Esperance to Hopetown

Esperance to Stokes Inlet

Mon. Feb. 21

After a full refill at the supermarket and purchasing some queen snapper we headed out about 80km to the west to Stokes Inlet. The Stokes NP was hit by bushfire about 4 years ago and the regrowth is amazing. The facilities were all about 12 months old, stainless steel in the kitchen, great use of corrugated iron and timber. Imaginative and practical!
The inlet is generally cut off from the sea by a sandbar. This opens once every couple of years and the fish breed there, so the fishing can be good but the salinity increases as the water evaporates and the rivers that flow into this inlet are low or dry due to the prolonged drought, so the muddy brown water was topped by a saline foam whipped up by ...... yes, the wind, and the only fish around, according to a fisherman, were bream to be caught from a boat. It didn’t matter to us as the afternoon wind sprang up and the white caps appeared and fishing was out of the question.

GVS read while I went for a walk down to the day car park area. This walk took me through the vegetation behind the inlet and it was superb as there were so many plant species to see. The macrophilia zamia were superb palm like trees with thick, stumpy black trunks, and the grass trees were starting to regenerate.

The magnificent coastal banksias that cover the Esperance beaches were here too. The coastal wattles were in blossom and the eucalypts with their stunning grey foliage were budding. Above the car park area there was a track along the limestone cliff and some beautiful timber lookouts, so this extension to my walk was different but interesting.

The rest of the day was spent reading and meeting the camp hosts and hearing about their travels.

Stokes Inlet to Munglinup Beach

Tues. Feb 22^nd

Well, we have now reached the ‘up’ area of WA and Munglinup is the first for us. Having decided that the wind made Stokes Inlet unattractive to us, particularly as swimming was not an attractive prospect in the shallow waters, we headed 25km down the road to the beautiful beach and coast at Munglinup. When will we learn that strong wind, particularly in the afternoon, is just a part of life on the south coast of Australia?

The water, protected by a reef just 3 or 4 hundred metres from the shore, was crystal clear and that beautiful aqua colour, not as vivid as Lucky Bay as the sand here is not as white, but beautiful just the same. Rocks at one end provided some protection from the easterly winds and a great place on which to explore rock pools while Graeme fished.

GVS caught a few fish but none that he wanted to keep and he released them into water in the rocks so that I could see them later on. After spending some of the afternoon reading, he suddenly realised that they needed to be released before the tide went out too far so, armed with net, we went back and set them free before the huge gulls and terns had a feast.

Our friendly neighbours invited us for a happy hour gathering at 5 and we met 3 couples travelling in different directions and over differing periods of time, but all keen on their fishing. We ate delicious freshly caught salmon cooked in lemon and salt and uncooked salmon marinated in lemon and soy. One of the women had just baked some cheese sticks and these were good too. These experienced caravaners have everything!! Including dogs! Nice people, good company but once again we found the racism and intolerance of others astounding. No wonder Pauline Hanson and her First Nation people won some votes all those years ago. These right-wing people, now on fixed incomes in retirement, are incredibly nationalistic, wanting all government money to go to the certainly deserving flood/cyclone/fire affected Australians and others, rather than in helping any of our needy global neighbours and friends! And, they certainly don’t want it to go to Aboriginal people.

Munglinup Beach to 13 Mile Beach out of Hopetown

Wed. Feb. 23



 Having been advised by our fellow campers to rise early and try snorkelling and kayaking before the afternoon wind, we were up at 6am! We suspect that our early-rising neighbours may have been on the move as we found the kayak trolley offered on loan outside our door.

Graeme headed to check the beach and the wind conditions and thought that it might be fine for snorkelling, however we decided to drive down the road and walk in to the estuary, as the walk along the beach was too difficult in soft, sloping sand. It was a good 2km walk from the road and we saw many different plants and flowers, lots of small animal tracks in the sand and a beautiful sandbar-locked estuary.  

Munglinup - Oldfield Estuary

We decided that to walk back in with the kayak and fishing rod would not be worth the effort so we headed back to camp. On checking the sea temperature, I quickly decided that GVS would not last long in that water with just a springer wetsuit, so we pulled up camp and headed back to where the road and the Oldfield Estuary are closer and walked down to look at the water. It was attractive but not enough to keep us there so once again we hit the road. At some point we will stop for days on end, I hope.

We drove to Ravensthorpe, a once prosperous gold mine town now reaping the benefits of a large nickel and cadmium mine. For the first time, the streets had many campervans, caravans etc and the bakery was doing a roaring trade!

From there we headed back to the coast, devils for punishment, and once again braced ourselves against the wind as we found our campsite at the 13 Mile Beach near Hopetown, having driven some very uncomfortable and rattling kilometres past there on a corrugated gravel road trying unsuccessfully to reach Masons Beach where there were campsites right on the beach. Given the prevailing wind conditions it was probably good that we ended up in a sheltered spot behind the dunes, even if it was a case of ‘close encounters’ with our fellow free-campers.



