Day 108 – 24/3/14 – Ellendale Pool – Coronation Beach WA

The flies had been out in the hundreds when we arrived last night and I’d say they must have all gone to the local pub and told everybody about these Queenslanders that were staying nearby as by morning they were out in their thousands. I tried to do school reading outside with the boys which lasted a good minute before we retreated into the safety of the truck, where there were only a few hundred in the cab!

Our first stop on the way to Geraldton was op offs. One was at the local wind farm where I tried to get a bit creative with a photo of Sam. The major problem I discovered was that the wind is always going to be going in the opposite direction to where I want it...

The second was at one of Geraldton's famous leaning trees. Because it is so bloody windy, so regularly over here the trees have given up the fight and many of them just grow sideways, lying on the ground. Smart move really!

Another from the "Are We There Yet" tourist guide

We headed into town and after getting the good oil on all things local we headed for the foreshore, that has recently been re developed, for lunch. Only problem was they forgot to include van parking spaces so rather than walk the 500m back we had it in the van and then I dropped De and the boys of for a play in the water park while I grabbed a few necessities and we headed for our free camp at Coronation Beach, 30km to the north.

Based on the demeanour of the trees you may get a bit of an idea why Geraldton is also famous for kite and wind surfing and our camp site is a bit of favourite destination. I was pretty keen to go for a fish but in the end I just watched the kite surfers going back and forth leaps 5, 10 or maybe 15 meters into the air. I think I would like to try this to experience the thrill of flying somewhat uninhibited but am guessing my Kermit the frog arms may reduce my thrill to 1 or 2 minute runs at which stage I would not be able to hold on any longer!

I know where Uncle Trev would rather be!

 We had a quite night as I had noticed a leak, in what I thought might have been brake fluid, whilst I was digging Izzy out of her sandy bog yesterday. She was booked in first thing tomorrow so we had to be up and going early.

Day 107 – 23/3/14 – Sandy Cape – Ellendale Pool WA

The boys were up super excited to check their traps and I have been led to believe that a fox had visited overnight and extracted the fish finger from a berley cage they had found and then tangled its self in the twine and miraculously escaped....amazing

We were on the road by 9am and were looking forward to visiting a local cave then heading to our next camp where we could have a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon.

The instructions of how to find “Stockyard Gully Cave” were pretty scant at best. There was some info at the camp and a one liner in the tourist brochure but none of our digital maps would take us there. We ended up finding the turn off pretty easily and headed in along a good dirt road. About 5km before the cave the dirt abruptly finished, as we entered the NP, and it became very sandy and a good deal rougher. I switched it into 4WD as a precaution but we made it through pretty easily.

We have been checking out animal tracks regularly and the track in was alive with them. Foxes, echidnas and heaps of others that we only guessed. Anybody willing to have a go at what the one below is?

We walked to the caves and had a great time walking through them. The best part was that there was no tour guide and we pretty much had the whole place to our self. In the middle of the cave, which is about 400m long, I made the boys turn of their headlamps and stand perfectly still. The stillness, silence and blackness was amazing. We got to the other end and as it was pretty warm outside and nice and cool in the cave, rather than doing the full loop we just turned around and walked back through the cave. On the way the boys discovered a bit of an off shoot that they were pretty keen to investigate but Jack was to worried about bush rangers hiding in there to continue... 

In pitch blackness - cameras don't like taking photos

Watching out for bush rangers in their off shoot!

The northern entrance was pretty Huge!

We headed back to the truck and kept driving along the road, rather than turning around and going back the way we came. Somehow we thought that the road was going to be better that way. We ran into Anthony et al just as they were leaving and they said that the track was surprisingly rough. Oh how I wish I had stopped to ask HOW rough. We were about 5 minutes down the track when the trees and bushes started to hedge the road in. Usually this is no problem as every bodies vehicle is about the same with. Our van however is about 30cm wider on each side so poor old Gator was coping an absolute hammering. If that wasn’t bad enough about 15 minutes further on the sandy track became very sandy, and then 10 minutes later it was even sandier and then even sandier....and yep I was bogged.

