Sunday 29/12
After another packup we drove on to Esperence. The difficulty of finding accommodation at Albany inspired us to look early for somewhere to pitch the camper. Angela found a caravan park across the road from the beach that had a site available for two nights.
The drive to Esperence took us through the wheatbelt of Western Australia. The harvest was in and the silos along the train line were all full and the overflow bunkers were being filled with fresh golden grains. The harvest had made big news in WA because the good growing season had brought about the biggest harvest in many seasons. So many fields with only stubble left.
The huge forests of the southwest corner had given way to low trees that reminded us of the Victorian mallee. Esperence was a town that looked like it was yet to be discovered. Unlike Dnsborough, Albany and Augusta, Esperence didn't have the trendy cafés and restaurants or the beautiful new apartments along the beach. Maybe the distance from Perth was a factor, but all the accommodation was occupied. Lots of people holiday at Esperence from Kalgoolie.
Monday 30/12
Monday morning we packed a picnic and beach toys to drive to Cape Le Grand for the day. In WA they know how to visit the beach! They don't park in a car park and carry everything across hot sand to a crowded patch of sand, they drive their car right onto the each and pull up anywhere along several kilometres of white sand.
Parking on the beach at Cape Le Grand.
Parking on the beach at Cape Le Grand.
We found a nice patch of sand a respectable distance from other beach goers at Lucky Bay. The sand is so white and the sea so aqua it would have to one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia. The girls had a great time in the water that was not very deep and with gentle small waves. After lunch the girls built a sand castle and because we didn't have buckets and spades used Nicholas' shovel to dig a moat.
An enterprising local had a coffee cart on the beach. We all went for a look and while Angela and Nicholas sampled icey coffee drinks the girls had ice creams. Some international visitors were entertained by some kangaroos that came down to the beach presumably for a tan.
On the way back to Esperence we decided to drive the scenic beach road. The beach road was driving along the beach most of the way back to Esperence. Whilst getting on the beach was easy there were no signs for the exit at the other end. Along the beach were more people that had spent the day fishing, swimming or otherwise relaxing. Some groups had Polaris recreation vehicles to drive around the dunes. It really was a great day to more or less finish our holiday adventure.
Tuesday 31/12
Tuesday, the last day of 2013, was packup day and move on towards the Nullabour and home. A fabulous pack up and we were on the road nice and early. We drove north toward Kalgoolie and through yet more harvested wheat fields. We stopped at Norseman for morning tea and found the town a little scary. The town looked quite closed up with many shops in themain street boarded up and empty. Oddly the town was named after a horse according to statue near the playground.
Our biggest concern was about TC Catherine that had crossed the coast near Port Hedland and was tracking toward our location with strong winds and heavy rain still. We would need to find some good shelter for tonight.
By the time we drove as far as Balladonia Roadhouse we were all ready for lunch, but not for the temperature. It was well into the 40s outside. Our lunch toasted as we ate and we were very eager to get back into the beast and keep driving. Funny even the beast was cooler than outside. Balladonia Roadhouse is very near where NASAs SkyLab crashed in 1979. They have a museum with details of the crash and subsequent visit from cleanup crews from USA. The shire even issued NASA a penalty notice for littering back in 1979.
After just over 600km for the day we checked into the family room at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse. After Nicholas had refuelled the beast and was going back inside the room he noticed a snake laying across the room threshold. By the time Angela and the girls had returned with the manager and the manager's "snake charmer" the snake had found a hole near room 27 to slither into.
The snake on the move from our door!
Thankfully we had taken a room because in the early hours of New Year's Day TC Catherine passed over us. She dumped over 10mm rain and the winds knocked out power, TV and phone for the roadhouse. The wind was so strong the rain came in horizontally. The lack of power meant there was no water for showers in the morning and no power to fire-up the coffee machine.
Wednesday 01/01
Happy New Years and Happy Anniversary to Angela and Nicholas. That makes is one birthday and one anniversary on this trip.
