To view the photos of this leg of our trip,click here
Day Forty Seven, Monday 9th August 2004: It was 7.25am when we pulled out of the PCYC overflow Park at Broome heading for the Sandfire Roadhouse. The wind was gusting as we pushed our way along the highway. This was our first windy day on the road since we had left Port Augusta on our second day out. It was a cool day making for a nice day to be sitting in the car. When we pulled up at the Sandfire Roadhouse at 11.25am, there were caravans everywhere trying to get into the fuel pumps. Once we had refuelled and had lunch, we booked into the Sandfire Roadhouse for one night allowing us to drop off the van before heading on to Eighty Mile Beach.
It was forty five kilometres to the turn off for the Eighty Mile Beach and then another ten kilometres of unsealed road from there before you reached the beach and Caravan Park. With a little care and time, it would be ok to take any caravan along this unsealed section of road as long as you didn't mind any red dust that may have found it's way inside of the van. The Caravan Park was full with heaps of caravans streaming none stop out to the Park. While out at Eighty Mile Beach we had to do the usual things like collecting shells and having a drive along the beach.
For us the beach was nice but nowhere near as nice as Cable Beach back at Broome. We also like to be able to see the water when we are sitting under our caravan awning before we can say that we have a caravan site at the beach. For these two reasons, we could see nothing gained by dragging our caravan over the ten kilometres of corrugated dirt road to sit behind a sand dune. Each to their own liking.
Day Forty Eight, Tuesday 10th August 2004: With the wind blowing against our backs today, we left the Roadhouse at 7.54 am heading for Port Headland. There wasn't much to look at toady as we travelled along although we did see the Indian Ocean as we passed the Pardoo Roadhouse. We finally arrived at Port Headland at 11.42am and booked into the South Headland Caravan park for two nights.
After we were set up on our site and had eaten lunch, we headed into Port Headland to see what we were going to look at tomorrow. On our return to South Headland, we visited the local shopping centre where there were shops such as Coles and Kmart. We were surprised that once back at the caravan, we again met the people who were along side of us when we stopped at The Devils Marbles on the 10th of July.
Day Forty Nine, Wednesday 11th August 2004: Unfortunately we were unable to enter the two wharfs possibly due to ship loading. The main part of Port Headland is a dirty area with all of the iron ore dust settling on anything that doesn't move. All of the houses and some vehicles were covered in red dust. South Headland is so much cleaner being that extra distance away from Port Headland. We didn't find very much to look at here, so it was back to the caravan for an early lunch.
After lunch we decided to purchase a JumpStarter power pack for running the caravan lights when we free camp. Although we have the generator with us, it is not our intension to start it up when we have others close by. Nothing beats the silence of bush camping. Once we had the power pack, it was a good two hours running around trying to find the necessary plugs to enable it to be fitted as I wanted it to be done.
We are moving on tomorrow, possibly stopping at the Yule River camping area for the night if it looks like a good spot. If not we will go onto Karratha.
Day Fifty, Thursday 12th August 2004: After a lot of work to finally get our caravan off of the site at Port Headland because of the tight squeeze to get around one white post, we collected a loaf of fresh bread and some milk before finally leaving Port Headland at 10.08am. With only 50kms to travel to the Yule River rest area, we arrived at 10.40am making it our shortest travel time in a day so far for the trip.
The rest area is right on the Yule River which at the moment has some water in it making for an ideal camping spot to do a bit of relaxing. We filled the day in doing just that, as well as some reading. Sometimes it is good for you to just sit down, relax, and take things easy where there is nothing that can distract you. Even though we had arrived early in the day, there were not too many positions to choose from. After talking to one couple, we found out that they had already been here for two weeks. In total, there would be roughly thirty caravans here tonight.
Day Fifty One, Friday 13th August 2004: Today, we were on the road by 7.45am and it was a perfect day to be on the road with very little wind for most of our trip and if there was any, it was blowing us along. The scenery has changed from the hills of the Kimberly Ranges to the larger open flat plains of the Pilbara. There are more of the purple flowering bushes along the roadside as we get further south and heaps of Sturt Desert Pea plants once we got closer to Karratha. The streets of Karratha are covered with Sturt Desert Pea plants which are all out in flower and look very nice with the sun shining on them. We finally arrived at Karratha at 10.09am and booked into the Pilbara holiday Park for two nights.
