Ceduna, SA - Sunday at Oysterfest 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010
Well we have had a fairly lazy Sunday as we are both now fighting off colds! Yes, John has generously shared his cold & I woke today with a sore throat & just feeling a little below par, but not really sick. Thought we were up early with a load of washing on before breakfast [farm fresh scrambled eggs on toast], only to discover that daylight saving actually started today, & it was now actually 9am not 8am! But then who really cares what time the clock says when you are on holidays. My body clock is going to take a while to adjust to time moving forward by 2 1/2 hrs over the last 3 days! Now, back to today's activities. As we are both not feeling so energetic we drove down to the foreshore to have another wander around the Oysterfest site.
For lunch we bought half dozen oysters each, a plate of fresh oysters with lemon wedges for me & a plate of mixed cooked ones for John - 2 Kilpatrick, 2 Garlic & Feta & 2 Sweet chilli sauce & cheese! I didn't take a photo of the fresh ones but you can see from the photo of the cooked ones how big the oyster were, they were beautiful! To add to the delight we sat in the large marquee listening to The Boston Bay Jazz Band, from Adelaide!
Had a wander down to the beachfront where kids were making sandcastles & people were enjoying other water activities such as standing board paddling & kite surfing. From here we walked back to the Ceduna Jetty & almost out to the end of it. Water was beautiful green colour & very clear, & I suspect quite cold!

Ceduna, SA: Ceduna Jetty;Fish flags at the beach; Oyster Lunch; Ceduna Foreshore; The Boston Bay Jazz Band

Back to van for restful after noon. We are staying here till Tuesday morning now to give us a chance to get over our colds. Lovely to talk to a couple of friends on Skype today, too!

Five Days and 1,470 KM from Esperance, WA to Ceduna, SA

Hi Everyone, It is now Friday October 1, 2010 & we have crossed the Nullarbor & are now in Ceduna, SA! Only 1/2 hour behind EST, till next w/e when daylight saving starts!  Have not had phone or Internet connection for last 4 days. My last entry took us up to Sunday, September 26, so will now continue our tale from there & hopefully catch up again!.

Monday, September 27, 2010
Our granddaughter, Jessica's 11th birthday today - Happy Birthday, Jessica!! Our last morning in Esperance! A light shower overnight but dry this morning, that is until we were taking the awning down - must have been about 1 litre of water pooled on the awning & it almost landed right on top of John! Finished packing up & headed north towards Norseman. Passed through rural areas & a couple of small towns.  Stopped at Salmon Gums for our morning coffee. Norseman was caravan central, as everyone travelling east fuelled-up for the first stage of their trip across the Nullarbor & later today all those coming in from the east will arrive to refuel after their long trip. I counted about 20 caravans from where we were parked near the information centre - & there were others parked around the town, too! The Information Centre was kept busy answering questions from those about to embark on the eastward journey! 

Norseman, WA Caravan Refuelling station

From Norseman we travelled 100km east to the Tourist Park at Fraser Range Station. This property was first settled by the Dempster brothers in 1872 making it the first sheep station to be established on the Nullarbor Plain. This western part of the Nullarbor Plain bears little resemblance to the rest of the 'treeless plain' with a "range of granite hills rearing up out of a dense hardwood eucalyptus forest composed of spectacular blackbutts, salmon gums & gimlets." The station, surrounded by crown land stretches some 160km north west & is 25km wide. The length of the station is punctuated by open grass flats. There is lots of history associated with Fraser Range Station & those who are interested might like to look at the web site: http://www.fraserrangestation.com.au/ .  The property changed hands in September 2009 & the current owners are continuing to develop & improve the property & the tourist park, which is an oasis in the outback. Power for the property is supplied by one of two 100KVA diesel powered generators & costs $200 per day to run. Showers cost $1 for 5 mins of hot water! Water is pumped from an underground bore to a tank on the western hill & gravity fed to the park.  No phones & no TV! One hole of The Nullarbor Golf Course here!