We continued east across the Great Australian Bight. We detoured a couple of times to look at the massive cliffs along the Great Australian Bight.
Again there were very few places to stop for lunch by the road with shelter. Thankfully the storm last night cooled the temperatures down to a manageable level. The lunch stop had to be in a car park at one of the viewing areas. Angela whipped up some nachos and Nicholas organised the daily caffeine hit with the coffee machine and generator.
Our lunch stop on the Great Australian Bight.
We made it to the South Australian boarder and on to Fowlers Bay, just a small detour off the main road. Fowlers Bay is an Eco Caravan Park; Eco meaning only warm water for showers. The park is completely off the power grid, no connection. Everything runs off solar power with inverters to bring it up to 240v if required. For about the first time since our night at Orange NSW we were cold. The wind was coming strong off the bay from the tail of TC Catherine.
Thursday 2/1/2014
We left chilly Fowlers Bay behind to drive to Port Augusta. Just outside Ceduna we stopped at the quarantine station. We had miscalculated our food stocks a lot! We handed over to the quarantine officer most of our fresh fruit and vegetables, until he volunteered that we were done. We thinks that is code for, "my shopping list is complete you can keep the rest". We had to stop at Ceduna to restock some bits for lunch after our donation.
We stopped at Wirrulla for lunch. Not much of a town but there was a car garage with a couple of banged up 1950s autos out the front.
We stopped at Wirrulla for lunch. Not much of a town but there was a car garage with a couple of banged up 1950s autos out the front.
The next town of note was Kimba. Kimba prides itself as the town halfway across the country. That would put us in the middle of nowhere and only half way to somewhere.
Halfway but nearly home!
We made it to Port Augusta for the night. The remarkable thing we found about Port Augusta on a Thursday night is no eateries are open for dinner. We thought that we would have dinner out and all the places we had found recommendations for were all closed or shutdown. We eventually found a pub and doubled the number of occupied tables.
We made it to Port Augusta for the night. The remarkable thing we found about Port Augusta on a Thursday night is no eateries are open for dinner. We thought that we would have dinner out and all the places we had found recommendations for were all closed or shutdown. We eventually found a pub and doubled the number of occupied tables.
Friday 3/01
Today was a shortish drive to Adelaide. The landscape changed again and became greener and we even ran into a bit of rain. The towns are again closer together. We went through some notable towns, Port Perie and Snowtown.
We had lunch at St Kilda, Adelaide, where there was an awesome adventure play ground. There were tunnels and ladders for the girls to climb, some of the longest slides we have ever seen.
What a playground!
We are staying a few nights in Adelaide at a caravan park not far from the city.
We are staying a few nights in Adelaide at a caravan park not far from the city.
Saturday morning we took a reasonably short drive to Carrick house. This is a historical house that was donated to the State when the childless couple died. The beautiful Carrick Hill estate was the result of the marriage, in 1935, of members of two of Adelaide's most prominent families. Edward (Bill) Hayward was a son of the wealthy merchant family that for more than 100 years owned John Martin's Ltd, once Adelaide's greatest department store. His bride, Ursula Barr Smith, was a daughter of an even wealthier family of pastoralists. After their nuptials the couple took a yearlong honeymoon to Europe. Whilst there they purchased at auction much of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth-century paneling, doors, staircases and windows from the demolition sale of Beaudesert, a Tudor mansion in Staffordshire, England. These fixtures were sent back to Adelaide where architect, James Irwin, designed the house around these fittings. The house and history was fascinating and the girls just loved seeing the house as it was back in the 1930s.
Carrick House and gardens.
The other highlight of Adelaide is to have a Pie Floater. The old Pie Cart had closed so we had ours at Bakery on O'Connell not far from the city. All four girls really enjoyed their first pie floaters.
Eating our pie floaters, better than they look!
After lunch Angela had some time to herself while Nicholas took the girls to a park for a play.