When we arrived at out en-suite site as it was the last site available, we were assisted onto it by a Park employee. The ramp up onto the cement slab that we had to park on was so high that when the van was in the correct position, the sway bars could not be removed. After removing the bars before putting the van into position, we realized that the Patrol tow bar was going to be too low to connect the caravan back up when we wanted to leave in two days time. To overcome this the employee said to reverse over the post at the back of the site. Never mind about the post, what about our caravan? We only hope that we don't have another hassle like Port Headland to get off of our site when it is time to leave.
After lunch we back tracked 40kms to Roebourne and went out to have a look at Pt Sampson, Wickham and Cossack. Both Pt Sampson and Cossack being on the Indian Ocean. We would have liked to have been able to get closer to Cape Lambert with it's Robe Ore loading facility, but without prior arrangements, this was not possible. Once back at Karratha, it was off to Coles to purchase 2 lovely looking tee bone steaks for our evening meal. Tomorrow we will be going to Dampier for a look.
Day Fifty Two, Saturday 14th August 2004: After Sally had finished washing the clothes, we headed off to have a look around Dampier. It is only 16kms from Karratha to Dampier so it didn't take too long to reach the salt flats and then the township of Dampier. With the bright blue sea water and the red hills around Dampier, it made for a pretty setting. Once again the Sturt Pea bushes were everywhere with a lot of plants being down the foot paths of Dampier. As we were driving around the Hearson Cove area, there were thousands of Sturt Pea plants out in flower. This was something that both Sally and I have never seen before. Hearson Cove was a very scenic beach and ideal for swimming.
When we arrived back at Karratha, we went down to the Karratha Beach and were disappointed to see that it was too rocky for swimming. There was however, a very good protected boat ramp there for the boat people to use. After a quick grocery shop visit, it was back to the caravan park to fill in the remainder of the afternoon relaxing. Tomorrow we move on to the Robe River rest area as long as it looks ok when we arrive there.
Day Fifty Three, Sunday 15th August 2004: After hooking up the caravan which was an easier task than I thought it was going to be due to the height of the kerb, we were on our way by 8.25am. There was a strong gusty head and side wind that we were pushing hard into most of the time. Our road map indicated that the Fortescue Roadhouse sold auto gas, but when we pulled in we found out that they haven't sold gas since 1998. Upon checking the print date on our map which was only a few years old, it indicated 1998 so one should always have the latest maps. After filling the jerry cans with petrol, we were soon continuing on our way. We were now starting to see less Sturt Desert Pea plants and we progressed further south. It was our intension to stop at the Robe River rest area for the night, but it was closed to the public because of road works over the river.
Continuing on to Onslow where we arrived at 12.07pm pushed by a fast tailwind since turning off of the main highway. We tried the Caravan Park at the end of the main street only to find out that there wasn't any sites available. We then headed for the other Park where we obtained a site although it was windy and dusty in this park. After lunch we headed into the Information Centre to see what was available for us to look at. After ten minutes we had seen everything that interested us at Onslow and wondered why we detoured the 82kms to come here in the first place. Atleast we can now say that we have seen it, if nothing else.
Day Fifty Four, Monday 16th August 2004: The wind was blowing strongly as we were getting ready to leave with sand and dust blowing up into our eyes. It was the type of day that you would not have moved on if it been a better location to spend an extra day at. We left at 8.10am pushing straight into a head wind for the first 82kms until we hit the main highway and then the wind was blowing more from the side. When we pulled into the Nanutarra Roadhouse for gas, all that we could see was caravan after caravan at the Roadhouse.
Arriving at the Yannarie River Rest Area at 10.51am, we selected our spot to stop for the night. We were the first to stop here, but by 12.30pm there was another six caravans with us and still coming all afternoon. Unfortunately the river is all but dry, but the location suited us as it was halfway from Onslow to Exmouth where we will be stopping tomorrow night. After a cooked lunch, it was full on relaxation for the afternoon just watching the wind blow by.
