A Western Australian saga.

[drron]

Speaking of sunset.
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And the little white dot next to the moon is the International Space station going overhead.A good long view of it.
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[JohnM]

This is all very interesting. You are getting a lot more time and activities on various inhabited islands that what I did.

I think I can explain it.

When I departed Gero on 11 March 2020, Covid was somewhat abstract. Far more important was the China shutdown of the cray imports.

Those cray fishers who had reached - or nearly reached - their quota were laughing, and simply parked their tubs and went home and counted the dosh. The others were stunned, but not ready to sell their $60 Chinese crays to the locals for $20. So, in a huff, they shut up shop, in the (as it turned out, vain) hope that China would relent. Err, no - and then Corona hit, so they had to take what they could get just to get some cashflow.

Bang - reality hits! Off they go, and we in PER were chowing down on $20 or less crays from about late April 2020 through to Xmas - and continue to do so.

I just happened to be on the voyage in the limbo-land. The islands were basically all empty of people and boats. Simply no cray-fishing was going on at all - nor any of the associated activities. It was a ghost-town out there.

By the time I got to E Wallabi to fly out, the Gero light aircraft crew were all getting us to fill out Covid-safe forms and we were scratching our heads.

The rest is history...

Edit: I might add that voyages after mine were canned, as the world was going nuts by the time I got back to Gero.

 

[drron]

Basically if you want to visit an occupied island you need an invitation so in your case there would have been no one to do that. With Basile island they have a standing invitation from the Italian brothers but they had gone back to Geraldton the day before so Jay was on the phone and got the invitation from Peter Armstrong who has an interest in sea weed farming
He also said that he was going to take the rest of crayfish quota He had started 2 days previously and already had 250 tonnes of the 500 tonnes left on his quota.
However he also said that the Geraldton co op was selling 80% of their crayfish to South Korea and most of the rest to Taiwan and Japan. Local sales just 1.2%.So they aren't going too badly.
NZ is creaming it getting $180 for their crayfish from China.

 

[drron]

So the trip is coming to an end.For dinner on the last night the crayfish came in Thermidor style.But first a bowl of Jay's special seafood chowder,with lots of crayfish of course.
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The day looked OK but the wind had sprung up which was going to cause problems later on.
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Before the last activity which was to find out about the pearling industry here I took photos of some of the information on the Abrolhos that had been put up for the lunch.
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[drron]

So to Post Office Island.With the tables and chairs gone we noticed the decorations that had been put up for the lunch.
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The heritage listed dunny and whale bones.Separate and then together.The small black buoys are the pearl farm.
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The modern loo.
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Several little lakes on the island.
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[drron]

Some serious money here.
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And where we are heading-the house and workshops of the woman who was the first woman to have a commercial crayfish licence and runs this pearl farm.
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And our glass bottomed boat heading to pick up a few guests who are finding the walk hard going.
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Gull eggs.
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And a memorial to the 5 generations of the family who have lived here.
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[drron]

The stuff we had to walk over.
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Several piles of rock.
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Examples of pearl oyster shells - 3 species are farmed here.All found naturally in the Abrolhos.
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The veggie and herb garden.
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View back to our ship.
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The end of the island.
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A lot of the piers are made from the old tramway tracks of the guano miners.So quite a few off cuts are left.
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[rogerkambah]

This is all very interesting. You are getting a lot more time and activities on various inhabited islands that what I did.

I think I can explain it.

When I departed Gero on 11 March 2020, Covid was somewhat abstract. Far more important was the China shutdown of the cray imports.

Those cray fishers who had reached - or nearly reached - their quota were laughing, and simply parked their tubs and went home and counted the dosh. The others were stunned, but not ready to sell their $60 Chinese crays to the locals for $20. So, in a huff, they shut up shop, in the (as it turned out, vain) hope that China would relent. Err, no - and then Corona hit, so they had to take what they could get just to get some cashflow.

