The Eyre Peninsular

Spending another day in Streaky Bay - ie not having to drive anywhere - was as appealing a prospect as winning the lottery (which co-incidentally, would come in handy about now!), but it was cold, windy and a fair drive still to Adelaide so we left on Friday morning.

Rock Formations

Murphy's Hay Stacks are an interesting collection of oddly-shaped, pink granite inselbergs in the middle of a wheat paddock just outside Streaky Bay. Local legend says that Murphy's Hay Stacks acquired its name from an Irish agricultural expert who saw this landmark in the distance whilst travelling on a coach. Apparently the learned Irish gentleman was very impressed and informed his fellow passengers that the farmer must have harrowed his land to produce such a great abundance of hay! We wandered around the Hay Stacks enjoying the sun and found a lovely fat shingleback lizard trying to escape notice in his camouflage clothing. He didn't take Eagle Eye Marcus into account.

What you lookin' at?

The Eyre Peninsular (western side) scenery included some rugged coastline, many ruined stone cottages and buildings, and drystone walls. The land was rocky, marginal sheep country and there were plenty of dry salt lakes to be seen. We had never seen any before this trip.

Port Lincoln was our destination and the van park we chose was huge, almost empty and located on the edge of Boston Bay. Our tent and van faced onto a fishing jetty ... so you can guess where Lachie disappeared to! Marcus and Ella went fishing as well and Marcus caught a lovely whiting, which Lachie filleted. The wind was howling and the freezing temperatures eventually drove us all back for hot showers and a retreat indoors.

Saturday morning started with a sleep in, although Lachie went out fishing. I joined him for a while, but it was colder than the evening before - is it really December? - and we went back to warm up. The wind was incessant and unpleasant, confining us to the caravan, tent and Blunderbuss. We were all dead beat, dog tired and done for after all the driving (almost 2000 kms since Tuesday) so we spent the rest of the day reading and had a much needed Hermits rehearsal. Lachlan discovered a novel use for the tuner ...  he can burp in concert E flat. Such are the lengths we go to for amusement when we are stuck inside!

E flat, Ladies and Gentlemen
A boy totally committed to musical development!

No-one would get out of the shelter of the
Blunderbuss to get in this photo!

The wind did its best to transform our tent into a zeppelin overnight, so no-one joined Lachie on the jetty on Sunday morning. He managed to lose one of his thongs overboard during a particularly vicious gust before losing his fishing enthusiasm in the icy gale. The locals are apologising for the weather - apparently it should be lovely at this time of year. It certainly isn't. In an effort to escape the vile wind off the bay, we went into town to have a picnic lunch near the sculpture celebrating the Port Lincoln-owned Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva. Makybe didn't seem to mind the wind but our teeth were chattering so we jumped back into the Blunderbuss to find something to do inside, somewhere - anywhere! - other than the caravan.

The marina was chockers full of boldly hued fishing boats which we duly admired from inside the Blunderbuss. The kids spotted the Leisure Centre as we circled around the marina and, as we were at leisure to stop, I took them inside for a fabulous afternoon of waterslides, the challenge of the inflatable rat race and the Tarzan Rope. Dave sat inside the Buss playing his guitar and all were happy. Well, I was a bit bored sitting on a chair but I think I may have mastered the art of looking fondly upon the offspring's antics while dozing! I was so cold I couldn't contemplate getting into the pool! After some more interior entertainment - draughts, accordion, drawing, and Ella wrote a list: Things I Miss About Home - we couldn't take it anymore so we drove off to find somewhere out of the bloody wind for dinner. The kids were very excited at the Mandarin - we rarely eat out and they have had a hankering for quite some time to try fried icecream! We enjoyed the meal but realised as Dave went to pay that he had lost his credit card. It was almost a long evening of dishes but I remembered my wallet was in the Buss.