Day Fifty Five, Tuesday 17th August 2004: Under ideal travelling conditions with no wind, we were on our way to Exmouth by 8.35am after sharing the Rest Area with approximately 50 other caravans for the night. As we got closer to Exmouth, we started to see some sheep which was the first sighting of this kind since we left South Australia. The country side was mainly flat as we now entered the Gascoyne Country.
We arrived at Exmouth at 10.57am where we booked into the Ningaloo Caravan Holiday Resort for three nights. A deposit was paid two days ago to secure our site for when we arrived. The park is a large one with huge sites and very wide driveways between each row. For lunch we ventured to the main shopping centre where we bought lunch from the local Bakery before going to the Tourist Information Centre to obtain the information to plan our next two days. From here we had a look at the local beaches and a quick tour of the town before returning to the Caravan Park.
Happy Birthday Leanne Gray.
Day Fifty Six, Wednesday 18th August 2004: It was up early today as the Patrol was booked in for a service ($88.70) at 8.00am as we have now done in excess of 10,000kms on our trip. As it is only a short walk from the Caravan Park to the main shopping centre, we took the opportunity to walk to the Post Office and post a crocheted baby blanket to our Niece back in Adelaide who has just had a baby. After picking up a bbq chicken for lunch, we headed back to the caravan and collected the Patrol.
With our picnic lunch packed, we headed off for the Cape Range National Park. Our first point of entry to the Park was on the Charles Knife Road. This road took us over some very high rises with long deep drops to the bottom if you fell off of the road. Once we reached the end of this road, we were disappointed to see that there was no information out there to inform anyone of what was to be seen on the walking trails, or even how long the trail was going to be. We had a map to tell us that there were walking trails so we had come prepared to walk them, but with no information about the length and what we were going to see at the end of each trail, we gave them a miss.
We returned back to the main road to re-enter the Park via the Shothole Canyon Road. It was a very pretty drive up the centre of the canyon, but the main walk was closed 250 metres from the beginning due to safety concerns. Not much walking was done after being prepared for it, but never mind. We returned to the main road again and went down to Pebble Beach where you could drive along the water's edge. We parked near a heap of people who were having a good day's fishing and watched them while we had our picnic lunch. Vehicles can enter most of the beaches around Exmouth and are good for fishing with some people catching a dozen or more whiting during one sitting.
Happy Birthday Nana Mac (Maree's Mum)
Day Fifty Seven, Thursday 19th August 2004: Our oldest son Jason, has offered to set up a site with Photo Bucket to publish some extra photos of our trip. We are restricted to the size of our web site which has limited the amount of photos that we can publish. Jason's effort will be appreciated as we have taken approximately four thousand photos so far on our trip. It will be nice to see some more of these published. When it is up and running, a notice will be put on our Home Page.
After posting a CD with just over one hundred photos burnt onto it, we headed off for the Ningaloo Marine Park side of Cape Range National Park to explore the coast as well as having a cruise booked for 12.30pm on Yardie Creek ($25.00 per person). We explored all of the coastal inlets and beaches between Exmouth and the Visitors Centre. Once we reached the Visitors Centre, we headed directly for Yardie Creek where we had our picnic lunch before boarding the cruise boat at 12.20pm.
The Yardie Creek cruise lasted just over one hour and was very good with a commentary from our guide as we cruised up the creek. Yardie Creek is actually a gorge which has been carved out by flood waters over many years. The bird life wasn't a disappointment, nor was the black footed wallaby that we spotted along the way. The colours of the gorge walls was something to see in the afternoon sun. We arrived safely back at the cruise starting point at 1.40pm.
On our return to Exmouth after the cruise, we went into all of the coastal inlets that we didn't call into during the morning. The coast between the Visitors Centre and Yardie Creek range from sand to stone as well as reef. Our favourite location would have to be Turquoise Beach where the water was true to it's name. This was the most popular beach for swimmers as well as many people exploring some of the coral system. We finally arrived back at the caravan at 5.10pm ready for a spell. We will be leaving here tomorrow for Coral Bay for an unknown number of days.
