Essential Travellers

Having made the decision to remain in Western Australia and not head back to Qld before borders closed we are getting very concerned how rapidly day to day activities are changing. But.... it’s official, the Government has classed full time travellers on Australian roads, as “essential travellers”, and should not be turned away from caravan parks and regional shops.

Having said this, we are relieved, as our booking here at Lucky Bay expires today, and it is booked out and we can’t extend, so are moving 2 1/2 hours west to a small camp ground called 4 mile beach in Fitzgerald NP, near Hopetoun, and have secured a 14 day stay, which takes us up to Easter.  We are mindful of not travelling unnecessarily, so after filling with water, and fuel, a load of laundry and a couple of items from the chemist and groceries, we will continue to self isolate, and exercise social distancing in our next NP (as long as it remains open)

There were only 4 groups of us, all from the Sunshine Coast, climbing Frenchman's Peak this day

The cave on the top

Finally got our iconic photos with the resident kangaroos on the beach.

Lindsey left early and made a 1000km dash to the border before it closed. Squiding was woeful too windy, Derek caught a small flathead, and afternoon winds very strong each day. Good bye Lucky Bay.

Before our second stint at Lucky Bay we had a few days at Quagi Beach,  better fishing, 2 sea mullet made a nice lunch

Concerning Times

We have spent the last 9 days in Cape Arid and Cape Le Grand National Parks, east of Esperance.  It has been wonderful to see the beauty of the rugged coastline, pristine white beaches and crystal clear waters, and discover new birds and flora.

 

We are focussed on limiting the amount of time we spend in built up areas including large towns and are opting for more isolated camping spots, where overnight numbers are limited. We have not been in any virus effected regions, but it may be just a matter of time before that changes.

It is necessary for us to refill our 190 litre water tanks, get fuel, and a few food supplies from urban centres,  but overall we are keeping to ourselves, and grateful that we have our good health, are self contained and have plenty of National Parks and Nature Reserves here in Western Australia. We won’t be going on our tour of Mexico and the Caribbean cruise as planned in May, and will probably be avoiding Perth too.

Quite often we have no Optus coverage to keep up with what’s happening worldwide, but please know that our daily prayers are with you all and your families. Please take care of each other. I will continue to post some scenic photos of our travels and let you know where we are when I can.

Twilight Beach Esperance

Cape Arid.... becoming an expert,  2 fish caught at once


Salmon


Cape Arid NP


Cape Le Grand crossed routes with Lindsey (Derek’s sister),  Lucky Bay, Thistle Cove, Little Hellfire Bay

Another fish but chucked it back..a juvenile Sampson fish, no squid for us, just everyone else!

 

Cold today, but great hike at Orleans Bay Wharton Beach

Lucky Bay

Our camp spot at Lucky Bay

Gold, Ghosts, Graves, Gormley...

After leaving the Nullabor we headed north along the Goldfield highway and based ourselves in Kalgoorlie. The Superpit was our first stop, the world’s second largest Gold mine. The city was large, Woolworths, Big Rooster KFC, Bunnings... luxury. After being without internet for 4 days, and no news on the Coronavirus we were amazed at the panic buying in the supermarkets.

A further 2 1/2 hour drive up the highway to a small historic town, Leanora and the nearby awesome Ghost town of Gwalia.  Funfact here, Herbert Hoover the 31st president of the USA was a mining engineer and at 23 he was the first manager of the Gwalia mine in 1897, he built the managers home, now named Hoover House, a B&B, but you can walk through the museum and home for free, (we always leave a donation). The mine is still in use and is now open cut, and you can camp in the Ghost town. We met some great “locals”, ex Sunshine Coasters, who love the quiet life in the goldfields. We had the place to ourselves, we are a month ahead of the tourist and prospectors season..yay!

It was a 11 hour day-outing, but couldn’t miss Englishman Antony Gormley’s “Inside Australia” sculptures on Lake Ballard on the way back. It was 50km off the highway, 1/2 of which was dirt. The 51 sculptures represent the inside dimensions of 51 residents from the nearest town of Menzies.  Again, we could have camped by the lake..free.

Our drive to the south coast took us through Coolgardie, and exploring the high street and pioneer cemetery we found the Grave of Ernest Giles, died aged 62, the explorer who first crossed and named the Gibson Desert. We learnt a lot  about him when travelling through Central Australia last year.

Old National Bank in Coolgardie, the first and original Gold Rush town.

We stayed a few nights in a very small village named  Grasspatch. It was a community run caravan park of 8 sites, very well kept. Our neighbours were farmers from the Sunshine Coast too. From here we drove the 50 km to Mt Ridley, last 5km 4WD only. Hiked the granite Mt for a great view over flat wheat fields dotted with salt lakes, surfed wave rock,  found an ancient historic well, and a lonely set of Graves on the way home.  Again we had ghe mountain to ourselves.

Nullabor News

We were pleasantly surprised by our 4 day trip across the Nullabor. 

Lots to see, not much “Nullabor” as in “Tree Less”, not flat, sea views, beach, sand dunes, few wildlife, barely any road kill - 3 kangaroos in 4 days, winds behind us, average 23°C, tons of great free camps, and enough geocaches to find to take us off track and into the bush.

The signs

Windmill museum, Australia’s largest windmill, one of 12 originally.

As close as we were going to get to the other end of the dog proof fence....30km down this road, then it drops off a cliff, the road is rough and not suitable for the caravan

End of fence. Not my photo

Bunda Cliffs camp spot for a night...awesome and hard to beat, only 6 of us this night, and the most magical stary night we have ever experienced

Occasional crossing..haa for the Royal Flying Doctors, use highway as landing strip, but couldn’t resist

The beach, old telegraph station getting swallowed up by sand dunes, and evidently a fabulous fishing spot we were told by one caravanning couple parked up for a few days in the lower photos

The gnomes by one camp spot

The geocaching

The random piece of Skylab space station which landed near Balladonia in 1979

Ever changing landscape

The odd road works

And 10km of evidence of the recent bush fire which closed the highway for a week in February

This awesome shell embedded....couldn’t get it out without excavating

And the odd van maintenance after we lost our ensuite dome due to weathering

History was in abundance, by the way no camels, wombats or emus this time. Definitely do it again