Albany

After leaving Esperance we headed off for Albany. First stop was Bremer Bay, which was blowing a gale. Camped next to the 'gold detectors' we spoke to in Esperence, who had recommended this park. They were waiting for things to dry up a bit in Kalgoorlie before they ventured up to find their fortune. They had gold in their veins and their eyes sparkled just talking about the stuff! A lovely couple and we hope they find plenty of it.
Then it was off to Cape Riche for some downtime. A nice small park, only $5.50 a night with flushing toilets and cold showers. Did some fishing with a nice bloke camped next to us and I actually caught some, even though the old fella outdid me! Met another nice couple who had 2 Ford Mustangs. He had photos in his wallet of the cars (not his kids!) and they looked great; a '67 Fastback and a '67 Convertible. I was drooling.
It wasn't a very long drive to Albany and before I go any further I must point out to all you Victorians, it is not pronounced like Albury but like the bloke's name 'Al'. Al...bany. Got that? Good. First impressions reminded us of Hobart, especially as it was overcast and raining too! Lots of old buildings as this was the first European settlement in WA. There was quite a few caravan parks in town but would you believe one of the Big4 parks was already full? School holidays are over and guess who is filling the parks up? We settled into the park at Emu Point and I kid you not, it felt like we were in a retirement village. I know we keep hanging it on them and good on them for enjoying themselves after working all their lives but there's just sooo many. 
Checked out the local attractions like the Natural Bridge (think London Bridge at 12 Apostles but made of Granite and still standing) and The Gap, which had a 25 meter sheer drop into the ocean. Also the Wind Farm that had some great views and whilst walking around there we came across a caterpillar crossing. There was a line of them, nose to tail, across the footpath and we counted over 100 of them (see photos). Kept us entertained for a while! Whale World, Albany's historic whaling station, was fantastic. This place was still in operation up till 1978, the last place in Australia to cease whale hunting. We had a tour that was a bit grizzly at times (pictures and descriptions of how they cut up the whale carcasses) but it was fascinating. They converted some huge old drums that they use to fill with whale oil, into mini theatres and we watched a 3D movie called 'Giants Exist and others on whaling and sharks. There was also some whale skeletons and one of the old ships (or whale chasers), the Cheyne IV, which we climbed aboard and checked out top to bottom. A bit of some X-Files stuff here, but the old newspaper clippings from when the plant shut down, included some interviews of the men who chased the whales. They would travel out to the Continental Shelf to track the whales with their sonar and at times they chased things "as big and bigger than whales" for hours, which wouldn't behave like whales and then simply vanish from their screens. They made mention of things out (or down) there that are very large and we obviously don't know what they are. There were also accounts of finding Sperm Whales with sucker marks (from Giant Squids) "...as big as a dinner plate". Another story recounted a shark feeding frenzy on a whale that they were taking back to the station and many of the men witnessed what they all agreed on (based on comparison with the size of the whales) "at least 6 White Pointer sharks around 9 meters long". Those figures are the right way around too. Currently the world record for a Great White is around 6 meters. Enough of that.
Leaving Albany we drove through Denmark, which looked beautiful, and went on the 'Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk'. At its highest point we were 40 meters above the ground and with the spans and platforms swaying with the wind, it felt a lot higher. The base walk around the giant Red Tingle trees was just as impressive. Most of them are rotted away at their huge bases and you can stand inside them. There are old pictures of cars parked inside them! Then it was down to Windy Harbour at Point D'Entrecasteaux (c'mon, pronounce that!). Some nice views but it was very windy and a let-down for us, after hearing others really talk it up, so we headed north again and made our way to Pemberton. This area is surrounded by some of the highest trees in the world, the Karri tree. These are magnificent and we had a look at the Gloucester Tree that is 65 meters tall and was used as a fire lookout years ago. They can grow to 90 meters high! We really liked Pemberton and it reminded us of Marysville back home but on a larger scale. Next stop, Margaret River.
 

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The people you meet...

Well I finally let Mark put his two bob in...he feels better now so you probably wont hear from him for awhile now!!! He he...
 
I really wanted to tell you about some of the fascinating folk we have met along the way...they all have such interesting stories to tell...

