Stunning SW WA to roasting in the North

Wow told you it was catch up time-- feel free to skim afterall who has time for 2 blogs in a week. We will use this as our diary of the trip once home hence I am been ott not to skip stuff- but skip away if you like.

After Kalgoorlie we headed for Perth and had about 2 wks there getting odd jobs done, resting and awaiting my parents arrival.

Mum and Dad came across and travelled for 10days with us from Perth down thru the wheatbelt east of Perth to Esperance on the coast and round the bottom to back to Perth.

We did the tourist things in Perth:

-We saw Kings Park with it's stunning views of the city and array of beautiful and unusual plants that would interest even the not so botanically minded


- Viewed the Bell Tower. Mum and Dad had a tour and bell ringing opportunity and Neil looking all buff :) got asked by the ladies to help wind up the clock tower- a heavy task (truth be known I couldnt even move the winder (not that that says much))


- Went to the fire museum, factory outlets, malls, free bus tours etc.

From Perth we went across the wheatbelt- interestingly the wheat stubble was much sparser that we saw up Nth NSW. The country was pretty rocky and we saw some iconic rocks- namely Wave Rock, Hippo Rock and some aboriginal rock art.

Esperance was next. The weather was wet and overcast but we found the beautiful coast in the National Park out of town. This poser kept getting in my scenic photo's- but you get the idea:
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The coast the whole way along the coast was stunning and remarkably we had good weather. A few years ago when I visited I lived in a trackpants, froze to death and nearly got blown away by the Southerlies- weather that is normal for this area. I asked one guy whether their were any BBQ's nearby to which he responded that on any other day 'my sausages would be blown off before they'd be cooked so they didnt bother installing any'. Guess we struck it lucky this time :).
(One of the few pictures of Neil and I together- the joy of having my parents as travel companions).
They have the most amazing Karri and Red Tingle forrest along the coast- the trees are huge and gnarly and rather old. Dad and Neil did a tree top skywalk about the forrest- well they were 40 metres up but the trees were 70 metres plus tall so it was more of a mid forrest walk.
(Bring back the old blogger where I knew how to rotate photo's- apols).
We checked out the gourmet options in Margaret River- starting with the old English lolly shop.

Feeding rays in the wild was a real highlight- a local let us know that the rays came into the bay daily and were quite people friendly (aka bribed by the daily offal feeds they got from the local fisherman. The rays came right up to us, brushed against our legs and even got a pat (they are slimy). Neil got to feed them. I had no idea how big they got- they ones here totally dwarfed the rays we are used to over east. Probably the big boys were 1-1.5 metres in diameter and then had tails about 75-100cm long. The barb actually sticks out the side on the tail about 1/4 of the way back from the tip of the tail.

My (Naomi) wonderful Nan (Mum's Mum) passed away shortly after Mum and Dad left Perth. She was quite a character and I have very fond memories. This pick definately depicts her character for all who knew her- always having or causing a laugh.

From Perth we headed North to Geraldton, the Pinnacles, Kallbarri and then Carnarvon. In Geraldton we picked up some extra weight- in the form of a Red and Yellow Beacon- as if our roof wasnt loaded enough already. We could have picked up assylm seekers from Sri Lanka too. Though whilst they knocked on many windows of houses in Geraldton whilst we were their they apparently weren't interested in our home- the lovely caravan- maybe it seemed a little cosy after the boat trip- whatever the case we got no knocks and only knew about the drama unfolding under our noses due to the radio reports.

The Pinnacles
Kalbarri

We are currently in Carnarvon. It is so so hot and the weather up north isnt looking like improving anytime soon! We have enjoyed some good fishing. I caught a yummy parrot fish (a pretty fish too)- the good ol handline came through again and in my fast (impatient) style of fishing Neil and I brought in more Bream than we could count and barely went a minute without a bite. Neil was going for the unusual- catching a coral trout and about 3 other fish we had never seen before- if in doubt chuck it back.

