No 4 - SA Eyre Pen to WA

26/3

Tyler’s birthday and we are leaving Wilpeena where we haven’t had any internet or phone reception so we will have to wait till we get to Port Neill to sing the birthday song. Along the way we travelled alongside the Pichi Richi railway for some distance through the range. It should be great to actually go on the steam train journey from Quorn but atlas the steam loco doesn’t work during the fire season so I’ll have to wait till we come back this way in October. SA has a fire ban during the ‘fire season’ which ranges from 1^st/15^th November to 15^th/30^th April and there are signs along all the roads. Some van parks have set fireplaces but most don’t, they often provide gas or electric bbq’s some complimentary. When you see the aftermath of bushfires I guess you can’t blame them.

28/3  Port Neill is a quiet little fishing village with an interesting set of red lights out over the bay, that became visible after dark. So today we set off to find out what the lights are. At Arno bay we could see a cargo ship moored across the bay, which J reckons was being filled with grain. Maybe those lights are along the jetty at Wallaroo! Wallaroo is also where the ferry over to Lucky bay leaves from, and from memory it had a very long jetty at the grain terminal. Further on to Cowell and we couldn’t see anything across the water, so we went to the fishbox for fish and chips with 6 of the most wonderful oysters for entrée. They had a few drops of green tabasco sauce & black pepper sprinkled on and cost $7. Had to walk around an art exhibition to wear off lunch and saw some amazingly good paintings at very reasonable prices. Even the abstract/cartoony ones were pleasing to the eye and I usually hate abstract paintings. There was an artist Kay Calder who had some fantastic paintings so we will remember her when we have to buy our Kaye C a present. Then it was off to the Oyster factory to sample ‘heaven’ and watch an expert shuck some. We are having oysters for tea tonight – 4 dozen of them for $20. Yes that’s right – they are seconds – because they are too BIG for the restaurant trade. We also bought a little wooden board to hold them on so that they are easier to open?? The ‘super’ oyster shucker informed us that the yellow buoys visible are not oyster beds but Kingfish pens. The oyster beds are further to the south where water is deeper and cleaner.  Still trying to figure what our lights are we head off to Lucky Bay – no luck there can’t see anything but water. On way out of town we see a sign to lookout so off we go. Then we get a ‘4WD only’ sign but hey if you don’t go you don’t know what you will find. After engaging 4WD several times to get over the sand traps, dunes etc we were about to turn back thinking we must have missed it when there in distance is a wooden ? tower (like surf lifesavers chair) We had water on 3 sides of us (which we could see from top of tower) and had arrived at Port ****. There was no way out but to go back the way we came through the coastal heath and salt flats, but this time we passed some fishermen so obviously all the tracks were going off through to waters’ edge. Still none the wiser as to owner of our lights we head home. A little way south of Cowell we turn off on road to Cleve to visit a memorial to May Gibbs (of Cuddlepot & Snugglepie fame) Bit disappointing as it was a brass plaque attached to a rock under a tree on side of road. But what a tree – it was wonderful - a really old gum tree with huge trunk – I could well understand sitting under it and dreaming up all those stories. We didn’t have any luck fishing last night so after buying 2 new squid lures J is off to catch some calamari to go with our oysters.

29/3 Have morning at home doing housework and computer work and head off to Tumby Bay in afternoon to post Jayden and Zahra’s birthday box. Doesn’t seem like a whole year since we were sitting in Chinese restaurant in the Valley with Bill and Yvonne when we got the message that the little ones were on the way. After the traumatic start they had to life they are doing great – love getting on facebook to check out Narelle’s photo albums. We will miss them all dreadfully by the time we get back in December. Of course we have to find the lookout, and then head home via Redcliff, Moonlight bay (where I rehurt my ankle climbing up the sand dune) Yalunda flat and Ungarra. The roads that are main highways are bitumen but every other one is dirt – some of them smooth as silk – others as potholed as our sealed ones. Along the Yalunda – Ungarra road I spot some green parrots which we eventually get to photograph and discover they are Lincoln parrots – very rare and very pretty. They toy with us for miles – flying ahead of the car, landing in a tree and wait for us to catch up then head off again. It’s late when we get back to PN so we go to the pub for dinner and I remember to ask publican about the lights – they are from the Mt Millar wind farm at Cleve – so now we know. I have the most beautiful king prawns with sweet chilli sauce to eat. A visit to the loo is another experience - it is cement blocks painted hot pink and has a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

