ESPERANCE AND ALBANY

THURSDAY 23^RD MAY   -   We went for a drive to Duke of Orleans Bay, Wharton Beach.  It was 83 kilometres east of Esperance and took us about an hour to get there.  It was an absolutely stunning place with the best beach and scenery we’ve ever seen.  The sand was pure white and crackled underneath our feet.  The water was such clear, crystal aqua.  The vista just took our breath away.  It was in a large bay with fishermen on the rocks.  We went for a long walk around the bay and couldn’t help ourselves stopping and staring at the view in almost disbelief that a place could be so breathtaking.  We sat on a seat on the hill overlooking the bay and had our morning tea in total awe of the place.  There was a caravan park there and a boat ramp.  It was a 20 minute drive on a tarmac road off of the main road.  It was quite isolated and there was a small kiosk at the caravan park for immediate supplies.  We reluctantly left the area and headed back to Esperance.

SATURDAY 25^TH MAY  -   We left Esperance at 9am for our next destination a free camping area at Pallingup River. We drove through Ravensthorpe, a lovely little town where we stopped for petrol and Jerramangup.  The scenery on the way was fascinating, with miles and miles of lush green fields, stretching as far as we could see. There just seems to be so much more space everywhere in Western Australia.  The colours of the trees and bushes constantly changed from vivid greens and browns to oranges and reds.  With th sun glistening on them, they were so picturesque.   We saw some beautifully coloured Ring-necked parrots flying about with dark blue hoods and tails and yellow breasts.  By 2pm we had arrived at our overnight stop and were greeted by a welcoming fire which the first couple to arrive there had lit.  They had pulled in for lunch and decided it was a pretty good spot and they’d stay overnight. They were chatting around the fire to a guy in bicycle gear.  We later found out he had cycled from Freemantle and was on his way to Queensland travelling on his own. Kelvin had an electric chain saw so the three men went off into the bush gathering enough wood to keep us warm for the evening.  It was a large area with a river at the bottom of a hill.  During the day more people drove in to stay overnight and we had a very enjoyable gathering around the fire listening to their stories.  Richard went to Bunnings in Esperance before we left to buy their $97 special chain saw and was very disappointed to be told that as soon as they came into the store they sold out.  He bought a $15 chopper as a consolation and was itching to try out his new toy.   As Kelvin had his chain saw, he didn’t get the chance to use it, alas. 

We had intended going to Bremmer Bay for our next destination, but Kelvin had just visited there and told us it was a 62 kilometre drive into the Bay and they were nowhere near the beach and couldn’t see it from the caravan park. We changed our minds and decided to head straight to Albany.  This is one of the things we love about chatting to folks we meet as we get and give some invaluable tips about different places.

SUNDAY 26^TH MAY   -   We left our overnight stop at 9am for our next destination Albany.  Within two hours we had arrived at Emu Beach Caravan Park, a 4 ½ star Top Tourist Park.  It was low season and they had a winter special rate of $120 for 4 nights.  The park was very well maintained with flowers and hibiscus bushes and peppermint trees in the garden settings around the park.  There was an immaculate bbq area, modern camp kitchen and amenities blocks. The staff were busily raking up leaves from the on-site cabins as we were setting up.  It was a large park and beach access was a 2 minute walk from our van.  The beach was beautiful – white sand and calm turquoise water.  There were fishing boats bobbing up and down in the water not too far from the shore.  It was also an off-leash dog friendly beach and Sally just loved her twice daily runs along the flat sand meeting more doggy friends, along the main beach at Albany -  Middleton Beach.  

We had a drive into town and went along the Historic Tourist Drive, stopping at the many lookout spots overlooking the bay and harbour.  They were just beautiful, with Many Peak Islands visible.  Albany is steeped in history with lots of lovely old buildings and houses and hotels.  It was the first settlement in Western Australia, established on 26^th December 1826 by Major Edmund Lockyer when he arrived aboard The Amity and named the land “Frederickstown”.   He had orders to form a settlement there when he sailed from Sydney on 9^th November 1826.  It was also the departure point from King George Sound for the first and second convoys  ANZACS going to Egypt for training before being sent to Gallipoli.  

 

We were recommended to go to The Squid Shack by the harbour for dinner as they reputedly had the best fish and chips in town.  We decided it sounded like a good idea and we had beautiful salt and pepper squid, lightly battered crisp shark and chips in a share box.  The Shack had a very welcoming warm open fire going inside. We were told to BYO wine and beer (plus drinking glass). We were both so full as it was a big serve, but very enjoyable.

