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| Kalgoorlie Golf Course, Kalgoorlie WA |
2/5/12 Wednesday. On Monday we
went to the mechanic and paid our bill. We were pleasantly surprised as it was
under $1400 which was around what we were expecting. We then drove out to the
Kalgoorlie Golf Course and played the last two holes of the Nullarbor Links. It
was a very swanky club and very unexpected to see loads of green grass fairways
out in a red desert landscape. I ended up scoring 155 on a par 72 course. Not
bad for a total novice, eh?
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| In The Sand, Kalgoorlie Golf Course, Kalgoorlie WA |
After being presented my
certificate at the terrorist information centre, we all departed Kalgoorlie and
headed out on the highway to Esperance. We drove just over 200km’s and camped
in a rest area a little south of Norseman.
About 40km’s out from Esperance
on Tuesday morning Barry blew a tyre on the caravan. It was pretty spectacular
for us traveling behind to see rubber get blown all over the road like
feathers, like he’d hit a magpie or something.
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| Barry & I @ End of Nullarbor Links, Kalgoorlie WA |
When we arrived in Esperance
Barry and Judith found a tyre place to replace their caravan tyres while Lib
and I went to the Terrorist Information Centre to find out where to stay in
town as there were no free camps in our books in the area. We found a caravan
park on the edge of town that took dogs and we all headed there.
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| Receiving My Nullarbor Links Certificate @ Information Centre, Kalgoorlie WA | |
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| Pincushion Hakea in Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
Today we went to Cape Le Grand
National Park which was absolutely spectacular. The beaches had the most
amazing white, super fine sand I had ever seen. There were many amazing granite
rock formations everywhere. We checked out all there was to see and I even went
in for a dip at Lucky Bay. When we left we drove 22km’s along the beach to get
out of the National Park instead of going back via the road. There are
certainly benefits in traveling with Lib’s parents i.e. their 4wd. The only
down side to the day was having to leave the puppies at home instead of them
being with us.
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| Wildflower in Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
3/5/12 Thursday. Today dawned
promising. The plan was to go for a scenic drive in the morning and then after
lunch the girls would go shopping while the guys went fishing off the jetty.
The morning spent driving and stopping at various locations such as Salmon
Beach and Observation Point was lovely. We returned to the caravan park to drop
off the dogs and have lunch. By then the weather had turned and it had started
raining. We decided that we would not fish after all and the four off us spent
the afternoon grocery shopping. Oh the joy!
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| Banksia in Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
4/5/12 Friday. Today we headed
west along the South Coast Highway to Munglinup where we turned south to the
coast and spent the night at Munglinup Beach. The plan was to spend tonight and
tomorrow night here. It started raining on the drive here and as it was a dirt
road for the last 7km’s out to the beach it became a little bit hairy at times.
Along the way we passed some earth moving equipment repairing the road though
it was doing little to improve it in the wet. After setting up our camp we went
to look at the beach and at the start of the track there was a 2m long python.
I picked him up and took him back to show Barry and Judith. We all spent the
remainder of the afternoon scouring the beach for shells in the rain. We had a
good time.
The campsite itself is very good.
It has Eco-toilets, cold showers and clean, spacious campsites for $10 a night.
They provided rubbish services and the site was clean and free from litter.
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| Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
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| Aaron Swimming @ Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
That night as we were searching
in the closet for warmer clothes Lib and I discovered that it was leaking water
again quite badly. Oh no! We will need to address it as soon as possible.
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| Judith Resting Comfortably @ Thistle Cove, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
5/5/12 Saturday. This morning the
rain had moved on and after breakfast Lib and I took the dogs for a walk on the
beach. We tried to tire Charlie out but he seems to have endless energy in his
youth. I stood at the top of a huge sand dune and we kept sending him from one
to the other between myself and Lib, racing up and down. He is certainly full
of beans.
During the day Barry and I
collected firewood and found an old truck rim which we set up as the fire pit.
Barry went about the job of breaking up the firewood into usable pieces which
we would use later in the evening.
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| Lib @ Thistle Cove, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
That afternoon Barry and I went
down to the beach to fish and had a little success. We caught two Trevally. As
Lib had cooked a delicious lamb shank soup for dinner we will have them
tomorrow night.
6/5/12. Sunday. We moved on this
morning to Hopetoun. We decided that instead of taking the longer route of 180
km’s of bitumen that after seeking advice from the local caravan park we would
take the shorter 80 km dirt road. It was pretty good for the most part with
corrugations here and there. I think we averaged about 40-50 km’s an hour.
