Travelling East

It is time for another update, but today with the news of the fires in Victoria, I am not feeling that we should be so happy about our adventures, so I will be keeping this update relatively short.

Having left Esperance, we made our way through Norseman to Kalgoorlie. We stayed there for three nights and I found it to be a facinating place - one we will revisit. The wonderful old buildings, wide verandahs that you no longer see and the most amazing size of the super pit! This is an open cut gold mine right in the town, we did not go on a tour but viewed it from a platform. Apparently the trucks take 1 hour to travel to the surface once filled with their load of 240 tons - the photo above this will give you some idea of the massive size of the trucks. In the photo above you can see an ordinary size large grader next to one of the massive trucks.

While in Kalgoorlie we managed to meet up with Leanne Bilham (nee Taylor - left) who originates from Jerilderie. Thanks to her and her partner Rebecca and son Jimmy for their hospitality - good to have a good catchup on all news.

We spent the next two and a half days crossing the Nullabor - something I have always wanted to do with the longest stretch of straight road, 90 miles. I was so surprised by the landscape - the first part was fairly heavily vegetated, and then we had an escarpment, then coming to the treeless plain and then having the most magnificent views of the ocean from the Great Australian Bight - the Bunda Cliffs. Contrary to popular opinion the plain does not have an aboriginal name, it was named by a european botanist Nul (nil) abor (trees).

Of interest was the signage - slightly different animal crossings - camels, wombats etc Plus the road is used for the RFDS as a runway when required for emergencies.

Except for the massive head wind on the second day the trip was uneventful and at times boring (those are Peters words - he hates flat country), and we were lucky in one sense that it was overcast and not too hot. While it was a little cloudy we have at least had a sunrise on the Nullabor. I think next time we travel across we will take a few extra days to really appreciate this magnificent part of the country.

We arrived in Streaky Bay SA- 46 degs, pleasantly surprised that the park was right on the water - lovely to sit under the awning, have a drink with a great view. Then the wind came! and it has blown ever since, so we have decided that tomorrow we will continue onto Port Lincoln. We will at some stage return to Streaky Bay as it really is a beautiful little town.

The only thing to happen to lighten the mood of the current time was when we went into the Streaky Bay Township still attached to the van by an electrical extension lead we forgot to unplug. Needless to say the 10m lead was not long enough. Luckily it pulled straight out of the van socket with no damage and is now a little worse for ware (but still working) from its drag around town. The penny did not drop until we were sitting in town having lunch and neither of us could recall unplugging the Engel fridge in the back of the car. When we got back to the car someone had drapt it over the side mirror - at least we were able to get a laugh out of this.

There you go - short and sweet, we getting realtively close to home and the end of our adventure so we will only have a few more reports to make. The next stage will take us to Adelaide and then on into Victoria (if anything is left!).

Water, Wind, Wine and Wood (SW WA)

After surviving the Hopman Cup, and finding out we were very ambitious to go to both a day and evening session we set of for Bunbury. The drive was disappointing as there was not a lot of scenery but it was a short trip for us.

Bunbury was an interesting place with nice beaches a florist called "Florist Gump" which tickled our fancy,and someone with initiative had developed old grain silos into very trendy apartments. We quickly settled in the park which was straight across the road from Koombana Beach.




It was easy driving to do a day trip to Busselton - this was just lovely, beaches and the long jetty. On the way we found Geographe Bay - a millionaire playground - beautiful houses and very large boats! Through Dunsborough (which reminded us of Double Bay) and a lovely drive to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and then back along the coast stopping at Meelup Beach for lunch (and drooled over the 5 luxury boats moored in the bay). The beach was just beautiful and lots of people had the same idea as us. We returned to Bunbury via the inland route stopping in Donneybrook for a well earned ice cream.

Our next stop was Margaret River. We chose to stay at Tauntons Farm in Cowramup which is a central location for the whole area and it was very easy to access all highlights both north and south. There are about 120 wineries located in the area, and we decided to do a wine tour - this comprised 4 wineries, a brewery, cheese and chocolate tastings - with a lovely lunch as well at Notting Hill Winery. Judy and I managed to go another day to Churchview Winery and arranged for some wine to be sent home. It was interesting to see the differences between some of the wineries - particularly those new and those of the "old establishment" such as Vasse Felix and Leeuwin Estate. These two in particular are outstanding and beautiful properties - but also the price per bottle is beyond my budget!



