Willy Kloven – Willy Kloven Photography & Zen and Cement Images

December 8, 2017May 21, 2019

Introduction – Dec 2017 and Jan2018 (Part 1)

Sometime ago (approximately June 2017) William decided it was time to see Australia, Personally I’d never been that bothered but there were places on the bucket list I wanted to see so why not do them all in one go.

William started investigating Motor Homes, again something that had never appealed – too “Grey Nomadic”.

So after much looking around and one very pushy salesman we ended up with a mobile home hence forth known as Marge (Simpsons Reference).

We didn’t have a define departure date but we eventually took delivery of the van mid October.

In the meantime Willy had managed to break his right arm in a cycling incident (whole different story – details available on request).

We hadn’t actually taken delivery when the accident happened but by that time we were fully committed.

For anyone interested the Van is a locally manufactured Avan “C” class based on a Fiat chassis. It’s diesel, licensed to carry and sleep 4 and is about the largest motor home van you can get which doesn’t need a special vehicle

licence. It has additional features to support “free camping” – camping away from services. We can probably manage about 6 days away from any facilities, the limiting factor being water. There is an additional solar panel and an extra house battery. We also added a bike rack to carry the electric bikes.

Between mid October and end of November we did a couple of short trips to test Marge out and after making a couple of modifications we felt ready to go.

To help fund the trip we have let the apartment which happened from the 27th November 2017 with a 12 month lease. Friends and acquaintances beware…

As most of you will know, about 12 months ago we got a 6 week old rescue kitten, Lisa who has turned out to be a bit of a handful. A friend of ours, Alan very bravely agreed to look after Lisa (sight unseen) for at least some of the time we were planning to be away.

As Alan was available from 6th December and we let had the apartment from late 29th Nov Brian & Grant kindly offered to put us up.

The journey proper started on Tuesday December 6th 2917. We stayed in Wagga Wagga from Tuesday through to Friday. By the time we left Lisa seemed to have settled in well . She managed to find a suitable panic room in the wardrobe but was spending most of her time under the duvet.

We planned to end up in Melbourne on about 21st Dec, leave the van at the airport and fly back to Sydney for Christmas/New Year and then return to Melbourne on 4th Jan 2018. .

The meant that the only deadline we had was to be in Melbourne in time to park the van and catch the flight on 21st December. Not having any definite travel route from Wagga Wagga we decided to head into the Victorian alps making for Beechworth.

9th Dec – Beechworth and it’s close neighbour Yackandandah are old gold mining towns in the Mount Pilot National Park. There’s lots of good walking and cycling tracks.

On the Saturday we did a short part of the Mountains to Murray track from Beechworth to Everton. At about 32kms round trip and billed as “Easy Down, Challenging Up” it’s a great trip passing several vineyards through cuttings and best of all no traffic.

Unfortunately after the trip I ended up with a very sore bum so decided to take the next day off and sat around in the sun reading some Scandi-Noir (as if it’s not bad enough living with it!).

Book Finished: Anne Hold – What Dark Clouds Hide

9th Dec – Took the Alpine Way to Bright – fantastic scenery all the way with some very steep hills. At one point there was a distinct smell of disk pads after a particularly long and steep decent.

Stopped off at Myrtleford to do a bit of shopping and have a coffee – nice place but they have music playing everywhere – was somewhat reminiscent of Patrick Macgoohan and Prisoner.

From Myrtleford travelled through to Bright which is an even nicer little town and no music. Found a perfect spot in Wandilgong about 5km outside Bright, besides a creek and only $10/night…

10th Dec – Left Wandilong about 10.00 and headed for Mount Hotham. The countryside is quite stunning very very green, very windy roads, not too many safety barriers and some really nasty bends. Fortunately there is very little traffic. The scenery is quite stunning probably the best I have seen in Australia. Lots of Alpine Gums between about 800m and 1200m. The last big fire was 2013 but the result is plain to see.

Stopped at Mount Hotham alpine village for a coffee when William decided he wanted to take the mountain cycle track and I would take the van down and meet him at a place called Wiskey Flats which he though was about 12 kms further on. I suppose it was really my fault but when I reached East Gippslands and still hadn’t found Wiskey Flat decided to turn around. Anyway eventually found the meeting place which was really another alpine village caller Dinner Plate and the trip continued on to Omeo.

Passed through Omeo and eventually ended up at Swift Creek which had been recommend as an overnight stop. We camped right next to the creek.

11th Dec – Headed for Lakes Entrance, stayed long enough to have fish and chips. The next stop was back inland in the Mitchell National Park. The site had good reviews and was situation at the end of a unsealed road.

The campsite was nice – only one couple there, lots of space and some vans

that had not been moved for years (meths lab / hydroponic weed?) , lots of fire wood and a duck pond. Wandering around the site we found a Bower Bird’s nest complete with blue things.

Bower bird’s nest – everything is blue – lots of milk bottle tops

That Wolf Creek Feeling: On the site was a old shed and if you looked closely there was someone looking out of the window. On closer inspection it wasn’t a person but a full size shop window dummy complete with blonde wig and what looked like a tutu. In fact there were several dummies all done out in different costumes – this was really quite bizarre and add to this the couple of large wood chopping axes, the total isolation of the place (no phone signals) and my vivid imagination it was a real Wolf Creek stuff. I must admit I was very relieved when daylight broke the following morning and it was time to move on.

Books Finished: Agatha Christie – A murder is Announced

15th December – After leaving Wolf Creek we need to find a site with some water and power and ended up in small country town – Yarram. The camp site had good reviews and everything we needed. All was going well until the dog incident which pissed William off no end. He’s the same in Rushcutters Bay Park with owners and errant dogs….

That evening Tina Turner and Joe Cocker (just in from Melbourne apparently) were performing at the local theatre and we were offered cheap tickets by the bar man – we declined and just had dinner – Garlic Bread followed by Roast Beef for Willy – I had fish and chips again. Country pubs are not big on vegetarian cuisine.

Then moved to Wilson Promontory which is all national park.

Did a 12km walk to a couple of the bays on the first day and then did a 9km mountain and boardwalk walk on the second.

Tuesday Dec 19th we decided to by-pass Melbourne and take the Sorrento to Queenscliff ferry service. This takes about 40 minutes and saves all the hassle of Melbourne. It crosses Port Phillip bay at the narrowest part of the entrance.

From Queenscliff we head for Barwon Heads camping. The place is next to the water with a rather rocky beach. Arrived and were offered one of two sites

we picked the really good one, no neighbours and on a quiet corner. Bit of a tricky site to get into so had to move the van a couple of times to get the services connected and avoid a low hanging tree. Took about 60 minutes and then relaxed. Took the bikes off the back and decided to go to the local hotel which we noticed on the way in for a drink.

I picked up the parking information given to us at reception and noticed that were allocated site 115 or 128 – we were actually on 125 – bugger. Had to pack up and move by which time it was starting to rain. Needless to say someone wasn’t happy – must be more careful in future before setting up. Just to make matters worse the site we had to move from is still empty….

Dinner: Prawn Gyoza with Salmon seared in Chilli and Garlic Soy with green salad.

We are booked back to Sydney from Avalon on Thursday 21st Dec. Leave Barwon Heads about 10.00 and head for Avalon which is about 60 minutes away. Arrive, put the bikes in the van and head off to Sydney.

21st December to 4th January

Stayed in Potts Point and thanks to John & Hal had the perfect Christmas/ New Year break from our 12 month around Australia break.

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Hans & Lotte do Macleay Street (a view from the pool)

We had Christmas eve with Brian and Grant and then Christmas lunch with Bob and Diane.

Managed to fit in a “pensioners day out” to see the Pipiloiti Rist exhibition at the MCA in Sydney, caught up Elisabeth and with Susan for lunch and had dinner with the Priests, David and Jeff and Denise.

Watched the NY fireworks from the apartment and had a quiet few days before Brian kindy took us to the airport on Thursday Jan 4th to catch our plane back to Melbourne.

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Apologies to all Facebook fans….Neither Willy or myself have active Facebook accounts so I’m afraid it’s an old fashioned blog. You can receive notifications of updates by registering using the form at the end. The good news is that you can also unsubscribe….

As part of the blog we are going record books read, some of the more notable meals, living life without shampoo and meat (pescatarianism), advances with our social skills (talking to people) plus much much more….

January 22, 2018May 21, 2019

Melbourne & Tasmania Jan 2018 (Part 2)

We left Marge in Melbourne just before Christmas and returned to Sydney for Christmas and New year – this part of the blog continues after the time spent in Sydney….

Thursday 4th January 2018

Brian kindly took us to the airport to catch our flight back to Melbourne, we arrived back mid-afternoon. In gratitude to Brian for the lift I have included a picture of Brian’s cat – Buttons.

We were staying in the city for a few days before picking the van up from the airport. Being in the holiday season it was a great time to explore the city on foot and using public transport.

One of the biggest differences between Melbourne and Sydney is the public transport system – Melbourne leaves Sydney for dead both in terms of ease of use and frequency and an added bonus is much of it is free!

Melbourne turns out to be Hipster heaven, not that I’ve anything against hipsters – think they’re wonderful so much so that I have been trying to grow a hipster beard myself. Wandering about the lanes late in the evening we ended up in what must be Hipster Central, just sat and watched bar-tending being turned into an art-form. Much tossing and juggling of bottles and shakers – suppose I am showing my age but it all wonderfully superficial. The highlight was when our man failed to open my twist top light beer in the crook of his arm and had to resort to bottle opener. He’s probably been kicked out of the fraternity by now.

On the Friday went to the Triennial exhibition at the NGA.

“The NGV Triennial explores cutting edge technologies, architecture, animation, performance, film, painting, drawing, fashion design, tapestry and sculpture” – their words not mine. .

The pot scourers was a great idea the whole display was made out of small sponge pot scourers.

There was a similar one made out of pegs and another one made out of long sponge flotation things (noodles?).

I hasten to add that these are aimed at children but I found them interesting

The setting for the red flowers was a house with different rooms. Everyone was given an adhesive red flower as you entered. and you had to place the red flower anywhere – well it amused me anyway.

On Saturday it was forecast to be 40+ so we decided to take the tram to St. Kilda Beach- big mistake stayed about 10 minutes and caught the tram back – just too hot.

Sunday morning we caught the bus to Avalon to rescue Marge from the airport carpark. A little apprehensive, she had been there for over two weeks, however she was still there, intact and graffiti free. – that’s another thing about Melbourne there is some great graffiti not that we particularly wanted any on Marge.

Sunday afternoon we went down to one of the few remaining gay pubs in Australia and had a couple of light beers before a rather good Thai meal.

We also spent sometime in the evening people watching in Federation Square – home of the new Apple store(?). One of the less impressive sites was seeing young African guys being moved on for no apparent reason other than they were there.

In spite of this, the few days spent in Melbourne were interesting and relaxing, it really is a very nice city. Our NSW politicians and city planners have much to learn about making cities more liveable.

Monday 8th January 2018

Uber from the hotel to take the 09:30 ferry from Port Melbourne to Devonport. A smooth and uneventful crossing, spent some of it planning the Tasmanian sojourn. We had already booked one night at a campsite on the N Coast so we decided to start off by doing the North Western part of the Island..

First night spent at Turners beach, not a great site but ok. The next day cycled to Ulverstone which we have immortalised on video

Slow Bike Riding

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As the Norwegians were the creators of Slow TV it is only appropriate that a son of Norway should continue this exciting new media channel. If you manage to watch all the way through, despite the dramatic ending, there were no more broken shoulders.

Ulverstone is a really nice little town, William had a scollop pie for lunch together with a Apple and Blackberry pastry all made from local produce. Very friendly locals.

NB: I will start doing something on the improvement in our social interactions soon 🙂

Wednesday started to move westwards along the coast stopping at Penguin for coffee. Everything here is penguinesque, even the litter boxes in the streets are penguins. Had the worlds most expensive piece of Banana cake – probably contained essence of penguin.

Spent the night at Wynyard, the camp sight was run by a South African who had a house in Mosman – oh how I wish North Shore Bob was with us. Got the shock of my life when I bumped into her in the male showers at midnight!.

Next day Thursday 11th Jan decided it was time to save some money and do some real “Free Camping”. Drove to Stanley which is on a bit of a promontory on the North Coast – wasn’t quite free – $8 only problem was the wind. Stanley is nice little town where the only Tasmanian P.M. Joseph Aloysius Lyons was born and also where some of the movie “The Light Between Oceans” was filmed. Had scollops in curry sauce pies for dinner – not the greatest. William flew his kite on the beach.

Friday 12th Jan – decided to explore the Tarkine area so moved onto Smithton for one night before heading in land and ended up at another Free campsite at Julius River – right in the forest. The Tarkine is part of the Savage River National Park and contains areas of Wilderness. ”

The Tarkine is noted for its beauty and natural values, containing the largest area of Gondwanan cool-temperate rainforest in Australia”

The Tarkine

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We took the bikes for a couple of trips to nearby walks through the forest, it really is quite stunning.

Monday 15th Jan From Julius River we tried to get to Cradle Mountain without going back to the coast. When we hit the link road decided it was too much for Marge – RVs rattle anyway but on a non-sealed surface they really rattle. We ended up going up the West coast staying one night at Authur River and then turning inland to Burnie.

After free camping for several days we needed a site with amenities – particularly showers and washing machines. The campsite at Burnie was very run down so just stayed the one night but this was long enough to see the nightly ritual of Small Penguins coming ashore after a day out at sea fishing for food for their chicks

Wednesday 17th Jan Drove to Moina where there is a great Free camping site on the shores of Lake Gairdner about 10 minutes drive from Cradle Mountain visitor centre.

From the visitor centre shuttle buses run to several spots where you can pick up walks of varying degrees of difficulty.

We had decided to do an easy walk around Dove Lake which went really well (it is the 2nd easiest category). In fact it went so well William decided he wanted to do a bit more so we took of on the:

Lake Wilks Track,
Face Track
Overland Track
Marions Lookout Link Track.

These are all rated at hard to very hard. Particularly the Marions Lookout Link Track which one is advised not to use because it’s “steep and very rough”- Fortunately in some places they do have chains to hang onto when scrambling over rocks.

Five hours and 1,300 metres later we arrived back at the van. Fortunately William’s Acrophobia seems to have sorted itself out. I suppose one can only have so many issues.

Friday 19th Jan was a day at rest sitting by Lake Gairdner surrounded by wildlife including platypuses blogging.

Saturday – Again went to Cradle Mountain and did another 5 hour walk. This time we took the easier way up as we wanted to attempt the Cradle Mountain Summit and didn’t want to be totally knackered before we reached the summit trail.

