Australia

This will probably be our last blog. Have had no time to blog since the Nullarbor Plains. We have been on the go for a very important mission. Destination Wollongong. Geoff had to be at his graduation for 15 December.

After all the slog (at home) after work and the final parts of his thesis spent on cold nights outside, early in our journey. Remember this one.

Geoff studying with his mates

We had to do a lot of clapping but finally the moment arrived and we can now bow to 'Master of Forensic Accounting with Distinction' Geoff! Anyone want to hire an expert?

Master with Distinction

Unfortunately only 3 people were allowed to attend the ceremony. Geoff got his moment of glory. So here are the photos with 3 proud people although we know there are more family members who are very proud of him. A big thank you to Helen and Glenn who transported Geoff's Mum and sister back home to Sydney.

proud Mum with Master Jones

and there's proud Karen

Master and proud Boss!

Thanks for reading and responding to our blogs. We will be home around 24 Dec unless the caravan parks are full. We have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our trip and can't really say what the best was. It has been amazing and it is going to take some time to absorb our travels and come back into normal society. To do this we will be spending our time at Burleigh Heads for a month until early Feb.

yipee it's all over!

It was many years ago when I crossed the Nullarbor Plains and all I remember was the corrugated road and the dust. We travelled with a caravan and I had just got my licence, so my parents let me help with the driving. Not too much to see from what I remember. It was a long and dusty journey and no bitumen most of the way.

Null-arbor is a latin word meaning 'no trees'. This was far from the truth. Again semi-arid country with bushes/trees/plants/flowers that survive very well in this climate. Even though it was a 1200 kms journey (from Norseman to Ceduna), it was interesting and very unique. Lots of eucalypt trees as well and a lot of dead ones also. See map at end of blog.

dead eucalypt trees

The only part that had no trees was over the SA border where there is a small section of plains with just grass and scrub.

start of the long journey over the Nullarbor

There are stops every 200-250 kms for fuel and caravan parks at the back of a roadhouse. Our first roadhouse, Balladonia, had a small museum with piece of space junk from the NASA Skylab that fell out of the sky onto this guys property. President Carter even phoned the guy to apologise for this. Also a tribute to the camels/Afghanis who brought them to our country.

space junk from NASA skylab

museum honouring the camels and Afghans used for transport in the Nullarbor

On the long road every now and then we came across this sign and the road becomes a 'runway'.

one of the many Royal Flying Doctor Service landing strips on the hwy

Royal Flying Doctor landing strip - on our road!

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. For my birthday we stayed at a roadhouse called Caiguna. I cooked dinner on the promise that I would get a meal the next day. It was windy and cold and I loved it. What was more interesting was the farmer that had called in to the roadhouse to buy some fuel. $1400 later he left - check out his mode of transport.

farmer taking off in a museum relic??

The caravan park became one big dust bowl as a result. Most of these places only have about 5-10 people staying in the park (if that). Sunset was beautiful out in the middle of nowhere and lots of stars under a very clear sky.

sunset at Caiguna

Caiguna roadhouse/caravan park

The sign on the toilet door was also very interesting. Needless to say I was very watchful and wore my crocs most of the time. The floor of the ablution block didn't help to detect these unwanted reptiles!

what a sign to the loo

could you see a snake on this floor?

My birthday meal was spent at Caiguna also. This sign says it all. I believe it is a tribe that is lost - preceded by the words 'where the ..'

what tribe was that?

Mmm, my favourite meal of the day!

happy birthday to me breakfast

The signs were also interesting and of course there was a lot of road kill to remind us. All we saw were the kangaroos. Was hoping to see a camel.

signs in WA

We also pulled into another roadhouse for fuel and this is what happened to a poor unfortunate driver after hitting a kangaroo. What would the towing bill have cost? Hope they had insurance.

car being towed after hitting a kangaroo

We also had lunch with a beautiful view of the plains from an escarpment.

view of the Nullarbor from the escarpment

Nullarbor Plains - lunch stop

Along the way we also saw the most unusual trees. Unfortunately we couldn't stop for them all. There were also bras/panties trees, glove trees, Christmas trees and big fluffy toys trees.

shoe tree

shoes tree

pots/pans/bottles and junk tree

underpants tree

toys tree

It was a long road but all bitumen. Most of the users of the Eyre Highway are nomads like ourselves and huge semis transporting goods. It is not a lonely highway at all.

