Time to Begin to Head East

 The time has come where we now begin our journey east and with that heading home. To begin we took an unusual route up and over the Brockman Highway, through the Ellis Creek State Forest, oh so pretty is a way that we didn't expect. It was SO foggy and by the time we got to Bridgetown, although the fog had lifted, it was bitterly cold, and I have to admit I had a hot chocolate (which I really shouldn't have had, but, very yummy and warm). 

From there it was time to head towards Albany, however due to the time it took us, and the fact that we were having to cut days from our trip, sadly we did not manage to see anything of Albany. Maybe another time, if and when we return to check out this south west corner of the state.

We continued on to a town called Ravensthorpe, that in itself does not really have that much going for it, but it is somewhere where we can leave the vans and make a day trip up to Wave Rock. It is a good 200kms from where we stayed, and about 3/4 of the way up, the weather began to turn bad. However, we had come all this way and we were determined to check out this great natural phenomenon in the shape of a huge wave - rain and all.

By the time we got back to the car, we were all very, very wet. The cafe there was extremely inviting and a lovely light lunch was had at a table right in line of the heaters - yes!

Can't tell you much about the trip back to Ravensthorpe, as I think I slept most of the way.

Continuing our trek east, and becoming increasingly concerned about the Covid situation in the eastern states of the country, we decided that we would continue with our planned route and make a decision that night when we set up the vans for the night at Norseman. Why make the final decision on our route home at Norseman? 

Well, Norseman is the town in far south-east of WA which is the beginning of the Nullarbor which would take us into South Australia, (see the line on the map in the bottom right hand corner that heads east - that is the Eyre Highway which goes across the Nullarbor), then continue on into New South Wales and continue up into Queensland and home - just 11 days 'til we got home if we continued this way.

As you can see it is not looking all that promising, so will leave it here for now.

'Til next time,

June

Southern Corner of WA

 Finally left Fremantle/Perth, however the rotten cold, wet, miserable and windy weather continued to follow us. 

However, we must let you know that although we will be continuing with our trip albeit in a shortened version. You see we have heard rumbles of border closures about to happen, although we are unsure of what they will entail at the moment. With this is mind, and looking at the alternatives for our trip home, we have decided on cutting it back a bit, just in case the worst happens.

OK, to begin this side trip, we parked up the vans at Busselton and headed down to the southern most corner of WA. First off we headed down through Margaret River and onto Augusta. A lovely little town that had a sign out the front of  the Colourpatch Cafe. 

Yes, it is the last eating house on the road south, but once we went right to the point and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, we were able to get a lovely afternoon tea at the cafe there.

This is supposedly where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, and I took a photo of a cushion in the shop that gave the co-ordinates.

I have since found out that in actual fact the Southern Ocean does not come into play until 60 deg. S, but we will let them have their little bit of fame.

It was quite late when we made it back to the caravan park at Busselton, however they have food trucks come in every so often, and tonights was a wood-fired pizza truck, just what we need after a very long day.

How good do these look, and they tasted great as well.

Due to what we are hearing about border closures, our travel plan from here, is to make our way across the bottom of Western Australia to Norseman reasonably quickly, and begin our run across the Nullarbor Plain and really start our journey home.

At the rate the wind etc are keeping up with us, looks like we may have a tail wind, which will be good for our fuel economy - will just have to wait and see.

'Til next time,

June

Fremantle/Perth & Rottnest Island

 Yes, well, what a difference a day makes, after a very scarry night where the caravans were buffeted broadside, our run through Perth into Fremantle was quite a bright sunny day! Who would have thought?

After settling ourselves into the lovely caravan park and finding it was on the main bus line to Fremantle Station and therefore a direct trainline into Perth, we were greeted with a visit of some people who became lovely friends from our travels two years ago who live at Mandurah and had come up to spend a few days with us in Fremantle, and with that in mind, it was a case of out for dinner at a fish restaurant.

Unfortunately the photo of the group of us did not turn out - ah well, will catch up with a photo another time.

It was while here that we discussed about our visit to Rottnest Island the following day. It was to be the day after but with another bad weather system due to come in, we were able to bring our booking forward a day - thankfully.

It was a 30 minute ferry ride and to be honest it was rather choppy and it was preferable to stay seated. However once we arrived on the island we wandered around for a while prior to hopping on a bus for a tour of the island.

What a beautiful place to visit. It is approx 18 kms off the coast from Fremantle, is 11kms long and 4.5 kms wide. It is also home to the happiest creatures on earth, so the saying goes.