• Our favourite family - In Mt Gambier we met Scott & Carissa and kids from Geraldton in WA. Lovely people who were spending their Chrissy holidays in Tasmania, (short little trip from WA!) and we have been keeping in contact with them ever since. They drove some massive km's with a 1700km drive recorded in a single day! Still dont know how they did that! We are going to catch up with them when we arrive in Geraldton, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
• The guy with the biggest heart - We met Craig in Rapid Bay, SA. Such a fascinating guy with so many travel and real life stories, yet one of the most sincere and genuine individuals you could ever meet. He heads up to Alice Springs mustering cattle on remote stations and had great stories about his time up there and we had great indepth talks over some stubbies about the real meanings of life...just needs to find himself a good woman, he'd be a great catch!
• The German cyclists - Met this couple for the first time way back in Port Victoria, SA. Every year during the German winter holidays, they come out to Australia for 8 weeks to cycle around, and have been doing so for the last 14 years. The fella was nearly 70 and she would have been hitting her 60's. The thought of driving in a car was a a hideous notion to them and she made me feel like a total sloth when I told her we were doing our touring in a car...and she had so much of a better body than me!!! ... And its not just round the block rides, they ride some major km's, this trip they were cycling the Eyre Peninsula and then riding back over to Melbourne...each year they do a different stretch of Southern Australia (they said North too hot this time of year to cycle)... they travel with the absolute bare minimums, a couple of little bags on their bikes, they live off bananas, and she has 5 coffees of a morning before they head off, usually early about 5am before it gets too hot... puts us to toal shame! The funny thing about these two is that we kept seeing them on our travels in SA and they always managed to reach the next town before we did! Now I know we were going a bit slow but they freaked me out every time we saw them! It almost felt like they were following us...or more like it - we were actually following them!
• The Miner - We met Ed on the Nullarbor, at the Nullarbor Motel campsite. It was blowing an absolute gale and I felt so sorry for this poor guy who had parked his Cruiser out in the wind when we had found this great sheltered spot behind a backpackers quarters. Mark went over to him and asked if he wanted to come over near us where he would be more protected from the elements. So he did and we got chatting and found out he was a diesel mechanic on his way from Cairns to Perth and was to start work in the mines. He was 26 and had the world at his feet, ready to fly in - fly out from Perth to one of the mines presumably in the Pilbara to make some big $$$.
• The new puppy - Also at the Nullarbor Motel site there was a couple who responded to an ad for a 'blue heeler x pup- free to good home' that was advertised in the shop there. These guys were in a little tent being totally belted by the wind, and we saw this ute pull up with this adorable little puppy with a bandage on his leg. They said he was a blue heeler cross but Mark said he thought it was actually more like 90% Doberman and 10% Heeler (these guys obviously didnt know their dog breeds very well!!) but so cute and they put a little bandanna around his neck and named him "Nullar". They are going to get a lovely suprise as this pup grows up!!!
• The Alexandra connection - Its funny that whenever you see a Victorian numberplate you get so excited and it makes an instant conversation starter! In Streaky Bay we met a couple in a A-Van, got chatting, they were from Melbourne and he actually went to school in Alexandra when it was a joint Primary/ Secondary school. What a small world! He is a retired teacher and they head off every year for 6 weeks to volunteer teach at remote cattle stations, and they love it.
• The Ballarat connection - In Esperance the car/campsite next to us also had Victorian numberplates so we got chatting and they were actually from Ballarat! (Where Mark and I were both born and bred!) She is a nurse at St John of God Hospital and he actually went to Ballarat Uni to do teaching around the time Mark was there, but they didnt recognise each other. They were taking 12 months to tour and work in WA.
• The fellow Trak Shak owners - you have no idea what excitement reigns when we see another Trak Shak or they see us! It is like this instant club membership where you can start a conversation when you dont know these people for quids but you know they must be ok if they have a Trak Shak and the same in return! (Well in most instances anyway!). At our last camp a local couple pulled up who had a Trak Shak and minutes later they wanted to take Mark fishing. We hadn't had lunch yet and were still unpacking so he missed out. Later that day another bloke comes over, also a Trak Shak owner and in a short space of time the maps are out and he's showing Mark some fishing and camping hotspots along the southern WA coast that aren't in any tourist books, along with his address and number if Mark had any more questions or simply just wanted to drop in for a beer!!! 
• The Grey Nomads - Now where do I begin... they are absolutely everywhere!!! At the park we are in at the moment it feels like we are in a retirement village! Now I am not at all ageist, but some of these oldies are on walking frames! Now good on 'em, and I hope I can be doing this when I am that age, but we are certainly the youngest travellers around...and we dont have too much in common unfortunately but to remind them how much they miss their grandkids...fingers crossed we meet some other younger travellers soon...I am starting to call Mark 'love' and 'dear' and my grey hairs are starting to make me look like one of them...he he