Day Fifty Eight, Friday 20th August 2004: With the ocean full of white caps, we left Exmouth at 8.38am pushing into a gusty head wind heading for our destination of Coral Bay where we arrived by 10.38am. As we had pre booked our site here for three days at the Bayview Caravan Park via the phone a few days ago, we paid our money on arrival and were soon set up on our site. The township of Coral Bay is like an overgrown Caravan Park with nothing much more than a very small shopping village and two Caravan Parks and a Hotel. This is purely a tourist destination with ninety nine percent of the population being tourists. The turquoise ocean water and pristine beaches make this a very pretty place to visit. It takes a bit to get used to the steaming hot water coming out of the garden taps here. The water is too hot to hold your hand under it when it is running.
For our lunch we sampled some pastry items from the Shopping Village Bakery across the road from the Caravan Park. Mixed with a bit of our own fruit salad, we were soon ready for a walk to the beach. The sun seems as if it is now getting more of a UV ray sting to it, from what there was when we were in the Kimberly region. We sat at the beach watching all of the fishing charter boats and the coral viewing boats returning from their respective charters. We have booked our coral viewing cruise for tomorrow afternoon at a cost of $26.10 per person. We received a discount for stopping in this Caravan Park. The normal price is $29.00 each. For the first time since we have left Alice Springs, we wanted some sunshine to sit in as the afternoon was drawing to a close. Perhaps we should head back North and forget about the Southern destinations.
Happy Birthday Marisa Gallina.
Day Fifty Nine, Saturday 21st August 2004: With an overcast sky, we crawled out of bed at around 8.30am. The morning was filled with rest and relaxation as well as a walk on the beach to admire the beauty of Coral Bay.
We joined our glass bottom Coral Viewing Cruise at 2.30pm. No one should come to Coral Bay without doing a glass bottom boat cruise. While the coral is of the hard type and doesn't contain the colour of the soft coral, it is still something to admire with all the colours of the coral fish. Colours of the fish range from deep purple to the yellows and just about any other colour that you can think of. It was something that we will remember for a long time.
Day Sixty, Sunday 22nd August 2004: For our last day is Coral Bay, the weather is being kind to us with a clear sky and light breeze all day. We didn't achieve anything today other than full on relaxation from sunup to sundown. We spent an hour in an internet cafe before having a walk on this colourful coastline.
We thought that for our evening meal, we would try the Coral Bay Hotel for it's Sunday Roast Buffet which was $17.50 per person and it was no disappointment. As it is now becoming cooler at night, it was back into long trousers and shoes for the walk to and from the Hotel.
Day Sixty One, Monday 23rd August 2004: With ideal travelling conditions, we left beautiful Coral Bay at 8.27am heading for Carnarvon. As we travelled along we noticed that there was slowly getting more wild flowers to look at with most of them being white daisies. There were also a mix of yellow, purple and pink flowers amongst the green grass that was generated after the recent rains that Carnarvon was lucky enough to receive.
Having crossed the Tropic of Capricorn on our way south, we arrived at Carnarvon by 11.20am where we were seven deep in the line at the entrance to the Wintersun Caravan Park who were after powered sites for the night. We were lucky enough to get a site for the next three nights. After we had set up and had a bite to eat, it was off to explore a bit of Carnarvon. The Caravan Park has car and caravan washing facilities at the front area of the Park which we will make the most of on Wednesday with the patrol getting a bath. It is amazing how dirty things can get up this way with a few dirt roads every now and then and no car wash facilities available at the time.
It is our intension to go to the Blowholes tomorrow and chase up some of the wildflowers along the way with a more in depth look around Carnarvon the following day with a bit of housework and vehicle washing. The closer we got to Carnarvon today, the more the cloud cover increase with a few rain looking black clouds. Hopefully these will disappear for us over the next two days.
Day Sixty Two, Tuesday 24th August 2004: Woken by heavy rain at 4.30am which lasted just long enough to wake us up, I was soon back to sleep until it was 8.00am and Sally had prepared breakfast in bed for me. Because the cloud didn't disappear until late morning, we decided to postpone our trip to the Blowholes until the afternoon. We went down to Woolworths to do our shopping where we found meat to be dear in comparison to other towns that we have shopped in.