Fraser Range, WA: Port Lincoln Ringneck Parrot eating Eremophila flowers; Blackbutt tree; 
Black Beetle on Eremophila bud; Tan beetle on gum leaf; Caravan Park, our Penguin on far right

We arrived here about 1pm, along with several other vans & campers! Had lunch & a bit of a look around before heading off, at 3.30pm, on the 3 hour Sunset Tour & a bit of a look around a small section of the property. We travelled in a 4WD OKA, a small [but quite high!] of road bus.We saw trees, camels, roos, rock-wall well & dam structures built in the late 1800's, & hundreds of rabbits before ending up on a hill with wine, beer & nibbles to watch & photograph the sunset! Beautiful! Sadly the rabbits are an enormous problem & the owners cannot start redeveloping the property until they are able to control these pests. They dig into & destroy everything, eat the tree roots so the trees die & the white ants move in, hence a lot of areas where the trees are disappearing - very big problem. Scientists are apparently working on a new strain of Calicivirus which will hopefully help.

Fraser Range Sunset Tour: Sunset; Camels, in retreat; Rock Well; Euro, on skyline; Windmill silhouette;
OKA bus & grass lands from rock wall dam

Back at camp about 7 pm for our dinner & the communal campfire was burning well! Quite cold & very windy. Did not stay up late tonight as tired from a big travel day, might sit around the fire tomorrow night!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Very windy night, the little van did a bit of shaking last night! Windy for most of today. We had a very peaceful & relaxing rest day today. Most of the other vans left early this morning & we had the place pretty much to ourselves. There was one other couple we chatted to at morning tea before heading off for a walk with cameras to take some shots around the property near the park. Got some nice pics in an erosion gully. 

Fraser Range, WA Erosion Gully shots; Gimlet trees

Game of Anagrams [to keep the brain cells active!] after lunch, then a walk up to the golf tee & green. Spotted a party of 10 emus on our way there!

Nullarbor Golf tee at Fraser Range, WA; Emu parade gathering

Dinner to night BBQ'ed some of the really nice steak bought in Esperance. I sat at the campfire for a while & chatted to people from Tassie, Perth & Qld. John decided the wind too cold so he stayed in van to download today's photos.


Fraser Range, WA: Camp Fire; Eremophila flower; Camp kitchen building; Welcome to Fraser Range;
Field flowers;Stove in Camp kitchen; Old cars at entrance to Tourist park;
Old Wool Shed, being renovated & eventually to be museum & reception

 

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Less windy last night but still blowing & quite cool. Temperature 12 deg when we departed our lovely outback oasis after breakfast this morning to continue our eastwards trek! Travelled 90 km to Balladonia where we had our daily coffee. The main highlights to be seen today included a wedge-tailed eagle sharing road kill with a couple of crows,unique road signs, road trains, other caravans, a few cars & the never ending straight bitumen road! Just after leaving Balladonia we started on the '90 Mile stretch' - Australia's longest stretch of straight [but not flat, undulates quite a bit] roadway - 145 km - to Caiguna.

Crossing the Nullarbor: Road Trains; Caravans & Motor homes;Signs; Roadhouse stops

Our first time adjustment since leaving Perth was at Caiguna, clocks forward 45 mins.
Another 64 km along the road we passed the Cocklebiddy roadhouse. Lunch stop near road to Eyre Bird Sanctuary, ate in car so flies didn't get in lunch, mouth, eyes, ears! We had hoped to drive into here but the lady at Norseman Information centre talked us out of that idea very quickly! The 4WD road in is very rough, quite long & the last 12 kms requires the letting down of tyres to drive over deep dry sand - & then no way to re inflate tyres!
Eastwards for another 91 km to our stop for tonight, the Madura Hotel CP. Just before reaching Madura the road goes through Madura Pass where you get view out over the Roe Plains & views toward the southern ocean from the lookout at the top of the pass.
As with most of the hotel/roadhouse stops across the Nullarbor the CP at Madura was nothing flash, no grass, but some plant growth under some reasonably big trees, a bit of noise from highway truck traffic & clean bathroom facilities. Token system in ladies shower for 5 mins of hot water. Men had key to their bathroom & no tokens, work that system out!? Left van hitched up to Land Cruiser tonight.


Madura Hotel Caravan stop, WA: Yellow Eucalyptus blossom; Old car, still waiting for fuel!; 'The Penguin' at the camp site; Photo taken from golf tee looking towards green - flag just to left of tree on right of picture. Watched 3 guys try this one, 2 went far left & one far right. don't know if they found their golf balls again!; Sign about this golf spot.


