Author: drewandgab

29th December, 2017

We have spent the past 5 days at Port Lincoln in the south of the Eyre Peninsula.

Our 5 days here have been good and bad – highs and lows…

We arrived Xmas eve to an unexpectedly quiet campsite, which the kids loved as they used the whole hillside as their own private BMX track. Our site was huge with ocean glimpses and there was a nice grassy area at the bottom of the campground where we  spent a few afternoons having sundowners while the kids joined in with big cricket games.

 

Our first Christmas in the van was exciting for the kids and Santa managed to find them! We had lots of yummy food, leg ham and cooked a yummy roast. Our Xmas table was decorated from some beautiful flowers picked from the roadside on our morning drive to Tumby Bay.

 

Boxing Day was beautiful!! We took a drive to Coffin Bay National Park. The scenery was awesome, the beaches stunning and the weather amazing!

 

The next day, we drove to the tip of the Peninsula. The scenery on the way was lovely.

 

And we found a lovely little beach with great surf for the boys. We went back again yesterday, but the weather and surf weren’t in our favour.

 

With time on our hands, one morning we decided to get rid of the dreadlocks that the boys have managed to turn their hair into from months of salt water and very few showers. Matty was not at all impressed with the whole process, but definitely looks a lot better than he did with his ponytail dreadlock sticking out the side of his head.

 

Even though we have had some good days here, the fact that our trip is almost over is starting to hit home. For 6 months we have had no itinerary, no deadlines, no set destination. But suddenly, we no longer feel that we have the freedom to plod along at our own pace – move when we feel ready and not have to book ahead.

We have probably rushed off from our last two stops before we had wanted to. And have felt a bit trapped here, having booked for 5 days because it was Xmas and thinking we wouldn’t get a campsite otherwise.

We also know that from here on in, we have a lot of distance to cover and not much time to stop and enjoy the places on the way – because it’s now less than a month till Drew’s back at work and the kids back at school.

A few overcast days have added to our (particularly my) somber mood 😦

 

24th December, 2017

Streaky Bay was a nice spot to base ourselves to explore the surrounding bays on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula.

 

We did a lovely day trip yesterday and saw a mixture of long sandy beaches, steep cliffs, rocky waterholes and famous surf spots. The coastline is a lot more arid this side of the Nullarbor!!

 

The seal colony was a highlight, watching them loll around on the beach and rocks from our viewpoint at the top of the cliff. Dolphins too 🙂

 

Just a little inland is Murphy’s Haystacks – a strange collection of granite rock formations the middle of farmland.

 

Back at camp, we had beautiful sunsets both nights, with streaky clouds to match the town’s name.

 

We would have spent more time here – exploring, swimming and surfing, but have decided to head to Port Lincoln today to base ourselves for Christmas. It is hard to believe it’s Christmas Eve!!

 

 

22nd December, 2017

Cactus Beach – remote, rugged and beautiful!!

 

Cactus Beach is an iconic surf spot located on the Great Australian Bight. We had a lovely campsite, nestled in behind the dunes. We only had to walk a few steps to check the surf or watch the beautiful sunsets.

 

Drew and Cam got great waves every day.

 

Matt surfed his first reef break.

 

On the other side of the headland, protected from the waves is the beautiful bay of Point Sinclair – great for swimming and fishing.

 

We met some great people and the kids made some good mates. When the boys weren’t surfing, they were playing cricket, fishing or sand boarding. It was also a great place for stargazing and campfires.

 

 

19th December, 2017

We spent 2 days crossing the Nullarbor from Western Australia into South Australia. It was a very long, very straight drive, broken up with a roadhouse or small town every few hundred kilometres. It’s pretty much all desert, so the scenery was mainly low scrub.

 

We travelled about 1300km, including 146km along Australia’s longest stretch of straight road. We were very lucky that we had a tail wind the whole way, which made for a much faster trip and saved us a load in diesel costs!!

 

The weather wasn’t great, but we still got to see the stunning cliffs of the Great Australian Bight.

 

We stayed in 2 great free roadside bush camps. It was cloudy, so we didn’t get the amazing starry skies we’d hoped for but we had beautiful sunsets and campfires both nights.

 

 

We didn’t see any camels or wombats, but very nearly hit a roo when we got caught out still driving at dusk. Pretty scary!!

17th December, 2017

Esperance was our last beach stop in W.A and it did not disappoint. Steep limestone cliffs and huge granite outcrops frame the beautiful white sandy beaches and deep blue and turquoise water.

 

The weather was perfect for lazing in the sun, body surfing, beach cricket and long walks.

…and of course, sundowners on the beach

 

The kids also made some more nice friends at the caravan park so spent their spare time playing handball and hide & seek.

 

Worth a mention is the Gibson Soak Hotel – a cute little country pub with a free camping area next door. We stayed here when we transited through Esperance last week on our way to Lucky Bay. We got a lovely sunset and had a couple of beers and dinner at the pub.

