The Long Drive - Perth, WA to Bli Bli, Qld!

Monday, August 30, 2010
After leaving Perth we travelled along the Great Northern Highway to our first caravan park stop at Dalwallinu, about 3 hours driving time. The sound of gentle rain lulled us to sleep this evening.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
From Dalwallinu we drove out past fields of vivid green wheat & bright yellow canola flowers to Petrudor Rocks, a granite outcrop, where we saw lots of wattles, hakeas, some everlasting daisies - not quite open yet & different coloured lichens on rocks. We had heard reports of small orchids being seen in this area but we failed to find any - they are quite hard to spot!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The rain on Tuesday night was a little more persistent & we had some damp areas to dry out on today! Having had no rain in Perth for the last 2 months, 30mm in 24 hours in this area was quite unusual. Started day with bacon, tomato & egg breakfast on BBQ in camp kitchen. Cold & windy, but sat under big gas heater! Fortunately, the laundry had a dryer & the fan heater dried out the damp spots in the van. The corners of the van have been coated with more silicone! Weather cold but fine so big washing, drying out, organising & re-packing of car & van! Much better can now find things more easily. Most stuff stowed ready for depature in morning.

Thursday, September 2, 2010
Woke to clear sky & freezing temperatures. Temperature outside car was 7 deg at 0830as we headed off! Not sure what the minimum was earlier in morning, but it was cold! Drove 270km to Mullewa, via Wubin, Perenjori, & Morawa. Stopped at Information centre in Perenjori for Devonshire coffee [nice & hot, good to warm hands!] Took photos of beautiful trees in park opposite info centre. Again drove through beautiful farm country & road verges thick with colourful pink, white, purple & yellow wildflowers & wattles.

Friday, September 3, 2010
Big walking day! After ablutions & breakfast headed off on 2.8km Mullewa Wildflower Walk starting just across road from caravan park. Spread out under the fairly sparse trees & shrubs were many drifts of small yellow, white & pink everlastings interspersed with small purple flowers. The flowers of grevillias, wattles, teatree, several varieties of mint bush [Prostanthera] & the red gravel tracks added to the colourful vista. After lunch & a short rest we drove out to the Mullewa Lookout where we had good views of the town & surrounding countryside. From here we strolled around the 2.3km Mullewa Bush Trail. Again many flowers under the trees & shrubs. Even saw some of the elusive ground orchids, helped by the fact that pink tape marked the spots where they were growing! Saw small green orchids & spindly Common Spider orchids. All the flowers are a bit late this year due to the late winter rain & the cold winter.

Saturday, September 3, 2010
Packed up & drove 100km to Geraldton. Stocked up on fresh vegetables, bread & eggs at the Geraldton Farmers' Market. Walked into city centre for coffee & a little look around the town. Drove on to caravan park at Sunset Beach , a northern suburb of Geraldton. Had a little bit of luxury here with our own ensuite bathroom! After lunch we drove out through the Chapman River valley to the local Show. Had a look at the arts & crafts, flowers, produce, vintage car display & all the other usual attractions of a small rural show! Back to van for dinner & sleep.

Sunday, September 4, 2010
Our little luxury ensuite failed to deliver any hot water for morning showers! All ensuite sites likewise - problem sorted when office opened at 0800 - gas was out & soon rectified! Early morning phone calls to John for Father's Day from our three children. Special Father's day breakfast of scrambled eggs, tomato & toast. Drove in to Geraldton for more of a  look around & coffee, of course! Strolled through another small market in the mall, drove out to the shipping port, visited the HMAS Sydney Memorial. Generally quiet afternoon.

Monday, September 5, 2010
Washing on early & I decided to take everything out of cupboards in kitchen area to arrange it more logically! Into Geraldton for skin check of spot on my leg - needs attention when I get home. Had beautiful fresh snapper fish & chips at the wharf for lunch. Bit of supermarket shopping & another lazy afternoon! Packed up most stuff for departure in morning.

Tuesday, September 6, 2010
Drove to Kalbarri via coast road. Stopped in at Port Gregory in midst of a heavy shower! Set up on our site at The Anchorage Caravan Park just across the road from the Murchison River mouth. Can hear the waves now!
Remained overcast & showery. Relaxed afternoon.

Wednesday, September 7, 2010

Spent all day touring, walking & taking photos in Kalbarri National Park. Beautiful day! The scenery is magnificent! Spectacular views of the massive gorge cut by the Murchison River can be seen from several vantage points within the park. Most were only a relatively short walk from the car parks - 500 -700 metres each way - well worth the effort! Lots of flowers out, too, so we spent a lot of time taking photos! The legs were a bit tired tonight!

Thursday, September 8, 2010

Visit this morning to Wildflower Park not far from caravan park - they also had 'the devil made me do it Devonshire Morning Teas' with great homemade scones. Of course we had to try it! More photos of flowers & a bird or two. Bit of a catch up afternoon with washing, planning & booking for next two nights. The park management do a BBQ night each Thursday, so no cooking or cleaning up tonight! Hamburger & a glass of wine, John is already asleep! I just had to catch up with this blog or I will never get it published! Up to date now, just need to add photos!

Friday, September 9, 2010

Time to move on again! Left Kalbarri after breakfast & pack-up. Took the east road out of Kalbarri to the North West Coast Highway. Stopped in Geralton for fuel [probably lowest price for some time now] & to stock up on a few fresh veggies. Just before we reached Geraldton daughter, Tracey, phoned from Wickham [near Karratha] to see if we would look at a car, in Geraldton,which they are thinking of buying, so we did that, too! With all those jobs done we head to our next stop at Mingenew Springs Caravan Park. Very pretty little spot, lots of trees & nice quiet & friendly people here. After setting up had walk into 'town' - IGA, Bakery, Tourist information, garage, Pub, part-time medical centre & not a lot else! The bakery does good coffee - &, yes, cakes etc, too! The walk into town took barely 10 mins, & the walk around town took about the same time, so what else is one to do but to have coffee! Bought steak & mushrooms at IGA to supplement our veggies. Dinner cooked on BBQ - very nice. Quite cool this evening, clear starry sky, so will probably be cold night.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Quite chilly this morning! Packed picnic lunches & set off for day of exploring the wildflowers in Coalseam Conservation Park & surrounding areas. Very pretty at Coalseam - beautiful carpets of yellow, white, purple & pink flowers everywhere! Took lots of photos! After a good look around the park we stopped on roadside to eat lunch - ate in car because the little bush flies are dreadful, they try to crawl into ears, eyes, mouth & on camera! Might have to start using face nets - bit hard to eat with one of those on, though! Have to find the Rid for tomorrow! Went on to explore flowers around Canna locality - someone in a vehicle coming towards us flashed lights, pulled up beside us & gave us a map of the area, noting where to see the flowers! Obviously they had finished looking. Saw lots more flowers including several varieties of ground orchids & some of the fascinating Wreath Flowers. The only trouble, apart from the flies, was the wind! Very hard to get good, sharp close-up photos of flowers when they are blowing around in the breeze. I don't mind waiting for the wind to settle, but by the time it does & you get the focus right flies try to crawl in your eye or up your nose & you just have to brush it away, then the flower starts swaying again......... ! Anyway it was a lovely day & we didn't get back to the van till after 5 pm. Dinner tonight was at the Pub - beautiful Camembert chicken with white wine sauce, very nice mix of fresh veggies, cooked just right & enough mashed potato to do 3 meals - nice, too, but way too much to eat! So, now the news is up todate I am going to publish this part -sadly without photos, for now -still working on that!