WA-Augusta to Bussleton

We visited the lighthouse at Augusta which is where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. Beside the beach at the foot of the lighthouse is an old water mill that was used to pump water to the people at the lighthouse in the 1800’s. It has now calcified but water is still running along it.(Photo 1) A little further west in the National Park is Hamelin Bay where we watched the large rays swimming up and down the waters edge waiting to be fed. The fishermen would hand the scraps to the rays and they would suck it up like a vacuum cleaner.(Photo 2). Mike fed them but I decided to be the wary photographer.

We enjoyed the entire Margaret River area with its’ many beautiful trees and of course the vineyards that go on for kilometres. The beaches along the coast are famous for their surf and while there, we watched part of the pro competition which was fantastic. We were interested to find where the Margaret River almost meets the sea. It flows to within about 100 metres from the ocean where a sand dune stops the progress. Maybe it then filters through the sand to the ocean. (Photo 3).

While in the area an art show was in progress. Artists from the area had painted over a hundred cows which were displayed at various business and parks throughout the area. We enjoyed following part of the “cow trail” to view the various designs. One in downtown Bussletown was named the KISS cow after the band and had many similarities to the band. (Photo 4)

The Bussellton and Dunsbourough area seem very affluent as the beautiful homes bordering the ocean go for kilometres. While at Bussleton Mike and I would ride the 5klms to town each morning on the bike tracks beside the ocean and have a coffee before the ride back to the van. What a great way to start the day. Then, back to the van to make more glass beads ( my new on the road hobby).

WA_Esperance to Denmark

The coastal drive from Esperance to Denmark was fantastic. The large coastal town of Albany was a great place to stay for a few days and travel the surrounding countryside. The National parks in the area have beautiful walks to hidden beaches and Albany has done a wonderful job converting the old whaling station to a tourist centre explaining the whaling industry with a whaling boat as part of the museum. Thank fully no more whales are hunted in our waters. The butchering of them was criminal.
Denmark is the home of the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk as well as having over one hundred kilometres of spectacular coastline and beautiful beaches, swimming holes and rock pools. The area has wineries, much local produce, art and craft galleries and to me the town itself has a very relaxed feel. A little hippyish maybe.
It is delightful driving through the area with the huge forests of Marri, Karri, Tingle and Jarrah trees. The smell radiating from the forest floor is so refreshing.
We walked above the trees on the tree top walk, at the highest part we are 40 metres above the ground and the tops of some of the trees were still towering above us. The walkway was swaying as we walked along it so I was very happy to get to the end. Back on the ground, there is boardwalk which meanders through a grove of tingle trees. Some of these are over four hundred years old and gigantic. Boy, if they could only talk.
Out to the coast we find the Elephant rocks and Greens Pool which are small sheltered coves, wonderful to swim in and stunning to look at. (Photo 3)
Next we are heading to the Margaret River area for a few days so we are looking forward to sampling a few wines.

WA-Esperance

After our crossing of the Nullarbor and our visit to Kalgoorlie we headed south to Esperance, a beautiful coastal town. We have decided that the coast line of Western Australia just keeps better around every corner.
The squeaky white, fine sand beaches bordered by brilliant blue pristine bays just take your breath away. Mike and I keep saying to each other that we cannot get over the clearness and the colour of the water. Every bay is truly post card scenery. There are over 100 island in the coastal archipelago and this area is also known as The Bay of Isles. There are long beautiful beaches that you can four wheel drive on, great bike and walking tracks around town and along the foreshore, as well as many fishing spots.
At the Tanker jetty in the bay the local seal, Sammy, swims and lazes around the pylons waiting for the fishermen to discard the leftovers from filleting their fish. You can sit and watch him for hours he is such a character. When he’s had his fill, he lies on the beach and has a nap oblivious to all the on- lookers and doesn’t stir until it is feed time again.

The Cape le Grand National Park is close by and offers two good camp areas on the beach as well as more incredible scenery.
We stayed at Esperance for a week and loved every minute of it.
Visiting this area is a must. The scenery is magnificent.

WA-Kalgoorlie

Our original plan did not include a visit to Kalgoorlie but as the final two holes of the golf course was there, we had no choice. We drove the 310 klm round trip from Norseman to Kalgoorlie to play two holes of golf on a dirt fairway to get a certificate to say that we had completed the Nullarbor Links. We must be mad!
We played the holes in the morning and then spent the rest of the day as tourists and found Kalgoorlie fascinating. Gold was discovered here in 1893 and it is now a thriving wealthy city of 30,000 people.
Mining is still the lifeblood of the community with many of the wonderful original buildings still standing. Today many of these house boutiques, restaurants, businesses and we walked up and down admiring them and had lunch in one of the magnificent old hotels. There are shops in town where you can sell your nuggets so there is obviously still gold for the small prospector.
Behind the town is “The Super Pit” which is a man made wonder that can be seen from space. It is a massive gouge carving into the red earth, where trucks the size of houses move hundreds of tons of rock in the hope of finding a few ounces of gold at a time. This is known as the richest square mile of gold bearing earth in the world. We stood and watched the trucks loading the recently blasted rock and then slowly driving up to the top of the pit which takes half an hour. These trucks are massive but from where we stood they looked like tonka toys. The vastness is hard to comprehend.
We then drove to the Miners Hall of fame where learnt more about the history of the area and watched them melting gold and pouring it into moulds.
We thoroughly enjoyed Kalgoorlie and the entire time we spent there. It would be fun to return to the area and do some prospecting.

