DAY 1

Mileage at start. - 182750 kms

After a lot of discussion over the last couple of years we are finially on our way to Western Australia. We weren’t sure it would ever happen, but today is Day 1.

Left home a little later than expected, but for us that’s usual. What a good feeling it was to finially head down that highway.

Stopped at Ouyen for lunch at a truck stop, first thing we noticed was the fine Grey dust that got onto everything. So much for washing the floor. Weather was pretty warm so we thought we were in for a good evening. Went through Murrayville, Pinnaroo, Loxton ( wasn’t that a surprising place - very much larger than we thought it would be ) then finially onto Berri.

Weaved our way around the Murray River until we came to our free camp - Martins Bend Campsite. Lovely camp by the river, although we are a little away from the river under lots of trees. Pretty dusty but still a good site, especially for $5.00 a night, with toilets.

Just got settled in, drinks in hand, then the rain started. Still quite warm so who cares. Decided to go for a walk with Rocky to look at the river and surrounds and it started to pour in earnest, resulting in two wet people & one wet doggie. Ran back to the van, well Brian & Rocky ran, I walked fast - decided that it was time for dinner.

No reception for TV, so put a DVD in, but alas either the DVD’s are useless or the TV is on its way out. I suspect it’s the TV. Knew we should have bought that new 12 volt one.

Cup of tea time then bed for us, by the way the rain is now POURING down. Could be a damp pack up tomorrow.

DAY 2 \240 Berri - Whyalla

Whyalla Caravan Park. $81 for 3 nights

Left Berri for another long day to Whyalla. I had promised Brian that after 2 big days we would have a rest for a couple of days. We just needed to cover a bit of territory to get to were we wanted to be.

Well today was a shocker. High temperatures, excessive wind \240which was blowing in every direction we didn’t want.

We got to Burra \240where Bondy promised Brian he could get the best pastie ever. So naturally we had to stop there. Unfortunately just as we got there we blew a fuse on the blinkers, so had to stop and fix that. Do you know how many fuses on in a Prado, far to many but after consulting the manual, yes the last resort, we worked out which one it was and changed it.

Needless to say by the time we got to the bakery, they had sold out of pasties - bugger - but a steak & kidney pie did the trick. Meanwhile I had a salad !!!!!

On we meandered, thinking we wouldn’t make \240it to Whyalla. Gradually the temperature started to rise until we got to 43 degrees. Thought we may as well be in the air conditioned car than at a camp in the middle of nowhere.

Got to Whyalla about 5pm, decided to stay in a caravan park. Heard good reports about the Whyalla Caravan Park, & those reports were correct.

Great couple who met us as we arrived, couldn’t t be more helpful. So we are staying here for 3 nights, do a bit of sightseeing, relaxing & probably have a drink or 2 or3 .

Fortunately the temperature has dropped so we should have a good nights sleep.

DAY 3 - Whyalla

Weather has cooled considerably, thank goodness. Had a bit of a sleep in, then Warren knocked on the door to tell us our hose had sprung a leak & we had water everywhere. Fortunately it was only a connection that had come loose on the filter, so easily fixed.

After that we decided to go exploring. Went to the Marina to look at the boats coming in, hoping to see some dolphins & perhaps get a fish or two but being a Sunday, none were around. We’ll try again tomorrow. Took Rocky for a walk along the beach, which he loved. He scampered along the sand but wouldn’t go in the water.

Drove up to a lookout called Hummock Hill which gave a good view of the area - sea, town, steelworks.

From there we had a quick stop at Coles to buy fruit & veges & some beer for Brian, then home for lunch & a little nanny nap. ( we did have a big day yesterday).

Brian requested permission to wash the car as we had parked under a tree at Berri & it was covered in a sappy stuff. You would have thought he’d won tattslotto when Warren said he could.

Finished off a quiet afternoon with a lovely steak & vege dinner.

DAY 4 - Whyalla

Went on the Whyalla Steelworks Site Tour this morning which was very informative. Margie our tour guide/driver escorted us around in a mini bus and gave us a very thorough explanation of what happens. It’s amazing to see where that scrap steel we sell ends up, probably not here but at another steel works doing the same thing. Very black, \240dirty & dusty & HOT - wouldn’t like to work here but there are hundreds that do

From there we decided to stay and have a tour of the HMAS WHYALLA \240 This ship was a minesweeper in the WW2 , thus has a quite flat bottom, making it extremely unsteady in the water. It was the first steel ship that was built in Whyalla. Was interesting looking at the conditions that the crew had to put up with in those days. Even had a go & being captain by steering & blowing the horn.

Came back for lunch & filled out postcards for grandkids.

Took Rocky for a walk on the beach, but he wasn’t very interested, so we had a coffee instead.

Had a quiet night but Rocky had a treat. \240One of the workers gave him a huge bone, a rib eye bone which he chewed on for ages

Steelworks Tour - $19 each

HMAS Whyalla Tour - $10 each

DAY 5 - Whyalla to Tumby Bay

Tumby Bay Caravan Park - $59.40

Had a big trip today, all of 211 kms. Had a bit of a sleep in ,then packed up. Said goodbye to Warren & Carlene, the relieving managers. They were great & I hope we come across them again one day.

Very cool today so haven’t done much. Had to visit the chemist as these lesions on my back are infecting AGAIN. Vesna gave me a ‘just in case’ script before I left, it hasn’t taken me long to use it. They are very irritating & itchy. Hopefully this lot might get rid of them, I’m up to the 4th lot of antibiotics.

Quiet night, we’ll have a look around tomorrow when it’s not so cold. Might have to go for the heater tonight!!!

DAY 6 - Tumby Bay

Cold today, only about 18 degrees, had to find the long pants & jacket. After breakfast we took Rocky for a long walk along the walking track in front of the ocean. Apparently at night Razor Fish are washed up on the sand, their razors pointing upwards in the sand, so it is dangerous to walk on the sand without shoes. The sand was covered in seaweed so we kept to the walking track. Rocky’s a little bugger, we had him off the lead but as soon as we turn around to go back he takes of & we can’t catch him. Of course he can’t hear us calling him. Generally he gets back to the van before us. He’s a bit off today, won’t eat much so don’t know what’s bothering him.

Went for a drive around but not much to see. I think this is one of those towns that the fishermen come to, there is good fishing when the weather is good. I’ve noticed heaps of rods stacked up next to vans everywhere. Puts Brian’s one little rod to shame. But you can’t seem to buy fresh fish anywhere. We were going to get some for dinner but couldn’t find any so Brian bought some pork steaks instead.

Postscript- pork steaks weren’t all that fantastic, St Arnaud ones are much better. Next door to us, Lou & Jill told us there is a farmers butcher about 20 kms away toward Port Lincoln that has spectacular meat, so we’ll stop there on the way tomorrow.

Passed a take away on the way back so Brian had crumbed fish & s & p calamari for lunch. I was only able to have a few chips. Oh well, somewhere there must be g/f battered fish.

Quiet afternoon, Brian’s having a rest & I’ll read my book, then we’ll go for another walk later.

Coffin Bay tomorrow & the weather is supposed to improve

DAY 7 - Tumby Bay to Coffin Bay

Coffin Bay Caravan Park - $160 for 5 nights

Beautiful day, wind has dropped & we are packing up to go on the long trek to Coffin Bay, all 87kms away.

Found the farmers butcher, it is a shop at a house in the middle of nowhere but their meat looked great. Bought some steak, chicken kebabs, pork fillet & a piece of corn \240beef. Further reports later as to what it’s like.

Got to Coffin Bay, set up , had some lunch & did some washing. Decided to go for a drive into town, only got 3 vans down from us & guess who we ran into - Noel & Kaye Boyd. They have been here for a few days with friends. Noel & Bill have been out fishing every day & have caught quite a few. Had a look at Noel & Kaye’s new van, very impressive.

We’ll catch up for a drink later.

DAY 8 - Coffin Bay

Brian helped Noel & Bill pack up their boat & all the associated stuff so they could get on there way. They are heading for Venus Bay for some more fishing.

P.S. just found out that Bill had booked into Venus Bay Vic, not SA - no spots left so they went further to Streaky Bay. Think Bill might have been in a bit of trouble!!!

Quiet morning, then decided to go into Port Lincoln to have a little look around & do some shopping.

Saw the Makiva Diva statue at the port area, very good. The townspeople donated so that the statue could be made & displayed. It was a really lovely area there with all the green grass & lotsof space.

Went to walk on the jetty but Rocky decided that he didn’t like the gaps in the boards so we didn’t get far.