MONDAY 27TH MAY   -    We went to visit the replica Brig Amity which was built in 1975 to commemorate the 150^th Anniversary of Albany.  It was built as close to the real one as possible and is a full size replica.  It was quite a sight anchored in a small lake on Princess Royal Drive.  It was $5 admission and we were greeted by one of the local volunteer historians who was more than happy to tell us all about it.  We were given a hand held audio keypad to guide us around the Brig.  We went down a narrow hatch to the second level and were amazed how low and squashy it was and we had to duck our heads for most of this second level.  It was also very dark down there.  We couldn’t possibly imagine how 50 men, stores, sheep and cattle could survive the difficult six week journey from Sydney.  The bunks were so close together.  Then we went down to the lower level and saw where the barrels of provisions were stored.   Part of the provisions on board were over 3 tonnes of salted meat in barrels and flour, used to make “tack” biscuits that were part of the staple diet.  They were hard as nails, usually full of maggots and the crew were allocated 3 of these each day.  What a boring, tasteless menu for such a long trip. We learned a lot of the history of Albany and about the first settlers to arrive and it was a very worthwhile visit that lasted longer than we thought. 

 

From there, we followed Princess Royal Drive all the way to the other side of town to Frenchmans Bay which was a lovely picnic spot for our lunch by the water.   After lunch, we came back to The  Blowholes in Torndirrup National Park.  From the car park, it was a long and steep walk down winding tarmac paths to the granite rocks overlooking Bald Head and The Great Southern Ocean.  We didn’t want to go too close to the edge as there were lots of warnings of unpredictable waves and caution signs (no safety barriers in sight though).  We could hear the whooshing sound of the waves crashing underneath the rocks but couldn’t actually see them. There is a Natural Gap between the rocks with a drop of 25 metres down to the ocean.  The Natural Bridge is close by with a very visible gap underneath the bridge from the gradual erosion from the sea.  It was quite impressive.  The walk back up to the car park was torturous with steep paths and 72 (yes, I counted each and every one thinking I would never reach the top) steep steps, leading to another steep path back to the car.  Definitely not for the feint-hearted (but it worked off the fish and chips from the previous night).  We were glad to get back inside the car and head back to the van.  It had been a long day and Sally was waiting for her beach walk as she’d been shut up in the van whilst we were sightseeing.

TUESDAY 28^TH MAY   -   We visited Albany Convict Goal Museum, built in 1852 and fully restored from 1988-1996.  It was $5 to go inside and have a look through the tiny cells, where the convicts slept in hammocks in the single rooms and tiny metal framed beds in the slightly larger double rooms.  They were made from thick rock at least half a metre thick with heavy wooden doors. The Western Australian convict system was unlike the other states and was based on rehabilitation and called The Convict Hiring Depot.  Convicts were transported from England over an 18 year period.  Most of them gained their tickets of leave and were hired by the settlers.  Aborigines were kept in timber lined cells to prevent them escaping.  Their carvings inside these cells are thought to be the oldest aboriginal cell art.  Deserting sailors were kept locked inside cellss until their ships were due to sail again. It was also a police lock up. There were male and female cells, along with warden and family accommodation.

When we left the Goal, we took a drive up Memorial Drive with rows and rows of trees planted either side with commemorative plaques in honour of the lost soldiers.  It gave us goose bumps driving through the tree lined road thinking about the poor souls that didn’t come back and what they had endured. At the top of Mount Lawrence we saw the memorial statue for The Desert Mounted Corps.  It was a re-cast of the original statue, erected in Suez in 1932, with the original granite blocks, some with bullet marks still visible. It showed an Australian mounted soldier helping a New Zealand soldier whose horse has been wounded.  The ANZAC memorial service is held here each ANZAC Day.

 

 

A GALLIPOLI PINE TREE

The poet Henry Lawson travelled to Albany in 1890 and worked for the Albany Observer for a year. He came back a second time in 1899 with his new wife to get inspiration from the goldfields for his newest poems.

When we got back to the caravan park, I discovered that the cast and crew from the programme “Discover Down” under had been recording a show at the park the past two days.  I had seen some guys with super size cameras the day before on our way through to the beach but didn’t think anything of it.  Oh dear, we could have been featured in the show and had our 15 minutes of fame!!!

We have really loved being in Albany.  It’s been a beautiful place with lots to see and do.  The caravan park was terrific with lots of extra touches that made it a pleasure to stay there. There was a fountain outside the office that lit up at night time an looked really colourful.