Waves breaking on the reef at 13 Mile Beach

 The beach along this stretch was protected by a reef, so it looked like an attractive proposition for both swimming and fishing. Fishing was not successful and much bait was fed to small fish and the wind was too cold for swimming and our legs were sand-blasted if we moved off the wet sand. However, it was beautiful and we enjoyed the time in the sun there, vowing to head out to the beach early tomorrow to make the most of the calmer morning.

Thurs. 24^th & Friday 25^th Feb.

What a glorious spot. The mornings were warm, sunny, calm and great for swimming and fishing in the crystal clear water.
Our neighbours were delightful – Mirko & Anja from Germany and Neil from the USA. Graeme caught lots of fish – sweep, trevally, Tommy Ruff ( Aust. Herring) – and they were delicious. We shared them with our neighbours and all enjoyed them. For a couple of hours each morning on the turning tide we fished, swam and walked and in the afternoons we read in the shade. Perfect!

A trip into Hopetown gave us the opportunity to wash the van for the 1^st time. We also bought some bait, both squid and whitebait, and picked up the WA fish identification booklet and the information booklet. Very handy as the fish were really biting on Friday and it was great fun.

Graeme had fun teaching Mirko & Anja to catch clean fish and they were so excited that it was a joy to be with them. Neil also shared the excitement and wants to catch his own fish now!

Esperance to Cape Le Grand and back again.

Esperance – Cape Le Grand National Park

Fri. Feb. 18^th

Imagine our shock when we arrived at the NP entrance to see a sign stating that the campgrounds were full! As we had made the 60km journey, we decided to go on to Lucky Bay, reputed to be one of the best beaches in WA, and spend the day there anyway. When we arrived at the campsite there seemed to be plenty of sites and we soon learned that we had simply arrived too early!

The beach was stunning with pure white sand and water of the brightest aqua hue. This was contrasted by the brown rocks and headlands at either end of the bay. Exquisite! The sun shone and we headed for a 6km walk to one end of the bay and back. After lunch I sought shelter from the wind at one end of the beach and after reading for some time I wandered over the rocks to a cairn that indicated that Matthew Flinders sought shelter in this bay in 1802 and was responsible for its name. His achievements were immense and the distances that he covered in mapping the coastline incredible. Later we completed another 6km walk, this time to Thistle Bay and back. GVS is walked-out J The evening sunset was beautiful and the cool wind allowed for a comfortable night‘s sleep.

Sat. Feb. 19^th

As the Sunday forecast was for incredibly strong winds, we decided to ride to Rossiter Bay this morning in case we decided to seek shelter back in Esperance on Sunday. The distance was 6km each way but as we rode over the incredibly bumpy, corrugated road we traversed many more than 6km each way as we tried to avoid the worst parts of the road and avoid the soft sandy edges. To add to this problem, the wind picked up, making the return up-hill ride into the force 9 gale a major feat. Well, it was at least a 25 knot wind. Thank you Phlip for your well-sprung bike! I’m sure that I was much more comfortable than GVS on his $10 recycling centre special.

Rossiter Bay was a much larger bay with an extensive sandy beach, but not as pretty as Lucky Bay. There were fishermen on the distant rocks and a cormorant busy working the shallows for small fry to enjoy.

Back at camp, we tried to find shelter from the wind and read the afternoon away at camp and on the beach. 4wd vehicles use the beaches, as they did in SA, but as the beach was only 3km long I was astounded at the number of people who chose to drive rather than walk to a good swimming spot.

Cloud cover again in the afternoon, strong winds and a cool evening.

Lucky Bay – Esperance

Sun. Feb. 20

A wild and windy morning so it was time to pack up camp and head off. Before we left we once again spent time at the camp kitchen, talking to the leaders of an Aboriginal tour group with whom we had spent some time as we cooked, ate and cleaned up after our meals over the past couple of days. Camp kitchens are great for meeting others. They were interesting people, out for an archaeological survey of the area with visiting archaeologists and anthropologists from Europe as well as with the local rangers and other interested people. They had been investigating the incredibly large caves in the granite, formed by wave action millions of years ago when the sea level was much higher. One of the men told us that they thought that they found a fossilised boomerang but would need to ask the elders what they wanted to do with it. The women cooked up a storm of carbohydrates which the men consumed in huge amounts. They were friendly and we discovered that Esperance is a friendly and warm community.

We visited Le Grand Beach camp site and it was also beautiful but the day did not lend itself to beach activities so it was back to Esperance ..... but as it was Sunday the whole town was shut. We took the scenic drive around the pink lake, another large salt lake but with algae that gave it a pink tinge. We then went to the information bay at the wind farm, a perfect location to be sure, and learned that these enormous turbines supplied 23% of Esperance’s power needs. The coastal drive revealed yet more superb beaches, particularly Twilight Beach, and we could only imagine what it would look like on a sunny day.

Later in the day I walked along the beach, into the wild wind, as far as the breakwater and on to the harbour. Some fishermen there on the sheltered side, a single abalone boat moored, however as the Coffin Bay abalone diver taken by 2 great white sharks earlier in the week was from Esperance, things may have been quieter than usual or the fleet could have been at sea.

