The home away from home homestead .

The home away from home homestead .

Let me start with acknowledging the traditional owners of the land the Malgana people.



The tranquil spot out the back of the homestead.

We are now the volunteer campground hosts at Francois National Park in Shark Bay. We have parked our caravan in a designated spot out the back of the Peron heritage precinct. Water, a place to stay and electricity are  some of the included benefits. To earn these perks we work three hours per day between us. That is a work to relaxation ratio I easily can get used to. The rangers of the Shark Bay region drop in often in the morning as this is their depot. They are a great bunch of guys and we have spent many days riding along with them learning about this wild arid national park called Francois Peron. We even learned how to clean a drop-down toilet.

Sailing the waters of Shark Bay

As volunteers some of the other great complimentary benefits on offer are:
. 4wd tour of the Francois Peron National Park with ranger staff
. Behind the scenes tour of Monkey Mia and dolphin feeds
. Sailing charter out of Monkey Mia
. Tour of the Ocean Park aquarium
. Tour of the Shark Bay World Heritage Interpretative Centre
. Opportunity to take a free scenic flight over Shark Bay (if empty seats available)



A Loggerhead turtle spotted from one of the tours

The homestead itself is not open to the public except when it has been booked out. For example we had a group of young indigenous men from Clontarf, Perth stay for a night. They were here on a leadership course and spent a day learning about bush tucker at Big Lagoon and spend a night in the homestead. They were a cool mob of young men and I spent quite some time kicking the footy with them.
 

Ironically, our official title is volunteer campground host but there is no camping allowed at the homestead. A more appropriate title would be caretaker, but we don’t care about a title.
 

The areas that are open to the public are the visitors' centre, the old sheering shed, a bird hide and an artesian hot tub. All of these areas require maintenance and cleaning and that is what we do. There is a massive list of all the little jobs that we are volunteering to do but why put you to sleep. I can tell you that a city slicker like me is learning a lot of new skills here at "the stead".

Recently I have turned into a real man.  I mowed the lawn with a ride-on lawn mower for the first time ever. There aren’t many things better than cruising around on one of those ultimate macho machines. An imagined "High Way to Hell' reverberating in your head as you are reaching speeds of fifteen kilometres per hour. Way to Go!



What is an artesian hot tub you may ask? Underneath the ground  in the Shark Bay area there is a hot water aquifer. The water has been heated by the earth's core and is like underground geothermal heating. Not that any extra heat is needed here in this semi-arid desert. By sticking a bore down in the ground only 540 meters, hot mineral infused dieselesc water comes up in a regular flow. In some spots the water under ground is too hot to do anything with but here at the homestead the water is captured in a hot tub. I am lucky that I already have reproduced successfully as the water temperature is a goolly-scalding 40 degrees. It is Mars that scrubs the pool twice per week. Skipping one of those brushing  sessions is not an option as the green slime will strike in ghost busting revenge. There are no life guards on duty but signs for resuscitation are visible from the tub. The artesian experience is open 24/7 with little solar lights lighting the way to a romantic evening under the stars. The stars here are so clear every falling star can be seen brightly. A new experience for us is watching a full moon set on the horizon. We did not realize that the moon could be surrounded by an orange haze as it goes down. Spectacular but hard to take a photo of.

 

The artesian hot tub

We have met a lot of people just by visiting the hot tub ourselves in the evening when things cool down. Some locals and tourists frequent the tub or have bbqs or picnic on the lawn.


One lady who operates in the national park as a tour guide believes that spending an evening in the hot tub makes one feel like a 21 year old when you wake up the next day. We are trying hard to test this theory with our semi-grey bodies almost every cool evening. It feels great in the morning but spare a thought for an 8 year old waking up unsuspecting.
 

There are many beautiful birds around the homestead. This is a Variegated Fairy Wren

There is so much to get used to here at the homestead. There are two big Gould goannas living under the shed. These Bungarra's, as they are known in Indigenous terms, are always busy getting away scraping the bottom of the corrugated steel panels of the shed with their backs. A very noisy retreat. Sometimes they don’t hear you approach and sit there completely stunned and only centimetres away from you - the casual stroller. I tell you those claws and tongue are big enough to frighten anyone. Good thing they only appear interested in getting away..



The Bungarra that visited us in front of our caravan

When you walk around the homestead at night there are windmills squeaking, shed doors banging, fly strips flapping and sometimes you can hear a flaming yahoo woohooing from the artesian hot tub. At times it may take some positive self-talk to calm the nerves.


The wind in Shark Bay at this time of the year is truly an amazing force. Massive gusts of wind are sweeping the red dusty scrub land with high pitched whistling. I have sat down for lunch in a sheltered area only for a heavy burst of wind to blow the salad out of my sandwich. Our caravan was hit by a Willy-Willy and shook everything badly. Except for messing up Julie's hair, all other disasters were avoided. A lot of ladies tie their hair up or go for the messed up look around Shark Bay.


Out the back of the homestead all is quiet. Open plan living has a totally different meaning here. The view of an unspoiled horizon always surrounds us. Watching the sunrise with a cuppa. Watching the sunset with happy hour and a smile.
 



Sunrise with a cuppa

Tips for the Semi-grey nomad:

• If you would like to volunteer as a camp host in a national park contact
  Lorene Bennett |Project Officer, Training and Programs                            
  Community Involvement Unit| Parks and Visitor Services
  Department of Parks and Wildlife Locked Bag 104, Bentley DC WA 6983 | P 08 9334 0251 | F 08 9334 0221 | M 0419 944 779
• Use the clutch when driving a ride-on lawn mower.
• We have found that great opportunities will come your way if you are prepared to take some risk.