 

 

 FAMOUS DOG ROCK THAT MUCH OF ALBANY IS NAMED AFTER

 

Albany will be hosting “The Classic Car Event”  this weekend and the place is getting busy.

Some street names we’ve passed by recently:

Shark Lake Road, Grogg Street, Poverty Street, Bunkup Road, Fence Road, Farmers Road, Newdegate Road, Pokey Hill, Limburners Lane, Rocky Crossing Road, Cupup Creek.

Next Week:  We will be in Busselton for 7 nights.

 

CEDUNA, FOWLERS BAY AND THE NULLABOR

 

Tuesday 14^th May   -   We left Streaky Bay for our next destination Ceduna.  We stopped off at a little fishing town called Smoky Bay, 45 minutes from Streaky Bay to see what it was like.  It was in a beautiful bay with a really long beach and jetty.  The caravan park was quite small but everyone was really friendly.  There was only a small general store in the whole town.  The area is a very popular fishing spot and the jetty was pretty busy when we got there with one lucky fisherman and his wife leaving the jetty with a trolley of fishing gear and an esky full of squid.  We stopped by the jetty for morning tea and to let Sally have a long run on the beach, which she loved. 

In under an hour we had arrived in Ceduna at Shelly Beach Caravan Park, which was 3 kilometres out of town and had a 4 ½ star rating.  The bays at the park were very wide and roomy with bushes in between each caravan spot for privacy.  It was quite a large spread out park, with a camp kitchen and communal open fire each evening.  There was also a car/caravan/boat washing area for $4 which was unusual as there were stringent restrictions on water usage everywhere else.  We were in a valley at the bottom of the huge dunes which made us quite sheltered from the wind.  There was a big hill walk leading up to the long beach.

We set up and went for a drive into the main town.   Ceduna was named “Chedoona” by the aboriginals, meaning “resting place”.  It was the last main town before the Nullarbor.  We thought it was a fairly small town with probably not more than 20 shops and businesses in all.  A peculiar thing was the piped music in the street – like stepping into the Stepford Wives movie set -  really old sleepy 60’s ballads.  We thought it may be to calm the locals – or more probably deter them from coming into the main street, it was really woeful music. They host the annual “Oysterfest Event” each October, with wine, arts and seafoods on display. We didn’t really like the place much and were glad we weren’t staying there too long.  They had both Foodland and IGA supermarkets which we found quite expensive.  We saw a sign saying “footwear must be worn before entering” as we were going into the Tourist Information Centre which we found amusing.  There were lots of aboriginal people in the area.  Photo ID has to be shown before you can purchase any alcohol and the town is a dry zone.

The foreshore area has been upgraded and was very pleasant to stroll along, with grassed areas and playground equipment.  The jetty was always busy with keen anglers.  We went for a drive from Laura Bay taking in Decres Bay, Denial Bay and Davenport Creek which was very scenic.  It didn’t take us too long to see and do what we wanted.  Having said that, there was a large group of caravaners that were spending 3 months at Shelley Beach to go fishing in the bay every day.  The local racecourse was adjacent to the park and we often heard horses neighing whilst doing their training sessions. 

Friday 17^th May   -  We left Ceduna and headed to Fowlers Bay.  We passed through Penong and couldn’t help laughing at the big sign hanging from the corner of the Penong Hotel  -   “Last Cheap Beer Before the Nullarbor”.  No mention was made anywhere about food, gas or other supplies.  Get your priorities right!   Within 2 hours, we had arrived at Fowlers Bay Caravan Park. We turned off the main road and took the dirt road leading into Fowlers Bay which took us 20 minutes.  The town boasts 19 residents in total and is a very quiet place with a kiosk and caravan park. The caravan park is a short walk over the road to the beach and jetty.  From June to October the place gets very busy with tourists going out on boat trips wanting to see the Southern Right Whales that come into the Bay to have their babies.  The Bay had a whaling station until 1843.  There are miles and miles of huge sand hills at the back of the town where the adventurous tourists can do 4WD trips and visit the sea lion colony, or even walk up and down them (quite strenuous).

Fowlers Bay was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 in honour of his First Lieutenant Robert Fowler.

The explorer John Eyre had his base camp there before taking off on his epic overland journey to Albany in1860.