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Some Boys Stuff

Okey Dokey. Some things I didn't really know where to put so here goes:

• WA stands for 'Wait Awhile', NT stands for 'Not Today, Not Tomorrow'.
• Installed some LED light strips in the camper and they are great. Will take a picture for the photo album soon.
• West End Draught: Not a WA beer as I thought but a South Aussie one. Not a bad drop, cheap too.
• Emu Bitter & Emu Export: Same as above but they are WA beers. Swan will be next and then I might have to revert back to my favourite, Matilda Bay Redbacks until we reach NT.
• South Australians hate Victorians, mainly Melbournians. We had no idea of their 'Kick a Vic' sayings and general hatred of all things Victorian. Reading the papers is hilarious, they are still fuming we took the Grand Prix and all their good footy players - who are they anyway! It's a bit like the small man syndrome.
• To stir things up before we left we were going to put a Geelong premiership sticker on the Prado. We forgot to do this in our rush to leave but were told by a few SA people that we most likely would have had the car damaged by crazy Power supporters. And they were serious.
• The reason I haven't caught many fish has nothing to do with my fishing skills but more with me spending too much time continually putting bait on the kids rods, fixing twisted lines on the kids rods and fixing the snags they manage to find. Honest. Just recently I did manage to catch a Banded Sweep and some Brim. Honest.
• The Prado was blowing the fuse on the Anderson plug. Book in to an auto elec in Kalgoorlie, he can't find anything wrong, tells us his life story and points to the fridge in the camper (as the culprit), which mysteriously stopped working as I pulled in. I tell him that's been fine up till then and the fuse problem happened a while ago. Nothing fixed but $100 thanks very much for an hours chat and new fuse.
• Next day notice the fridge plug in camper has been getting jammed in the door seals, broken the insulation and obviously shortening out on the door. Snip snip, rejoin and bob's your uncle. $100 down the drain.
• The Prado's 2nd battery died. Managed to find a battery to fit (took all afternoon) and 2 days later it was flat. Being 100's of KM's away from place of purchase couldn't take it back so pull it out, look around and find wire floating around the relay for 2nd battery (pulled it out when dropping the new one in), plug that in, bob's your uncle. Again.
• Have fitted a UHF to the Prado, Rhino Roof Bars and Rhino Roof Bag (already have Graham's cage) and will shortly install car kit for mobile phone when I have time. The rear end is still sagging, shifting weight in the Trak Shak doesn't help so looks like some Polyair bags might be the go soon, $$$.
• Grey Nomads. Say no more. 
• Telstra: PITA.

 

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Australia's Best Beaches...

as voted by Australians. So far we have no reason to doubt that the beaches at Cape LeGrand are the best in Australia. After Kalgoorlie we headed to Esperance and the winds we copped on the Nullarbor had followed us. Going anywhere near the beach in town was an effort, with the winds blowing a gale and white tip waves the norm. After 2 nights in town we headed into Cape LeGrand National Park, only to be greeted by a sign "No Vacancies: Camping & Caravan Areas Full". We couldn't believe it; it was Monday and school holidays had finished. We rang the rangers to make sure it was right and yep it was full...like a puppy with its tail between its legs we went back to the caravan park to the same spot and much to the amusement of our neighbours. We headed out the following day and spent the whole day there. Short notes:

