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Published: March 2nd 2009
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The Nullarbor
Saw emus,kangaroos but no camels... WE CROSSED THE NULLARBOR IN TWO DAYS AND ONE NIGHT…WITH THE HELP OF IPODS, PHONE GAMES, COOKIES, HUBBA BUBBA AND JOJO’S SLEEEEPS. More of that to come…….
Our journey continued from Coffin Bay to Venus Bay where we found ourselves in a caravan park with people whose religion was fishing. Max, Sam and Joe spent hours at the filleting table looking at the endless whiting being scaled and gutted. Sam soon took to feeding the remains to the pelicans. We soon developed a reputation as the only occupants of the caravan park who didn’t catch anything at Venus Bay (we were hampered by the lack of a boat). The boy’s awe-filled eyes at the filleting table must have sparked some pity as we received two lots of handouts of Australian Salmon and Tommy Ruff which served as our meal for two nights. So while we didn’t catch any fish, the boys learnt a great deal about generating sympathy and how to fillet a fish in 20 seconds or less.
Streaky Bay was our next stop, via Murphy’s Haystacks (yes we are following in Alison Lester’s footsteps) and the boys were excited when they spotted the girl’s van…we have made
Streaky Bay
The Boys with their four buddies friends with a Sydney family and keep bumping into them. Streaky Bay has a popular caravan park on the water. Within minutes there were plenty of men giving Adam reversing advice and instant grandmas teaching the kids how to make fish catchers. (Don’t worry they don’t know how to make pavlova or cheesecake) The boys spent an entire afternoon catching fish with their friends and we would like to thank Anne for the gift of time to read our books and laze on our very comfy lounge chairs.
Max, Sam and The Girls( Emma, Rose, Juliet & Claire) decided to sell cockle (pipi) shells (good for bait) that they had collected to some generous soul who was unaware (as were we) that they were all under sized. Low and behold, their toothy grins succeeded in pocketing them $11.00and we are now in W.A. so the fisheries department can’t get us. We must also mention Sam’s first catch of a King George Whiting at Sceale Bay. His dad was asking him why he was reeling his line in again. Sam smiled looked at his hook coming out of the water and Max shouted: “Sam you’ve caught something!” Sam was as
Baird Bay
Little kiss surprised as Adam was! As Adam attempted his first filleting, Sam stood over him, providing endless pointers and instructions picked up at the fish cleaning stations at Venus Bay: “Dad, closer to the gill; You’re leaving too much fish on the bone; not bad for your first try.” Thankfully a Wobbegong (Shark/Ray family) swam by and diffused the growing tension.
A highlight of our trip so far has definitely been swimming with sea lions and dolphins at Baird Bay. We headed out on a boat to the open sea to swim with the majestic but elusive dolphins. Jojo and Sam watched from the boat as Mum, Dad and Max swum with a pod nearby. The pod approached and we had a chance to get up close and personal with them before they disappeared into the shivery waters. The sea lions however were playful like puppies, happy to fool around, jumping with all five of us as we cavorted and tumbled with them in a sheltered cove. Kathy got a kiss and Adam a nuzzle, while Max dived under and joined in the fun. Sam and Jojo floated on the top and loved the surprise of the sea lions jumping
Cape Le Grand NP
Maybe this is the beginning of Skippy The Movie out of the water next to them.
This amazing trip was followed by a marathon across The Nullarbor that was long, treeless (Jojo: “Somebody has taken all the trees Mama!”) and interrupted by a night in Eucla and overpriced fuel. Emus, roadhouses and occasional views to the Great Australian Bight served as the only respite from incredibly straight long roads totaling 1300km. You know that the trip is getting to you when the distant speck of a potential caravan gets everyone excited as Kornies5 prepare for their wave and “yo dude”(more commonly known as the caravan salute) to the passing traveler. Jojo was renamed DJ Joe as guilty parents attempted anything to keep a mini traveler happy…we handed him all of our cd’s. He took them out of the case one by one and proceeded to demand a song change every few minutes. For some reason his sorting process was slightly flawed and we heard Van Morrison and Bozo's Rocketship (thanks mum!) one too many times.
A quick stop at Woolies in Esperance had our little consumer Sammie jumping up and down, his enthusiasm for shopping only matched by his devouring of donuts that were on special. We
made our way to Cape Le Grande National Park to the Lucky Bay Campsite. Western Australian’s know how to camp! Real toilets, warm showers and I guess I should mention the magical blue waters and squeaky white sand on the beach, kangaroos and all, just next to the campsite. Again the girls were spotted (now known as the Devine family and yes they really are lovely) and we have been snorkeling, exploring sand dunes and rock pools together. Max caught a huge squid in the afternoon, which was expertly gutted and cooked by big haired Korny (think Tom Hanks in Castaway… I hope I have more going for me than Wilson) and we shared it for entrée with the Devines. They kindly shared their barbecue chippies which I think will be added to Sam and Max's $15.00 meal repertoire.
After The Devines departed, we explored more of the National Park and came across another stunning spot, Hellfire Bay, where we had a picnic lunch, climbed rocks and Max and Sam mastered the art of body surfing. We returned to commence pack up and have pushed on to Bremer Bay.
We have decided to run a competition that will
Venus Bay Jetty
Jojo coming back from another inspection of other people's catches continue throughout our trip: Guess how many cookies per hour are consumed by Jojo, in the car, on a travelling day. Please send your estimate with a self-addressed envelope and $5.00 to The Joe Kornhauser Chocolate Chip Cookie Fund. X Kornies 5
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Shellie Jelinek
non-member comment
Wow
Wow!!! It looks like you are having a wonderful time!! The photos of the haystack are totally amazing!! What are they made of??? Aidan's email is aidanjelly@hotmail.com We love and miss you guys tons and wish you safe and happy adventures.... ps my guess is 13 cookies for a 3 hour trip! xox shel and co