Chapter 11 - Finale and Wrap Up

From 25 August 2011 

To    28 August 2011

Ceduna

We are now home in Eltham. I could not finish the Kelly monologues without a couple of photos of views from our camp site in Ceduna, one with the setting sun hidden behind the tree. It was a very pleasant spot to spend a couple of days.

 

Whyalla 

Why you say?  Because we had a date with our niece - Kelly - who is engineer at a mining company in Whyalla.  We drove the 430 or so km from Ceduna to Whyalla through pretty boring country across the top of the Eyre peninsula.

We checked into the caravan park and took the adjacent photo from the back of the caravan.  Apparently if you wade out about 100 metres you can catch whiting.  If you wade out 200 metres sharks can catch you.

Kelly offered to cook for us so we trundled the one km or so from our caravan park to her place.  She lives about 900 metres off to the right of the photo, plus a short walk from the beach to her door. Kelly demonstrated that she has been well trained by her mother by cooking a lovely meal that was washed down by one of her excellent $50 reds.  Just to prove that it was not a fluke she opened a second bottle.  I am sad to say that we did not get through the second bottle as we had a big day ahead tomorrow.  Kelly then sent us home with a third bottle of the same shiraz.  NO, we did not sit down in the mangroves and drink it.

Big Day

We hit the road about 7:45, drove north about 75 km then topped up the tank with diesel at Port Augusta, then headed south.  For once there was no wind, so driving was a real pleasure.  We travelled though some excellent country for crops and stock and scenery.  Sadly the car would not turn left at the Clare turnoff so we headed onto Adelaide, without replenishing the cellar. 
Adelaide was its normal busy self—20 cars, one truck and two dogs.  So we passed straight thought the city of churches and continued onto the Melbourne road.  The Murray at Murray Bridge was at the top of the banks—such that you could only see flat grasslands at the edge of the water.

We called it a day after 606 km which just happened to be at Keith (still in SA).  It was pure luck that the lovely little caravan park happened to be about 300 metres from the local hotel/motel—which served lovely meals.  So in the interest of supporting rural communities we ate there. 

Ballarat

We drove the 400 km to Ballarat without fuss and set up camp.  Along the way we passed a park with white kangaroos (see photo).  

I love driving through Horsham as I always remember a little ditty from many years ago about a small boy who had a washing idiosyncrasy.

We had a lovely coffee with coffee scroll in Nhill, blissfully unaware of the recent aeroplane tragedy there.  It is another lovely country town.

Anyway, about two hours after setting up camp in Ballarat Jack and Harry (grandsons) and their parents arrived.   Needless to say there was lots of chaos, etc etc for the next 42 hours (or so) before we departed on the last leg of the trip.  The enjoyment was supplemented by a breakfast of pancakes that were cooked by the park owner.

We arrived home around lunch time on Sunday, having spent 87 nights away.
Stats

Those who know me would be surprised if I did not include some statistics—so here they are (more available on request):

• We travelled 15012 km, 

  • 11719 km with the caravan, 

  • 3923 km running around without the caravan.

• That works out at 136 km and 38 km per day respectively.

• However if you restrict the figures to the trip from Katherine to Kalbarri (the key part of the trip—for us) the figures are 78 km and 54 km per day respectively

• We set up camp in 39 camp grounds.  The cheapest was $20 per night the dearest was $45.

• The longest stay was Broome—13 nights. 

• There were 15 stops of only one night.

• The dearest diesel was $1.97 at Barkly Homestead (200 km east of Tennant Creek).  

• The average for the entire trip was $1.57—lower than expected (thanks to large diesel tanks)

• I took 2694 photos, which I need to cull to 400. I still have a long way to go.  Slips, make that 2721 as I forgot the 27 underwater photos that I took with my $20 disposable camera.

Highlights

It is hard to single out highlights, but I have tried.  The following list will change as we sit down and start to “remember that  time/place/person/sunset/sunrise….”. 