We managed to see the whole area travelling down to Augusta (where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean) and up to Yallingup calling into lovely beaches such as Gracetown on the way. It was here that we managed to catch a few more "rays". All in all while we enjoyed this area we did think it was a bit overrated and very overpriced.



On the way to our next stop, Albany, we stopped to have a look at the Valley of the Giants and took the walk among the treetops - which is a suspended walkway and yes it does get up quite a swing. At its highest it is some 60 feet above the ground - so for those like me that do not like heights it is a little challenging - but I survived. The trees are very old, very tall Karri and Tingle trees, you can see from the pics the size in relation to Peter and I. While we enjoyed these trees the actual drive to Albany is so boring - nothing to look at except trees, trees and more trees! It would be quite different during the wild-flower season as there were bushes and shrubs everywhere including many we use at home for garden specimens - our next trip will take the wildflower season into account.

We were excited to get to Albany - for some reason we had been looking forward to this stop with the park right on Middleton Beach - even though we knew it would be school holidays. Disappointment set in when we found our allocated site was down the back with tents and campers. We do not have anything against tents and campers but as we had booked some 9 months earlier, paid in full and we received confirmation, we were not happy. I had a discussion with the manager of the Big 4 Park there and explained that if I had wanted a powered camping site I would have asked for that, she apologised and said she wasn't sure how we got the booking as they were always booked out with regular returns - anyway it seems that someone overbooked and as we were not regulars we lost out. Iexplained to her we could have been a return booking but that would never happen, and I would ensure we also told others of our experience. In othert words they were happy to take our money 9 months ago but when we got there we were made to feel anything but welcome - we will never go back there and there are plenty of options to consider.

Putting aside the caravan park - Albany is a lovely place - wonderful harbour, so much granite and the old buildings are just beautiful. Whale world is a good value money outing - we spent about three hours there and it proved to be a real education of how the whaling industry operated before it was closed down in 1978.

Interestingly Albany was the jump off point from Australia for the Gallipoli soldiers and it was quite sad to stand on the spot which was the last glimpse of Australia for so many. They are doing quite a bit of work around town to commenorate this.

At Albany we were able to continue the Wally World part of our trip. A place called the "Squid Shack" was recommended to us "open every day" was the word, so we got ourselves organised and headed off. When we got there - you guessed it - it was closed for the day. The place had been burgled the night before and for the first time in its history was closed while the police investigated and re-organised. Bloody Hell!!!!!

Next we were off to Bremer Bay. This is a top spot - beaches and blue water to die for (although it was not hot enough for us to swim). Beautiful little boat harbour and holidays houses and apparently the fishing is good too. Peter tried his luck, managed to catch a couple of small bream and a very nice whiting (which got a reprieve to live another day) - he had fun anyway!

The caravan park was beautiful, very shady and lovely green grass - a big surprise for Peter was that the person next to us was Dave Jamison, formerly with ACT Forrests, who he worked with at the Emergency Services Bureau during the 2001 and 2003 bushfires - it really is a small world. All is well in Dave's world and he is now happily working at the UWA.

It was our intention to go to Wave Rock next, however on route after a phone call received by Judy we changed plans and headed straight for Esperance to get Jude onto a plane for Perth that night. Yes, unfortunately Jude has returned home - she made the decision to fly home to enable her to support her daughter Nadene through health issues concerning her father and grandmother. We will do Wave Rock next time around.

We were however also able to have a giggle as we realised that we did not have a bag for Judy to use for luggage (only a small cabin bag). Judy said "don't worry, I will buy something in Esperance". Upon booking into the park, I asked for directions to the shopping centre - the manager looked at me as if I had two heads and said "Esperance shuts down on Sundays - nothing is open" and they were right - all shops shut! (Remember Wally World!) So plan B came into action - Judy looked ever so fashionable at the airport with one of those plastic striped bags (you buy them in $2 or discount shops) - luckily I found one under the bed. We were so busy organising her that I forgot to get a photo of this occasions!

Judy arrived home in Albury the next day (modern technology is wonderful), and while we will not complete the trip all together we did have some fun from Darwin (when she rejoined after the broken leg) to Esperance.

We have spent a week in Esperance and it is a magnificent part of Oz. The beaches are very white and the water so blue, we probably have not seen it at its best as we have had overcast and rain following the cyclone that presented in the NW of WA.

