PERTH TO ALBANY

31/12/2007 another year gone, it has been a good year. We were picked up at 7.00am from the Caravan Park to go to Rottnest Island for the day. Our aim was to depart from Perth on the 8.45am Ferry and then get off at Fremantle and do the Tram tour around Freo before hoping back on the Ferry over to Rottnest, returning on the 4.30pm Ferry from Rottnest.

We were late leaving Perth and consequently missed the 10.00am Tram at Fremantle so we stayed on the Ferry and went straight to Rottnest Island. Rottnest is 18km off the WA coast and it takes about 35 minutes in good seas. I was told that in the winter the seas can get up to 6 metres and it can take an hour to cross.

When we arrived at the Island we hit the shops and had a look around the old village and houses. Thompson Bay is beautiful and we couldn’t get over the amount of big boats both at the Island and on the Swan River. There are about 100 bays around the Island and every one of them had boats moored in them.

At 1.45pm we climbed aboard the Island Tour coach for a two hour Island tour the drivers name was Anne and she gave us a very good commentary on the way around. We saw some Quokka’s they are nocturnal and were under the shady trees. There is about 10000 Quokka’s on the Island.

I met Vortek while we were there, Vortek was one of the boys we pulled out of the Mud when we were up at Port Samson, he was on the Island with his Girlfriend and her parents they had one of the boats moored out in the bay. It was good to see him again.

We caught the 4.30pm Ferry for a rough trip home as the wind had come up during the day. We had to change Ferries at Fremantle and arrived back at Perth at 6.30pm. The bus dropped us back at the Caravan Park at 7.00pm.

We had a quite New Years Eve as we were tired from the day’s events.

1/1/2008 as we missed the tram ride in Fremantle yesterday we decided to go to Freo and take the tram ride. When we arrived in Freo we went to the Markets for a couple of hours and while we were there we saw some sailing boats coming up the Harbour so we grabbed the camera for some shots. There was a Fire boat shooting water in the air and then a big clipper followed by all the sailing boats that are racing around the world in different legs. From Fremantle they go to Singapore.

Diane and I walked up town to the town hall where we caught the tram. The driver gave us a very good commentary about the buildings and area around Fremantle. It was 3.00pm before we had our lunch at Markus and Mona’s tent. We found them both asleep as they didn’t get home until 6.00am from their night out at Kings Park; we didn’t stay long as they were very tired. On our way home we called around to Alex’s place for a drink and to have a look at where he lived.

Wednesday we went grocery shopping in the morning and then had a quite time until 3.00pm when Markus and Mona called over to see us for the last time and to drop some things back that we had lent them. It was sad to say goodbye to them as we have enjoyed their company over the time that we have been with them. Anna sent us a text message over Christmas and it was good to hear from her as well. If we get to England we will go over to Germany to look them all up and it would be good to meet their parents.

Diane took me over to Alex’s place at 6.00pm to play darts. He had invited Paul, Ron, Peter and Whitey. Alex cooked a BBQ and we only had one game of darts all night. I enjoyed there company and had a good night.

Thursday morning and it is time to leave Perth, we are heading towards Kalgoorlie but the road is blocked because of Bushfires and you can’t get past Southern Cross. The fires have claimed 3 truck driver’s lives in the past few days.

It was over 44 degrees today. We arrived at Southern Cross Caravan Park at 2.00 pm and set up the satellite dish so that we could watch the rest of the cricket in the air-conditioning. With the Air conditioner on it was 34 degrees in the van, God knows what it was outside.

Australia, here we are having 44 degree heat, Queensland is having flash flooding and the NT and northern WA are getting news flashes about Cyclones in the area. We have just had Bush fire warnings come across the TV for areas around Perth, Sydney is fine and holding a test cricket match, what a country.