The following are the result of a quick brain dump (no rude comments please):

• Coral Bay
• Snorkelling at Exmouth & Coral Bay
• Broome, plus cable Beach, its brewery, its weather
• The sea shells 80 Mile Beach
• Bush poets in caravan parks in NSW & QLD
• The percentage of grey nomads on many roads
• The financial reliance on grey nomads in some smaller towns & caravan parks
• Point Samson
• Bungle Bungles
• Ord river & Argyle Dam
• Horizontal waterfalls
• Quality of fresh seafood along the coral coast & south coast
• The high quality of main roads along the route we have travelled (except for Victoria from the border to Ballarat).
• The (poor and openly stated) opinion that northern residents have of the federal government
• Sunsets & sunrises
• Daly Waters pub
• Variety & number of birds
• The amount of development across the top end
• The oysters in Ceduna
• The high quality and frequency of free-camp site along the main roads, particularly in WA.

Final Wrap

We have just concluded a wonderful trip, much of it with four treasured friends.  My apologies go to Kay for forcing Darryl to be my beer and red wine drinking mate. 

Our next big trip is just a matter of where—not when.  In 2011 we are to endure just six full days of Melbourne’s winter.  Next year we would like to reduce that number, and start a pattern for years to come.

I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings, and that some of you have worked out the blog.

We have a wonderful country with many and varied sights and experiences to be had.  On our trip we witnessed a miniscule fraction of what there is to be experienced.  We have lots more to see and do.

The final image below is the overall route—from Eltham to Eltham - anti-clockwise.  Who knows what is in store for us in 2012.

Happy travelling.

Chris & Shirley
30 August 2011

 

Ps. If you ask me something like “how was the trip”, you
had better pull up two chairs and a couple of drinks.

Chapter 10 - Wildflowers and the Nullarbor

From  17 August 2011 

To    24 August 2011

  

The start of our trip home ………….

On Wednesday 17th August we drove about 495 km from Kalbarri to a place called Dalwallinu.  The land was a bit of an enigma as 95% of it looked barren and not capable of growing anything apart from the scrubby bushes that followed most of the road.  However the majority of the road travelled through grain and canola crops that most Aussie farmers would be proud of. Of course we were travelling through the famous WA wheat belt.  Where else in Australia can you drive for 500 km and constantly see grain crops?  I never seen so may grain storage facilities.

Of course the reason for this route was wild flowers, and plenty of those were seen.  The highlight was the wreath flower (Lechenaultia) which is not grown anywhere in the world outside the district of Mullewa - the number of plants to be seen at the moment is very small—and we saw three.  The above flower was about 400 mm across.

Also at Mullewa was probably the most magnificent small church that I have ever seen. The inside has to be seen to be believed.  My photo does not do it justice.

We stopped for the night at Dalwallinu and immediately went looking for our jeans—a commodity that had not been used for two months.

Day 2

This was our longest day of the trip, covering 522 in the day, making it 1017 in two days.  We passed through towns with names such as Bencubbin, Mukinbudin and Bullfinch—arriving at the recognised name of Coolgardie.

We were amazed to realise that the grain and canola crops stretch from Kalbarri to Southern Cross—a distance of around 800 km.  To put that into perspective it is 674 km from Horsham to Orbost.

We were also surprised to notice in the 370 km drive from Dalwallinu to Southern Cross we did not catch/overtake a vehicle or be overtaken by a vehicle.  It was a quiet road. 

The feature of the road between Southern Cross and Coolgardie was the presence of the numerous Gimlet trees (see photo on previous page).

Fraser Range Station

We had a casual day driving a mere 275 km to a place call Fraser Range which is a sheep station on the western edge of the Nullarbor.  At the moment the station is “destocked” and only has 80 sheep—and these arrived courtesy of an overturned sheep truck when the surviving sheep scarpered into the bush (as you would).

Fraser Range station is around 450,000 acres and was bought recently for around $700,000 with 7 people buying shares.  Food for thought there!  Free camel, kangaroo and rabbit meat.

Would you believe that the station manager complained about a lack of mosquitoes—because they need mozzies to spread mixamatosis to help keep the rabbits in check—of which there are heaps.

Nullarbor Golf Course

 

This is a famous golf course that stretches from Kalgoorlie to somewhere in South Australia—a distance of around 1350 km. While at Fraser Range station we had a relaxing afternoon and walked hole number 5 of the Nullarbor golf course.  Check out the photos below. Note the synthetic grass green in the background (RHS).  The synthetic grass tee is just behind Shirley.  I don’t think they ever move the hole.  The white markers on the right of the photo are the out-of-bounds markers.  The green slopes away from the tee and there is a creek 3-4 metres behind the green.  Not an easy hole.