Yay I am off the hook- we are finally up to date- better late than never :)

Adelaide to Kalgoorlie instalment

Well where to begin? Or where did I last leave off? Lets first say we are in the middle of no-where with no phone, no internet and to Neil’s disgust no TV so I wouldn’t have a clue what I last wrote or when- only that it was a long time ago- probably before we hit WA so lets start west of Adelaide.....
Windy night on the Eyre at Port Neil.

Leaving Adelaide and friends we headed down the Eyre Peninsular- the tourist guides and maps list many towns in bold type-that means big- but it is all relative on the Eyre big is 200-300 and small is 20 and even makes the map after all in the summer months 20 can swell to 2000 if the fishing is good. Speaking of fishing, every town is the ‘King George Whiting’ capital- only no towns other than Port Lincoln sold fish fresh- go figure. The coast was pretty and rugged and windy and wet. One lovely free camp was disrupted and packed up at 4am due to horrendous wind- I was a none responsive participant in this pack-up so was left in the van while Neil drove off- a brief moment that last and then I was on the phone demanding he let me in the car PJ’s and all- do you have any idea how much the insides of a caravan rattle, creak and sway on a dirt road- tis any wonder anything stays where we put it or that the van doesn’t just self-destruct.

From the Eyre we hit the Nullabor. Ceduna, SA, was the first town- once again one might expect a bit of size but alas a small IGA supplied us with the vitals. For one who expected large expanses of red desert the Nullabor was full of surprises. Nobody told me it meandered along the Great Australian Bite and hence had stunning limestone cliffs and Southern Ocean winds plus plus. Though thank God we had a tail-wind most of the way. The poor people coming the other way were reporting 3.3km/L fuel-ouch!!! The temperatures were no surprise- well into the 30’s mean’t we often stopped in the middle of the day under some shade (yeah right- no trees- only the occasional shed road side). This let our struggling fridge recover- it’s worse than travelling with a 2yo and dictates of every move.

The ‘towns’ on the Nullabor turned out to be merely roadhouses with dirt parking spaces called caravan parks which charged upwards of $30 a night- granted they ran everything off generators and no doubt had lots of expense getting supplies out there. We free camp any way.We stopped at Mundrabilla roadhouse/ An aboriginal funeral was to be held to next day in the nearby dry community so we saw a number of the locals at the servo/general store. They must live traditionally because there is nothing out there by way of food supplies. Mind you the land looks fairly unforgiving too. We saw the stereotypical animal warning signs- roo, wombat and camel and like all good tourists stopped for a photo. The only animal we saw alive was a dingo or two. A pile of dead camels roadside led me to suspect a recent aerial cull had taken place. Neil shivered at roo bones everywhere- but took comfort that hopefully the graveyard was 20 years in the making :). The flying doctor service run-ways broke the repetitive black straight road and the odd storm rolled in creating massive barrel like clouds. Yes we had rain on the Nullabor- several times in fact.
Norseman marked the end of the Nullabor- another tiny town which welcomed us with bucketing rain till we were cool and drenched through- and all that red dirt washed off . Nothing remarkable there we free camped.




Telegraph station
The treeless plain

In total the most we payed for fuel was $1.92 though we saw $2.10. We had been given prior warning about when and where to buy the cheapest fuel on the trip across and with our large tank, sub-tank and a jerry we only needed fuel twice. I thought given fuel in civilisation was about $1.56- $1.60 at the time that $1.92 wasn’t too bad.

Well will end todays post at Kalgoorlie where we caught up with an old friend Becky Lee Young and checked out the large mines- watching a blasting. Well I was looking for a big blast and lots of noise so I didn’t even notice the event had occurred- but by chance or good management I happened to have the video camera on just the right part of the pit to capture the moment which Neil played back to me just so I could have the experience which my deaf ears found unremarkable.

Well the next instalment should bring you up to date- Kalgoorlie to Carnarvon where we are currently sweltering :) (or perhaps further North depending how long it takes me to get onto it).
Going fishing.........and the boss is waiting- actually should make him wait more often- he has done the laundry to kill time...mmm what more could I get done ;p.