Hitting Western Australia

My fellow Aussies - How I hope you were enjoying Australia Day with pluggers, tim-tams, a barbeque and a well deserved day off! I truely hope you found it enjoyable and not berrated by the age old 'Let's change the Australian Flag because we don't like having the Pommy Flag as part of our flag' debate, that was running consistently on the radio throughout the day. In my honest opinion, how un-patriotic on Australia Day, but anyway. Australia Day marked one month since we left Katherine behind, and despite a few hiccups with the car, crikey have we covered some ground!

Oh boy, I haven't blogged since we left the Eyre Peninsula...by George!

Well, we crossed the Nullabor Plain. It's an interesting road...for the first hundred or so kms, then the total lack of trees gets a bit old. However, there are some spectacular cliffs on the Great Australian Bight that kind of break the drive up a bit. Unfortunately, we didn't see any camels, but we did pay through the roof for diesel half-way accross...

Lucky Bay - Cape Le Grand

And then finally, we hit Western Australia - yahoo! Finally! First stop, Esperence and what a terrific haven. Although some what isolated (approx 8hours from Perth) Esperence is known to have Australia's whitest beaches...and best beaches. We stayed at Cape Le Grand National Park for two nights but it felt like a week, and we came back incredibly relaxed despite the business (it being peak season and all). We caught some more fresh fish, did some snorkling (although, not for very long...the Southern Ocean is cold...) If you have ever seen a photo of a Roo lying on a white beach looking dopey, its Lucky Bay where we stayed.

From Esperence, we have meandured west, stopping in Albany to check out 'Whale World' - a museum at Australia's last operating whale station, which was incredibly interesting.

Mist over the bluff after we climbed it...thanks Eddy!

From Albany, we headed inland to check out Stirling Range National Park where we met the nicest park ranger I have ever met. His name was Eddy, he was a retired volunteer who reckoned he knew every stone of the park and that it was simply, the best part of the entire country. He was such a character, we hadn't been there five minutes before he came over for a yarn...a rather long yarn. And he was spot on with his weather prediction of mist on the bluff that afternoon. Thank you Eddy for saving us from a slippery slide down Knolls Bluff! Stirling Range is pretty awesome though - home to over 1000 different species, a lot of which only occur on the tops of these mountains.

From Stirling Range, we traveled South West to the Forest Region. Now, for some reason, many of the towns in this region end in "up".  Look at it on a map some time, but it is quite bizarre and I am yet to find out why. However, we had a look at Tingle forest, before setting up the van in a divine spot in Karri Forest at Big Brook Dam near Pemberton. It was so beautiful there, we decided to stay for two nights so Caleb could cook one of his fabled spit roast....we are still eating it...yum! (pictures of this fantastic feast to follow)

In our travells around this forest, we came across the Bicentennial Tree. A celebration of Australia's Bicentennial, it was built as a tribute to the fire towers in use in the area. The forests are extensive and in danger of fires, so the pioneers stuck spikes in the tree trunks, climbed up to spot the fires and radio their whereabouts. Now, bear in mind, these Karri Trees reach 60 odd meters into the sky, and they are world renown for thier straight trunks with no off shoots for at least half way up....This tree we climbed, we got to 68m and could see well over the canopy of the Karri forest, it was pretty fun.

Caleb climbing back down

Today, we checked out a Timber Hertiage Museum in Manjimup, which was also terrifically interesting. All about the logging industry. And we met blacksmith George and wasn't he a character! Working away in the old blacksmithery, he showed us Roman swords, Japanese sabres and Persian daggers....what they have to do with logging we still have no idea but he sure knew his swords!

Upon driving to Nannup, looking for a place for lunch, we discovered a notice on the door - cyclone warning. Ay? Cyclone? Down here? you must be joking! Nope, they aren't. All the national parks are closing their campsites in fear of 120km winds coming day after tomorrow, and we had a caravan park caretaker warn us about heading further west...it appears people are a might twitchy. Caleb and I remain dubious as to if Cyclone Bianca does hit here, but it will make the weather on the coast around Margaret River a bit unbearable for a few days so we remain unsure of where to head next...