Once again the coastline is rugged and a lot of granite. This can best be seen when you take a trip along the coast tourist road and a visit to the national parks. We took a trip to Cape Le Grande National Park and while we did not do any bushwalking, this would be an area we will return to as some stage. Areas that we visited were Lucky Bay, Rossiter Bay, Thistle Cove, Le Grande Beach and Frenchmans Cap Peak. Lucky Bay has recently been voted the beach with the whitest sand in Australia. There are a couple of really nice van and camping areas in the park which are worth visting, they are not powered but have everthing else for $7.50 per person per night.

I was also excited to catch up with Claire Slater (nee Campbell) who I went to primary school with in Jerilderie. Her family left and came to Esperance in 1964 and this is only the second time we have seen each other in that time. For those that know the family, Mrs Cambell is still well and hearty (at 80years of age) living in Esperance as do Claires younger siblings Meredith and Peter. Ian resides in Perth and Richard is the local publican at Bolgart a small town NW of Perth. Thanks again to Claire and Geoff for their hospitality.

After travelling about 25,000km we are ready for the next stage of our trip to Kalgoorlie then across the Nullabor to SA - time is going so quickly now our next major deadline is in Yarrawonga in eary March which is only 5 weeks away.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Arriving in Perth one of the first things we needed to do was organise ourselves for Christmas.

The green grass of the van park was a welcome sight - no red dust! For this part of our trip we are staying in the Swan Valley which is a wine and food area of Perth - 14km from the city. Our site is quite large and backs onto a vineyard which does make it very pleasant. We were advised to watch our for some local inhabitants - snakes, apparently they are known to wander through - (none sighted so far).

We did find though that the park is very quiet, and mostly made up of permanent people - so quickly realised that we would be a small group of three for Christmas lunch - so Judy and I started to organise our "bonsai "christmas. One of the first things that happened was to decorate the van - even had a little tree (much to Peters disgust). We decided we would have the traditional fare - so off shopping. Success was achieved - and on Christmas day (after drinks and chrismas fare on Christmas Eve) the following menu was produced from the travelling macs van.

Christmas breakfast - Eggs Benedict (with smoked Salmon

Christmas Lunch - Prawn Cocktail, Roast Pork with Apricot stuffing, Rolled Chicken with Cranberry and Macademia Stuffing, Baked Leg Ham, accompanied with 7 vegetables. Plum Pudding, brandy custard and cream.

I should say that the pudding was eaten for christmas tea as no one felt like anything else.

A couple more people have now arrived and it is now good to have neighbours beside us and opposite us and we have achieved the occassional natter and drink. On the subject of the park one of the things that has got up our nose is that the park would not accept our booking made about 9 months ago without full payment ($850) to secure the reservation. This was done as we were advised that Perth would be booked solid and it would be difficult to find a place - this is simply not the case, there are heaps of vacancies in our park alone and it would appear we have been spun a line which we are not happy about.

In the couple of days prior to Christmas we did have the time to go on a cooks tour around Perth (the sat nav in the new car has been great!) - it truly is a beautiful city - we just love the gardens, trees, river and the surrounds. It is so good to see Kings Park being used by families for picnics and leisure. The night lights of Perth show a lovely city scape and the lighting on the gum trees in Kings Park is an added bonus.

Judy and I managed to get ourselves into the city for the christmas sales, although it must look amusing to others when Judy gets out of the car and provides direction so that I can park it properly - just a little larger than the Territory! We also travelled to New Norcia (the only Monastic town in Australia) - this proved to be a real eye opener about their way of life and history. We came back from there via a different route and this gave me the opportunity to call into the pub at Bolgart and look up Richard Campbell who left Jerilderie some 45 years ago - still looks the same just a little older. I will be catching up with his sister Claire when we get to Esperance.

While on the subject of old friends, I contacted Annette Foster (Dalrymple-in black) an old school friend, and we made arrangements to catch up - Annette and Peter (her husband) very kindly invited us over for a BBQ on Boxing day. What a surprise! - Mary Byrnes who was also a school friend from Jerilderie was spending Christmas with Annette. As you could imaging quite a lot of "yakking" took place. Through Annette and Peters hospitality we had plenty of opportunity to talk as we were back on New Years Eve to their place and they took us out on the river (in their beautiful boat) on 2 Jan 2009 for a lookaround and BBQ lunch. We cannot thank them enough - it has been so good to catch up, share laughs and generally have a great time with such nice people.