Friday morning and they haven’t opened the road to Kalgoorlie yet so we will stay here for another night. We went for a drive to Marvell Loch and then down the dirt road towards Hyden a little way to see what condition the road was in. The gravel road is fine and we may take our van that way when we go to Hyden. In the afternoon we went up to “The Palace” hotel for a few drinks with Les and Yvonne who we have met for the third time. The Palace is an old hotel built in the Gold rush days and is in very good condition. We also had a talk to Les and Jan who also are going to Kalgoorlie and who we first met in Mt Isa.

Saturday and the roads are still blocked because of the bushfires even though they are not near the road. They won’t open the road until they have the fire under control because they are scared that the wind may change and catch someone out like it did last Sunday when three people were killed.

We have been out to Hunts soak and the lake that is dry and just a salt bed. It is surprising how close to the surface the water is and how much salt is in the water. Phil and I went up to the bowling club in the morning and spoke to the man “Dave” who was mowing the lawn. He left some mats and jacks out for us so that we could have a roll up at 4.00pm with Phil, Jan, Diane and I. As it was about 35 degrees at midday so we read our books in the air-conditioned van until we went to bowls.

Dave owns about three properties in the area and he runs South African Sheep for mutton, they don’t need shearing or crutching and are ready for the overseas markets in four months. He is also a councillor on the council and the President of the bowling club.

It was good to have a roll up again as it has been seven months since our last game. After the game we went to the pub for a beer as the bowling club wasn’t open. The green was a bit heavy but OK.

Sunday morning we left at 8.00am and headed to Hyden and “Wave Rock” that is about 160 km south of Southern Cross. We went past some old gold mines and a lot a wheat country on our way. It was interesting at Wave Rock to see the rock itself and how they have used the rock to collect water for stock. In the early days it was Hyden’s only water supply. Hyden didn’t even have electricity until 1990 and a water supply to the town until the year 2000. We arrived back at the caravan at about 3.00 pm and Phil and I went down to the bowling club for another roll up.

Monday morning we left Southern Cross back along the Great Eastern Highway to Merredin before turning left and heading down into the South Western Wheat belt district. It is amazing to see just how much of the country is sown to crops; it must be millions of acres. We past through the towns of Narembeen, Kondinin, Kulin and we stopped at Lake Grace for lunch near the Old railway station; the toilets were in the Old station and were the best cleaned neat and tidy Public toilets I’ve ever been into.
After lunch we went further south to Pingrup and then turned west to Nyabing and Katanning, after Katanning we turned right onto the Southern Highway and went to Wagin where we stayed for the night.

All the towns that we past through in the day showed that they have pride in their town even through a lot of them were very small towns. Katanning was the largest town and a very old town with some very beautiful old buildings. Wagin is the town with the big Merino and although the caravan park is only small it is neat, tidy and with good amenities. We had dinner at the Peak service station after a recommendation from Greg who is a resident in the park for a few months of the year.

Greg actually grades the seed wheat for the farmers for their next years sowing. He can do up to 80 tonnes a day and that would make him $2,000 per day. He said that he works six months of the year and earns $100,000. He showed me how his machine works which was very interesting.

Tuesday morning we took our time to get organised and didn’t leave until 9.30am, we went to the Post Office before we left to post Diane’s dads birthday present, they wanted to charge us $23.15 in a padded post bag until we questioned them and they said that if we use the plastic post bag we could send up to 3kg for $9.30. The man that Diane saw at the post office didn’t suggest the plastic post bag it was only when I went back in to question the cost that they came up with the cheaper option.

At the show ground they had a historic village set up but it didn’t open until 10.00am so we didn’t get to see inside, we only drove by. We headed up the Great Southern Highway through Narrogin and we turned left at Popanyinning going west through Wandering, North Bannister, Jarrahdale, Rockingham and then down to Mandurah. We stayed at the Mandurah Caravan & Tourist Park; the owners Donna and Reg know Nerida and Chum Cavanagh from Taree. In the afternoon we did our grocery shopping and then watched the Twenty-20 match between Victoria and Tasmania on the TV.