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| Thistle Cove, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
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| Dolphins @ Hellfire Bay, Cape Le Grande National Park WA |
Hopetoun itself was very
unimpressive. The locals seemed very unfriendly and unhelping in our dealings
with them. They seemed like a sour lot for the most part. We decided not to
stay in town at the caravan park and drove out of town to Twelve Mile Beach to
spend the night. It was a quiet spot though when we arrived the wind was very
fierce and so we didn’t venture down to the beach.
There have been plenty of 1080
bait signs along the way and we have had to be very watchful of the dogs and
what they pick up off the ground.
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| Salmon Beach, Esperance WA |
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| Sea Creatures @ Esperance WA |
7/5/12 Monday. We drove into
Hopetoun in the morning and got out the fishing gear at the town jetty. Barry
and I spent the better part of two hours fishing off the end of the jetty
before the wind picked up and turned it into a miserable experience. Barry
caught a small rock cod (which we returned to the sea) and two trevally which
he kept for his dinner. I caught one Tommy Ruff which wasn’t much of a meal on
its own and so back he went.
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| Observation Point @ Esperance WA |
We then drove out to
Ravensthorpe. We were driving in a northerly direction to Ravensthorpe and the
wind was a nor’ westerly blowing at about 50 km/hr and threatening to blow us
off the road. When we got to Ravensthorpe we decided we had been on the road
long enough for one day and decided to spend the night in the caravan park.
Barry and Judith got a powered site and Lib and I a camping site. Though later
in the afternoon, Lib and I upgraded to a powered site and after plugging in
and removing all the stuff from our closet, we turned on the heater to try and
dry it out.
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| Observation Point @ Esperance WA |
We found out this morning that
Michael, Ros’ husband had suffered a heart attack yesterday. We hope he is ok
and our thoughts and our prayers go out to Ros and the boys.
8/5/12 Tuesday. Before returning
all the stuff to the closet we cleaned it out and wiped it down to get rid of
any remaining dust from our travels around Streaky Bay where dust seemed to
have penetrated into every cupboard and every space in the van.
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| Campsite @ Munglinup Beach WA |
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| Campsite @ Munglinup Beach WA |
Today we drove down to Bremer
Bay. There is no free camping in the immediate vicinity and so we were forced
to spend the night in another caravan park. It was a very nice grassy park and
although clean the amenities left a lot to be desired. We had a look around the
town when we first arrived but as the wind was still up today it wasn’t very
pleasant to be outdoors and so we didn’t do any fishing or any walking on
beaches or anything of the sort. After it got dark tonight however, there were
plenty of kangaroos in the caravan park from the surrounding bushland. I was
quite surprised when toileting Charlie for bed that he didn’t bark, growl or
chase them. He is turning into a wonderful, faithful friend.
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| Lib's Obsession |
9/5/12 Wednesday. Once again on
the road and looking for our next campsite, the road today led us just down the
road to quite a lovely little spot called Miller’s Point. It is a bush camp
with a pit toilet. There is a short little bush walk up to a lookout with a
bench seat where it is nice to stop, check out the amazing view and rest before
the short stroll back to camp. Along the track is a sign to Crocodile Rock
which looks just like the head of a crocodile.
We have decided to stay here for
two days to relax. It can be quite tiring packing up each morning and driving
each day and it is relaxing to take a day out from driving. There are some
commercial fishermen net fishing for Bream here and a couple of other groups in
the campsite. The weather has turned a bit colder too, especially the nights.
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| Lib's Obsession |
10/5/12 Thursday. Today we stayed
put at Millers Point Reserve. Barry and I went fishing after breakfast but we
didn’t even get a bite. We spent the rest of the morning hanging around camp.
After lunch Lib and I walked up to the lookout to get photos. This afternoon I
finished the book I had been reading which I won’t mention here (it really
wasn’t worth it), while Lib has spent her time digging a marvelous fire pit,
lining it with rocks and then collecting and cutting up fire wood for a fire
tonight. It’s a shame that I cannot compliment it with any fish to cook in the
embers.
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| Aaron Finds a Friend @ Munglinup Beach WA |
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| Barry's Catch @ Hopetoun WA |
11/5/12 Friday. We moved on this
morning to spend two days at Betty’s Beach where we had been told there was
some good salmon fishing to be had. On the way there we took a side trip to
Cheynes Beach Caravan Park. Lib had seen on the web a job for a couple to work
full time helping the owners at the caravan park. So we dropped in to have a
look at the area and Lib had a chat to the owner. It looks like a good job
though it is 68km from Albany, the nearest major centre. After arriving at
Betty’s Beach and setting up camp we all went down to the beach to spend the
remainder of the afternoon fishing.
