our next stop further up the reef in Cape Range National Park!    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    11
    Day 24–28

    Ningaloo Part II: Cape Range NP

    April 14 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    A good friend told us Ningaloo is her favourite place in Australia and that’s how it has felt over the last week.

    Camping at Osprey Bay in Cape Range National Park for part II of our visit, we started each day with a pre-breakfast swim, snorkelling with the beautiful local turtles and a range of colourful fish.

    We explored the recommended snorkelling spots (Turqouise Bay, Lakeside and Oyster stacks), all diverse and beautiful in their own right and also enjoyed a boat day trip out to Muiron Islands, just north of Ningaloo Reef, where the corals were softer and even more colourful.

    Apart from the turtles, which we couldn’t get enough of, the snorkelling highlights for us were reef sharks (3 of them!), giant sting rays, blue spotted rays, mosaics of colourful coral gardens, catfish, cuttlefish, giant emperor fish and brightly coloured parrot fish.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 28–29

    Bullara Station

    April 18 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 37 °C

    On our way inland we stopped off for one night at the very highly recommended Bullara Station (thanks Charlie and Josie!), an outback station boasting a fabulous mix of antiquated station equipment, roaming farm animals, creative statues and fancy, rustic open air showers. And to top it off, we treated ourselves to a wood-fired pizza dinner with live music and a delicious breakfast of freshly baked scones, barista coffee and smoothies. Not bad for an outback overnighter, even factoring in the 37 degree heat and multitude of flies (sadly back upon us after a short fly break while at Ningaloo).Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    2
    Day 29–32

    Karijini National Park, the Pilbara

    April 19 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Having viewed mostly flat landscapes for the first weeks of our trip, we were excited to make it out to the heart of the Pilbara region, after a 7-hour drive inland, and be treated to actual trees, a beautiful series of rocky mountains and the reddest earth we had so far seen. We witnessed how iron-rich the area is when we dropped a magnet on the ground at our campsite and a big clump of red dirt stuck to it. A reminder, along with a steady stream of mining vehicles driving past, of the booming mining industry in this region.

    The real beauty of Karijini National Park lies in its many, varied gorges and they truly were gorgeous. With road works currently in progress to seal some of the 4WD tracks in the park, unfortunately only four gorges were open, so those were the ones we explored. On day 1, we started in Kalamina Gorge, a relatively wide gorge with a rocky track zigzagging across the water and ending at the beautiful Rock Arch Pool, where we cooled off with a swim. Our afternoon was spent in Joffre Gorge. Since Joffre Waterfall was dry (due to a few less than wet seasons in a row), we ventured down the gorge instead, swimming through breathtaking, long, narrow pools of water.

    Hamersley Gorge, our first stop on day 2, turned out to be our favourite gorge for its waterfall that wound down many layers of rock pools, each of which we loved swimming in. In the afternoon we visited Dales Gorge, the greenest of the four, boasting a waterfall that splashed down hundreds of levels of layered rock.

    We loved this stop, of course for the incredible gorges, but also for the beautiful, quiet National Park campground where we took in the sunrises and sunsets, listened to the howling dingoes at night (Nina even spotted one!) and searched for different animal tracks in the mornings. As an added bonus, Josh and Nina were awarded Karijini Junior Ranger badges for completing the tasks set by the park office during our stay.

    And as we left Karijini National Park on our way back to the coast up north, we celebrated the anniversary of our first month on the road!    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 32–34

    Eighty Mile Beach

    April 22 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We picked Eighty Mile Beach for a stopover because it was just over halfway between Karijini and Broome (and, to be honest, there weren’t many other options), but we ended up staying two nights because it was so beautiful - a little green oasis with just about nothing else 350km north and 250km south.

    Here on Nyangumarta land, there is a massive 900m between low and high tide which made for incredible sunset walks across the low tide flats, spotting hermit crabs and sea snails and stumbling through sections of quick sand. We stayed clear of the water, having been warned of crocodiles, box jellyfish, string rays and tiger sharks and instead relaxed with our books, played in the sand, fished at high tide and kept an eye out for wildlife, specifically the agile wallaby.    Read more

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    Day 34–36

    Broome

    April 24 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Apart from camels on the beach, we weren’t quite sure what to expect of Broome. The town delivered a successful hunt for real dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point, a memorable Anzac Day dawn service, stunning sunsets over the water, a beautiful beach and an exciting crocodile experience at the Malcolm Douglas Croc Park.

    … And relief that we all stayed safe… When we enquired about jellyfish and crocodiles at the tourist office at the beginning of our stay, we were told (i) although someone was stung at the beach this week, the water had cooled so jellyfish had moved on; and (ii) the beach water is so clear that we’d be able to see any potential crocodiles and exit the water in time! Emily, Nina and Andrea decided there and then not to swim, but when we got to the beach, it was so hot and there were so many people swimming that Timo and Josh went in after all. As it turned out, Cable Beach was closed twice in the following 48 hours after another person was stung by a jellyfish that afternoon and an actual saltwater crocodile was sighted directly in front of the surf life saving club just two mornings later!!    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 36–39

    Pender Bay, Dampier Peninsula

    April 26 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    The Dampier Peninsula land is owned and managed by the Nyul Nyul and Bardi Jawi people and their ranger teams. We felt privileged to be welcomed as visitors to this beautiful part of the country, camping on a little cliff overlooking stunning Pender Bay, with its pristine blue waters, red cliffs, black boulders and aptly named love heart rock.

    We visited the One Arm Point community at the top of the peninsula and Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, the home of world’s most valuable pearl (and also the home to the only swimming pool on the peninsula), but the absolute highlight of our stay was a 5 hour tour with Bolo from Southern Cross Cultural Tours. He welcomed us to his land, Lullumb, by way of a splashing ceremony in a fresh water stream and taught us about his family tribe, the significance of the land and the waters in this area, the six seasons of the year and how the bush, mangroves, beach and sea were used by his people to provide shelter, make tools and spears, source, grind and cook seasonal foods and make soap and medicines.

    Bolo also helped us to find our own food. We went mud crabbing, sought out bombshells with little slugs in them (big pointy shells that resembled ice cream cones), picked berries from the bushes and pulled bush carrots from the ground.

    Bolo introduced us to his family who helped with what they called a cook-up, but we considered a feast of mud crabs, oysters, cockle shells, bombshells and damper. Those of us not terrified of crocs went for a quick swim and then Bolo finished our tour by presenting some artefacts of his tribe and singing songs, using his boomerangs as clap sticks. His message was clear: we may all come from different places, but we can happily live in harmony together as long as we all share the responsibility of respecting and looking after the land. An exciting and moving learning experience that each of us will remember forever.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
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    Day 39–40

    Back in Broome

    April 29 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 32 °C

    We drove back to Broome for one more night to catch up with our good friend, Maartje, and to do one of Broome’s famous camel rides along Cable Beach. No swimming this time though, since the beach was closed again after a second croc visit in as many days!

    The camel ride was great fun. Each camel had its own entertaining personality and the slow, relaxed pace gave us time to appreciate the beautiful sunset over Cable Beach.

    After our ride and hundreds of camel photos, Maartje invited us into her home for tasty mocktails, a delicious dinner and a wonderful catch up. She works for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and offered to show us around, so the following morning we met up for an incredible private tour of the planes and patient care rooms. The only intensive care units in WA are located in Perth so the Royal Flying Doctors have a lot to do, moving patients from remote parts of WA down to Perth for treatment.    Read more

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