Wednesday we drove around Mandurah in the morning thinking how much it had changed since we were here last. It was only a small seaside village last time now it is like a small Surfers paradise. We drove around the North and South sides of the river and down through Halls Head. On the way back for lunch we shopped for our groceries. In the afternoon we drove up to a display village only about 10km’s north and had a look at a lot of the homes on display. One thing that we looked at was in the kitchen instead of having stools along one side of the servery bar, have one end open and have a stool on both sides like a table at the end of the kitchen cupboards.

On the way home from the display village a ford future ran into the back of our Landcruiser just after we had left some traffic lights. A car four in front of us slowed down quickly for no apparent reason which caused all the cars behind him to brake suddenly and Peter who was driving the ford was changing channels on his radio and didn’t notice us stopping. My towbar went right into the front of his car and drove the cross member into his radiator and did a lot of damage to his car. My car had about four scratches on the bumper bar and it broke the tow ball cover and the cover on the spare wheel access point. There are some small dents on the tail gate and I don’t know if they were caused in the accident or not.

We were leaving on Thursday morning but I wanted to ring Peter’s insurance company (CGU) and arrange to have my car fixed when I get home and to have the towbar checked to see if all the bolts were alright before we tow the van again. I did all that I wanted to do in the morning and then in the afternoon we ventured onto the road again, we took a letter from Charlie and Audrey to some people that they know in Mandurah and then drove out to Pinjarra for a look and a cup of coffee. We went to Mitre 10 and purchased 2.4m of 100mil stormwater pipe to make a fishing rod holder to hang off the roof rake on the car. I made it up when we got back to the caravan park; it was good to get the rods out of the car.

Friday morning we left Mandurah not knowing where we were going to stop for the night. We drove back out to Pinjarra and took the south western highway south passing through a lot of small towns on the way. We had our morning tea at Bunbury looking out over the harbour, a lovely spot but getting very crowded as all the towns in this area are.

We passed through Busselton on our way to Eagle Bay where we had our lunch on the grass overlooking a beautiful beach, the colours were beautiful. We tried to book into Gracetown and Margaret River but the caravan parks were all booked out. We actually got into Big Valley camping area that is situated on 650 acres that run sheep. It is about 10km out of Margaret River down a 2km dirt road but it was a good dirt road and worth the trip. You could spend a lot of time in the whole area as there is plenty to see.

Saturday morning and the weather is overcast and it looks like we may get some rain today. We are going to use this campsite as a base for the next couple of days while we have a good look around this area. From the property we went down a dirt track until we reached the Bussell Hwy travelling through Witchcliffe on our way to Augusta. This is where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet at Cape Leeuwin. There is a lighthouse there and about six buildings with well kept lawns. They have tours through the lighthouse and it also costs to get into the grounds. We had a cup of coffee for morning tea and then went to the water wheel that is near the Lighthouse that used to be fed by a spring. They ran the water to the water wheel via a trough and the water turned the wheel that in turn operated a water pump that used to pump a litre of water per stroke up to the lighthouse. The water was used in the mortar when they were building the lighthouse.

After that we drove around Augusta, it is a pretty spot and full of holiday makers. There is a river that enters the sea. The eastern side of the headland is well protected from the prevailing westerly winds.
We left Augusta via the Caves road and we stopped at Jewel Cave. We decided to do the tour of this cave because we were told that this was the best of the three caves available for viewing. You enter the cave 12 metres below the surface and by the time you get to the bottom of the cave you are 48metres below the surface. This cave is certainly worth the visit and has some spectacular formations. The cave used to have water in the bottom of it but it dried up in 1993 and is now one metre below the floor of the cave. In one part of the cave there is a skeleton of a possum that is 500 years old and is about twice the size of today’s possum.

On the way back to Margaret River we called into see Hamelin Bay and Prevally. Prevally is the surfing area closest to Margaret River and easy to see why it is the surfer’s favourite spot. Margaret River is only about 8km away from Prevally and we stopped there for lunch at about 2.30pm. Lunch was Lasagne and salad with balsamic dressing and a cup of coffee, very nice with an Ice cream for desert.