Stocked up on some vege’s etc which didn’t cost much at all, but unfortunately the visit to Liquorland resulted in spending quite a bit more. But they did have some great specials. We thought we had better stock up in case we can’t get anything later. (If it lasts that long)

Had our porterhouse steak from The River tonight - very nice & tender.

My lesions aren’t getting much better so I don’t think this lot of antibiotics are working that well, still got a few to go , so we’ll see what happens.

Watche’d the footy, hooray, Essendon won, then an early night. Amazing how early we are going to bed compared to home. I think we are a lot more relaxed.

DAY 9 - Coffin Bay

Rang Stacey Coleman about looking at their oyster farm. She said Deane was out on the water & would be back in the afternoon & we were welcome to go around to the shed & see them.

In the meantime Brian decided he would go fishing. After sometime of getting his rod ready, then finding it was wrong so had to do it again, he set of down the road- \240rod, bucket (for all the fish he was going to bring back) , tackle box. He was back in 10 mins as it was far too windy on the sea, plus it was dangerous on the rocks, plus he forgot the bait. Oh well just as well I had homemade pizzas organised for tea.

Went around to see Stacey & Dehne & kids at their oyster shed. Dehne showed us what goes on to bring the oysters in, not an easy job. Brian was in seventh heaven when Dehne put some oysters on the BBQ & told him to help himself.

Brian is going out with Dehne Monday morning as a deck hand, should be interesting. I can’t go as I have to stay with Rocky. (Think I was a bit happy about that)

Made our pizzas on the Weber, turned out beautiful. Now we are watching the footy. It’s turned cold so we’ll stay put now.

DAY 10 - Coffin Bay

Sick today, picked up a gastro bug which seems to happen to me when I use public conveniences. So I’ve had a very quite day, only leaving bed for visits to the toilet.

Brian went for a ride on the bike, then walked Rocky, then in the afternoon decided to try & catch a fish. Unfortunately the fish were busy elsewhere and none made them home with Brian. Oh well, he’ll keep trying.

Brian is going out on the oyster boat tomorrow with Deane, so to bed early we go.

DAY 11 - Coffin Bay

Brian got up at 6.30am( who does that when they are on holidays!!!) to go and meet Dehne on the oyster boat. They went out about 20 kms to his lease and pulled in a lot of baskets. Because of Easter the demand is a lot higher than normal, so they had to bring lots in.

That was the easy part. Once they got back to the shed they had to sort and grade about 800 kms and bag the ones that had to go to market. It’s time consuming & makes you realise why oysters are as expensive as they are.

Rocky & I walked up to the shed, about 2 kms away to see what they were up to. Stayed & helped for a little while. Stacey has to go back home to take Ben to swimming lessons, so didn’t see her or the kids for long.

Afte lunch had to go to Port Lincoln to get Rocky’s tic medication. $60.00 for one tablet!!! But it will save him if he gets a tic on him going through the Nullarbor.

Hit the supermarket again mainly for g/f stuff as it’s really hard to get in these small places. And we couldn’t go past Liquorland of course. Not much though this time.

Tomorrow we are heading at Elliston to free camp, hopefully, for a couple of nights before we go to Streaky Bay for Easter.

Tummy still a bit churny - ok if I do t eat but I was starting to get a bit hungry.

Went to the chemist today & got some Immune Defence tablets as according to my sister, my immune system is shit because of the infections I had last year.

So far we are thoroughly enjoying our travels, haven’t got sick of each other & are really looking forward to getting to WA. Rocky is starting to settle down, I \240think he’s realised he’s not going home.

Coffin Bay has been quite different to what we thought, but it’s a nice little community. Caravan Park is mainly oldies but very friendly.

Sent postcards to kids tonight, hope they are getting them as I haven’t heard from any of them yet.

DAY 12 - Walkers Rock Camping Ground.

$20 for 2 nights

Left Coffin Bay to do the big trip to Elliston, all of 120kms away. Decided tonight we would free camp & chose Walkers Rocks. Very windy as we were driving along & nearly decided at Elliston to stay there. ( walkers is about 15kms further along). We kept going with the intention if it was too windy we would go back.

Turned of the highway to travel down 3kms of dirt road, arrived at the camp & the first people we saw were Tom & Lucy that we had met at Coffin Bay, through Dehne & Stacey. They said to stay so we found a site and set up. After a bit of lunch we went for a drive on the beach for about 6kms. Beach was fantastic, sand was the best we have \240seen. This is what we have been looking for.

Tom & Lucy had met up with another couple of families & they had stopped on the beach for a bit of a play. We stopped as well and had a great couple of hours. Brian ended up swimming in his shorts & played frishbies with the kids.

Had a great afternoon. Came back to the van to prepare dinner & all of a sudden we had an influx of visitors. Sat around talking to about 7.30pm then they all meanandered off to their various camp sites. It’s still only 9pm but we are stuffed & are ready for bed. Must be all that sun weve had today

Tomorrow hopefully the weather will be the same & we’ll have another swim.

Just a magical place here. If we hadn’t booked into Streaky Bay for Easter we could stay a few extra days. And to think we nearly turned back & went into town!!!

DAY 13 - Walkers Rocks Campground

Drove into Elliston for a bit of a look, went via the cliff top drive. Very impressive. The coastal scenery was great and along the way there were lots of sculptures.

Went into the township p, as we have seen lately, onleys a tiny community. Stopped at the bakery, because Brian wanted to, he had a pastie & a cappuccino, I had a very ordinary black coffee. Sometimes this celiac business sucks.

Home again, had a bit of a rest then went back to \240the beach with Jim & Jayne & kids. Had a great afternoon, had a swim, ( it was extremely cold) then settled down under the car awning with a glass or two of champagne in hand, watching the kids play , Jamie fly his kite - he was nearly airborne at times & just watching the ocean. Life was pretty good.

Home for a quick shower, the we took the firepit around to they other campsite, cooked tea and had a great night, lots of talk & laughter. The kids range from 4 to 17 but they were all great kids. As were their parents. We’ll exchange phone numbers and I’m sure we’ll keep in touch. They live in Gippsland but come to Ballarat to see family.

All in all a great day.

This has turned out to be a great campsite, mainly through the people we have met.

Tomorrow we head for Streaky Bay for 6 nights.

DAY 14 - Streaky Bay

Islands Caravan Park - $180 for 6 nights

Left Walkers this morning after saying goodbye to all the new folk we had met. Really enjoyed our time there but it was time to move on.

Streaky is only about 120kms away so it’s going to be another easy day.

Stopped at Port Kenny to try & get some local oysters, but the shop was shut with a sign saying they were available in Streaky Bay. So on we go. The \240Islands Caravan Park is a relatively new Park, less than 12 months old, & about 6 kms out of town. Not much shade but still a lovely park. We scored a great site, right on the edge, next to the path leading down to the ocean. Sites are very generous in size too. Unpacked then went into town to get a couple of things we needed for dinner. Ended up buying some prawns ( very expensive) for lunch tomorrow. Oh well you only live once.

Had a stroll around the park, then a walk on the beach. Nowhere nearly as good a beach as Walkers Campground. Here it is very coarse & lots of broken shells. The water has lots of seaweed in it also. Not sure I’ll be going swimming in that.

Had our King George Whiting tonight with salad. I crumbed them & they were very yummy.

Couldn’t wait to have a shower. Brian went to the ammenities, they are like ensuites. Might have to try them out tomorrow instead of using the van shower.

My gorgeous granddaughter Ana is 18 today. Where have those years gone!! She’s all grownup, doing her own thing with uni etc. \240Love her to bits.

Tried to tune the tv in but can only get ABC, so no footy tonight. Try & fix that tomorrow.

Brian had the last of his Coffin Bay oysters tonight, loved every one of them.

Hopefully he’s had enough now for a while.

DAYS 15 & 16 - Streaky Bay

Oops, got engrossed in my book & forgot to do my blog.

Friday 30th - Good Friday

Had a quite day, think we needed a bit of a rest. We had bought some local Venus Bay prawns yesterday so decided to make them up into a Prawn & Noodle Salad for lunch. Brian shelled the prawns while I made the salad.

Just because we are in the seafood district doesn’t mean that seafood is cheaper. We bought 500g of prawns for $21.99 - which resulted in 19 peeled prawns. Put them on our salad & poof, they were gone. Not exactly a cheap lunch, \240it it was very yummy.

In the tradition of Dossie, we had Smoked Cod for dinner. Except I did it in a casserole with cheese sauce, broccoli, carrots & pasta. Much better than Mums Smoked Cod in Parsley Sauce.