30/3  Off to Port Lincoln to caravan and camping show to talk to someone about our satellite dish. We have been having a lot of trouble getting a signal, after 30 minutes of being told we aren’t picking up the correct satellite – there are 3 of them – we buy another satellite finder!!! The local Lions club were cooking the sausage sizzle so we stop for a snack and chat to them. They have a camp where anyone can go for a function. Complete with dormatories, shower/toilet blocks and camp kitchen, it sounded great. We have promised the guys that we will come to one of their meetings on our way back in October (2^nd & 4^th Wed). We will be coming back to Port Lincoln, after wandering around the wharves and out to Billy Lights point, we call in to the Austar seafood ‘heaven’. You will not believe the prices of seafood here! We have 1 Kg fresh prawn for lunch, 1kg of frozen shelled ones, 2 pieces of yellowfin tuna, 2 salmon, Kg scallops, 2 abalone to try, 2 meals of whiting and a bag of marinara mix for less than $90. We head up to Winter Hill lookout to eat the prawns and look out over the bay and town – it was magic. We head home up the inland route through Wanilla, Edilillie and Koppio before heading up the coast road from Tumby Bay to PN.

31/3  And the AFL season has taken it’s toll – no exploring today, we stay in to listen to the Lions beat Melbourne on radio because we can’t pick up Brisbane tv. Then Suns lose to Adelaide – which makes everyone around here happy. In AFL territory you get a match on Saturday night on free tv so we get to watch Cats lose to Freo – but it’s a good game so we aren’t slashing our wrists yet and the Lions are ahead of Cats on table, which I mischievously remind Muzz about – it won’t last for long I know.

1/4  We head out to Butler tanks but can’t find them so head on towards Cockaleechie when we find Moody Tank. There is a huge granite rock which they have cemented channels to the sides of to run the water into a big concrete tank cemented to the bottom of rock. It has a tin roof to help slow evaporation and was built to supply water to the steam trains going from Kimba to Cummins. The ingenuity of some of the old timers has to be seen to be believed. Coffin Bay was our destination and worthy of the trip. It is very pretty, but since I want to see the Southern Ocean we pay our $7 for National Parks pass and head off to Point Avoid.

 Stopping at Avoid Bay I share the whole bay with 1 seagull while J reverses the ute down the old boat ramp. Can’t understand why they call it avoid bay it is so picturesque. From the point you get the picture though – there are islands and rocks everywhere – so from a navigation point you would want to avoid it. What was disappointing was all the fishing nets washed up on the beach. Goodness knows how far they have come from but there were lots everywhere.

We decide we can get the van into Yangi Bay, but won’t be taking it up the 4WD track to Point Sir Isaac. We didn’t go today either – the tide was in – but someone (named J) will one day. We spot a dad and mob of baby emus on the way. There were quite a few emus around the Flinders but only a few kangaroos.  After sharing some of our chips with the local seagulls (no fish though) and watching the CB yacht club sail around the bay we head off and call into Dutton Bay and Frenchman Bluff on our way up the west coast.

At the edge of a very rocky area at Coles Point was a monument which J had to clamber down to; to find out that it was in memory of a man who tragically drowned there. The different colours of coastal heath and plants growing there was more interest to me. Further up west coast we call into Point Drummond a very isolated area, but of course we meet a car load of fishermen going home. When we found the very steep boat ramp it was amazing they got the boat out. We then head home to watch the end of Port beating Saints. Tony will have fun with that. Why can’t we have Calder family functions at times like this – (for all you non AFL followers the BRISBANE LIONS WON, Cats, Saints and Pies all lost) and I can’t stir.

¾ While we were heading north west for some exploring Bevan (our bowling neighbour from Adelaide caravan park) rang and invited us to his farm, so we headed to Lock and then back down the highway to Cleve for lunch. Cleve has a great Lions park , complete with old farm implements, barbeques, tables and playground. The showgrounds across the road are available for caravanners to stay a while, while they have a look around the area which we will do one day.  We couldn’t possibly go home without calling into Cowell to replenish oyster supplies, and just as well, the lovely Jan behind the counter remembered us and gave us 4 ½ doz for our $20. Bevan’s grandfather came to his farm in 1904 and his grandson is helping Bevan and Mark with all the farm work. They invited us in to check out the renovations that Mark & Sue had done to the old stone homestead – which were amazing and took us for a drive around part of their 30,000 acres. Down here they have no till planting as opposed to our zero till and several other very fancy terms for current farming practices. They also have problems with snails – little white ones – the same as we saw down on the Coorong - and trail a 100m chain between 2 utes about 80 metres apart. The chain has a swivel at each end and turns at great speed as they travel over the paddock and kill the snails. They also throw out snail bait at $1200 per tonne or burn off the stubble. From what we have seen there isn’t much left after harvest but Mark assured me they can feed their sheep for some time. They also have huge rollers that are pulled behind tractor to crush the rocks that are brought up to surface. The country is all limestone and very poor if you ask me; however they claim that they are the best grain growers of the country??!!! Most farmers seem to have grain and sheep, both merino and cross bred lambs.