When we drove into the caravan park, we pulled up wherever we could find a spot until we had been to the kiosk.  We were greeted by a red cattle dog with a ball in her mouth.  We gave her a pat and threw the ball (she kept coming back for us to play fetch with her).  She was at the front of someone’s caravan, so I went over to talk to the people, assuming it was their dog.  I was told “she’s one of the town dogs” and that there were 3 dogs that always hang around the park.  Red dog is the mother of the other two, Brutus a male and his sister.  We were later told that Brutus has his own fan club and regularly gets letters and postcards sent to him and that he saved a little boy from drowning recently when he jumped off the jetty to save him. Brutus adopted us when we’d set up and he came for a long trek along the beach with us, quite happy.  Sally was having fun chasing around with him.  

The new managers of the caravan park Darren and Jan were extremely helpful and friendly.  They’ve been there for only 3 months.  Darren walked from the kiosk to show us our spot to park and helped us back it in.  Everyone in the park was so friendly and lots of them had been coming to Fowlers Bay for their holidays for many years.  Our neighbour Bob had been coming for 3 weeks every year for the past 16 years as he knew the previous park owners and ran the park for them whilst they took their annual holidays.  It was a very quiet, quirky place and the people really made all the difference.  Power was from a big generator, and you could only use one electrical appliance at a time.  We couldn’t use any water or the shower in our van as there was absolutely no water pressure.  Water was from huge rain water tanks and bore water and showers were limited to 3 minutes each.     There was a large communal kitchen and outdoor fire pit which was brilliant and a great meeting place with a beer or wine at 5 o’clock.  Saturday night was the highlight of everyone’s social calendar with the weekly “Saturday Cook Up Night”, when all of the 19 locals got together with the park visitors around the fire for a $12 per person feed, supplied by the park managers.  We had sausages, chicken burgers, baked fish and 4 home- made salads which were delicious.  Everyone had a great time together.  We met some lovely fun people and 99% of them were all headed to the West.  We said we might meet up with some of them along the way.

There was a big metal bird cage besides the facilities block with two of the most beautiful and unusual birds I’ve ever seen.  They had bright green bodies, really, really long tail feathers and bright red beaks.  They looked like giant parrots.   When I asked Darren what they were he told me they were Alexandrines from Africa.  Amazing colours and so unusual.

I had to walk out to the table by the jetty to get any mobile phone reception (despite having the Telstra blue tick phone that’s supposedly the best for country coverage).  We couldn’t get any tv or internet reception either. The last few places we’ve stayed, we’ve only been able to get SBS or ABC channels.   Richard is now thinking of getting a mobile tv satellite dish when we get to Perth as everyone we’ve spoken to that had one says they can pick up any station anywhere in Australia.  He also wants to get a small chainsaw for cutting down wood for bush camp fires and fit a light aluminium box under the caravan to store some wood in for when we’re bush camping.  The list of jobs “to be done when we get to Perth” is growing steadily day by day.

Sunday 19^th May  -  We left Fowlers Bay at 8.30 to get an early start on our trip towards The Nullarbor.  We passed through Nundroo and Yalata and came to Head of Bight which is the beginning of The Nullarbor.  We stopped at The Head of Bight Interpretive Centre and paid $5 to go down to see the whales that were just starting to come in from Antarctica to have their calves.  They come back to the same spot each year.  We walked down the boardwalk to the lower level viewing platform overlooking the ocean.  We were so pleased there was a whale close in swimming past and spouting and calling out.  It was a magnificent spectacle to see it so nearby.  It swam further along and out to sea all too quickly.  We waited around hopeful of seeing another one as we’d been told there were three around that day.  We were fortunate enough to see a second one but it kept blowing and disappearing under the ocean too quickly.  We’ve been told that August is the best time to visit as all the calves are born and are very interactive with their mothers and the other calves and it’s quite a spectacle. We were still very pleased to have seen two whales that day -  magnificent creatures.

We drove on to The Nullarbor Roadhouse and filled up with petrol and continued further along The Nullarbor.  The Nullarbor comes from the Latin  “nullus” and “arbor” meaning “no trees”.   The    Nullarbor covers an area of 200,000 square kilometres (77 square miles).  Going East to West is 1,100 kilometres.  It starts at Ceduna and ends at Norseman.  We stopped at 4pm at a free camp area at Bunda Cliffs.  It was a fairly small rest area, but had spectacular views of the cliffs.  Bunda Cliffs stretch along The Great Australian Bight for 200 kilometres and there is a 90 metre straight drop from the top to the ocean below.  They’re made up of startling colourful layers.  The base is made of white Wilson Bluff Limestone.  Above that are whitish grey and brown layers, capped off with a hardened layer of windblown sand.  We were quite surprised to learn from photos and information displayed by the cliffs that there are lots of underground caves under The Nullarbor.  