Typically the blogger has not recorded any of the really important statitices for the serious readers. The boat is a 31.5ft Sea Ray powered by twin inboard Mercruisers and is able to sleep 4 below decks and two up top. It has a full galley a toilet and shower and dining area below. Also she forgot to mention admiring the black swans on thge river and having the pieceful scene rudely interrupted by a sea lion which scared the s--t out of everyone including the swans. She also forgot to mention the lovely house forsale in Peppermint Grove we saw, asking price is $60-80m and is Australias most expensive house- we seriously thought about it for a moment but decided Tuross had as much to offer.(this bit has been added by the editor in chief)

Judy has also spent a couple of days withfriends she met while overseas - they invited us for dinner and it was one of the best asian meals we have had in a long time.

It is off to Freemantly tommorrow, and as the Hopman Cup is in Perth we have made arrangements to go to two sessions on Monday 5 Jan. We will then be ready to continue on down south - Bunbury on Wednesday.

To all our Blog readers - we hope you had a Merry Christmas and wish a happy and safe 2009 to all.

The Bloody Wind - down the west coast

We arrived in Carnarvon after driving into a head wind all the way - see if you can guess the prevailing wind with the trees above (this was taken along the main street in Carnarvon).

Irene and Brian (Hallett) were already in the park and after we arrived Judi and Brian (Moodie) and another two couples we had met at Coral Bay showed up - great to see everyone again. Carnarvon has a one mile pier - Brian, Brian and Peter almost froze one night when they braved the wind and cold to go fishing. They all came home mutterring about being mad going there, the wind was horrible and the surf was crashing against the botto m of the decrepit old pier (which had no side rails). We did manage to have a good lunch of prawns and crab at the Hacienda Shack at boat harbor (we bought these no thanks to the hunter gatherers )- other than that nothing exciting about the place.

The Hallets left a day early as they had employment prospects in Geraldton..

At the park they had a lawn bowling green, so to pass the time and to have some fun we had a bowling tournament. Brian Moodie and Peter were the eventual champions - something we all heard about for a while. It did bring out many styles of bowling and lets just say that we could all do with a few lessons.

After two days we were off to Shark Bay - a world heritage area. We travelled part of the way with the Moodies (Brian and Judi) and first thing in the morning it was like travelling through Jurrassic Park - Kangaroos, Goats, Emus, cows and camels all making an appearance by the roadside. The Moodies continued to Geraldton while we turned off the Denham - this has probably been the only mistake we have made all trip.

At Denham the wind was blowing so hard that we could not put the awning out and if we could we would have had to hire a kanga hammer to put the pegs in with - the ground was so hard! Again the advertising blerb let us down.

There was one area, Eagle Bluff which we enjoyed - it was a boardwalk which went over the edge of the cliff and when you looked down you saw manta rays, sharks and there was a lovely coffee place where we relaxed and looked out to the Indian Ocean. As for Monkey Mia -we think it is so overated and not eally worth the effort. We had intended to stay a few days in this area but after two (and that was too long) we decided to go to Geraldton. On the way we stopped off at Hamelin Pool and had a look at the Stromatalites, Shell Beach (made up entirely of very small shells) and the shell beach quarry - they make most walls at Denham out of these bricks they cut.

About the same time we were leaving there was agroup of Boat People arriving illegally - we reckon they can have the place.

Once again a head wind all the way to Geraldton - our friends were already there and Irene had told us what site we wanted. It was so good to see them again and we were welcomed with dinner supplied for us that night. The wind was also blowing at Geralton but in comparision to Shark Bay it was a gentle breeze!

The park was right on the beach, so it was good to be able to walk down and have a look at the sunset with a glass of vino. We found Geraldton an interesting place, the memorial for HMAS Sydney is pretty special and the port is very busy - at times there was no less that 8 ships waiting or in port - minerals, iron ore, wheat and livestock. Plus there were some very pretty places around the area - Kalbarri (up north), Port Gregory (with a pink lake) and Greenough, Dongera and Port Denison down south.

This area is one of the main crayfishing areas but they are also doing it tough at the moment with number of pots reduced and the weather has not been kind to the early catches (too cold apparently). Judy and I are still waiting to see a decent sized cray that would make good eating although we did have a beautiful seafood meal on our trip to Dongarra. One of the things that facinated me was that you have the coast, sand dunes and then the wheat paddocks start (so close to the ocean) plus fine merino wool is grown - so much farmland so close to the water!