Norseman to Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie

Norseman – Kalgoorlie

Sun. Feb 13^th

Not only were we near a busy road, but the ore train from Kalgoorlie to Esperance ran all night. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well. We also found that the time difference was taking a while to adjust to, as WA doesn’t have daylight saving so we were now 2 ½ hours earlier than SA and sunrise began around 5am. This trip requires many different adjustments to be made.

Our room with a view. Just a
pity about the noise.

Coolgardie in summer! What a
crazy weather pattern this year.



Coolgardie's 1890's goldrush paid
for some beautiful buildings.



Our 6am breakfast meant that we were really hungry by the time we had arrived to tour the fantastic museum in Coolgardie. This town was fascinating as the streets were extremely wide, like those in Ballarat and other gold rush towns, but there wasn’t a single person out and about. The occasional B-double or road train swept down the main street but there was nothing else happening.  When tourist information opened at 10, we gratefully rushed in and spent a couple of hours enjoying learning about the history of mining in the area through a series of excellent original photos and some brief paragraphs of information. They also had a wonderful collection of miners’ gear and dioramas of aspects of life in a gold rush town. The story of the rescue of a miner from a flooded mine in 1907 was also of interest and from this we discovered that March can be a wet month in this region as the tails of the cyclones often sweep down this far. Our present weather was the result of one such February event.

Coolgardie on a Sunday morning

The story of C Y O’Connor and his amazing engineering feat in bringing water to the gold towns and the courage of Premier Forrest in committing an amount of money the size of the state’s annual budget to a single project was quite astounding.

On the road again, the ‘dusty red-soil plains’ were beautiful, as were the salmon eucalypts that seemed to have absorbed the pigments of the red earth. There were some woodlands as well as plains and the colour, as always, was astounding. The nature strips in all of these towns are just the dry red dust and soil, the fences made from corrugated iron or wire and the plant life sparse.

Rain in Kalgoorlie



Kalgoorlie, while much larger and grander than Coolgardie in terms of the number of pubs, civic buildings, emporiums and the like from the boom days, was just as empty! With no Sunday trading in WA, we really noticed that the business areas are eerie after shops close at lunchtime on Saturday. The tourist information centre was excellent so we spent the afternoon sheltering from the rain and very cold wind at the WA Museum, another excellent display of the history of mining and its impact on the area – the wealth, the dispossession, the environmental degradation. As the ‘superpit’ is due to close in 2021, the issue of the future of Kalgoorlie is at the forefront of people’s minds and thankfully there seems to be some discussion taking place about some kind of restitution of the natural environment as well as the need to do something to reduce the loss of amenities in the town when the money from mining runs out. Quite a challenge to federal, state and local governments.

We found a caravan park and a supermarket in the suburbs and enjoyed fresh vegetables with our meal. The managers of the park put on a bbq for the visitors each Sunday, but we needed our vegies so we ate early and just enjoyed chatting to fellow travellers.

Mon. Feb 14^th

A cloudy sky but a little warmer than yesterday, so tracksuit pants and long-sleeved T-shirt without the jumper and scarf today. As the pit tour was booked out, we decided to take our time, catch up on emails etc and eventually headed to the suburb of Boulder. What a shock!  


Boulder scaffolding

 
This was obviously the poor end of town with many buildings boarded up and others enclosed by scaffolding, Aboriginal people drinking in the streets at 10:30am and poor whites dragging on their cigarettes as they shuffled down the street. Many of the small businesses were for sale and the theatre that we had mainly come to see was closed. Later, we discovered that there had been a substantial earthquake in Boulder last year, hence the supports and scaffolding needed to prop up buildings until something better could be done, if indeed any restoration was to be done at all.
 

Miners' Tribute

 Back into Kalgoorlie the centre to discover a vibrant and busy town, with many people out and about and with a sense of purpose. We once again walked up and down Hannan Street, visited a couple of art galleries of no particular importance in the development of regional art, then headed off to the Dept. of Minerals where Graeme paid for his mining licence, valid for the rest of his life!!, and discussed the location of unclaimed sites for some simple fossicking and metal detecting. Oh happy man!

The prospecting trip took us out the back of town, beyond the tip and the radio transmission towers, to a site shown on a mining map. The sun came out just as we arrived and guaranteed a hot walk for GVS as he searched for the elusive metal without success.

On the way back to the caravan park we stopped and walked through the Arboretum and saw the unimaginative but informative linear planting of a number of eucalypt species and we visited the incredible Graham Marsh designed golf course. It is new and a most difficult course, to judge by the number of 500+metre par 5 holes and the slopes and layout of the greens. To see the contrast of the lush green grass with the red-soil bunkers and salmon eucalyptus was truly beautiful and the kangaroos seemed to be enjoying the juicy grass. The shark in the dam was a bit of a worry, though!

Tues. Feb.15^th

Where is daylight saving???? We were awake at 5am and exhausted by 1pm. The morning was spent on a
2 ^1/2 hour tour of the Fimiston Open Pit Gold Mine, known locally as the KCGM Super Pit. 

Whose long-sleeved shirt Graeme?





How deep can you go?




Can you find the truck?