STUNNING  BUNDA CLIFFS

Four other caravans were parked in the rest area and after a look at the spectacular cliffs, we all gathered together for a really happy happy hour.  They were a great fun crowd and It was such a beautiful balmy night, really mild.  We sat outside until 9.30 and were very surprised just how long we had sat outside. 

Monday 20^th May  -  We set off at 8am for another long day on The Nullarbor.  We were 50 kilometres away from the SA/WA Border Village, where you have to dispose of all your fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, honey and soils.  A Quarantine Officer went right through the car and caravan.  I had to open all the doors and drawers inside the van and she checked inside the fridge and freezer – very thorough. We were the second in line to go through the checkpoint.  The whole process took about half an hour.  Then we were officially in Western Australia.  It was quite a good feeling.

 We passed though Eucla, Mundrabilla, Madura, Cocklebiddy and Caiguna – the start of the official “Longest Straight Road” some 145 kilometres. 

At each roadhouse we stopped at, we kept bumping into “our crowd” and kept up-to-date with how they were coping and where they were headed for that night.  There was only mobile phone reception coming up to each roadhouse and shortly afterwards, otherwise reception was nil along the road.  Many travellers have CB radios for communication. By 3pm, and some 400 kilometres later, we decided to stop off at Domblegabby Rest Area (number 15 in Camps 7) at Balladonia.  It was a very large rest area with a covered shelter area.  The weather was very overcast and spitting rain and was turning quite cold.  Shortly after we’d driven into the rest area, two of “our crowd” pulled in besides us.  We were happy to see them again and to know we would have the pleasure of their company for another evening.  We gathered together, huddled under our awning, as it was raining steadily by now, and bravely had happy hours again.  

Tuesday 21^st May   -   Balladonia to Norseman (188 kilometres).  We were all up early and ready to leave by 8am for the last league of our mammoth journey across The Nullarbor.  By now, it was raining very heavily and visibility was extremely difficult.  We had to slow down to 80kpm or under to feel safe.  There were numerous grooves and ruts along the side of the road from the high temperatures and constant heavy road trains that zoom past 24/7.    We were surprised by the number of wide loads travelling along the road and we had to pull over to the side to let them pass us by both ways. Thankfully, after a few hours, the weather cleared and we could see where we were going once again. The scenery all the way was constantly changing from a flat plain to dense shrub to scrawny thin leafless trees, with such a variation in colours of greens, yellows and browns everywhere.  One side of the road was different to the other, so there was always something to look at.  There were also lots of places to stop with interesting things to see.  We went up and down hills at The Fraser Ranges, scenic black granite hills.  After “The Longest Straight Road” it was a pleasant change to have a few twists in the road to break up the monotony.  Interestingly enough, the road surface colour constantly changed from black , some with yellow patches, to yellow, again some with black patches, which kept us alert noting the changes.  We were told later that the amount of rainfall we’d seen was an unusual phenomenon on The Nullarbor.  The sides of the roads were flooded ditches.  By 1pm we reached Norseman and went to BP to fill up with petrol yet again.  Hooray – we’d “crossed The Nullarbor”.  Three of “our crowd” were inside having lunch.  We joined them for home-made soup and really nice hot chips which I really fancied.  We chatted to our friends and said our farewells to all but two who were going via Kalgoorlie.  We swapped email addresses and phone numbers and promised to keep in touch

CAMELS ON A ROUNDABOUT AT NORSEMAN

.Alan and Sandra (poms from Clacton-On-Sea 45 years ago) who now live in Busselton, were going to Salmon Gums about an hour further on from Norseman. We decided that sounded pretty good and arranged to meet them there.  The road from Norseman to Salmon Gums was long and straight (not as long as “The longest Straight Road”) and quite isolated.  We passed by an iron ore train that had derailed earlier in the day caused by the wet conditions.  News helicopters were flying overhead.  It was quite a sight to see, with 32 carriages overturned and about 2,000 tonnes of iron ore wasted.  A real mess that would take a long time to sort out!!!

We arrived in the tiny town of Salmon Gums and drove to the Community Caravan Park  at the back of town.  The townspeople had made a tremendous effort with the park, with immaculately kept toilets and showers (albeit older style), all with nice liquid soaps, sticky fly paper hanging from the light fittings and slip-proof mats in the showers.  There was an indoor/outdoor laundry in the alcove between the male and female toilets.  There was a large undercover seating area and brick fire pit/bbq (some scoundrel had previously taken a liking to their heavy metal bbq plate).  The whole place was very neat and tidy with native plants growing inside tyre beds around each tree.  Geraniums were planted underneath the trees.  The place looked loved and well maintained.  It was $15 for a powered site with water.  We got set up and used the wheelbarrow provided to collect wood for a toasty fire.  Alan and Richard went off to get enough wood for the night and soon we had a blazing fire going.  Three other vans pulled in for the night – they were all people we recognised from our stops along The Nullarbor.  It didn’t take long to gather around the fire and enjoy their company.  The local Ranger came by later to collect our money and have a chat by the fire.