On Saturday (I think) we checked out the 8th hole at Cocklebiddy—a 347 metre par 4, with a slight dog leg to the right (see photo).  The fine red arrow points to the green.  Note that the fairway (on the Nullarbor) is green and the rough is “lose ball” stuff.  Trees do not seem to be a factor on any of the holes that we have seen.  Memories of St Andrews!  Getting a time slot on the tee is also very easy.

I expect that there will be multiple lawn bowls bowling green by the next time I cross the Nullarbor.  Perhaps one rink per town for 25 towns so that I can play a 25 end pennant match—one end per town.

We met a couple at the Nullarbor Roadhouse who were driving from Melbourne to Kalgoorlie (staying at motels and caravan parks) to meet friends so that the four of them could play the 18 holes on the way home back to Melbourne—the sole reason for the trip.  A long drive for 18 holes of golf.

Nullarbor

Needless to say this is a famous part of the world, let alone Australia.  After plenty of recent rain it is an absolute picture.  It looks better than plenty of Victoria (unless the latter has improved in the last 3 months).  The roads are still straight with the longest section being a straight 145 km.  It is even longer when you have a head wind.  The two characters to the right (Nullarbor residents) I have named Chris 1 and Chris 2 as Shirley had them both eating out of her hand.  The offering was bits of the cone of a Drumstick ice-cream.  Like me, they have a serious look on their face—and not much hair on the top of their head. 

The parrot below I called Chris 3 as he was up early—like me.

As you can tell already, birds on the Nullarbor get common names.

What can I say—an amazing part of our amazing country.  If you do not know the derivation of the word “Nullarbor” please look it up as I will be asking you all.

Please ponder the adjacent sunset photo (I am really into sunset and sunrise photos) and see if you can work out where the aboriginal flag cam from.

Of course we visited the beautiful cliffs that make up the Great Australian Bight—but I cannot fit every photo in.

Whales & Friends

We departed the Nullarbor Roadhouse caravan park and drove 22 km to a place called “Head of Bight” where there are currently an estimated 148 whales.  We saw maybe 20 or 30, mostly Mums with calves.  They are like a pelican—big, slow and graceful.  The water was so clear you could see most of each animal, even though 75% was under water.  It’s a pity my camera did not have the same eye sight.

We did however get a better photo of another local resident—this one playing Russian roulette with road trains and 50 seater buses.  Apart from birds these critters seemed to be the most common form of life on the Nullarbor.  This little guy was about 30 cm in length and very protective of his space in the middle of the main Melbourne to Perth road.

Ceduna

Arriving in Ceduna is like being given a cold beer after having dug a 100 metre trench in hard clay on a hot day.  It is such a relief after such a big chore—such as driving the Nullarbor with a strong head and side wind.  Our caravan site overlooked the bay—where the sun sets, and was 5 minute walk from the local hotel that sells the best freshly cooked seafood in town.  So in we settled for 2 nights after driving 2410 km in 6 days.

We dined at the hotel and had superb whiting and snapper and watched yet another wonderful sunset.

I was up at dawn and watched yet another sunrise.  Then we had a casual day. 

We first went to visit a lady called Val who manages the local animal refuge.  She is mainly self funded and explained and displayed her current residents who consist of two baby wombats, two delinquent wombats, three adult wombats, an emu chick, kangaroo joey, adult kangaroos, adult wallabies, dragon, he and she lizards, a falcon with a crook wing, two lambs, pet cat and a pet corella.  She has lots of plans that are too lengthy to be stated here—but if you are in Ceduna she is well worth a visit.

We finished the cultural part of our Ceduna visit with a visit to the local meteorological station where we met another local character.   The station now provides more data, more accurately, on a more regular basis, with one person—that took four people not many years ago.  He assured me that I would get a tail wind into Adelaide.

We returned to the camp site, then sat down with a dozen fresh oysters and a drink, to be gradually greeted by about 25 bikers who are part of the “Black Dog” tour.  

They are all within about 30 metres of the back of our caravan and are about half of the WA contingent of riders who are riding to Alice Springs as an Australia wide push to raise the profile of depression in men.  I got depressed that I was not riding with them.  They meet the eastern states guys in Port Augusta tomorrow.  About 250 riders in total.

