DAY 68
5th October
Nyngan to Sydney
A very sad day today we are returning to the big smoke which we love to escape from.
Not a lot of new things to see on the way as we have been to these places before.
Drove through Dubbo to Wellington, found a lovely old fashioned bakery and bought lunch and morning tea for $10 pretty good deal! Had morning tea at a skate park and one of the locals showed us his skills on his bike!!
Continued on through Orange and Bathurst, Nev got breathalised (10.30am so he was pretty safe) there are cops everywhere because the Bathurst Races are on. Drove straight through Bathurst busy but not too bad.
Stopped at Zig Zag Railway and had our lunch. It is closed now but still everything is left there.
Down The Bells Line Of Road through Richmond and Windsor to home.
A very strange feeling - a big house with heaps of room will take some getting use to again.
The end of a fantastic trip, we have seen so many different landscapes, met so many different people and watched all sorts of animals in their natural environment. Back to reality now!
Hope you all enjoyed my first effort at blog!
Friday, 5 October 2012
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Day 67 4th October Broken Hill to Nyngan
DAY 67
4th October
Broken Hill to Nyngan
Met up with Wendy,Paul ,Peter and Robyn at Broken Hill last night. they are staying 2 nights as they only got in late yesterday and Paul is having car trouble and has it booked in today. Said goodbye to them again!!
We are just heading back to Sydney now seems a bit of a let down after all the exciting places we have been. Want to get as far as we can so set off towards Cobar. Not much to see on the way now. Had lunch at Cobar and decided to go a bit further so we stopped at Nyngan for the night. Great camp ground on the banks of hte Bogan River very pretty.
4th October
Broken Hill to Nyngan
Met up with Wendy,Paul ,Peter and Robyn at Broken Hill last night. they are staying 2 nights as they only got in late yesterday and Paul is having car trouble and has it booked in today. Said goodbye to them again!!
We are just heading back to Sydney now seems a bit of a let down after all the exciting places we have been. Want to get as far as we can so set off towards Cobar. Not much to see on the way now. Had lunch at Cobar and decided to go a bit further so we stopped at Nyngan for the night. Great camp ground on the banks of hte Bogan River very pretty.
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| Town centre of Nyngan |
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| Our campsite at Nyngan |
Day 66 3rd October Yunta to Broken Hill
DAY 66
3rd October
Yunta to Broken Hill
Arrived at Broken Hill about 9.30am so went to info centre and decided to look around. Went to the lookout and Memorial for the mines. This gave us a good view over the town and the Memorial had everyone's names who had died in the mines from the 1800s to present day why they died and their age. Very interesting reasons that changed over the years. Lots of lead poisoning in the early days. We found a huge seat and Nev told me to wait for the bus!!!!
We visited Jack Absolom Gallery and old Jack 85years was there. Next we went to Pro Hart Gallery. Both were very interesting.
We then drove out to Silverton an old deserted mining town the original settlement before Broken Hill. This has been the site for many movies eg Mad Max and Priscilla The old pub was intereting had a drink there and read all the memoribillia about the stars.
Drove out to Mundi Mundi Lookout where you can see so far that you can actually see the curvature of the earth.
At sunset we went to the Living Desert Sculptures, they are large sandstone rocks carved by diferent artists from around the world.
Desert Sculptures
3rd October
Yunta to Broken Hill
Arrived at Broken Hill about 9.30am so went to info centre and decided to look around. Went to the lookout and Memorial for the mines. This gave us a good view over the town and the Memorial had everyone's names who had died in the mines from the 1800s to present day why they died and their age. Very interesting reasons that changed over the years. Lots of lead poisoning in the early days. We found a huge seat and Nev told me to wait for the bus!!!!
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| Nev told me to catch the bus back!!!!!! |
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| One of the Rolls Royces painted by Pro hart |
Drove out to Mundi Mundi Lookout where you can see so far that you can actually see the curvature of the earth.
At sunset we went to the Living Desert Sculptures, they are large sandstone rocks carved by diferent artists from around the world.
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
DAY 65 2nd October Baird Bay to Yunta
2nd October
Baird Bay to Yunta
We have a lot of kms to cover today so not much sightseeing. Stopped at Murphy’s Haystacks on the way to the main highway this morning. Amazing huge granite rocks sticking up in the middle of the farmers sheep paddocks, remnants of an ancient ocean apparently.
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| Murphy's Haystacks |
Hit the Flinders Highway for a while then turned east to
cross over to the Eyre Highway now it feels like we are on our way home sadly!