First time out was pretty easy I just shoveled a bit of sand away from in front of the tyres. The second time I did the same but let the tires down , the third time it was starting to get really hot and I was in a lather of sweat that made every grain of sand stick to me. Add to that the bushes along the side of the track ALL had extremely sharp spines on them and to get to the tires I had to push through them or crawl under the truck or van in sand that was about 40oC. Now I was really having fun. The third and fourth bogs were about 3m apart and my rear diff was starting to hit the sand so it was time to bring the max track out! I spent about 15 minutes prepping this one as while I still had a few trumps up my sleeve I was hoping to leave them there. I took off with De pushing at the back and I drove a few hundred meters to a solid area, then returning back to De who was still trying to dig one of the max tracks out! Oh the fun.

After we had escaped I stopped at one of the few good spots on the track to get a pic

We kept heading along and Anthony managed to catch up to us. We had a couple of really close calls to getting bogged again but managed to keep moving.....JUST. As we got further along the sand gave way, Yeay, but it was replaced by limestone rocks that stick out of the road, sometimes 20cm+ making the next 20 minutes bloody miserable at best, as I watched Gator bouncing of rocks, a number of times her wheels leaving terra firma. We finally made it, much to my relief, and we stopped up the road to inflate the tires.

Gator had preformed magnificently on a track that should never have been tackled by a caravan and the only ‘damage’ was the fridge latch had undone spreading its contents liberally across the floor!

We headed into Port Denison, while I tried to rehydrate myself. I should have got on the scales as I would have sweated a few kgs off I’m sure! We had our traditional Sunday Chip Butties for lunch and after I did a bit of work headed into the hills behind Geraldton to Ellendale Pool. The swimming hole has magnificent rock cliffs on the other side but due to the lack of rain over the last few months we were advised not to swim in it.......bugger! We were way behind schedule so I whipped up a quick dinner while I tried in vain to get the 20/20 cricket on the TV. Digital TV is sooooo bloody frustrating!

It had been a long day that didn’t go according to plan but I was amazed at how well both Izzy and Gator, Gator in particular, had held up across such a rough stretch of road. Hopefully we will get into Geraldton tomorrow where we can go to a visitor centre that can give us some information on the hows and whats of the rest of the local attractions.

Day 106 – 22/3/14 – Sandy Cape WA

The boys were up early keen to play with their new mates so it wasn’t long before they were off traipsing across the dunes again. They found some fox prints so they decided to build a trap for it using some cooking twine and a few sticks. The plan was not so much as to catch it but film it as it came to get some food they were going to leave out for it. 

There was a light wind blowing, by WA standards anyway, so we all headed for the beach where boogie boarding, footy and car wars were the order of the day. We headed up for lunch and a rest during the heat of the day. Their new mates were heading into Jurien Bay for a look around so we did a little bit of 4WDing around the local area. We eventually ended up on a lookout that had a great view over the bay the camp is located in and back down the next few beached. I even managed to convince the boys to sit there for a few seconds and soak up the view. After all that climbing up sand dunes we headed for the beach. While the water isn’t warm yet it was warm enough to cool us down while we played classic catches in the water.

The boys grabbed their mates and a fish finger (that we still had in the freezer from Brisbane) to set the trap for the fox while we invited their parents, Anthony and Alison, over for ‘happy hour’. When they returned they told us how they were having a competition doing flips and rolls down the dunes. Sam had obviously won as every piece of exposed skin was covered in a layer of fine white sand, including his face! I pulled his mop of hair apart to expose the roots and I am not joking in saying that it was about 2 – 3mm deep in sand!

We gave them a shower but it was pretty much in vain. Jack reported having to keep turning the pillow over all night as it kept getting covered in sand while Sam’s bed could have doubled as a quarry with Sam not being bothered one iota by it.

I thought I should tell you about my latest ‘invention’. We have a Telstra 4G wireless thingy so we can connect with the world. Problem is that most free camps are out of town, just far enough, and in just a deep enough hollow that you usually struggle to get 1 bar. I used to put the thingy on the roof but I guessed being surrounded by metal wasn’t optimising its performance. I looked into external antennas but they were $170+ and not guaranteed to make it that much better. My solution was to zip tie a small basket, which holds the thingy, onto my telescopic landing net, and then that happened to fit neatly onto the bike rack. It sits about 10 or 12m of the ground and is doing a pretty good job!

It was a magnificent evening so we put the boys down, poured a drink and settled in.... but our outside lights were attracting what appeared to be sting-less wasps by the hundreds so we had to retreat inside...oh well! 

