Echuca/Moama - Dandenong - Yarra Valley, Warburton No trip to Echuca would be complete without going for a cruise on the Murray River on a Paddle Steamer - lovely and relaxing. Then after an ice cream we headed back into NSW (Mathoura) to the Gulpa Creek Reed Beds Bird Observatory. The next day we left to pick up a package for Anne from Dandenong then continued on to Warburton for a couple of days. It is amazing how green everything is down here and there is some awesome scenery along the way. We managed to dodge a lot of the rain throughout the day, and arrived in Warburton in time to set up camp just before the storms hit. The weather has turned cold again and we are thankful that we opted for a powered site ... read more

Adelaide - Barmera (wet) - Flinders Ranges (dry) Adelaide was not on our original plan, but it was nice to catch up with family with an unplanned visit. It was also good to get out of the wind and cold for a couple of days - and it provided an opportunity for me to recuperate and plan for the next part of our journey. Then it was back on the road, going first to Barmera. We had been to this riverland town during a previous trip, and I thought it would be nice to spend a couple more days relaxing by the beautiful Lake Bonnie. Hopefully the weather behaves... We had one really nice sunny day and was able to explore the town and the countryside around Lake Bonnie. Rain was predicted for the following day, ... read more

Porongurup - Breakaways (campground) - Fraser Ranges The road from Porongurup to Hyden is very picturesque with the Stirling Ranges forming the background for the first part of the journey, then lakes and farming land before becoming more natural bushland. There were more wildflowers (in patches) and a couple of new ones that we hadn't seen yet. We had a fuel stop at Amelup, a photo stop at a pink lake and then on to Lake Grace for brunch and then topped up with fuel at Hyden before heading towards Norseman for our overnight stop at the Breakaways campground (freecamp about halfway between Hyden and Norseman). The Breakaways campground was a surprise, with awesome rock formations and more flowers, and it was pretty quiet - not too close to the road and not many other campers. ... read more

Esperance - Boondi Rock/Dam - Toodyay Our last night in Esperance it rained all night, but stopped in the early hours of the morning. We packed up and headed out of Esperance before it started again, heading north to get away from the rain. We need to be in Northam for the car service on Friday so planned to stay somewhere between Esperance and Northam overnight, then continue to Toodyay where we will stay for a couple of nights. Stopping for lunch at Coolgardie we decided to continue on to Boondi Rock and check out the campground. When we arrived at Boondi we were alone - no other campers. We set up camp and collected some firewood in preparation for the cold night, then went for a walk around the dam and rock. The dam was ... read more

Kalgoorlie - Gwalia - Niagara Dam - Lake Ballard - Salmon Gum - Esperance We managed to miss the rain by heading north from Kalgoorlie, but unfortunately we couldn't avoid the wind. We visited Gwalia - a ghost town near Leonora - then went to Niagara Dam (for a picnic lunch), and then out to Lake Ballard to see the statues and spend the night at the campground. Gwalia was excellent - you could walk through the old buildings and see the type of materials used. The story behind Niagara Dam was interesting - after it was built an underground spring was discovered nearby. The wind got stronger as the day progressed, and by the time we got to Lake Ballard it was blowing a gale. The BOM weather warning predicted wind gusts up to 100km/hr ... read more