Day #11 - Albany to Walpole

The highlight of this drive was the BIG TREES! … BIG GUMS that is!  We detoured about 40kms inland to visit the Valley of the TALL TREES. 





 It was in a state park and it was very well done… even a very nice souvenir shop.  There was a tree-top walk but "we" opted for the short but nice (not hilly) ground walk and agreed that yes - those trees were TALL!

Yep - they're big tall trees!

The tall trees continued the rest of the way down to the coast to our stop for the night at Coal Mine beach near Walpole. 

More tall trees

 It was a fairly decent sized campsite but they were closing half of it up (less busy after Easter) that meant everybody was jammed into one third (probably one half but it seemed like one third) of the site and our site backed onto the main road into the park.  

The kookaburra and our neighbour

Hmmmm.  Well along came the requisite kangaroos for a visit and then a kookaburra sat within spit tin' distance while we cooked the lamb and it was a lovely still night but it gets dark awfully early these days so we retired for the night … to sleep … perchance to dream.  No, no sleeping, no dreaming … out came the mosquitos!  Joseph was pretty sure there weren't any mosquitos but around 2.00 a.m. he gave in and turned on the light and we spent most of the rest of the night trying to catch them.  We did have our backdoor open with the screen that we THOUGHT fit tightly enough (but obviously not) and other than that we can't figure out how they made their way inside.  I laid in bed (slept is too dramatic) wrapped in a sheet from head to toe with a small opening around my mouth facing my little fan  FAN PHOTO that blew directly into my face.  Still, I could hear the buzzing around the back of my head.

 Hmmm - I decided … it's a.c. next time - I don't care if it's a national park and it's supposed to be quiet!  

I was glad we weren't staying longer in Walpole!!

 AND ... MORE TALL TREES!

Day #9 & #10 - Albany (Middleton Beach) on King George Sound

We were heading for the coast but hoped everybody would be  leaving on Monday (Day 9) from their Easter weekend and that we would be OK.  

Middleton Beach

We headed for the #1 campsite in the Albany area (according to Tripadvisor) and that was just around the corner from Albany at Middleton Beach.  Luckily we arrived early and took the last ensuite site and it turned out to be a most lovely two nights and (due to early arrival) almost two days there.

Just a nice beach...

  
The beach was just over the sand dune behind our campsite and was spectacular, the ensuite was beautiful, we had our back doors open to the beach with the sound of the waves each night!  There was a nice restaurant within a nice walk for dinner and a wonderful cafe on the beach 4.5 kms away on the nice bike path, that we liked so much (cafe/scenery that is) that we WALKED there and back along the beach the next day. 

View from the cafe

Me walking back from the cafe...

Such beauty doesn't come cheap; the meals cost more due to the public holiday (Easter Sunday & Monday) so that the main course instead of $24 was now $27.80 and dessert was now $15.00 (instead of 12.50).  Now this was just an ordinary restaurant  - nice - but ordinary.  The soup was $15, the pina colada was $15 and dessert was $15.00!!  So I'm going to TRY to remember NOT to have DESSERT at a restaurant anymore ... for a while anyway.

I could have stayed a lot longer in Middleton Beach.

Day #8 - Stirling Range National Park

We left Wave Rock and headed south towards the coast along a minor road which was nice for the (lack of) cars but no parking bays to have lunch. So we pulled off into the gate of a property and setup our chairs and made sandwiches… and it was a lovely quiet spot with views for miles. Then wouldn't you know it … along comes the farmer from a million miles away on his tractor ready to do some spraying!!  He came down from his tractor and said hello and we said sorry we were in his drive-way and he laughed and said no worries and he would spray a bit away from us!!  I was embarrassed because I had just frisked a few pieces of stale bread and the tomato scraps in front of the van! … otherwise I would have actually liked to talk to him (he was young and rather hunky!) I wanted to tell him I was sorry he had to work on Easter Sunday but I think there were lots of people who had to work on Easter Sunday! (I know the apples in Lenswood are ripe) .

Stirling ranges as backdrop and a mighty-fine looking van in the foreground!

So into the Stirling Ranges we drove and stopped at the small campsite  for "off-grid" camping - no power, no shower but a flushing toilet with kangaroos lolling about (I think every campsite in Australia has at least two resident kangaroos who just appear seemingly out of now where).

The resident kangaroo (baby not in photo)

 There was also long-billed black cockatoos dropping HUGE gum nuts from the surrounding trees… makes the acorns falling front he oak tree in Lenswood seem like raindrops.  They use their long bills to get into the gum nuts for food and then when they are finished - cahplonk!! - the ground was littered with them. 

The gum nuts!

