Sally's Birthday

Thursday, April 30
Day 273

*****Sally’s Birthday*****

To start with, we all piled into the Prado and headed to the Kalbarri National Park and the short walks and scenery are still breathtaking. We started with the loop gorge and then onto the Natural Window.

Murchison River Gorge Loop, Kalbarri NP.

Colin and Sally in the Natural Window

From there we ventured to the Z Bends and then down into the Murchison valley where we were able to test the water.

Sally, Colin, Jan and Mike at the Z Bends, Kalbarri NP
Yes, those are flies on Sally’s hat.

Col Fishing in the Murchison River

About now it was beer o’clock so back to camp for pre-dinner drinks kindly provided by Mike and Jan who had picked up a sample pack from the Bootleg Brewery (one of my favourites) were we worked our way through the selection.

Pre-Dinner Drinks

We then legged it to The Emanon at the Edge Resort for Sally’s birthday dinner. The guy’s at the restaurant were excellent and the food great. They even provided a cake for Sally.

Sal’s Birthday Dinner

Sal’s Birthday Cake

After which, we returned to camp where everyone slept soundly.

Kalbarri

Wednesday, April 29
30089km’s

One spot that we all looked forward to visiting was Kalbarri. As Sally’s birthday was looming (tomorrow), Sally and I had our hearts set on an on-suited cabin but the first camp ground couldn’t accommodate so we had a quick ring around and found digs at Tudor Tourist Park were we checked in. We then took a quick drive back down the south coast to check out all the photo spots we missed on the way in.

Kalbarri South Coast

Cervantes to Coronation Beach

Tuesday, April 28

We headed further north towards Geraldton but stopped on the way to see Stromatolites but after driving up and down sandy beach tracks for an hour all we found was a look out on the top of a sand dune but the view was worth it.

Cervantes Bay Islands

North of Cervantes we passed through Jurien Bay stopping to see the beaches at the jetty. The water was crystal clear and Jan decided to test the temperature. The reaction was truly Territorian and the photo reveals.

Jan on Jurien Bay Beach

Further north along the coast was Dongara, the proclaimed Crayfish Capital of Western Australia. Unfortunately, none of the seafood restaurants opened before 5pm so we settled for the bakery. I supplemented my Crayfish Craving with a delicious seafood roll. Mike, two pasties later and the girls filled with bakery delights we returned to our travels.

Sal and Col at Lookout near Dongara

We drove through Geraldton stopping briefly for fuel and supplies on to a council van park at Coronation Beach. An excellent choice we beach access and comfortable camping with excellent sunsets and sunrises.

Coronation Beach Campground

Col takes in Coronation Beach Sunset

Cervantes, The Pinnacles

Monnday, April 27

Off to Cervantes but in true Billy Connolly style we ducked into the Pinnacles for a look around. Almost scaring a group of school kids on a nature excursion.

Spot the Real Billy Connolly

Jan, Mike Col and Sal at the Pinnacles

Perth

Sunday, April 26

We headed to the Paddington Arms to meet my old boss Christine who left Darwin just after we start this trip. All was good until we tossed a coin to see who would be driving home. I lost and was relegated to light beer for the duration.

Sal, Col, Olive (the croc) and Chris at The Pado

Darwin Ex-pats

Perth

Friday, April 24

Our only plans today were to catch up with Sal’s old friend Eddie, who she worked with in Darwin many years back. We’d booked a Tai Restaurant and headed out for dinner.

Eddie, Sal, Sue, Joe, Col and Sue

Saturday, April 25

Once again, an easy day so I caught up with my Uncle Peter, who has been in Perth for near on 20 years. We met at the Chapel Farm Restaurant for lunch, in hindsight not the best venue, service was wanting and the food average, but it was good to see Peter again.

Col, Sal and Peter

Perth

Tuesday, April 21
Day 264

We were looking forward to some home style comforts and Sue and Joe invited us into their home, on the forth hole fairway at the Vines Resort in the Swan Valley. We lapped up the luxury like a new born babe to its mother’s tit. Flushing toilet, hot and cold running water and a bath. And with Joe in the kitchen, we had an endless supply of gourmet cuisine.

Joe, Sue, Col and Sal at Sue and Joe’s

They even invited us into the new work place and shouted us to a meal at the Oakover Winery.

Oakover Winery

Sue and Joe at Work.

Joe left work early and took us to a couple of the Boutique Breweries in the Swan Valley for some tastings.