I didn’t manage to get very far up the track it was another hot day however William gave it a good crack while I stayed at base camp looking after the bags and eagerly awaiting his return.

Willy got almost to the top but his vertigo got the better of him – never the less a very valiant effort.

The Way to the Summit – Cradle Mountain

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My Big Mistake

When we were in Melbourne we bought a scrabble set. I knew from the start this was an incredibly risky thing to do and had been delaying the purchase as long as possible. I knew that to loose at scrabble would be akin to losing at boules but a thousand times worse.

We played for many nights and I always managed to win but eventually due to the worst tiles imaginable I lost. Needless to say life will never be the same again. Anyone who knows William will feel my pain – he’s not the most gracious of winners.

Sunday 21st Left Cradle Mountain and moved to another national park – this time Mount Field National Park which is SW and Australias’ oldest National Park.

We spent three nights at the camp site in the park doing a couple of walks.

The first took in the three water falls and an area of Swamp Gums. Swamp Gums can reach up to 90 metres and are really magnificent trees. The whole walk was about 6 kms through some really nice woodland

Pademelons – Mount Field National Park

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The second walk was much more ambitious and started with a 9km uphill bike ride. Even with electric bikes it was still quite an effort.

The walk was around the peak of Mount Field East, we didn’t attempt the summit – it jut looked too hard. The walk itself took us above the tree line, across an area of marsh land before going down to the start point.

The highlight of the walk for William was the 9 kms down hill bike ride which happened without incident in spit of a top speed of 60kms/hr on what was a gravel road

Thursday 25th time to head for Hobart and Mona which we have booked for tomorrow. Didn’t realise it was Australia Day – another reason to change the date!

On the way down, through the Derwent Valley, passed through New Norfolk which from the out-skirts looked like a very plain small country town. However s we hadn’t any breakfast went into the town centre looking for something to eat and came across the most amazing antique / anything-old shop.

The place was spread over several buildings which previously were a school, hospital and nurses home.

They had the most eclectic collection of stuff, including some really nice pieces of glass ware, furniture and old AV equipment. Outside there was a tremendous collection of old cars and trucks including a steam engine.

To top it off hens and chickens were running around in the gardening centre. – great place. Turns out was owned by Penny & Hadyn Pearce – who we think did a TV show at some time. They certainly have a great collection of collectables.

Arrived at the Mobile Home park at the the show ground in Hobart – not the greenest/lushest of places but looks ok and the facilities are new. Plus we have air con and it’s forecast to be getting up to 36º over the weekend.

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We’ll finish this blog with one of the highlights of the trip so far – Cradle Mountain….

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February 17, 2018April 27, 2018

Tasmania – Jan and Feb 2018 (Part 3)

The last blog finished 2 weeks into our Tasmanian trip. We’re still there – and so dear reader read on…

**From Hobart and back Devonport for the ferry**

26th January 2018 – Australia Day

We were staying at the Hobart Show Ground – aka Bunnings Hardware. (Bunnings have just bought a big chunk of the show-ground for a monster hardware store). It’s not a great place but easy to get into the the Hobart CBD.

MONA - Kittens Tea and Croquet Party — MONA – Kittens Tea and Croquet Party

We were booked to go to the Museum of New and Old (MONA) on the 27th. January

MONA was terrific, there’s an exhibition called the Museum of Everything which has some truely amazing art. Here’s a little blurb about it

MONA - Things made from bottle tops — MONA – Bottle Tops

The Museum of Everything is a travelling exhibition which opened in London in 2009. Its purpose is to advocate for the visibility of art that falls outside the confines of the art world proper; the work of ordinary people, working far (literally or otherwise) from the cultural metropolis

I found the stuff done by mathematicians fascinating, the attention to details and the recursive nature was mind blowing.

A new wing had recently been added to the Museum – Pharos. We pre-booked to do the Unseen Seen & Weight of Darkness exhibitions. Before entering you had to sign a waiver form and were given a red panic button – neither of which were used.

Only 2 people are allowed in and you lie back looking up to a sphere which changes colours and intensity. There’s no point of reference so it becomes rather dis-orientating. Rather like one of the better mushroom experiences – apparently. Weight of Darkness is the exact opposite – you enter through a pitch black maze and find 2 chairs and then sit is absolute silence and darkness for 20 minutes. Think William got more out of it than I did, mind expansion and dis-orientation is more his thing

Overall the MONA experience was great and high on the lists of things to do again. Interesting to see that the owner David Walsh, who made all his money from counting cards, is supporting the push in Tasmania to get rid of all poker machines from pub and clubs. Lets hope he succeeds.

The images from MONA don’t really do the place justice but they are all our valiant photographer took. I have included the Kittens Tea and Croquet Party for it’s sheer shock value. It actually shows the art of taxidey.

By the way, Hobart was having a heat wave – 38º.

On Saturday we cycled into Hobart – 9kms but again along great cycle tracks. Spent several hours looking round Salamanca Markets – I’m not a great market fan but enjoyed this one. Fish and chips for lunch and then cycled home to Bunnings.

Sunday – still very hot so decided to go to the movies to get out of the heat. Willy wanted to see a newish Australian film “Swinging Safari”. Fortunately half way through the fire alarm went off – we didn’t both going back. Pepper Berry Ice Cream on the way home

Monday – Weather turned very cold didn’t do anything exciting – I read and Willy had a day of self improvement.

Tuesday 30th Jan – I wanted to go to Port Arthur so we decided to head out of Hobart heading in general SE direction. We spent Tuesday night at Tahune which is run by Forestry Tasmania (the badies). There are several walks and a Air Walk which allows you to walk through the canopy. It all quite interesting but propaganda for the timber industry. There seemed to be a shortage of Bob Brown books in the shop – don’t think this was because they had sold out.

To get to Tahune you pass through Geeveston which is the setting for the ABC comedy Rosehaven. After visiting the place you can see why it was selected.

We had a couple of nice Willy van cooked meals – Spanish Omelette with Tuna

Wednesday – From Tahune we moved to Fortescue Bay – the camp site got good reviews so the 12km of gravel road was an acceptable price to pay. We got a good spot and spent three very pleasant days. There are several walks which start at the campsite.

The first one we did was to Bivouac Bay and was rather un-remarkable. Surprisingly this is one of the driest areas of Tasmania so the bush is very scrubby. The Next day was cold and rainy so another day of reading for me and self improvement for William. He improved so much that I beat him at 3 games of dominos and one game of scrabble. He actually changed the domino rules half way through and I still won.

Books Finished:”Our Man in Havana”

Books Started: Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Saturday the weather improved and we did a great walk to Cape Huay – about 9kms, very up and down but fantastic scenery and well worth the effort. This is one of the “Three Capes” walks that the Tasmanian Tourist mob are spending much money on developing and they are doing a great job.

Sunday – Moved on to Port Arthur.

Monday – 5th Feb – Went to the Port Arthur Historic site and did a walking tour and a harbour tour. It’s most unfortunate that the decision to keep it as an important of part of Australia history was taken so late. Most of the building were allowed to deteriorate to an unrecoverable state plus several bush fires have decimated the site but what remains is very interesting.

The contrast between the horrific nature of the both the original penal colony and the 1996 massacre and the absolutely beauty of the place itself is quite remarkable.

**Port Arthur from the Harbour** (apologies for the quality)

I found it strange that during the walking tour no mention was made of the 1996 massacre. I would have thought that the massacre itself and the on-going impact it still has on gun laws etc would have been worth a mention.

Talking to one of the guides it seems that there is still some resistance by descendants of the convicts to keep the place going. Some would like to expunge Port Arthur from History as it is considered a place of shame and best forgotten.

On a lighter note – On the Sunday I managed to “lose” my keys. These are the spare set for Marge and also the bikes. I twice retraced my steps which included a bike ride to the Port Arthur Site and enquiries to the Tourist Information and campsite reception. They turned up the next day in the van while I was out doing the Port Arthur historic site. I think this was a real miracle.

6th Feb. Ten days remain until we catch the ferry back to the mainland so time to start to head up the West coast. Stay the night at Swansea right on the beach. Unfortunately there is a really stiff breeze but it was great to wake up to the sounds on waves breaking on the shore. From here we moved to Coles Bay which is the town nearest to Wine Glass Bay. Manage to get another beach side site at Freycinet National Park. Unfortunately on the Wednesday the weather turned wet so the walk to Wine Glass Bay was delayed.

As we were running out of gas (needed for cooking and refrigeration), on the way to Freycinet we called in at Bicheno. This turned out to be probably the most expensive gas on earth but we had no choice.

in Bicheno we went looking for some fresh fish for dinner – it is after all a town based on fishing (according to Lonely Planet). We ended up down by the wharf and managed to buy some rather nice Ling and also a lobster roll for lunch.

The ling ended up in a sweet potato and fish curry – extremely nice it was too. The lobster roll was rather lacking in lobster.

The scrabble situation is getting rather tense. I had one absolutely catastrophic loss which coincided with a almost insatiable need for food.

I had some great letters but my brain refused to let me use them unless they were part of a triple word or covered a triple letter – needless to say I lost very badly and indeed my scrabble vibe was killed….. Oh these Norwegians (for anyone over 25 – look it up…)

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On The Wine Glass Bay Walk

Friday 9th Feb – The weather had improved so we decided to do the long version of the Wineglass Bay Walk.

It’s a circular route of 11Km taking about 5 hours. The first part is steep going up and then descending down into Wineglass Bay

From there there’s a beach walk before returning to the start point which is another steep climb from sea level. We actually did it in under 4 hours with several stops along the way.

After the walk we headed North through St. Helens ending up at Binalong Bay (Bay of Fires)

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The Perfect Free Camping Spot – Bay of Fires

which is the start of about 30Km of beach. It was late on a Friday evening before a long weekend in South Tasmania (we didn’t know this) so good spots were at a premium but managed to find a quiet one and then on the Sunday we managed to find a wonderful spot right on the beach. Just sitting there listening to the waves

crashing about 20 metres away was great – what more could one ask for. Unfortunately I’m still reading “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” so feeling a bit guilty.

As an aside, William’s social skills are much improved. Not sure if the scrabble has improved his word-power or what but he is becoming quite a chatterbox – not sure if this is good or bad – only time will tell.

We were both very sorry to leave Binalong bay, the campsite was perfect and free. Just before we left, someone gave William a whole fish which looked rather like a salmon. This is one of the benefits of improved social skills – and being a Norwegian it was scaled, gutted and in the freezer in no time.

By now William was talking to anyone and everyone including some mountain bike enthusiasts who recommended going to Derby (pronounced Durbey).

This is the mountain bike capital of Australia. When we arrived, we managed to find another great spot down by the river (again free).

Monday Feb 12th William did 2 of the bike tracks (level 1 and level 2) the top rating is level 6. I passed on the tracks (still had a sore hip from the Wineglass Bay walk) and mooched around and read.

In the evening we went to the only place open – a wine and pizza place. It’s was obvious that the whole town just revolves around mountain biking, they certainly can’t cook pizza or have any idea how a CBA card terminal works. Everyone, including us, got the wrong bill..

We thought Derby was rather a nice place and possibly a nice place to bring up chickens and bees. Probably very cold in the winter and was described by a Tasmania we got talking to as “rough”.

Books Finished – Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Books Started – Thatcher stole my trousers – Alexi Sayle

Tuesday/Wednesday Feb 13th/14th . From Derby we moved on to Launceston (Tasmania’s second city). Another great campsite 5kms outside the city. The place is called Old Mac’s Campsite and has animals, sheep, cows and llamas, and a great cafe.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible, so bad I didn’t leave the van because of gale force winds, didn’t even manage to get into Launceston so have no idea what it’s like. William ventured in but didn’t stay long.

To date my Scrabble performance was acceptable – hadn’t actually lost any matches since the great disaster of Feb 6th but this night I lost by almost 100 points and I have no excuses other than Williams incredible luck and my poor spelling.

Thursday /Friday 15th/16th Feb – Moved on to Devonport in preparation to catch the ferry on the 17th.

In the afternoon we both went looking for a barber. Neither of us had had a haircut since leaving Sydney early January and I hadn’t shaved – we were both looking kind of woolly.

Managed to find a suitable place and had the usual content free conversation and then Willy got the family question “are you two family?” the next one is usually “am I Willy’s father”[*]. Willy decided to head this one off immediately and said we were married. Surprisingly no one missed a beat which is quite surprising considering this is Uncle Otto’s nephew, Senator Eric Abetz country. Probably they discussed it after we left – hope so we don’t want to become mainstream…

[*]amuses him but pisses me off….

Dinner was eating our way through the freezer. Gas has to be off for the ferry so it’s prawns and Ice Cream for dinner.

Took it very easy on the Friday, weather still not great. I went shopping in the morning, did the shopping and then decided that the queues at the check-outs were too long so abandoned the basket. Interestingly there are very few DIY checkouts in Tasmania – what can it mean?

In the afternoon went to see “Three Billboards” – William was doing things around the van.

When I got back to the van I had to Google the movie to make sure what I saw was as the makers intended. The last scene left me totally perplexed. Fortunately Google confirmed I had not mis-understood and I was spot on in my interpretation.

It was a good movie and worth seeing if only to see if you can do any better than the Google explanation.

Went out for dinner at the local Surf Club -which turned out to be very good. This was followed by an early night as we had to be at the ferry terminal at 7.30 the next morning.

Up bright and early to catch the ferry, it happened to be the day of the Devonport Triathlon.

We are due to arrive in Port Melbourne at 18:30 (it’s now 17:00) . Spending the night in a local Caravan Park not too far from the CBD.

We have both managed to sleep most of the crossing so may wander in to Melbourne….

For anyone interested – Lisa (the cat) is extremely well and likes living in Wagga Wagga

March 21, 2018April 27, 2018

Melbourne to Snowtown Feb-Mar 2018 (Part 4)

The previous Blog – Part 4 ended when we left on the Ferry from Tasmania back to Melbourne.

This part covers the trip from Melbourne to Adelaide and then our adventures in South Australia up to the time we went to Snowtown.

It should have covered the whole of SA but for various reasons like driving licences and bike parts we will be in South Australia longer than expected. As we are being hounded by our readers for the next instalment it has been released a little earlier than planned while we are still in SA.

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Saturday 17th Feb – left on the 09:00 ferry and arrived back in Port Melbourne at 18:30. It was a totally un-eventful trip as we both spent most of the time sleeping.

Went into the city on the Saturday night – it was the White Night festival so the place was buzzy. On the Sunday met up with an old friend from Hong Kong aka Magic Paul due to his ability to do magic tricks or at least that’s what he said. Spent the afternoon with them in Fitzroy drinking and generally lapping up the atmosphere. It was good to catch up.