We were all up early on Monday morning, thankful to pack up and get out of the infernal wind. Dave's credit card turned up at the office and the packup went smoothly despite the encumbrance of many layers of clothing ... until a huge gust of wind picked up the Oztent and deposited it on top of the Blunderbuss! That was a new packup scenario. We often leave a town wishing we could stay a little longer, but we were all pleased to leave Port Lincoln and its diabolical weather.

I would have thought the Nullarbor
would have been a Death Star, but
he made it through!

The Lincoln Highway took us north up the eastern coast of the peninsular. We made several short stops and reached the industrial centre of Whyalla for a late lunch, where the undeniable charm of the steelworks helped us decide to push on to Adelaide. We managed Port Augusta by 3:30 p.m. and were enormously cheered to see Paul French, in his stormtrooper costume, walking along the highway. He is walking from Perth to Sydney in full stormtrooper getup to raise money for charity. We had heard of his fundraising and were excited to see him. May the Force be with him! The highway was busy and we couldn't stop so this photo comes from Getty Images.

We were pleased for the extra hour of daylight saving as Adelaide was still many kilometres off. Dave drove on, musing that there would have been no way he could have driven so far at the beginning of our journey. We bypassed Snowtown (the Bodies in Barrels murder scene) which seemed a rather grisly tourist spot and laughed as we spotted the Loch Ness monster in Lake Stirling, just outside the town of Lochiel.

We eventually made it to Adelaide after 671 kms and found a central city caravan park by sheer luck just before dark. Also by sheer luck, they had one site vacant which we gladly took.

Stay tuned ...

Driving the Nullarbor

We were up early on Tuesday morning, filling all our water containers and packing ready for the long drive across the Nullarbor. After 200 kms, the turn eastwards onto the Eyre Highway at Norseman was encouraging - it is only 1986 kms to Adelaide!

Skylab in Balladonia

Balladonia was our lunch stop and we doubled its population in our short time there - if you discount the flies. Balladonia's claim to fame was being sconed by a piece of Skylab in 1979 and I suspect not much has happened since!

A little further along the track the road had a dual purpose - the verges were cleared and widened and the Royal Flying Doctor Service planes could land there on the emergency airstrip. The kids were disappointed nothing happened while we were on the "runway". It would be quite something to be tootling along the highway with a plane as your oncoming traffic!

The next spot of interest was the longest straight stretch of road in Australia. Although it was not hot, the road stretched out in front of us and disappeared in a shimmer of haze on the horizon.

We exited the straight just before the Western Time Zone where we lost 45 minutes, arriving at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse around 5 p.m. It was bare, freezing cold and not at all inviting, but we needed to stop so we set up quickly and sheltered in the caravan out of the howling gale. And we were expecting the Nullarbor to be hot!

Looking for a giraffe on the veldt

Highly trained squadrons of budgies entertained us early the next morning as they peppered the sky with specks of bright green. Ella was pretending to be a dog, and I held her lead to stop her from chasing the budgies, as I thought she would in her doggy way. "Likely not" she said, "They're too beautiful!" After a long drive unrelieved by any change in the scenery, we crested a hill at Madura and stopped to admire the view. It looked like the African veldt, but we didn't spot any giraffes!

We stumbled across one of the Nullabor Links at Mundrabilla so the kids played the Par 4 Watering Hole with a yellow plastic cricket bat and a pink tennis ball. As needs must! Marcus played it in 19, then 40 and the four of them played as a team in 29!

Tally-Ho!

A somewhat irregular golf swing -
a mixture of Tiger, Federer and Ponting!

We continued playing leap-frog with the Nullabor Postie as she did her vast delivery round. Most homesteaders were waiting for her and were on for a chat, so we passed her, and she us, as we drove the length of the Roe Plains.

Eucla Pass took us up onto the plateau with commanding views of the coast and thinking we'd have lunch by the sea, we took a 4km detour to the old Telegraph Station ruins, only to find the sea still at least a kilometre's walk away. There were 2 inquisitive emus there who followed us as we investigated the building.

The hall has not been swept for some time!