After an early lunch, we left for the Blowholes with most of the cloud now gone. We managed to get some photos of the wildflowers that we came passed yesterday on our way into Carnarvon before turning off of the main highway to start heading out to the Blowholes. It was a 152km round trip for us today. When we arrived at the Blowholes, the ocean swell was up and it was turning on a great show for us with the waves crashing into the rocks causing the water to spray a very long way up into the air. The ocean waves were some of the biggest that we have seen. To our surprise, for those who are interested there is a none powered campsite for caravans at the beach near the Blowholes.
By late afternoon, most of the clouds had gone from the sky so hopefully tomorrow we will be in for a better day. Everyone are passing comment about how cold it is starting to get now as they get closer towards Perth and we certainly agree. As the Caravan Parks still continue to book out, we have rang ahead and booked two nights at our next destination of Denham.
Day Sixty Three, Wednesday 25th August 2004: With more rain during the night, we again woke to a bleak looking day weather wise. Sally made us some lovely scones for morning tea which was enjoyed with jam and cream. By late morning the cloud was lifting and the sun started to shine. We took a final look at the main shopping area of Carnarvon and then went out to the mile long jetty. Because of the wind, we decided that it was blowing too strongly to walk out onto the jetty so gave it a miss. After visiting the Chinaman's Pool along the Gascoyne River, it was up to the OTC satellite tracking dish for a few photos and then back to the Caravan Park for the remainder of the day.
We managed to fill the afternoon in by doing those odd jobs like washing the Patrol, washing the caravan floor, washing clothes and washing some of the insects from the front of the caravan. It will be nice when we are able to give the caravan a full wash as at the moment due to water restrictions, it can't be done while on site.
Day Sixty Four, Thursday 26th August 2004: Heavy overcast conditions saw us leave Carnarvon for Denham at 8.57am. luckily for us, there was no wind today making for a good trip. As we travelled along, the wildflowers increased in number with mostly yellow everlasting daisies with some pink ones thrown in for good luck. The best of the wildflowers so far were around the Overlander Roadhouse district. Once we left the main highway at the Roadhouse, the flowers only lasted about another 20kms when the soil changed to more of a sand. For the last 100kms into Denham, the scenery didn't change from sand and thick scrub with the occasional view of the ocean. Had there been sunshine, the ocean views may have looked spectacular if the water was blue.
Arriving at the Denham Seaside Caravan Park at 1.22pm, we booked in for two nights where we went up on the upper level of the Park giving us a good ocean view from our site. Once set up, we had a late lunch before going down to the Tourist Information Centre to get our information for tomorrow and Monkey Mia. Denham is a small coastal town so it didn't take us long to look around it. From our observations, it is a very neat and tidy town that should give us some good photos tomorrow if the sun shines. So far for our trip, we have done a total of 12,721kms since leaving Adelaide at the end of June.
Day Sixty Five, Friday 27th August 2004: When in at the Denham Tourist Information Centre yesterday, we were told that the first dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia was at around 8.00am so we had the alarm set for 6.15am so we could do the 28km drive to Monkey Mia and arrive by that time. No need for the alarm as we were awake long before the ring time. There wasn't a much cloud around as the last few days, but we did get a sunshine rain shower on the drive to Monkey Mia. There is a $6.00 per person entry fee into the Monkey Mia National Park and your Western Australia National Parks permit will not cover this entry.
Initially there was only two dolphins which had come in to be fed, but after a half hour or so there were soon eight swimming in front of the crowd waiting for some fish. The dolphins would swim within inches of people standing in the water. When the fish feeding was over, the buckets were rinsed in the ocean which told all of the dolphins that there was no more fish. With this they all happily swam back out to sea. On our return to Denham, again we had another sunshine rain shower but it soon disappeared to make for a very pleasant afternoon where we had traditional fish and chips on the beach for lunch. By late afternoon, the weather had turned to misty rain with the temperature dropping making it cold outside. It makes us feel like turning around and start heading back to Wyndham where it seems to be 35 degrees each day.
Day Sixty Six, Saturday 28th August 2004: With the wind blowing hard into our faces, we departed from Denham at 7.42am heading for the Galena Bridge Rest Area which was to be our destination for the night. This rest area is on the banks of the Murchinson River which has water in it making for a very nice area to spend the afternoon. We were not on the road for very long before we were driving into rain which only lasted for about fifteen kilometres. After a short stop at Shell Beach to collect some of the very small shells, we pushed on watching the fuel gauge getting dizzy from going so fast between full and empty.