Followed the Eyre Highway to Port Augusta where we had lunch on the river bank.
Drove through Orroroo and saw the big galah he was huge. Passed through the
Flinders Ranges via Horrocks Pass, first time we have any type of decent hills
and bends for the whole time.
Stopped just outside Peterborough to see a 500 year old red
gum tree. An enormous old tree and still
looks healthy. Peterborough looked like a very nice town.
Can You Spot Kerry near the tree???In hindsight we should have stayed there tonight.
On we went another 85kms to Yunta. Stayed by the railway
line in the park with a couple of oldies. Only 2 24 hour truckie roadhouses here.
Paid $4 for a shower at the roadhouse and looking forward to getting to Broken
Hill early tomorrow.
Day 64 1st October Streaky Bay to Baird Bay
DAY 64
1st October
Streaky Bay to Baird Bay
Not a long way to travel today so cooked brekky and headed off to do some loops around the area. First Cape Bauer loop. Saw Cape Bauer, Whistling Rocks, Blowholes and Hallys Beach. The coastline varied in every stop some spectacular scenery.
We have seen dozens of little lizards on and crossing the road I think it is their mating season. Some don’t make it across the road unfortunately, Nev has been dodging them all morning so decided to befriend one!!
Next we did Westall Way Loop past Taylors Beach, High Cliff,
Point Westall, Granites and Smooth Pool. Great scenery and a very blue ocean to
look at.
The Granites and our truck on the beach
Sea Lion mothers and babies
Drove around Baird Bay to the tiny township to camp the night. $10 honesty box to camp with an awesome view of the bay. Walked along the beach, scared the pelicans and saw lots of crab claws that the birds must have eaten the crabs. 4 other couples are here a bit windy and cold but very quiet!
1st October
Streaky Bay to Baird Bay
Not a long way to travel today so cooked brekky and headed off to do some loops around the area. First Cape Bauer loop. Saw Cape Bauer, Whistling Rocks, Blowholes and Hallys Beach. The coastline varied in every stop some spectacular scenery.
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| Cape Bauer |
We have seen dozens of little lizards on and crossing the road I think it is their mating season. Some don’t make it across the road unfortunately, Nev has been dodging them all morning so decided to befriend one!!
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| Nev and his friend |
We drove down to Sceale Bay for lunch and had a great table
looking straight out over the water, very nice.
Our lunch table - Paradise
Drove a bit further around one side of Baird Bay to Point
Labatt where there is a sea lion colony. From the lookout you can see dozens of
sea lions some mothers and young suckling and others frolicking and others
lazing in the sun. Amazing to see so many in their natural environment.
Drove around Baird Bay to the tiny township to camp the night. $10 honesty box to camp with an awesome view of the bay. Walked along the beach, scared the pelicans and saw lots of crab claws that the birds must have eaten the crabs. 4 other couples are here a bit windy and cold but very quiet!
Day 63 30th September Koonalda to Streaky Bay
DAY 63
30th September
Koonalda to Streaky Bay
Nev at our campsite
30th September
Koonalda to Streaky Bay
Had a quick look around the homestead before leaving. It was
operating until 1988 on the old Eyre Highway. The house and shearers quarters
were made from old sleepers. It has a new roof to make it safe but inside is as
they left it. There were lots of old car bodies that hadn’t made it across the
Nullabor from old Dodge utes to Morris Minors all sorts of vehicles left in the
yard.
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| Konalda Shearers quarters |
We headed out past some more sink holes and caves passed Nullabor
Roadhouse and stopped at some cliff lookouts on the way to Head of The Bight.
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| First look at the Bight |
What a magic place we saw at least 24 Southern right whales
only metres from the shore. There is a board walk to the cliff edges and down
close to the water, this is a nursery area for mothers and their babies. We saw
12 pairs nursing and playing so close you could hear them and see their eyes.
There were plenty of others further out too. The most at one time has been 127
whales in that area. It was fantastic definitely a highlight of the trip.
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| 3 mothers and their babies frolicking just off shore |
Continued on to Ceduna were we had to surrender our last bit
of fruit and vegies. Ceduna was having their Oyster festival and a huge group
of bikies had arrived so the Police were following them everywhere. We just
stopped for a quick lunch and then on to Streaky Bay. Called in to see a model
of a huge Great White shark caught here weighing over 1500kgs caught on 25kg
line.
We booked in to the only van park and parked facing the bay,
fantastic spot could have even had a fire on the beach if we had some wood.
Went for a walk along the foreshore and jetty and had dinner overlooking the sunset and water. Another terrific day!!!