It had drizzled off and on all day but didn’t really stop us from doing anything except some photos that never look any good when it’s overcast. Arrived back at camp about 4.30pm.

Sunday was a good day we started out going to Nannup; Nannup is a pretty town, small but with pretty countryside all around. After that we drove to Bridgetown to find Sid and Sandy’s block of land. We parked on their block that is situated on the top of a hill and they will have beautiful countryside views out the front and back of their house when it is built. Bridgetown is bigger than we thought to start with and has a lot of old buildings as well as the new areas like Sid and Sandy’s. When we first arrived in Bridgetown there was a Markets being held on the river bank and under the bridge, we stopped for a look and bought some olives.

After leaving Bridgetown we travelled north to Greenbushes, stopping at the lookout overlooking the mine. It was originally a Tin mine but they discovered other minerals like Lithium and Tantalum. Greenbushes is a very small town just off the South Western Hwy. Further north is Balingup another small town and just out of town on the Blackwood tourist drive is the most amazing old cheese factory that is full of antiques and timber products as well as the usual craft and gifts. Every room you went into was full. The Blackwood tourist drive followed the Blackwood River and wound its way back to Nannup. We had lunch at 3.00pm in a small café beside another antique shop. Lunch was very nice Lasagne and salad again.

On the way back to camp on the dirt road (a very good dirt road where a lot of people speed) we came across a Mazda Tribute that had lost control and side swiped a tree. There was no one in the car so we kept going and arrived back at camp at 4.30pm. Kevin the property owner took me for a drive to a couple of his dams where he had some pots in to catch Marron (Yabbies), he caught three, two good size ones and one small one that he put back in another dam as the dam it came out of is being cleaned out tomorrow.

Monday and the weather is fine today so we are going to go up to Busselton to visit the Jetty and the underwater observatory at the end of the pier. We drove past the Berry Farm at 9.15am but it didn’t open until 10.00am so we just went straight to Busselton, our tour was at 12.25pm so we went for a walk up the main street for an hour and then walked out to the end of the Jetty. The Jetty 1.841km long and the observatory is near the end of the jetty. Just past the observatory the jetty is damaged so you can’t get right to the end.

The observatory has windows at different levels, one near the surface and two at different depths and one at the bottom. It is worth the effort to see the different fish, corals and other fish life attached to the piers. It’s like you were scuba diving with the fish. After returning from the jetty we went to the hotel for lunch and then drove back to camp. It was a trying day. A couple of beers will fix us up.

15/1/08 we left Big Valley campsite after having a good time there, we first went to the Berry Farm and purchased some Chutney and salad dressing. We then headed towards Nannup until we got to Sue’s road where we turned right and went south to the Brockman hwy, then headed towards Pemberton. Just before Pemberton we took the Channybearup tourist road over to Manjimup were we had our lunch in a nice park near the tourist information centre, we visited the centre after lunch.

On our way to Manjimup we had a phone call from Mark Fisher, he wanted to know what we were going to do with our on-site van once we have built the house, I told him that we were going to sell it. He said that his sister is looking for a van and asked how much we wanted for it: we told him we would take $14,000 and after conferring with his sister they said that they would take it when we are finished with it.

After lunch we drove through Pemberton and Northcliffe on our way to our overnight stop at Shannon National Park. The park is well set up with hot showers and septic toilets. Each sit has a built in fire place with a Barbeque plate and a Billy hook over the fire, both can be swung in or out of the fire. Our site was on a grade and I burnt the clutch a fair bit getting it into place hopefully not to much as I don’t want to replace a clutch just yet. We have covered about 310km in the day.

We met Des and Emily, they are camping across from us, they are from Brisbane and have come across the Nullarbor; tomorrow we will get together and compare notes.