The enormity of this is too difficult to describe as mere statistics cannot convey the depth, width, length and impact of this pit on the environment. It has been carved out of the earth by consuming at least 200 shaft mines and leases. It seems that the infamous Alan Bond tried to do this just before he found himself in some financial and legal difficulties. 

Super pit super trucks

The enormous trucks cart their loads up and down the pit roads 24/7 and the tankers spread salt water on patches to try to keep the dust down.  The prevailing winds blow away from the town but at least weekly the wind blows towards town and spreads the dust. We learned about the mine and the milling of the ore and the various jobs at the mine. Our driver had worked at the mine, then moved to the nickel mining nearby, was retrenched, worked at the cemetery and eventually found this job. Not the money – drivers earn $120,000 pa – but he seemed happy to have work. Many of the drivers, staff etc. were women, particularly young women ... although they all sound young to me now ..... and the ratio is apparently 60% men to 40% women.

As the day was hot, 35 degrees, we spent the afternoon at the pool at the caravan park, just swimming, reading and talking. This is the valuable part of having 12 months as a few days of cold or hot weather can easily be accommodated. I met a young woman who teaches at a remote school near the SA border. Kate was travelling with an Aboriginal boy ,about 10, and I learned that she had been to Perth to collect an award for her work on her community and was flying back there from the Boulder Airport tomorrow. The boy was her ‘brother’ and had gone with her for a holiday. Her only alternative was a 10 hour drive over rough tracks and this was not something she wanted!! She talked of the racism in Kalgoorlie, the joy of teaching on a dry community but the tragedy of the loss of 7 members of that community each year to diabetes and alcohol. It seems that the young men, 14 – 40, come into areas with alcohol and end up in trouble. Once again it was the shameful story of communities with nothing and with nothing to offer young people. She told of disgraceful amenities for the people and of course the turnover of whites working there. She was due to leave in July after 3 years and knew that she had exhausted herself but vowed that she would return with her own kids when they came along.

Kalgoorlie to Dundas Rocks and some rain-interrupted play.

Wed. Feb. 16^th

Impressive thunder and lightning overnight and some rain brought a milder day, one that seemed infinitely better for golf. We headed to the course and GVS decided that he would play 18 holes with a cart, rather than 9 without. There were few people around, the women’s comp was just finishing, so we had the course almost to ourselves. It doesn’t replace Atlanta, Georgia as my favourite but almost, as the contrast between red, green and grey wa spectacular.



We had fun and GVS’s game improved over the first few holes.



We saw the building, black clouds and wondered
whether rain would interrupt play.

Did it ever!

On the 11^th the heavens opened and torrential rain fell. We argued about which direction the cart should face to protect us, as it seemed that one of us was always on the rainy side, so in the end we headed up to the driving range to shelter. Not enough protection there either so we just accepted that we were soaked to the skin and quickly went back to the van where we changed, made lunch and watched the runoff pouring down the paths. I did wonder whether we would be flooded in at the course as the carpark was filling with water.

After a couple of hours .... once again our ability to not put a value on time was wonderful .... we decided to head out to the course and try to finish the round. The beauty had intensified as the bunkers, dips and paths were flowing with red water and the colours of trees, greens etc. were brighter. The break and food obviously helped the golfer and he was more than happy with his round of golf. It didn’t take quite as long as the Nullarbor course would have taken us, but it certainly was a long round of golf. We also saw more kangaroos on the course than we’d seen in the whole trip to date.

Back into town to stock up on fuel and a few groceries and we were reminded of the tragedy of alcohol and Aboriginal policies over the past 200+ years. Sheltering from the rain in the supermarket car park, fuelled by alcohol in old soft-drink bottles, noisy arguments were taking place and men and women were ‘sleeping it off’ on the footpaths and roadsides. More of the same in St. Barbara’s Square (patron saint of miners but not others). From the lack of reaction on the part of the locals, this seemed to be a common occurrence. However, there were many families, well-dressed kids and adults who were surprisingly slim and healthy so generalisations cannot be made here.

We headed south on the road towards Esperance with no real destination in mind. There were a couple of bush camps south of Norseman that we thought we might make before darkness settled in – with the rain clouds it seemed that it could be dark by 5pm! Lots of rain, boom gates and lights that didn’t turn off, causing some traffic bank up and making us wonder if they ever fail to turn on!

Some of the cloud had lifted by the time we made it to the Dundas Rocks campsite, about 2km off the main road about 25km south of Norseman. This seemed to be a beautiful spot to spend some time. This had been an old goldmining area in the late 1890s and was obviously now a well-used picnic spot as there were some tables and bbq facilities, although primitive and well worn, at a number of spots along the road.

Thurs. Feb 17^th

Rain during the night meant that our wet golfing clothes and shoes were even wetter than before. The drizzle was more annoying than worrying so we read, set up the awning and brought the wet clothing under cover.