Thursday, September 30, 2010

Still quite cold wind this morning. Quick get away after breakfast, & back on the road again bound for the town of Nullarbor in SA.Drove 115 km to Mundrabilla Roadhouse where we stopped for fuel & another 65 km to Eucla for coffee stop.  Travelled through the WA/SA border check point at Border Village.Coming from WA you don't have to hand in fruit & veges at this point but you do further on at Ceduna. Going in to WA you have to hand in all fruit, veggies & honey at the border. Our 2nd 45 min time change was here at the border & we will have another change next Sunday for daylight saving in SA & NSW. From Border Village the road runs along the top of the Bunda Cliffs and we got our first real look at the southern ocean & it's rugged cliff faces! Stopped at the first car park to have a look & take a few pics! Drove on a bit further to another car park for more looking & 'shooting' - of the camera kind! Ate lunch here but had to sit in the car as the flies were dreadful!!

Another 182 km along we reached our overnight destination of Nullarbor Hotel/Motel CP. This one was even more sparse, only vegetation on whole site was 2 trees! Bathroom block was clean & 5 min hot showers were $1, only problem is it was about 75metre walk, a long way if you have to get up in middle of night! Quite overcast & looking showery when we arrived here. However, we quickly set up the Penguin' before driving a bit further east to the Whale viewing place at  Head of the Bite. Sadly there were not many whales visibly - we saw 3 at a distance - when we were there & it was quite cold & very windy, so we didn't stay for very long. Apparently there were about 26 whales there in the morning!

Back to van for dinner to use as much as possible of our remaining fruit & veggies before we reach Ceduna tomorrow.

Bunda Cliffs, SA coast, just past Border Village

Friday, October 1, 2010
We have not booked at Ceduna as there are 5 CP's so we plan to just roll up & see what we find - that was until I talked to a lady [in the bathroom] & she told me it's a long w/end & the Oyster Festival in Ceduna this w/end! I relayed this info to John on return to van, he phoned Big 4 CP & I think we got 2nd last spot, & then only because we had small van!


Nullarbor Plains and some more unusual road signs



Wind still cold & temp still about 12 as we head off again for another leg of the eastward trek! Decided not to try the whale place again, $10 each to go in, & weather still overcast. The Nullarbor Hotel marks the western edge of the real 'treeless plain'. The road passes through some quite flat areas with very low growth vegetation. It is, however, quite green due to the good rain in that area this year. The road veers south east into more tree covered country after a short time, with most of the very flat treeless plains further to the north. Ate lunch at roadside picnic area in Penong before reaching the quarantine check point at Ceduna. Had to hand over 1 onion, a bit of garlic, some celery & a bit of lettuce, just could not manage to use all that up in time!

Very much warmer here than it has been for the whole trip, had showers & changed into lighter clothing. Still windy, though & a little showery looking. Settled into our CP site & headed off to replenish the fruit & veggies & a few other things!

Dinner out tonight at local football club - Fresh oysters for me & Kilpatrick oysters for John, followed by King George Whiting & salad. Very nice!

John coming down with a cold! He should have had an early night but was getting towards the end of the latest Diana Gabaldon book, which he just had to finish!! Those of you who have read these books will know what I mean. Hope it doesn't take her two years to finish the next one!

I stayed up very late trying to catch up on the blog! I don't think my body clock has adjusted to the 1 1/2 hour time difference yet!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

John really has a cold today & is feeling a bit washed out. Visit to chemist for cough medicines, etc this morning. Stayed in the main street of Ceduna & watched the Oyster Festival Parade! Quite a lot of community effort & co-operation is involved in this annual event. Walked down to foreshore area where there were marquees with food & various goods for sale as well as the side show alley type stalls. Wandered back to main street, bought pies at the bakery for lunch - oyster pie for me & steak pie for John. Apparently it is the only place in the world where you can buy oyster pies! It was actually quite nice, oysters in a sort of a mornay sauce with cheese & bacon on top. This afternoon John has mostly slept & I have got the blog up to date again! Enjoy!