4/4 Leonie told us to call into Cowleys beach and Carrow wells so on our way to Tumby Bay we did just that. Carrow wells were built to supply water to the people of area and are still there and according to John the water was about 10 feet below the surface. Disaster strikes when the inside door handle of van goes flying across the floor and it takes some ingenuity to get out. What’s worse is that we can’t close the door and it gets down to 9* in the early mornings. Just have to pull the doona up and cuddle into J – not a good idea really – he sleeps outside the covers and is usually freezing to touch.

5/4 After several phone calls we head off to Ceduna for Easter and hopefully our new door handle will arrive on Saturday and if not Tuesday. My plan was to go over to Lock then Elliston and then head up the west coast through Streaky Bay and Smoky Bay to Ceduna. Sometime later we get to a place Darke’s Peak where we find the local pub has a sign saying “First pub in SA to have XXXX Gold on tap” so while I’m taking a photo it occurs to me that I didn’t see this on Tuesday when we came through so - check the map and you guessed it, we have veered off at right angles from the Birdseye highway. Oh well we will just keep going as a truckie says and eventually get to the Eyre highway, and head west through Caralue, Koongawa, Kyancutta, Wudinna, Minnipa, Poochera and Wirrulla. Can you believe these names! Stopping in Kyancutta to refuel the signpost says that they are 2190 K from Brisbane and 2150K from Perth, so in 4 months we have gone halfway.  

Wudinna is a centre for the surrounding farming country and has a rather large sandstone sculpture of a wheat farmer with a few sheep at his feet and some Sturts Desert Pea flowering so I have now seen them in natural state.

 

 Ceduna was a lot cleaner and tidier than I imagined and is quite pretty. Driving around town we come across a wine tree – covered with wine bladders – not quite as effective as the shoe tree we found on Flinders highway north of Port Lincoln but amusing. The grain terminal at the port is huge and some of the trains that go through seem endless. We have yet to race out to find the train to see where it was going to or what it is carrying, but the WA trains don’t go through here – the transcontinental line is 100K to the north.

6/4 Good Friday and we are made very welcome at church and come home to call David to see how Zahra and Jayden celebrated their first birthday. Lilly was having a screaming time on the jumping castle, so it seems they were all having a good time. The afternoon sees us venture down to Nadia’s Landing and Denial Bay – both quite pretty with clear views back over towards bay towards Ceduna.

7/4 Head back down the coast to Streaky Bay – it is quite streaky – caravan park was full and so was the town. A very popular spot for long weekends but no one was catching any fish off the jetty. They were having a dawn service on the beach at 6.30am Easter day, but with an hours drive we decide to skip it. We found a service station with shark display and were wishing Michelle was with us as she loves sharks and it was quite fascinating. They also had stuffed lobsters and crabs that had been caught in the area and we wished we had caught them - you would have a wonderful feed. Did some more 4WDing at Point Brown on the way home and then found Smoky bay which we loved – lovely and quiet and pretty with lots and lots of oyster farms. They are sold at the Oyster Bar in Ceduna so now all we have to do is wait for it to reopen after holidays and we can compare them to Cowells very moreish ones.

8/4 Meet some lovely people in church who give us a few ideas on places to go, so after calling Bill and Yvonne to wish them a great holiday (in Scotland) and happy birthday to Bill for today and Yvonne for thursday we head north of town. Telstra gave the old OTC satellite station to the University of Tasmania! so we ventured out to find it – and there it is all lost and alone with no one around, about 34K north of Ceduna. On the way back we head north and find the Mudamuckla church, old school site and a disused school complete with 1930’s switchboard and 1960’s television. The playground was more up to date and the tennis courts look like they have been used recently. All part of the fun. Hopefully our door handle will arrive tomorrow and we can head west.