Day 105 – 21/3/14 – Lancelin – Sandy Cape WA

Friday is usually the boys day off school but with Nana and Shelby having been around it has been on the back burner so it was a ‘short weekend’ this time with heads down and bums up! While De was finishing of some of with the boys in the van I took the opportunity to move the van forward about 3 or 4 meters, warning her of course, so that I could get close enough to a tap to fill the water tanks. Sounds easy...there was a small problem in that 1. I hadn’t let the dish water out of the sink and 2. All of the cupboards that go around the top of the van were open. Well I made it close enough to the tap, however as I slowly lurched forward all of the dishwater slushed backwards and then forwards so that it went all over the floor. By the time it was on its way it was met by a myriad of plastic containers, bottles of oil, chip packets and pretty much every other thing you may expect to see in your pantry. I must say however that all of this is only hearsay as being the semi intelligent human being that I am I stayed out of the van and out of harm’s way - but secretly I wish I had sneaked in to get a photo!

We hit the road and headed for the Pinnacles, another one of our “Are we There Yet” musts sees. Having seen heaps of pictures of them I wasn’t sure how excited I would be but I am happy to report that I really enjoyed them. There is a 4km drive through the main area where the Pinnacles are so we decided to just drive around quickly the first time and then stop at the good ones/areas on the second time around. It was a great idea but the problem was we still stopped at almost every pull over place as there was always something different about them. Whether it was their shape, colour, back ground, size etc etc; it seemed to be worth stopping for a look. It was a pretty hot day so we were pretty happy to be driving around in air conditioned comfort!

We headed into Cervantes in the hope of finding a information centre to get some local knowledge. No such luck! I get the distinct impression that this part of WA is pretty happy with the way things are and us tourists seem to be a fair way down the pecking order. I wonder if they were just a bit more open that they might find a few more stopping by for a night or two rather than just moving on like we did! However before we rolled out of town we visited Thetis Pool to see the Stromatolites. Having never heard of these things before, I was very interested in learning about them and their environment. They have pretty much been around since day dot and were one of the first things to produce oxygen. The little mounds that they make as they live grow at 0.3mm, yes mm, per year! Apparently there is some more further north that are a meter tall but I was pretty impressed by these little suckers!

Being Friday we had to get moving as Sandy Cape, a council ‘free camp’, is pretty popular especially over the weekends. I say ‘free camp’ as this cost $15/night which I somehow consider to be ‘Free’ compared to the $40 - $60/ night we pay at most van parks. We hadn’t been set up long when the boys found a couple of kids, Declan and Charly from Maitland NSW, who were camped just nearby. It wasn’t long before toys and stories were being traded and they had a great afternoon running a muck!

We had a late dinner as it had been a while where the boys had really had a good opportunity to mix with other kids, and we were left to ourselves so it was a pretty easy choice! It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear and the stars shone like a thousand candles, it was good to be away from the city.

Day 104 – 20/3/14 – Mundijong – Lancelin WA

We had hung around Fremantle as De had a voucher for a Pedi that two of her good friends gave her. So while she was pampered for an hour and a bit the boys and I hit the local Woolies and stocked up big time. There are now three things you can be sure of; Death, Taxes and heading north in WA being ridiculously expensive!

We headed north out of Perth and pretty soon the houses turned into horse paddocks and within 5 or 10kms we were back in the scrub with nothing as far as the eye could see! We stopped at a rest area 50kms north where I had a meeting with one of my suppliers, who was working on his farm for a couple of days. We were going to get fuel as we were leaving Perth but the only stations were on the south bound stop. I was pretty tempted as they were $1.54/l which is a bloody good price.....but surely there will be one on my side...soon. Apparently not! The highway winds itself northwards about 10 – 15kms away from the ocean and the next bigger town was beyond our reach so we had to pull into Guilderton for fuel. While it was a cute little seaside town with a van park that I’d love to stay at they should be charged with price gouging! Diesel was now $1.74/l. Buggers...I would have prefered that $12 in my pocket but it was better than running out!

We were looking for a free camp south of Lancelin but after having to do a three point turn on what was virtually a single road with hardly any shoulders we decided the local van park was a good option. This part of the coast is world famous for sail boarders and kite surfers....any one has it a guess why....yep my good mate The Wind! Fortunately, for us, it wasn’t too windy so after dinner we went for a walk along the foreshore while the boys rode their bikes.