The view from our campsite
Nev at our campsite
A life size model of a great white caught near here
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Day 62 29th September Cocklebiddy to Konalda
DAY 62
29th September
Cocklebiddy to Konalda (Nullabor)
Very cold night on the Nullabor Plain so didn’t hang around in the morning. Headed off to find Cocklebiddy Caves. These are the caves under the Nullabor that go for 6.3km and divers swim through them. We have seen them on TV. Well were we lucky a group of 4 young guys arrived and were going to dive the cave. They had all their gear stowed down the entrance yesterday ready for the days dive. One was filming and had a torch/camera set up on his head, one was from the US and the others had done it before were supporting his dive to get him to the end of cave. They had dry suits and scooters to get them to the end otherwise a very long swim. Great to see them entering down their ladder and disappearing into the darkness. The water in there is crystal clear but it is pitch black. NOT FOR ME!!!
We then found a smaller cave in Nuytsland Nature Reserve a few kms down the road. They are everywhere on the Nullabor and there are sink holes in the ground all along the way.
Firstview of Great Australian Bight
Stopped at a few lookouts on the way to our campsite at Konalda Homestead. We had to find the unsigned turnoff and then 14kms to homestead. It was pretty late so will look around tomorrow but looks like it was just abandoned plenty to check out in the morning, no one else here!
29th September
Cocklebiddy to Konalda (Nullabor)
Very cold night on the Nullabor Plain so didn’t hang around in the morning. Headed off to find Cocklebiddy Caves. These are the caves under the Nullabor that go for 6.3km and divers swim through them. We have seen them on TV. Well were we lucky a group of 4 young guys arrived and were going to dive the cave. They had all their gear stowed down the entrance yesterday ready for the days dive. One was filming and had a torch/camera set up on his head, one was from the US and the others had done it before were supporting his dive to get him to the end of cave. They had dry suits and scooters to get them to the end otherwise a very long swim. Great to see them entering down their ladder and disappearing into the darkness. The water in there is crystal clear but it is pitch black. NOT FOR ME!!!
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| To light the way in cave |
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| The cave was huge |
We then found a smaller cave in Nuytsland Nature Reserve a few kms down the road. They are everywhere on the Nullabor and there are sink holes in the ground all along the way.
Stopped at a few lookouts on the way to our campsite at Konalda Homestead. We had to find the unsigned turnoff and then 14kms to homestead. It was pretty late so will look around tomorrow but looks like it was just abandoned plenty to check out in the morning, no one else here!
Day 61 28th September Kalgoorlie to Cocklebiddy
DAY 61
28th September
Kalgoorlie to Cocklebiddy
28th September
Kalgoorlie to Cocklebiddy
We said goodbye to everyone and headed off to Norseman via
Kambalda. We spent some time at Norseman looking around the town and lookout.
Great view over the mines and saltpans. The landscape is different in every
direction. We fuelled up and headed off on the Nullabor.
Very good bitumen road
lots of roadtrains going both ways. Quite a few wide loads so had to be
careful. Stopped ta Newman Rock a large granite rock that has permanent water
hollows in it. Continued along through Balladonia Roadhouse and on to Caiguna
where we saw a blowhole in the rocks at the side of the road. The pressure in
the underground caves builds up and releases through blowholes at 72km per hour
at places on the Nullabor. Found a roadside stop near Cocklebiddy and set up
for the night.
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| Norseman the horse scratched a gold nugget |
Very good bitumen road
lots of roadtrains going both ways. Quite a few wide loads so had to be
careful. Stopped ta Newman Rock a large granite rock that has permanent water
hollows in it. Continued along through Balladonia Roadhouse and on to Caiguna
where we saw a blowhole in the rocks at the side of the road. The pressure in
the underground caves builds up and releases through blowholes at 72km per hour
at places on the Nullabor. Found a roadside stop near Cocklebiddy and set up
for the night. |
| Nev at the edge of a blowhole |
Day 60 27th September Kalgoorlie
DAY 60
Sculptures on Lake Ballard He used the people of Menzies
and reduced their size by 1/3 and made cast iron sculptures of them and
placed them randomly over the lake bed, 51 in all. They are very unusual.
Walked around some of them and up the lookout, then had morning tea it is
freezing out here. On the way back we had a storm and it poured raining. We
stopped at the Ora Banda Pub an old pub in the middle of nowhere, nothing else
there for lunch.
27th September
Kalgoorlie
Today we headed up to Menzies and Lake Ballard a couple of
hundred km away. Menzies is a tiny town with a couple of lovely old buildings
and an interesting service station that is closed. It is covered with number
plates on all its walls.