Monday 19th Feb – had some bits and pieces of shopping to do which included looking for an anti-flap device for Marge’s awning (partially successful) and visit to IKEA which included the mandatory Swedish Meat Balls for William and Veggie Balls for me. We were looking for 2 pillows to fit the pillow cases we had brought with us by mistake.

Spent most of the day in the City on errands before taking the road to Geelong and the Great Ocean Road.

We weren’t sure how far we would get so hadn’t booked anything. We ended up on an equestrian farm, in a paddock and were the only ones there. The difference in price between Victoria and Tasmania came as quite a shock, hopefully once we get off the GOR prices will become more sensible.

Left the paddock about 11 went back to Torquay and then started back along the GOR .

The scenery is splendid. For the most part it hugs the coastline with dense forests on one side and the Ocean and absolutely beautiful beaches on the other. We decided to stop the night (Tuesday 20th Feb) at Wye River. This is one of the numerous creeks that drain down to the sea along the length of the GOR. The campsite, unfortunately not free, was right on the beach.

We had heard many stories about the number of tourists on the GOR and horror stories of inexperienced overseas drivers. There certainly are wall to wall tourists from our Asian neighbours – they must be keeping this part of Australia afloat .

As for the driving, we had a couple of experiences with obviously very very nervous drivers travelling well below the speed limit also there was tendency to stop and look at sights and animals with little regard to the traffic conditions. Many of the road signs are in Chinese and frequent signs saying “In Australia drive on the left”

On Wednesday21st we decided to head back in-land into the Otway National Park. Willy had found a mountain bike track is Forrest – so off we went. We found a great free campsite at Stevenson’s Falls – it was quite superb and about 6Kms from the bike tracks. The campsite was down in a valley surrounded by dense, very lush forests, a steam and plenty of large sites each with their own fire pit. Building fires seems to be an obsession with most campers – we haven’t caught the bug yet but we nearly bought an axe in Aldi last time we went shopping. Apparently also useful for killing wild pigs and on a more serious note finishing off any thing that you might hit – (animals not people).

Unfortunately the river banks in the campsite were being taken over by blackberries – quite awful as it devastates the local flora (or is that fauna?).. The upside is great bird life. Groups of Blue Wrens hopping about, Woody Ducks and Yellow Robins…. together with some Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos and the inevitable Kookaburras…

I did ask William if I could go mountain bike riding with him but he said that he would be “dis-respected” by the brotherhood if he was seen with someone on a non-binary bike. Obviously falling off your bike and breaking you shoulder in Taylor Square Sydney is quite a different matter – nothing disrespectful about that!

Needless to say I didn’t go on the mountain bike trails but did the rail-trail which was really good. On the way came across the echidna in the video. The quietness and peace of the place was wonderful.

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We enjoyed Forrest and the campsite so much we decided to stay another night and the next day William did some of the harder bike trails while I read my book and ate ice cream.

Friday – 23rd Feb – Even though the weather was rather bleak, raining and only about 19º, we headed back to the coast making for the 12 Apostles (Sandstone Stacks). They are worth visiting but I think the only way to really appreciate them would be to do the walk along the coast and take in the whole spectacle, just going and looking at them in isolation doesn’t do them justice.

Today happens to be my birthday – but nothing happened. About 5 in the evening after a give away phone call from John R he suddenly realised – too late. Apparently he had worked out that Saturday was the 23rd.

We stayed the night in Port Campbell, went out to the local pub for dinner – no birthday cake though.

Saturday 24th Feb – Visited Loch Arg Gorge which was the site of a shipwreck in the 1800’s, more sandstone pillars which I think are more dramatic than the 12 Apostles.

Then headed back along the GOR and ended up in Portland. The weather was still bad so didn’t actually do anything. Our neighbours at the Portland campsite were friends of Dorothy’s from Newcastle (NSW) – you can always tell really cutting edge and fashionable – just like ourselves.

From Portland, on the Monday 26th Feb, we again headed inland to The Grampians – this is a mountain range/national park in the West of Victoria. Found a rather nice free camping site at Halls Gap. On the Tuesday did the Pinnacle walk which is about 6km round trip through an area strewn with huge boulders with sandstone peaks. Took about 60mins to reach “The Pinnacle” which is an outcrop that overhangs the valley below.

It was great until a bunch of tourists (Germans) decided to start flying drones. William, himself a drone enthusiast, soon put paid to that!. Actually flying drones is banned anywhere within national parks.

Late in the afternoon we moved to another campsite in Halls Gap – we were in urgent need of laundry facilities. Great site but judging by the droppings there must be wombats. Wombat’s poo is square so it doesn’t roll away – at least that’s what we have been told. If you’re wondering about non-rolling poo it a scent marking thing – or again that’s what we have been told – won’t look it up as I don’t want to be disillusioned.

Tuesday 27th Feb – had another late start and headed for Mount Gambier via a route less travelled. Ended up in a free camping site in Casterton which is the Kelpie capital of the world. Lovely camping site down by the Ess Lagoon which apparently is full of Trout and Red Fin – now if only one of us knew something about fishing we would be OK. Apparently fishing in the Southern Hemisphere is totally different from fishing in the Northern Hemisphere and there is no cross-hemisphere commonality!

Wednesday 28th Feb – Weather turned nasty again really windy and quite cold. Crossed the border into South Australia and stopped off in Mount Gambier for a coffee. The Lonely Traveller guide sums it up well by saying “Mount Gambier is much improved – you can now get a decent coffee” or words to that effect. Had a look at the Blue Lake which is an extinct volcano full of water of the most beautiful blue. It’s only blue for a couple of months in summer and then turns normal water colour. Nobody knows why – perhaps something to do with (saint) Mary Mckillop who came from near here. Needless to say we didn’t do the MMc tourist route for fear of being struck down.

Right in the centre of the town is a large cave caused through erosion of the under lying sandstone. You descend a set of steps look into the cave and see the pavement and shops above – a strange juxtaposition, there’s also a good set of information. and an evening son et luminere show. The biggest problem is someone has thrown two Woolworth’s super-maket trolleys into the middle of this – not a good look.

From Mt.Gambier we took the coast road towards Adelaide. No really good free camping parks so we stayed in a rather nice paying one in Robe which is a rather nice, obviously quite wealthy town.

Countyside- wise there not a lot to see on the road it’s very flat but just far enough away from the water to obscure any views. The weather was still cold and windy so not the greatest introduction to SA.

Thursday 1st March – went Free Camping at Pelican Point which is in the Coorong National Park. The Coorong National Park is a protected area located in South Australia about 150 kms southeast of Adelaide. It pre-dominantly covers a lagoon ecosystem officially known as the Coorong and the Younghusband Peninsula – watch the video below for more.

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Being within the lagoon it’s not a great beach to swim from – most of the sand is covered in a thick layer of salt and the detritus from birds and the surrounding scrub. It is however totally deserted. We were there 3 days and saw only one other couple (Danish) so a great place to do nothing. – which we both succeeded in doing.

Saturday moved on to Adelaide to site near West Beach. Didn’t realise that it

was the motor racing weekend (was the Clipseal 500 but is now just the Adelaide 500) it was also Fringe weekend so went into the City (good biking city) in the evening. Wandered around for a couple of hours, some of the light shows were very similar to Sydney’s Vivid but in a much smaller areas so easier to see more.

In the The Garden of Unearthly Delights (Rundle Park) a mixture of comedians and vaudeville plus food and drink and stomach churning rides.

Sunday and Monday spent looking around the city. We are actually coming back the following weekend for the Womad Festival.

Monday evening we went for dinner with some old friends of Willy’s, only problem was Willy managed to get a puncture on the way there so had to ditch the bikes for the night and Uber it. The mountain bike, rather than my non-binary bike, seems to be very susceptible to breakdowns.

With all the activity in Adelaide (car racing, Fringe, Adelaide Festival and WOMAD) prices were a bit steep. We decided to go south for a few days free camping at Rapid Bay.

Rapid Bay – breakfast by the water. Can you see the Dolphin?

On the second day we manage to get a perfect site right on the beach. It’s so good we were watching dolphins while having morning coffee in the shade of the van. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

But as with most things in life there’s a downside. The place is so good and easy driving to the City it fills up at weekend with Adelaidians out to party so we left on Friday 9th March to go back to Adelaide.

On the way down to Rapid Bay we had stopped to get some post from a friend of Willy’s from his Adelaide days. We were hoping to pick up, amongst other things, his renewed driving licence. Yes, I know going away for a year you would check that your driving licence was valid for at least 12 months.

What we got was a letter plus all the submitted documentation – there was a signature missing and the licence actually expired today – I’m now the sole driver and we had to start the application process again.

He signed the form and rushed to the post office to express post it back to the licence centre in Parkes, NSW. About an hour later he went to get his wallet and found the photos for his licence in his pocket. Fortunately we managed to recover the package from the Post Office and include the photos.

Spent three nights at Rapid Bay before returning to the Big Smoke (Adelaide) on Friday morning in time to take Willy’s bike in for a service… Safely arrived in Adelaide dropped the bike off and then went shopping for a sunscreen for Marge which we found. Driving Marge around a city isn’t as daunting as it sounds except for parking which is an absolute nightmare!

No news of the licence at the processing centre so i looks like we won’t see it until mid-next week at the earliest. Poor William I think he feels somehow emasculated having to ride in the passenger seat.

Arrived back safely at the West Beach Caravan park in Adelaide where we had stayed the previous week.

Saturday 10th March – went into town to mooch around The Fringe – decided on a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, went for a beer and then back to the restaurant, Half way through the meal wondered why there was no Vietnamese food on the menu and then realised we were at the restaurant next door.

Tried to get into a couple of fringe shows but sold out so we decided to go and see John Hastings (we had been given a complimentary ticket so just had to buy one more). I thought he was really good and so pleased we weren’t in the front row.

One line I particularly liked was he considers riding a bike makes you superior to Vegans.

After the show sat around listening to the music until 2am – it was really good, very laid back, great temperature and not too many people.

Disaster – Willy’s bike has stopped working and the battery has to be sent back to Sydney for repair… so expect to be hanging around Adelaide for another week – there are worse place to be…

Sunday 11th March – last night was The Fringe this afternoon and this evening is Womad. (Wold of Music Adelaide)

WOMad was good, lots of ageing hippies so I felt quite at home. We watched a couple of sessions. An Australian Rapper who didn’t do much for me or Willy, an American Jazz group Kamasi Washington which was good, Avalanche who were really good and finished off with Peanut Butter Woolf who was actually a no show but nevertheless it was a great way to finish the day. For those who don’t know, PBW is a DJ and they substituted another DJ whom I am told was just as good – to me it’s just music and if you can hum along with it so much the better.

Monday 12th March – late start still in bed when I get a phone call that the Driving Licence has been approved and will be in the post tomorrow. Almost back to normal, bike battery is being couriered up to Sydney tomorrow and no mention of the broken toe…(happened when he stepped in his belt buckle and jumped the wrong way).

Looks like we will be spending the day tidying up, washing and doing odd and ends. We have decided to go North tomorrow to the Yorke Peninsula.

Tuesday 13th March – headed to the Yorke Peninsula which is to the North West of Adelaide – it’s shaped rather like Italy but that’s where the resemblance ends. It’s very flat, not very big and a big fishing area which is of no great interest to us. However as we need to hang around Adelaide for a while it’s in easy distance and has some good camping grounds. We end up in a nudist camping ground which was great. Very quiet, very relaxing, very dusty and very cheap with great hot showers.

Apart from fishing the area is farming, mainly wheat so acres and acres of flat yellow fields with a big sky – very relaxing except for the fact that the scrabble situation is dire. I have lost twice now – think i’ll remove the “z”, “x” and “q’s”. Being lucky he always gets them – “ark” spelt with a “q” is a new one though plus interchangeable “v”‘s and “w”‘s …….

Friday 16th March – We end up staying three nights at the nudist park so leave on the Friday to go further south to the Innes National Park. Tried Turton Point but that’s full of fishermen so move on to Marion Bay.

Stayed at Marion Bay camp site for 2 nights – it’s OK, go to the local hotel for dinner on Saturday night expecting it to be really quiet but the place is heaving. The local fish is King George Whiting and it is really delicious. Had diner and then retired back to the campsite.

Sunday 17th March – weather really funny incredibly hot sun but with a really cold wind and some rain. Move northwards and stay at Pondalowrie Campground. Quite deserted stay for 3 nights free camping.

Remains of The Edith – Innes National Park

Again it’s very quiet. The beaches are really beautiful but you wouldn’t want to go anywhere near the water unless you had some sort of death wish. The waves are relentless but really spectacular.

Went to an historic village built on the long gone gypsum industry which was sort of interesting. What was more interesting was I nearly became roadkill myself when a ostrich (or is that emu) and chick decided run across the road right in front of the bike. That would have been truely ironic… Nature strikes back!

Wednesday 21st March – We get a message that the bike shop in Sydney expects the part to be available tomorrow so that means it wont be in Adelaide until next week at the earliest.

So, having seen most of the Yorke Peninsula we decide to head north to the Flinders Ranges. Normally we would have done this on our way West to Western Australia but with time to kill we decide to do it now, then go back to Adelaide to collect the bike and licence etc etc before heading of to WA.

It’s about a 5 hour journey to the Flinders Ranges so William plans to break the trip. Of all places to stop he selects Snowtown.

For those of you who don’t know Snowtown was the location of some very gruesome murders in the late nineties. So gruesome that no one I know has managed to watch the film made about the incident from beginning to end,

So here in Snowtown ends this part of blog. We hope you enjoy it and if one or both of us disappears we are probably in a barrel in the bank!

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Books Started: Letters from the Trenches, Thatcher stole my trousers, The Little Paris Bookshop

Books Finished: Letters from the Trenches; Thatchers stole my trousers

PS – sorry about the lack of images towards the end of the blog but Facebook is not the only high tech organisation with problems. Our graphics department has become a bit bolshie – something about quality rather than quantity. All will be sorted out by the next edition.

April 27, 2018May 21, 2019

Snowtown (SA) to Albany (WA) Mar-Apr 2018 (Part 5)

At the end of the last post we were in Snowtown in South Australia. This post covers the trip from South Australia over the Nullabor to Albany in WA

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We left the campsite at Snowtown on Thursday morning – 21st March and as we needed some supplies went into the town. Not sure what it was like before the murders but the infamy doesn’t seem to have done much for it. Went to the local supermarket and got into a conversation with the really nice checkout lady. She wanted to travel and visit Bulgaria where her family was originally from. However her parents had been recently for a visit and decided that it was much too violent so returned to Snowtown. I sort of found this ironic.