We spent the last part of the afternoon at the botanic gardens. They really are lovely gardens and worth a visit when you are in Adelaide. We wandered through the Bicentennial Conservatory, wetlands and the expansive green lawns.
The the Bicentennial Conservatory or a giant discus stuck in the ground!
Sunday 5/01
Sunday morning we left Adelaide early and struggled to drive through the Adelaide hills with the car fully loaded and camper on behind. At times we crawled through the hills in second gear at 40kph. If the road wasn't two lanes we would be the head of a funny procession. Only fully laden trucks struggled more than us.
We drove to Robe where we had booked a night to catchup with the Coker and McQue families who were staying there. It happened to be Andrew McQue's birthday so we are going out for dinner, six adults and eight children.
All the kids together again.
Robe was a very busy little town with lots going on. There was a carnival in town and lots of holiday makers everywhere. Most of the available accommodation was all full and the boutique shops were quite busy with people looking for warmer clothes. The Coker and McQue families had had some of the cooler summer weather for their holiday on the coast.
The Coker and McQue families showed us around town and took us to a playground near the house they were staying in. We had a lovely dinner all together and finalised the arrangement for a surprise for our children the next day!
Monday 06/01
Monday morning was another early start and the last pack-up of the camper for this trip! It was certainly with a bit of emotion that we folded the camper and closed the latches for the last time. The Coker and McQue families were going to a horse school for a trail ride and we had booked a lesson for our three girls. The girls lesson included looking after the horses with brushing, saddling, and then how to ride a horse properly. The lesson was fantastic and particularly Chelsea with her love for horses could not take the smile from her face. A true promotion from riding foam pool noodles around caravan parks to the real thing for an hour!
Do you think Chelsea is having a good time?
All having a brush.
While the Coker and McQue children went on their trail ride for a couple of hours the rest of us headed to Narracourte for a lunch and chat. All too soon the time was getting on and we had to leave to make it to Horsham for our nights accommodation. On the drive to Horsham we crossed the boarder into Victoria. There was quite a cheer that went up in the car for this milestone. We also gained another 30 minutes of travel time.
The second treat for the day was to stay at the Mayfair apartments for the last night of our epic trip around Australia. We have stayed there previously and they are very comfortable with lots of space.
To celebrate our final night away from home (possibly ever) we took the girls out for dinner to one of their favourite cuisines, Chinese! Oddly the two Chinese restaurants in Horsham are right next to each other. We chose the wrong one as it turned out! The staff could not have cared less about us being there and we were obviously an interruption to whatever else they had planned for the night. For only the second time ever we walked out of the restaurant before ordering and went next door and the difference was amasing.
Tuesday 07/01
Our very last day of the trip but the touring doesn't stop. We had booked a tour at Great Western for the Sepplet drives tour. This is probably the fourth time we have done this tour and it is so much fun. The tour takes the group through some of the 3km of tunnels under the buildings of the winery. In days gone by the wine makers stored and aged many bottles of champagne (they were aloud to call it champagne then) in the tunnels. The tunnels were dug out mostly by out of work miners after the peek of the gold rush in the 1850s.
The tour-guide we had this time was not as engaging or knowledgeable as previous tours we had done. We had to fill into the gaps for the kids with the bits that were left out. Interesting Chelsea and Chantelle kept asking about bits that were omitted from the tour, that they remembered from 2010 when we were there last.
Our last lunch stop was at the botanic gardens at Arrarat. It was a kind of wired lunch stop, we all knew that the next stop would be our house for the first time in 188 days.
Back past Ballarat, Baccus Marsh, Melton and then finally there was a deafening roar from the car as the tall buildings of Melbourne came into view. The excitement was electric for the final hour in the car home.
Well that is it, yes just like that the trip is over. 188 days away from home, 33,984km covered and infinite memories created. Will we ever do a trip like this again? Don't know yet, there are still lots of places to see and many places we would all go back to ... one day.