The Border village was just outside Eucla and we crossed into SA with very little fanfare - not even a welcome sign to be photographed there! - and lost another 45 minutes. The Great Australian Bight stretched out before us and we stopped at a couple of the lookouts to take it in.

We pushed on towards Nullarbor (roadhouse) and discovered there that it was an hour later than we thought due to daylight saving. We also discovered that we'd driven for 2 days, had consumed all of the "Nullarbor Lollies" from the Boulder Sweet Shop and had only just reached the Nullarbor Plain proper! Nullarbor was cold, very windy and not at all appealing, but they did have hot showers so we set up right next to another of the Nullarbor Links - the Nullarbor Nymph. The kids bolted with their golfing equipment to play "Big Golf", as Ella phrased it, and were gone until almost dark. They were protesting about it being too light for bed, but were all sound asleep fairly quickly!

Our favourite road sign

Marcus was due to have his phone interview for School Captain on Thursday (if we could find a payphone in working order at the right time - and if we could work out the right time!!) and his first comment of the day was "What time is my interrogation?" He hadn't slept much - he rarely gets nervous about anything, but this had him worried! At least he was quiet on the road!



A welcome diversion was the Head of Bight - a whale watching paradise in season and a spectacular lookout over the Bunda cliffs for us. We exited the truly treeless Nullarbor Plain faster than expected and then it was much the same as the other days ... flat plains and shrubby bush. We started to notice fences and then wheat fields just before Penong, where we stopped for lunch and to find a public phone. Our mobile phones are useless out here. To Marcus's disappointment, we found one in working order and so at 2 p.m. we rang school so he could speak to the interview panel.

A difficult first interview with a panel
and payphone ... and passing trucks!

Having a roadside interview in a phonebox was not one of Marcus's favourite experiences on the trip, but he spoke well and managed to answer most of the questions. He looked much better when it was all over.

Windmills and silos at Penong

Penong is known as the "Town of 100 Windmills" but try as we might, we could only count 36. Nearby Lake McDonnell has enormous gypsum deposits. 96% of the plasterboard produced in Australia is made from the gypsum from here.

We had to stop at the Ceduna Quarantine to forfeit the last of our fruit and then made a quick supply stop at the supermarket there, before driving to Streaky Bay (we were tempted to add "con") where we were more than pleased to stop. Guess what? It was cold and windy. The kids didn't notice as they played in the playground, happy to use the long hours of daylight. Dave and I sat almost comatosed in the caravan, feeling the effects of almost 2000 kms. Marcus received an email saying he had been selected as one of the two school captains, which cheered us all up and we celebrated with lemonade and chocolate!

We were on the road again the next morning, travelling the Eyre Peninsular on our way to Adelaide.


Stay tuned ...

Kalgoorlie

It was a relief to pack up and leave Esperance without being held up by a flat tyre! The new tyre rim looks very flash and is doing its job nicely.

Corrugated camels at Norseman

We drove through the wierdly named towns of Grass Patch and Salmon Gums (where the service station attendant told us it was 40 degrees the day before), then on to Norseman for our first break. We found that the town is named after a horse, who kicked up a nugget of gold while tied up overnight in the area. Jackson and Lachie had a great chat to the fellow in the information building and learnt about Nullarbor Links, the longest golf course in the world. It is an 18-hole par 72 golf course which spans 1365km along the Eyre Highway from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia.  We won't have time to complete the whole course, but the kids' eyes  were gleaming at the very thought. Of course, we have a slight problem - about the only thing we don't have with us are golf clubs. We'll work that one out when we need to!

One of the lovely buildings in Coolgardie

The drive to Coolgardie featured salt pans and empty salt lakes. In years past, the local kids were prevented from attending school during winter when the salt lakes filled with water. Summer was harvest time so many could not attend then either! The sky became overcast and threatening as we had our lunch with the ever-present swarms of flies. We had a quick look at the historical buildings before making the final dash to Kalgoorlie. We set up and enjoyed a swim to cool off, although it was no-where near as hot as we had expected.