12/5/12 Saturday. It was a clear
sunny day today but the wind has steadily gotten stronger throughout the day.
It wasn’t very pleasant fishing out there in the wind but it was still nice
being out in the sun. The morning was spent in total relaxation mode and everybody
did their own thing. After lunch Barry, Lib and I went fishing again. Lib
caught one baby trevally and I caught two. We didn’t catch any thing for
dinner.
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| Moonlit Night @ Miller's Point Reserve WA |
Betty’s Beach is closed for
camping from the 15 Feb through to 30 April as it is Salmon fishing season.
There are half a dozen corrugated iron shacks in various states of repair that
are used by professional fisherman during this time. Some of them are left open
for campers at the end of the salmon season whilst the fancier ones are locked.
It is a beautiful place and reminded me particularly of being back in Tassie.
But although we spent the better part of two afternoons fishing we didn’t catch
any salmon.
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| The Family |
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| Crocodile Rock @ Miller's Point Reserve WA |
13/5/12 Sunday. Happy Mothers Day
to all the mothers out there. Last night the wind picked up dramatically. Lib
and I have a habit, a bad one, of picking the prettiest view we can and then
camping there. It is not always the most practical. We were camped on the top
of the beach with no shelter from the wind coming in off the ocean. There wind
steadily increased into a howling gale, so bad it was a struggle to get in and
out of Bess. The wind was battering Bess and we had to move. It would have been
like trying to go to sleep on a ship in a storm. We were rocking and rolling.
We moved Bess just before we went to bed to the lee side of a small hillock
where we were safe from the wind.
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| Campfire @ Miller's Point Reserve WA |
This morning the wind had ceased
a little but not much. We departed as soon as possible for the forecast had
predicted possible thunderstorms and the clouds were darkening rapidly. We
moved on to Albany and for Lib and I this will be our home for possibly up to
12 months as our cash has run out again and we need to work. We have had a
great time for the last 3 ½ months. We have traveled just over 9,000 km’s. It
has been especially good making new friends i.e. Col & Brenda and Maria,
and it has been fun traveling with Barry and Judith too. We will miss them as
they continue on their travels.
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| Miller's Point Reserve WA |
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| Betty's Beach WA |
We are staying for the next week at a caravan
park that is bordered on one side by the highway, one side by a creek and one
side by a river where apparently the black bream are plentiful. . Though it is
raining now so I don’t think I will be going fishing this afternoon. I really
hope we can find work here because it seems like a really nice town and the
owners of this caravan park are very friendly. One very strange fact of the
park is the abundance of wild guinea pigs. They are everywhere.
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| Betty's Beach WA |
19/5/12 Saturday. We have been in Albany for a week now. We have been applying for whatever positions we can find and at this stage are still remaining positive. I did manage to score my self a days work yesterday waitering at a function at the Albany Entertainment Centre. It has been approximately 15 years since I did any waitering/bar work. Not since I left Panthers. It was fun and I look forward to receiving more shifts if they come up. The work is through a labour hire company.
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| Betty's Beach WA |
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| Betty's Beach WA |
Lib’s job is also going well
however, with all the walking up hills her knees are getting increasingly
worse. She has been to the doctor and had a number of tests done, but has now
been referred to a specialist. We are awaiting their call to arrange an
appointment. Lib is very reluctant to take chemicals to relieve her pain so we
are researching and trialling a Tens Machine.
This weekend has proven to be
outstanding amongst the rest for fishing. We met a man in the caravan park some
time ago who came down from Brisbane for a family reunion and has since stayed
on at his grandfather’s house. He came by a few weeks ago with two of the
biggest river fish I had ever seen. They were both Mulloway, or Jew fish as
they are known on the eastern side of the country. The little one was 60 something
centimetres while the bigger one was 84 cm. I was very intrigued and when he
asked me if I wanted to go with him the next time he went out I couldn’t help
but say yes. Which was why I was very pleased to see him when he came by on
Friday afternoon. He had returned a few days previously from a camping trip
with his grandfather but I hadn’t had the opportunity to catch up with him. He
came by and asked if I was still keen to go for the big fish. I was and still
am. I didn’t even baulk when he told me he was going to pick me up at 4.30am.
I was hooked, pardon the pun. In
the afternoon I went down to the jetty to catch more bait fish. Mulloway like
skippy and yellow tails. I had limited success and was then washed out and came
home soaked to the skin for a hot shower. When the rain cleared Jason, another
inhabitant of the caravan park, Cameron and I went back to the jetty at about 5
pm to catch more bait fish and we had plenty of luck and caught a total of 15
or so. It was decided then and there that Cameron and I were definitely going
out at 4.30am this morning to have another go.