• Driving on LeGrand Beach, twice, and nearly getting bogged because I was too lazy to let the tyres right down. I didn't want to fetch the compressor from behind the kids seat to blow them back up again (there were too many toys to move). Nothing to worry about, the tide was only a few metres away and coming in!
• Hellfire Beach, just beautiful.
• Thistle Cove, simply stunning.
• Lucky Bay over-rated and the camping area had everyone packed in like sardines; might as well be in a caravan park in town!
• Frenchmans Peak: a granite? hill with a kind of lid on top. Under the 'lid' was a little oasis shielded from the sun and wind.
• Whistling Rock, shaped like a wave that actually howled when the wind blew.
• The big highlight of nailing the Toyota jump 'Oh What a Feeling' on our third attempt (see photos). It's harder than it looks with the camera set on timer - try it! The preceding photos are classics, pulled faces, toilet squats etc. You won't be seeing them though...
• After driving out of the National Park we took note of the empty camp sites and weren't too impressed to see the same "No Vacancies..." sign still at the entrance!

 

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Kalgoorlie

Well I have finally wrangled the computer off Sharyn and now I can have a go. Mark's turn...
 
After a 900km day we finally made it to WA and rolled into the outskirts of Norseman for the night. From here we visited Coolgardie that was a beautiful little town with WIDE streets and nice old buildings. I think the population was around 1000 and we thought that Kalgoorlie would be similar, only a bit bigger and full of miners and prostitutes! Well you could imagine our shock when we read driving into town that there were 30,000 people and it appeared to have every shop and business you could think of. How naive we were. In a nutshell:

• The Superpit is just HUGE! The picture you can see (in our photo album) is only half of it and those gigantic trucks really look like match-box cars down at the bottom.
• The streets have some majestic old buildings from the gold rush days, quite similar to Ballarat.
• It all started in Kalgoorlie when an Irishman called Paddy Hannan found gold along a dried-up creek bed; it was just sitting there, everywhere (so they say).
• Our caravan park was half-full of locals, many miners (who all wear the fluoro orange work tops and white hardhats, and are covered in red dust) who can't find/afford housing in town. Sort of took away the holiday feel of the park.
• Went to this park in the middle of town (Hammond Park) and it was like an oasis with the greenest grass, Peacocks walking around, all sorts of birds in avaries and a fenced off paddock with emus and kangaroos. The kids found some Peacock tail feathers but Rory didn't approve of me trying to get my own by chasing the Peacocks to pull one out.
• The town's people aren't the friendliest, tourism doesn't seem a big focus in Kalgoorlie, they are too focused on money we think (which is part of the reason I think that us folk in the East still think Kalgoorlie is a small place full of miners and prostitutes).
• Yes there are lots of miners but we only saw a few prostitutes!
• Yes I did get out of the car in Hay St (Red light area), but Sharyn & the kids were there and I was at the Auto Elecs...
• This didn't happen in Kalgoorlie but Rory needed a hair cut and after some ridiculous prices being asked for a kids haircut, I decided to do it myself, much to the amusement of fellow holidayers seeing this poor kid being attacked by his father with scissors! Sharyn didn't want to look, fearing the worst, but in the end it turned out OK (In our photo album, check the Nullarbor & Groovy Puppies photos). Yeah, yeah, the fringe might be crooked...There you go Meg, maybe this is my calling!
• We came to the realisation that our evening meals were getting very late when Rory made the comment one evening, "Why are those people having their tea, it isn't dark yet?". Considering it's daylight savings you get an idea of the times we have been having our tea!

We certainly enjoyed Kalgoorlie and originally weren't planning on going there but other travellers convinced us otherwise. Glad we took their advice. We are looking forward to heading back to the coast though, towards the best beaches in Australia...Esperance!

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Oops...

Yes I am sure you noticed by now why I am not an English teacher...
Yes I spelt Nullarbor wrong not once, but in every time I wrote it on my blog...
Yes I am blushing profusely with embarrassment...
 
Oops...
 

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The Nullarboor...ing

We were so excited! The Nullarboor sounded so amazing, and people we'd met have all had there own impressions, majority really good.
The brochure on the Nullarboor says...

• "...One of the most unique tracts of unspoilt wilderness on the face of this planet...
• ...one of the worlds great road journeys...
• ...name comes from the latin "nullus arbor" meaning NO TREE...
• ...has an average rainfall of only 20cm...