Apart from being a beautiful place, there were things of interest here as we discovered that it was one of the sites on the Norseman Heritage Trail. In an area where water was as precious as gold, the miners had used the rocks to collect their water. They had constructed dam walls from the local rocks at the base of the sloping rock faces, channelled water into dams and used their ingenuity to establish water storage facilities for the dry seasons. We climbed over the rocks, enjoyed the panorama of hills and trees, glimpses of the lake beds and rocky outcrops in the near and far distance. On our walk up the track we discovered quartz, so our gold-prospector headed out to try his luck. There were also interesting small stones that, when split open, revealed a circular formation, something like the rings of a tree trunk. This whole area was interesting from a geological perspective as the boulders and pillars seemed to be granite, like Murphy’s Haystacks in SA, there was a great deal of conglomerate sedimentary rock and the quartz reefs had yielded much gold at some point.

Before heading off towards Esperance in the afternoon, we travelled some km up the Heritage Trail and read interpretive signs relating to the history of this area. It seems that gold was discovered at Dundas but the later Norseman finds were richer and so the town quietly died.

We arrived in Esperance in grey gloomy weather which did not allow us to appreciate the beauty of the bay. A visit to tourist information, a walk up the main street, supermarket shopping and on to the cheapest caravan park - $27 as opposed to $35 – to cook up some casseroles in the camp kitchen for our following days in the Cape Le Grand National Park. Others told us to be sure to go early as the camping areas fill quickly, especially on weekends.

Streaky bay to Ceduna and across the Nullarbor

Streaky Bay to Ceduna

Thurs. Feb. 10

Streaky Bay will remain in our memories as a friendly and attractive town.  The time had come to move closer to the Nullarbor as the weather was looking good for a weekend crossing ie. not hot and a tail wind. We drove on to Ceduna, stopping at Smoky Bay to read about the whaling history of the area but no longer impressed by fishing spots.

Ceduna came as a very pleasant surprise as it was clean, well-presented and situated on the lovely Murat Bay. I think that we had an ‘edge of Nullarbor’ desert town in mind, not at all like the relatively prosperous place that we saw. Ceduna has a large Aboriginal population and this was reflected in the art work on some of the town buildings, people gathering in the shade of the verandas to avoid the afternoon sun and the kids swimming off the end of the jetty after school. We went to a local art gallery and also the Aboriginal gallery where we saw the work of Beaver Lennon and his family. We even went back after to meet this talented 22yo artist and almost bought one of his paintings .... but we decided that we really want to dispossess rather that possess things now. If he keeps painting, he should experience further success as he was a committed and capable artist, keen to establish his own style.

We checked into the ordinary beach-front caravan park as we knew that we would need shade shower on such a hot day! GVS cooked our razorfish on the BBQ for our late lunch and they were tasty but not great. Dinner at the pub was much better as Graeme had Port Lincoln flathead fillets and I had local whiting. Delicious!!!!

Ceduna to WA

Friday, Feb. 11^th

There was quite heavy rain overnight and we had the rare sound of rain on the roof. The morning was fresh and the air had that beautiful after-rain smell. Once again, our departure was well after our anticipated leaving time, so we didn’t hit the highway until after 10am. Driving conditions for travelling the long distance required to reach the WA border were almost perfect as although there was a little drizzle, the wind was light and the temperature was quite low for this time of year. No air-conditioning needed today! However, as we travelled west, the rain became heavier and the mist meant that we didn’t see the Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Bight or anywhere else. The wind picked up in the afternoon but we were most grateful for the good driving conditions. Many oversize transports, some caravans and campervans and a few cars shared the road, most of them heading east.

The Nullarbor Plain is almost as large as Victoria!!! It averages around 200mm of rainfall a year however, it was very interesting as the vegetation changed quite often and, much to our surprise, once we passed Eucla, (where our fuel bill was $110!!! Ouch!!), there was a range of granite hills that went for hundreds of kilometres and provided a pretty view. We did laugh to think that our expectations of both Broken Hill and the Nullarbor were of dry, red desert conditions and in both areas it was raining and there was plenty of vegetation in a range of colours! In the middle of summer!!!

At the border we handed over any fruit and vegetables that we had so when we stopped overnight at a roadside camp near Mundrabilla, we enjoyed a casserole made previously to use up our capsicums, onions, snow peas etc and it was delicious, particularly in the cooler weather conditions.

Streaky Bay to Ceduna

Thurs. Feb. 10

Streaky Bay will remain in our memories as a friendly and attractive town.  The time had come to move closer to the Nullarbor as the weather was looking good for a weekend crossing ie. not hot and a tail wind. We drove on to Ceduna, stopping at Smoky Bay to read about the whaling history of the area but no longer impressed by fishing spots.

Ceduna came as a very pleasant surprise as it was clean, well-presented and situated on the lovely Murat Bay. I think that we had an ‘edge of Nullarbor’ desert town in mind, not at all like the relatively prosperous place that we saw. Ceduna has a large Aboriginal population and this was reflected in the art work on some of the town buildings, people gathering in the shade of the verandas to avoid the afternoon sun and the kids swimming off the end of the jetty after school. We went to a local art gallery and also the Aboriginal gallery where we saw the work of Beaver Lennon and his family. We even went back after to meet this talented 22yo artist and almost bought one of his paintings .... but we decided that we really want to dispossess rather that possess things now. If he keeps painting, he should experience further success as he was a committed and capable artist, keen to establish his own style.