Wednesday 22^nd May   -   Alan and Sandra were going to Esperance to the Pink Lake Caravan Park  where they had stayed before.  We were headed for Esperance also, so arranged to meet them there.  We left at 8.30 and arrived at the caravan park by 10.30.  The park was small with narrow parking bays and 10 minutes from town.  We went for a drive around the town and looked at the Tanker Jetty and pure white sandy beaches surrounding the harbour.  We went on the 40 kilometre Great Ocean Drive with stunning views along the coastline and cliffs and huge peaked granite boulders of different shapes in the sea.  We stopped at Twilight Beach which was voted Australia’s best beach in 2006, it wasn’t hard to see why – the sand was so white it looked like snow and the water was absolutely clear deep aqua blue. One bay meandered into another stunning vista.   We passed along Nine Mile Beach, Ten Mile Lagoon and Eleven Mile Beach, past the Pink Lake (which is only slightly tinged pink) and back to the caravan park.  It was a lovely drive.

We were parked nearby another young couple that we’d met last week at Fowlers Bay and invited them for drinks in the enclosed camp kitchen area with Alan and Sandra.  We cracked open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate “Crossing The Nullarbor” and being in WA.  As you can see, it’s very strenuous being a “grey nomad” and you have to have a strong constitution for the constant happy hours.

TRIVIA:     Kilometres travelled 11.3.13 – 23.05.13          9,400

                   Cost of Petrol                                                    $3,000

                   Cost of Accommodation                                    $1,000

                   Average cost per night                                       $20

                   Number of nights free/cheap (under $10)           23

NEXT WEEK:   We will be visiting Bremmer Bay and Albany.  Thanks for your company so far.  It  would be pretty boring chattering away to myself with nobody listening. 

ON OUR WAY TO SHERINGA BEACH, ELISTON AND STREAKY BAY

 

Monday 6^th May - We left Port Lincoln for our next stop at Sheringa Beach. It took us less than 2 hours to get there. We stopped off at The Sheringa Roadhouse to buy our permit and met a very laid back woman running the store. She sat on a seat out the front sorting through her bills and mail and was in no hurry to see what we wanted (country time). Her red cattle dog lazily soaked up the sun besides her, but got up and wandered over to us for a scratch. It was a very quirky place, with a cane bar out the front, trying to give a (dated) Bali effect , complete with ornamental birds stuck on the rooftop. They also cooked food there (it’s THE only place in town) and sell all manner of things, petrol, ice, fishing equipment (grossly overpriced). The town before Sheringa is Called Mount Hope and consisted of literally 3 houses and the next town Elliston is under an hour away from Sheringa, so I suppose Sheringa Roadhouse is your one-stop-shop.

We were quite excited and looking forward to spending 3 nights there. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was only one other caravan parked when we arrived. We found a suitable spot behind the sand dunes with bushes around it – a perfectly sheltered and protected area. It didn’t take us long to set up and wander over the hill towards the superb soft, white sand that stretched for a long way. It’s a very popular local fishing spot but was deserted when we got there. By 5pm that evening there were only 3 other caravans parked in the area besides us. We got talking to our neighbour Peter and he invited us all over for a drink and to share his camp fire which was real toasty and very inviting as the temperature had dropped considerably. We spent a lovely couple of hours chatting and warming ourselves around the camp fire. Peter and his wife Sue had been at Sheringa for 3 nights and were moving on the next day. We ended up calling him“gadget man” as he had so many gizmos that he kept bringing out to show us. One item was “clip on tables” to fit on the side of any camp chair. I actually really liked them and thought they were a fantastic idea and as they just happened to fit on my chair, I wanted 2 for myself. Another was the “rain saver bucket” – a hose pipe you put on the awning, connected to a bucket to catch rainwater (for bush camping where water is not available). We thought that was another excellent idea. Peter told us they’re fairly cheap. Richard has since found both on the RV Warehouse website in Melbourne and is in the process of ordering them. He told us about another good free camping spot called Walker’s Rock that they were headed to the following day.