After stopping to take some wildflower photos along the way, we finally arrived at our destination by 12.05pm to see three other caravans already set up in the rest area. As the afternoon progressed, approximately twenty caravans were set up here, and that is only the ones that we can see from our immediate area. This type of free camping has appealed to us as the people that are doing this are all here for the same reason, holiday makers who are travelling and not in the one location for weeks or months on end. The wind continued to blow all afternoon and into the night.
Day Sixty Seven, Sunday 29th August 2004: Under ideal travelling conditions, we left our overnight rest area at 8.20am after a minimum temperature in our caravan of six degrees. The short distance to Kalbarri saw us arriving at Kalbarri by 9.30am. As it was a bit too early to arrive at the Caravan Park, we first checked out some of the sites of the town as well as calling into the Information Centre. Once the caravan was parked on it's site, we went out to have a look at the coastline immediately to the South of Kalbarri. In a lot of ways, the coastline reminded us of the coast along Victoria's Great Ocean Road.
After lunch we had a look at the Kalbarri Wildflower Centre where they have a 1.8km wildflower trail. We may have been a week or two, too early for some flowers, but there were still many different flowers out in bloom which all looked pretty in the afternoon sun. With the bright blue of the Indian Ocean, and the wildflowers that we have seen so far, Kalbarri is a must for anyone's travelling itinerary.
Day Sixty Eight, Monday 30th August 2004: Today saw most of our time being spent in the Kalbarri National Park along the Murchinson River. After paying our entry fee of $9.00 per vehicle to go into this part of the national Park, our first destination was The Loop where the Natures Window can be found. A photo of this window can be seen on our photo page. From here we went to the Z Bend where the shape of the river is in the form of a Z.
The second part of out trip saw us travel 24kms back towards the main coastal highway, before turning back towards the river and looking at the area called Hawk's Head and then onto the Ross Graham Lookout where we were able to walk down to the river's edge. Had we been aware of the short distances off of the road for these two locations, plus the fact that the road was sealed, we could have done these two areas the day before on our way into Kalbarri with the caravan.
The parts of Kalbarri National Park that we have visited so far is mainly scrub and bushes, and not flat open plains covered with wildflowers as we had expected. In saying that, there was never an occasion where we were not insight of atleast one wildflower at any time today. As well as ground flowers, a lot of the bushes were also out in flower adding colour to the area.
Day Sixty Nine, Tuesday 31st August 2004: After finally getting out of bed at 9.00am, we didn't get very much done before the morning seemed to have disappeared. It was late morning when went to the lookouts at Blue Hole and Red Bluff. Both of these areas offer great views of both the coastal scenery and Kalbarri.
On our return we stopped at the Australian Parrot Breeding Centre called Rainbow Jungle. There is an entry fee of $9.00 per person for this, but it was money well spent for us. Rainbow Jungle has over four hundred parrots in their collection which are all on show to the public. All of the aviaries are a good size to suit the parrots that they house and to add to the appearance, there are many gardens to compliment the areas. Somehow, we lost three hours in this lovely location just walking through the well set out complex. The highlight of our visit would have to have been the huge walkthrough aviary, with so many different species of birds flying around in the open was a site to behold. Rainbow Jungle will remain a highlight of our trip.
Day Seventy, Wednesday 1st September 2004: It was 8.32am when we pointed the Patrol towards the coastal road for an easy trip from Kalbarri to our next destination of Geraldton. We were now well and truly back into cropping country with green undulating hills covered with a mix of wheat and oat crops. Once we joined the main highway at Northampton, we knew we were back in the populated part of the state when we started seeing so many vehicle overtaking lanes.
Arriving at Geraldton by 10.24am, we booked into the Sunset Caravan Park for three nights before heading into the main part of town for a quick look around. Geraldton is the largest town that we have stopped in since leaving Darwin on the 20th July, and a sign that we have now left the outback of Western Australia. Being armed with the best locations of all the wildflowers, we are now ready for the hunt tomorrow to find them.