The evening's entertainment included a fabulous lightshow - a huge thunderstorm with lots of lightning, wind and thunder, but very little rain. It continued well into the night, disturbing Lachie in the Blunderbuss. We reassured him that he was safe as houses in the van and he toddled back sleepily.

Sunday morning dawned clear and surprisingly cool. Our tour of Boulder-Kalgoorlie started at the Boulder Sweet Shop, conveniently located on the way to the Superpit lookout. Dave thoroughly enjoyed the NZ sweet section and had difficulty choosing from his childhood favourites. We found out later that New Zealanders make up 7% of Kalgoorlie's population, which explained the comprehensive NZ sweet selection. The Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mine (KCGM) Superpit is a HUGE opencut gold mine. Alan Bond started buying up small underground mines in the 80's and although he bailed out in financial difficulties, the Superpit open-cut mine was eventually created in 1989. The Superpit is approximately 3.5 kilometres long, 1.5 kilometres wide and 360 metres deep - so big that it can be seen from space. It certainly impressed us - the scale of the operation is unbelievable.

A ute following one of the huge 793C Mining Trucks

We watched the huge machinery for ages. The kids were enthralled by the activity and the mind-boggling facts and figures on the interpretive boards.  For example:

PC8000 Face Shovel (for loading trucks)
Price: $10 million
Engine: 3714 hp (2 engines)
Fuel tank: 11 000 litres
Weight: 685 tonnes
1 bucket load: 60 tonnes
Maximum speed: 2.1 km/h

Drilling for the charges to be laid for the next blast

and the rather impressive tonka trucks:

793C Mining Truck
Price: $4.5 million
Engine: 2300 hp
Weight: 166 tonnes
Fuel tank: 3790 litres
Payload: 225 tonnes
Maximum speed: 55km/h

'Twas Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk,
 that caught the cycling craze ...

On the way home we stopped at the museum where we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the mining exhibits and enjoying the 360 degree view of Kalgoorlie from the mining Headframe there. A handmade bicycle ridden by "Mulga Bill" interested us all. We're still not sure if he was nicknamed after Banjo Paterson's poem or if it was the other way around!

Monday morning saw us waiting outside the tour office in Kalgoorlie, ready to board the bus to tour the superpit. We spent the next 2 and a half hours being amazed at the size of the machines and the scale of the whole operation whilst struggling to understand our driver's Scottish accent.

Sporting a mo' for Movember

Incredibly, each huge dump truck carrying 200 plus tonnes of rock would average a piece of gold the size of a golf ball. To each load of gold-bearing rock, there are 6 trucks full of waste rock which gets dumped into the ever-increasing waste piles. As the tour ended the news came through that a blast was about to be detonated in the pit, so we drove back to see it. We had to wait for an hour, but it was worth it!

One of Marcus's 35 photos of the blast!

The kids enjoyed another swim in the pool in the afternoon although it wasn't exactly hot. We had expected temperatures in the mid 30s but our Kalgoorlie experience was a very pleasant 24!

Across the Nullarbor next. I suspect it will be a l..o..n..g drive, probably our longest stretch so far.

Stay tuned ...

Esperance and Flat Tyres

Our caravan site overlooked the beautiful Esperance Bay and Tanker Jetty, but all eyes on Thursday morning were firmly fixed on the caravan tyre. IT WAS FLAT AGAIN! Even the boys were starting to (slightly) lose their enthusiasm for jacks! Beaurepairs was just up the road so we treated the caravan to a new rim before heading out of town to Cape Le Grande National Park. Esperance is renowned for its beautiful beaches, regularly winning "WA's Best Beach", so we decided to check out a few.

Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay is a pristine white sand beach and is utterly gorgeous - except for the wind! The flies were thick there too, forcing us to swelter inside the Blunderbuss to eat lunch. Still, it wasn't far to the water. While we were lazing on the beach, a kangaroo bounded up and nonchalantly started feeding her joey next to us. We were spellbound!