Eyre Highway - the long road to SA

our lonely motorhome

are we there yet?

heaps of semis on the highway

fellow nomads sharing the road

We arrived and stayed the night at Eucla. Eucla is a small town near the WA border. The views were awesome - overlooking the plains and the ocean. You could also see the Eyre Hwy and the transport on it. The toilet facilities were very clean and we even got beautiful rainwater which made my hair look and feel really nice. Even the TV stations worked here. I also had some resident roosters and hens visiting our campsite.

are we on a farm - Eucla caravan park

rooster singing happy birthday to me

We also got closer to the dunes and there was an old telegraph station there which has been covered by sand over the years.

old telegraph station covered in sand

You could see our campsite at the top of the escarpment.

looking at the escarpment at our caravan park at Eucla

welcome to Eucla - check out the kms to Perth and Adelaide

view from our caravan park at Eucla - Great Australian Bight

view from caravan park at Eucla

overlooking the Eyre Highway

Finally we had reached the WA/SA border. We were required to toss out all our vegies and fruits. WA do this at their borders but SA were going to check our van at Ceduna which was about 480 kms away. We had to eat it up or throw it out. We also lost 2.5 hours at the crossing. SA have daylight saving. This now brings us half an hour ahead of Brisbane. The signs changed slightly - the emu is now a wombat!

farewell 3 months in WA

welcome to SA

changed signs - do the animals have wings here?

At this stage the highway has changed from many years ago. It used to be further inland but now they have moved it closer to the ocean views. You can see the Great Australian Bight. The views were stunning as were the signs.

birthday girl

Great Australian Bight

You are always thinking about a chunk of land breaking away - possibly the chunk you are standing on. There are certainly a lot of signs to remind you of the treacherous cliffs.

husband looking at views - is this where I think about pushing him over to claim insurance??

reminder sign

ominous sign

another ominous sign

You can also free camp with these beautiful views.

free camping with beautiful view of Great Aust Bight

There are still plenty of beautiful heathlands along the cliffs.

cliffs of the Great Australian Bight

the dunes, heaths going to the ocean

heathlands on the Nullarbor

It is also possible to play golf on the Nullarbor. It is the longest golf course in the world - about 1400 kms. It starts at Kalgoorlie and finishes at Ceduna. The idea is that you play 1-2 holes at each stop/roadhouse.

golf course on the Nullarbor

I also found another unusual sign. Had they put the emu back into the picture!

emu legs

Another interesting thing was transporting of the huge loaders - they would be going to the ' gold Superpit' at Kalgoorlie. They are worth 2.5 million dollars.

2.5 million loader!

Perth to Adelaide including Nullarbor Plains (Eyre Hwy)

Eucla is on the border of WA, 12 kms from Border Village in SA.

And that was how I spent my birthday this year. Really exciting and loved every minute of it.

Will start this blog with a Wicked camper slogan.

wicked - worth a thought for those who are working!

This blog is dedicated to all those people who have responded and made comment on our blogsite. Thanks we do appreciate and enjoy your commentary

Have put a map of the area at the end of blog. Denmark and Walpole are in between Manjimup and Albany. This is the area we believe should be the winery areas instead of Margaret River. We arrived in the forest area. Trees of many shapes and sizes and had no idea what they were called. After a day or so, we got to recognise some of them. They also have wineries along these areas and cheese factory, meadery, chocolate 'lounge' etc. The drives through the forests were awesome. You can take a scenic loop of around 86 kms in the forests but we opted to do around half of that. In between the forests were scattered farms for cattle and sheep. Our caravan park at Walpole was beautiful. We stayed at a place called Coalmine Beach and it was surrounded by peppermint willows. Such a pretty tree. The park backed onto a beach with the dune to buffer the winds. It is pretty cold in this area and the winds didn't help. Of course I loved this climate. We got a huge area to ourselves in the park.