OUR CAMPING SPOT AT SHERINGA

SALLY AT SHERINGA BEACH

OUR CAMP FIRE

A FUNNY SIGN WE SAW AT SHERINGA BEACH 

Tuesday 7^th May- Another beautiful day at Sheringa Beach. We said goodbye to Peter and Sue and hoped to meet them again somewhere. The only drawback was we didn’t have any phone, internet or tv reception. We could receive messages, but not send any back. This was the first time we’d had any reception problems. We went for a walk up the hills by the coastline and found the popular surfing spot where a fairly new wooden platform had been built with steps leading down the hillside to the ocean. There were lots of surfers out there catching waves and it was a pretty busy spot. We could also get limited coverage on the mobile. Daniel had started a new job at BP in the South of Perth and we were anxious to know how it was going for him. Also, Hayley was due back from a 2 week trip to Las Vegas, Cancun and Los Angeles, so we were also anxious to know she was safely home. It was a lovely spot and you could camp anywhere from where we’d parked to right along the hills and onto the sand but there weren’t any toilets available further up. In the afternoon, Richard and Ross another camper that we’d met yesterday went down to the lake with Ross’s chainsaw to collect wood for another campfire later that night. Richard went fishing off the beach a few times whilst we were there, but only caught small herrings or undersize whiting, nothing to cook for dinner (luckily I’d brought enough provisions). We had another pleasant evening around our campfire with Ross and Marie on 4 weeks holiday from Perth.

Wednesday 8^th May - Ross and Marie left to continue their trip down to Whyalla and back to Perth by 20th May. We were the sole caravan in the camp and it was very quiet. Richard went down to the beach fishing once again and I read my book. Suddenly a woman appeared asking for help as their 4WD had got stuck on the very far end of the beach. I went back to the beach to see what if anything Richard could do. We didn’t have sand tyres and the sand at Sheringa was very soft, so he didn’t want to risk getting our car bogged also. Luckily, the Ranger was fishing half way along the beach and took his car back to The Roadhouse to get another car to come back and help them off the sand. The whole operation took well over 1 ½ hours and everyone was glad to see them safely off the sand. We had a campfire for 2 that night and watched the stars for ages with our wines. Not a bad life really!!! Very simplistic but very enjoyable. We’re really getting into this “bush camping” thing and preferring it to the rules and regulations of many caravan parks.

Thursday 9th May - We left Sheringa Beach and were sorry to be leaving such a beautiful spot. We decided to stay overnight at Walker’s Rocks another $10 a night camp 10 minutes along a dirt road off the main road. It’s about 45 minutes from Elliston. We missed the turning for Walker’s Rock and ended up at Coltonwhich was a fortunate mistake as we came to the “Colton Bakery” a tiny self-serve stall off the road that make the most delicious wood fired breads, rolls and buns in a very small house behind the roadside stall.

Sue and Peter had told us to look out for it and not to miss it if we could. Everything was wrapped up and was $4 – in an honesty box for whatever you chose. We selected 4 sticky buns and a crunchy white loaf. Walker’s Rock is part of the Lake Newland Conservation Park and is one of the longest beaches on the West Coast. It was a very windy day so we drove steadily as the van was blowing about a lot. Thankfully, we didn’t have far to drive that day. The camping area was on a dirt track 10 minutes off the main road. We left the van hooked up as we intended to leave early the next morning. There were 2 other motorhomes parked at the camp. We went for a very blustery walk along the beach and came back for a cuppa and our fresh Colton sticky buns for morning tea. They were delicious. The wind gradually eased and we went for a longer walk along the 2 beautiful beaches around the camp area. We sat outside and watched the stars again. It was really quiet and dark there.

Friday 10^th May - We left Walker’s Rock early and drove for 45 minutes to the lovely coastal town of Elliston. We stopped at the showground and visited the Tourist Information Centre. It was a very small town with large colourful murals on many of the buildings. We drove along “The Ocean Road” scenic drive. It was a 12 kilometre very scenic drive along the cliff tops between Waterloo Bay and Anxious Bay, with pull off bays to admire the cliff top sculptures. Every two years, they host an event “Sculpture on the Cliffs”. It was a really beautiful drive.






From there, we drove to Murphy’s Haystacks, massive inselberg rock formations of pink granite approximately 1500 million years old on the private land of the original owner, Dennis Murphy from Co. Limerick in Ireland. A passing traveller in a coach saw them in the distance and asked how a farmer could produce so much hay. From then on, they’ve been known as Murphy’s Haystacks. 