While in Snowtown we couldn’t resist having a look at the bank where the bodies were found, normally neither of us is ghoulish but we just had to go and have a look. Thanks to Google it’s easy to find, right on the Main Street not far from the supermarket. We’ve attached the picture, obviously the locals are sick of people looking so if you look very carefully there’s a head with a pair of binocular staring back over the fence. I’m really surprised that the building has been pulled down. It’s not exactly of any architectural importance.

From Snowtown we headed north again for the Flinders Ranges, not much to see on the way. We stopped for a coffee in Melrose, the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges and at the base of Mount Remarkable. It happens to be another mountain bike centre. On the trip so far we have come across three mountain bike towns and all have been rather smart and much more go ahead than the normal country town.

Talking of bikes, Willy’s battery still has not been sent back to Adelaide so we still have to go back to Adelaide to collect it. That evening we end up at Warrens Gorge just on the perimeter of the Flinders Ranges.. Everywhere is incredibly dry really dusty and scrubby. We are the only people around so have our pick of sites – lots of kangaroos, a couple of really big grey ones, feral goats and a small herd of sheep wandering around.

On the Friday I do the Warren Gorge walk which is 5kms in a loop. Not particularly spectacular but easy walking mainly along dry creek beds.

William gets the hammocks out so we have a lazy couple of days under the stars in the hammocks.

On Saturday head further into the mountains. We start to panic a bit when we go through what looks like the last serious town before we hit the “outback” and there’s no fuel station. – We estimate that we have about 100Km worth of diesel on board.. We had booked a campsite in the national park so the choice was to go to the campsite hoping that when we leave we can find fuel, or go past the campsite to the next “town” and try and get fuel.

The only difference between the two option was that with the former I spend the next 2 days worrying about the fuel situation.

The next “town”, Parachilna is 20Km further on – there’s no 3G signal so we can’t look it up. Arrive in Parachilna, population of between 4 and 7, and home to the legendary Prairie Hotel. The Hotel is famous for it’s FMG (Feral Mixed Grill) This is supposed to be one of the top 100 gourmet experiences of Australia. I am assured it’s not roadkill!

To get fuel we get directed to a village 17kms off the main road. It’s on an unsealed road but we make it, and gorge ourself on slightly more expensive than normal diesel vowing never run low again.

As luck has it our fuel detour takes us quite close to our camping site, and we arrive about 5 in the evening. There’s one other van there so again nice and quiet right by the side of a dry river bed..

The campsite is about 30kms from the Wilpena Pound, a very strange geological structure. We spend most of Sunday climbing to the top of Olhseen Bagge peak which is about a 8 km round trip and gives a great view of the area. While up there relaxing I saw a beautiful wedge tailed eagle, unfortunately I was too slow with the phone to capture it.

On Monday 26th we head back to Adelaide, the battery was expected mid-week. We stop one night at Peterborough, a small railway town of no particular interest unless you’re are a steam buff. They have some old engines and carriages but that’s about it. The weather was starting to get really cold and had the van heating on for the first time.
Arrived back in Adelaide Tuesday 27th March (Easter Week) mid-afternoon. The countryside on the way down is very flat and dry dry until you reach the outskirts of Adelaide.

The bike battery has left Sydney but not yet arrived in Adelaide. Being a battery it has to come by road so who knows. We settle into the campsite, catch up with friends of Willy for dinner and spend the next 2 days mooching around and getting Marge done – there had been a Fiat recall.

Thursday and hallelujah the battery arrives so we can move on. This is great news as the campsite is totally full and we need to get away from the crowd.

Friday March 30th (Good Friday) we pack up and are on our way by 10:00 which is really early for us.

Our next known destination is Esperence WA so we have to go to Port Augusta which is really the central point for routes between WA and all other states. Both the Ghan and the Indian Pacific Railway routes go through Port Augusta and it is the major road route between East and West. Port Augusta is at the top of the Eyre Peninsula which is in itself a massive region for wheat and other crops. It’s low lying with very low rainfall so there is not a lot to see.

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Wilpena Pound – Mount Ohlssen Bagge
(this is the ridge we climbed)

We decide to take the Eyre Highway and set the Google Maps for Iron Knob and off we go stopping at Port Augusta (smelters and steel works) for some last minute provisions before hitting the outback.

Iron Knob is a truely unremarkable town which seems to be made up entirely of tin sheds and a campground which is not too bad. It has all the basic facilities and isn’t too busy. While we’re there someone with an identical van to our comes over for a chat. You end up hearing a few horror stories, and stuff you really don’t want to hear about but hopefully you’ll pick up some information that might be useful if something goes wrong.

The next day we move on to a Minnipa and camp at Pildappa Rock which is one of the many granite outcrops in this area. Pildappa is quite beautiful to look at with it’s magnificent wave forms – it’s easy to understand why these forms have such significance to the Aboriginals.

Pildappa Rock Wave – SA (no flies on me)

Pildappa is very climb-able and in fact we did a midnight trip up to the top to look at the stars – awesome!

There’s only one problem – FLIES. Fortunately we had bought nets before we arrived so after donning these, long trousers, long sleeved shirts and heaps of Deet we were relatively well protected, but even so they drive you crazy. Fortunately they go away once the sun goes down but during daylight especially when there’s no wind they unbearable.

We actually saw one couple walking around inside a large, double bed sized mosquito net.

We were intending to go further into the Gawler National Park but after the experience with the flies decide to move to the West coast of the Eyre Peninsula and head for Streaky Bay where there are a couple of good free campsites.

The site we choose is perched high on cliffs overlooking the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight. Apparently it’s a great whale watching location but unfortunately we are much too early in the year to catch any mammalian sea life.

After 2 days at the campsite on the cliffs, the wind, sand and dust gets just too much so we decide to move into a park in Streaky Bay where we stay for 2 nights. We take the opportunity to do the laundry and stock up on a few supplies. No point in getting too much fresh food as this has to be handed in to the Border Police when entering WA.

Streaky Bay itself is rather a nice little town the local hotel offers a regular bus service into town from the campsite and we go in on the first night for dinner. I have a very acceptable fish and chips whilst William goes for the rump steak.

Thursday 5th April – Time to start the great westward track across the Nullarbor. We leave the camp and set the satnav for Ceduna which is the last major town before heading down the Eyre Highway. Ceduna is approximately 500Kms from the WA border and 1,500kms from Norseman which is the first ‘major’ town on our way to Esperance(WA).

We’re in no particular hurry but aim for get to Esperance sometime on Monday which gives us 4 night stops on the way.

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Just before the Nullabor at Penong, Australia’s largest Windmill

The first day we travel to Yalata and stayed the night deep in the bush to get away from the road noise. Next day we move on to a rather nice free camp near Border Village (very original name) overlooking the Great Australian Bight and just 10kms from the WA Border,

**Head of the Bight – Whale Nursery – Nullarbor**

We got very confused with time zones – mainly because 3G was very varied. I remained on SA time while Willy ended up 3 hours ahead on WA time.

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Willy trying to coax an emu on the Nullarbor

Before crossing the border into WA we dumped all the fresh fruit and vegetables before being inspected by quarantine people who gave the van the once over.

From the border we drove for several hours and camped again in the scrub just outside Caiguna. Sunday 8th April drove to Norseman which is really the end of the crossing. From here you can turn right to Kalgoorlie, straight on to Perth or turn left to Esperance.

Spent the night at Norseman and left about 10.00 for Esperance. Called in at the local IGA for some fresh fruit but absolutely nothing – no fruit no vegetables! There was one other customer who was dressed in a burka which I found quite strange – I suppose I just wasn’t expecting to see someone in a burka in a very small outback town – great multiculturalism but certainly took me by surprise.

Arrived in Esperance about mid day and caught up with Tony and David, two friends from NSW who were also on the grey nomad track. They have been travelling for years, and have no plans to give it up.

Wednesday 11th April – decide to go East towards Cape Le Grand National Park. There is a campsite down on the beach which is small and very popular so decide to take a chance on getting a spot, if that doesn’t work the plan is to move to the next site at Lucky Bay.

Some last minute shopping and off we go. Unfortunately WA school holidays start on Friday 13th for 2 weeks so things could be tight.

Luck is with us and we manage to get the last spot at Cape Le Grand, it’s a great site about 20 spaces with lots of privacy between sites and about 2 minutes from the beach. Spend the next 3 nights here, we both do the walk to Frenchman’s Peak – so named by the British when exploring the areas as the top looks like a hat worn by french soldiers.

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Kite Flying at Cape Le Grand

Willy does it the day we arrive I do it the next day. The views and landscapes are stunning. It’s coastal and very flat but with some very large granite outcrops which have been shaped by the sea which once covered the whole area.

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Walking from Lucky Bay to Hellfire Bay

The beaches are of very soft white sand, they stretch for miles, only interrupted by outcrops forming headland. We spend some time one afternoon flying the kite on the beach – see the video…

On Saturday 14th we go and have a look at Lucky Bay which was our fall back option if we couldn’t get in at Cape Le Grand. There are several spots here so we decide to stay for a couple of nights.

This site turns out to be even better than Cape Le Grand having recently been upgraded. The sites are large and the surroundings are absolutely stunning. More walking in the bush and also along the beach. We stay for 2 nights and have then literally run out of cash so need to go back to Esperance and find an ATM.

Stayed overnight in Esperance – long enough to do the washing and pick up some supplies.

Tuesday 17th April – Left Esperance with no particular destination in mind – just westwards somewhere. Took the coastal road and ended up at a campsite in the Stokes National Park. It was a good site but the area wasn’t terribly inspiring quite flat and a bit scrubby.

The site had a couple of volunteer host rangers who announced that there was a “meet and greet” at 5 o’clock. This struck panic into both of us – having to meet a bunch of strangers. Anyway, after much deliberation we forced ourselves to go and quite enjoyed it. Heard one story about a couple who had been travelling around Australia for 23 years!

I finished “Bring up the Bodies” and swapped it for a John le Carr

Wednesday 18th April – left Benwenerup camping ground heading west towards Hopetoun which is a rather nice old port town . Had a look at the campsite and decided to continue on to Fitzgerald River National Park where we stopped for two the nights at Hamersley Inlet which happens to be a world acknowledged Biosphere….

The local vegetation is great with Banksia everywhere plus some Royal Hakea

which are really strange and magnificent. Another good campsite, lots of room, lots of privacy and nice clean loos. I did a walk to the coast which is about 2kms through the bush and William went looking for photo opportunities down by the lagoon.

On the way back from the sea I stopped to read an article by Richard Flanagan – here’s a link to it. It’s a beautifully written piece that articulates not only what’s wrong with our politics but also suggests how we could start to put them right. It’s a very moving piece – take time to read it especially with Anzac day coming up.

On a lighter note – something quite strange happened. On Tuesday night I had a dream about living in a dystopian world after Trump had decided to drop a bomb on someone. We were OK ‘cos we had the van and were fairly self sufficient’. However we needed fuel and when we went to a garage there was no electricity for the pumps. I impressed everyone by rewiring the pumps to Marge and got the fuel. Today when we pulled into a garage for fuel we couldn’t get any as the garage had no electricity! What with the stigmata episode and now this I think i may be developing new super natural powers….

Several warnings about snakes particularly about big Brown snakes and Vipers! Basically said that Brown snakes will only attack if you piss them off. William made the obvious comment about how I should stay away from them due to my ability to piss everybody off.

Must stop now about to start a Scrabble game….(Victory is mine)

On Friday 20th April left the Biosphere heading further along the coast towards Albany. Unfortunately there are few sealed roads in and out of the Biosphere so we had to go inland and ended up at Moingup Springs which is in the Sterling Ranges National Park.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/40728958455/in/dateposted-public/

Bluff Knoll – A view from the top

There’s a walk – Bluff Knoll – about 16Kms from the campsite. It’s only a short walk but very steep and warns that this is one of the few places in WA to get snow. Apparently once you get near the top if there is any doubt about the weather don’t go any further….. We shall see

Well that went well, quite a strenuous 3km each way walk rising to 1,100 metres so steep all the way but well worth the effort for the magnificent 360 degree views from the top. Got back to the camp ground late afternoon and had a good read – Le Carre

After supper sat outside and watched a big electrical storm in the late evening. This is probably only the second storm we have seen since we’ve been away. The rain should make the farmers happy.

Sunday 22nd April – moved about 50Km further on to the Porongurup National Park. The weather is very autumnal with sun one minute and rain and wind the next so not a lot got done today. I did some blogging and William visiting a Winery and bought an extremely expensive bottle of Pinot Noir. The man opened up especially for him so he really had no choice. We were going to stay just the Sunday night but decided to stay another night and do one of the walks in the National Park. The countryside is very similar to the area around Cape Le Grand and Lucky Bay with big rounded rocks formed from Plutons. Plutons is a new scrabble word for us – first one to lay it down gets 50 points.

The Granite Skywalk - Porongurup National Park

Packed up from the Porongurup campsite and did the Granite Skywalk which is in the same National Park. It’s a 2.2Km steep walk to an enormous outcrop. The outcrop has been topped with a skywalk which was built by abseilers with parts dropped from helicopter, Clambering up to the first of the big boulders is quite tricky and well outside my comfort zone but managed it and pleased I did.

From the skywalk we headed into Albany on probably the worst day of the year for accomodation. Albany was a troop departure point during WW1 and, tomorrow being ANZAC day, it’s full of people in uniform with brass bands etc.

Apart from that it’s a really nice town with lots of old colonial buildings unfortunately none of them seem to be inhabited by barbers as I am in desperate need of a tidying up. Apparently I’m looking rather feral!

Do lots of shopping, including buying a Scrabble dictionary, and head out for the Cosy Corner free camping site about 25Km out of town, The place is really busy but they manage to squeeze us in which is no mean feat for a 8m van.

Managed to get a better site for Marge first thing in the morning, weather very mixed and rather cool.

We stayed at Cosy Corner for 2 nights. On Thursday 26th April we moved into Albany town for one night.

Friday 27th April we left Albany to continue our journey towards Perth. We have to be in Perth by May 10th (William’s Birthday) in time to meet Michael and get all the gifts and cards he will be bringing with him from our many friends in Sydney.

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May 25, 2018October 18, 2020

Albany (WA) to Geraldton (WA) Apr-May 2018(Part 6)

The previous post ended in Esperance/Denmark WA.

This post covers the travel adventures from Albany on the South coast of WA through to Geraldton on the West coast. This is about 1,200km however, with our side trips etc it was probably double that.