We checked into the ordinary beach-front caravan park as we knew that we would need shade shower on such a hot day! GVS cooked our razorfish on the BBQ for our late lunch and they were tasty but not great. Dinner at the pub was much better as Graeme had Port Lincoln flathead fillets and I had local whiting. Delicious!!!!

Ceduna to WA

Friday, Feb. 11^th

There was quite heavy rain overnight and we had the rare sound of rain on the roof. The morning was fresh and the air had that beautiful after-rain smell. Once again, our departure was well after our anticipated leaving time, so we didn’t hit the highway until after 10am. Driving conditions for travelling the long distance required to reach the WA border were almost perfect as although there was a little drizzle, the wind was light and the temperature was quite low for this time of year. No air-conditioning needed today! However, as we travelled west, the rain became heavier and the mist meant that we didn’t see the Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Bight or anywhere else. The wind picked up in the afternoon but we were most grateful for the good driving conditions. Many oversize transports, some caravans and campervans and a few cars shared the road, most of them heading east.

The Nullarbor Plain is almost as large as Victoria!!! It averages around 200mm of rainfall a year however, it was very interesting as the vegetation changed quite often and, much to our surprise, once we passed Eucla, (where our fuel bill was $110!!! Ouch!!), there was a range of granite hills that went for hundreds of kilometres and provided a pretty view. We did laugh to think that our expectations of both Broken Hill and the Nullarbor were of dry, red desert conditions and in both areas it was raining and there was plenty of vegetation in a range of colours! In the middle of summer!!!

At the border we handed over any fruit and vegetables that we had so when we stopped overnight at a roadside camp near Mundrabilla, we enjoyed a casserole made previously to use up our capsicums, onions, snow peas etc and it was delicious, particularly in the cooler weather conditions.

The long straight road.

Look out for .... everything!

Mundrabilla campsite .. the man and the van!

Mundrabilla – Norseman

Sat. Feb. 12th

From camp we headed off to complete our Nullarbor crossing. A long day’s driving but the landscape changed subtly many times and we did find some of those wide treeless plains that we had expected once we were closer to Norseman. Looking for the decorated trees – bra tree, teddy bear tree, thong tree etc. – and ensuring that the flying doctor didn’t land on top of us at the occasional emergency  ‘airstrips’ on the roadway, and checking out the holes of the longest golf course in the world kept us occupied for some of the trip. Once again the lack of wildlife was noticeable. Music was the key to the trip this time and ‘American Pie’ was the right length for a song on a trip of this length!

We arrived in Norseman in mid-afternoon and discovered a red-dust covered town, wide streets, boarded-up shops and businesses and few people. We drove up past the mine, and its mountain of grey tailings and collection of rusting trucks, cars and mine equipment, to the lookout. The view was quite spectacular as it provided a panorama of hills, salt lakes, enormous plains and then the mine and the poor town. W also completed part of the 27km heritage trail and enjoyed the historical information at the stops along the way.

Mountain of tailings from mine

Don't throw anything away ...
it might come in handy some day!

Norseman was not a place in which we wanted to stay, so we headed out to a roadside camp some 20km away on the Kalgoorlie road. When we stopped, we took care to keep close to the road as we did not want to become bogged in the now soft red dirt. We later regretted this decision!

On to Streaky Bay

Venus Bay to Streaky Bay

Mon. Feb. 7^th

Taking our 2 whiting, we hit the road again. We’d heard all good reports about Streaky Bay and were keen to see it but the trip there proved more interesting than we had expected. The first stop was a Murphy’s Haystacks, an amazing collection of pink granite boulders and pillars on a small rise above a wide flat plain.

From there we travelled on gravel roads to see Baird Bay, a long, shallow bay with a small channel running almost the whole length. A tiny settlement but nothing there for us to do at low tide, so we continued on, taking the road to Sceale Bay where we stopped for lunch. This was a pretty holiday town but it didn’t have any facilities and we were the only ones there to enjoy the view and eat under the large sun shelter. A side trip along the Westall Way Loop Drive allowed us to see the impressive Granites beach area and watch a surfer catching the waves.

The Granites

The pub in Streaky Bay



A calm day at the beautiful bay

We arrived in Streaky Bay around 3pm and went straight to the supermarket where a tuna fisherman was stocking up for a trip out. When we walked on the pier we learned that there was a fast boat that went out and found the drifting tuna nets then radioed the GPS data to the heavier boats that went out and gathered the fish and towed them into Port Lincoln, a job that could take 2 weeks.  

Streaky Bay is an aquaculture and seafood centre with oysters, abalone and scallops along with the usual range of fish.  The place was named by Matthew Flinders on his mapping voyage in 1802. Eyre also made a base some 3km from the bay as a depot for overland explorations. Streaky bay was also a large agricultural port, shipping local wheat and wool to the cities. Granite from the local hills was used in Parliament House, Canberra.

The caravan park was right on the bay but unfortunately there were no beachfront sites available, but given the heat we welcomed anything in the shade. GVS cooked his whiting and we ordered chips to go with it. A delicious meal!!

