Saturday 17th November 2018 - We leave the beautiful Stirling Ranges for our next destination of Hopetoun. As we travelled through more wheat fields with the mountains disappearing behind us we make a stop at the Yongergnow Malleefowl Centre.

We wandered around the sanctuary to to learn about this endangered species and the breeding programme in place to release the Malleefowl back in to the wild.

We made another quick stop in Ravensthorpe for a quick look around and to pop into the visitor centre where we were and told about a rare flower called the Gualup Bell, the towns emblem, but unfortunately we were too late to see on in bloom.

As we had intended to camp in the Fitzgerald River National Park we continued on our journey to find the campground and set up for the night. As we wound our way around the coast with views of the ocean and the rocky slopes covered in plants and more wild flowers we couldn't believe how hot it had become it was 40 degrees at 2pm then reached 41 degrees just as we were pulling into Four Mile Beach at 3pm.

However, we never made it out of the car; there were swarms of midges and mosquitoes everywhere including lots of flies. Not wishing to be badly bitten we moved on and drove around to Hamersley inlet that turned out not to be any better. No wonder the car parks and beaches were deserted! So we made a hasty retreat into Hopetoun itself and booked into a caravan park near the beach where we set up camp, mosquito and fly free...

Sunday 18th November 2018 - Today was a quiet day spent around the campsite with an early supper of fish & chips.

Monday 19th November 2018 - Today we drove into the Fitzgerald River National Park and: Stopped beside the Culham Inlet with a lot of migratory birds feeding in the water, a huge number of them being Red-necked Avocets and Black-winged Stilts. We also came across a large number of Pelicans greedily feeding in the shallow water.

East Mount Barren where we walked along a track that became steep and rocky as we ascended up the hill, making it slippery in places. This place was amazing with its abundance of new and colourful wildflowers and views across to Hopetoun and the ocean below. It wasn't long into our climb that unbelievably we came across a number of lovely Gualup Bells still in flower, something we thought we wouldn't get to see.

West Beach another lovely beach with large rolling waves that crashed along a white sandy shore. We had a bit of lunch before taking a wonder only to come across a very interesting sight that opened up before us.

The rocks sloped down to the ocean were jagged & resembled layered sheets of paper standing at right angles to the shoreline. In the sunlight these amazing formations glittered and looked like they had been spray painted in silver. This illusion highlighted the fine layers of sandstone that had become hard, white to cream to coloured quartzite. Some rocks had swirling flaky patterns etched into the layers called kybulup schists with sparkly mica!!

We continued to wander amongst the rocks admiring the patterns and the sparkling colours of this different and interesting beach.

Miles Beach where walked across a narrow bridge and around the edge of an inlet until it ended just before the tall crumbling sand dunes beside us. As soon as we strolled past the protection of the dunes a strong wind hit us blowing sand that stung our legs. Needless to say we didn't stay very long to admire this location and made a hasty retreat back to the car and before the huge rain cloud above us broke and we got wet.

We had been lucky with the weather, managing to dodge a few showers whilst taking in the sights of this wonderful place seeing Western Bush Wallabies, birds and wildflowers.