Eyre Peninsula and Thoughts of Home

Hello once again dear friends! Greetings from Streaky Bay which is were Caleb and I are currently relaxing on the beach. But how did you get there? you may ask...well, let me fill you in on the gaps, but first

It would be wrong I feel, to write another blabbering blog post without sending alll our love back home where friends and family have been dramatically affected by nature. We have been listening to the radio and looking up photos and texting like mad to try and stay up to date with everything that is happening in the floods back home, and we are so greatful our families and friends are all safe, albeit with a massive clean up ahead. Caleb and I are willing and prepared to anything to chip in and help out wherevever we possibly can. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you!

I believe I last signed off in Port Augusta? Well, there wasn't much there really, and we weren't holding out too much hope for Whyalla either, but as it turns out it was not too bad of a spot. We did a tour of the war ship Whyalla, and of the steel works in town which were both quite interesting. We also considered purchasing crab nets and going after blue swimmers, but decided against it as we weren't really there for long enough.

From Whyalla we meandered down the east coast of the peninsula, stopping in Port Lincoln. This is a really beautiful spot. I've decided if I was a South Australian, Port Lincoln is where I would live as there are so many sleepy coastal villages along the roads to go and just relax for a week. So different to the Sunny Coast and Gold Coast! We have really enjoyed the Non-ratrace-ness of the Eyre Peninsula.

our scrumptious platter - oysters,
mussells, calamari, scallops & whiting

At Port Lincoln we introduced ourselves to a scrumptous platter of seafood. Seriously, I think it is one of the best meals I have ever had. Everytime I think of it, my mouth waters. I had never had mussells or scallops before, and they were the highlight for me. We had a brilliant night that night. We also went on a road known as Whaler's Way, which is right at the tip of the peninsula, a dirt road, but it takes you to some spectacular coast line. It was just a pity it was a bit drizzly and windy that day so not many great shots to be had, sorry folks!

Whalers Way - one of the spectactular lookouts and also
a home to sealions....wouldnt you love to live here?

We also checked out the national parks down here - Lincoln on the East and Coffin Bay on the West. Coffin Bay was the pick. Simply gorgeous coastline - white sand, terrific limstone formations and the bluest ocean I have ever seen (possibly also the coldes...) It was in this vacinity that we heard about the major floods back home, so even though it was beautiful, it was difficult to appreciate as our thoughts were definately on home the entire time.

Coffin Bay National Park

We are currently making our way up the west coast of the peninsula, where there continue to be tranquil bays, sleepy towns and wonderful limestone cliffs and rock formation. And as always, that incredible aqua blue sea...

my flatty!!

It was in one of these bays called Walkers Rock near a small sleepy town called Elliston, that I managed to catch a flathead all on my own. Now, it was just a 40cm flathead but the fact that I took the initiative to get the rod out of the car, ask Caleb how to use the squidgy, and stand in the cold water while Caleb went out spearing and cast the thing out there...on my own, felt like a rather big achievement to me, so I was rather excited (actually, while reeling it in, I was jumping up and down yelling 'I got a fish! I got a fish!' like a dumb girl) Caleb managed to spear a couple of fish the previous day at Coffin Bay (a small cove called Avoid Bay) so we actually had fresh fish for two nights in a row! For a couple that don't really do a lot of fishing, this was pretty cool.

Another highlight occured this morning. We got to Streaky Bay last night, as we had an appointment with two of the most graceful creatures God made this morning....yes ladies and gents, we went swimming with dolphins and sealions at a place called Baired Bay! Anyone who has known me for a while, will know that swimming with dolphins I have always wanted to do, so today was really special. We were duck-diving and playing around with the sealions - we both managed to get a kiss from them (Caleb was even blessed with a bite!!) and they are so much fun to swim with! Unfortunately, my battery died on the camera because I took too many photos of the sealions, so there aren't any good ones of the dolphins...but it was so awesome to duck dive down and see a whole line of them .... maybe ten? swimming towards you...

After that little adventure this morning, we are pretty wiped, so we have given ourselves and afternoon off, so we can do all the fun things like clean the van and do the washing, before we start making our way to the Nullabor! Who knows, maybe the next post will come to you from yet another state...