10/4 Rev Brian from church has called and invited us to coffee so we spend 2 hours chatting to him about life in Ceduna. The shortage of priests has him looking after parishes from Kimba to Nundroo and south to Elliston – needless to say they don’t get a service every week. Brian seemed to be quite stressed so I hope he has a mentor to talk to. The priest from Burra who was doing the Bishop’s job had been over here helping out. Our door handle has arrived and been fitted successfully and quite quickly! So we are packing up, and filling the food and water tanks to get away early tomorrow. We buy some oysters and while nice aren’t as good as Cowell’s.

11/4 We are off west – first stop is Head of Bight where the aboriginals have a whale centre and boardwalk out to the edge of cliffs. They wanted $15 to enter and it isn’t whale season so we didn’t. Filling up at the Nullarbor roadhouse, where they have some pathetic looking southern wright whale statues, you get a real view of the flatness and treelessness of the area.

We go into a few of the rest areas along the bight for a look and decide to make camp at Peg 133. (133Klm east of border) 

What a spot – 30 metres from the edge and 100m down to the water. The cliffs are multi-coloured in layers with all sorts of bits eroded out making some great patterns. Happy hour is shared with a crow who seems quite tame. We bid a hasty leave next morning when a grader comes down the road. We head into most of the stops on our way with Bunda being our favourite – just for the size and colours. Close to the WA border the cliffs have fallen in and there is a depression which was unique. The cliffs come back and stay almost to Eucla.

12/4 We wish Yvonne a happy birthday by telepathy and greet a very nice but thorough customs man in Border village who searches everything. You aren’t allowed to take any fresh fruit or vegetables into WA in order to try to keep all our diseases out. Eucla has a travellers cross erected near the roadhouse which is a novel idea. Nearby is the old telegraph station rapidly being covered by sand. The rest of days travel is spent looking at the same landscape as yesterday but with the occasional taller shrub. Stopping at Caiguna late in the day to fill up we decide to stay there – no power but hot showers and a restaurant which we visit. As with a lot of places our waitress was an Irish backpacker working her way around and having a ball. 

Caiguna is the eastern end of longest straight stretch of road 146.6 Klm so the ute is put on cruise and we set off. We stop at 73.3 K mark to take a photo and soon after we pass a wide load -7.5m without wheels. Don’t know where it was headed but a mine was going to be a whole lot deeper soon after this is mobile. The highway is also used as a landing strip for the RFDS – as there is nothing around I guess if there is a road accident the plane has to land somewhere. Belladonna at the western end is passed and we head for Norseman some 700 klms away.

As the rail doesn’t go through N any more the town is in decline from what it would have been when Muzz and his trains were here. They do have a camel team in corrugated iron on the towns roundabout which was rather good.  J wants to go to Kalgoolie so we turn north and have a bush camp in a lovely spot with the strangest looking burl on a tree.

14/4 We make camp in Boulder and set out to explore Kalgoolie. We are standing at the railing looking over the Big Pit (gold mine) when they blast a wall of rock which was rather spectacular. The different colours in the rocks were amazing and looking down into the bottom the trucks look like tonka toys. The bucket on display was huge and holds tonne. They have very detailed posters on how the gold is extracted from the rocks before being sent to Perth mint to be stamped.

We go up to Mt Charlotte reservoir where the water from Perth arrives and look out over the city. I would have liked go to Chunky Timber Co and see their Nullabor beads (wooden) but they were never open as was the Mining Hall of Fame. Driving around town we find the 2 brothels that are open for tours – Questa Casa and Red Door - and a very modern one that looked a bit sterile. We come back after dark to see them lit up but didn’t see any customers entering.

15/5 This afternoon we go driving north into the real outback – well it seems like it. At Broad Arrow we turn west and wind our way to Ora Banda and then head north to Rowles Lagoon with the intention of seeing if we can get the van in – NO. It is sandy, rutted and nothing special and goes on forever. Clear and Muddy Lakes also did nothing for us – they were muddy puddles – maybe you need to see them during the wet? season. Continuing on north we get to Davyhurst to discover that the town has gone and the road ends in a mine. Hmmm to find another road - decide not to go to Siberia and head towards Menzies. A mining and aboriginal town with a collection of those steel plate statues, so they were at least trying to improve their surrounds. It didn’t matter which road we were on every 2 kilometers would be a road leading to a mine. I don’t know how many were being worked but there must be thousands. There seem to be a lot of conservation parks around here maybe it is an attempt to keep some part of the country from being dug up! We are led to believe that the area within 100 Klms of Kalgoolie was clear felled from 1890’s to 1950 to feed the boilers at gold mines and the eucalypts and blackbutts have grown since then. There are quite a few different plants around and I get to photograph some.