The end!
After lunch Angela had some time to herself while Nicholas took the girls to a park for a play.
We spent the last part of the afternoon at the botanic gardens. They really are lovely gardens and worth a visit when you are in Adelaide. We wandered through the Bicentennial Conservatory, wetlands and the expansive green lawns.
Sunday 5/01
Sunday morning we left Adelaide early and struggled to drive through the Adelaide hills with the car fully loaded and camper on behind. At times we crawled through the hills in second gear at 40kph. If the road wasn't two lanes we would be the head of a funny procession. Only fully laden trucks struggled more than us.
We drove to Robe where we had booked a night to catchup with the Coker and McQue families who were staying there. It happened to be Andrew McQue's birthday so we are going out for dinner, six adults and eight children.
Robe was a very busy little town with lots going on. There was a carnival in town and lots of holiday makers everywhere. Most of the available accommodation was all full and the boutique shops were quite busy with people looking for warmer clothes. The Coker and McQue families had had some of the cooler summer weather for their holiday on the coast.
The Coker and McQue families showed us around town and took us to a playground near the house they were staying in. We had a lovely dinner all together and finalised the arrangement for a surprise for our children the next day!
Monday 06/01
Monday morning was another early start and the last pack-up of the camper for this trip! It was certainly with a bit of emotion that we folded the camper and closed the latches for the last time. The Coker and McQue families were going to a horse school for a trail ride and we had booked a lesson for our three girls. The girls lesson included looking after the horses with brushing, saddling, and then how to ride a horse properly. The lesson was fantastic and particularly Chelsea with her love for horses could not take the smile from her face. A true promotion from riding foam pool noodles around caravan parks to the real thing for an hour!
While the Coker and McQue children went on their trail ride for a couple of hours the rest of us headed to Narracourte for a lunch and chat. All too soon the time was getting on and we had to leave to make it to Horsham for our nights accommodation. On the drive to Horsham we crossed the boarder into Victoria. There was quite a cheer that went up in the car for this milestone. We also gained another 30 minutes of travel time.
The second treat for the day was to stay at the Mayfair apartments for the last night of our epic trip around Australia. We have stayed there previously and they are very comfortable with lots of space.
To celebrate our final night away from home (possibly ever) we took the girls out for dinner to one of their favourite cuisines, Chinese! Oddly the two Chinese restaurants in Horsham are right next to each other. We chose the wrong one as it turned out! The staff could not have cared less about us being there and we were obviously an interruption to whatever else they had planned for the night. For only the second time ever we walked out of the restaurant before ordering and went next door and the difference was amasing.
Tuesday 07/01
Our very last day of the trip but the touring doesn't stop. We had booked a tour at Great Western for the Sepplet drives tour. This is probably the fourth time we have done this tour and it is so much fun. The tour takes the group through some of the 3km of tunnels under the buildings of the winery. In days gone by the wine makers stored and aged many bottles of champagne (they were aloud to call it champagne then) in the tunnels. The tunnels were dug out mostly by out of work miners after the peek of the gold rush in the 1850s.
The tour-guide we had this time was not as engaging or knowledgeable as previous tours we had done. We had to fill into the gaps for the kids with the bits that were left out. Interesting Chelsea and Chantelle kept asking about bits that were omitted from the tour, that they remembered from 2010 when we were there last.
Our last lunch stop was at the botanic gardens at Arrarat. It was a kind of wired lunch stop, we all knew that the next stop would be our house for the first time in 188 days.
Back past Ballarat, Baccus Marsh, Melton and then finally there was a deafening roar from the car as the tall buildings of Melbourne came into view. The excitement was electric for the final hour in the car home.
Well that is it, yes just like that the trip is over. 188 days away from home, 33,984km covered and infinite memories created. Will we ever do a trip like this again? Don't know yet, there are still lots of places to see and many places we would all go back to ... one day.
The end!
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