The seven of us set ourselves up very well in the park and Tim the toolman (Brian Hallett) and his assistant Frank Spencer (Peter) kept themselves busy doing some maintence jobs on the van. We were never too sure what they would be up to next! Peter also received a surprise when a sattelite dish arrived for installation (an early christmas present) - so he is now right for TV wherever we are. Thanks again to Brian for organising and installing it for me. It was also about this time that an opportunity arose and we decided to upgrade the car. The Territory had done a great job but we want to continue to travel - so we took the plunge and now have a Nissan Patrol Ti (3 litre Turbo Diesel).

We also managed to witness an interesting event with the moon, venus and jupiter - and managed to capture the smiley face.

While in Geraldton we took the opportunity to see the film Australia - the best bit was seeing some of the places we had been to in the Kimberleys - none of us thought we would rush out and see the film again.

The others also decided that they had better look for work - Irene and Brian gained work in Geraldton, and Judi and Brian took employment at the van park in Jurien Bay. Before everyone separated we decided to have a final meal together - but we made it christmas dinner. We had the full meal, with decorated van, secret santa and other surprise presents - a great night had by all.

We spent 17 days in Geralton, and probably enjoyed ourselves more, particularly because of the company - we still keep in contact with the others and believe that we have made lifelong friendships - we had many a good laugh, good meal and Brian and Peter even managed to catch a couple of whiting from the beach - which they enjoyed for breakfast. So funny that 7 people and in the group there are 2 Irene's, 2 Brians, 2 Judy's and one Peter - not often that would happen.

We have had a thought about changing Australias national faunal symbol fromthe roo and emu to the mighty ant. Those little bastards have annoyed us all around Australia at every stop and ar totally resistent to every chemical thrown at them. It is not at all uncommon to find them crawling along a narrow twig or up a rope to get into the van and once inside they go everywhere.

Waving goodbye and a little sad we set off for Perth and our first stop was going to be Jurien Bay. This was a very pretty place but again the wind was pretty fierce. We did however travel to Cervantes to see the Pinnacles - these are just fantastic, there are so many of them and they are facinating - very hard to describe and so many different sizes without any vegetation around.

We had initially intended to stay there about 5 days - catch up with Judi and Brian, do day trips to the Pinnacles at Cerventes but.....we found the wind just too much to handle so after finding out we could go the park in Perth a couple of days earlier we decided to do that. It also gave us a few more days to organise ourselves for Christmas.

So 20 December after 22,000kms we arrived in Perth.

Red Dust to the Coral Coast

One thing I forgot to mention was that in Broome Peter requested that "Nurse Gladys" shave his head - the result you can judge for yourself, however we have all collectively decided that this will be a once only happening!

Anyway, we arrived in Port Smith which was a little fishing village 140k south of Broome after being told that it was a "beautiful caravan park" - the road in was corragated red dust, and the sites and facilities were about a one star rating. We had travelled with Irene and Brian and we all decided to make the most of it as we were also told it was a fantastic fishing spot. The two "hunter gatheres" decided to try their luck - first at the lagoon, which was very pretty and at least we were able to update the suntan - but no fish!.

The next day Judy and I stayed at home while the other three tried their luck at another "fantastic fishing place" - off they set, following the handdrawn map over the sanddunes. About two hours later back came the 4WD at a fast pace so we naturally thought they had had success - wrong, they could not find the place and were sick of playing Malcolm Douglas so returned to camp.

"Nurse Gladys" did have occassion to use the large first aid kit we have been storing when Brian scraped his arm on some oyster shells, also came in handy for doctoring the sand fly bites (Port Smith is the sandfly capital) - we really do now have every potion known to man in order to treat these.

After a couple of days, off to Port Hedland the only way to avoid the bumps on the Port Smith road was to drive as far as possible up the side walls of the road, many times we thought we would tip over on that bloody 23 ks of dirt and sand.

The drive to Port Hedland was so boring - red dirt..... We had been told to pass through Port Hedland but thought we would have a look. Certainly opens your eyes as to the size of the mining industry - everything is big and it seems that each person has a white 4WD with an orange flag attached. Highlights were the mound of salt, the very long mine trains (up to 3 kilometre long) and the red dust covering everything!. We had to get some new tyres and the fellow while talking to us told us that the best restaurent in town was the BP Roadhouse - this tells you something! The good part was that we met up with some other people in the caravan park and enjoyed a good meal and laugh.