Tues. Feb 8 & Wed. Feb 9

Streaky Bay was just lovely and such a friendly town. Once again we were amazed at the cleanliness of the SA towns – the recycling deposit required on all cans and bottles ensures that they do not lay around a litter and the lack of plastic bags is due to a charge for them in shops and an expectation that you have your own so rarely will one be offered.  

At the Tourist Information Centre there was a travelling Aboriginal art exhibition called ‘Desert to Dune’ and we really enjoyed this. The artists were from the Eyre Peninsula and we decided that we would see more in Ceduna. It was a very hot day so much time was spent reading in the shade and dashing in and out of the water. In this bay, the tide retreated beyond the beginning of the sea grass areas and the razor fish were visible at the low tide mark.

We also discovered a clearance centre that had great labels, eg. Billabong, Jump, Yarra Trail, at very low prices, but despite my best efforts I could only buy a pair of Rusty boardies for $20. Great fun trying!!

We ended up buying crabs for dinner – a fact that we didn’t pass on to anyone in the caravan park! They were tasty but very messy and little food for great effort. A good way to keep slim!

Our neighbours were very friendly, as were many of the campers and we enjoyed a few great days sharing stories, information and food. Sinclair and her husband David took us razorfishing and we brought back our bag limit – 25 each. We planned to eat them for dinner on Wednesday but they gave us cooked crabs to eat!! No effort outlaid on preparing that meal J We sat with Bob from Geraldton, Ken from the Pilbara, 2 Swiss girls and an English couple and had lots of stories to share.

Coffin Bay NP to Venus Bay

Yangie Bay – Point Avoid – Wangary

Fri. Feb 4^th

A lovely sunny morning and a gentle breeze at last. We drove the 6km across to Point Avoid, a limestone headland with spectacular views of the sea. Warning signs about everything indicated that this would not be a good swimming site but GVS took out the fishing rod and set to work! (Only after he had dealt with some waste water overflow issues that were causing the shower/toilet area to flood – phew!)

We spoke to Phlip who had set off at 4:30am on the road to Canberra. She was travelling well, had seen little traffic and Luis was sleeping most of the time, so she was pleased with the journey to date.

Coffin Bay

We returned to Coffin Bay for more oysters and brunch on the waterfront. It is a pretty holiday town, a little like Paynesville and the lakes area of Victoria. 

Oyster boat at Coffin Bay



Farm Beach

Tractor paddock

We then headed off to Wangary, Mt Dutton Bay and Farm Beach – so called because you need a tractor to launch your boat here! There was a paddock full of old 1950s tractors now used to launch boats. Graeme conversed with a fisherman bringing in his boat and Aldo invited us to his ‘shack’ for a cuppa. He and Ann were wheat and bean farmers from near Cummins, about 70km away, and they were enjoying a 4-day fishing break after a bumper harvest. They were extremely hospitable and interested in our travels, as they have been keen travellers and crossed the Tanami, Simpson, Birdsville etc. Much to our surprise, they had a photo of Minterbie on the wall – Steve Bradbury’s home for a few years and an opal mining centre west of Coober Peedie. Aldo and Ann had once had a couple of mining leases there and they obviously loved their time working their leases .... they each bought a bobcat and made money from the opal, not as cutting stones but for ornamental use as it was vertical opal. Before we left they insisted that we fill our water tanks from their rainwater and Ann gave us some whiting fillets to take as she had listened to GVS’s hard-luck fishing tales with sympathy! We had decided to visit and stay the night at Sheringa Beach, our 1^st real Southern Ocean beach, but it was a disappointing stay as the wind was too strong to go to the beach and the toilets were not clean-not $10 value! However, the view from the top of the road allowed me to see small sharks surfing in the waves and have a beautiful view of the long beach and the cliffs.

Sheringa Beach – Venus Bay

Colton Bakery - wood fired oven and delicious bread
somewhere between Elliston and Venus Bay in a town with
1 house and a church!

The Tub

At Woolshed Cave

Pelicans at Venus Bay

Saturday, Feb. 5^th

Up and off early (for us). We stopped at the salt lake which had plenty of water in it and we surprised a flock of ducks and saw a pair of black swans on the water. We reached Elliston, another little fishing village with a very long pier and a couple of huge grain silos, Viterra owned, of course. We enjoyed chatting to the fisherman on the pier and learning about some of the fishing places at which he had experienced some good catches. Guess where we headed next? J After buying petrol at $1.51l, even more expensive than Canberra, we drove on and passed Lake Hamilton, an enormous inland salt lake where we enjoyed the beautiful views of the coast from one headland where the little white terns frenetically flapped their wings as they flew from the lake to the cliffs and all around. Then we passed Lake Newland, some 20km long. We also took the Talia Beach drive and saw 2 great caves, the Woolshed and the Tub, and the scenery was spectacular as the cave and the tub had been carved out of the limestone by the wind and the surf.