We can only get the ABC on TV as apparently out TV is too old to pick up their signal. Mind you, there are some rather good shows on there. Brian watched a couple of crime shows while I read. Nearly finished my book, that’s why I forgot the blog.

Saturday 31st

Had a bit of a sleep in. We are getting pretty good at doing that. Afte breakfast we walked over to the island, the tide was out, to have a look. Rocky had a ball on the soft sand. The sand on the actual beach is very coarse & he doesn’t like walking on it but the soft sand was just right. That tired him out for the rest of the morning.

After lunch decided to go and look at the Cape Bauer Loop, a 40km loop around the cliff edges.

Stopped first at Halley’s Beach. The surf there was incredible. Here at Streaky we are in a fairly sheltered bay so don’t have any surf or noise. Haley’s Beach is on the ocean side so the surf was magnificent.

Onto the Whistling Ricks & Blowholes. It was a fair walk downwards, which meant upward going back, but it was definitely worth it. The blowhole was spectacular, the surf so ferocious, then the whistling started & then right in front of us the water blew up in a spray. Scared the hell out of us the first time but it looked great. Had a kind of rainbow effect in the spray. Rocky managed the many steps back to the car park but slept the rest of the way around.

Continued on looking at the coastline. Then back to Streaky to pick up a few supplies. Had to get some milk for the caravan park managers as they couldn’t get into town.

Margie had told us that the Shell Servo had great Curry’s so we decided to have an easy tea and buy some. Walking into the shop the smell was delicious. Bought a Lamb Madras & a Butter Chicken, thinking we would have some left for lunch to tomorrow. They were so good that we ate all of it. The serves weren’t huge but it was superb.

Good call Margie.

Brian had another go at fishing but no luck again. He waded over to the island but the fish were once again extremely elusive.

Sunset was spectacular tonight, hopefully another lovely day tomorrow.

DAY 17- Streaky Bay

Gas - 2 bottles, 1 x van, 1 x bbq - $51

Daylight saving finished today so we had a bit of an extra sleep in. Took Rocky for another walk on the soft sand of the island, which he thoroughly enjoyed

DAY 18 - Streaky Bay

Quiet day catching up with washing etc. before our big trip across the Nullarbor.

Had a long walk on the beach with Rocky, stopped & talked with a fisherman so Brian decided to collect his gear & have another go. Had a couple of nibbles but still didn’t catch one.

Very windy today, first day that it’s been like this. Hope it goes away as there is dust flying up everywhere.

After lunch ran into Tom & Lucy from Coffin & Walkers. They had just arrived and were setting up. Asked if we wanted to go to the pub in town on the courtesy bus so thought why not. Brian had a big plate of seafood which he enjoyed, I had s & p squid which was just ok, when I finally got it - they had forgotten mine.

Had a good night with a few drinks. At the end ran into another couple from Walkers who had just booked into the park also, Greg & Margaret - enroute to Geraldton. The courtesy is was pretty busy busing people back to the caravan park, so we had to wait until the last one. Oh well, time for one more drink.

Home to bed. Was a late night for us, but a good one.

DAY 19 - Streaky Bay

Our last day here. It’s been quite enjoyable to stay put but we are ready to head off again. We only stayed this long to avoid the Easter mayhem.

Took Rocky for his last walk over to the island on the soft sand, which he loved & walked the other way along the beach. Found a bit of beach that looks ok to swim in, no seaweed, so if it gets hotter we might go for a dip later. Still a bit windy but not as bad a yesterday.

Went into town to do a bit of shopping, just to make sure we didn’t starve going over the Nullarbor, as if. That was an experience, going from one supermarket to the other. But we got it done, as well as another couple bottles of wine - we’ll it was on special.

After lunch made spaghetti sauce & \240Lamb Rogan Josh to have as easy meals in the next few days. Had to get rid of any excess vege’s etc before we go across into WA at the quarantine station. So the curry ended up with lots of extra bits.

DAY 20 - Coorabie Farmstay.

Powered site - $30

Nullarbor Links - $70

Left Streaky after saying goodbye to Tom & Lucy & meanandered our way towards the Nullarbor. Hadn’t really decided where we were going to stop. Thought at one stage we might go to Cactus Beach but Brian decided 20+ kms of dirt road was probably testing it a bit. Decided to go a little further to this farmstay camp.

Stopped at Smokey Bay & bought some more oysters. $10 per dozen. Brian will start looking like an oyster soon

Before we got here we stopped at Ceduna for lunch and a little look around. Looks a nice place, we will stay there on the way back. Went to the information centre to enquirer about the Nullarbor Links. Brian decided he would play - it’s 18 holes spread out from Ceduna to Kalgoorlie. So after lunch we headed off to the Golf Club for the first two holes. Got the golf clubs out, but NO balls or tees. Oops left them at home. Bit hard to play golf without a ball or two or three. Lucky we are coming back this way so will have to do them then. In the meantime we have to find some balls. Poggy here at the camp said he might be able to round up a couple for us.

Arrived at our farmstay after driving on 8.2 kms of corrugated dirt road. Brian was far from impressed but it was so worth it. We are the only ones here and it is so peaceful & quite. Lit up the huge campfire in the camp kitchen & just sat around having a couple wines. Pure bliss. Bit dusty and more gravel , but that is all there seems to be over here.

Deb saw us when we arrived & Poggy came around later with a couple of stubbies. Brian & he had a chat about the farm they have here, 50,000 acres but can’t use a lot of it as it is too dry. They don’t crop anymore but run Merino sheep now. Plus do the farmstay which is general quite popular

Off to bed reasonably early, have about 350kms to go tomorrow to the Bunda Cliffs. Not used to travelling that far lately but I’m sure we’ll cope.

DAY 21 - Border Village

Caravan Park - $25

Left our farm stay, would recommend that place. It was a delight to stay there, very rustic. I unfortunately had a cold shower this morning as I neglected to read the sign that said you had to press a button for hot water. No matter, I still had a wash- a very fast one

Drove about 14 kms (back over that 8.2kms of very dirty dusty corrugated road) then did another \240Nullarbor Links hole at Nundroo. \240Put me off a bit when there was a big sign saying to watch for those killer snakes as they had been sighted.

Brian did well, had a 7 on a Par 5, not bad. I didn’t see the ball at all, Rocky & I were busy looking for those killer snakes.!!!! We didn’t actually walk this one, we drove from each shot. That’s the easy way to play golf.

Drove onto the Nullarbor Roadhouse & did another hole, same snake warning, except this time we had to walk. - 550m each way. This time Rocky & I were really looking. Had an 8 for a Par 5 this time.

Had lunch there and decided to buy an ice cream when we went in to get the card stamped. Never again. Brian had a Barney Banana & I had a Heart and it cost $10. Thank god we didnt have a Magnum.

Called in to the Head of the Bight visitor centre but realised Rocky was not welcome so didn’t bother paying the entrance fee, if he’s not welcome they don’t get our money.

On we went. We were going to stay on the Bunda Cliffs but missed the turn for the Campground, nothing is sigh posted over here, so decided to keep going to the Scenic Lookout, about 40 kms on. Got there but it was pretty ordinary so decided to keep going.

Got as far as Border Village, further than we thought & booked into the Caravan area. Not much here but ok for the night at $25. You have to pay $2 for a 10 minute shower but that’s ok.

Met up with some others here and had a drink in the bar - 2 lots of drinks for the two of us cost $35. 2 beers & 2 wines- everything is a bit pricy over here. The others wanted us to stay & have dinner with them but we had curry ready so came home to have that.

We have come to realise that we seem to enjoy the company of the younger set more than the oldies. The oldies \240(mind you - they are our age group) are too busy telling you how much money they have, how much property they own & all the trips all over the world they have done. Brian & I must lead a very boring life to these people. The younger ones have been great, just accepting us as we are.

Organised the next days activities, Brian has to do 5 holes tomorrow, busy busy day. Don’t know what the hell the time is. Apparently we are on border time here, which is about 45 mins back from SA time but when we go over the border tomorrow we lose about 1.30 hours.

Having trouble working all this out. Tomorrow our phones will tell us the time & I guess we’ll have to adapt. We’ll be early for a change ( only due to the time difference)

DAY 22 - Caiguna

Caravan Park behind roadhouse - $25

Played the golf hole here at Border Village the went through quarantine, had no problems.