So, for another week, or however long it may be, toodles my friends. Remember if you are a QLD resident, our thoughts and prayers are with you...and to all our family and friends, you guys are champions and we are so glad you are all safe. God willing it stays that way and the sun eats all the water again!!

Love and seal kisses!

A Nice Desert Tan

Welcome to 2011 my fellow martians! To kick off our new year, Caleb and I ate Singapore noodles, drank some wine, played chess (at which I dismally failed) and fell asleep before midnight in Alice Springs. No doubt most of our friends and family saw in the new year before we did (actually, quite literally, by about half an hour).

Yes, our car, although ever so trustworthy needed some maintenance in Alice Springs, and due to the festivities of the ending of a year and the beginning of a new one, not to mention Christmas and public holidays, we were forced to hang round Alice until we could get our brakes fixed. Which we have. (now we have one more thing to cross off the car maintenance list for a while - tyres - and then we will have the next best thing to a brand new car!)

Once we got our car back, we took off and drove into the night, down to Uluru. Now, for those unaware, Alice is basically the middle of the desert and although backpackers and tourists go to Alice and go see Uluru it is actually over a two hour drive (WITHOUT a caravan...) But we made it to the red centre, discovered our nation has a heart of stone, but it does change colour which is a good sign I think. We walked 10km around the base, saw the sunrise there then whisked off to the Olgas down the road (or Kata-Tjuta) and did another 7.5km...in the heat of the day (which that day was pushing 40). This is really stunning landscape and you can see why people flock here...to see a random rock in the middle of the desert. It was also really interesting to learn that the centre was really the last frontier of Australia in terms of colonising - some of the Aboriginal elders here did not see a white man until they were teenagers. Imagine how their world has changed.

After this little jaunt which lasted a day (we wanted it to only last a day) we drove into the night, yet again until we hit the border. It would have been rather an emotional moment, had I been awake to see it....hang on, I was the one that drove to the border!! Yes, it was momentous, however tarnished by the late hour (and it got even later due to daylight savings) and we litterelly pulled up at the rest stop, jumped in the van and slept.

Now, in this tired state, it had not struck me that we had been in the Territory for quite some time, seen some pretty special places and met some pretty, special people (oh no, Russel Coight alert!!) I thought it was fitting to do a small tribute to the Territory, where we learned a great deal about its people, its landscape and generally had a blast. I think the song is appropriate, as even though we are having a great time on our adventures, we do miss our family and wish you all could share this experience with us. Here is one way you may be able to...

Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

And now we move on to South Australia....

As you travel and meet people where you go, you often hear different recommendations of here there and pretty much everywhere. Not so much with South Australia. I had no idea what to expect, which was good because so far I haven't been disappointed.

When you drive the Stuart Highway though, you realise just how arid and dry and desolate our country is. The first town we came across after a few hours driving is Coober Pedy. Now, this is the opal capital of the world, but being literally in the middle of nowhere (more so than Alice) and getting anywhere from 40-55 degrees reguarly on holidays, it does come accross as quite a depressing place. However, as soon as you go underground and the temperature changes, you start to think its not so bad. The best thing I found about Coober Pedy was the name - the Aboriginal name for 'whitemans burrows' HA. A really interesting place no doubt, we visited an old mine, a dugout and some underground churches.

Then it was back on the road again....Driving into the night. We came within 60km of Port Augusta. Wow. Took us a few days to do most of the Stuart Hwy...and to think what it must have taken Stuart....

But don't be fooled. Just because Port Augusta is on the coast, does not necessarily mean pleasant. The desert, arid land just comes down to the water...Different...but Oh gee, am I over the dry heat! It is here we will get our tyres, restock and head down to the Eyre Peninsula and hopefully find some green once again and hit some beaches for the first time in a very long time! It appears our SA adventure will be different to the Territory. Oh what is life withough variety?

Finally, I would just like to say happy new year to you all! Especially as many of you are dealing with flooding at the moment...we are thinking of you everytime we hear about it on the news. And every time we say 'Oh we are from Kingaroy in South East Queensland' it is responded to by 'Oh, so is your house under water?' i really hope all you out there affected get back on your feet again (or grow flippers)! Just wanted to let you all know that we are keeping track of things back home...

Until the next adventure martians, so long and peace out.