At one of Greg’s regular Friday lunches he had heard of this wonderful place to eat, just north of Esperance. After a couple of emails and an internet search, we knew that we had to visit the Gibson Soak hotel for dinner. The hotel was set up to service the traffic between Esperance and the goldfields when 22km was a day’s travel by horse cart, so it had a rich history. Although there was no caravan park they were happy for us to park on the grounds. So with no camp fees and no drink driving concerns; we had a perfect set up for a good night. The bar was just a typical small country pub bar, but the dining room menu was promising. After a good read of our options we both decided that we ... read more

Heading to Esperance mining road trains suddenly changed to grain road trains. The number and frequency of these showed the harvest was in full swing. Over the next couple of days we passed lots of very large grain delivery sites with big queues of road trains. Chatter over the 2-way had changed to how long drivers had to wait in the queue or how slow things were at the delivery sites. We were passed by an over-size load heading to Queensland. The cargo was a donga, obviously quite light but rather large. We overheard a 2-way conversation in which the driver was telling how he had already moved 120 of these units and there were 380 in total for him to move from Ravensthorpe to a mining site in central Queensland. The mind boggles! This prompted ... read more

It was just a short hop to Albany. As promised, the tall trees were suddenly gone, replaced by smaller eucalypts and sometimes heath land. In Albany we found ourselves in a caravan park that would be every caravaner’s dream. Every site was spacious and drive-through. For those without on board ensuites at least half of the park had individual site ensuites. A quick shop re-stocked the larder. This was followed by a lunch of delicious pies we picked up from the bakery as we exited Denmark, This allowed us plenty of time to look around this historic town. At the Princess Royal Fortress Museum we viewed photos and artefacts from various wars. We were surprised to find out that the first ANZACs actually departed from Albany Harbour. The duty officers, as elderly ex-military soldiers were very ... read more

The big trees were constant as we travelled east the short distance to Walpole. They continue to WOW us but we also pondered the potential for bushfire and loss considering the closeness to homes and towns. Walpole is set amongst a number of National Parks and though everything is wet, green and lush at the moment, we were left wondering just how much it dries out in the summer months. We stayed in a caravan park within the National Park located on an inlet where the Deep and Frankland Rivers meet the sea. There are two sections to the inlet with the first bay much smaller than the second. The salty but still water tempted those wishing to catch a fish, whilst the shoreline and forest tempted others into bush walking. The views were stunning. A ... read more

The Margaret River region is very beautiful and obviously flush with cash. It is unbelievably lush with a mix of tall densely wooded forests, beautifully manicured vineyards and grassy paddocks filled with dairy cattle. Below the ground is equally stunning with approximately 200 caves, only a small number of which are open to the public. We located ourselves in a caravan park some 17 kilometres out of town. This proved to be quite central to our activities. Set on a farm, we were entertained by a variety of animals, some of which proved to be more friendly than others as Greg found out. Just ask the pig. There is lots to entertain visitors. Wineries, beer and cider breweries, several chocolate factories, several cheese factories and an icecreamery all had tastings and sales. Mazes, mountain bike and ... read more