THE COAST OF GHOSTS - Apollo Camper

[Pages:3]RA I WESTERN AUSTRALIA

THE COAST OF GHOSTS

This grand drive unveils dramas and tragedies of equally epic proportions. Story: Mike Rosel.

Monkey Mia dolphins, Ningaloo Reef coral, the prickly desert geology of the Pinnacles, wildflowers beyond computing, sombre history ... some of the bucket list reasons to tackle one of the great Australian coastal road trips, from Perth towards Exmouth.

We're expecting the well-promoted fun-in-the-sun travel. Hard clear sun, with the Indian Ocean one vast linear playground. What we didn't anticipate was being sensitised to the freight of history, and the spirits of this ancient land.

The first major attraction, near Cervantes, is Nambung National Park and the thousands of limestone pillars of the Pinnacles, head-

TOP I Snorkelling with a whale shark near Ningaloo Reef. ABOVE I The drama of the Pinnacles. CORBIS, TOURISM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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SYDNEY, A WAR GRAVE 2470M DEEP, LIES 200KM WEST OF STEEP POINT.

stones in an eerie geologic cemetery. Geologists are still unsure how the Pinnacles were formed during the Pleistocene epoch, better known as the Ice Ages.

Just short of Geraldton you come on shades of black and white. First stop might be coffee and a snack at the ghost town of Central Greenough Historical Settlement, where the National Trust conserves 11 colonial buildings. Up the road is the Greenough Pioneer Museum. The relics of European settlement are in the cottage built in 1862 by early settler John Maley and shaded by huge peppercorns planted in 1876 by his friend, Baron von Mueller, former director of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.

The museum's co-manager Peter Dameon has installed 11 plaques backgrounding a massacre of Aboriginals in

1854 at the Bootenal spring 8km north. This is a peaceful place to reflect as you search through the grass to find the plaques commissioned by the City of Geraldton. But even before highway signs had been installed, someone unsympathetic to the `Sorry' message had defaced a plaque with: "Get over it."

Other kinds of savagery are memorialised at the handsome museum at nearby Geraldton. For centuries, the most famous of more than 1400 wrecks on the WA coast was the Dutch trader Batavia, which struck reefs off Geraldton in 1629. A murderous mutiny followed, with 123 victims. The museum display includes a skull cleaved by a sword.

Another gallery recounts a WWII tragedy in nearby waters. HMAS Sydney II and its 645 crew disappeared after

point-blank-range combat with the German raider Kormoran in 1941. For 67 years Sydney's precise fate remained a mystery until it was discovered in 2008. Sydney, a war grave 2470m deep, lies 200km west of Steep Point.

At the Sydney memorial on Mt Scott above Geraldton, volunteer guide Diane Evans is explaining the battle and the memorial's multiple symbolisms. The dome comprising 645 seagull outlines, symbols for the lost sailors, throws dappled light with a diffused underwater effect as clouds pass. Diane tells of some

RIGHT I Quadbiking at Coral Bay. INSETS I The Sydney Memorial at Geraldton ... Murchison Gorge ... wildflowers at Greenough. TOURISM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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ABOVE I Ghost guide Loretta Wright of Oakabella Homestead. MIKE ROSEL

OPPOSITE I Snorkelling above a Ningaloo ray. TOURISM WESTERN AUSTRALIA

emotional meetings with relatives. "I've come to visit my dad," said a woman who was three weeks old when her father died on the Sydney.

The wheat harvest continues as we drive on, diverting to coastal Kalbarri National Park. Late-season massed wildflowers line the unsealed road to the dramatic Murchison River gorges.

Some 70km north of Northampton, farms end, and the typical landscape becomes something only a botanist or geologist could truly love.

Many audio book chapters later, we enter the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, tourist mecca for the feeding of wild dolphins at Monkey Mia. Near the turnoff to Hamelin Pool, with its 3000-year-old stromatolites (they're another story) appears our favourite road sign: "USELESS LOOP, 101km."

North of Carnarvon, we reach the Tropic of Capricorn and our first ter-

mite mounds. And 1752km out from Perth, Coral Bay is our furthest point. An attractions signboard here at the southern end of Ningaloo Reef offers "marine ecotour/turtle ecotour/ coral viewing/snorkel coral view/ quadbike snorkel and turtle tour/scenic flights".

For this unseaworthy writer, the thrill of the trip came courtesy of the kindly boat skipper who got me close enough to join snorkellers swimming over three manta rays. Marine magic.

A wrap of nature's passing parade comes from underwater videocameraman Corey Hann, whose images featured in the presentation which gained World Heritage listing for Ningaloo. The highlights of his annual filming schedule are turtle hatching (Jan-Feb), whale sharks (Mar-July), humpback whales (June-Nov), turtle mating and nesting (Oct-Dec). "Awesome, mate!" says Corey.

With the radio listing cyclone season preparations, we retreat south, pausing 32km north of Geraldton at Oakabella Homestead, circa 1850. Advertising itself as "WA's most haunted location", colourful guide Loretta Wright talks of local Aboriginal beliefs about the spirituality of this land and recounts tales of deaths in and around the homestead.

A final diversion takes us inland to York, with its colonial streetscapes and highly-regarded Motor Museum. We pause at The Residency Museum, a convict hiring depot until transportation to WA ended in 1868. More ghosts ... unwilling migrants woven into the settlement fabric of the nation. The only chains visible protect outdoor furniture from contemporary crooks.

At last, a genuine Ghost. Promi-

nent at the car museum is a 1914

Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, worth

around $750,000.

Keith Moore, a volunteer here,

regularly gets to drive it and almost

all the other 35 exhibits, which in-

clude a jaunty yellow 1901 Clement

from France. For a car fancier,

heaven on earth.

I

MORE

or . Mike Rosel travelled with assistance from Apollo Motorhomes.

RACV CAN HELP To visit the Coral Coast, get member discounts with RACV Cruises & Tours ? on escorted tours through the region and on the iconic Indian Pacific train across the Nullarbor to Perth. Call RACV Cruises & Tours on 1300 850 884 or go to .au/cruisesandtours.

RACV shops stock all sorts of products for a holiday, including maps, travel guides, first aid kits and more, all discounted for RACV members. Visit any RACV shop ? see the list on page 90 ? or buy at .au/shop. Don't forget member discounts on RACV Travel Insurance and on both car and campervan hire. For details, visit any RACV shop, call 13 13 29 or go to .au/travel.

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