057 - Kalbarri to Hamelin Station (23/5/17)

And so today’s “moving day” marked our 8 week anniversary of being on the road. 8 weeks??? Only 8 weeks?? Holy crap… this adventure had already shown us so much. Taught us so much. I can now see why those that can only spare a month or two still want to do these kind of things. Even if we had to pull the parachute on the trip now, I feel our family would be so much richer for the experience. And to think from this point, we’ve still got the best part 28 weeks to go! What on earth will that entail.

So we packed up in a pretty relaxed fashion. I think we’re getting a little complacent if I’m honest. It’s nice packing without as much as an argument, but I do feel at times we waste a bit of time folding mats that could otherwise be used to explore our next destination. Still, it is what it is, and we are now getting pretty damn good at packing up and putting their things in their spot.

A top up of fuel, oil and essentials we trundled back out of Kalbarri and back to the main road.

I’d love to say this section of the drive was brilliant. That it contained brilliant flashes of wild flowers and arrangements of landscapes worthy of a Namatjira painting. But it didn’t. It was quite frankly, to quote the classics, boring as batshit.

Without a doubt the highlight was our lunch stop at the roadside stop of Nerren Nerren where B and I busted out the ‘coffee machine’ as, because.. well… we could!

Funds to buy the coffee pot graciously provided by the Bacchus Marsh Little Athletics raffle, courtesy of Myer voucher. Butane burner courtesy of Anaconda (I think)

As you can see... the rest stops were pretty crowded too...

Other than that, we headed towards Shark Bay World Heritage region, and most notably our stay for the duration, Hamelin Outback Station Stay (http://www.hamelinstationstay.com.au/) . The Station itself was bought by Bush Heritage Australia with the intention to protecting this beautiful part of Australia for future generations of humans, as well as nature itself.

Some might argue that $40 per night for an unpowered site would seem extreme, but the site was excellent and the kitchen and toilet facilities were amongst the best we’d seen, not only on this trip, but ever. It truly was a unique and beautiful part of the world, and we loved our time here.

Only people with a caravan, particularly one on the large side, can truly appreciate the true beauty and awesomeness of a drive through site.

The sites here were lined with crushed shells from Shell Beach (I assume) and made for a unique surface to park and set up camp on. I liked it. Much better than sand...

The afternoon was spent walking around the grounds, exploring and just unwinding after another few hundred kilometres under the belt.

Wasn't expecting a small little lake/dam on the grounds, given the arid nature of the region, but the local bore gives life to the station (historically) and provides an oasis for local birdlife

 I think I caught B taking notes in her "What We Need in Our Next House" book of the items in this camp kitchen. It was impressive.

We had dinner in the camp kitchen with some other families before the kids and I took the liberty to spark up the communal campfire (with permission of course). From there, “Nature’s TV” did the rest and before we knew it we had a few vans worth of people conversing and catching up.

Sunsets were definitely on the EPIC proportions here. Stars out well before the last of the sunlight and colours and hues that simply can't be seen in built up areas. A reward for making the long trek to this special part of the world.

Here you can see a rare moment where the fire and I become one, almost a symbiotic relationship.

The sunset. The fire. The Big Sister reading a book to Little Brother. Another moment why we do this

When all and sundry had gone to bed, I was left alone with the fire and the stars and it was a nice little point in time to realise the pure beauty of a moment like this. The stars here were probably the clearest of the trip so far and looking up at them as the fire light tried its best to penetrate into the scrub, you realise how small you are. And yet, looking over at the Big Green Lizard and all that we have, I felt as fulfilled and rich as I had on the trip so far. I think this moment was something that I was searching for so far on the trip. A moment of isolation to perhaps remove the ‘noise’ from life and try and clarify what’s important.

I’ve always said that this trip is as much about personal development and prioritisation for me as it is seeing the country and ‘travelling’. This trip to me is about becoming a better person, not just about seeing ‘things’. A better person, friend, husband and most importantly to me, father. This trip is about unprecedented time with my children.

There out on the planes of Hamelin, by the fire, I felt a sense of pride that I was in fact becoming that.

A better person.

A better friend.

A better husband and most importantly…

…a better father.