We have done 16,000km since we took off in December 2017

Before I start here’s something I missed from the previous post…..

While we were in Adelaide we caught up with some old friends of Willy – Paul, Rosanna and daughter Maddie.

While we were there Paul promised to write some music for me (not an offer you get every day) here it is and it’s called “Johns Blues”. I can only guess the reason for the title.

I only found out when the score arrived that William can’t read music. I therefore have no idea what “John’s Blues” sounds like but I bet it’s good – perhaps even sonnet like!

If anyone manages to record it please send me a copy. It’s written for the Saxophone if that helps.

Sunday 29th April – The last posting was from a lovely working farm campsite west of Denmark. The town is now famous as the film location for Tim Winton’s book – Breath.

From there we took the bikes (40kms) to the Valley of the Giants which has an interesting forest-walk around some ancient Red Tingle Trees some of which are over 400 years old. They only grow in a very small area around Walpole with some growing to 80 meters. Most have hollowed out trunks due to forest fires but survive on a relatively thin membrane that exits under the bark and keeps the upper part nourished.

Tingle Trees - WA

On the way back back from the tingle tree we stopped at the Dinosaur, Reptile & Bird Park.

Birds at the Dinosaur Park

Two Parrots - WA	Parrot - WA	Cockatoo - WA

Hello Darlin’

Next day we left the farm campsite we heading West toward Pemberton (mountain bike country) which is about 2 hours drive just stopping on the way to see more, even bigger Tingle trees.

Arriving in Pemberton we found a campsite 8km outside the town at Big Brook Dam in the Warren National Park. Another really nice park totally surrounded by tall trees and next door to an Arboretum. Just down the path is a dam and great cycling tacks into the town,

Unfortunately the weather turned wet and quite cold, however there were some sunny breaks and we made it over to The Gloucester Tree which is two kms on the other side of town.

The Gloucester Tree is 50m tall and studded with what look like short reinforcing bars, these protrude about one metre from the trunk and provide a “stairway” to a platform high above the canopy.

Me climbing the Gloucester Tree

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/40074860720/in/dateposted-public/

Looking down from the top of the Gloucester Tree

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/40074781910/in/dateposted-public/

William coming down Gloucester Tree

William did it straight away, I however took a bit more convincing but eventually did the climb. I found it rather scary, the only protection is a wire mesh that runs at the back of you following the curve of the steps. It would help if you fell backwards, but one missed step would be disastrous as there is nothing between you and the ground except these reinforcing bars. Anyway we both made it safely up and down.

I spent the evening finishing Breath which I thoroughly enjoyed while William went mingling with the other campers until it was too cold even with a campfire to stay outside. One of the co-minglers was a “Bee man” who worked for farmers taking bee hives from place to place. In this particular area mainly used by avocado farmers. Not sure how the discussion went but William is no longer keen on keeping bees.

Wednesday May 2nd – No improvement in the weather raining one minute sun the next with a very cold wind. We drove to Augusta which is on the far SW point of WA – where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. We stayed one night at a rather forlorn campsite. There was nothing particularly wrong with it except it looked very much “work in progress” with lots of partially finished bits and pieces. It was also rather expensive….

William did some more mingling and bumped into a guy who brewed his own “liquor” or rather made his own ethanol and then added flavouring. The outcome of that was I drove the next day when we went to see the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and the Jewel Caves both of which were well worth a visit.

Apparently the lighthouse location is the basis for “The Light Between the Oceans” it’s where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. great spot but must be savage on a bad day.

After the Lighthouse Tour we went and had a look at the Jewel Cave. The Leeuwin Naturliste Park was created to preserve the regions natural beauty including the many caves that stretch along the coast. The worry was that any disturbance to the surface would have a detrimental effect on the underground caverns. Great thinking lets hope it survives….

Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, NP, WA — Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP, WA

View from the Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP, WA — View from the Lighthouse, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, NP, WA

Looking down from the top — Looking Down from the Top

Some fellow travellers had recommended a campsite in the Leeuwin Naturliste Park at a place called Boronup so we decided to try that. It was great, these campsites just keep getting better and better. Looks like the WA government have spent lots of money on tourism – certainly the parks and park facilities are top notch . Leaves NSW for dead!

The fire ban has now been lifted so last night had a big roaring fire. I sent a picture to our pyromaniacal friend (you know who you are) who was quite jealous. Sat and watched possums and bandicoots – they seem to be oblivious to flashlights.

Saturday 5th May – Headed in to Margaret River , it’s somewhat as expected , a wealthy country town full of art & craft shops. Arrived at the caravan park which is just 1km outside the town so we’re off into town for dinner tonight. Japanese which gets a very good review – we shall see. It was excellent a ix course chefs choice. The place is called Mici’s Open Kitchen.

Earlier in the day Willy went mountain bike riding (Margaret River is a big centre for MB’s) and it looks like the mountain came of better than Willy. He has one very bent front wheel and a sore shoulder (same one as last time).. Oh well at least he’s still alive.

The campsite had free wifi so I downloaded and listened to an old podcast of Late Night Live with Richard Adams. As usual his interviews were most interesting (I know I live in an echo chamber) but he had an interview with Johann Hari who has just written a book on the causes and remedies for depression. Here’s link to it – it really is most interesting

Sunday 7th May – weather terrible very wet with high gusts. So bad we had to get up in the night and put the awning in.

With William’s very sore arm after the mountain bike accident we decide to head straight to Perth rather than taking the planed 4 days. That way he can go to hospital on Monday to see if there is any serious damage.

We travel as far as Lake Brockman which is about 50 Kms south of Perth and stay the night in Logue Brook Campground – again a newly developed camp ground with good facilities. We more or less have the place to ourselves. Monday 8th May – travel into Perth and stay at the closest campsite to the city. Cities and Motorhomes are a bad mix, the camp sites are usually expensive and not particularly good. This one was no exception. We stayed 2 nights.

Willy went to have his shoulder looked at on the Tuesday – nothing broken according to the X-rays so just a matter of time and rest. I went and had a look around Perth. It’s a great city for cycling with purpose built, completely seperate bike paths right into the city centre. On the Wednesday we moved the van to the Adventist Caravan park where we stay one night before putting the van in their storage area while we move into the city. We had booked a serviced apartment for 4 days.

Thursday – 10th May – “B” day and time to meet Michael. For some reason I let myself be talked into taking the bikes into town. It was a 7km ride to the nearest railway station along what had to be the most dangerous road imaginable, narrow with extremely heavy vehicles and very poor verges. Any way we made it and checked into the apartment. Had dinner with Michael and Peter at an extremely noisey Vietnamese restrauant – food was good and company even better – some things never change..

Friday -I decide to get new glasses. I managed to sit on my existing glasses in Albany and had them fixed but they no longer fold. Therefore it’s only a matter of time before I break them again so off we go to Specsavers…

During the test went through the usual “is 1 better than 2 etc etc” when most of the time there’ s no real difference. What made this session more interesting was rather than the normal grunt from the optician the response was something like “awesome”, “tremendous” “fabulous” this made a big difference as you really felt you are getting the answers right.

In the afternoon went to see Peter and Paul and went to their local fish’n chip shop at Cottesloe beach for dinner – good fish and chips. Went drinking afterwards and saw a pretty bad drag show – that was by accident not planning.

Saturday – sock shopping, and coffee down by the river (Perth is quite lovely) then went out to dinner with Michael to a middle eastern restaurant which was exceptionally good. Sunday cycled over to Cottesloe and then went Mexican for dinner – not so good.

We both liked Perth. It reminded me of Willesden I think because of all the office blocks where the cleaners seem to have forgotten to switch the lights off. It’s seems to be a bit of a frontier place but very liveable.

Monday 14th May – William went to pick up the van from the Adventist Park while I packed up and checked out of the hotel. After having checked out I got an e-mail from the hotel asking where the TV remote control was. They eventually found it in the laundry which was quite fortuitous as I had left a bundle of washing the in wardrobe. So a win:win situation plus i got a $60 breakfast voucher. The receptionist was very apologetic a lovely Afro-Australian man.

As the glasses won’t be ready for at least 5 days we decide to hang around the Perth area for a few more days. In addition to the glasses we are considering replacing my bike. It’s really not suitable for the off-road conditions and Willy wants an upgrade. It looks like I shall inherit his old bike and he’ll get the new one. Apparently this will fix his falling off problem as the new bike as much better suspension.

We ended up in a bike shop north of Perth so decided to go to Burns Beach for the night. Stayed 2 nights and having Marge checked over tomorrow before the big trip North. First scheduled service is 40,000km which sounds an awful lot of kms without being looked at. I can remember when the first services was 1,000 miles and no travelling above 30mph as you were “running in”.

Picked up Marge and headed South to check out a bike shop, ended up in Bunbury which has it’s own residential pod of dolphins -just our luck and they had decided to go out for the day so didn’t manage to see them.

Spent the night in a place called Capel, didn’t intend to stay there but we suddenly got a warning symbol (oil can + !). Of course it’s not in the book so no idea about severity so decided to stop at the nearest site. Spoke to the garage the next morning who said – bring it back – so back to the garage which was North of Perth..

After several hours the garage couldn’t find anything wrong, nor could they find an explanation of the symbol. We sincerely hope it’s OK as there are no Fiat service centres between here and Townsville which is 7,000 kms away. It was too late to start heading North so went back to the Burns Beach site for the Friday night.

From there we start heading North heading for Geraldton which is about 400kms away . Stopped the first 2 night) at Julien Bay, Sandy Cape needless to say another great spot. The place was full when we arrived so got put in a reserved space right on the beach where we stayed until we left on Monday morning. It’s a beautiful spot even had an Emu running around on the beach.

From there we travelled to Seven Mile Beach where we watched pods of Dolphins while cooking dinner Then on the Tuesday 22nd May moved on to Geraldton.

Geraldton (22nd May – 26th May) has a spot in the town for self contained motor homes, it free and handy for the town centre but is really just a car park by the grain terminal. We decide to stop there for one night – there’s a 24 hour limit.

I visit the museum arriving at 14.45 for a 15:00 close so it’s back again tomorrow. It looks really interesting and seems to specialise in Dutch ship wrecks of which there are many on this coast. There’s also an interesting section on HMS Sydney which was sunk off the coast during WWII with no survivors.

Next day we move to free camping area just outside of the town but as the forecast is for high winds and lots of rain we decide to move back into Geraldton so we can get power and water – this time we move to a site right next to the beach.

The wind started about 4pm on Thursday, this was followed by heavy rain which lasted most of the night and most of Friday. Fortunately Marge was a good match for mother nature and apart from some rocking we survived to tell the tale.

Odds and Sods….

Regarding the bike saga – there has been progress(?). The Sydney shop where William bought his bike has agreed to take it back with a partial refund. They just can’t supply parts. So William ends up with a new dual suspension mountain bike and I get two new tyres. Apparently this is a really good solution and hence a trip back to Perth to pick up the new bike.

I have given up reading news for four weeks. I get so depressed, especially with Australian politics that it make me feel physically sick. So I’ve gone cold turkey on news and spending my time working on cryptic crosswords.

A great personal achievement – I actually managed to finish “Thomas Cromwell” by Tracy Borman – this was my 4th attempt. Have started on “A man called Ove” – that should provide some light relief.

Hope you enjoyed the latest post…

July 1, 2018October 18, 2020

Geraldton (WA) to Port Hedland (WA) – May-June 2018 (Part 7)

The last post (Part 6) ended with us in Geraldton on the West coast of WA on our way to Broome and eventually Darwin,

Everything had been going well (too well perhaps) when we ran into a couple of problems. Williams’s bike had been an on-going problem, then we had an electrical fire. We needed to go back to Perth to resolve both these issues. We then had two fairly severe low pressure systems which kept us grounded for a while firstly in Geraldton and then Carnarvon. Anyway eventually we got back on the road. We then began to realise just how big WA really is. You travel enormous distances and see nothing but red dust and scrub. This blog ends with us in Port Hedland after having spent 5 days in the Pilbara.

While on the road we sadly heard of the death of our friend David Osborne.

Rubic's Cube Loo - Geraldton — Rubic’s Cube Loo – Geraldton

The last post finished in Geraldton after a particularly wet and windy couple of days. On the Saturday, Willy announced we were going back to Perth to collect his new e-bike and send his old one back to Sydney.

We started the drive back stopping in the Geraldton town centre to pick up the two new tyres for my bike,. When we started off again we got a faint wiff of burning. We checked and couldn’t see anything so assumed that it was from outside and we continued on.

About 2 hours later we switched on the heater and got a really strong wiff of burning. Eventually found that the wiring under the rear passenger seat, where most of the house electricals are centred was smoking and actually glowing red hot.

We managed to disconnect what looked like the offending wires and finished the journey into Perth

Peter and Paul had kindly offered to put us up on our original trip to Perth a week before but then we had already made arrangement to stay in the city. So this time, one week later we took them up on their kind offer and arrived in time for dinner – vegetarian for me and meat for Willy. What more could one ask?

Peter and Paul live in the old established seaside suburb of Cottesloe and have a house with an enormous grass verge – absolutely perfect for Marge.

As it was Saturday we couldn’t do much about Marge until the following Monday so we fired off a couple of emails to Avan in Sydney and spent a lovely relaxing weekend by the Sea.

On the Sunday we went over to Fremantle and had a mooch around. It has a nice vibe, a mixture of the old port town with lots of restored building plus the university area. Had a beer at the Little Creatures brewery by the water followed by fish and chips.

Walked down the street with the art installation which at ground level looks like a series of random yellow stripes painted on the buildings and road. Once you view it from the steps of the old Lock-up it falls into place.

On Monday we started getting Marge sorted – it was a warranty claim so involved the place we bought it from (Sydney), the manufacturer (Melbourne) and the prospective repairer (Perth). As luck would have it the despatch place for William’s bike was just around the corner from the Avan dealer so it all sort of fell into place. We had heard some horror stories of Avan’s after sales service but we couldn’t fault the service we received and everything was fixed and tested by mid-Monday afternoon.

Back to Peter and Paul in Cottesloe for dinner before setting off again on Tuesday.

Left Cottesloe mid-morning but didn’t actually get on the road to Geraldton (again) until early afternoon. We decided to break the journey at Julien Bay where we had stayed previously.

About this time I decided it was time to switch to my new glasses, this is always problematic with graduated lenses as there are many differences between different lenses manufacturers. . After knocking over, in rapid succession, a bowl of soya sauce followed by a bottle of beer decided it was time to switch back to the old pair. Tried again the next morning and this resulting in coffee grounds all over the van.

Decided that they had to go back – there is no way I could drive in them and survive. Took them into Specsavers in Geraldton – looks like Perth got the prescription too strong so they are being remade. This time I will pick them up in Darwin.