Ceduna, SA: The crowd moving to foreshore after parade finished; Vintage car & caravan in parade;
Two photos of the District Health service parade, old guy on the scooter had sign on his back 'Return to Hospital'!;
Sturts Desert Pea growing in pot in main street; Purple statice & Norfolk Island Pine Trees, centre of main road 

Coastal Magic & National Park Grandure

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
This morning we followed the Great Ocean Drive, a 40km loop, which firstly takes you west around Pink Lake & then loops down to the ocean where we travelled east along the coast back to Esperance. This was our first real sighting of the crystal clear waters, white sand beaches, rocky headlands & hundreds of small islands around this area! The islands are all part of the Recherche Archipelago.  Being a lovely sunny day the water was the most magical aqua colour in the shallower water graduating to deep blue in the deeper water! The drive takes you past Ten Mile Beach, Nine Mile Beach, Observatory Point, Twilight Beach, Fourth Beach. Salmon Beach, Blue Haven Beach & West Beach to the Rotary Lookout from where you get great views of the city & the off-shore islands. We stopped at many of the beaches & took way too many photos!! Arrived back at van in time for lunch as we were booked to have massages this afternoon. Unfortunately the massage lady phoned to say she had twisted her ankle & could we postpone till tomorrow! So we had a more leisurely lunch & I spent hours on blog, again! John read & bemoaned the fact that we don't have a second computer here!

 Scenery along the Great Ocean Drive, Esperance - Aqua & Blue Ocean, Bays, Headlands, White Sand,
& Rocky Islands

Thursday, September 23, 2010
This morning we headed out to Cape le Grand National Park, a 45 min drive, 50 km south-east of Esperance. This is one of WA's most spectacular national parks with its 'wild coastal scenery, rugged granite peaks, sweeping sandplain heathlands & white sandy beaches & bays'.  'Massive rock outcrops form an impressive chain of peaks, the result of erosion & movement of the Earth's crust over the past 600 million years'. The sand plains support a variety of plant & animal life. We saw a lot of coastal scenery yesterday but the beaches & bays today were just 'jaw dropping'!! We had been told about Lucky Bay & it was just beautiful! The aqua & blue water colour, the white sand, the rocky headlands & the off-shore islands made you want to keep taking photos 'till you get it right!' The fact is that no photo can really do it justice & sometimes it is better to just look & soak up the atmosphere of the place!  The colour of the water is influenced by three things, the sun, the clarity of the water & the underlying white sand. In 2006 the National Committee on Soil & Terrain carried out tests to find the whitest sand beach in Australia & Lucky Bay in Cape le Grand NP near Esperance was judged the whitest sand beach. In late 2008, Queensland challenged the decision with a sample submitted from Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday but was unsuccessful! Of course we still took far too many photos, once again, one of the dangers of digital photography! As well as the magnificent costal scenery we took more flower & landscape photos in the heathlands, too. Back to town for massages in late afternoon, dinner & off to a concert!
Yes, a live performance at Esperance Civic Centre - Nick Parnell, one man fifty instruments! He is a world class Percussionist & has an incredible array of musical instruments from drums of all shapes & sizes to various whistles and a Vibraphone! He was accompanied on piano by a US pianist , whose name escapes me & I have thrown out the program! The whole evening was quite enjoyable & both performers were very clever.



Cape le Grand NP: Lucky Bay & Beach; Frenchmans Peak; Red Leschenaultia; White flower; Melalueuca Suberosa


Friday, September 24, 2010
Very windy!! I am so glad we did not book boat trip for today!! However not much exciting news for the blog! We had an 'at home day' today. Did some catching up on chores, such as the blog - for Heather & fixing the new large stone guard mud flaps, called 'Rock Tamers', to the Landcruiser -for John. Drive into town in afternoon to gather a few supplies, including really nice meat from the local butcher. Cooked our favourite Pork Chops in Apple Sauce for dinner tonight!