We arrived at Streaky Bay Foreshore Tourist Park with beach access. It was a big park and pretty full as there was a Bowling Carnival on for the whole week. We quickly set up and went for a walk around. We noticed the park kiosk had a licenced restaurant called Pelican Resort Family Restaurant and made a booking for dinner there that evening. When we got to the restaurant, it was full of bowling nomads laughing and carrying on – they sure have a great social life. The food was average, but so convenient to wander back to our van. We’d ordered a shared entrée of salt and pepper squid. When it turned up the waitress said “we didn’t have enough squid so we bunged a few extra calamari on as well”. Actually the calamari were the best part of the entire meal – really succulent and melt-in-the mouth. The wine was good too. Can’t win them all!!

Streaky Bay was named by Mathew Flinders in 1802 because of the streaks he saw in the water across the bay caused by the reflection of light on the seaweed.

Granite from outside of Streaky Bay was used in The Parliament Houses in Canberra and Adelaide.

Streaky Bay was a location in the 1970’s Australian movie “Blue Fin”.

Richard visited the Powerhouse Museum in town – The Restored Engine Centre – which he was keen to see. They have over 400 restored engines all fully working inside. The place is manned by volunteers and enthusiasts and he happily “talked mechanics and machines” to the old boys inside. I carried on reading another Lee Childs book.

 

Saturday 11^th May - We walked into town and I finally found a surf shop to buy myself a new pair of Havianas (surf brand thongs) as I pretty much live in them and my current pair are threadbare and almost worn out. There wasn’t a surf shop in any of the other towns we’ve been to and I thought I’d have to wait until we reached Perth for a new pair. The weather changed quickly and was really wet and windy, so we postponed the trip we wanted to do to Point Labatt to see the sea lions until the following day.

Sunday 12^thMay - Mother’s Day – hope you all had a great Mother’s Day. We awoke to a beautiful day and decided to go and see the sealions. It was a 61km drive from Streaky Bay to Point Labatt, along one of three spectacular coastal drives, most of which was on unsealed gravel roads (some of them smoother than others) to the Conservation Park where the sealion colony live. Thankfully the roads had dried out from all the rain the previous day. We were the only people at the wooden viewing platform 50 metres above where you view the sealions. The wind was blowing a gale by the time we got there. Unfortunately all the sealions were huddled together in groups and sound asleep. It was hard to spot them at first and we had to use binoculars as it was quite a way down to where they are. Apparently, in summer, they frolic around, particularly the young ones and there can be up to 50 sealions down there. Nevertheless, it was well worth coming out to see them, but it would have been even better had they moved around a bit. The scenery on the drive there was amazing –really rough brown cliffs, red dust and shrubbery and mangroves all around and undulating sand dunes of various sizes. Quite stunning and remote. From there we drove further along to Sceale Bay a very small coastal town. We found a covered shelter to sit and have our cuppa by the beach but the weather had changed dramatically again and we decided to head back to the van and continue touring around the area the next day. We went to the Streaky Bay Hotel Motel (a community hotel) for dinner. It was delicious. We had the $15 roast consisting of 5 huge slices of roast pork and superb crunchy crackling. There was a self-serve vegetable and salad bar which was all fresh home- made and you could go back as many times as you wanted. We washed it down with a bottle of the house sav which was also very nice. A very enjoyable night.

SLEEPING SEALIONS  (WAKEY WAKEY!!!)

Monday 13^thMay - It was another sunny day and we drove along the second coastal drive called the Westall Way Loop that stretches along 31km of the coastline. We stopped off to explore Tractor Beach, High Cliff, Point Westall, The Granites, Smooth Pool and Speed Point and were in awe of just how rugged and remote they all were. It really brought it home to us how much land and sea surrounds Australia and just how big this country is, so vast and remote. We carried on to the third scenic drive called the Cape Bauer Loop. We passed by Cape Bauer and stopped off to view Whistling Rocks and Blowholes. This was superb and we walked along the new 360 metre boardwalk down to the viewing platform to hear the whistling rocks. The foaming ocean crashed against the rocks with a vengeance and really did sound like it was whistling. We got covered in the sea spray and walked over to the Blowhole viewing platform. It was a low tide so didn’t gush as much as it would at high tide. It was still very impressive. We’ve been to The Blowhole at Kiama (Southern, NSW) many times and that really gushes up high when it’s windy. We followed the loop through to Hallys Beach and Back Beach and came back into Streaky Bay. We’d really enjoyed the drive and were so glad we’d managed to fit it all in.

Total of free/cheap camping nights - 21 (steadily rising).

Next Week: We’re going to Ceduna, at the end of The Eyre Peninsula, Penong and Fowlers Bay