When I checked the final publishing of the blog I discovered some of the text had been deleted. Here is the updated version. I forgot to note that the first photo in the last blog was a photo of myself and my big sister Judy. Sally wondered if we were twins when I said we looked alike. I must report that the rain we experienced whilst in Walpole flooded Gnomesville and did considerable damage. There is a great group of volunteers who take care of it and I am sure they are already at work restoring it to it's former glory. If you go to WA I would recommend this as a great sight to experience. The second report is about the giant turnip. We have been eating it! We expected it to be bitter or ... read more

The weather people said that there would be a slight break in the rain for two days so we made a run to Walpole to visit the Valley of the Giants and the tree top walk, something we have wanted to do for some years. We drove stopping only for lunch in a small layby. The forest around the road was wonderful. Even though the road is narrow to make it wider would be a huge undertaking because of the number of massive trees which would need to be removed, all old growth I imagine. We passed through some lovely little towns on the way and have decided to stop off on the way back and visit Balingup. It has a medieval festival each year, but it will be too late for us. The decorations were ... read more

From Trayning we continued to Dowerin and moseyed around the town for a while. A nice neat little town with a lovely little bakery. I saw there for the first time in years a tank loaf and horseshoe rolls. The cinnamon buns where the largest I have ever seen and so cheap. Dowerin also has a lovely second hand bookshop but I managed to leave without purchasing anything tempted as I was. We decided to head out to a camp site about 20 kms north east of Dowerin - Minnivale. It is a small township which is now reduced to 4 houses and a church. The silos are still intact, which is more than can be said of the bakery. The Shire is developing the camp site to entice travellers to visit the region. Situated next ... read more

Our luck continues. We have been having trouble connecting to the satellite network with the Sat phone, so finally after three weeks rang technical support. We had to send the phone into them to check and got a message to say the phone was faulty (bought in April) and is being replaced under warranty. It is being sent to Mieke's in Kalgoorlie where we will collect it next week. It was fine but cold when we left Tumby Bay and we headed through Cummins towards the Flinders Highway. The countryside until we got to the highway was beautiful. Mostly undulating hills, beautiful green fields with really good crops or fat happy sheep. One property had English sheep, you know the ones with black faces and black feet. GMan just mumbled, they will feel at home in ... read more

Left Port Pirie on a cold miserable overcast day threatening to rain. As we moved north the cloud slowly cleared and when we got to Port Augusta it was lovely. We did not linger in PA as it is so close to home we can visit anytime but we need to pass through on our way home so maybe then. I really want to go to the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden here where I can get some more native plants for the garden and if I am brave enough to the Wadlata Centre. My issue with Wadlata is all about the very large 3D snakes with my phobia it could be difficult, but I will try. We were aiming for Point Lowly, you leave the Whyalla Road about 10 kms north and head 26 kms ... read more