No offence here to anyone who loves the Nullarboor, but our personal view is that "Australias great road journey" is a great example of some very clever tourism marketing! But dont get me wrong, it did have some highlights,

• Like the Great Australian Bight with its dramatic sea cliffs, absolutely amazing that in this age of liability and political correctness, that you can walk up to a cliff face, with a sheer drop of approx 70 metres and crumbly edges and it has no barricades or fences to stop you going over the edge. Sure there was warning signs, but I had so many people warn me to hang on to the kids it made me completely paranoid!!! As you can see by our photo I was hanging on to Emshia so tight she almost couldn't breathe!
• Waving to every on coming vehicle - felt like a member of the 'nullarboor club'... 
• Having in car DVD player's for the kids - what a godsend
• The temperature was cool, great for travelling
• The further over to WA we got we kept gaining time..cool!
• The fact it only took us 2 days to get across!

Some 'lowerlights' included:

• The 'NO TREE' bit was only for a very short stretch, majority was either a low dense shrub or some stretches had quite unspoit rugged bush with biggish trees
• Paying $1.20 a litre for gas at The Nullarbor roadhouse and not having a choice
• Not seeing any camels...
• The only wombat we saw was Rory's puppet one...(see photos!)
• For a place that has an average rainfall of only 20cm a year, it rained on us as we were trying to pack up and left our camper sodden for the rest of the day...
• Seeing kangaroo carcasses for miles...

But we made it, and we stuck the sticker on the back of trakkie that says "I crossed the Nullarboor", ( not that the kids will remember much of it as there was nothing for them to see so they had a DVD fest in the car, what bad parents we are!) For us the Stuart Highway that goes up to Alice Springs ran rings around the Nullarbor for changing landscapes, and wildlife, and color and beauty!
 
The great thing now is that we are in WA and loving it. Our trip feels so much more real now that we are so far away. And now all you special people reading this are back to school and work and routine...we feel for you...honest!

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A Gift from the Gods at Memory Cove...

Ask and you shall receive... the power of the almighty was alive and well at Memory cove... we kid you not...
 
But where is Memory Cove you may ask?
 
If you travel South from Port Lincoln you head to the Lincoln National Park, a kind of Tassie shape little land mass down the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula. We read about this place in the tourist brochures and how only 15 cars are allowed in to this area every day, and there are only 5 camping sites. You need a key to get in to the area (the gate is padlocked) and it takes about an hour on a 4WD only track to get there, so as you can imagine it's pretty secluded...if only we had of been a honeymoon couple!!!
 
Anyway, we get there, and goo and ga about how gorgeous it is, (it really was stunning, white sandy beach, aquamarine water ) but Mark starts to complain that he forgot to buy any bait so he could go fishing. The next minute we look to the sky where there was a big sea eagle being chased by a pacific gull (we have been reading our Birds of Australia book!!!) and the sea eagle flies over us and drops this fish at the shore, only metres away from us. We couldn't believe our eyes! It had dropped us an approx. 10 inch in size 'leather jacket' fish !!! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and Mark had of told me the story I would never have believed him! So we now had some bait and Mark had many great hours of fun fishing, and Rory ended up catching the biggest fish of the stay! (Check out our photos)
 
As I mentioned this place was gorgeous.

• Day 1 - The first day it was all ours, we swam, we snorkelled, we fished...it was like our own paradise on earth.
• Day 2 - Another camper came but we hardly saw him. We swam, we fished, I sat on the beach and read a Mills and Boon book ( how desperate am I!!) .
• Day 3 - The first day of school ( for all of you lucky little Victorians) so we thought we better do some work with the kids. We set up the sun shelter, with the gorgeous blue water stretched before us and the glistening white sand, and I did some Maths and English in the sun shelter and Mark did some Science with his blackboard being the unblemished white sand...what a classroom!!
• Day 4 - We swam, we snorkelled, boy life is tough!!!

Next day, reality hit, back to civilisation, my feet are pure black with dirt, my fingernails black with dirt, my hair filled with sand and I have four bags of dirty clothes to wash!!!! Oh but it was beautiful while it lasted....

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