Joe and Col at the Feral Brewery

Fremantle

Thursday, April 23

Today, Sue and Joe took us to Fremantle. Initially to the Little Creatures Brewery where we would meet up with Mike and Jan who were staying in Freo.

Joe, Sue Col and Sal at Little Creatures Brewery

Mike and Jan stayed at Little Creatures for lunch while the rest of us strolled down the wharf to the Kailis Fish Restaurant to tuck into some serious seafood.

Lunch at Kailis Fish Restaurant

Some Seafood Platter

Then straight to the Sail and Anchor to wash it down.

Drinks at the Sail and Anchor

As we left the Sail and Anchor, we passed the Mad Monk Brewery and Mike and I couldn’t pass up the chance for more beer samples.

Beer Tasting at the Mad Monk Brewery

York

Monday, April 20

Before arriving in Perth, there were a couple more places to check out. The first one was Mulka’s Cave. This is a Aboriginal Rock Art site with plenty of hand prints and a story to go with it.

Mulka’s Cave Entrance

Mulka’s Cave Rock Art

We then ventured on through the WA wheat belt until we arrived a York, about 70k east of Perth. This is the home of the WA Motor Museum so off I went to have a look.

Hyden, Wave Rock

Sunday, April 19

Today we headed north towards Hyden where we planned to visit Wave Rock. On the way we stopped at Stoke NP which was still under renovation after the 2007 bushfire. Looks like a good spot but the redevelopment doesn’t appear to leave a lot of space for camping.

Stoke NP.

We got into Hyden mid afternoon and discovered that the local tourist park at Wave Rock looked fairly comfortable so we booked in for the night. Before sunset we ventured out onto Hyden Rock (Wave Rock is a formation at the eastern edge of Hyden Rock) to catch some snaps. We walked over the top of Hyden Rock getting great views across the camp ground.

Colin at Wave Rock

Wave Rock Camp Ground

Sally on Hyden Rock

Colin at Hippo’s Yawn Rock

Esperance

Saturday, April 18

We decided to miss the Granite/Forest Drive from Norseman to Hyden, so we headed south to Esperance we we planned to book a cabin for the night. We found a place at the Pink Lake Tourist Park and settled in before walking down to the township to check it out.

Pink Lake Tourist Park

Esperance Harbour

Cocklebiddy, Fraser Range

Friday, April 17
Day 260

We were behind time again and set off early. It’s about 720k to Norseman so we headed off to see how close we could get before running out of steam.

Eucla Sunrise

Eyre Highway West of Eucla

We stopped in at the Cocklebiddy Cave for a look. This cave has been closed to the public for 3 years so we could only check it out from outside. We did encounter more wildlife in the process.

Cocklebiddy Cave

Cocklebiddy Cave Resident

We had decided to stay at the Fraser Range tourist park about 100k east of Norseman but when we got there the park was closed. We pushed on about another 30k until we found a roadside lay by, most of which, in WA, allow 24h stop over’s. This one was very good but the local flies gave us some grief.

Fraser Range Roadside Camp

Colin and Sally at Fraser Range Roadside Camp

Eucla

Thursday, April 16
Day 259, 27400km’s

We were coasting along comfortably stopping to checkout the various sights along the Eyre Highway when around 100k short of the WA border we came across more back packers.

The Great Australian Bite

This time they were stuck on the side of the road going nowhere fast. We stopped to offer assistance and after a long time on the sat phone talking to RACV, they were frustrated to the max. We sussed out the problem with the L300 and decided it must be the alternator causing all the grief. In true bush mechanic style, we removed the battery from our camper trailer and with the aid of some jumper leads (our battery would not fit in the small battery compartment of an L300) we got their vehicle started and drove on using the temporary battery to run the van. To all our surprise, they made it all the way to Eucla (130k) where we all checked in for the night and the back packers could solicit assistance from the local mechanic.

Olive at the SA/WA border

English Back Packers, Faye and Ayden

Broken L300

Port Lincoln to Ceduna

Wednesday, April 15
Yeeeeeaaaaahhh

The car’s fixed.
We packed up quickly and hit the road to Ceduna. First my replacement tyre, the repair in Pt Augusta was no good and Beaurepairs gave me a pro-rata exchange on a new tyre. 75% off the retail price making the road hazard insurance very worthwhile.
The new diff, covered under extended warranty (all but the diff oil). Now things are looking up again.

This is harder to look at Then Garey Neenan’s Knee Operation Video

We found a cabin in Ceduna as we planned to head off early in the morning and hopefully make it to around Cocklebiddy Tomorrow night.