We are on the final run home now.  Please stay tuned for our next report—which will be sent from Eltham.

 

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Chapter 9 - Western Australia - The Coral Coast

From 6 August 2011 

To    17 August 2011

Prologue

As we moved into the Gascoyne the landscape changed yet again. Wild flowers were ever present and small hills emerged (see photo) from the flat plains time and again. We even went through a couple of rolling hills where the automatic changed down a gear—not something that has happened much lately.

Another point of interest—some of the iron ore based rock in the Pilbara & Kimberley has such a high iron content that you can weld metal to it. Some of it was so hard we could not break it with a hammer. Phew.

Free Camp

As it was 550 odd km to Exmouth we stopped at one of the frequent free camp sites on the side of the road—this one on the banks of the (fairly dry) Yannarie river. There were 25 to 30 caravans populating the spacious site$ by night fall. Toilets were available—but no showers. We had a peaceful night then back on the road by 8:30 next morning.

Exmouth

We arrived in Exmouth—a fairly small town—then went exploring. Shirley quickly discovered that the local beaches have many pebbles (read small stones) in many and varied colours. In fact one beach is called “Pebble Beach”. Of course all good beaches (that have a marina) have a coffee shop and Shirley eventually found that one as well (10 minutes before closing time). So in we went and had a coffee.

Our first full day in Exmouth (8th August) was spent on a tour that did about 270 km around the Exmouth peninsula, around one hour on a boat cruise up/down a gorge, two swims in water adjacent to the Ningaloo reef, a feed of tiger prawns for lunch and one snorkel around coral and fish that are a part of the Ningaloo reef. The bus picked us up at 7:30 am and dropped us back at the camp site at 7pm. It was a great but long day—the scenery and water were wonderful.

To cap off a long day Darryl and Kay had bought some “Goldband Snapper” which Darryl cooked for dinner. It was superb. I supplied the “red”.

Our last full day in Exmouth was a restful day, with another dinner of “Goldband Snapper” again cooked by Darryl. This time Darryl supplied the red and I cooked the chips—seemed like a fair trade to me.

Coral Bay

We departed Exmouth and travelled though a community of termite mounds, some with more character than others (refer photo). You do see some amazing sights in this part of the world.


It was a mere 150 odd km to Coral Bay, and so we arrived in this wonderful little oasis around 10 am. After finding out that we could not check in until 11am we found the local bakery and purchased a couple of cappuccinos and a blueberry muffin. What a way to start the day!

So we then checked in, set up camp and soon took off for our two hour glass bottomed boat tour of the reef. And so another highlight of our trip eventuated—particularly when I got to go for a snorkel with my new $25 underwater camera. Keep watching wildlife shows on the ABC for my photos to appear. 

At least I am able to show you me in the crystal clear water with tshirt and Leyton Hewitt hat (for sun protection) - photo taken by Shirley. Note the cool board shorts. That water was 80 fathoms deep (or was that 80 inches?). I have edited out the sharks that were eyeing off my board shorts.

After our big effort around the reef I cooked curried sausages and rice for dinner—washed down with a 2004 Two Churches cabernet sauvignon.
Thursday was a relaxing day with some sight seeing and two bouts of snorkelling. I have been snorkelling four times in six days on the Ningaloo reef. Each experience was unbelievable. After snorkelling for an hour or so today I had to dive back into the water to help a 10 year old (approx) girl who was panicking because she could not see her parents. I swam the 20 metres (or so) and got to her at the same girl as her father. She was in about 3 metres of water.

Tonight we had snapper that Darryl caught this afternoon (see photo—the snapper was in there somewhere). It was to die for. We have had local fresh fish 3 nights out of the last 4. He was on a charter boat with 13 other guys – collectively they caught around 100 fish that were all over half a metre long.

Carnarvon

On Friday, with some sadness, we departed Coral Bay and headed for Carnarvon. Sadness, because we loved Coral Bay. We arrived early and then cruised around town, checking out the one mile jetty, the shearers museum and a few other historical sites. There are some new homes on the water here that must cost a packet.

The big surprise is that the caravan park we are staying in has a grass bowling green, on which there are matches 5 days each week. Next week there is a four day tournament. I spoke to one guy who has come from Albany on the south coast—one very long drive. Interesting rules though—casual dress, casual footwear, knowledge of game optional.