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| Number plates from everywhere. |
We continued on to Lake Ballard which is a huge Salt
Lake(no Water) and in 2003 an English artist was commissioned to put some sculptures
on the lake.
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| Lake Ballard |
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| Nev and his mate!! |
Sculptures on Lake Ballard He used the people of Menzies
and reduced their size by 1/3 and made cast iron sculptures of them and
placed them randomly over the lake bed, 51 in all. They are very unusual.
Walked around some of them and up the lookout, then had morning tea it is
freezing out here. On the way back we had a storm and it poured raining. We
stopped at the Ora Banda Pub an old pub in the middle of nowhere, nothing else
there for lunch.
Then on to The Broadarrow Pub where you could write your name
on the walls. It had writing on everything you could think of even the toilet.
We found a spot near the dart board.
Can you spot our names??
We continued on back to Kalgoorlie and called into the old
Two Up shed. It was operating when we were there last time 23 years ago but no
longer operates. It was strange because it was exactly the same just no people
there. Nev found a stick and had a couple of tosses of 20cents.
Old two up shed.
Back home to
fuel up and get organised for tomorrow.
Day 59 26th September Kalgoorlie
DAY 59
Did the shopping and went out to the Exchange Hotel for
dinner as Jack and Robin are having their birthdays on Saturday and this is the
last night we will all be together. Had a good night and lots of laughs today.
Old Exchange Hotel where we had dinner
26th September
Kalgoorlie.
We are doing our own thing around Kalgoorlie today and
meeting at 2.50pm for a Brothel Tour. We went to Boulder and walked down the
historic street and looked at lovely buildings some of which were damaged in
the 2010 earthquake. They are still trying to restore the old pubs. There were
53 pubs in Kalgoorlie at onetime lovel old building and there are still a lot
there.We went to the Super Pit Shop and watched
video on the mines it was excellent. Showed the blasting and
process they use to get the gold from the ore. Then we went into Kalgoorlie (only
a couple of streets away!) and walked down there historic main street. We did a
tour of the town hall which still is original and still has the council meetings
in 100 year old chairs. They have a lovely theatre with the original chairs in
it.
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| Old mining shaft in middle of town |
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| Nev in the brothel doorway |
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Day 58 25th September Esperance to Kalgoorlie
DAY 58
25th September
Esperance Cape Le Grande to Kalgoorlie
Left Cape Le Grande very early after watching a magnificent sunrise with kangaroos on the beach.
Called in to Thistle Cove and saw "Whistling Rock" very unusual shape rock sticking up and curved towards the sea and made a noise from the wind.
Stopped for a look at Frenchman's Peak.
There are salt lakes all around us now.Thought we might catch up to the others at Norseman but didn't see them. Had morning tea and headed off to Coolgardie. A very old mining town with lovely buildings and a great museum. Had lunch here still no sign of the others so headed off to Kalgoorlie. We checked in and we were lucky because we were running a day earlier than we had booked and only just got enough sites. We are staying 3 nights the others 4 so we will leave them here and make our own way home.
We had time to go and see the "Superpit" which is what they call the gold mine here. It is 400m from the town, a huge hole in the ground.
The Super Pit at Kalgoorlie
Started by Alan Bond when he started buying up individual mining leases from the golden mile to make one huge mine. He went broke before it was started and another company completed his idea. It is the largest gold mine in the world and longest still producing gold and will contiue for many years. Great viewing platform, again huge trucks etc that go with mining. Went to the town lookout and drove down the old streets it has certainly grown in 23 years since we were here. The others arrived late in afternoon.
25th September
Esperance Cape Le Grande to Kalgoorlie
Left Cape Le Grande very early after watching a magnificent sunrise with kangaroos on the beach.
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| A beautiful sunrise at Lucky Beach Cape Le Grande NP |
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| Whistling Rock at Thistle Bay |
There are salt lakes all around us now.Thought we might catch up to the others at Norseman but didn't see them. Had morning tea and headed off to Coolgardie. A very old mining town with lovely buildings and a great museum. Had lunch here still no sign of the others so headed off to Kalgoorlie. We checked in and we were lucky because we were running a day earlier than we had booked and only just got enough sites. We are staying 3 nights the others 4 so we will leave them here and make our own way home.
We had time to go and see the "Superpit" which is what they call the gold mine here. It is 400m from the town, a huge hole in the ground.