Wednesday was a day to look around the area; we left camp and headed up the south western hwy to Quinninup situated a few kilometres up the wheatley coast road. Quinninup is a small old timber town nestled in the forest a quaint little village. From there we went back to the hwy and then turned left onto Gray’s road that took us over Warren River and past a lot of farming and vineyard country and into Pemberton. One thing that is not in short supply in this area is water, all the dams are full and they have plenty of them in some cases one after another down a water course.

We spent a fair bit of time in Pemberton; we visited the Timber Gallery and Café where we had lunch. There were some beautiful pieces of furniture in the Gallery and it is just as well we are so far from home otherwise I would have been tempted to buy some of it for our new house. After lunch we went out to the Gloucester Tree which is a huge Karri Tree that they have driven steel bars into to form a ladder up the tree to the top where they have built a lookout that was used to spot bushfires in the early days. The lookout is 61m up the tree and the ladder winds around the tree one and a half times. There is a bigger one in the Warren National park called the Bicentennial tree and its lookout is over 70m up. At Pemberton we drove past the Tram station that runs to Northcliffe.

On the way to Northcliffe we had a look at the Brockman Sawpit where one person would be down in a pit under a tree that had been rolled onto the pit and another would be on top of the tree and together they would saw through the log length ways. A very strenuous job and the man below would wear a sugar bag over his head to keep the sawdust out of his eyes.

At Northcliffe visited the information centre and did a bit of grocery shopping and drove around town taking some photos of the old timber homes and the Sawmill that is situated at the end of the main street. From Northcliffe we headed back to Shannon Nation Park; when we arrived in the park we took the lower Shannon road through the park that passes the Snake Gully Boardwalk, the Bush Tree Grove and the old town site of Shannon. Shannon used to be the largest sawmill in WA at one time. The camp ground is just near the old town site.

Back at camp we met up with Des and Emily to compare notes as they have come the way we are going. It is good to get some information on various camp sites along he way.

We left Shannon National Park at 9.55am and drove south east to Walpole where we unhooked the caravan behind the information centre and had morning tea. We drove around the town and then out to Walpole Inlet, Swarbrick Forest Artwork, and Circular Pool. We shopped at IGA and fuelled up the car before going back to the caravan; I hooked up the caravan again while Diane prepared our lunch.

After lunch we went to “The Valley of The Giants Treetop Walk” that is 17km out of Walpole on the South Coast Hwy. The tree walk was something different it is 650m long and at its highest point it is 40m off the ground. The walk sways as you walk along it and is worth the experience.

On the way to Denmark we had a look at Peaceful Bay and Parry Beach. We were going to stay at Parry Beach but the camp ground was to full so we went on to Denmark and stayed at the River Mouth Caravan Park. We will stay here for three days while we catch our breath.

It’s now Sunday morning and we have relaxed the past two days, Friday we didn’t even go away from the caravan park. The weather has been overcast with some off and on drizzly rain and continuous wind. We read most of the day and watch the tennis on TV. Saturday we actually went for a drive to have a look around the area, there are some nice spots and beaches but they don’t look as good when it’s so miserable.

I went to an Electronics store a purchased a wall plug to set up the old TV aerial so that we could watch the cricket as our free to air card has failed and we are waiting for Johnny’s Electronics to send us a new one. The free to air sure gives you a better picture than the old aerial and with less setting up. A very quiet couple of days.

We are going for a big drive today, we are travelling 54km to Albany (hope we can handle such a big drive). We are staying at Kalgan River Caravan and Chalet Park that is situated on the Kalgan River and has its own golf course, canoe hire, house boat and boat ramp. The park is 11km from eastern side of Albany a very nice spot.

We went for a drive to do some grocery shopping and to our surprise Woolworths and Coles were closed on Sundays over here in Albany. Albany is a nice town with an old original centre down near the water and then it spreads out from there and quite a big place now. As it was still drizzling the rest of the day was fairly quite until we went out to dinner at the Country Manor motel where they had a baked dinner for $13.95 each.