The rocky headland was crying out to be explored, so we spent some time clambering over rocks and crags, enjoying the wind and the views.

Granite headland at Lucky Bay

Cricket at Hellfire Bay

Thistle Cove, named by Matthew Flinders, was equally beautiful but we drove on a little further to Hellfire Bay. How could we not, with a name like that! It was getting late so we didn't swim, but we did have a fantastic game of beach cricket in probably the most picturesque location we'll ever play in! Ella happily made another set of sandpeople (and cats!) before joining in with the game.


Tanker Jetty saw us arrive early on Friday morning as Lachie wanted to try his new fishing float and we all wanted to see a sealion. After some unsuccessful fishing off the jetty in very windy conditions, I decided to head back for breakfast. There, basking back on the beach, was an enormous sealion. We watched him for a while then went back to camp to get Ella and Marcus, who had chosen to sleep in, to come and see him.

What's for brekkie?

We had a quiet morning doing routine chores (and Dave took the spare off and put the new tyre and rim back on) before heading out to do Esperance's Great Ocean Drive to take in some more fabulous beaches. This is one place where the tourist blurb about the beaches does not lie!

Twilight Beach all to ourselves!

We stopped at Twilight Beach, voted WA's best recently, and lazed about in the crystal clear waters. The water was so clear and inviting that the kids could not resist looking underwater, resulting in saltily sore eyes. The last part of the drive took us past another Pink Lake, but this one was as blue as the sky. If we hadn't already seen a pink lake, we would have thought it was a con! It was time for some resting and relaxing after lunch as we are feeling the effects of far too many late nights. Ella and I washed the Blunderbuss and caravan and the kids had an enormous tidy up in their chair bags and inside the Buss. So it will be a sparkling, tidy rig that hits the highway tomorrow morning! Dave and the kids finished the day with a game of cricket with half the campground while I finished catching up on the blog. I'm glad so many of you are enjoing it as your encouragement keeps me (mostly) up-to-date!

We are going to test our high temperature tolerances in Kalgoorlie for the next few days, and then we'll be driving the Nullarbor!

Stay tuned ...

Wave Rock and Flat Tyres

'Owabouttherflies?

Not sharing the boys' excitement
about using the jack!

A flat tyre! Amazingly, we have driven over 22 000kms before the inevitable happened.

We noticed it as we were about to leave the Albany van park, so put the spare on amidst much excitement from the boys and not too much cursing from Dave!

After an educative visit to Tyrepower (where we changed over to 2 light truck tyres as instructed Pap!), we were on the road again, driving through Porongurup and the Stirling Range before hitting new territory on the way to Wave Rock. It was a cracker of a day after the claustrophobia of caravan containment with glorious sunshine and fabulous scenery. The vast tracts of wheatfields with the Stirling Ranges in the background were particularly stunning. We were pleased to be heading inland again - the wheat harvest was evident to the excitement of the kids and the smell of wheat on the breeze was every bit as energising and exciting as the sea breeze.

Desperation!

We stopped for lunch but couldn't eat for the flies. In desperation, we all got under the mossie net from the van to try to eat our sandwiches without extra protein!

The Lake Grace service station attendant gave us the happy news that we could cut an hour and a half off our hot journey to Hyden using a road that was marked unsealed on our map. That, and some iceblocks, cheered us enormously.

Surfing Wave Rock

There were more flies than I could have ever imagined at Wave Rock. We started setting up but had to stop to go to the office shop to buy those dorky fly nets that fit over your hat. Being a dinkum Aussie, I have never imagined owning one of these fashionable articles, but then I've never truly needed one either. I felt better about it when we realised that lots of the locals were wearing them too! Dave reckoned that Wave Rock was obviously named from the fly wave! We had a late afternoon exploration of Wave Rock and the nearby Hippo's Yawn, happily wearing our fly nets.