our motorhome in amongst the peppermint willows

the caravan park at Coalmine Beach

inlet at Walpole - our caravan park at Coalmine Beach

From Coalmine beach we could walk into town through the heathlands which were full of wildflowers and again the heathlands. Beautiful but not the flies that came with it. Have bought a 'magic cream' which apparently the flies hate. Tested it and it is not too bad. Now they only sniff our skin and fly away. Walpole is a very small town with beautiful gardens all around and surrounded by forest. They had a nice little bakery there which was good for lunch and meat pies!

walk through the heathlands

walk through the heathlands to town of Walpole

marron going for a walk?

bent 'black boy'

In the forest they have these huge karri, jarrah and tuart trees. We climbed a karri tree which has a house halfway and another at the top. It was about 30 metres high and pretty scary. They use this tree when the forestry/fire people need to see where the fires are. You must not have a fear of heights. It looks not too bad from the ground.

treehouse on a giant karri tree

Have a look how far Geoff got!

Geoff didn't get very far

We also went to the 'land of the giants' which had a walk above the trees. The giants were mainly red tingle trees. It was cold and rainy but stunning.

the sign says it all -visiting the forests and particularly the red tingle trees

the walk above the treetops

red tingle tree giant

red tingle fairy!

pushing the tree roots apart - what a strong man!

the next Wiggle!

one of the giants

top half of the giant

Along the way we met some really nice people from Mt Gambier. We met them in Margaret River and shared a few beers/wines and dinners. We thought they were a pair of 'wily old codgers' because they had planned their washing day on a sunny day and knew all the good spots to stay at and see. Useful for us young things that are novices at this camping life. Had lots of fun with them and definitely will be catching up with them in the future if not this time round. (They weren't really that old)!

dining with some wily old codgers!!! Hi Marie and David.

We were also told about Peaceful Bay but check out the sign and the beach conditions. It was far from peaceful and in fact the inlet there was called 'Foul Bay'.

Peaceful Bay warning sign!

Peaceful Beach at Foul Bay

On the way to Albany we stopped at a beautiful place called Denmark - it is the Byron Bay of this area. Lots of organics, yoga, hippies and ... you get the picture.

Denmark river

When we got to Albany the town didn't look too inviting. It is a 'large port' town and looks like a lot of heavy industry there.

Albany and the black swans

Once we settled into our caravan park at Middleton beach we started to see how beautiful this area is. There are so many walking/cycling tracks around and really pretty following the coastline and heaths. We went for a scenic drive and what we saw was stunning. Verve energy also have a wind farm there supplying 80 percent of power to Albany. The walk around the wind farm area was stunning.

scenic drive along the coast of Albany area

spectacular views of the ocean at Albany

walk around the wind farm

the gap rock formation

Albany's electricity supply - wind farm by Verve energy

the views from scenic coastal drive Albany

the walking track at the wind farm

One of the shopping centres was called 'dog rock' and you can see why?

dog rock

We also had a fantastic fish and chips at the jetty/marina of Emu Point. It was called the 'Squid Shack'. You can bring your own grog at no extra charge and eat in the shack or takeaway. It was really delicious. We enjoyed this meal with our 'old' friends David and Marie. It was a fun night and definitely recommend eating there.

Next stop was Esperance about 480 kms away still south and further along the coastline. Another fantastic location. You think that you would have enough of all those cliffs, heaths, farms etc but the colours are just so stunning. The southern area is much colder due to the wind chill factor. My camera doesn't do the colours of the ocean justice.

trying to capture the colours of the ocean

Twilight Bay which was voted one of the world's top 10 beaches in 2006

Esperance

the spectacular drive along the ocean and cliffs - 34 kms.

what adventurous people we are going along the coastline here!

they also have white silica beach here

whistling rock and it did whistle the sounds of the ocean

the contrasting colours of the ocean but too cold to swim

Lucky Bay at Esperance

at Le Grand national park

I think this is a honeyeater that eats wildflowers!