One thing you notice outside Sydney is how friendly people are.. The people in Specsavers couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful which included squeezing me in for a complete new eye test on the spot. The chances of that in Sydney would have been nil. Also while I was trying to locate Specsavers using google maps on my phone, two people offered help. One person when I said I was looking for Specsaves remarked how ironic that was… We spent the night back at Figtree River campsite and had some local Red Emperor for diner which was absolutely delicious.

Next day (Thursday) in-spite of our best efforts didn’t manage to get away from Geraldton until after 1 o’clock. I have no idea where the days go to!

We decided to head straight for Shark Bay which was about 5 hours drive away. Fortunately the road are great only single track but dead straight and hardly any traffic other than fellow grey nomads.

We stayed at Hamlin Bay Station which is an NGO dedicated to bush preservation and bush heritage. A national non-profit conserving biodiversity in Australia. It’s worth having a look at their website. They certainly seem to be doing a good job in land and animal conservation.

While at Hamlin Bay we went to look at the Stromatolites – the oldest living thing on earth – Three Billion years? They only exist in two places on earth. No idea where the other one is. This was also the debut for the new mountain bike – what a beauty she is.


Campsite - Shark Bay, WA	Pelican - Monkey Mia, WA	Pelicans - Monkey Mia - WA

On Saturday we left to go further into the peninsular and ended up at Goulet Bay and parked on the beach. After several hours of worrying and after we started to get encircled by the encroaching sea we moved to higher ground and spent the night overlooking the beach. The weather was now getting decidedly warmer – we are only just South of the Tropic of Capricorn.

On Sunday went to Monkey Mia which was very disappointing. There’s a caravan park which is being rebuilt and the Monkey Mia complex which is a very shabby resort. Its claim to fame is a pod of Dolphins that arrive most morning to be fed. Arriving after lunch we had missed the dolphins but saw some turtles, rays and flat head(?) and that was about it.

Compared to other areas of WA Shark Bay was very disappointing. The free or council camping facilities are in great locations but due to a strong local caravan park lobby group, the regulations (no consecutive nights, no rubbish bins or facilities) make these sites almost unusable.

Not sure why other local businesses (super markets, cafes etc) don’t have the same lobby strength to encourage more visitors by opening up more camping areas with less restrictions. Considering Shark Bay is in a World Heritage Area, if business can’t survive without council help they must be doing something wrong. Certainly we wouldn’t make an effort to go back.

Monday 4th June – weather forecast is bad with storms forecast for the area. We decide to move on to Carnarvon which is the regional centre. Spend two nights waiting for the storms to pass, which they did, Marge lost a vent from the side of the van in the high winds. We managed to patch this and the plan is to pick up a new one in Port Hedland.

By Wednesday the weather was improving so we move further North heading for Exmouth. This is the Ningaloo area (Cape National Park) famous for swimming with Whale Sharks and is extremely popular with Grey Nomads.


Bullara Station Camp Site, WA	The Bottle Tree, Bullara Station, WA	Rescued Joeys - Bullara Station Camp Site, WA

We pull into the Bullara Station Homestead and stay for 2 nights (Wed & Thursday) . This is a great site very quirky, loos and showers with no roofs, goats and sheep wandering around and incredibly green after the rain. From here we want to move to Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park.

Getting a booking in the Cape Range National Park is extremely difficult, we should have done it months ago but we’re not the greatest of planners. The National Parks go down to the shore so you are actually camping in sight of the reef. In the end we manage to get five nights in the National Park for the following week and in the interim we book four nights at the Yardi Homestead Caravan Park . They have a restaurant and William thinks it’s the best Fish & Chips ever. Battered Spanish Mackerel ?

Resident Bustard at Yardie Campsite

Marge - New Fly Curtain — **Marge – New Fly Curtain**

Marge requires some emergency repairs – the bed won’t raise – William to the rescue -wonderful having two handy men on board!. We also found a replacement for the vent that blew away in Carnarvon and I found a very practical and rather retro fly curtain. William does not like it. I think this is because (a) it works (his solution didn’t) and (b) it only cost $11.00.

On Sunday (June 10th) we book to go swimming with whale sharks. We were in two minds but after listening in on a conversation at the next table over dinner decide that it’s just too good to miss.

Sunday we go snorkling with Whale Sharks. William had a good time. He managed to see Whale Sharks on each of the three dives. I wasn’t so lucky.

We had been snorkling earlier and I was fine. The coral heads are not the largest but there’s plenty of fish lurking around. When it came to the Whale Sharks on the first attempt I got into the water OK and swam towards the Whale Sharks but as soon as I put my head under water, even with the snorkel on I had a panic attack. Thinking back this is probably the first time i have been in water where I couldn’t see the bottom and knew there was something very large lurking around underneath me – the brain just couldn’t handle this and I just froze.


Whale Shark, Ingaloo, WA	Willy and Whale Shark - Ingaloo, WA	Blue Whale, Ingaloo, WA

There’s a tender just behind the group so swam over to that and rested while the remainder of the group finished the dive. On the second dive (it’s co-ordinated with a spotter plane who directs the boat) I was fine except was in the wrong position however I got a great view of the shark as it swam underneath me but I wasn’t quick enough to turn and swim alongside.

By the time of the third dive, most of the group had dropped out due to either the cold or exhaustion. The cold was due to us having to wear stinger suits, blue bottles had been seen in the area several weeks ago. William (being a wussey Norwegian) had put on a wet suit after the first dive so he was OK. I dropped out and missed the last dive. William had a great view as there were only two people out of ten left in his group.

Seeing the whale shark, even fleetingly, was quite an experience. It has been described as “life changing”, if William is anything to go by they are not instantly life changing – we can but hope.

As an added bonus we also saw a Blue Whale – apparently this is extremely rare and for most of the crew on the boat this was their first sighting.


Sea Eagle, Yardie Creek, WA	Bird in Tree with Nest - WA	Sea Eagle, Yardie Creek, WA

On Friday morning June 15th we moved to Messa Beach which is at the North end of the peninsular not far from Exmouth. It’s quite a busy campsite almost on the beach.

On the way we did the Mandu Mandu walk which follows the rocky gorge creek bed and then climbs to the top of the gorge and back to the car park. It’s about 3 kms return.

From there we checked into the Messa beach campsite and spent 2 very relaxing days (Friday & Saturday). During the day the sun is very hot but temperatures drop dramatically at night. Cloudless skies which provide some amazing star gazing.

Next stop was Coral Bay which is South but sort of on the way to The Pilbara. Book in for 2 nights at one of the two very expensive sites. Spend the afternoon snorkelling on the one large coral head about 200 metres off shore. Again get another bit of a panic attack – starting to think this may be because I’m not really a very strong swimmer and perhaps this is just too much….

Out for dinner, fish and chips followed by Mississippi Mud Pie…. The weather forecast was bad and they weren’t wrong, spent the next two days sheltering from torrential tropical downpours. Marge, fortunately, is very waterproof…

From Coral Bay we went back to Exmouth for one night, it’s not exactly on way the but has much better facilities for shopping and fresh water. In Exmouth I realised I had left my wallet in the restaurant in Coral Bay so next day back to Coral Bay – this is getting monotonous.

We eventually start heading for The Pilbara on Tuesday June 19th – the roads had been closed for several days because of the all the rain. We decided to take the inland route via Tom Price into The Karijini National Park. The journey is about 600Kms, the roads are good, if anything too straight and boredom is a serious issue.

There is nothing to see just red dirt and scrub. It’s all very very flat. We stop for one night at the Geralia Station and one night at the Cheela station. One is a working cattle station, the other has been turned into a conservation area. Both have good facilities and a good atmosphere with the campsite host usually lighting a fire early evening as a bit of a get to meet your fellow campers. The campfire conversation invariably leads to where are “our wives”. So far no one has keeled over from shock.

On Friday we reach Tom Price, a remarkably nice little mining (Rio Tinto) town with a Coles (in this area, well stocked supermarkets are more important than any structure manmade or natural). . The town has several nice sculptures of kangaroos, one which is just the right size and dimension to push a Coles supermarket trolley

William rides his bike up to the top of Mount Nameless, it’s a very steep, 4WD track. He makes it there and back in one piece.

From Tom Price we go to Hamersley Gorge – this is about 40 kms away and most of it on unsealed roads. The roads turn out to be OK, you just have to take them slowly. The campsite is good almost empty and very close to the gorge . We end up staying 2 nights Saturday & Sunday June 23rd & 24th


Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Fern Pool - The Pilbara - WA

Monday 25th June we return to Tom Price for laundry and to stock up before the trip into the Kirijini National Park where we are meeting up with David and Tony at Dales Campsite.

Left Tom Price and arrived at Dales Campsite on Tuesday 26th which was rather lucky with school holidays starting on the Thursday. It’s a nice campground large and we were allocated a good site.

The main attraction is Dales Gorge which is 500m from the campsite. There’s a very steep climb down into the gorge and then an easier climb up via some man made stairs. Within the gorge there are three pools which in warmer weather are popular for swimming but it was a bit too cold for us


Hancock Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Weano Gorge - The Pilbara - WA	Dales Gorge - The Pilbara - WA

On the Thursday we go to Hancock Gorge which involves 30Kms of unsealed road but well worth the effort. Parts of the gorge here are quite spectacular, some parts are walkable other parts require wading through knee high water with some very slippery rock. That we gave that a miss to.

David and Tony arrived at the campsite on Thursday, (they are there for a month as camp volunteers) we had dinner with them on Friday prior to our moving-on on Sunday (July 1st) for Port Hedland.

Odds and Sods

I finished “A man call Ove” – it’ a very gentle book, bit of a tear jerker in parts, good for the world we live in….
Started a new book “Small Island” by Andrea Levy, another foray into fiction. Finished it, it’s relevant with the “Windrush” saga and hostile environment in the UK
Marge is up to 20,000Kms
After all these years of driving in Australia, I didn’t realise that if you want the vehicle behind to overtake you turn your right blinker on (not the left as in other LHD countries) – this does not make any sense to me.

July 5, 2018October 17, 2020

Port Hedland (WA) to Darwin (NT) July/Aug 2018 (Part 8)

The previous posting was from Port Hedland before we started the long treck North to Broome and beyond. We are now in Darwin and have been here for three weeks after having decided to extend our stay to see some of the Darwin Festival shows. The adventure continues to go well. We have now been away from Sydney for almost 8 months. From here we will go to Kakadu, back to Katherine and then on to N. Qld or down to Ayres Rock….. (We are as decisive as ever).

We stay in Port Hedland for one night which quite honestly was one night too many, We had been told to avoid the place. The park we wanted to stay was full and they recommended we try the “Black Rock” park. The name should have been a warning. It could have been a set location for “Breaking Bad” – anyway we survived and got out early the next morning.

I have started reading Paul Theroux – The Pillars of Hercules (A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean) so if you notice a change in blogging style that may be the reason. He tends to play the people rather than the places…. Half a paragraph on his visit to Barcelona – has to fill the book up with something…..

Our destination was Broome which is about 600km from Port Hedland. This has to be the most boring 600km road, leaves the Nullabour for dead. We stay one night at Eighty Mile Beach, which as the name implies is a beach 80 miles long. It’s a beach with no redeeming feature except the usual white powdery sand and crystal clear blue waters and brilliant sunsets. William has become very cynical about sunsets, refusing to photograph them and if there’s one thing WA does well it’s sunsets…

Next day we arrive in Broome. Again we had heard very mixed reports with many hardened travellers hating the commercialisation of the place “I remember it 30 years ago when it was a fishing village full of pearl divers etc etc” and other who really enjoyed it.

We were both looking forward being able to go out and get a decent cup of coffee without the layer of red dust. On the way in we saw what looked like some nuclear explosion but turned out to be burn-off somewhere near Broome.


Cloud Over Broome, WA	Cable Beach - Broome, WA	Camels on the Beach - Broome, WA

We check into a caravan park on the Cable Beach side of town; as they say in “The Castle” it’s handy for the airport. We seem to be rather near the flight path. Not a great deal to do so we basically mooch around. In the evening we go into town and plan on going to the movies.

Camels on Cable Beach, Broome, WA

Broome has the world’s oldest operating “garden cinema” it really is quite lovely and whats more they are showing “Breath” so should be the perfect setting. However when we go into town, the place is almost deserted. We end up having a not very good Thai meal and giving the cinema a miss. I managed to get the time wrong and also we feel rather unsure about leaving the bikes locked up while in the cinema. We both get chased by a dog on the way back to the van. All in all not the greatest advert for Broome. I think the residents of the very upmarket hotels and resorts don’t leave their compounds at night – that’s the way it feels.

On the Monday sign up for a trip to Cape Leveque. Before we left Sydney several people had said that this was a must. Cape Leveque or Koolijaman is at the very top of the Dampier Peninsular, 200km North of Broome. The road is being sealed but that’s still 2-3 years away so it’s 80k of unsealed followed by 120Km of sealed. No way that Marge would make that.

It is interesting to see how Aboriginal place names are being used more and more. This has to be good. It reminds me of Wales in the 1960’s when Welsh started to make a come back – now the Welsh name is first on signposts! Don’t think i’ll be around when Aboriginal becomes the first name – not with the current governments’ outright rejection of the Uluru Statement.


Cape Leveque, WA	Church on the way to Cape Leveque, WA	Turtle, Fish Nursery, Cape Leveque, WA

To travel up the Dampier Peninsular, you need permission from the native title holders and there is a charge which goes towards the communities. There are several different peoples each managing a different community. On the way up we visited Beagle Bay (so much for my knowledge of aboriginal place names) which has had a missionary presence for many years. and therefore a church the alter of which is inlaid with mother of pearl, many of the images are obviously based on aboriginals people rather than the usual western figures.

The area is famous for pearling so there’s a trip to a pearl farm which was surprisingly interesting – the tour was given by a New Zealander who talking about “chupping your tuth” when testing for pearls.. There’s also a visit to a fish nursery which is run by the community – I see my first stone fish. Wouldn’t like to meet one in the wild…

The final stop is Koolijaman itself which is rather beautiful especially the west side. If you remember the old QF advert with a choir on a red beach – this is where it was filmed.

We end up staying in Broome until Wednesday 11th July. I visited the museum and the Japanese Cemetery. The contrast between the Japanese Cemetery and the other areas (Anglican, Catholic, Malay and Muslim) was amazing. The Japanese was exactly has you would expect it to be neat, orderly, freshly racked gravel while the other areas were overgrown with rubbish everywhere. If I had a choice I think I’d go the Japanese bit but then it probably just re-enforces the “scattering to the wind” the way to go.