Started by Alan Bond when he started buying up individual mining leases from the golden mile to make one huge mine. He went broke before it was started and another company completed his idea. It is the largest gold mine in the world and longest still producing gold and will contiue for many years. Great viewing platform, again huge trucks etc that go with mining. Went to the town lookout and drove down the old streets it has certainly grown in 23 years since we were here. The others arrived late in afternoon.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
DAY 57 24th September Esperance to Cape Le Grande NP
DAY 57
24th September
Esperance Cape Le Grande
They played together for a while we could hear the
noise of their spout and as we started moving back they followed us about 100m
off shore. We banged rocks and one stayed still on top of the water and you
could see his eye looking at us, he was close enough for us to see him blink.
We watched for about half an hour as he followed us along as we walked back
along the rocks. THIS WAS VERY SPECIAL! We will never know if the rocks worked
or not but who cares!
His eye was looking at us on the rocks
After 3 hours with the whales we went to Thomas River Camp ground for lunch. Then drove back to Cape Le Grande National Park to Lucky Beach the others had a quick look and headed off to Esperance and we stayed, walked on the beach and set up camp.
We camped right next to this beach
Great spot got talking to a young guy taking tours across the Nullabor he gave us some good tips for places to see on our way back. As we cooked our snags a kangaroo with a joey watched on hoping to get a snack. We prefer this to a caravan park!
24th September
Esperance Cape Le Grande
We all headed out early for Thomas River in Cape Arid
National Park as we have been told there are whales there that come up to rocks
and look at you! Well, we were sceptical. We drove for an hour and a half to
get to a beautiful beach but it was freezing cold and windy.
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| The water is crystal clear |
Walked out onto
the rocks and saw nothing but white caps on the ocean. We were told to bang the
rocks, so we did. Nothing! Then we saw a spurt so we climbed over more rocks to
get closer. Wendy banged “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” she said it was that
anyway!
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| Rocks went straight into the sea |
WOW! What a magic experience! We
saw about 6 whales all up. One started slapping his fins down on the water over
and over and showing his tail until another whale swam right up to it and they
almost touched each other.
Slapping fins on the water
They played together for a while we could hear the
noise of their spout and as we started moving back they followed us about 100m
off shore. We banged rocks and one stayed still on top of the water and you
could see his eye looking at us, he was close enough for us to see him blink.
We watched for about half an hour as he followed us along as we walked back
along the rocks. THIS WAS VERY SPECIAL! We will never know if the rocks worked
or not but who cares!
After 3 hours with the whales we went to Thomas River Camp ground for lunch. Then drove back to Cape Le Grande National Park to Lucky Beach the others had a quick look and headed off to Esperance and we stayed, walked on the beach and set up camp.
We camped right next to this beachGreat spot got talking to a young guy taking tours across the Nullabor he gave us some good tips for places to see on our way back. As we cooked our snags a kangaroo with a joey watched on hoping to get a snack. We prefer this to a caravan park!
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Day 56 23rd September Ravensthorpe to Esperance
DAY 54
23 September
Ravensthorpe to Esperance
On the road again early and drove straight to Esperance through the rain. Pouring when we arrived checked in to caravan park and rain stopped. Morning tea then off to explore. We went to a Family Fun Day/market day nearby not really exciting but Nev got a sausage sizzle so he was happy. There was a lovely display of grevilleas there.
Left there to follow the loop road around the sights of Esperance. Passed the pink lake which is not pink at themoment due to algae not there. Some great lookouts over beautiful blue sea and rock formations and very white sandy beaches. Watched a car get bogged on the beach. Did a short walk around the cliff edge.
Went to a fish skin tannery. Yes theyactually make leather from all types of fish skins. Very interesting and some lovely wallets and bags made from brightly dyed skins.
Tanned fish skins!!!!
Drove back into town to walk on the jetty which is home to Sammy the seal. We didn't see him today but some kids were catching some good sized squid off the wharf.
No Sammy today!!!
Back for happy hour and cook tea. It will be good to sleep back in the troopy tonight it certainly feels like home!!!!
23 September
Ravensthorpe to Esperance
On the road again early and drove straight to Esperance through the rain. Pouring when we arrived checked in to caravan park and rain stopped. Morning tea then off to explore. We went to a Family Fun Day/market day nearby not really exciting but Nev got a sausage sizzle so he was happy. There was a lovely display of grevilleas there.
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| One of many types of grevilleas |
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| Beautiful coastline |
Drove back into town to walk on the jetty which is home to Sammy the seal. We didn't see him today but some kids were catching some good sized squid off the wharf.
Back for happy hour and cook tea. It will be good to sleep back in the troopy tonight it certainly feels like home!!!!
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