These little guys are so cute and of course I just had to add one to my collection in the caravan didn't I?

The bus tour was very interesting with lots of information. From what was shown, it is very popular with surfboard riders to as there is a reef surrounding the island.

Time for lunch which was had at the original hotel on the island.

You can see here Peter & Des on the left and June & Tony on the right. Yes, the friends we met travelling is another June, and would you believe we hit it off really well. Hence why they joined us for our day to Rottnest Island.

Whilst we were having lunch, we had several visits from the lovely little quokkas

They look like rats when you first see them and apparently the island was originally called Ratsnest Island, but quite a while ago it was changed to Rottnest - sounds much better, and these characters are so sweet. The are absolutely everywhere.

We then spent an hour or so wandering around the shopping precinct before heading back down to the jetty to get the ferry back to the mainland.

You can see from the above photo just how choppy the water is and the one below is looking back at the island as we boarded the ferry to head back to Fremantle.

As predicted the next rain band came in that night and we were thankful that we had changed the date of our trip to the island.

The following day - the day we were supposed to go there was not a nice day at all, however we did manage to catch up with June & Tony for lunch before farewelling them as they were returning home to Mandurah the next morning.

What a lovely way to celebrate my birthday, a whole weekend thoroughly enjoying the company of these lovely people.

The rest of our time in Fremantle sadly was not so nice, the weather really turned nasty, and although we had a day into Perth where we visited the Perth Mint, we didn't enjoy our visit to Perth/Fremantle. Guess we will just have to plan another trip to the west sometime in the future.

Yes, it was very miserable, so for now it is time to leave Perth & Fremantle and continue on our journey.

'Til next time

June

Indian Ocean Drive

 Oh dear, here I am having fallen behind again, but a lot has been happening and time has just got away from me.

So, after leaving Denham, we continue to head south and turned off the main highway onto the Indian Ocean Drive. It passes through some lovely little localities, except when the 'Welcome to Cevantes' sign looks like this.

Yes, seems like our run of great weather has run out and after 6 1/2 weeks on the road, the heavens opened up. We pulled into Cevantes for lunch at the Lobster Shack, and between where we parked the vans and the entrance to the Lobster Shack, we all entered it like drowned rats!

This was inside, so much improved from last time we were here (some 5 years ago). Now for what we ordered for lunch.

Anyone for some fresh lobster?

As you can imagine tis is a very big lobster fishing area.

From there it was off to see 'The Pinnacles' desert where goodness knows how long ago, these sandstone shapes evolved. It makes very interesting reading about them. The rain gave is a little reprieve here, but by the time we got back to the cars, it had started again.

From here we continued our journey south to our overnight stop at Lancelin, another little sleepy seaside village.

Well ...... let me tell you about our night in Lancelin. Oh my goodness!! The rain was just about horizontal and the wind! It was horrendous, and none of us had a good night. The vans were being buffeted something terrible. It was bitterly cold too.

Hopefully by the time we reach Perth/Fremantle tomorrow, it may have abated somewhat, but the forecast does not look good.

Will try and catch up  (again), 

'Til then

June

Denham & Monkey Mia

 The days travel from Carnarvon down to Denham was nothing out of the ordinary, and it was a nice surprise when we came over the hill into Denham. What a lovely seaside town it was, so peaceful and so picturesque. 

After setting up we wandered up the street right on the foreshore of Shark Bay. Everything was so very handy to the caravan park with the local grocery store just 200m away on the corner.

Of course it goes without saying that we found the local bakery and just had to call in and sample their wares.  I have not had a matchstick in so long, and these were huge and oh so yummm .... !

We also saw the memorial to the ship HMAS Sydney which was sunk off the mid WA coast along with a German naval ship during World War II. On the wall was this panel that had all the names of those who lost their lives as well as a beautiful poem.

Dinner out that night at the local pub, and although we had not made it known it was actually for Peter's birthday - beautiful meal.

A very early start was required for our visit to Monkey Mia a half hour drive away from Denham and we had to be there by 7.45am ready to see the dolphins that come in to shore for a visit each day.

We were standing up on the jetty, and were able to see everything and get some really great photos as well. Because the water was so clear we were able to see just how fast they can go when they try to catch fish that are swimming by them. After about 20 minutes the dolphins then head back out to sea. Monkey Mia is a nature reserve and as such they only feed the dolphins with minimal food as they need them to forage for their food in the wild.

It was then time to head back to Denham, catch up on a few chores around the van etc and get ready to head off again tomorrow.

'Til next time,

June