We leave Broome mid-day Wednesday for Derby which is about 200km from Broome on the Northern Highway. We are now far into the Kimberly’s.


Prison Baobab Tree, Derby, WA	Peacock - Derby, WA	Japanese Cemetery - Broome, WA

There are two roads across to Darwin, the Northern Highway and the Gibbs River Road. Unfortunately the GRR is 4WD only so at least that one less decision we have to make.

Stay 2 nights in Derby long enough to check out the Jetty. Derby (it’s a “e” not an “a”) was a cattle exporting port but that stopped many years ago. Earlier it played a large part in “Blackbirding”, capturing native aboriginals for labour in the pearling industry. It still has a port which moves concentrated zinc and copper and also has the second highest tidal movement in the world – 11 metres.

The campsite at Derby had two resident white peacock. We thought they must be albinos but apparently they are bred as white peacocks. Think it must be terrible to be a peacock and then turn out all white. Have a look at the video, the peacock is a young chick (Andrew) practising scaring off birds.

Perhaps the name is a clue to why he’s so ineffectual.

From Derby we move on Friday July 13th and stay overnight at Lake Ellerdale campsite about 50km short of Fitzroy Crossing. The camping area is on one side of a lake. After we parked and looked across to the other side of the lake we could see a very large crocodile lazing under a tree being annoyed by a crow. William assures me that fresh water crocs are harmless – but there is no one swimming.

Sometime while we were there the farmer obviously herded some cows into the same area so the next day we were visited by beautiful brown brahman cows. They were incredible inquisitive and very gentle if a little on the slobbery side.


Brahman Cow, Ellerdale, WA	Mother and Calf, Ellerdale, WA	Bower Bird displaying his skills, WA

Whilst in Derby we had visited the Norval Art Gallery and on the way out we stopped at the Mowanjum Arts Centre. They are both galleries/workshop for indigenous artists. A favourite figure in the painting is “The Wandjina“. The Wandjina are spirits believed in by several of the aboriginal groups living in the Kimberleys. Think we may pick up a bit of aboriginal art on our way. It’s much too easy to be cynical about Aboriginal art, but then when you consider there are cave paintings of the same spirits dating back some 35,000 years you realise just how different and enduring aboriginal culture really is.

It’s terrible to admit but I’ve never really been interested in aboriginal culture. Now, having spent some time in this part of WA where there are very strong aboriginal communities you begin understand just how rich and ancient their culture is. I think it’s so important Indigenous Australians are accepted as the first Australians and we give them a way of having input into the way Australian society develops if not they will remain as marginalised as ever.

We stay two nights at Lake Ellerdale campsite then moved on to Ngumban Cliff for one night on Sunday 15th July. These are all free camps. We pass through Fitzroy Crossing and stop to get some fuel and also some odds and ends from the supermarket.

I had an image of these towns being places to avoid or at least get through as quickly as possible. They are in fact surprising hospitable, yes there are problems for all to see, but they seem to be diverse communities working together. Obviously the grey nomads are important for their communities survival. The tourist information centres are always incredibly helpful and normally a good source of local information and also fresh water. $9 for 100 litres – seems good value to me.

From Ngumban Cliffs we move on to another free camping site at Mary Pool in the Mueller Ranges. This was on the site of an almost dried up creek with the most prolific bird life. There was a Bower Bird complete with display area of all things blue. They are incredibly tame – William got some good shots of the male showing his collection. William also managed to find a spot for his hammock near the creek and made a video selfie – worth looking/listening at/to if just for the sounds of the birdlife.

From Mary Pool we moved for two nights to the Purnululu National Park. This NP is the home of the Bungle Bungles. There’s no way you can actually get to the BB’s without a 4WD and then it’s a bit iffy. We booked a day tour from the campsite and took in two absolutely tremendous sites – Cathederal Gorge and Echinda Chasm.


Cathederal Gorge, Purnululu National Park WA	Cathederal Gorge, Purnululu National Park WA	Echidna Chasam, Purnululu National Park WA

The only downer was that the area is dry (as in no alcohol) so poor William was a little distraught. The strongest thing you can buy is light beer with an alcohol percents of 2.4%. Personally can’t see anything wrong with that!


The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA	The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA	The Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park WA

Next stop on Thursday July 19th was Wyndham which is on Cambridge Gulf which I think is part of the Ord River system. We are now well into very nasty salt water crocodile country. The campsite, which is very good, is on a creek!

William is so overjoyed to find a bottle shop that he manages to lose his wallet. We didn’t discover this until we were back at the camp ground. After turning the van upside down (William never loses anything) decide it must be at the bottle shop. Back we go and apparently he dropped it as he was getting into the van. A local found it and handed it into the man from the bottle shop – it was complete with credit cards and cash. Sort of restores your faith in people….


Crocodile (Stuffed), Wyndham, WA	Old Machinery, Wyndham, WA	The Tailor, Wyndham, WA

We spend 2 nights at Wyndham and the only crocodile we saw was in a pie that William bought on the way out. I managed to fulfill a fifty year old dream in the pie shop when I was able to say to the person behind the counter – “one crocodile pie and make it snappy” . Unfortunately she was hard of hearing but the customer next to me found it hilarious as did I.

From Wyndham we took off for Lake Argyle which is just in WA and part of the Ord River irrigation system. We spent two nights at a free camp in a gorge on the river bank about 10k from the dam itself.


	Jabiru & Brolgas - Lake Argyle, WA	Lake Argyle, WA

Crossing the border into to NT the roads seem to deteriorate and the speed limit increases to 130kph rather than 110kph. We decide to stay two nights at a bush camp at Zebra Rock Mines. We had heard about it and wanted to do the evening bird watching trip.


Zebra Rock Camp, Lake Argyle, NT	Zebra Rock Camp, Lake Argyle, NT

The trip was great, saw lots of wading birds, including Jabirus, Sea Eagles and Brolgas plus lots and lots of crocodiles.

The only down side was the racist tour guide who happened to own the lease on the Zebra Rock Mine deposit. He was racist everyone including Australians. However, he was very much in touch with the environment and was keen to keep the small deposits of Zebra Rock, which is globally unique to this area, in the ground for future generations.

On Monday 25th July we left heading for Darwin stopping one night at Timber Creek. From Timber Creek we moved to Katherine again for just one night. There were a couple of things to do in Katherine but think we were both feeling a bit “Gorged Out” after all the gorges we had seen both in the Pilbara and The Kimberleys so decided to keep going on to Darwin.

On the way we managed to crack the windscreen – this is what happens when you take the scenic route. The road was sealed but had some very bad dips and we (or rather I) missed a bad dip and grounded the suspension. We’ve done it before but this time was obviously harder. As far as we know there’s no other damage.

Fortunately it’s covered by insurance and whats more we are allowed one claim per 12 months when the access is ignored and the no claims bonus isn’t affected. So hopefully we will get it fixed in Darwin within a couple of days at no cost.

We decided to stop at Humpty Do for a couple of nights at a rather nice park in the bush, nothing to do so just relaxed. From Humpty Do on Monday 30th July we moved into a park nearer to Darwin – the park was about 8km from the CBD with a cycle path all the way into the city. Went into Darwin a couple of times and visited the Museum and Art Gallery of NT which was OK except the main exhibition of indigenous was closed. Cycled around the coast line of the city and went to the movies to see “The Breaker Uppers” – I quite enjoyed it, William enjoyed it very much. If your’re into quirky New Zealand humour this could be the movie from you.

I finished “Dirt Music” several times having to re-read the last chapter a couple of times. Checking with Google my confusion over the ending is OK – I’m not yet completely gaga. It’s a good read, especially with it being set in the region we had just left, it covers the area from Perth through the Kimberleys which made Winton’s description of the countryside that much more real. Think I will leave Tim Winton alone for a while. I had picked up a copy of “Of Mice & Men” at the same time as I got the Tim Winton so will re-read that.

When we arrived in Darwin late July we discovered that The Darwin Festival was starting on August 9th. The program is good with several things we want to see. We book for Australia Dance Theatre, Sam Simmons and a Cabaret – Limbo on the 9th, 10th & 11th August. That gives us a week so we decided to go to the Lichfield National Park for several days and then return to Darwin for the festival on the 9th.

Stay 2 nights at Florence Falls and then another 2 nights at Wangi Falls. Both are great swimming holes complete with waterfalls and only fresh water crocs which you never see. Apparently if one does attack, you deserve it because you must have been doing something wrong.

As we leave we do the lower and upper Cascades Walk which again is really nice following the stream to some small plug pools so we managed to get one to ourselves.

Can thoroughly recommend the Lichfield National Park, the only problem being the heat. Marge was registering 47º in the sun. This is really too hot to walk, the evenings are just OK but the swimming pools and campsites are great.


Pool for two, Upper Cascade, Lichfield NP, NT	Pool for One, Upper Cascade, Lichfield NP, NT	Florence Falls, NT

Finished “Of Mice and Men” – it’s a great short story. Think I have read it before but really enjoyed it. Swapped it for “My family and other Animals” by Gerald Durrell.

The scrabble situation has deteriorated, lost three games in a row. The biggest mistake I made was buying the scrabble dictionary. I’m not sure whats happened but there seems to be hundreds of new words since the last time I played. I have several problems; (a) William will ask me how to spell a word and I tell him so challenges are few and far between cos it’s like challenging myself. (b) He always gets “v” and “w” mixed up so I can’t penalise him on those as English is his second language, (c) he guesses and frequently the word exists in the scrabble dictionary, these are words that I would never have considered using. So all in all it’s not good.

From Litchfield National Park we moved back towards Darwin staying at the AAOK park which is sort of OK, but had the best value for money restaurant we have seen for a long time. Flathead and chips $12 and really good too. From there we head back to Darwin and go back to the same camp we stayed at before – will stay until after the visits to the Darwin Festival.

We stay in Darwin from Thursday 9th Aug until Tuesday 14th August and visit the Darwin Festival seeing The Australian Dance Co (Modern Dance with an Aboriginal theme and music, Sam Simmonds (comedy) and Limbo (circus/cabaret). Sam Simmonds is decidedly weird so William enjoyed much more than me….

Looks like there may be a change of plan. We can’t decide wether to head East (Mount Isa & Cairns) after Kakadu or head South and do Uluru and Kings Canyon. The later is a 2,000km detour but we do have time….We don’t have to be in Cairns until early October.

September 29, 2018May 21, 2019

Darwin (NT) to Cairns (Qld) – Aug 2018 – Sept 2018 Post-9

The last post finished as were about to leave Darwin heading for Kakadu, this post covers the journey to Cairns via the “Red Centre”.

Where’s John? I have been ask to tell readers that I am actually in almost every image. I’m told I am included so you can get some idea of the size of things – good luck with that one

We left Darwin on Monday 13th August having done three shows at the Darwin Festival. From Darwin we moved into Kakadu National Park and spent the first two nights at Jabiru campsite. We had no idea what to expect in Kakadu but we had been warned about the expense. Certainly the campsites are expensive at about $56 for two people which is the most we have paid so far.

Scream on Termite Mound, Underground Oil Storage, Darwin, NT
WRK, Cascades, Litchfield NP, NT
WRK, Ubirr, Kakadu, NT

Jabiru town was set up when the uranium mining started in 1982. There is now some question over it’s on-going viability. It’s a small town with a bank and a supermarket plus the crocodile hotel.
We did absolutely nothing while in Jabiru, we arrived late afternoon and spent the next day “at leisure” me reading and William working once more on self-improvement.
We were on an unpowered site so didn’t have any air conditioning and in temperatures of 34º just sitting around is fine.

Kakadu NP, NT
Kakadu NP, Ubirr Rock, NT

On Thursday 16th Aug we moved to the North East corner of the Park to Ubirr which borders on Arnheim land. From here we did an evening walk with one of the rangers around several of the “galleries” of rock paintings. The ranger was really terrific very enthusiastic and knew her stuff. Although European she included several local stories and was well versed on some of the indigenous customs – it was truely enlightening.

Rock Art, Ubirr, Kakadu NP, NT
Rock Art, Ubirr, Kakadu NP, NT
Rock Art, Ubirr, Kakadu NP, NT

When we were travelling up through WA several fellow travellers advised against visiting Kakadu, too commercial, too expensive etc etc, well all I can say is these travellers have no soul. It really is a very spiritual place. From enormous flood plains, which are covered by open eucalyptus forests you see, rising, out of nowhere, large ancient rock formations. These formations are about 1.6B years old, the area and has inhabited for something like 65,000 years. A land with such a history just has to be experienced to really appreciate the atmosphere.

We visited Cahill’s Crossing which at low tide is a river crossing, but as the tide rises it floods and then is a great places for crocodile watching. They arrive to hunt barramundi heading up stream. You can just stand on the river bank (not too close) and watch.

Next day we took the bikes to the Bardedjlidji walk. The walk follows the river to a rock outcrop with several caves and rock painting.

On the way back from Bardedjlidji we called in at the “Border Store” which sits right on the border between Kakadu and Arnheim Land. Seems quite strange that it’s run by Thais and has a great Thai menu. This must say something for multiculturalism in Australia.

This scrabble game ended in a very narrow win by William, unfortunately his last for a while. I think there are at least 2 words which should not be allowed (but are in the Scrabble dictionary) in which case I would have won.

From Ubirr, on the Saturday, we moved south to Ngurrungurrudjbal camp site. From here we booked on the evening and early morning riser cruises.

Crocodile, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT
Whistling Ducks, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT
Night Heron, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT
Crocodile, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT
Water Buffalo, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT

Both cruises were great with an abundance of wildlife including; feral horses, cattle, buffaloes, pigs and of course many many crocodiles. We were actually on the flood plain of the “Aligator” rivers which by this time of year were starting to dry up and levels dropping. This condenses the aquatic wildlife into an even more concentrated area. The birdlife included; Jabirus both stationery and in flight, Sea Eagles, Brolgas, a variety of Darters, Whistling Ducks, Magpie Geese,Whistling Kites, the beautiful Azure Kingfisher and Bee-eaters, really grumpy looking NightHerons and the rather penguin like Pied Cormorant

Darter, Yellow River, Kakadu, NT
Yellow River, Kakadu, NT

We left Cooinda (Kakadu) on Monday and headed south towards Katherine and then on to Tennant Creek and Alice Springs – it’s a very long and very boring journey of about 1,000km – we did it in 2 days arriving in Alice Springs on Thursday 23rd Aug, on the way we had three overnight stops at free camping areas which were quiet good.

Crocodile waiting at Cahill’s Crossing

We eventually arrived in Alice Springs and spent two night at the local camp site. William did some mountain bike riding (fell off again, but nothing to serious and both knees now match for bruises and cuts.