Heading south we are in awe of the Salmon gums – they have even named a town in honour of them – and spend the night at Grass Patch. The area from Norseman is wheat country with massive grain depots and small towns supporting them. The railway also still runs down to Esperence bringing all the grain and ore to port.

We find the Bushland Caravan Park outside town near their Pink Lake. The pink colour comes from an algae and is the natural source of beta carotene. Here we are awaken by the loud calls of the Carnaby’s black cocky. It is supposed to be endangered but there are hundreds here and they are wonderful but do make a mess of the trees. The owners spend hours every day raking up the mess under the trees.

We take the long way home from town and visit Twilight Beach, Salmon Beach, Observation Point and 9 Mile & 11 Mile Beach before watching the sun set over the Pink Lake. 

There is a banksia tree that is endemic in WA with 1 new flower on it so I take a few studies of it before a friendly magpie comes along wanting to have his photo taken.

 Thursday and I’m giving up and heading off to the hospital to see what can be done with my ankle – it is getting worse. After 4 hours and 2 doctors the recommendation is for RICE. (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) Yes they believe that I have torn some ligaments on the inside.

Everyone says that Cape Le Grande NP has the best beaches in Aus so what else we go to see for ourselves. It is very pretty and quite white but as for the best ? juries out.

 There are 2 peaks here Frenchman’s Peak and Mt Le Grande. Frenchman’s Peak has an intriguing hole near the top that you can’t see until you get to the western side. We go into Hellfire Bay, Thistle Cove and Lucky Bay before we stop for lunch at Rossiter’s Bay. At Thistle cove the wind blows so strong around a rock that it whistles - very eerie.

We are starting to see some interesting wild flowers that you don't get in Qld.

We have 2 birds visit us a New Holland Honeyeater, and one I haven’t identified yet whilst watching a storm come over Dunn Rocks and the bay. 

Undettered we journey on to Duke of Orleans Bay and watch some fishermen pull a large fishing boat out of the water. Table Island is a better resemblance than Table Mountain near T’mba. On the way into Wharton I spy some red flowers which we stop to look at closely on the way out and I get my first sight of native Kangaroo Paw.

Little Wharton beach is that a little beach with the Hammerhead between it and Wharton beach which is a bit longer and much rockier. Mt Belches looms large on the way home, and I find a little pink flower growing all alone beside the road.

We get to see a western rosella on the roof at van park where they have some very tame emus!

24/4 We have decided to spend Anzac Day at Albany so have to head off today. Once again there are some BIG trees and cultivation paddocks along the road. Albany was the last place in Aus seen by lots of Anzac soldiers on the way to Galipoli and Britain and has a park right on harbour where they hold their morning service. It reminds you of the view at Galipoli looking over the water towards the dawn and very moving. They have quite a large procession and the students from Great Southern Grammar school in front of us are very well behaved and in full dress. They had several hundred march over a range of ages.

Standing for 2 hours nearly kills my ankle and the car is miles away so by the time we get to it, it is time for a long drive and Frenchman’s Bay is the destination.

 Just when I need to sit for a while J decides that we will go through the whaling museum. Exploring the Cheyne 4 a whaling boat in drydock there was very interesting. You climb up to the harpoon on the bow and see the rigging on the deck and onto the bridge to see the old style radio room, before heading into the captains cabin – very small but he had a better bed than the 2^nd mate or the rest of crew.

 The boardroom is quite posh with its polished wood. The guide then takes you around and explains the workings of a whaling station – a very gruesome place. They took hundreds of whales from the waters near here – and would have needed a few to fill the boiling down tanks. Mind you how they ever harpooned a whale and dragged it in to shore from the old whaling boat is amazing.

 After the ghastly bit was over you go into a museum with the bottom jaw bones of a blue whale at the entrance. Those animals are HUGE, unfortunately they have skeletons of blue whales, spermwhales, humpbacks and a dolphin on display. The Humpback we saw in Hervey Bay was a big fish but it paled in comparison to the blue whale skeleton here.

One thing that did amuse me was a male reproductive organ on display and that was BIG, and the ears from a humpback look like ours - all very fascinating. 