DAY 23 - Norseman

With this time difference we were up early & we’re ready to head of by 8.30am. Brian did his golf hole, Rocky & I stayed back at the van to get everything ready to go. ( there was a lot of scrub & we didn’t want to find any snakes was the real reason)

Next stop was Balladonia for the next hole. This one actually said ‘watch for snakes’ but the hole wasn’t too bad. Fortunately Brian hit straight so didn’t go into the scrubby bits.

Next was Fraser Range Station where we had planned to stay. Did the hole but decided to keep going as it was only lunchtime. Headed onto Norseman which was only another 100kms away.

Got here, unpacked & went up the street, which is not much, to find they closed early due to the Races today. Oh well, dinner will be just bits & pieces. We ended up having oodles.

Chris & Di, are new friends from Strathalbyn asked us to go for a drink again, so we ventured forth until it started to rain & we had to make haste back to our van. Unfortunately on the way there Rocky veered to close to another campsite where there was a big dog who ran out & attacked him. Brian dragged him away before he was hurt badly but he has got a bit of a tear on the side of his mouth & is a bit sore. Not sure why people bring vicious dogs to caravan parks.

Brian rang Indie for her birthday. Having an early night, tomorrow we meet up with John & Margie in Esperance.

DAY 24 - Esperance

Bathers Paradise Caravan Park. - $111 3 days

Left the caravan park & stopped at the information centre to have the golf card stamped, then headed for Esperance.

Good journey & arrived at about 12.30pm. Marg & John had arrived a bit earlier & had nearly finished setting up. We have got really good sites, facing each other so have set up a cozy little nook. We like it so much we’ve decided to stay a extra 2 days so now we leave on Friday morning. PS. After doing our itinerary decided that we didn’t have time to stay any extra days so now will leave Wednesday as planned.

Just spent the afternoon catching up and having a couple of drinks. Brian shucked the last of the oysters so thankfully now they are all gone. He did share these ones with Marg & John though.

DAY 25 - Esperance

Marg & I sat down this morning to work out our itinerary for the next 3 weeks. Took us a while but we organised & booked where we want to go - Albany for 3 days, Walpole for 5 days & Olive Hill Farm for 7 days. We’ll use these places as a base a & travel around from there.

Went for a drive around the coastal road. Couldn’t see a lot most of the time because of the trees, bu5 some sections were really spectacular. Came across one parking area that stated that ‘clothes were optional ‘. The boys were keen to have a look but we told them to grow up.

Bought some Pad Thai (Margie & I), souvlaki for Brian & John and came back to the vans for lunch. After lunch Brian took the Prado into Toyoto for a service. It would be the only time he’s ever had someone else do a service on any of his vehicles.

Marg& I went shopping, mainly for food again although we’ve been existing with what we had since before the Nullarbor. Can’t take any fruit & veges a oss into WA so we had one too badly.

Brian picked up the Prado, cost about $260 which we thought was ok. They checked everything over as well as changed the oil etc. \240All is well so that is reassuring as we still have a long way to go.

Tea early & in to bed early. Pretty cold today, hope tomorrow is better

DAY 26 - Esperance

Weather a lot cooler today. We were going to go out to Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand where Marg & John have been for 12 days before we came here. But my sores are a lot worse so I thought I’d better see a doctor again!!!

Made the appointment for mid afternoon so didn’t go out to Lucky Bay. Went to the pet shop to buy Rocky a coat as we had left his at home & the nights are getting very cold. Found a nice blue waterproof one that fitted him well & it wasn’t greatly expensive.

Margie gave Brian & John a haircut so they now both look a lot neater. Brian is still growing his beard - it’s getting quite long now

After lunch we went for a bit of a drive \240 Brian bought a head light - not quite sure why & if he’ll ever use it, but he actually did tonight when he was packing up late

Drove \240around where the ships were loaded, those ships are absolutely massive. There were 3 more out at sea waiting to come in to be loaded

Went to the doctor. He thinks the sores are due to the infection I had last year after my bowel op. The bug is still in my system causing all these sores. He took a swab & sent me to the hospital for some blood tests & will ring me when he gets the results. Plus he’s put me on more antibiotics, only 1 a day this time.

Post script to this. Dr texted I have staf aureus which is the worst kind of staf infection. Would have got it from my bowel op so no wonder I haven’t been all that well. Hope the cream & antibiotics work.

Started packing up & because it was so cold had dinner in our van, then played cards after for a while.

Off to Albany tomorrow, so have to have an early start.

DAY 27 - Albany

Happy Days Caravan Park - $105 \2403 days

Had a long drive, bit over 500 kms so we were all pretty tired by the time we got here. Stopped for lunch (somewhere) & John told Brian he had no brake lights on the Caravan, so had to do a bit of mechanics & fixed that.

Park really lovely, about 18 kms out of town. Organised a fire pit & wood so had a lovely evening sitting around it.

DAY 28 - Thursday 12th

Marg & John went for an early kayak while we slept in. After breakfast drove into town to pick up the Weber part from the Post Office for John & Marg, went to Rivers to buy a long black cardigan for me as I’d left mine at home & to the chemist to get my Sorbelene cream for my sores ( which are improving considerably thanks to the antibiotics)

Drove then to the Whaling Museum. This was on the site of the last whaling station where they slaughtered the whales & processed the whale oil & byproducts. We had some lunch - g/f wedges yum, & did a tour then watched a few short videos. It was all extremely interesting, if not terribly inhumane as to what they used to do to those poor creatures.

On the way back we stopped at Limeback Distillery for a tasting. 1 tasting was $5 so we tried the port whiskey which certainly packed a punch. So it should for about $150 a bottle. The tried an aniseed liquor ($3) \240which was beautiful but $70 aa bottle. Needless to say we didn’t buy anything.

After a quick supermarket stop off home. Weather has been pretty shitty all day, windy & raining so Marg decided we’d have dinner in the camp kitchen. Had to take everything over there which was a bit of a pain for us but there was a lovely fire and it was fairly warm. Back to van for an early night.

Tomorrow we do The Gap which is a long walk, so Rocky can have a cruisy day back in the van . It’s in a National Park & too many steps for him.

DAY 29 - Albany

Went to The Gap for a look today. Very impressive how they have made a walk suspended over a cliff in mid air. Very scary looking over the edge at the turbulence. The spray was immense & we all got covered in salt. Then walked to the Natural Bridge which again was impressive. It is a natural rock bridge again with lots of sea swell.

From there we went to see the Blowholes. Had to walk a fair distance downwards, which meant to get back we had to walk upwards, but we all managed in the end. The Blowholes were right on a rock edge and weren’t majorly impressive, not as good as the Streaky Bay ones, but it was still very interesting to see the formation in the rocks.

We were all a bit weary by the time we finished this so decided to go home & have a quite afternoon. There is a sign at the road leading into the caravan park saying ‘Pears 3 kms’ so we headed down the road & bought some as well as some spinach & chillies.

Home for lunch. Marg & I tried making jaffles with wraps & they turned out great.

Lit John & Marg’s fire but it was pretty smoky. The wood was a bit green so that didn’t help.

Tomorrow we are heading to Peaceful Bay Caravan Park - halfway between Denmark & Walpole.

DAY 30 - Peaceful Bay Caravan Park

$170 - 5 nights

Left Albany this morning, not too early as we only have 100 odd kms to go today. After a bit of confusion as to the correct road we finally got under way.

Stopped at Denmark, a lovely little town, although lots bigger than we thought. Did a bit of a supermarket run again & then headed on to the caravan park.

Saw lots of touristy things we want to go back \240& look at over the next few days so I think we’ll be quite busy. Set up, you could go anywhere you liked so chose a spot so we could face each again. Had a bit of luck with our sites, they have all been good. Water pressure here is very weak so looks like I’ll be showering in the amenities here. Brian said the showers were good.

Set up the Piggy Pot this afternoon which gave us a nice warm environment. Marg was feeling a bit off so we had a quite afternoon.

Tomorrow we’ll start our exploring.

DAY 31

After breakfast went for a drive into Walpole to see about Rocky being babysat at the information centre while we go to the National Park tomorrow. The girls there will be able to look after him for a donation but we are not sure he’s going to be very happy. But we can’t take him into the NP & we want to see a few things there so we have no choice.

Walked through the town, \240very small & not too much there. Stopped at a shop selling live Marron, but they wanted $55 for a kg, which is only about 5 Marron so we declined. They looked a bit dodgy as well ( the sellers, not the Marron)

Drove around the surrounds of the town, all very picturesque, then made our way home.