Jackson was thrilled to put yesterday's
tyre changing lesson to use!

Dave was treated to a lovely collection of gifts the next morning on his birthday. The temperature was climbing and we had a fair drive to Esperance, so we got packed and let the kids go to have a swim in the campground pool while Dave, Jackson and I hitched up, when I noticed ... another flat tyre! Jackson had everything ready and we soon had the spare on.

Attention!

A Toy Soldier and Military History display stopped us on our drive back to Hyden. Dave had a great time remembering all his toy soldiers! The tyre place needed a couple of hours, so we spent the time having a birthday morning tea in the bakery (mercifully air conditioned and NO flies), checking out the town's quirky sculptures, trying to find my credit card (thankfully Mr Post Office had it!) and we took a drive out to Mulka's Cave, one of WA's premier Aboriginal Art sites. The cave was cool, but the art was little more than hundreds of hand stencils, and a bit disappointing.

Wheat storage at Varley

We finally picked up the tyre (now with a tube, as the rim had a hole in it) and hit the road by 1 p.m. The wheat harvest was evident everywhere, although the soaring temperatures contributing to the Margaret River fires were also causing Harvest Bans in many areas. Dave put the newly-repaired tyre back on to the caravan while we stopped in Varley for lunch. The wheat storage facilities are dotted everywhere and are filling quickly!

Spotted this from the road. Flat tyres don't seem so bad now!

The drive in to Esperance was long and tiresome and it was nearly 7 when we finally got to the caravan park. They were about to close, so we quickly took a site, chucked up the tent, popped the caravan top and drove off in the dark to find a cafe for the birthday dinner - 2 minute noodles just didn't seem to fit the bill!

Stay tuned ...

A week in Albany

Having a whale of a time

Discovered in 1791 and settled in 1826, Albany is WA's oldest settlement and is situated around magnificent harbours. It has many beautiful colonial buildings, but the building Ella was most interested in touring was "Best & Lest", as she had only one pair of shorts left! We have tried to find shorts in many other shops, but Ella's shorts specifications are rather precise: ie they have to be the same as the pair she has now! Her idea of a good pair of shorts is that they don't go up your bum and they don't show your knees - and Dave is keen to encourage this worldview until she is 35! Fortunately, the Albany Best & Less had 2 pairs left in her size so the endless "Best & Lest" spotting will finally cease! We could then get on with other things ...

The former whaling ship, Cheynes IV

WhaleWorld, situated in the once operational Cheynes Beach Whaling Company's station on the edge of King George Sound, seemed the ideal place to start our sightseeing. Albany has a whaling history of 178 years, and the Cheynes Station was only closed in 1978. It has been transformed into a fabulous interactive centre, explaining the history and process of whaling (in fairly gory detail!) with a whaling boat to explore as well. Some of the stories we heard there were incredible - how the waters of Misery Beach ran red with blood and roiled with large sharks trying to get a piece of whale before it was hoisted out of the water. Men were employed with rifles to shoot the sharks and other unluckier men had to swim out along the whale oil pipeline to check for leaks. No shark cages then! Just a couple of weeks ago two children were on the swimming pontoon and had to be rescued by boat from the white pointers circling them! Swimming went off the to do list in Albany at that point!

Goode Beach - The whale blood used to
make the water here red

Goode Beach was just as its name suggests, and we also had a look at Salmon Holes, a popular local fishing spot. We drove back to Emu Point and had fish and chips at The Squid Shack. Definitely up there as the best fish and chips we've had! Lachie found some fishermen on the nearby jetty and we were entertained as they caught fish and fed them live, whole and squirming, to the waiting pelicans.



Thursday was the low point of the journey by quite a margin. I was feeling unwell and the heavy rain confined us all to the caravan. The kids were like caged lions and Jackson and Marcus had a full on fight in the van on the way to the shopping centre to get supplies. We wanted to see the Brig Amity but after a miserable lunch in the van while it poured down, we drove home via two bookstores to get some new reading material for everyone. The rest of the day and evening was spent reading our new books and at least there were no more fights!