Bang - reality hits! Off they go, and we in PER were chowing down on $20 or less crays from about late April 2020 through to Xmas - and continue to do so.

I just happened to be on the voyage in the limbo-land. The islands were basically all empty of people and boats. Simply no cray-fishing was going on at all - nor any of the associated activities. It was a ghost-town out there.

By the time I got to E Wallabi to fly out, the Gero light aircraft crew were all getting us to fill out Covid-safe forms and we were scratching our heads.

The rest is history...

Edit: I might add that voyages after mine were canned, as the world was going nuts by the time I got back to Gero.

WA crays $69 in CBR this w/e.

 

[drron]

So that finishes my photos of the cruise.However the historian ,Howard Gray,has given permission to use his photos.He was much better with the bird photos and he had an underwater camera.Also a couple that obviously I couldn't take.
First most of the other guests flying in to East Wallabi ,switching to the King diver and of course seeing a wallaby.
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The piece of porcelain found on Pelseart Island.
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A wet Drron emerging from the water after a snorkel.grey hair and bright blue and yellow swimmers- though someone blocking the view.
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And walking along the beach.
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And a 3 extra pics of the last day.The grandson took us on the walk and explained the memorial to the family.
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The boss talking about pearl culture.
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And proof that mrsdrron was interested in the pearls.
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[drron]

Now the avian pics.
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[drron]

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[drron]

The last birds.
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[drron]

Now to the snorkelling pictures.
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[drron]

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[drron]

So the final pictures from the Abrolhos Islands.
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[drron]

So you can see that the Abrolhos are an interesting and beautiful part of Australia.Our thanks go to @JohnM for doing the hard yards putting himself out and doing this cruise then doing a TR.
And thanks to the crew and other workers with Eco-Abrolhos.They really did go above and beyond.Not just letting us on the ship 2nights early due to Geraldton's blackout.Jay's wife had gone back to Perth to bring up another generator so gave a lift to Geraldton from Perth for 2 women.Another couple put up with a crew's family the night before flying out to the ship.
So I have no hesitation encouraging people to do this at some time in the future.Unfortunately the Abrolhos cruises are sold out for 2022.But they also do Kimberley cruises.

Now the trip back.The saga was not over.First with the winds increasing the trip back to geraldton was quite rough.OK for me as I was able to read another of Howard gray's books.
We arrived back close to 1600.Taken to the Mantra -we had ordered a taxi but it hadn't turned up in over 40 minutes.Jay was going out to collect something so drove us into the Mantra.

The first thing we did was try to checkin for our flights back to BNE.They had been fine when we arrived in WA 11 days before but now QF had cancelled the morning flights out of GET on Tuesdays and Thursdays.So no way to connect to BNE flight.Heart sink time.However a great QF agent who spent some time getting flights and keeping us in J.However it was now GET - PER - MEL - BNE.The PER - MEL flight of course was overnight.At least we now didn't have to get up early.

 

[drron]

GET remains on my list of airports with strange security practices,Last time I went through they confiscated 3 AA batteries each wrapped and in a separate compartment of my carry on and they weren't even lithium batteries.
On this occasion I was delighted to see that they had a body scanner,So I said I had a knee replacement so using the body scanner would save them time.Now more than half the people who had gone through before me were directed through the scanner.Iy was clear as I got to the head of the line.But I was told in no uncertain manner to use the Xray machine.I said again that I had a knee replacsment and I would set off the Xray.No success so through the xray machine I went.And off it goes.
Now I have to admit to being a little passive aggressive here.I left my shoes and belt on so they would have to go through the Xray again.So most of the pax after me had no choice and had to go through the scanner.I never want to visit GET again.