 

 

Now, after 3 and a half months in Western Australia, it’s time to head east across the Nullarbor into South Australia.

8th January 2019

As I sit at home, nearly 12 months after arriving home from our trip, and finally getting around to finishing my Blog, I recall how difficult it was to keep it up to date while on the road.

There was so much time without Internet and phone reception. This was usually the time when we were chilling somewhere remote and I had all the time in the world to write and reflect – and I did – but no Internet to publish. And I found the publishing to be the time consuming part because of the uploading and placement of photos.

On the flip side, when we were in a town with reception, we were usually running around grocery shopping, making phone calls home, catching up on washing while we had electricity – and getting ready to head back to somewhere with no reception.

Anyway, this is the reason that I didn’t get the last month of our trip published on the Blog. So I am finally knuckling down to finish it. It may be a year (or more) late but still based on notes and photos taken at the time – and better late than never!!

13th December

Lucky Bay, in Cape Le Grande National Park, near Esperance, is famous for its white, white sand and the kangaroos on the beach. We can vouch for both!!

 

Not only white sand, but the most beautiful clear, turquoise water.

 

Stunning with a stormy sky…

 

The kangaroos hopped through the campsite too and were happy for a pat.

 

We explored around the other bays in the national park , as well as climbing Frenchman’s Peak, a huge granite outcrop with stunning views from the top. And yet another test of my fear of edges!!

 

8th December

Just a short drive east from Denmark, Albany also has some beautiful coastline to explore. 

One day we went out to Torndirrup National Park, which has stunning granite outcrops and steep limestone cliffs. The crashing waves and rock formations at the Gap and Natural Bridge were impressive to see.

Following the coastline around reveals some lovely little bays and beaches. We also stopped at some cool blowholes and had fun throwing branches down the holes and watching them get spat high in the air when the waves came in. We stopped at a beautiful little beach called Misery Beach for lunch.

Also impressive to see, was the wind farm built on the edge of the coast. 

Another day we headed inland to Porongurup National Park. There are some massive granite boulders and gigantic trees. 

We did a walk up to Castle Rock, a huge granite boulder with a suspended walkway high above the ground with great views of the surrounding countryside. It was a challenging little climb to the top and really pushed by great if edges to the limits!!

We also went out to Two People’s Bay National Park and visited beautiful Little Beach.

The kids loved the caravan park and spent their down time in the games room playing pool and table tennis. They especially loved the putt putt course, where we had many a game.

Being on the bay, we also got some lovely sunsets.

Have loved Albany! Could easily stay longer and explore some if the neighbouring bays. But weather has been a bit hit and miss and we need to get a move on because time is running out.

4th December

Denmark is a lovely little town on the southern coastline of Australia – the first of our Southern Ocean stops. And yes, the water is cold!! The coastline is stunning, particularly around Green Pools and Elephant Rocks.

There are some nice surfing beaches in the area too. We liked Light’s Beach.

There is a nice little scenic drive to the west that takes you past a number of wineries. There’s also a great little brewery just out of town.

 On the way we stopped at the Alpaca Farm. This is the best interactive farm that I’ve been to. The kids had a ball patting and feeding all the animals.

We had a lovely riverside campsite to base ourselves, with nice scenery and easily accessible walking and cycling trails.

The scenery on our drive from Margaret River to here was lovely as we drove through a number of old growth forests with some huge trees.

We broke our journey for one night at Walpole. This was another pretty campsite on the banks of the river inlet. I made the mistake of feeding a Kookaburra and within minutes he had brought back all his mates.

1st December

We have spent the past 3 nights camping at Conto Campsite in Leeuwin-naturaliste National Park, just to the South West of Margaret River town. It is a nice, natural bush camp with beautiful beach and coastline just a few minutes drive away. And it’s centrally located to explore the southern Margaret River region.

The Conto’s coastline is stunning.

 

And Conto’s Beach is beautiful. After a bad run of weather and swell, the kids were happy to get waves on our last day.

 

 

As we explored the surrounding beaches, most of which are quite stunning, we had a laugh about how appealing the signs make them sound.

Heading south from Conto you can take a slight detour through Boranup Forest, a beautiful old growth Karri forrest.

 

About 20km further south is Hamelin Bay. It is famous for the stingrays that come into the shallows and allow you to get up close and pat them. They didn’t come into shore the day we were there, but we enjoyed the scenery nonetheless. The storm clouds created a beautiful contrast of colours.

 

At the bottom of the peninsula is Cape Leeuwin, where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. On a good day, you can apparently see the different colours of the oceans as a distant line where they meet. We weren’t so lucky with the weather, but still impressive to look out over the most south-westerly point of the country.

 

The scenery in this area was quite striking and loved seeing the old water wheel that used to pump water to the lighthouse.

 

The weather during our time here was pretty hit and miss, so found ourselves at this great little park in Prevelly most days enjoying some sunshine out of the wind.

The campsite was nice and nights were spent with friends around the campfire.