Day Seventy One, Thursday 2nd September 2004: Today saw us leaving the Caravan Park at 8.38am heading for Mullewa's Tourist Information Centre where we stopped to fine tune the directions for the well know Wreath Flower. We then continued on to Pindar where we turned off of the bitumen and headed out the Tallering Station road for 10kms. Here we found many Wreath Flowers on both sides of the road and well marked with iron droppers and ribbons.
Once finished here, we headed back to Pindar and out to the Coalseam Conservation Park. This Conservation Park has one large carpet of Everlastings from just after the entrance, to throughout the Park. This is a small Park, but a very colourful one to view at this time of the year. For wildflowers, today has been the highlight of our trip so far. After completing a total of 370kms for the day, we were back at the Park at 4.00pm.
Day Seventy Two, Friday 3rd September 2004: Today was a total bludge day for us, with us walking around the main shopping area of Geraldton. Women love to window shop, and sometimes a man just has to bite his tongue and tag along.
The only constructive things done was the clothes washed and a bit of maintenance done on the Patrol and caravan. Bruce and Maree should be ready to leave Adelaide now to meet us in Perth towards the end of next week.
Day Seventy Three, Saturday 4th September 2004: As soon as we were out of bed, we could feel the warmer than usual weather that greeted us in the morning. We left Geraldton at 8.07am heading for Cervantes via the coastal highway ,where we were booked in at the Cervantes Pinnacles Caravan Park for the next two nights. With no wind at all today, it was a pleasant drive which saw us stopping at all of the coastal towns along the way. The two storey brick houses at Jurien Bay indicated to us that there was money somewhere to support the purchase of such a house.
We arrived at Cervantes by 11.50am, and were soon parked on our site. The weather was still warm to humid so we took the opportunity of the warmth to wash the caravan and awning. By early afternoon it was raining, this being the first real rain that we have seen since leaving Adelaide in June. The remainder of the afternoon was spent at the caravan talking to fellow travellers and watching the football on the television. By late afternoon, the rain had set in for the evening.
Day Seventy Four, Sunday 5th September 2004: With overnight and early morning rain, the morning started off with blue skies before the clouds started to roll in around 9.00am. Our sole reason for coming here was to view the Pinnacles Desert so we were soon on our way to cover the 17kms from Cervantes to the Desert. With a $9.00 entry fee per car, we were soon driving amongst these amazing limestone pillars. There is a well defined track set out for vehicles to follow and a 4WD is not required here. We were very lucky to be able to view this area with no rain at the time.
It was lunch time by the time we returned to Cervantes and the rain was starting to set in again. Auto LPG isn't available here at the moment, so it was out with the jerry cans once more to be filled up with petrol. After a quick bite to eat, we settled down to watch the Power beat the Cats at home in Adelaide. During one sunny period, we even managed to wash the Patrol ready for the trip into Perth tomorrow. Once we arrive at Perth, it will seem like the holiday is almost over as we will be back on familiar ground. Bruce and Maree rang to let us know that they are having a good trip and have arrived at Kalgoorlie. Having three drivers is helping them to cover some ground quickly.
Happy Fathers Day to all of those Dads out there. May we have many more.
Day Seventy Five, Monday 6th September 2004: After very heavy rain during the night followed up by gale force winds, we were unsure if we should travel today or sit it out due to the persistent wind. After some debate we decided to head for Perth, leaving the Caravan Park at 9.26am in less than desirable weather conditions. The road just North of Perth wasn't very good with sheets of water being trapped in the wheel ruts on the road, making it what we thought was dangerous conditions to travel in. There was one section where the entire road was like glass with full width sheets of water covering the road.
We finally arrived at the Perth International Caravan Park by 12.42pm where we booked in for six nights. The Caravan Park was a very welcoming site with it's manicured green lawns and spotless amenity blocks with it living up to the standard that we had heard about. Bruce and Maree with their son Andrew arrive here tomorrow from Adelaide with their caravan to join us for the last four weeks of our trip. We have taken some of our digital photos to Rabbit Photo to have printed off for our album which we will be picking up tomorrow morning. It will be something to show Bruce and Co. when they arrive.
For Diary notes of the entire trip, click here . To view all of our photos from our trip, click here .