After experiencing the exorbitant prices of WA food in the café here – we’ll be on diets now we head off to the Gap and Natural Bridge, which are what they sound like.

What did interest us was that the rocks here are the same as the ones in Antarctica or so the geologists who have studied them say.

The map lists a place called Attaturk Entrance so we spend some time driving around Albany Bay trying to see it. Eventually we do and after taking the photo for a  Japanese family they take one of us there. Seemed a little off, but I guess we are all friends with the Japanese nowdays even on Anzac Day.

 Because they have a very long twilight here too, we head off to Emu Point for some quiet time. It was a lovely spot full of fisherman and we witnessed a bloke bring half his group home from Voyager Beach in a outrigger canoe and then go back for the remainder. It would have been dark by the time he got home. Not real sure what had happened to Emu Point Jetty but the part attached to beach went under water at high tide. You would have to come home on time or swim back.

26/4 We head east for our exploring today and go into Cosy Corner in West Cape Howe NP. A lovely spot with white beach and picnic tables under the trees – we decide we would come back to the caravan park here. 

Going on to the lookout at Shelley Beach for lunch we contemplate paragliding and running off the ramps into the breeze. They have 2 ramps one facing west and one south – I’ll bet they get a stiff breeze here at times.

The lookout at Lowlands Beach has views of the black dolerite rocks as well as the sand. We see another New Holland Honeyeater instead of mutton birds looking towards Mutton Bird Island.

 We head off to Torbay Inlet to see what birds they have there but the road gets too sandy so after seeing the water at one spot we return to the highway and back to Albany.

27/4 J doesn’t want to go up to Stirling Ranges NP so we head west and stop at a wood gallery near Denmark. It is very fascinating with all the different timbers they have used. We buy a folding placemat in Jarrah for Shannon and a Jarrah and Quandong pendant for me. We are heading for the Valley of Giants and the trees are rapidly getting taller and taller. We are on time for a guided tour before having free time to walk through the treetops where I see my first Kauri up close. From the boardwalk we saw slipper orchids way up in the trees and then the ‘Grandma Tingle Tree’. These trees are very tall and broad but have very soft timber which rots away leaving some of the sides, which you can easily walk through.

They also had one that an EH Holden fitted in and you could get your photo taken sitting in the car. The Treetop walk is eerie – 600 meters long and you are 40 meters up in the air and still way below the tops of trees. The steel boardwalk is suspended on thin pylons and sways in the breeze, or when there are too many people on it. Terrifying and yet exhilarating but did nothing good for my ankle.

 At the Discovery Centre we see some stuffed animals a bandicoot, ringtailed possums and a phascogale – an animal I have never heard of (It would be good to see a live one) and a display board of timbers of the area. I didn’t know you could get blackboy timber – it always looks to be hollow, and the banksia is very unusual. Hopefully one day we will see a board or placemat in it and I will buy one. Being in AFL territory they have a cardboard Aaron Sandilands and you can stand next to him to compare heights - he is a tall boy!  We leave and travel on through the most wonderful tall trees towards our night stop at the Mt Burnside rest area.

28/4 Today’s idea was to head south to Northcliffe and then into Pemberton, but while looking through the art gallery in Northcliffe the owner tells us about Windy Harbour and its quaint cottages and pristine beaches so we decide to head there and yes the little beach shacks are all different colours and the sea air at the beach is very bracing (read freezing cold) but we have a chat to a race horse trainer who had taken his horse down there for a swim!

 Now we know why it is called Windy Harbour anyway it is near Point D’Entrecasteaux so we wandered around there looking at the rocks and the lighthouse and a holly banksia bush before retreating to the heater in the car. The effects of the February bushfires were very obvious on our trip out – I didn’t know how much of WA was burnt – the news only mentioned the Margaret River – but there were big areas all over the south west burned.

Our aim in Pemberton was to see the Gloucester tree, Bicentennial tree and the railway museum where you can go on a steam train journey through the tall trees. We found the Bicentennial tree with its’ 2 tonne cabin 75 meters up in the canopy. It was built on the lines of a fire tower in 1968 as a bicentennial project with 130 climbing pegs and it sways 1.5m on a windy day – I was not climbing to the top. J started off to go up but only got a third of the way when he gave up – the pegs make it very hard on the feet. It is a beautiful tree amongst some huge trees in a lovely spot. It had stopped raining and was a little misty which gave it a wonderful atmosphere.