Interesting information fromPort Hedland was the pay rates. Unskilled people cleared about $1800 per week- skilled people much more! The rent for a one bedroom unit in the park was $1200 per week which was paid by the mining companies - disposable income was huge.

We aslo visited South Hedland which was the dormitory town built when Port Hedland got rocking...... unbelievable. In places it was difficult to discern it from a tip, very high crime rates and violence at night reported and very high indigenous unemployment rates.

We heard about another small beach area Point Samson (50 km north of Karratha) and thought we would go there, so the convoy set off. Getting close we went through Roeborne and thought oh no this could be another Port Smith - but we were pleseantly surprised. We decided to go the the park behind the tavern which was directly across the road from the beach. We settled in here for 3 nights. Bill and Emma (Kiwis who had worked in WA for 28 years) that were staying in the park insisted in putting on drinks and eats for us on one night, they were extremely nice people and very generous hosts.

While in the area we went to do banking etc at Karratha (which is not exciting) and then took a drive down to Dampier - a very pretty harbour, and also took a drive to Cossack an abandoned town that has a few buildings left that have been restored. Cossack was the pearling capital prior to Broome.

The convoy then decided Exmouth was the next stop. Again the drive was not exciting - red dirt a few large mines, big trucks - it really did remind you just how remote some parts of this country are. (Did you note the changes made to the sign in the photos). Exmouth was a beaut few days - good park, Judi and Brian Moodie (who we had met in Port Hedland) were already there plus some others we had met in Point Samson.

Peter managed to snorkel and go fishing and the water was just so blue. The view from the lighthouse was spedtacular. Judy, Irene and I managed to find the big prawn and we had a nice lunch of fresh prawns. Peter and Brian tried beach fishing, fishing from Learmont Jetty but only caught small ones - but still had a good laugh and enjoyed themselves. Emus are protected and in Exmouth they are seen strolling down the main street.

We have been on the road for 5 months now, travelled 20,000kms and all that time have had a Weber BBQ under the bed (we had used it once in Port Macquarie) - well we decided to have a communal Roast Lamb - so the weber came in very handy and it was one of the best roasts we have ever had.

Judi and Brian decided to go the Cape Range National Park and free camp for a few days, but Irene and Brian and us decided to go on down to Coral Bay.

We had been told to go Peoples Caravan Park at Coral Bay as it had good water - this was true, only what we were not told was that you could not hook up to water but obtain it from taps in containers for drinking and cooking. Neither of us filled our water tanks in Exmouth, so the first little while was spent bucketing water for our tanks. Once that was complete we were right. We had a site 20 metres from the beach - just beautiful!. The cost of living is pretty high (luckily we had stocked up before leaving Exmouth) and the bakery cannot make coffee - but Coral Bay is a delightful place. Peter managed snorkling and Judy and I went to sea in a submersible - got a very good view of the fish and coral.

Brian and Judi joined us after a couple of days - so again some good socialising. Irene and Brian left for Carnavon a day before us, and we decided to travel in convoy with Brian and Judi., hoping that we would not have a head wind, but we were wrong!!!

13 Days in Broome and now heading South

We have spent the most delightful thirteen days in Broome. As well as Irene and Brian arriving from Kununurra we met Denise and Denis (who live in Canberra) and the seven of us have celebrated Melbourne Cup, socialised nearly every day had many a good laugh and generally really enjoyed ourselves. I have no doubt that we will keep in touch.

Judy was in charge for Melbourne Cup - ran the sweeps and organised the gambling on each race - very large bets of 20cents. Food was prawns, chicken , fruit and champagne - which we managed to finish off down on the beach at sunset. You will see from the photos that no expense was spared on the fashions of the day.

While this has been a great time to rest and given Peter the opportunity to "tinker" with the van (thanks to the assistance from Brian and Denis) it is expensive to live and lets say that the shops are not really that exciting unless you wish to buy pearls, pearls or pearls.

Broome has a beautiful port, and last Thursday the Dawn Princess was staying in Broome for a day - we were up bright and early to watch it come into port - just magnificant to see. Not to be outdone, we watched it leave the Port from the pleasant surrounds of the golf club (the only hill in Broome) - good cold beer and good company.

We are going down tonight for one last look at the sunset on Cable Beach - tommorrow we are off to Port Smith. This is only a small trek (140km) but it is a good fishing place, so hopefully the hunter gatherer will have success again. Irene and Brian are going to join us so we will have their good company for a while longer.