Kalbarri

We departed Carnarvon and had a 450 km drive to Kalbarri—the place of great memories from 15-16 years ago. It was a slow drive partly from the heavy cross winds and party because we were venturing into the popular wildflower country.  I have included a couple of samples.   The wind was even worst when we turned west and it became a head wind. However this was only for 60 km and we soon booked in, to learn that popular Tamworth musos were to entertain us tonight.

However the wind blew the musos away and we were left to ponder the wind and stare into our glasses.  Later that night (August 12th) we experienced our first rain since June 7th. Actually it was more like a mini cyclone with damage occurring to some caravan awnings and local shade sails.  It was so heavy it washed the car and the caravan.

I rose early on Sunday and went for a 90 minute walk, when I took the photo above—where the Murchison river joins the ocean.  It was a lazy day, culminating in dinner at Finley’s Fish BBQ—a place you have to see to believe.  Fully BYO, you need to take your own glasses. Napkins come from a roll of toilet paper.  However the fish is pretty good.

On Monday our principal activity was to visit a wildflower “farm/exhibition” where we saw some wonderful wildflowers as well as the spiny devil in the adjacent photo.  He (or she) was about 20 cm long.

Tuesday was just as casual with walks, coffee and bad weather being the “go”.  

However the sun did appear on regular occasions.

We finished the day with a “good bye” dinner with our good friends and travel mates of 10 or so weeks.

Finale

On the morning of 17th August we depart Kalbarri with some sadness, partly because we leave Kay, Fay, John & Darryl behind, and partly because turning west means that we are headed for home.  The others are heading south—at least for the moment.  The bright news is that we are about to traverse a section of WA that has an abundance of wild flowers, many of which are not seen outside WA.  This year is a good year for wild flowers (because of the rain) so the next report will have many wild flower pictures in it.
As we drive out of Kalbarri we will tick over 11,000 for the trip.  The average cost of diesel across that distance has been $1.60 per litre.
Please stay tuned for our next report.

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Chapter 8 - Western Australia - The Pilbara

From 28 July 2011 

To    6 August 2011

Prologue

The departure from Broome occurred with some confusion and disarray, as the Kelly family was spread all over the globe.  Jodi was holidaying in Darwin, Sara was working in Houston (Texas) and Shirley was in Melbourne visiting her sick father,  

For Trudi & Amanda life was roughly normal (apart from Grandpa duties).  And I was chief cook, bottle washer, navigator, driver, and gopher.  I quickly found out how well Shirley hides things in the caravan.  Still with no one to stop me I could east as many jelly babies as I liked.

Anyway on Wednesday 28th July (I think) I departed Broome just in front of Darryl & Kay.  Again, it was a lovely road, mainly flat and mainly straight.  I put the car into cruise control, made a coffee and read a book as the car did all the work.  Please do not do this at home.

About 360 km later we ended up at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park—I had a powered site, Kay & Darryl missed out and scored a non-powered site.  The beach was superb—very similar to Cable Beach.  Eighty Mile Beach is around 350 km from Broome and 250 km from Port Hedland with NO other towns in between.  Sort of fairly remote.  As normal, we had a great multi-course dinner after 5pm nibbles & drinks.  

I nipped into the cellar (read under the bed) and found a bottle of red.
After a good night’s sleep I then discovered something that I have never struck before—the sun set and rose on the same beach, albeit at the western and eastern end of the beach.  No, it was not the red wine—I have witnesses.

Port Hedland

(I think) it was Thursday, so being a responsible husband I broke camp, left the remote paradise, and set off to Port Hedland, to set up camp before Shirley flew in from Melbourne.  The dew was so heavy that the clothes on the airer under the awning were soaking wet, and the red dust was red mud.  I found some nice shells (under orders from Shirley) and watched Darryl bait his hook before I departed.  Darryl later reported that he caught a sting ray—the reason for losing two hooks and 2 metres of line.

The wild flowers throughout this newsletter were found between Eighty Mile Beach and Port Hedland - a drive of about 250 km.

Thought for consideration - 12 mile creek is about 530 km from 9 mile creek. Hmmmm. 