We are off to Kalgoorlie next and after that take the long crossing over the Nullarbor plain from Norseman to Ceduna. Will be out of range with phone and internet but may be pleasantly surprised if there was any Telstra connection.

Perth to Adelaide

And I will close by 'sealing this with a 'kiss' for those people who have commented on our blog - pardon the pun.

Sammy the seal waiting for some fish off the jetty at Esperance

We left Perth after staying there for over a week. Had to get the motorhome serviced and luckily there is not a thing wrong with it. Before I start this section I have to say that now we are getting back into colder climate, wind and sometimes rain. Probably in summer this changes but not for this time of year. So you will notice a lot of pics of beaches but not us swimming in them.

Will put a map in at end of this blog. We headed to the the south west of WA - Margaret River area. Had heard a lot about it - in particular about the wines. On the way there we passed Bunbury and the turn off to a town called Collie. When our family first arrived in Australia we lived in this small town but I have no desire to see the place again. It was a 'dump' and fortunately my parents decided very quickly to move us to Queensland. We then passed through Busselton and the only point of interest here was the 1.8 km long jetty. It has an underwater aquarium at the end but unfortunately it was under repair. The jetty had a huge history about when they were going to pull it down and then it broke and then it became longer etc.

1.8 kms jetty at Busselton

the souvenir shop on Busselton jetty

the underwater aquarium - what it would have looked like if it was open

We stayed at Margaret River and it is what you would expect of a wine growing area. Plenty of vines and also farming country. A pretty area. The shops had some good stuff for women shopping and were really reasonably priced. It is a small town made to look cute. The fudge factory was really yummy! I was hopeful to find some cheeseries which is of far more interest to me. The cheesery was pretty ordinary. What was really yummy was the 'nuts and cereals' factory - it had these beautiful mueslies of varying sorts and biscuits. The chocolate factory was also pretty good. The chocs however come from Belgium and they melt it down to various tastes and shapes. You are only allowed to taste the choc chips - so everyone was helping themselves to spoonfuls of the stuff. I only had 2 glasses of wine in the whole area and visited 4 wineries. We have to say that of far more interest was the architecture and landscaping of these places.

Margaret River

marron in the river

wine estate viewing!

a thorn among the roses

the landscaped gardens at Voyager

Cape Dutch style architecture

smelling the roses at Voyager estate winery

Leeuwin Estate winery entrance

entrance at the tunnel to winery

list of entertainers who have performed at Leeuwin estate

Our caravan park was a farm (Taunton Farm) so we had these lovely views of farmlands and the animals. They were fed every day at a certain time and of course kids loved to feed them. I also had to have a go on the jumping pillow which is for kids and adults. Had to wait for the kids to be gone so I wouldn't embarass myself! Great fun and good exercise.

farm animals at Taunton farm

donkeys being fed by kids

me exercising on the jumping pillow

The trip to Augusta was beautiful. Again the lovely heathlands meeting the ocean. It is the southern most tip of WA. They called this tip of South west Australia Cape Leeuwin National Park, recognising the Dutch explorers. The tip north of Margaret River was called Cape Naturaliste National Park to recognise the French explorers. Both ends had a lighthouse and walks along the cliffs to view the ocean and the heathlands. There is also a Cape to Cape mountain bike race held once a year which is a distance of approx. 135 kms and goes over a period of 4 days. You can also walk this track!

lighthouse at Augusta

Dutch person exploring Cape Leeuwin

Augusta heathlands

Smiths beach in the Yallingup

lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste

walk along the cliffs at Cape Naturaliste

Margaret River and Augusta is just below it

All in all we think Margaret River is overrated. Have seen nicer wine growing areas around the Barossa and Vic areas as well as New Zealand and South Africa. I am not a wine buff but hopefully the wine is good. Prettier areas (growing wines as well) we found along the southern coastline of WA with the added attraction of the forests.