The top of The Gap - huge granite cliffs where the sea
rushes in, creating a roar and spray and an almighty
backwash which heaves into the air as it meets the
incoming waves entering the narrow chasm

It was still cold and wet the next morning but we decided to get our coats on and get on with it. We drove to Torndirrup National Park to visit some spectacular features sculpted by the Southern Ocean. The Blowholes were noisy, but not as spectacular as the ones further north. The Gap and Natural Bridge were a short stroll from each other. It was fascinating to learn that we were standing on the edge of Antarctica ... or at least where Antarctica used to join Australia. A good deal of time was soaked up climbing around on the rocks and enjoying the scenery, in between heavy showers of rain.

The giant turbines never stop in the Albany wind!

Everyone was keen to have a close look at the Albany Windfarm which dominates the skyline. The turbines have a 65m tower and three 35m long blades and are the largest to be installed in the southern hemisphere. Jackson was very interested in the engineering aspects but we were all impressed with the giant windmills on possibly the most spectacular piece of coastline around.

Hayward Peak Lookout

Tree-in-the-Rock

Saturday's improving forecast encouraged us to drive out to Porongurup National Park, where we climbed up to Hayward Peak lookout and enjoyed the view. It was a treat to be back in the cool and inviting Karri forest and at 9:30 no-one else was there, which is always an added bonus. Tree-in-the-Rock was a remarkable sight - a large karri growing out of a huge granite boulder. Pressed for time, we decided to forgo the other granite outlooks at Porongurup and drove another 40kms to the Stirling Ranges to attempt the much more difficult Bluff Knoll Walk. Bluff Knoll is a very imposing granite bluff overlooking the surrounding countryside ... and it looked fearsome as we had lunch in the carpark underneath! The 3kms of steep track was very hard going, particularly as Marcus and Ella were in the lead and impossible to keep up with. Some of the track was scary, with sheer cliffs on one side and a sheer drop on the other! After 2 hours of hard slog, we reached the summit. WOW! 360 degree panoramic views for many kilometres rewarded our efforts and we made a pact to climb more summits! The kids felt they were in a plane as we watched the clouds' shadows darkening the amber patchwork of wheat fields. Ella asked "Is this all of Australia?" and I could see her point!

View from the top of Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll from a distance

The knee-jarring descent was easier than the ascent. We were all knackered at the bottom, where we made the particularly stupid decision to drive the long way home through the Stirling Ranges and Red Gum Pass. Dave and I both agreed we would rather pass a red gum than do that 64km rough, unsealed drive again! The Blunderbuss rolled back into Albany at 7:35 p.m. and its occupants were fed and asleep by about 8:05.

To cope with our aching legs, we designated Sunday a rest day! The kids played in the playground until Ella and Lachie had huge blisters on their hands from the monkey bars as well as sore legs. Our new books were passed from reader to reader and thus sustained us all for a bit longer.

Monday morning started with Ella wanting to join The Secret Seven. "Every time they have a meeting, they get lemonade and organade" she told us excitedly ... and we wondered whose organs were used for that tasty drink! I heard some ladies chuckling in the next van and somehow knew that the boys were up to something ... they had been detailed to hang out the washing. The ladies happily filled me in: first they had made cubbies out of the sheets and all the pegs and they were presently engaged in trying to make a sheet spiral on the Hills Hoist. I didn't let them know how they had all enjoyed watching the front loader wash, lest they think them imbeciles! They haven't had much screen time lately ...

6 inch gun in the gun battery

We had a couple of things left that we wanted to do before leaving Albany, so the afternoon was spent very enjoyably at Princess Royal Fortress, which was opened in 1893 and was the first federal defence post of Australia. The gun batteries are still operational - well, the kids could operate them and shoot enemies minus the ammo! We explored the underground magazine and had mock battles using the naval guns on display. None of us would have liked to be in the naval gun turrets during a real firing though!