The couple who came to collect our fees ($5.00ea for seniors) were volunteers who "work" at parks around the state. They had been here a month and "worked" at lots of  different parks (different parks have different length of stays) - they provide their own caravan and food but get to stay for free!! For some reason Joseph seemed to think this was a wonderful thing??!!

Off grid! - not an outlet in sight!

Second off-grid night and I'm ready for the coast!

Day #6 & 7 Esperance to Hyden (wave rock) - Hyden

Wave Rock +
... a thing of beauty!

We assumed (hoped) that most people would head for the coast for Easter so we headed inland to see this crazy rock that is supposed to be shaped like a wave- in the middle of nowhere!

As we drove west then north we passed hundreds of campers/caravans/cars/trucks doing just as we thought - heading for the coast - so we figured we had a chance at Wave Rock.  Again the scenery changes every so slightly as you travel along. Different trees (pink gum trees!! (salmon gums), different scrub, open pasture (as far as you can see) and then - yep! - out of nowhere this crazy huge rock appears.

There's a line up at check in but  they managed to squeeze us in to a tiny spot in the bulging campsite that sits at the foot of the rock.   We had power and access to nice toilets and showers and … FREE INTERNET!! (Free internet is worth it's weight in gold over here - and it's pretty scarce.)

There's a church bake sale and free internet and a swimming pool and there are kiddie poohs everywhere and it turns out that Wave Rock is actually a pretty fun thing to play on (not right at the top of course).  

Kiddie's sliding down the rock - free entertainment!

It's a pretty easy climb to the top - the granite is very grippy and at a nice incline and I think from the view at the top you can see Uluru!  (Well there certainly isn't much to block the view between the two rocks!)

view from Wave Rock ... is that Uluru in the distance?

It's two nights here and I'm taking advantage of … FREE INTERNET … and Joe is going birdwatching.  Life doesn't get much better than that!

as close to surfing as he'll ever get!

Day #4 & 5 Caiguna to Esperance - Esperance

Uneventful day - easy drive turning south to Esperance instead of Kalgoorlie. 

long straight road

Long straight road - the scenery changes but the horizon doesn't!

Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch ... on the road!

A couple of huge whales ...

Sometimes the long straight road is used as an emergency airstrip for the Flying Doctor Service

ESPERANCE & EASTER ....

Easter...
 is approaching and here in Australia the Easter long (LONG) weekend is a (very) big thing.  Most people have a 4-day holiday and banks and shops are closed - cities pretty much shut down (well that's how it used to be) and so people go away.  They go away to wherever they can find a spot.  Vintage Car shows, sporting events etc. take over small towns and campgrounds are booked out months (years?) in advance.  We had forgotten about  that when we decided not to book ahead and "take it as it comes"!  

All of the campgrounds in most towns were going to be booked out so we headed to Esperance earlier than planned in the hopes of finding something. There are two nights available before but all of the campgrounds are booked  over Easter and so is the National Park (you had to line up at 4.00 a.m.) and the town opens up the town oval on Friday afternoon to first-come-first serve arrivals. 

Something about being on the oval with a million other people didn't excite me so it's just two nights in Esperance which is on a bay on the southern coast of W.A.  

View around Esperance

The scenery is spectacular; crashing waves, cliffs, some sandy beaches, ships galour (busy grain port) but the town itself was ho-hum. It did have a lovely biking/walking trail right along the beach from one end of the town to the other but it was OK that we had to leave on Good Friday just as the riff-raff were arriving!! 

Note: We are able to camp "off grid" but one of this duo is prone to life's basic luxuries like power and water to use as she likes so we'll take a campsite even without our own ensuite if we can find it!  

It's Sunday… and we are OFF!

It's been a longtime coming, and we are off on our adventure around half of Australia.  

It's Sunday March 24th and we are leaving Adelaide heading west, across the Nullabor Plains to Perth, then north to Broome where we meet up with friends from Ottawa (the Ross', the Frigon's and the Cook's). From there, the convoy of motorhomes will drive north to Darwin via the Kimberleys and Bungle Bungles. At Darwin we leave our friends and Joseph and drive directly south via Alice Springs with a side trip to Uluru and back "home" to Adelaide around mid June.

In preparation for this epic journey I left Joseph in the hills to pack apples and I spent four days in a beach house down at the beach with my long-time friend Julie visiting from Canberra.  We walked on the beach, drank some wine, saw some movies, entertained another friend June and reminisced a lot.  All critical preparation for the epic motorhome journey.

Thursday Joseph retired from apple packing and we spent our last days in Adelaide at the beach saying goodbye to everybody.  We picked up my sister Jen & husband Michael from the Queen Mary II.