We arrived into Perth after staying a night at a lovely little place where an estuary meets the ocean once again. The little town was called Guilderton. We would have stayed an extra night but the place was so windy it 'blew us away'. This is a problem along this coastline. The winds can change everything.

Our caravan park at Karrinyup Waters about 10 kms north of the city was beautiful. It had 2 lakes and many birds - in particular ducks and their babies of varying sizes and also the black swans with their cygnets. We had many visits from these cute things and I fed them well! The swans weren't as welcome because their poo was too big!

swans at our park

more ducklings

Another visitor to our park was relevant only to my Mum whose name is Nell! I had a laugh.

for my Mum

The city is of course the youngest and has grown substantially since I was here. Now having 2 malls and lots of cute arcades with shops to walk through.

arcade between the malls

They have an excellent transport system - best in Australia. Their trains run very regularly through the middle of the freeways/highways into and out of the city which makes them a tempting travelling option. The bell tower was another beautiful feature.

bell tower in Perth

The park was outstanding with beautiful views of the city and surrounds including the Swan river. The river actually looks clean.

Kings Park

another view of Perth

view from Kings Park

small tree walk at botanic gardens

The memorial to all the WW1 and WW2 diggers was one of the best we've seen. The wildflowers were well represented for all the different regions of WA. I have lots of photos of them but don't want to bore you with too many more.

memorial to diggers at Kings Park

memorial Kings Park

We also went to the 'Mint' where they make lots of coins and gold bullion. Would love to have souvenired the bullion they made for us - the audience. It looked very hot but cooled down very quickly. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos of it for security reasons.

Perth mint

Another day we drove to a very expensive suburb of Dalkeith where Bond used to live and maybe still does. Beautiful peppermint trees everywhere and we parked outside one of the beautiful mansions. Couldn't take too many photos in case of security.

peppermint trees at Dalkeith

mansion at Dalkeith

Another beautiful feature of Perth is the beaches. There are many suburbs that enjoy being on or close to a beautiful beach. Not sure I would want to swim/surf in them due to the white pointers that are out there somewhere - very tempting all the same. There are esplanade walks all along the beaches which I reckon are better than the Bondi walk. A lot of people use them for exercise, walking the dog and simply enjoying the scenery. Of course whale watching is all along those beaches. Yes John, a lot of people having a 'whale of a time' and no blubber!

view of suburban beach around Perth

one of the many beaches around Perth

some penguins for the white pointers!

Another day we went to Freemantle and enjoyed the 'cappucino strip'. The buildings are also really old and well maintained. Fish and chips are on offer at the wharf. We also went to the markets - Geoff's favourite - NOT!

eateries at Freo

beautiful old church at Freo

We also went to the museum to see how the Dutch discovered this country. There was a wreck of the 'Duyfken' in the museum. These things were bigger than I thought. What we saw were only pieces and it was only half way up to the ship's deck.

Maritime museum

Captain of the Duyfken

some old wreck!!

The French and the Dutch have been all around this part of Australia. The Dutch saw no value in the trade of spices and the French only charted the coastline on this side. Hence all the French and Dutch names given to national parks and such.

Rottnest Island was also a very pleasant surprise. Geoff went with snorkelling equipment and was not disappointed. The waters were so clear. We paid for a round trip on the bus and you can get on and off anytime along the way. Some people cycled around but it was a bit warm for that and there are a lot of hills (we saw a lot of people taking their bikes for a walk) and flies were also plentiful.

beaches on Rotto

Rotto beach

salmon bay

Geoff hopped off the bus to go snorkelling and I had coffee and walks at the main jetty area with another lovely lady from our caravan park called Marian. The water was too cold for me. There are a lot of museums, eateries and shops.

snorkelling

Rotto jetty area

Also saw some quokkas there. When the Dutch came here they thought the quokkas were rats and hence the name 'Rottnest' (ratnest). Pretty big rats! They weren't as plentiful as we thought they would be but could be the time of day as they sleep during the day.

quokka shopping

The apartments around the island also looked like they were in picturesque locations. Great place and about 40 mins by ferry from Hillary's marina.