SA-WA-Crossing The Nullarbor

Years ago crossing the Nullabor meant several days on a dirt road with few facilities. Today crossing The Nullabor is a very civilized experience. Now, the road is completely sealed and well serviced with many roadhouses along the way and carries a vast amount of tourist and commercial traffic. The largest distance between roadhouses being 188klms. The trip took us three days and we stayed in roadside stops for two nights. I had always thought of the Nullarbor as being desert with sand hills everywhere and found it to be nothing like that at all.

The Eyre highway hugs the coast from Ceduna to the WA border where it begins heading inland. We stopped at the Head of the Bight where the spectacular Bunda cliffs drop into the turquoise ocean. Between May to October this area has up to 100 southern right whales. Some whales come here to give birth, others to mate and some come here to socialize. The viewing platform allows you to get close to the ocean and it would be magic to be here during those few months. (Photo 1 )

The countryside was continually changing from low lying scrub ,salt bush, larger shrubs and eucalyptus forests which kept us interested along the way. Occasionally there would be a tree beside the road covered in shoes, others in bottles, one in household items which were rather funny. (Photo 3 )

The longest straight stretch of road in Australia is towards the end of the crossing. It is 146.6 klms long so its time to put the ipod on and start singing to a few oldies to pass the time.

We were very lucky with the temperature as the highest was 27degrees and we had a tail wind most of the way so Mike was happy. We had heard horror stories of some people having a head wind all the way and chewing through the fuel.

All in all, the trip was good and the golf was the best thing to distract from the distance.

SA-WA-The Nullarbor Links

When we signed up at the Information Centre in Ceduna to play the Nullarbor Links, we paid $50.00 each and received our score cards and a piece of wetsuit fabric about 12” x 12” with a small hole in the middle....wondering why we would need such a thing.

After seeing the first hole we knew why. There is no grass at all. The tee off area is a small platform covered in astroturf, as is the green. All the holes have the same tee off platform, different shaped greens but between is vastly different. Once you are on the fairway you place your green piece of wetsuit fabric on the ground, put your tee in the hole, ball on top, select your club, hit the ball and keep your fingers crossed that you will be able to find it.

Some of the fairways are all salt bush, some are trees and bushes, some are cleared red dirt fairway with a few tufts of something growing here and there. One has a sign warning of snakes and we saw a Red Belly Black, another has “tree traps” instead of sand traps- they have bulldozed a few trees and piled them together at a couple of places on the course. The funniest one was a large bulls-eye that we could see between the trees, which was showing us where the flag and green were.

The flies were so bad when we played at Norseman that I had to bring out the “fly veil.” It looks ridiculous but saves the flies from driving you crazy.
Your card is stamped at each hole which is usually beside a roadhouse and then you are presented with a certificate at the Information Centre at Kalgoorlie.
We have really enjoyed the last three days. It was a great laugh and gave us something to look forward to every 100 klms or so and made the trip go quickly. The total journey was 1641 klms. It truly is the longest golf course in the world.

SA-Eyre Peninsula-Ceduna

Ceduna is the last major centre before heading across the Nullabor to Western Australia. I stayed here for five days while Mike travelled to Brisbane for a seminar.
I stayed at the down town caravan park so I could walk to the shops, out to the jetty to watch the people fishing. Around the foreshore they have built a wonderful 4klm walking and biking track which takes you to Thevenard. Here ships are loaded with gypsum, salt, and grain from across the west coast. These docks are also shared with a small fleet of fishing vessels.
I made a daily trip out here either on bike or walking enjoying the beauty of the bay.
Ceduna also has a rich Aboriginal community with many of their beautiful paintings and crafts on display.
Each night the sunsets were spectacular and no two were the same. I would sit outside the caravan with a champagne and watch the magic unfolding and feeling so grateful to have the opportunity to view these stunning colours dance across the sky.

Cactus Beach is about 90klms west of Ceduna and is an iconic surfing beach where surfers come from all over the world to test their skills. Just before you reach the beach you travel beside some massive sand dunes and a few salt lakes. The ocean was calm the day I visited which meant that unfortunately there were no surfers to watch.
Our next job is to fill our water tanks as we plan to free camp across the Nullabor. We will also sign up to play the Nullabor Links which is the worlds longest golf course, Ceduna to Kalgoorlie, a distance of 1365 klms. We were wondering if there would be any grass!