After lunch we went for a drive onto the beach which the boys loved. Back at the park it was time to light up the Piggy Pot as it was getting cold. Brian got it really singing tonight, the only downfall of a fire is that everyone & everything smells of smoke.

Early to bed again

DAY 32 - Peaceful Bay

Left Rocky at the Information Centre in Walpole to be puppy sat today so we could go into the National Park. First off we stopped at an Olive & Wine farm, Valley of the Glen, \240and tasted their wares. Olives were great & so was the Sav Blanc. Bought some of each.

Next onto then Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, which was magnificent. The walkways were very high and shook a fair bit in the wind but the views were spectacular. Not real good for my fear of heights but I managed. The trees are so tall & straight with huge trunks. We the meandered a grove of veteran trees at ground level, the Ancient Empire Walk. There were a few fallen trees that enabled you to see just how big they really are.

Then stopped at the Swarbrick Art Trail which had some incredibly interesting items to look at. Beautiful mirrored wall with feathers, although I thought they were birds from a distance. This was called the Wilderness Wall of Perception.

Was all very interesting. \240

Next stop was the Thurlby Cafe for a late lunch. Chatted to a fellow about soap making before we had lunch. They make their own g/f bread so Marg & I were pleasantly surprised. Even talked the chef into letting us buy a loaf.

Next onto Mt Frankland where again you walk out onto a platform to view the surrounding countryside. We could view all over the surrounding countryside. Wanted to walkup to The summit but it was a bit of a steep climb so decided against it.q

Back to Walpole to pick up Rocky. He had been a good boy but was pleased to see us.

Back home, quite night with another fire

Sent postcards to grandkids again

DAY 33

Today Marg & I decided we would have a ‘girls day out’. We can’t remember the last time we had a day together just on our own. The boys are staying home to do a few chores and gather up a bit more wood for the fire. This meant they went around to the camp sites that had just been vacated and ‘cleaned up any wood laying around’. They managed to gather up quite a bit.

Marg & I headed off about 11am & first stop, surprisingly was a winery, Moombaki Winery. \240This name means the joining of the land & the moon. Marg bought a bottle of Sav Blanc at this one.

Next stop was the Toffee & Cider Factory. The array of toffees was fantastic so we bought a couple of different types. Didn’t try the cider as it was $12 for a tasting board & Wikicamp comments weren’t favourable. But we did share a Mango ice cream, which I am paying for now. Toooo much dairy. Told us it was g/f but I think he was very mistaken.

We then called into the Jassi Leather Shop. Didn’t stay long as their stuff was beautiful but oh so expensive.

Stopped at the Mead Factory, or Honey Shop & Winery. Tasted some of the wine but it was way toooo sweet. Bought some honey for the boys as a sweetener

On to the Cheese Factory - Denmark Framhouse Cheese. Tasted several cheeses which were all great. Tasted the wines which were very generous & very nice. Bought some Fromage & Feta & a Rose & an unwooded Chardonnay & a bottle of Green Ginger Wine. Marg bought some pepper cheese & pepper pate.

By this time it was about 1.30pm & we had only gone about 25kms. Decided to go to the Lake House, another Winery /Restaurant for lunch. Was a beautiful setting. We had a share platter and another wine. All was g/f & we enjoyed it immensely

Thought we had best go into Denmark to the supermarket, our original destination. Did the shopping, filled up with fuel then headed home. Arrived home \240about 4.45pm so we had a big day out.

The boys had the fire going so we unpacked, then sat down for another drink!!

DAY 34

Turned out a fairly ordinary day today. Wanted to do some washing, eg, sheets & towels as we will be off grid for the next few days.

Ended \240up using the dryer as the rain came on & off. I’m cooking tea tonight as John & Marg are packing up some of their stuff. Made a smoked Cod Casserole for dinner. Also made the meat for Shepherds Pie for another night. We haven’t got power, water or anything at this next stop. We are supposed to stay until Thursday but because the weather is going to be fairly poor, we will leave maybe Sunday or Monday. Time is getting away from us.

Had a relaxing afternoon, sitting by th3 fire drinking wine & eating our Denmark cheeses.

DAY 35 - Thursday 19th

Olive Grove Campground - 7 days $105

Left Peaceful Bay and set out for Olive Tree Farm. Had to stop at Walpole to get milk & the boys bread as we forgot to get it the other day.

Then onto Shannon s Campground to have a look where John & Marg are going to host for the month of May. It’s a huge Campground but being cold they won’t have a lot of people there.

Next stop was Pemberton where John filled up with water & we had a bit of lunch. Finally got to Margaret River where we went to get fuel at a 24 \240hour depot. We put our card through for $120 but as Brian was on the phone he didn’t access it quick enough so by the time he did it wouldn’t work. Rang the people - Caltex & they said the payment wouldn’t be processed. It has a actually come out of our credit card so will have to watch to see if there is a reversal.

Finally got to Olive Grove Campground at 4.30pm. It seemed to take us forever to get 300kms today.

Met Eve & Dave, the hosts & friends of John & Marg’s.

Unpacked, went to Happy Hour around the campsite, cooked tea & into bed early.

DAY 36 - 20th April

Margaret River

Today Marg & I went with Eve & Dave for a drive to Cape Naturalist to see the lighthouse. It was quite interesting seeing The light keepers cottage, better than I thought but there wasn’t really much to see. Went for a walk around then had morning tea/lunch. Dave had a beautiful looking home made pie but we shared a slice of lime tart g/f and good.

Drove to a beach & lookout called Sugar Loaf Rock

Impressive scenery. We also watched 2 silly fishermen standing on some rocks in the swell fishing for salmon. It looked extremely dangerous from our angle.

Drove around a bit then went to a winery called Driftwood where we sampled a few wines. Sparkling was good so bought a bottle of that.

Arrived home to the boys, they had had a busy day putting shockers on John & Marg’s camper. And going to the Brewery down the road for hamburgers for lunch.

Little did they know we have arranged to go there for $10 pizzas for tea. Pizzas were nice, then home early again & into bed.

DAY 37 -

We went for a tour of the town - Margaret River today. Had to pick up Brians script & a couple of things from the supermarket. Very busy, probably because it was a Sat morning. Then went to a Farmers Market on the edge of town. Bought some organic sausages & a chorizo sausage. Also bought some g/f crackers which look amazing & can’t wait to try.

Home for lunch. Decided to have toasted sandwich’s, got out the toaster machine & plugged it in. After 5 mins couldn’t work out why it was still cold. Then it hit me, we are not on power. The brain cells are getting a little lax I think

In the afternoon we went on a bit of a winery tour.

First we stopped at a nut factory, bought some g/f muesli, & Brian bought some nuts

The onto the chocolate factory. Well that was a revelation. There were hundreds in there & the chocolate wasn’t that nice plus it was extremely expensive, so we didn’t buy anything

Next onto another couple of winery’s which were overpriced & not so wonderful.

Lastly stopped at Evans & Tate winery where the service was good & the wines were good. Bought a couple of bottles here, sparkling & a Rose

Had happy hour around the fire, cooked shepherds pie for dinner & off to bed, a tad later than normal

DAY 38 - Olive Tree Farm

Woke up during the night to really heavy rain, thunder & lightening. Has been like it all day on & off so have had a quite day here at the farm.

Leaving tomorrow to go to Mandurah for a couple of nights then onto Perth to see Archie & stay for 2 - 3 days.

DAY 39 - Mandurah

Mandurah Caravan Park - $72 for 2 nights.

Left Olive Hill this morning, saying goodbye to Margie & John. We’ve had a great couple of weeks together but it’s time to move on as we are getting short of time. Before we left I had to take a photo of the bush toilet, it was really quite impressive.

Discovered the fridge wouldn’t light when on gas this morning (the gas bottle had run out during the night) so will have to get someone to look at it.

Got to Busselton & would you believe it, \240passed a Caravan Doctor, so called in & they fixed it in about 10 mins. It was just a blocked line from rubbish in the bottom of the bottle. They didn’t even charge us. Drove just down the road, saw a Good Guys so called in to buy Brian his beard trimmer.

Had a quick look around but with the van it was too difficult to look at much.

Onto Bunbury, same thing, not RV friendly but we did stop at a Farmers Market to buy some fresh vege’s & fruit. Brian did a mighty job manoeuvring the van in the car park. The place was so huge I got myself quite lost.

Arrived at Mandurah after lunch & set up. Needed some milk so went up the road \240to the Spud Shop. Most things were really cheap so again we bought more stuff. We have oodles of food now.

Got to watch TV tonight which was nice.

Brian trimmed his beard & it now looks a lot neater.