Saturday, September 25, 2010
Beautiful sunny day & only light wind! Into the jetty by 8:45 this morning for a half day cruise on the 'MV Seabreeze IV' around a few of the many islands in the Recherche Archipelago. Now as some of you know boats & I are not altogether compatable, so I took my special anti sea-sick tablets before heading off, felt fine most of trip, just got a little uneasy at one point when looking down at photos on camera - so didn't do that again! We saw Australian Sea Lions & New Zealand Fur Seals lazing about in the sun on some of the rocky islands; a pair of beautiful White-breasted Sea Eagles; dolphins; Cape Barron Geese & various other sea birds. No whales to be seen today. After cruising around looking at all the wildlife we landed at Woody Island for morning tea & a bushwalk. Actually managed some in focus shots of small birds on the island. Sadly neither of us took any really good shots of the Sea Eagle - too much movement from the boat & the bird is so quick at grabbing the fish from the water! John did get one reasonably good in flight shot.  Back in Esperance at 1 pm. Lunch in town then back to van, some washing, blogging, reading, resting & cooking for dinner.



Esperance Boat Cruise: White-bellied Sea Eagle, in flight & eating fish; View to Cape le Grand from Woody Is; Australian Sea Lions; MV Seabreeze IV at Woody Is Jetty; Sea Spray; New Zealand Fur Seal; Cormorant

 Sunday, September 26 2010
Last day of our week in Esperance! Checked out Esperance Market this morning. Lots of craft & secondhand stuff but no fresh fruit & veggies, sadly. Drove out to Lake Monjingup & walked the boardwalk loop. Very peaceful paperbark swamplands near lake. Lots of orchids at several spots along pathways away from lake edge. Could hear lots of birds but hard to see. 'Home' for lunch, then out to buy few bits of food & fuel redy for our departure in morning. Just have to give you some more Orchid photos, might not see any more! Sorry don't have proper names for the Banksias or yellow & blue orchids as book has been packed in car! Will correct later, if I remember!


Lake Monjingup, Esperance: Esperance King Spider Orchids; Blue Orchid; Banksia; Yellow Orchid; Banksia:
a section of the Boardwalk Loop

Tomorrow we drive to Fraser Range, a cattle property 100km east of Norseman, where they have accommodation & caravan sites. We will stay here 2 nights & hope to do a tour of the property on Tuesday but need minimum of 4 people.

Well, I am finally up-to-date with the Blog again!
Now, I am not sure what our internet connection will be like as we head over the Nullarbor. You may not have any blog updates for about 5-6 days, which I guess is not much different to what I have been doing!

Wildflowers to Wetlands

Friday, September 17, 2010
Departed Hyden this morning, southward bound for Hopetoun on the south coast, west of Esperance. Cold day, again! No unplanned photo stops today, just a coffee stop at King Lake. As we neared Ravensthorpe we started to question why we were going to stay at Hopetoun - further 50km - & then drive back to Ravensthorpe for the Flower Show & Market Day tomorrow!?? We quickly decided it would be far better to stay in Ravensthorpe & do day trip to Hopetoun on Sunday. Booked into Ravensthorpe Caravan Park for 3 nights - & John did phone Hopetoun CP to let them know we had changed plans. Quickly set up the 'Penguin' before going back into town to look at the Craft & Quilt Show, the Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show & a local Art Gallery. The Ravensthorpe area is noted for its biodiversity & there were over 700 speicies named & displayed! [I didn't actually count them, just read it on brouchure!]  Booked in for a 40km 4WD tag along tour to Ravy Range, leaving from the town at 11;30 tomorrow morning, $20 pp includes picnic lunch & entry to Camel Museum. Took few photos around town - flowers & a feisty little Shingle Backed Lizard - before returning to van for the night.

Around Ravensthorpe town: Eucalypt tree trunk; Eucalypt blossoms, yellow & red;Dainty Blue Orchid; Shingle Backed Lizard; Floral display at Wildflower Show

Saturday, September 18, 2010
Headed in to town after breakfast to have a look at the Market Day stalls in the Town Hall & get organised with the 4WD tour group. Well, the market day was pretty well non-existent & confusion reigned about preparations for the drive! All vehicles had to have under-body high pressure wash before entering Ravy Range so as not to contaminate the area with the Phytopthera Die Back pathogen. This pathogen can be picked up from soil, especially damp soil, in contaminated areas & would be disasterous if taken into disease free areas. [For more information/education about this have a look at this web site  http://www.dwg.org.au/ ]
It was finally decided we should proceed to the washdown area where we met the tour leader, Keith, a member of the State  Emergency Services. The landcruiser was duly hosed down & quite a bit of mud came free. Then headed back to park at the meeting point, early, of course, so there was time to have morning tea at the town hall. The trip finally got under way about 11:50. We travelled in convoy to the Camel Museum, nestled at the base of the Ravy Range & then on to Archer Drive to the Ravensthorpe Range Lookout. There were lots of flowers out & the scenery from the lookout was very picturesque. We continued on from here along 4WD tracks, stopping at points of interest such as flowers, mallee fowl nest mound & at an abandoned vineyard for lunch at about 2:15! From here we followed more 4WD tracks down some reasonably steep slopes to the main road. Really nice day!


