We arrived in Derby early Saturday morning and our first stop was the Visitors’ Centre. Judy had already been in touch with her step sister Lorrain and had an address. We discovered this was right across the road from the Visitors’ Centre. Lorrain was at work in her Toy Shop, aptly named Sparkies Toyshop (her and her husband also own an electrical business) when we dropped in to say hello. She gave us a key to the gate of the block where we were to park the caravan so we dropped off the caravan before checking out a local Saturday market. [View Full Entry]

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Broome Our first afternoon in Broome was spent replacing the jockey wheel, restocking at the shops and a quick drive around. Our first stop on the second day was Gantheaume Point where at very low tides dinosaur footprints can be seen. As the tide was up, these were underwater but we did enjoy amazing rock formations and observation of the ospreys around their nest on the lighthouse. From Gantheaume Point we followed a dusty red dirt road past Reddell beach to the Port of Broome where we parked and walked out on the Deep Water Jetty where several people were trying [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Marble Bar around lunch time and went straight to Peter and Marreta’s to pick up our wine that had been delivered from “Get Wines Direct”. We were soon made to feel at home. We combined the makings of a cooked lunch with the Banes and had a wonderful cook up for lunch. An invitation was extended to us to stay for a BBQ that night to farewell Heather as she had decided to take up a job offer in Canada and was leaving at the end of term. A great night was had by all which meant that [View Full Entry]

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Nullagine 21-27th June After a leisurely drive we arrived in Nullagine about lunch time which gave us plenty of time to set up camp at the Nullagine Tourist Park. Although we’d met the managers previously we found them quite abrupt. When we commented about the small size of the caravan site we were told “ If you don’t like it perhaps Mitchell can find you somewhere else!” Mitchell is the new principal at Nullagine Remote Community School. After lunch we wandered across the road to catch up with Mitchell and found him at the school. He told us Dianne wou [View Full Entry]

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We thought we wouldn’t have enough new material to write about Marble Bar but we discovered places we hadn’t been before. We pulled into the Caravan Park just after lunch. It was obvious immediately that things were different with the new owners. We were told to park anywhere we liked so we spent some time deciding on our preferred aspect. It was interesting to see little caravans in spots best for the larger vans. Hopefully a big van won't come in and not be able to park! Working at the school almost felt like we hadn’t been away with most of [View Full Entry]

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Exmouth After lunch in Carnarvon we decided to divert to the Blowholes as Judy had never been this way before. We were glad we did as the water spout and coastline were quite spectacular with the steep cliffs and the surf surging against it. The camp area here stretches for several kilometres and we were astounded by the number of caravanners and shacks here. We felt the shacks really lowered the tone of the area and hopefully they’ll be removed soon as they have been elsewhere along the coast. After travelling for about a kilometre past caravans and campers we [View Full Entry]

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We bade farewell to Geraldton soon after school finished and headed north. Just on dark we made camp in the bush opposite Billabong Roadhouse. Even though our book said we could camp here there was a sign that said “No Camping”. It was too late to care and we were in the company of at least one other camper. After an early takeoff we arrived at Hamelin Bay where we viewed the stromatolites which exist there. The weather was perfect and we loved the walk down to the bay past the ancient shell brick quarry. From here we continued to Whalebone [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 17th May, 2009 Today we are off on our caravan trip heading north and eventually going through the centre of Australia to the south coast, returning via Esperance before returning sometime in September. We have organized some work on the way to help defray the expenses and to meet some of the locals. We didn't get away from home until 10am, our first stop a petrol station to put more air in the caravan tyres. Unfortunately, the turn was a bit tight as we drove into the first one and we couldn't see a way to get close enough to [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 22nd April The Link Hotel was a welcome bit of luxury after Hanoi. The room was small but elegantly appointed and we sank into the comfortable bed about 3am with relief. We were ready for the free hotel shuttle the next morning at the scheduled time of 9.50am but had to wait impatiently another 20 minutes for it to arrive. It stopped in Orchard Road before depositing us at Clarke Quay. After appreciating the beauty of this area we caught the MRT to the Mustafa Centre where we bought a few last minute purchases but time runs out quickly and [View Full Entry]

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Monday 20th April The next morning we met the rest of our group at breakfast and had several cups of coffee and tea as we chatted to them and said our farewells. After breakfast we made the most of our air conditioned room at the Army, relaxing and uploading our blog. We checked out of the our room by 11am and caught a taxi to our new hotel - certainly worth it for the couple of dollars it cost us. Classic 1 is part of the Sunshine Group and appears to have been recently renovated. Our room was clean, spacious [View Full Entry]

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