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 |  |  |
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….
 |  |  |
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…