Ravy Range 4WD tag-along tour; View from lookout; Flowers

Sunday, September 19, 2010
Drove to Hopetoun. Appeared to be sleepy little coastal town with not much happening on Sunday morning. Very overcast & quite chilly when we arrived. Then we found a nice cafe with great coffee, once again! We were planning to have lunch here but not sure what to do till then as we were unable to access Fitzgerald National Park due to road closures! Noticed another cafe advertising Roast dinner lunches for $15 - thought this sounded good as we don't cater for roast dinners in the van! By this time the weather had started to clear so we had a drive around to look at the coastal scenery & of course, more wildflowers, which were quite prolific in some areas. Took photos of another Shingle Backed Lizard who was lolling about in the middle of the road & it became quite defensive, waving his blue tongue at us when I tried to get him to move off the road! It finally decided to wander slowly off to the side of road.  Back to main street for our roast dinner which was delicious! Made a few detours to known wildflower spots on way back to Ravensthorpe. Light tea tonight - soup & rice crackers followed by strawberries & icecream. Bit of packing up as we leave for Esperance tomorrow.



Hopetoun & Fitzgerald River NP area: Wattle; Mt Barren; Shingle Backed Blue Tongue; Bush Boronia; John at beach near Fitzgerald River.

 

Flowers around Hopetoun & Fitzgerald NP area: Lambertia; Pink Pimelia; Grass Tree; Pea Flower [one of many types!]; New Banksia; Busy Bee; Cats Paw [small kangaroo paw]; Yellow Cottonheads.

Monday, September 20, 2010
Not a long drive from Ravensthorpe to Esperance, only about 190km. John forgot to fill up with fuel when we left, so we stopped at a small place called Munglinup for fuel & coffee. I think the roadhouse was the only commercial building in the 'town'. The guy there was multi-skilled, he filled the car, made the coffee & settled the accounts - he said his wife taught him everything!! Met a few other travellers in the park over the road while we drank our coffee - couple from Canberra, two couples from Qld & two from Victoria. There are so many Qld registered vehicles here I am not sure who is still in Qld!!
Arrived safely at Pink Lake CP & settled onto our site. Lunch in town & bit of a look around. Warmer day in the sun but the wind was really cold. Usual evening, game of Anagrams [John complains I win too often & he thinks he has 'lost Excalibur'], computer time & reading. Only photos today was this frog - I think it is a Western Tree Frog.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Big washing day, again! Clean sheets, towels & clothes. Not only clean, but dried on a clothes line in the sun - something I really missed with apartment living in Perth & some CP's don't have clothes lines [or it's too wet], only dryers. While the washing fluttered in the breeze we went for a drive to a wetlands sanctuary to see what birds we could spy, only to discover the birds are really not there till November [to April]! So we saw a pelican, some ducks, which flew away & glimpses of LBB's [little brown birds] in the trees. However we did see more wildflowers, surprise, surprise!!!  Two types of Spider Orchids, a few small pink orchids & dozens of yellow Cowslip Orchids. Also some nice new Banksias starting to come out. Just about trod on another Shingle Backed Lizard who was lying in the sun  near some flowers I was looking at! He was quite feisty & showed us his blue tongue, just like his "cousins' photographed on previous days. Looked at a couple more spots around the wetland lakes but not much activity. Home for lunch via Bunnings to pick up a few 'plumbing bits for the van drain'. Washing retrieved , folded & put away; bed made & off to Woolies for some food supplies. Shopping eventually stored away, which required some re-organisation of the food cupboard. Decided to have an outing to the Movies tonight. Saw 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' - quite good, light hearted, fun movie!