From there we came into Venus Bay, yet another fishing village and holiday spot for the inland people. Straight to the caravan park as we had been without showers for 8 days so some re-entry into civilisation was welcomed. We had been told that if we couldn’t catch fish at Venus Bay then we should give away the rods, so imagine Graeme’s delight when he brought back 2 beautiful whiting. It made his day. The caravan park here had extremely friendly people and we were invited by John & Val to join a sing-along in the camp kitchen area. We cooked dinner there and listened to the music and spent some time talking to the 8 people who have been coming here together for over 25 years. All dedicated and well-travelled caravaners from Adelaide.

Venus Bay walking trail views.

Venus Bay crayfish boat

Sun. Feb 6^th

When can I stop mentioning the wind? At least we are not flooded or affected by cyclones, as they are in Queensland and Victoria. We did make the right choice in turning west. Too windy to be on the pier, on a bike or a kayak, so we set off to explore the South Head Walking Trail and enjoy the spectacular rock formations and rugged scenery, although we kept as far back from the cliff edge as possible as the cliff ledges had obviously broken off frequently.
The swell, the furiously fast-paced outgoing tide and the crashing waves made it a great sight. A cappuccino at the store was my first for a long time. Because of the wind, the day was spent planning our next days and relaxing in the shade. Thank goodness we have a long time frame to work with and can spare a day or two waiting for better weather.

Louth to Coffin Bay

Louth – Port Lincoln – September Beach in the Lincoln National Park

Mon. Jan 31^st

Another hot and windy morning as we set off to Port Lincoln for much-needed supplies. Port Lincoln is a large town with many bays and a marina. We saw the fishing fleet at dock as we took the ‘tourist drive’ around the town – not a scenic drive but it did give an overall picture of the town. Shopping and repacking took some time, then we headed off to camp at glorious September Beach. The Lincoln NP fees were much cheaper than the expensive Innes NP on the Yorke Peninsula– the usual $8 entry but then $6 per night to camp. Just drop toilets, no water, but incredibly well-established and maintained camp area, picnic shelters with views of the magnificent bay, 90+km of walking tracks and well signed information boards.

 

The beach at low tide

Brush-tailed bettongs have been reintroduced in this area.

They are shy creatures .. the only ones we saw were
frozen with fear:-)

We swam but it was too hot to sit or walk on the beach so we waited until evening to take our stroll, after our dinner of garlic prawns and sourdough bread. A feast!

There were a large number of European honey bees around the camp, and the information booklet had warned of these, but I needed to change out of my floral bathers as they were all settling on me!



The bees loved these bathers!


Back to basic black! Kangaroos hopped through the camp area in the evening, the small birds – scrub wrens, fairy wrens, honeyeaters etc were very busy in the bushes. A perfect spot to stay, although we moved into the day tripper area as there wasn’t any shade in the main camping ground.

September Beach

Tues. Feb. 1^st

A cooler, cloudy day made it a perfect one for a walk. We set off on the loop to the lighthouse, then other beaches that face Port Lincoln, then back across to the east side of the NP. Pretty views, coastal scrublands, kangaroos and scats that indicate emus in the area. Many rabbits too. Phlip called to talk about some Harris family wedding issues and we missed our turnoff and travelled an extra 7km. It was most enjoyable but GVS thinks that he has now walked his 2011 quota!

An afternoon of fishing, a quick dip in the cool water, reading and relaxing. Rummykub is the nightly ritual however we added Yahtzee to provide some variety. At least I won that!

September Beach – Coffin Bay

Wed. Feb 2^nd

Another cool and cloudy morning. Our camping permit was for just 2 nights as we had no idea of how long we would stay here, so today we needed to pack up and drive back to the entrance to pay for further camping or just move on. We packed up, set up the GVS washing machine for our dirty clothes, then stayed on to feed the fish again J as conditions were perfect.

We have our fingers crossed for Stu with his car purchase.

We headed off out of the park to Stamford Mere and the Whalers Road to look for our next campsite but the beautiful white dunes were not enough to keep us around this incredible salty lagoon.

Back to Port Lincoln for fuel, water and 2nd hand books, then on  to Coffin Bay ..............mmmmm oysters! We bought our dozen for $7 then headed out to Yangie Bay in the Coffin Bay NP. Not as pretty as Lincoln NP and at the edge of the water was smelly black sand into which I sank to my ankles! We enjoyed a happy hour with some neighbours, tried to avoid the bees that came in dozens around any liquid and vowed to shake out the knickers and socks when we bring in the washing tomorrow.

Thurs. Feb 3^rd

Phlip’s last day at Bakers Delight. Still have our fingers crossed for Stu with his car purchase.

A chance to spend time catching up with emails, news etc as the internet connectivity was good. After lunch I took the 45min circuit walk to the lookout and beyond. There were very pretty views over the waterways and many bays.  Kangaroos were plentiful and they looked healthy;  many had young, too big for the pouch but still at their mother’s side.

We spent the hot and sunny afternoon reading and playing Rummykub then I set off to walk to Big Yangie Bay along the 4wd track. The camping area there was more picturesque but no shade or shelter from the winds. There were wedge-tailed eagles soaring over the water, kangaroos no more than 10 metres away from me, emus running away in fright and glorious ring-necked parrots with their iridescent green plumage.

Graeme prepared a great Caesar salad for dinner – once again a meal fit for an empress!