Tom & Marg left today for their big 5 month adventure. It’s quite amusing , out of 7 siblings, John & Faye are about to leave to go up the East Coast, Tom & Marg are in the middle, we are in WA & Marg & John are in WA soon to head right across country to Fraser Island.

We are scattered everywhere

Sores are starting to get annoying again. Looks like the antibiotics are starting not to work. Looks like another dr visit.

DAY 40 - Mandurah

Went for a drive into town to have a look around this morning. Mandurah is a large town/city Jg it’s quite a well kept, neat & tidy place. Went over the new bridge & drive around looking at all the very expensive looking properties on the canal. Reminds us a lot of Port Macquarie with all the canals & boats

DAY 41 - Perth

Kingsway Caravan Park - $70.20.

Left Mandurah and headed for Perth. We’ve both been dreading this bit because of the traffic but it was a breeze. Probably good it was a public holiday- Anzac Day & the traffic was lighter but we got to our caravan park with no problem in good time. This park is a pretty old one but it’s ok. Hard to find c/ps around here that allow dogs.

Had some lunch, rang Archie & he came around to watch the footy on tv. After it finished we went back to Archie’s then caught a ‘Uber ‘ back to a pub The Carbine where we had a few drinks & dinner. Got another Uber back here. Rocky had been home alone but he was fine, just wanted to play.

Tomorrow we’ll have a look around, the Friday we’ll go on the ferry to Fremantle.

DAY 42 - Perth

We went into the city today & went to Kings Park & the Botanical Gardens. Absolutely beautiful park, very large & well maintained. In Spring it would look magnificent. Paid our respects at the war memorial as we didn’t make it to an Anzac service yesterday. Driving through the city wasn’t nearly as bad as we had imagined, we didn’t get lost once. Perth is a really pretty city & the roads here are very usable.

Wanted to take Rocky to the beach so went onto Scarborough to the beach there. Unfortunately dogs weren’t allowed on the beach so that was a no go. Rocky was a bit tired from his big walk around the gardens anyway.

Was going to take the Coastal Scenic Drive back to our park but they had closed it for today so didn’t have much luck there either.

Called into the supermarket, Archie is coming for tea & he doesn’t eat anything fancy (his words) so I’ll make sausages with onion gravy on mash. He did enjoy the sausages but wouldn’t eat the vege’s.

Also got some more cream for my sores. It’s a generic one so I hope it still works.

Big day tomorrow- on the ferry to the Fremantle markets.

DAY 43

Drive to Archie’s this morning as he is looking after Rocky while we go on the ferry to Fremantle. He even drove us into the city to catch the boat.

Ferry didn’t seem to be going very fast but we got to Fremantle in about 1 hour 15 mins. Very comfortable ride.

DAY 44 - Muchea

Left Perth this morning with our planned destination of either Jurien Bay or Greens Head. Have been trying to contact Chissy & finally got onto him when we had done about 100kms. He said he was on his way to Muchea & to head that way. Did a quick recalculation & started heading back towards Perth.

Called into Gin Gin, got some fuel & water then arrived at Muchea & met Leo, Chissy’s partner. Set up near the shed, Chissy arrived later on. Richie Snell also called in. Leo has a pool so we had a quick swim in that .

As you do with Chissy you have lots of drinks. Richie cooked a Rib Eye Roast on the Weber which we - the girls, finally got to have about 9.30pm . I went to bed then but Brian didn’t come until about 2.30am. He’ll be a sore boy tomorrow.

Very windy , hope it eases off \240so we can get going.

DAY 45 - Jurien Bay

Woke up to almighty strong winds. We hoped it didn’t get any worse or we would have had to stay put. Chissy wanted us to stay, saying that the van would tip over. But we set of before lunch, choosing the inland highway rather than the coast road. The wind actually seemed to calm down once we had left Muchea. Brian was struggling just a bit from his late night & a few extra beers!!! than normal.

Got to Jurien Bay, a pretty little place. Unpacked then took Rocky for a walk on the beach only to find that dogs weren’t allowed on this stretch of beach so Rocky & I went back to the van while Brian had a swim.

Had a quiet afternoon. The weather was glorious, we even put the TV outside & had our dinner, Risotto out there while we watched MKR.

DAY 46 - Julien Bay

Attended to some bookwork & bill paying this morning. Spoke to Susan & everything is going ok at home. Still no rain though. Did some washing & tidyed up a bit.

Took Rocky for a long walk along the beach, the doggy one, then had a drive around town. Pretty small place with not much here.

Weather has changed to being windy and a bit cool, so we’ll head off to Geraldton tomorrow for a couple of days.

I’ve been trying to get some g/f fish & chips but no one seems to have them, never mind the fact that I think most don’t know what it means. So tonight I cooked our own. Crumbed fish with my g/f crumbs & chips on the Weber & salad. \240Was very nice.

Early to bed again tonight.

DAY 47 - Geraldton

Belair Caravan Park 2 nights \240$65

Arrived after lunch, which was a pie in Dongara for Brian & a vege muffin out of the fridge for me. Unpacked then went for a bit of a look around. Went to Bunnings & bought a Shampoo dispenser for the shower & also a Mikita blower. It’s only small but uses the batteries from the drills & will be handy for me at home for around the back door. Plus it will be handy here to blow down the mat.

Went for a drive on the beach briefly. Rocky & Brisn got out for a quick walk but I didn’t, tooo cold

Decided to have roasted pork fillet & vege’s as it’s got very cold. Finished off with a couple nips of Green Ginger Wine.

DAY 48 - Geraldton

Had a bit of a clean up this morning, washed the floors, cleaned the shower & basin & washed the towels.

Brian had an appointment to have his ears syringed & that went really well. Cost $25 but the nurse got lots of wax out.

Drove to the HMAS Sydney II Memorial. It’s a memorial to the 645 men who lost their lives in 1941 off the coast of Geraldton. Very impressive monument & great views of the town.

Next went down to the Esplanade & watched a huge container ship being tugged into the Port to be loaded. Amazing what those little tugs can do with directing the big ships. Went into the Maritime Museum which housed a fantastic display recalling the tragic events of the Batavia \240& other historical information.

On the way home stopped at the supermarket again for a few things & bought Rocky a new blanket from The Reject Shop. I’m throwing the old tatty one out. It cost all of $10

Drove up to the Separation Point Lookout. It was extremely windy with sand going everywhere so didn’t linger. Passed the Point Moore Lighthouse on the way back. It’s the only steel structure of its kind in WA It’s 34 metres high & its light can be seen 26 kms out to sea.

Home, packed up a bit. It’s got really cold so we won’t be venturing far tonight.

DAY 49 - Kalbarri

Murchison River Tourist Park. 3 nights. - $112.50

Left Geraldton and headed toward Kalbarri. Not a long trip so should get there just after lunch. Stopped at Port Gregory to look at the Pink Lake. Not nearly as good as ours at Di Boole but much much larger. Went into the town & watched some wind surfers strutting their stuff . Very good to watch, they must be so strong to hang onto those kites.

Arrived at Kalbarri which had a great amount of smoke hovering over the town from controlled burns in the National Park.

After setting up & lunch we went for a drive to the Blue Holes & to Chinamans Rocks which overlooked the town.

Tomorrow we’ll do a bit more exploring

DAY 50 - Kalbarri

Met up with John & Pam again this morning & they said they would babysit Rocky if we wanted to go into the National Park.

Decided we would after lunch. Settled Rocky in & headed out 36 kms to Nature’s Window. Got to rhe car park & thought its only a 1 km return walk, we won’t take our water bottle. Big mistake, it was all downhill, then of course uphill. Very hot and sweaty we were by the time we got back. Views were incredible of the gorge & the river running through. In winter with the river a lot higher the view would have been much better.

DAY 51 - Kalbarri.

Quiet day today. We needed \240a bit of a rest. Brian went for a big ride on the bike while Rocky & I cruised back at the van.

Went for a drive to another couple of lookouts along the highway, only to realise when we got there that it was in the National Park and Rocky was not allowed to be there. Left Ro my in the car & walked quickly to the Natural Bridge where we were lucky enough to see a large pod of dolphins in the sea just in front of us. Didn’t do any more as it was too hot for Rocky in the car.

After lunch & a little rest started packing up as we have to have an early start tomorrow.

Went out for dinner with Pam & John to Finlay’s Fish Shack. It was really good, I have never had su h good grilled fish before. Brian had Chilli Musseks which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Sent postcards to the kids

DAY 52 - Shark Bay

Shark Bay Caravan Park $108 for 3 nights

Left Kalbarri this morning after being held up by the neighbor who would stop talking, said goodbye to John & Pam, and Gordon our way.