Meanwhile back at Port Hedland, which is related to (and smaller than) Hedland South—a satellite city down the road created to house the people who could not fit into Port Hedland—which has expansion limitations.

As you do when in Port Hedland I visited the observation point at the assigned time and counted 232 cars on the BHP-Billiton Iron Ore train.  Actually the count was posted at the Information Centre.  I reckon the train was a mere 1.5 km (or so).  It took 9 minutes to pass me.  I then got caught by the same train at a railway crossing on the way back to the camp site.

Another thought for consideration—apart from mining this coast is renowned for its fishing.  Yet there is no fish shop is either Port Hedland or Hedland South.

How about a bit of trivia—Eighty Mile Beach (on this trip anyway) is about as far away from Melbourne as we are liable to be.  As Eighty Mile Beach was left behind this morning we are now on the way home.

This is interesting.  The shower cubicles at the Blackrock Caravan Park have mirrors, adjacent to the shower head.  So either the local guys are horribly vain, or they have enough water to promote guys shaving in the shower.  Neither point is relevant to me.

So then a photo of the salt works was is order.  The process to produce the salt uses 99% renewable energy. 

Shirley then flew into Port Hedland and we went into sight seeing mode to check out Port & South Hedland in one day—which we did.  Trains, coffee, iron ore tankers, coffee, shopping centres, coffee—pretty normal stuff.

Point Samson

On Monday 1st we drove the 250 odd km to Point Samson, a lovely seaside village (do we have villages in Australia?) an placed our caravan on a shady site about 50 metres from the beach.  The bad news was that the local fish and chip shop was closed for renovations.  The good news was that the only ‘tavern’ in town resided within the caravan park—a mere 50 metres in another direction.

 

I soon found out that Fremantle sardines were on the menu and there are pasta specials each Tuesday night.

 

We visited Roebourne, went for some long walks on the beach, then went on a tour of historic Cossack (abandoned port town) plus Port Lambert (iron ore loading facility).  The Rio Tinto statistics for the loading of iron ore onto tankers are mind boggling.  It was a very relaxing couple of days. Rent in Roebourne (near the Rio Tinto facility) is anything up from $1500 per week.  House blocks cost $1m—just so a cyclone can knock it down.

 

Have a look at the brickwork in the 150 year old building (below) in Cossack that has handled all sorts of cyclones which have systematically flattened its neighbours.  Note the interesting roof line.  Similar brick buildings in this area were built by some guys called Bunnings who were the ancestors of the people who gave life to the current hardware chain.

 

Just to support the tavern, we ate there last night—with pasta being the nights special.  My spicy prawn spaghetti was as good a pasta dish as I have had anywhere—it was superb.  I know that is a big call—but it was excellent.  The 50 metre walk home was good as well. Before we departed on Thursday I went for a pre-dawn walk on the beach and not only got more sunrise and bird photos—I found a couple of magnificent shells.  One went back into the water as it had a living occupant.

 

Karratha / Dampier

   

We had a short drive to Karratha, did some shopping, then set up camp in a lovely spacious camp park.  We then visited the status of the (now) famous ’Red Dog’ statue, Dampier, the Woodside gas complex and the most amazing aboriginal rock art complex in Australia.  There are over 4000 pieces of art that are etched into local (iron ore type) rock.  I have included two photos. 

  

I have also included an example of some local humour from a Dampier beach. This humour does not reflect the morals of your scribe.

     

On Friday we journeyed around 140 km to the Millstream-Chichester National park.  It was a very scenic drive to the park and even better within.  We were surprised to see how much water was in various water ways—one of which was a natural spring that flows all year around.  

The adjacent photos shows this water, where we could see the bottom maybe two meters deep below the lillies.  Unfortunately on the way home I ruined a tyre—third puncture for the trip.  Dirt roads again.  We did 370 km for the day.

   

As we departed the Pilbara on the 6th we reflected how rugged this area is and how important it is to the Australian economy.  

Truck drivers are earning $150,000+ and can be flown free of charge between their regular home (anywhere in Australia) and the mine on a regular basis (e.g. monthly).  If you take away mine cars and tourist 4WDs there would not be many vehicles on the road.

As we headed into the Gascoyne region of Western Australia our entire trip had covered about 9500 km, an average of 100 km per day with the caravan plus 48 km without the caravan.     

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