Wetlands at Esperance: Lake Tranquility;Spider Orchid; Cowslip Orchid; Green Bug on Dryandra


Friday, September 24,2010
Hi everyone! Hope you are enjoying the blog so far. My apologies for being a bit behind with the entries at the moment - there are so many places to go & then so many photos to sort & choose which ones to post on blog! I will try to get Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturdays posts up before we leave Esperance as I am not sure how much internet access I will have as we cross the Nullarbor.
I believe some of you are finding it difficult to add comments to blog - please try again as I have now adjusted the security levels. Email me if that is easier, love to hear from you! Regards, Heather

Flowers, Fields, Mountains and Rocks

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Spent today looking at some of the highlights in the Wongan Hills. First spot was Mt O'Brien, about 11km drive from our camp site. Fortunately you are able to drive right to the top, 'cause I can assure you we would not have been walking up there! This 'mountain' is about 425m above sea level & has a great lookout right at the top as well as a BBQ, table & seats. We had morning coffee & fruit cake [the last of the one made in Perth & frozen for the trip!] From this vantage point we could see for miles over farmlands planted with wheat, canola & lupins.



View from Mt O'Brien, in the Wongan Hills

I have not previously mentioned the lupin crops which are grown extensively in this wheatbelt area. They have a white flower, and are therefore not as 'photogenic' as the bright yellow canola. Lupins have traditionally been used for high protein animal feed but some is now being processed to make a high protein, lowGI & gluten free flour. I bought some in Mingenew & can't wait to get home [to my oven!] to try baking some of the recipes!

Anyway, back to todays outing......
From Mt O'Brien we drove about on about another 3km to Mt Matilda - another of the Wongan Hills. There are 2 wildflower walks here, one of 5km & one of 8km. Now before you get to thinking we must be getting very fit doing all these long walks...... we actually didn't do these two! Firstly it was getting towards the middle of the day, a bit warm and the laterite gravel on the pathways was a bit 'rolly' underfoot, so we just walked a little way in, took a few pics, saw a few birds, returned to car & found some more ground orchids, right near car park!
In lieu of these walks we drove out to the other side of Wongan Hills township to Reynoldson Reserve, quite a large area which is planted only with Verticordia [Feather Flower] shrubs. Sadly, for us, they don't flower till about November. The plants were covered with buds & we found one bush flowering a little, so did get a picture!



Reynoldson Reserve - 3 small photos are what we saw. Other one is photo of picture on entry wall & what it will
look like in a few more weeks!

From here it was on to Cadoux, famous for WA's 2nd most damaging earthquake in June 1979. Only a small place, but found a picnic table to sit & eat lunch. Drove through more rural ares with some beautiful roadside flowers to our next stop, Dingo Rock, another granite outcrop like Petrudor & Christmas rocks mentioned previously. A walk around base of rock revealed a few more orchids to photograph! Finally arrived back at van to discover park had filled up while we were out for the day!



Clockwise from top left: Green orchid, Mt Matilda; Group of Donkey orchids; 2 views of Rosy Cheeked Donkey orchid


Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Departed Wongan Hills bound for our next destination, Hyden the home of Wave Rock. Fairly long days driving but we still managed to stop in Goomalling for our daily good coffee! Very neat country town, nice cafe & very nice coffee. Headed off again but came to a spot where the canola fields, some trees, a ruined cottage & great morning light looked just right for a few photos!

Back in the car with John muttering 'we will never get there today'! Then, lo & behold a few km along the road our first sighting of drifts of pink everlastings under the trees - well we just had to stop again for more photos, of course!


Pink Everlastings - Worth stopping for, I am sure you will agree!

On the road again driving through beautiful rural landscapes & the towns of Meckering [the site of WA's most damaging earthquake in October 1968 - 6.9 on Richter scale], Cunderdin [lunch stop, nice!], Quairading, Corrigin, Kondinin & finally Hyden! The caravan park is right near Hyden Rock, of which Wave Rock is but one of the points of interest. Settled into our new site, lots of other vans arriving as well. Short walk to shops over road. Camels being exercised by man in tractor! One of the local attractions is riding a camel around the Rock - think I can give that a miss! Quite chilly & windy this evening - another heater night!