Rocky started acting very strangely after about an hour so we stopped to give him a drink. Didn’t seem to help, he was staggering around everywhere. Continued on but when we stopped for lunch he was no better. Got him to eat & drink a little bit which seemed to make him a bit better.

Arrived at Shark Bay Caravan Park, it’s a bit away from the beach & the whole park is covered in this fine white stone. It’s not too bad& we have a fairly shady spot right at the back of the park.

Said hello to Chris & Sam & Carol & Gilly. They are leaving tomorrow so it was good to catch up with them again.

General consensus is that there is not much going at Exmouth & Coral Bayso we are debating about turning around from here & start to head home. We’ll see how Rocky is tomorrow but this has been our worst fear, that something would happen to him.

DAY 53 - Sharks Bay

Had a very interesting day today. Started off by saying goodbye to the Strathalbyn people we met across the Nullarbor. Went down the street for a look, not much there, \240very small in fact. Went to the supermarket & they actually had g/f bread, frozen but beggars can’t be choosers. Called into a Hairdressers to see about a trim & she could fit me in after lunch.

The hairdresser was good, cut my hair nicely, & so she should at $50.

Decided to go to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins. We were disappointed here as the whole place is just a big construction zone. RAC are building a huge resort there & it will be magnificent when finished. But at the moment it’s a disaster place. We had to pay $18 to get in there which was a bit rich. The beach was lovely though & we managed to see 1 dolphin.

On the way to Monkey Mia we called into the Golf Club which has a great view over Little Lagoon. Very rough course but the view was good.

DAY 54 - Sharks Bay

Quieter day today after all of yesterday’s excitement.

Went out to the Ocean Park & Aquarium as a few locals have said it was a good show. It was doggy friendly so Rocky came too - although reluctantly with the other people there.

First off we saw the sharks being fed. They weren’t t particularly hungry so we didn’t see too much except them swimming around.

Then we saw a turtle swimming in his big tank, then some sea snakes which i did not like at all

DAY 55 - Cárnarvon

WinterSun Caravan Park $112.10 for 3 nights

We had packed up a fair bit last night as the wind was really strong so we thought we would get away early. Well that didn’t happen. First I fell of the end of the bed when I stood on it to shut the hatches. Fortunately I didn’t hurt me or the van. At this stage we were still planning on heading back towards home. After talking to a couple of fellow travellers we decided, what the heck, we’ll keep going up. We won’t be back this way ever again. So we’ll go as far as Exmouth at this stage.

Had a good trip & arrived at Carnarvon about 3pm. Booked into the Whitersun Caravan Park for 3 nights.

After we had set up we went for a drive to Woolies to get some milk as the brand we had tasted awful. Was very excited to find A2 milk, plus Helgas g/f bread, plus some g/f lemon muffins - on sale.

It’s windy here but not too bad. We’ll have a better look around tomorrow.

DAY 56 - Carnarvon

Had a quiet day today. Every now & then you need to just sit back & relax. That was this morning. I made a doctors appointment to get more antibiotics as I figured that 2 weeks in the Pilbara & no antibiotics is not going to do these sores much good.

Had an appointment at 2.30pm, finally got on about 3.20pm. He wasn’t happy to give them to me as he didn’t know my history. I explain as much as I could & he finally gave them to me , 2 months supply. At least it will get me home until I see Vesna.

Needed to do a big shop before we headed of into the never never. That was a chore also but we’ve got plenty to see us through for the next week or so. Plus stocked up on a bit more alcohol, can never have too much of that.

Brian picked me up & home we went.

This morning we went to Pickles Fishshop & bought some prawns & fish wings for Brian. I put the fish wings in a sauce stuff in the slow cooker & they turned out ok. I bought some Chicken Byrania from the Indian shop for my dinner. I even shared some with Brian. He forgot to have the prawns tonight so they can be entree tomorrow.

We’ll do a bit of sightseeing tomorrow.

DAY 57 - Cárnarvon

Another quiet day. Went for a walk on the old jetty-it’s apparently a km long & very old. Got there only to find that they had closed access to it last August due to safety reasons. So we had a coffee, \240me & Brian had a Mango Smoothie. Very nice.

DAY 58 & 59

Exmouth - RAC Tourist Park $98-50 for 2 nights

Left Carnarvon & headed off. Called into Coral Bay for a look but wasn’t greatly impressed. Park was extremely crowded & there is very little there in the way of shops. Bakery advertised g/f bread for all g/f lovers made out of spelt flour!!! Obviously don’t know their g/f rules - no spelt allowed.

Onto Exmouth, again wasn’t impressed when we got here. For the price the site was pretty ordinary. Not level & certainly not much of the advertised grass, plus sites were pretty close to each other. After a little hissy fit by me Brian settled me down & we unpacked. Brian went for a swim in the pool for a cool off.

Sunday - Mothers Day

Very windy this morning but still quite warm. After breakfast went for a look around. Drove further north, there wasn’t much more north to go, & came to the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse right on top of a big cliff where all good lighthouses should go.

DAY 60 - Bullara Station.

Left Exmouth for the big trip to Bullara Station, all 91 kms. Bullara is a working cattle station & has park facilities.

It is really quite unique & quirky with its artefacts all around.

On arrival we were told that they had just made g/f scones so I thought I had best not miss the opportunity & we had an early lunch. Very nice.

Shown to our camp site which is pretty stony & dry . They have had little rain here for a long time so water is very precious.

Set ourselves up & thought it was quite amusing when sheep & cattle started to walk through our site. Caught up a bit on some messaging etc then started dinner, Beeg Stroganoff, before we went to Happy Hour.

Had a couple of interesting hours talking to others the came home for dinner. No TV so watched a video that Margie had given us called Frozen. Was very good, if not slightly gorey. Early to bed, we’ll head off to Tom Price tomorrow

DAY 61 - Tom Price

Tom Price Tourist Park - $78.50 for 2 nights

Decided to leave Bullara Station as not much else to do. I was pretty ill this morning thanks to the cream on my scones yesterday. I’ve just got to realise that yogurt & cream are not my friends.

Lovely day, little wind & good driving conditions. Stopped at Nanuttara Roadhouse for a bit of fuel, \240not to much as it was very expensive, & to have some lunch. Brian saw a Honda 1 10 by the side of the cafe & spoke to the rider. He’s come from Qld & is travelling around Australia. Comfort levels wouldn’t be real flash

DAY 62 - Tom Price

Domestic chores, washing & cleaning this morning. Next to the park is a mountain called Mt Nameless which a few said was a good view from the top. So off we went, thinking that it would be a pretty easy drive. Well the mountain should be called “Mt Who in Gods name would even try to get to the Top.” After a few kms on a very corrugated road we got to a sign that should have alarmed us \240

DAY 63 - Tom Price

Up early for our big trip out to the National Park. Packed some lunch for us & a goody bag for Rocky. Dropped Rocky off to Sarah for her to babysit and off we went.

It is about 90 kms out to Karijini- we arrived there about 10am.

First off we looked at the Fortescue Falls from the Lookout then walked down lots of steps to the actual falls.

DAY 64 - Newman

Oasis @ Newman - $50 for 2 nights

Brian’s birthday today. Packed up and headed of to Newman. Very windy, again but off we went. Arrived at Newman about 1.30pm, Caravan Park is fairly new but lots of red dust again. Rocky is turning from a white dog to a red dog.

They have a buffet tea at the park so I booked in. When I told the lady it was Brian’s birthday she didn’t charge me for his meal which was very good of her.

Went into town for Brian to have a haircut. He was getting a bit shaggy. While he was having that I went to Woolies for some water & dog food. Came back & got ready for dinner, in between birthday phone calls.

Well dinner was different. It was more like a mine wet mess. It was obviously meant for the local miners as well as people from the park & the public. The chef grilled me a piece of snapper which was very good of him. It was a bit undercooked in the middle but nice. Brian had fish & chips & Roast Beef with vege’s. He was very full when he’d finished.

Staying here tomorrow. Will look around a bit.

DAY 65 - Newman

Domestic chores again this morning, change bed, washing , wash floor etc.

afte this went into town to the chemist & woolies for some salmon for dinner. Decided that if we are watching the royal wedding we will have a royal dinner.

Drove around town for a bit of a look, went up to Radio Lookout which gave a good view over town.