We rushed off to pick up Marcus's lost hat at Whaleworld (he was very smug: he'd written his name and phone number inside, while Jackson's hat is still in Darwin somewhere!) and then took Lachie fishing in the rain at Salmon Holes, as promised. Actually, we didn't promise the rain, that was just an added bonus! Jackson, Marcus and Ella dug holes and I challenged them to make something worth photographing from the cliffs above. You be the judge:

The proud sand-sculptors!

Lachie and I were chatting to a guy fishing there who also photographed the kids' efforts. He was telling me about his set-up for fishing (he'd caught 6 fish to our usual - none!) and when we all returned to the Blunderbuss, found that he'd left Lachie a float and tracer set up for him to try. One of the joys of travelling is the lovely people you meet, and we've met plenty.

Onwards to Esperance, via Hyden and Wave Rock in the next few days.

Stay tuned ...

The Valley of the Giants

Inside Hollowbut, the Red Tingle
which survived two huge fires

The torrential rain during the night in Walpole caused some grief in the caravan, but the Oztent continues to stand up to anything! We are becoming a little bit sick of the rain though. The mud through everything and all the wet gear is driving me mental!

After bucketing down until mid-morning, the rain finally looked like clearing, so we saddled up for another big day of trees - but no climbing trees within our radius, thank god! The Walpole - Denmark area is famous for its very rare Tingle trees - they are only found in a 6000 hectare area and within 10kms of the sea. They are truly ancient trees - they were growing here when Antarctica was still attached! - and are the forerunners of all the modern eucalpyts. Susceptible to fire, many of their buttressed roots have been burnt out and provide great shelters from the rain, we were pleased to discover! One very famous tree had a space large enough for a bus in its roots, and many locals have a photo of their car in it. Sadly, it fell over in 1990, due to its shallow root system being damaged from all those cars and buses!

The view from here was astounding - you could see huge
waves crashing onto the offshore islands

An amazing vista caught our eye as we drove further into the forest, so we stopped to admire the view from the only clear space in the forest of tall timber. There were huge waves crashing onto the islands, making us all cheer as they surged up, clearly visible.

A short drive further took us in to Circular Pool. The coffee coloured Frankland River tumbles over rocks and generates a froth worthy of a cappucino before eddying and creating circular currents. Bizarre and beautiful.

The kids wanted to throw on some paper to make a
marbled artwork!

Our favourite tree in the forest -
Grandma Tingle

The Valley of the Giants and the famous Tree Top Walk was last on our agenda. Dave was not looking forward to it, but surprised us all by purchasing 6 tickets. We managed to catch the last guided tour of the day on the boardwalk, where we learnt lots about the Red Tingle, Eucalyptus Jacksonii, a name we won't forget easily. It was then time to tackle the 40m high Tree Top Walk. Jackson had to be forcibly dragged away from the engineering information panels! It was designed to move 3 ways, Dave was most pleased to hear! The walk high above the trees was incredible, but Dave was not happy up there and zoomed along to the end with both hands firmly on each handrail, while we enjoyed swaying in the canopy. We all went around a second time, while Dave left to have a restorative coffee!

The highest point on the Tree Top Walk

After a quick squizz at Coalmine Beach, we got back to camp just in time for more heavy rain. Great.

It was a wet and mucky packup the next morning, but the day improved as we drove along, sadly leaving the giant eucalypts behind us. We stopped for a while at Green Pool and the nearby Elephant Rocks, where the unexpected sunshine lured us into the water.

Enjoying Green Pool in William Bay National Park

We prised everyone away from the clear water and fabulous jumping rocks to continue the drive to Albany, arriving mid afternoon. We drove around a little to get our bearings after setting up camp, got a few essential supplies and entertained ourselves after dinner with a quiz about the trip. Jackson observed "I think Ella is asking questions to find out the answers!", although she quickly remembered the answer to "What are our cats' names?"

Stay tuned ...