Oct 20 Went out to Greens Pool & Elephant Rocks in the morning. Who should be there but the 3 couples we can’t seem to shake ( or them shake us!!). While a bit further out the ocean was pretty rough, not at all in the Pool. Nice quiet and a lovely green.. Great place for a picnic and a quiet swim. Back to the Toffee Facotry to see them busily making their toffee. Had to buy an ice cream cone, of course. Then off to the wineries!! A bit of a disappointment as 2 of the ones we wanted to visit were closed. HOWEVER Linda picked one for the name and we, luckily, were near it. So we stopped in at Rickety Gate Winery. And had our tastings given by the owner. Asked for and ... read more

Oct 11 Swan Valley Spring in the Valley. What can we say; a wine festival. How lucky for us Lots and lots of people, lots of wine tasting, lots of too much to drink. They have a lot of tour buses and lots of shuttle busses so you don’t drink & drive. We visited 4 wineries, 1 distillery and stopped at a craft market for lunch. Out of the wineries, Entopia was our favourite. One place we saw 14 police, 2 horse mounted police, 2 motorcycle police, 2 bicycle police. Mostly young people on the prowl. Have to wonder how long this might last. Some of the wineries don’t take part in the festival. Oct 12 Packed up and headed to Fremantle. Good to be back in civilization again. While we really enjoyed the outback, we ... read more

Sep 29 Broome Drove around a bit. Out to the Port. Not much happening there. Still lovely blue/green water. Stopped in CBD, but being a holiday not much was happening. We did the tour of the Pearl Luggers. Stories of old time pearl/mother-of-pearl diving and a lot of old artifacts from ‘olden’ days. Mother-of-Pearl was the sought after thing, not pearls, back in the later 1800’s/early 1900’s. Dangerous diving with the brass helmet and canvas suit. Fortunes lost and won. Didn’t spend the money for the tour showing the newer pearling, which is artificially making the oyster create pearls. Done on ‘farms’ and 2 years to make a pearl. Interesting stuff. A lazy day, other than the above. Sep 30 Broome to 80 mile beach Scenery West of Broome pretty flat, with few if any trees. ... read more

To our family and friends, we have a small confession to make. It’s a very small, but a confession just the same - we have been keeping something from you and thought it about time we came ‘clean’. Back when we were in Port Augusta, we picked up a stranger as we were leaving town. He was very shy and wouldn’t talk much to start with but we finally learnt that his name is OT. OT has since told us that his is on a walkabout Australia to find his roots (family history). OT was only going to travel with us until the next town but he has been with us since, seems he’s grown fond of us, as well, us with him. I’m sharing a few stories and pictures with you in this blog and ... read more

Sep 15 to 20th 6155km to date, Sep 20, 2008 Costliest petrol, at Elliott: $1.99 per l. Sep 15. New tyres for the van. The rear tyres had very little tread left. No issue with Calypso Campervans about getting the tyres. They paid! Visited Royal Flying Doctors and School of the Air. Both organizations that provide a fantastic service. The RFDS would be similar to our STARS, except they use airplanes. School of the air provides a great education to children that live in remote areas. Whether it’s a small community or an outback station (ranch) Sep 16. Alice Springs to Wycliffe Well. Wycliffe Well the UFO capital of Australia. Lots of extra terrestrial figures around and walls covered with UFO sightings/info. Had a pretty good Chinese meal in the little restaurant. The owners were just ... read more