Kimberleys and sweeping into Broome

Well we have made it to WA!

The drive from Katherine to Kununurra was one of the most enjoyable so far for the whole trip - the scenery is just so exciting and so many colours. We passed through Victoria River and Timber Creek Roadhouses and have made a mental note that we probably need to explore Gregory National Park at a later date.

It is worth noting the price of beer in Timber Creek where thr majority of the population is indigenous. This is particularly interesting for Peter as both Judy and Irene have rediscovered the joys of a cold beer and are drinking his stock.

The price Peter paid in Cairns was $33 for 30 can slab of xxxx, in Timber Creek the same slab was $98.50!

The entry into WA was interesting going through quarantine, we met a very thorough but personality challenged inspector who went through every cupboard and even under the car and van without cracking a smile - he took his job very seriously!

We found the caravan park at Kunurra and after one night decided that we would need to pack up and move sites, due to the amount of sun we would experience (I have now resigned as site manager and that is handled by the manager of transport, planning, logistics and anything else that Judy and I feel needs to be done). On a positive, the site we moved to was not available the day before and it turned out to be a fantastic site - very shady and close to all amenities.

We ended up staying in Kununurra for a week as we found it to be a great place. We decided to treat ourselves and went for a two hour flight over the Bungle Bungles - which really was well worth the $. So many colours, so vast, so hard to describe. The flight also went over the Argyle Diamond Mine which is the largest diamond producer in the world.

The following morning we spent on the Argyle Dam - so much water (30 times the size of Sydney Harbor), 45 klm wide - hopefully the photos above give you some idea, you cannot see from one side of the lake to the other. After that wewent back to Kunnurra on another boat on the Ord River. - a 55 km trip. The Argyle Dam has so much potential it is unbelievable only about 10% of the water is used the other 90% goes inmto the sea. In the last major wet 7 gigalitres per second were going over the spillway, this is enough to supply Perth for 1 year going over the spillway in a day-this went on every day for three months!

As Judy has missed out on seeing crodiles we went for a day trip to Wyndam (temp at 42degC) and took in the crocodile farm and the other sites of Wydhan - not a lot but the view from the lookout where you can see the five rivers meet is truly magnificent. It would be something to see in the wet. Again some interesting facts about Cambridge Gulf at Wyndam, there are 5 rivers running into the gulf. Of all the total outflow of every river into the sea along thje Australian coast 25% comes out of these 5 rivers into the Cambridge Gulf.

Wyndam was very hot the day we were there, the average daily temperature year round is 37.6deg.

While in Kununurra met with people who were managing the Daly Waters pub while we were there - very nice people and as Irene (yes that was her name and also a strong willed capricorn) was a hairdresser both Judy and I took advantage of her skills - probably saying "make it short and tidy " may have been a mistake but at least I will not need to worry about it for a while. We did have a laugh though as they were also at Katherine and witnessed us driving around the park (eight times) looking for the right site - another reason why I have resigned as site manager.

After a week of the beautiful scenery, taking in the sunset at the old pump station and flopping in the pool every afternoon we finally decided to move on. We had been advised by everyone to just get petrol in Halls Creek and then drive on however we thought the drive thrpough to Fitzroy Crossing (600k's) may have been a bit much so thought we might free camp at Mary Pool rest area. We arrived at Mary Pool by lunchtime and it was a dust bowl, so after lunch decided to go on to Fitzroy Crossing - what an oasis in the desert is the Fitzroy Crossing Lodge which was just lovely. Hall's Creek made the claim to be the oasis in the Kimberly but someone had strategically changed the sign to read "Arse of the Kimberley" - we did not disagree.

At Irene's re quest we dropped into Derby which was a nice little place although not much to see or do and we only stayed one night.

Some of the places we have seen recently look suitable candidates to house "Australia's most wanted" they are a bit sus.

The next day we arrived in Broome where we have decided to stay for about 8 days - at least that way we can celebrate Melbourne Cup and relax - more about that in the next update.

Some of the trip has been a bit like Chevy Chases' classic movie American Vacation, at Derby for example we went into have a cup of coffee and like Wally World they were closed for the day. Not to be disappointed when we got to Broome we went to the Waterfront Cafe and ........the only day of the year it was closed too! A good note though, Irene and Brian have arrived in Broome and we will be all lunching together for Melb Cup - as usuial Judy is the grand organiser!