The country around Geralgton is mostly flat and boring.A lot of haze which I presume was due to dust from the windy conditions.
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The flight left at 1230 and you got a snack -crackers and a caramelised onion dip plus 2 small bikkies.
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Closer to Perth a little more interesting country and when we statred to descend trees!
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As mrsdrron wanted to be out of Geraldton ASAP we now had 10 hours in the J lounge - apart from 1800 - 1945 when both lounges closed.Though in that time @11sjw took time out to visit us.Very grateful as it eased the loneliness of a near deserted terminal -the food outlets had also closed.

The PER - MEL flight was due out at 2350 which was the time we started boarding.I was a little worried as we only had a 40 minute transit in MEL.Dinner was served very soon after take off and the lamb pie was nice.

The lights of Perth as we took off.
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An uncomfortable flight as a 738.The J seats had very limited recline so no sleep at all for me.

 

[jcornes]

As some know we are currently in WA.It has been a tale of problems.The first plan was for August 2020 which was for the Silo Art trail,some northern wildflower viewing and possibly Margaret river.It wasn't long before those plans fell over.We then read a TR from @JohnM and were sold.An Abrolhos cruise it was going to be.

Not shipwrecked or mutinying, waving - from the Abrolhos Islands

A few weeks ago, I tipped up the bucket and shook out the ever-mounting list of bits and pieces, looking for something to do. Ah-ha - a visit to the Abrolhos Islands has been sitting in there for quite a while but keeps getting forgotten. Better knock that off. The Houtman Abrolhos Islands...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

So plans were put in place for March this year.The Silo Art trail,Back to Perth via Margaret River,Leisurely drive to Exmouth and a whale shark swim and back to Geraldton for the cruise.Then flying straight back to BNE.The easiest part of the planning has been the flights.They have all been AA awards in J.They have been changed several times with points and taxes refunded virtually immediately when cancelled.Booking even at short notice not a major problem - the flight over on 8/4 was booked through AA 6 days before weleft.Yes 2 J awards on QF costing 20000 points and $19.30 each.We had tried to cover all possibilities.We wanted to spend a week in Sydney before the trip but didn't trust the WA Premier so had flights booked from BNE on 2 separate days a well just in case.

It certainly became apparent that megalomaniac Mark was a serious risk to our plans.However when he decided to have an election on 13th March we decided to put back our trip to 28/3 hoping a big win might result in more sensible border policies.That diidn't pan out well.The first problem was when the Perth hotel we had booked for our first 3 nights cancelled our reservations.Simple.We just forgot Perth and booked to fly on 1/4.

So it came to @%/3 and we flew to Sydney.Everything was looking good until the Premier who kept QLD safe from Covid didn't and Premier Mark proved he had not changed his spots.So we were faced with the prospect of cancelling totally and fly back to MCY or try and salvage something of the trip.First confirmed that if we had been in NSW for 4 days we would be let into WA without Quarantine.Got our G2G pass and rebooked on our 15th day in NSW - 8/4 to fly to PER.

That would allow us to do the whale shark swim and the cruise.It did mean the silo art trail,Margaret River and Perth had to go.Mrsdrron takes care of those reservations.Although stressful the individual tourist businesses were fantastic with full refunds every time.

So once here we felt our problems were over except for a niggling worry NSW might come up with community transmissions and we would get a call from WA Health.But on our first night here came the news of the Cyclones in the India Ocean.Hoped they might change direction but no luck.So we now find ourselves in involuntary hotel isolation with the trip to Exmouth cancelled because for the first time in 65 years a cyclone is due to make landfall near Geraldton.

So next the TR proper will begin.

that sounds like such a pain, and i feel for you. but i disagree with your judgemen of mcgowan. the bloke's a legend. we lived in wa til April this year (2021) and were so pleased to be there, safe and free. jus sayin.

 

[drross]

Excellent report drron. We’re lucky enough to be going in March(fingers crossed and borders open) and then to Bremer Bay and the Orcas.

 

[11sjw]

It was a pleasure to meet yourself and your wife. Thanks for the chat. Will do it again if similar circumstances prevail. Hopefully the J Lounge will be open next time! Cheers.