The park which is about 90% permanents that are holiday shacks was virtually empty so it was nice to have the run of the place before we headed off to sleep

Day 103 – 19/3/14 – Fremantle – Mundijong WA

We all had to be out by 10am, Nana and Shelby to the airport and us for the second half of our adventure. It’s hard to believe but we are already half way through this trip. In some ways it feels like we only left yesterday but in others, when you think about all of the things we have seen and done, it feel like we have been on the road for a year!

After lots of cuddles and kisses we hit the road again, to the wistful sounds of my singing that song doing my best Kenny Rogers impersonation! Needless to say it wasn’t appreciated.... We headed south to check out Rockingham a cute little town that is stuck between being an industrial backwater and a new upbeat suburb on the outskirts of Perth.

De has had a HUGE week so we parked the van and I took the boys to the beach while she had a nana nap and had some quite time. The beach was beautiful, again, with white sand stretching into crystal clear water. We did classic catches for ages and then had a great time sculpting a crab and a dolphin in the sand. The weather was magical as it was about 30oC but the breeze was keeping it just right!

After lunch we all had a snooze and then drove to the end of Point Peron for a look.

Having been in and around van parks for the last week it felt a bit strange as we headed off to our free camp for the night, 30kms inland. We hung around for the evening and as usual it wasn’t long before we were reaching for the light switch.

Day 102 – 18/3/14 – Fremantle WA

With just a day to go before Nana and Shelby head home we headed into Perth to see what it had to offer and were pleasantly surprised. Like Freo, Perth had a free bus system around town so we got a park near one of them and went a touring. One problem was that when we were getting into the truck we had omitted to check if Sam was wearing anything on his feet! So a barefooted Sambo skipped along behind completely unconcerned.

First stop was the WACA where the tours are usually 20 something dollars. However the lovely lady at the counter was happy to get her husband to give us a quick look at the oval for free. Wally was pretty keen for a chat and enjoyed our enthusiasm even taking us down onto the oval for a picture.

We headed back into the centre of town where we got Sam his 5^th pair of thongs for the trip! The Architcture of Perth is a stunning as it is varied, from shimmering sky scrapers, to iron laced pubs and even an old English lane. We checked out St George’s Catherdral and the Swan Bells then I went back to pick up the truck while the ladies had a quick catch up with Andrew Tome one of De’s brothers childhood mates, who now lives in Perth.

With lunch on board we headed to Kings Park for a picnic. I loved the lookout which has a stunning view over the downtown Perth as well as the Swan River, which looks more like a massive lake. Everywhere you  look in Perth is water and while it sometimes reminds me of the Gold Coast with McMansions on every corner (in the western suburbs at least) the sky scrapers are limited mostly to the city so it feels a bit softer, a bit more welcoming!

We had lunch at the bottom of a lookout inspired by the shape of the DNA helix that is on the highest point in Perth. The lookout has 100 steps, as counted by Sam, and gave great views up the Swan River to the East, Rottnest Island to the West, Freo to the south and to the north, but I haven’t been there yet so I have no idea what I was looking at!

Refuelled we headed to Cottesloe Beach where, by chance, there was a Sculptures by the Sea festival on. Most of the sculptures were a touch on the alternate for my liking some of them were pretty cool. The beach its self is beautiful with the lifesaving club a magnificent sandstone structure that somehow adds to the natural beauty rather than taking away from it!

We drove back along the esplanade where old industrial buildings are being bulldozed to make way for new housing estates. Nestled between gigantic ship building yards and oil refinery sized tanks are shiny McMansions presumably filled with FIFO families or at least mining money. Maybe it is more like the Gold Coast than I first thought!

 We had a relaxing afternoon hanging around the park with the boys getting a close up look at the speedway formula 500 car that was camped next to us and were pretty excited to be able to sit in it!

They then had a great time using their remote control car to send messages to Shelby scrawled on a piece of paper. Shelby even managed to use it to order a beer! After another yummy dinner we had a Uno challenge with the boys having a ‘late night’ as the girls were going home tomorrow. It wasn’t long after the boys were down before the adults eyelids were heavy and the sheets were pulled up.