DAY 66 - Cue

Cue Caravan Park $20 - 1 night

Left Newman this morning with the intention of free camping tonight. Unfortunately when we got to the camp we thought would be ok we soon discovered it was far from ok. It was right on the road, all very fine red dust, no other vans were there ( a sure sign it’s not real good) & to top it off there was a dead cow in the middle.

Kept going but none of the camps were suitable. Didn’t want to stay at Meekatharra as we were told it wasn’t a good place so we kept coming to Cue.

Park is ok but we’re only here for tonight.

A lot of road trains on the road today. I guess this highway is the more direct route from Darwin .

DAY 67

Peter Denny Lookout - free camp

Left Cue, attempted to look around but there wasn’t much to see. Could have gone up a couple of dirt roads to lookouts but decided not to with the van on.

Hit Mt Magnet, not much there either. Stopped at a butchers to buy Brian some chops that he desperately wanted.

Headed forth to Sandstone. Unless you are a prospector there is really nothing in these little towns for you. Running short on fuel so put $50 (at 173.9) in to get us to Leonora where it is considerably cheaper.

The free camp we had picked out wa about 30 odd kms out of Sandstone. We wonder what this one will be like. Got here about 2.30pm & it wasn’t too bad. Picked out a spot , then another couple of vans came in. Brian lit a fire & we had a very cosy night. Lucky I had cooked Butter Chicken the other night so we had an easy tea.

Off to bed early

DAY 68 - Niagria Dam - free camp

Left our free camp & headed toward Leinster. Decided to get fuel here as we were getting a bit low. We see, to be using a bit more fuel since we have noticed a bit of a rattle in one of the injectors. Not happy about this as we replaced all the injectors a couple of years ago at great expense so we wouldn’t have any problems with them on trips like this. Anyway everything else is going ok.

Not much at all at Leinster, very small town so of we headed to Leonora. Much the same but a bit bigger. We had read on Wiki about a cafe at the back of a pub that sold great chicken pies. Unfortunately there were 3 pubs & we couldn’t find a cafe at the back of any of them. We walked up the street & found s little cafe so went in there. Upon asking about g/f she asked me what I would like as she was also a Coeliac. She , I think her name was Fiona, made me a fantastic chicken salad roll witha g/f roll. Very nice. First place I’ve been to that actually understands me.

On we went to Gawlia, a ghost town from years ago. It was a prospecting town that shut down when a. the gold ran out & b. the big boys took over all the little mines. Saw part of a huge open cut mine just near the Museum. Didn’t go into there as we were short on time and we had Rocky.

On we went to Niagara Dam. Found a nice campsite \240but as I was directing Brian into it I tripped on a risen stone & over I went. Didn’t hurt myself to badly, more shook up than anything. Got settled in, lit the fire & had lovely loin chops & vege’s for tea. At least tonight we \240managed to stay out of bed until after 9pm.

Tomorrow we head for Kalgoorlie. We are getting closer to home all the time.

DAY 69 - Kalgoorlie

Discovery Kalgoorlie Goldfieds - $147.50 - 4 nights

Packed up a bit then went for a walk, to look at the Dam from the top of the wall. Had to climb up some steep rocks from our campsite. Walked along the wall then the long way back to the camp.

DAY 70 - Kalgoorlie

Did domestic chores this morning & another visit to the supermarket. God how I am beginning to hate this shopping business. But unfortunately we have to eat so we have to do it.

After lunch rang Nigel (Techno Man) and while we waited to go around to see him at his house we went to have a look the SuperPit Lookout. It’s a very huge enormous hole in the ground. Amazing what they can do with dozers over \240time.

DAY 71 - Kalgoorlie

It blew & blew & blew last night. And this morning everything was covered in red dust. And then it blew more & more & stronger & stronger. And MORE red dust.

Brian took the car into the mechanic to look at while I stayed home to catch up on 1. Postcards for the grandkids

2.Facebook post as I haven’t done one for about 2 weeks.

Afte lunch went to book into the Brothel Tour but we were too late for today, so booked in for Saturday.

Marg & John arrived at 5pm after driving from Shannon’s, 11 hours in total. We cooked a Roast Pork & vege’s for them as they were pretty tired. Had a great night catching up , sad they will be leaving again tomorrow.

DAY 72. - Kalgoorlie

Cooked Marg & John Eggs Benidict for breakfast & saw them on their way. They still have a long long way to go.

I realised last night that we are going through quarantine again so today I cooked up all the vege’s that we had. Made Fried Rice for tea tonight to have with marinated chicken steaks, Massamsn Curry, Satay Chicken & Mashed Potato to go with the shepherds pie base in the freezer. All we have left is some salad stuff which we’ll have for lunches for the next couple of days.

Brian went around to see Toyota about the Prado. They put it on the computer & said everything was fine - nothing wrong with the injectors. So we will still leave tomorrow

Then he went to see Techno & Pumpkin & had a couple of hours with them while I was cooking.

This afternoon went on the Brothel Tour. Forgot my camera so couldn’t take any photos but Carmen, the Madam for the last 26 years was quite amusing & very informative. She had lotts of stories to tell.

Home again, packed up a bit for tomorrow. It’s got really cold so looks like the heate will work overtime.

DAY 73 - Fraser Range Station

$30 for 1 night

Left Kalgoorlie about 10am & headed to Kambalda for Brian to do another Nullarbor Links hole. He’s obviously not \240been practising very well as he didn’t do quite so well with this one

DAY 74 - Cocklebiddy

Free Camp 10kms west of town

Looked around the Station before we left this morning. There was mass exodus & we were the last to leave at 9.30am

DAY 75 - Bunda Cliffs Free Camp

Woke up this morning, looked at Brian & laughed. He had his beanie on in bed. It must have got really cold during the night & his head got cold. We found out later it was -4degrees overnight. That’s the downfall of free camping, no heater. We must put this diesel heater in before the next trip.

DAY 76 - Ceduna

Ceduna Foreshore Park - $60.60 2 nights

It was very cold last night, but we were pretty warm with our ‘hotties’ & extra blanket.

Realised that the 12v wasn’t working for some reason, had a bit of a look & thought we would look at it when we got to Ceduna. Stopped for lunch at a roadhouse & noticed a yucky smell around us that we couldn’t find. On to Penong for the last hole of the Nullarbor Links. It was here that we discovered the second battery in the Prado was boiling & the smell was the boiling acid. Smelt like rotten egg gas. This was why the 12v was going crazy as we hadn’t disconnected the Anderson plug & the car battery was draining the van battery. Disconnected the battery & headed for Ceduna. Went through quarantine, lost my cucumber but he told us where we could find an auto electrician. Went around there, he told us the battery was stuffed but everything else was fine. Bought a new battery at $190, installed it & everything was back to normal

Got to the caravan park pretty late but it’s a lovely looking park with very a \240modern shower block.

Nice to have heat & TV again. \240

DAY 77 - Ceduna.

Very cold overnight. Not really liking this weather but it will get worse as we closer to home

Did the washing, supermarket shopping & cleaned up before I made Brian Oyster Kilpatrick for lunch. He enjoyed these very much. Had a look around town, bought a new kettle at the Outdoor shop ( which I discovered doesn’t fit in my kettle cupboard) . Also bought a container to put my cans in so they won’t keep falling over on the pantry.

Went to the Information Centre & got Brian’s certificate for the Nullarbor Links.

Went out for tea at the pub tonight, very nice. I had Chicken Kiev, gluten free style. Haven’t had any reaction so hope all is well.

It’s been very windy here today but it has gone now.

DAY 78 - Nutbush Retreat

$32.00

DAY 79 - Burra

Burra Campground \240- $15 per night

Set off from Nutbush & arrived in Burra about 1.30pm. Not a long drive

Met up with Ken & Moni at the Showgrounds where they had secured a couple of sites for us. We were lucky enough to score power & water.

Arty the caretaker met us, he’s a bit of a character but he’s given us good sites.

Ken cooked a lovely lamb roast for dinner, a sit around the campfire, lots of catching up. We had stopped at Harry’s Shed & bought some prawns with which I made prawn cocktails for entree’s

DAY 80 - Burra

Started off the day with Kenny’s bacon & egg breakfast. After doing some washing, changing the bed we got a phone call from Lorraine & Geoff who said they were in Burra & were going to call in for a cuppa. Had a chat for a while, then when they headed off we went into town & bought a”key pass” - a key that allows us to enter 9 establishments and explore. This cost $25 per head. Lucky Rocky didn’t have to pay.

First we went to the Miners Dugouts. Housing was a problem back in the 1800’s so they dug out cliffs along the river beds. Conditions were very grim.