Had a good look around Alice Springs but as we have to go back after Uluru left some things for later. Had a look around some of the art shops – there’s some great paintings around. We both liked the place seems very laid back, again looks like there are some serious problems but seems to have a degree of integration missing in other places. As an aside we have been listening to the “Wrong Skin” podcast made by The Age. It’s set in the Kimberleys and having just been through the area there is an added reality to it. It’s well worth a listen.

Uluru, NT
Uluru, NT
Uluru, NT
Uluru, NT

We left Alice Springs on Saturday 25th Aug and had one overnight stop on the way down arriving in Uluru on Sunday, fortunately got into the campsite OK and stayed for 4 nights.

We spent Monday at Uluru first visiting the Cultural Centre, I then did a short ranger guided tour to a couple of the caves which gave a some insight into how indigenous people regarded the whole area and then we both cycled around the rock which takes about 30 minutes. You can walk it but that’s several hours and it is rather hot.
It is still permitted to climb but, as a mark of respect visitors are requested not to, but people still insist on doing it. It will however be closed to climbers after 2019.
Late in the afternoon we went to one of the viewing areas and watched the sunset on the rock which is quite dramatic.
On the Tuesday we went to the Olgas which are about 40kms from Uluru, still within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. This is a series rock domes just slightly higher than Uluru. They are just as spectacular as Uluru and at sunset and have the same reddish colour.

Valley of the Winds, The Olgas, NT
Valley of the Winds, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), NT

Uluru really is quite spectacular, the sheer size is shape at first sight is quite mind blowing. We are both really pleased we decided to do the detour down to the “red Centre” rather than just carrying on East to Cairns.

Kings Canyon, Wattaraka NP, NT
Kings Canyon, Wattaraka NP, NT
Kings Canyon, Wattaraka NP, NT
Ormston Gorge, NT
Ormston Gorge, NT
Ormston Gorge, NT

On the way back from Uluru we spent 2 nights at Kings Canyon which has a spectacular gorge with a walk around the rim. A great walk!
Not having a 4WD vehicle is a bit of a problem, you can get to most of the sites but having to stick to sealed roads adds several hundred kms to the journey.

From Kings Canyon we returned to Alice Springs via the West Macdonnell ranges spending three nights at various campsite and visiting Ormiston Gorge and also the earliest NT Missionsary – Hermannsberg which was the home of Namatjira. From there back to Alice Springs arriving on Thursday September 6th.

I did some more looking around including the old Telegraph Station which was the whole reason for Alice Springs and we both did Market Day which is the one day every year when all the local desert mobs bring their artwork into town. It was quite a frenzy with artwork being snapped up all over the place. The contrast of the aborigines and the “Lovies” of the art work rubbing shoulder to shoulder is quite something.

By now we had done 28K kms so we bought Marge a new set of tyres for the journey over to the East Coast.

I discovered that my Visa card had been hacked – over the course of one week someone had managed to run up $1,700 worth of Uber fares and cinema tickets. Fortunately I noticed it early because with new tyres and insurance due it was going to be an expensive month. Now I’m just waiting for Visa to do the reversals!

Devil’s Marbles, Tenant Creek,NT
Devil’s Marbles, Tenant Creek,NT
Devil’s Marbles, Tenant Creek,NT

We left Alice on the Monday heading North having to retrace our way back up the Stuart Highway. We stopped one night at the Devil’s Marbles and then made a dash the next day (Tuesday) for the Queensland border. No particular reason except there is very little to be seen on this part of the Barkly highway, it’s really big cattle country, very flat with few trees. The other reason we had to get to Queensland was that the bottle shops in Tennant Creek(NT) don’t open until 16:00 and the next one, in the direction we were going, was 500kms away, over the Qld border in Camooweal.

Marge in the distance – Corella Dam, Qld
Black Fronted Dotterel – Corella Dam, Qld
Birdlife – Corella Dam, Qld
Marge in the distance – Corella Dam, Qld

The first stop (2 nights) in Queensland was at Corella Dam which was awesome. We had a spot right at the water’s edge. The bird life was terrific especially first thing in the morning – see video below.
From here we moved towards Normanton which is just 50kms south of Karumba and the Gulf. From Normanton, home of another big crocodile (Krys – a real beauty shot by a lady hunter in the 50’s) we moved to Karumba and stayed there for 2 nights. There’s absolutely nothing to do except fish and watch the sun go down over the gulf.

The Pelican’s Breakfast – Corella Dam (Turn the sound up)

Brolgas – Karumba, Qld
Brolgas – Karumba, Qld
Krys the Crocodile – Normanton, QLD

From Karumba we did decided to make for Cairns as quickly as possible and arrived in Cairns on Wednesday 19th Sept. We went from dessert to lush tropic rainforest and real mountains in the space of an hour. One of the reason for getting to Cairns was to put together a plan and make some booking in advance of Willy’s brother (Jan Ove) and sister-in-law (Ann-Elin) arriving Oct 6th.

On the way to Cairns we managed to chip the windscreen (this is the same windscreen which had been replaced recently in Darwin). Fortunately we managed to get it repaired the next day before we drove north to the Daintree. We spent 2 nights Thur & Fri (20th/21st) at the Daintree Village caravan park before crossing the Daintree River heading up to Cape Tribulation.

Once over the Daintree River we spent one night at a caravan park with great birdlife – our space was used by a Cassowary and his chick on their hunt for food. He came along shortly after we had arrived which was great – we kept our distance as they can be violent.. Apparently the male hatches the eggs and also raises the chick for the first 9 months of its life.

Cassowary and Chick – Daintree, Qld
Cassowary – Daintree, Qld

From this site we moved further North and stayed at a site next to the beach – also a good site with excellent pizzas, not too much birdlife and a beach. No swimming through – too many crocodiles!

Fungii – Daintree, Qld
Daintree Campsite – Qld

We then moved south again and stayed on more night (Wed 26th Sept) before crossing back across the Daintree River and back down to Cairns where we stayed for 2 nights. We now had just over a week before our visitors arrive so we headed just north of Cairns to Ellis Beach and got a spot right on the beach. This has to be the best site yet

The book reading has been a bit slow but I have just finished Tom Wolfe – the Right Stuff which I rather enjoyed. I bought it by mistake as I really want “You can’t go home again” so not only did I get the wrong title I got the wrong author. Scrabble is going well at the moment -think we may have turned the corner.

January 20, 2019May 20, 2019

Cairns (Qld) to Sydney (Home) Oct 2018-Dec 2018 Post-10

The last blog finished while we were at Ellis Beach just north of Cairns waiting for Ann-Elin and Jan-Ove to arrive from Norway. As they were on an early morning flight we decided to move into Cairns for a couple of nights prior to the arrival, this gave us a chance to to get Marge cleaned up a bit as ten months on the road was beginning to show.

We collected the relatives from the airport on Saturday Oct 6th and to make life even easier we decided to pick up a hire car from Port Douglass on our way up to the Daintree where we stayed for the first two nights.

On the Sunday we did the Mount Sorrow walk. It is shown on the map with warnings “Very Steep – Experienced BushWalkers only” It’s about 7kms return through the rainforest so the good thing is it is fairly sheltered from the sun, but it is really really steep and difficult in parts because of all the tree roots. Any way we made it but spent the next few days with very sore legs. I was quite pleased that even our super fit Norwegian visitors felt sore for a couple of days.
The Daintree campsite was next to the beach but no swimming ‘cos of the crocs. We actually walked up the beach and into the mangroves and saw a couple of crocs in the water and on the bank so they really do exist just up the beach!

Cape Tribulation, Daintree, Qld
Ann-Elin, Jan Ove and John – Mt Sorrow
Cape Tribulatuion, Daintree, Qld

After 2 nights we moved down to Port Douglas stopping for a walk at Mosman Gorge. The next day we did a really good reef snorkelling trip. The boat had a couple of Marine Biologist in the crew so we had a several, pre dive talks which made it all the more interesting.

There is great concern about the reef and the effects of “coral bleaching” and these guys didn’t hold back about the current governments’ total lack of action on Climate Change and their $400M gift to some unknown conservation group . It was really rousing stuff, the only thing missing was a chorus of the The Internationale! I really enjoyed it.

Yungaburra
A Yungaburra Snake
A Curtain Fig, Yungaburra, Qld

After the reef dive we decided to go inland to the Atherton Tablelands staying a couple of nights at Lake Tinaroo. The next day William went mountain bike riding and the visitors and myself had a look around Atherton town which is a rather disappointing place. We went to the local “show” which was exceptionally disappointing especially as we had to pay to get in.

Peterson’s Creek – Yungaburra – A Platypus

After Williams return from mountain bike riding (in one piece), we visited the really nice village of Yungaburra, had a good mooch around including the a walk along Peterson’s Creek which is a haven for wildlife including platypus, tree-kangaroos and wallabies

From Atherton we went back to Cairns and did the Aquarium and also the Sky Rail to Karunda. Going up in the cable car you get great view of the rainforest with two stops on the way to have a look around.

One the SkyWay – Jan Ove & Ann-Elin Cairns
Cairns Aquarium
Cairns Aquarium

The route back is on the train which was built in 1891 and climbs 328m up the Mcalistair range. Karunda itself is the perfect tourist trap but I must say we had a good lunch – one of the best curries I have had on the trip. The meal was made even better with the arrival of two large water dragons snuffling around the tables looking for food and scaring some of the customers. William and Jan Ove had the tasting plate – Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile. Sometimes being a vegetarian has it’s advantages.

We eventually saw the rellies off early on Thursday from Cairns airport. It had been a great few days.

After their departure, we decided to stay a few more nights in Cairns doing absolutely nothing until it was time to push on South. From Cairns we moved South to Mission Beach. I saw another Cassowary and William went mountain bike riding. I think we could live at mission beach, it’s really laid back, just like ourselves.

We called in Paronella Park which is a park and residence in the rainforest built by a Spanish Gold Rush immigrant. It was well worth a visit, very quirky and quite amazing that it has lasted this long. Even had it’s own hydro-electric generating plant.

Paronella Park, Cairns, Qld
Paronella Park, Cairns, Qld
Paronella Park, Cairns, Qld

From Mission beach we moved on to Townsville where we stayed for four nights. I found Townsville surprisingly nice. The camp site was north of the city on the Strand which runs along the water front to the city so cycling into the centre was really nice.

Unlike Cairns which is built around tourism and all that entails, Townsville is a city which happens to have a great beaches so there’s much more substance to it. I got seriously attacked by magpies. Fortunately I was on my bike and had my helmet on so no damage was done but it came as quite a shock when it happened especially as they don’t give up and make repeated attack – in my case three – I hate magpies.

From Townsville we continued south and stoped at Airlie Beach which we both expected to be some sleepy seaside village. It’s backpacker heaven. We stayed for three nights and did a day sailing on the “Whitsundays”. We chose a boat with a maximum of 8 people and spent the day just cruising about, plus did some snorkelling (not very good). Most of the day was spent under sail so it was really relaxing. The highlight was probably a pod of dolphins which decided to accompany us for a couple of minutes – that was quite spectacular.

Whitsunday Islands, Qld
John – Whitsunday Islands, Qld
The Witsundays, Qld

Just before we arrived there had been two shark attacks nearby at Shute Harbour and after we left another fatality was reported. So much for stinger suits to keep you safe!

From Airlie beach we found a National Park campsite at Cape Hillborough which is just North of Mackay – again right on the beach the only problem being sand flies. From there we moved to Cape Palmerston and then on to Yepoon.

From Yeppon we slowly wandered down the coast via Agnes Waters and Seventeen Seventy. 1770 is another place we thought we could live. We spent Melbourne Cup Day (6th November) in Bundaberg, I mention that because I haven’t been blogging regularly so that date (not that I know anything about horse racing) is stuck in mind. Bundaberg was rather nice, we stayed on the beach at Bargara which is another place we think we could live.

From Bundaberg we moved on to Hervey Bay and spend a couple of nights there. The only significant event there was getting William’s hammock repaired by the man next door who happened to have a sewing machine. We also managed to have the worst Chinese take away ever….

From Hervey Bay we moved to the Sunshine Coast so we knew we were really on our way home. We spent a night at the Sea Scout’s ground in Noosa which was a really good spot and easy cycling into town and then stayed with some friends for two nights on Bribie Island before heading onto Brisbane on Sat 17th November.

We parked the van outside the city and stayed at a hotel in the city for 4 nights. We caught up with Michael from Sydney on Friday (we had both forgotten how exhausting friends can be) but had a great Japanese meal in the city. It was lovely to catch up with him again.

As our tenants were due to vacate on Nov 29th we planned to arrive back on the 30th and move straight back into the apartment.
We decided that we would spend three nights at Freemans beach which is just south of Newcastle, this would give us an easy run into Sydney on the Friday and also give us a chance to unwind before hitting the big smoke.

GOMA, Brisbane
GOMA, Brisbane
GOMA, Brisbane

We spent four nights in Brisbane which was fine except that GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) was between exhibitions and were setting up for the Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition which from what we could see looked like being very interesting .
In Brisbane we had stayed at a hotel in the city leaving Marge in storage in a Caravan Park near Eight Mile Plains. When we went back to pick her up we decided to stay two more nights (not in the storage area) as the place was quite nice, rather quiet and an easy bus ride into Brisbane.

Eventually on Friday 23rd November we tore ourselves away from Brisbane, moved south and stayed one night at Brunswick Heads before arriving in Coffs Harbour on Saturday 24th.

Whilst in Coffs we caught up with a friend (Mandy) who I knew from my day’s in London back in the 70’s/80’s. We went out for a really nice Indian meal. Had a good mooch around Coffs and went to see Bohemian Rhapsody on the Sunday evening. Can really recommend BH especially of you happen to a Freddie fan.

By this time we were really into “nearly home” mode – this is borne out by a lack of any photographs or interesting side trips….. From Coffs we went to Freemans Beach where we had the campsite almost to ourselves due to the rather inclement weather, rain and somewhat cold. It’s a great beach but the sea was much too rough for swimming. This probably wasn’t such a bad end to the trip, spending the last few day on some great beach with sparkling blue water, no people and surrounded by birdlife would have made travelling back to Sydney just that little bit less attractive.

So here we are back in Sydney. It’s hard to believe that we were away for 12 months but looking at the map we covered quite a distance.

Marge has been spring cleaned and is up for sale – it will be sad to see her go: Lisa is back home and still as grumpy as ever but it was good to get her back: and we are very slowly getting back into a stationary life style.

Lisa in her tree
Home again
The Complete Trip