Home again

The end of our adventure has arrived and while we are happy to have “home comforts” and spend time with our family and friends we will miss the stimulation and enjoyment of seeing and doing something new each day and the simplicity of a camping life style - a time to reflect on what is important.
We were away for 20 weeks and during that time stayed in 48 different towns and had a lot of practice in putting up and packing away our camper trailer! One discovery has been the laid back and friendly attitude of other campers and caravanners, most people are happy to have a chat and share their experiences. In fact much of our route was decided after hearing other travellers’ tales.
Our Suzuki covered just over 20,000 km and didn’t miss a beat, we were lucky enough not to have to change a tyre and thank goodness there were no mechanical problems in some out of the way place.
Adelaide has had a very cold and wet winter and being able to enjoy the northern sunshine has been a bonus, some of you may remember the long summer school holidays when shorts and sandals were the dress each day and by the time it was back to school the sun had left an outline of those sandals on your feet - it has been a bit like that for us - a long holiday in the sunshine, no responsibilities, no worries!
This is my last blog - thank you all for your comments and interest - it’s now time to plan the next expedition and decide when H & L will be on the road again.

Ceduna, Smoky Bay, Streaky Bay

The coastal towns of Ceduna, Smoky Bay and Streaky Bay are renowned for their clean water and seafood, especially oysters and what better than half a dozen for breakfast and some more for lunch, they are very very good. Our visit to these towns was pretty brief, while the sun has been shining a cold wind has been blowing and we hope to return and spend more time there when the breeze is warmer. The landscape is familiar and home is calling so we will head for Port Augusta and with mixed feelings take the road to Adelaide.

The Nullarbor

We enjoyed the long drive across the Nullarbor Plain which contains Australia’s longest straight stretch of roadway - 145 kms - in fact much of the journey is through scrub and because of recent rains the countryside was looking green and healthy and there was always something interesting to see. Only a relatively short stretch of the road is through nullus arbor. Our first stop was at Balladonia where in 1979 space debris from Skylab landed nearby and the roadhouse has a small museum. We stayed in a cabin and awoke to rain, the last time we saw more than a shower was at the beginning of our trip but the car needed a wash! We called into Eucla to have a look at the Old Telegraphic Station ruins and another stop at WA/SA Border Village - there is a 2.5 hour time change, WA doesn't have daylight saving so a sudden time jump. We stopped at the Head of Bight and went down to the boardwalk where from the sheer drop of the towering cliffs one can watch the Southern Right Whales which gather here to breed. It is getting late in the breeding season but there were 4 whales and one calf just off shore, apparently earlier in the year there were 130 or more, but it was wonderful to see these huge creatures playing in the warm water.

Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie is Australia’s best known gold town and one of its most remote being perched on the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain.
In its hey day it had a population of over 30,000 with the usual supply of pubs, breweries and brothels. The area became known as the Golden Mile and was thought to contain the world’s richest supply of gold reserves. After the surface gold was exhausted deep reef mining started and now the “Super Pit” covers an 8 square km area and is so large it can be seen from space. Many of the attractions here relate to mining and the town has fine period buildings built during the roaring days of the gold fields. When you have a mining town and lots of single men prostitution follows and Kalgoorlie has a thriving red light district - they even offer guided tours. We went to have a look at Questa Casa “the oldest brothel in Kalgoorlie” and were shown around by the madam. The tour lasted for nearly 2 hours and we heard the history of the ladies who service the men of the town before being shown some of the rooms and equipment they use - very interesting!!
We next head for the long drive across the Nullarbor. This post is a bit out of date - haven't had a mobile signal for about 3 days and am posting this at the head of the Nullarbor where to my surprise I suddenly got a signal - if the weather holds up we may go down to Streaky Bay and have a look at Port Lincoln, don't think we will make it home by next weekend!!

Moora, New Norcia, Cunderdin

We drove from Cervantes through Moora, an area known for its wildflowers and we were fortunate to be travelling at the time of the year when they are in full flower but we didn’t stop except for a few hours at New Norcia - home to a community of Benedictine monks who arrived as missionaries from Spain in 1846 and established a village in the hope that they could peacefully bring the local Aborigines to Christ! They had some success and with donations from Europe built a substantial community with monastery, chapel and supporting buildings which they now use as accommodation for conferences, tourism and the like. It is still a thriving village run by the order.
We stopped overnight in the busy wheat belt town of Cunderdin and then followed the 650 km “golden pipe line” constructed to enable the gold mining towns to survive by providing them with water from the hills near Perth and travelled the road used by prospectors who crowded this trail on horseback and foot over a century ago during the time of the great gold rush east. We too are headed for Kalgoorlie.

Cervantes and The Pinnacles

Cervantes is one of WA’s newest towns and services the local rock lobster industry and tourism. It takes its name from an American whaling ship that sank on the nearby coast in 1844. The town is adjacent to the Nambung National Park famous for the world renowned Pinnacles Desert with its thousands of lime stone spires which can reach up to 4 metres high. It is promoted as a photographer’s paradise but unfortunately for us it has been and still is pissing with rain. Because of the weather we extended our stay hoping that tomorrow the rain will stop and the tent can dry out before we pack up and move on towards Kalgoorlie.

Geraldton

The drive down to Geraldton was very pretty, it is wildflower season and together with the flowering wattles they are growing along the side of the road, in parts it was almost like driving through a botanical garden. When we reached the wheat belt and a landscape similar to that north of Adelaide and of a type we haven’t seen for a long time, we knew we had sadly well and truly left the tropics behind! One reason for our stop over here was to get a car service, we have travelled over 15,000 km so far!
It is school holidays in WA and this weekend a Monday public holiday for the Queen’s birthday, so busy with local holiday makers here in Geraldton and many family groups in the camp ground which is next to the sea. The ocean here is popular with wind surfers, and they have plenty of wind to play with. We went down to the marina this afternoon, there must be some money to be made here because a good supply of large glossy boats were in dock, but then rock lobster fishing is a local enterprise.
On a hill above the CBD is a memorial to the HMAS Sydney, a silver dome consisting of 645 silver sea gulls, one for each of the men who went down with the ship, it can be seen for miles around a touching memorial to a tragic event.
We aren’t enjoying the cold and windy weather - will likely head in the direction of home soon and leave southern WA for another day.