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Chilly this morning but not as cold as some mornings. Day became warmer & sunny but the wind has been strong & cold all day. Walked into Wave Rock area this morning & up onto the main part of Hyden Rock. Didn't go to the top as the wind was so strong & cold! Mainly landscape photos today, not many flowers around here. After walk took short drive into town - another nice cafe for coffee! Took photos of 'sculptures/works of art' made from scrap iron & mechanical pieces, amazing what some people can do with 'junk'!

Main photo - Wave Rock; Top left: View & Dam from Hyden Rock; Other rock formationson & around Hyden Rock



"Junk Sculptures' at Hyden



Relaxing, reading, lunch & resting before visit to Wave Rock Wildlife Park over the road. Lots of birds, few koalas, kangaroos- white ones, black swans with 3 cygnets, a wombat & not a lot else. The whole place was a bit run down & dated. Brochure says they are currently in the planning stage of new buildings & extensions - will be good thing.
More reading for John, starting on the dinner preparations for me. Cooked BBQ & nearly froze! The BBQ was so slow to heat up & the wind was sooo cold! Anyway dinner was good. John reading again while I try to get/keep blog up to date!

The Wildflower Trail, WA

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The 'Penguin' & the Landcruiser Campsite at Mingenew

Travelling day today.Breakfast was completed rather quickly this morning when we realised it was about to rain & we should get  packed up before the rain! I dashed off to the camp kitchen with the washing up while John completed the internal pack-up & wind-down of the 'Penguin". Just in time, too. The just washed dishes travelled in car today to avoid putting camper up again. Todays drive, from Mingenew to Wongan Hills, took us through more beautiful rural country with fields of wheat & bright yellow canola fields, & again we were treated to colourful displays of wildflowers along the sides of the road.

Roadside flowers & Canola Fields

The early morning showers persisted for a while but by afternoon there was some sunshine. The wind was really quite cold & the temperature only got to about 17 deg -beautiful in the sun, if you could find a spot out of the wind! Decided Sunday not a good day to travel - nothing open in the small rural towns! Did stop in Coorow & found their community centre open  offering free coffee & biscuits! The lovely lady there gave us information & map on local wildflower drive suitable to take van in, so we did & spotted some lovely little Donkey & China Blue  Orchids. Great fun trying to take photos of these tiny orchids, especially in the wind! Got some nice pics as you can see! Have included pics of orchids seen on other days too.

Clockwise from top left: Donkey Orchids; Lemon-Scented Sun Orchids; China Blue Orchids; Pink Candy Orchids

Clockwise from top left: Ant Orchids;Common Spider Orchid; Dainty Blue Orchid; Cowslip Orchids

Arrived at Wongan Hills Caravan Park & selected nice sunny site. Set-up van before heading to Information Centre for details & maps of flowers in this area & a bit of food shopping at the IGA.

 To late to go for walks today, so bit of computer time, photo downloading dinner etc filled in the rest of the afternoon & evening. Quite cold! Heater on tonight!

Monday, September 13, 2010
It was a cold night! Heater stayed on all night & we were lovely & warm under the doona! But... had to go out to ablutions block, of course, & it was chilly! Nice hot showers, thankfully!
Walk around bush block next to caravan park while the washing was drying - saw more orchids, Donkey orchids & Spider orchids, as well as wattles, bright blue Dampiera, white Hakea bushes & lots more small flowers & plants. Sorted dry washing before heading off on 2.6km Christmas Rock walk starting just over the road from caravan park. Took us about 2 hrs, but we did walk fairly slowly & stopped a lot to look for orchids etc & take photos. Saw more Donkey, Spider, Cowslip, Lemon-Scented Sun & Pink Candy Orchids as well as a beautiful stumpy tailed Blue tongue Lizard! Have not downloaded these pics yet, so you will have to wait for them! Back for lunch, afternoon sleep for John & computer time for me!
Now it is almost dark & time to organise dinner, so will say bye for now & put the heater on again!

Dinner & clean-up finished. Email sent to 'launch' blog! Photos downloaded, so here are a few to look at!

Todays Pics: Christmas Rock, one with John, one with Heather; Spider Orchid, flower & plant; Bee with full pollen sacs; Cowslip Orchids; Blue tongue Lizard; Bright yellow Verticordia [Feather Flower]; 
Small Red flower [vine, unidentified]; Donkey Orchid Plant;
Pale lemon flower [unidentified]. The lens cap in two plant photos is to show how small these orchid plants are!

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!