They are on a cruise from Sydney to Perth and they spent their day in Adelaide doing laundry at their house!!  One last hug for M&S & Jasper - he'll be so grown-up when we are back - 2.5 months is a lot of legs David! (for my Love Actually friends). Tapas on Semaphore Rd. with brother David and family for dinner and a final breakfast with our "ex-bosses" Fiona & Graeme and we are off! - Ooops! forgot Mum - a quick phone-call to say goodbye!  She's 81 now but will be 82 when we get back!

Who knows what lies ahead?  Well lots of flat straight roads that's for sure!  I'll try to keep you posted on anything else that happens.

Day #1, 2 & 3

Day #1

Adelaide to Kimba

Uneventful except for 1/2 hr delay at the Port River bridge waiting for the tall ship to pass through.  This and we've been on the road for all of 5 mins.!!

Made it to Kimba caravan park early. It had power and water but required a shower in the cell block - my first since arriving in Aus.  A photo op. at the BIG GALAH on the way out with hopes it isn't the highlight of the trip!

Day #2

Kimba to Cactus Beach - via Streaky Bay

We are heading to Perth ... and beyond!

Took a 20km detour to drive via Streaky Bay and (more-or-less) along the coast that was (more-or-less) worthwhile.  In the distance we couldn't decide if the "white bits" were sand dunes or clouds on the horizon.

... the "white bits"

 

... turned out to be beautiful sand dunes!

 At Penong it was a 42km detour as we turned left towards Point Sinclair (and the coast) and the "white bits" turned out to be pretty spectacular sand dunes.  We stayed nearby at Cactus Beach the place of legends according to Jane & Barry & cousin Karen. 

... so many sunset pics - hard to choose!

 It's a surfer's paradise so we watched the surfers and a pretty spectacular sunset and slept with an amazing breeze flowing through the open back doors. No power, no water, NO shower!  Our first "off-grid" stop.

"Off-grid" - our version!  Cactus beach

... aaaah - the serenity! 

not ice on the river ... it's salt!!

Day #3

Cactus to Caiguna

Early start (even earlier than the surfers!) and to save time decide to buy coffee at Penong & eat brekkie while sipping said coffee.  Said coffee turned out to be INSTANT, lukewarm and $4.00.  Hmmmm - it's gonna be a long day!  

Chomping on our apples with 400kms before the WA border an out they go! We managed to eat all the apples then gave away our one last apple to the cyclist*.  The dried apricots are OK so we should be good!

Hmmmmmm….

It turns out that apples aren't the only thing you can't take into WA - here's what we had to THROW out:

12x potatoes, 1xbroccoli, 2x(lovely ripe) tomatoes, 2x(lovely ripe) avocados, 2xlettuces (1 old 1 very new) 1xshrivelled lemon (hid the good one) and our pot of honey.  The 2xbananas should have gone but she missed them and I couldn't be bothered offering them up.  IF we had read the signs correctly and IF we had known we could have; cooked the broccoli & potatoes, made a salad of lettuce, tomatoes and avocados and tossed it with honey-poppyseed dressing and we would have saved ourselves a lot of $$s

*Nullabor means no trees so we thought the drive across it would be pretty boring …  

... say no more!

Watching out for these eases the boredom!

Well for our trip there was a HOT (40c) constant gale blowing all the way (from Kimba). The walk out to see the cliffs at Head of Bight (the start of the Great Australian Bight) almost blew us out to sea and the sand shaved off those last few hairs from my legs… 

Head of Bight - it's the start of the Great Australian Bight - this is where the wind almost blew us away and it was 42C ... hard to tell from this photo!

Hmmmm - this was the rain that was coming toward US!!

It was this wind that stopped the poor cyclist in his tracks at the next lookout.  No shade at all save for the sign that he took refuge under… he was on his way to Perth and … well… I wonder how he is now.  

me driving (bracing against the winds) just before the rains came!

The wind picked up (if that was possible) and the rain came… pelting across the road to the point that even though I was only 5 mins into my driving stint I had to give up. Who knew that rain sent the kangaroos out?  Out they came , but very well versed in the rules of the road, they stopped on the side of the road (all 12 or so we saw) and then hopped away or across as we approached. 

well-behaved kangaroos

 There were countless more in the bush as we became experts at spotting them.

...and the rain stopped ... but not the wind!

 The sight of the overturned Maui van (similar to ours) was cause for great concern and so we limped (joseph agreed to limp) along at 80kms to stop at the first "town" that had a caravan park.  Desperate as I was to stop,  Cocklebiddy just didn't do it so we soldiered on - eyes peeled for the emus (there were a few),  the kangaroos (not so many now) and wandering cattle (that's what the sign said!) to the delightful Caiguna. We couldn't go any further so Caiguna it was - at least it had power and showers!  The lady at the food counter said the wind was unusual (and that is all she said!).

Wedge-tailed eagle