 Getting to the railway museum too late for the day’s ride I wanted to come back the next day but you know who doesn’t seem to want to go on a steam train ride so we wont. (Grrrrrrrr) They have a lot of trains so I get some pictures for Tyler's collection. Heading towards our overnight stop at Canebreak Rest Area we come across some strange ?flowers on the top of Black Boys – have since learned that they are female flowers – never knew that there were male and female Black Boys. The regrowth from February’s fires was very noticeable through here.

We find a caravan park at Gracetown that is in centre of area, rural and quiet and make it our base for the next 10 days.

30/4 Our first sighting of the Indian Ocean is at Cape Naturaliste and Eagle Bay – looks much the same as Southern Ocean. On our way through Meelup Beach I spy a strange tree with lovely flowers and red fruits that mature into the strangest shapes. It is a Woody Pear Tree and they grow very well along the beach here and look amazing.

 We get a few sights of Geographe Bay which is very pretty on our way to Dunsborough where I find a chiropractor and make an appointment for the next morning. Watching the sun go down over Prevelly Beach is magical.

The lovely young Tamika has put me back into place so I hope it will all stay there. It is amazing that I saw Brent in T’mba on 16^th Dec and haven’t been to chiro since. She does some work on my ankle so hopefully it will mend quickly. Afterwards we head off to Busselton to the jetty which is 1.82Klm long and has an underwater observatory at the end of it. As I wasn’t going to wreck my ankle we took the tram out – a very cute little people mover that pulls the carriages to each end and then unhooks the engine and drives up to the other end and hooks on again.

 The ticket price includes a guided tour down the 3 levels which was very good. There are heaps of corals and fish around the big pylons that hold the jetty up, and our guide was very knowledgeable and made it very interesting. They have some interesting sculptures on top of the pylons along the jetty which added to the visual appeal when returning to the beach. Needless to say we had fish and chips on the beach for lunch.

This afternoon we explore the mouth of Margaret River which is closed over, maybe it runs in the wet season? The beach here is very pretty and the surf good - guess that is why it is so famous. The bushfires were quite devastating here with no evidence of regrowth.

3/5  This afternoons exploring took us to Canal Rocks where the wind and water have eroded great channels through the rocks. It was a bit hard to believe (surely they were cracked by uplifting of earth millions of years ago) but the sign says differently.

Wandering around the boardwalk we found lots of crabs, sea snails and sponges in the rock pools. It was just the place to become contemplative about anything and everything.

Determined to make a tradition of watching the sun set over the ocean we set up at Yallingup beach and watch some dolphins ride the waves with some surfers. There is a reef just off the coast here which has some lovely coral and fish swimming around – guess that is why there were so many dolphins.

4/5 Today we are heading down to Augusta and stop off at Calgerdup Caves. This area has several caves that you can explore but these are guide yourself and relatively cheap (compared to the others) so we don our safety helmets and strap on flashlights and head down into the bowels of the earth. Fortunately there are handrails on the steps and boardwalks over most of the rocks and pools because you arrive in a big cavern with stalactites and stalagmites all over the place and then crawl through into the next one and down more stairs and so on to the end and then return to start and go in opposite direction. There were plenty of noticeboards telling you what you were looking at so it was great and there were no bats lurking in the dark, and we made it out again safe and sound.

 We saw some very long roots heading down towards water/soil/whatever and wondered if they were from the grass trees growing outside the caves?

Passing through more tall trees we have lunch in Augusta before heading to Cape Leeuwin and the meeting of Southern and Indian Oceans. It is horrendously expensive to do the tour of the Lighthouse and grounds and you can’t just walk around and look at the water so we take a few photos and leave. In an effort to get a better picture of the 2 oceans we discover an old wooden water wheel that was built to supply fresh water to the lighthouse keepers, and has now calcified over.

 On our way in we had seen a sign saying alternative route to the Cape so we take it out and up on the cliff we have a fantastic view of the 2 oceans meeting with the Lighthouse in the middle. Pity we couldn’t tell all the people going in there.

5/5 In our brochure there is an ad for the Metricup Bird Park so that is on the agenda for today. Walking into the gift shop we are met with a stack of tree branches and a voice says come in quick and shut the door please. Why – the branches are full of young parrots being hand raised. We weren’t 6 feet in the door when a red tailed black cocky landed on John’s shoulder and snuggled up to his neck. Then a young Carnaby came for a cuddle too. Not to be outdone a  Major Mitchell landed on my shoulder but stayed around the back. Little did I realise he was eating the strap on top of my backpack!!! We must have been there for half an hour before dragging ourselves outside to see the other birds.

Walking into the aviary we realised why we were given a cup of fruit- to feed the rainbow lorikeets. It was hard to get rid of them – they were in your hair, on shoulders, arms, hands anything that would hold them upright.

Among the birds I recognised were Western rosellas, red rumps, sulphur crested, gang gang, black and carnaby cockys, princesses, regents, peachfaces, corellas, golden macaws, golden and silver pheasants, bush turkeys, owls, nightjars, galahs and swans. A blue and yellow parrot was very stunning and I don’t know whether it is a mutation or a Northern Rosella but hopefully we will get to stop in on Bill and Jenny in Casino and Bill might know. He will also like the orange bellied parrot and elegants that are supposed to be native to this area. There were some very interesting ducks that I have no idea what they are but they are very attractive. 

The Electus parrots were the pick though they are quite rare and thus endangered in the wild. The male was out on the perch and you could get a good look at him and on our way back past his aviary we saw the female come out of the nest box and she is stunning. The only bird species where the female is the brighter coloured one. She is red and he is green. Walking back to the gift shop the rainbows thought we should have more food for them, but eventually we dragged ourselves away from all the babies and headed for Gracetown beach to watch the sun go down.

Of course all trips to this area must include a few wineries and we found some nice drops and bought - 

Bowlers Run – Cab Merlot, Gemstone Sem Sav Blanc - $5, Peppermint Grove unwoody chardy, Niche Chardy and Growers Reward chardy. The town of Margaret River is very hippie and quite expensive and nothing special. After our rip off at Esperance we avoided eating out in restaurants but did go to the opening of 3 monkeys cidery and had lunch there - cider was good too.

8/5 Driving around Fremantle to get our bearings we find a park overlooking the wharf area watched over by an obsolete lighthouse. Seemed such a shame that all it can do now is be a home to some galahs who were nesting on a window ledge. The boardwalk along here has a sculpture of a very slim aboriginal girl with long hair spear fishing which was rather nice. The port must go on for 20 kilometers if not more. 

We found a spot near where they are building a new ferry that was huge, and checked out HMAS Stewart and Arrunta in the drydock. They didn’t look very big out of the water, until we found the internet page on the ship next to them and it was the same length.

Had a trip into Perth and drove around but as this is a big city and the traffic mad we don’t do too much, and will come back when road works are finished, and take a bus trip. Fremantle is a lovely place and has lots of quirky shops and restaurants.

10/5 There is a town called Armadale nearby so we head out there to do some exploring, they have a good museum and information centre and tell us of a botanic garden so we go driving. The area is lovely with lots of green forests interspersed with farmland and orchards. We find and stop there for lunch before heading south and end up in Brookton where the builders didn’t bother getting walls straight (or did they move)?

They have a nice park along railway line in centre of town and a few old carts and horse on edge of town. We find a very small plaque on a large rock which tickles our fancy – says “Absolutely nothing donated by nobody". After consulting the map we journey towards Pengelly where they are doing lots of roadworks. Of course after obeying the speed limit for 5 klms and with no roadworks happening, someone decides to increase speed and you know what happens next – the police come over a hill and we get booked. Oh well it had to happen sooner or later.  It is late when we finally make it back but now we know how to get to Wave Rock we will be off there early one morning.

15/5 Today we head to Wave Rock and it is amazing – a huge rock 110m long and 15m high, weathered into a curve and the algae colouring it into lovely stripes.

 We climb to the top and are amazed at the sight, there is a cement wall to channel the water into a dam, and views for miles.

 

The little town of Hyden nearby has some wonderful statues in the town park. Johnnie the mechanic reminds us of Steve, then there are shearers, a mailman,wagon, Mum and junior, and a goanna in a gunyah along with many others.

They are a credit to the imagination and ingenuity of the creators. Coming home we see another wonderful sunset this time over the Kondinin plain. I wonder whether the Kondinin farming company back east originated around here.

Along the road near Corrigin is a dog cemetery and it is wonderful. Each fido, dusty etc has their own headstone and some are more elaborate that others but obviously each animal was well loved.

Little did we know that in a few weeks time we would get a farm sit at Brookton and spend 6 weeks in this area. After another long drive we arrive home in the dark well pleased with the days exploration.