Blogs from Wave Rock, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

Well if you read the last Blog entry you will see that we were really really happy to be leaving Mason Bay ...not ! But as we had a date to keep in Busselton we had to keep moving. Today we are headed to Wave Rock, and beyond, and our first port of call was Hopetoun. Nestled on the shores of Mary Ann Haven is the picturesque holiday town of Hopetoun. Originally a thriving Port town that serviced the nearby Phillips River Goldfields, Hopetoun is situated on a point that reaches out into the Southern Ocean between two sweeping bays. The coastline to both the east and west of the town boasts unspoilt, pristine white beaches, popular with holiday makers for swimming, boating, fishing and snorkelling. Mason Bay to the east is an example of these ... read more

Having picked up a hire car we decided to head out to ‘wheatbelt country’, the south eastern region from Perth. This area consists of vast open fields with granite outcrops dotted between bushland and wheatfields as far as the eye can see. Most of the fields were being seeded at this time of the year but we could just imagine what it would look like in November around harvesting time. We follow the Great Eastern highway through Cunderin and onto Kellerberrin before turning south for the little town of Bruce Rock. This town definitely has ‘pioneer town’ written all over it - the town consists of only a row of shops all in clapperboard style with even the cars being from a bygone age. We stopped to fill up the car with petrol and at first ... read more

We are on the road at last! Said our farewells to Perth, after celebrating Australia Day with the family down at the Riverside at Skyworks fireworks and air show - amazing to see how much Australians celebrate their national day!!Everyone wears the flag, drapes it on their car or waves it from everywhere they can!! On Friday 1st Feb, we headed off from Perth, after spending a week at the caravan park around the road from Geoff and Carole's home in Forrestfield ( alovely camp by the way). We were pleased we did a trial run before heading off, as we had a few problems with the caravan (short in the wiring for the water pump and heater, annexe poles too long...) and were able to get the caravan dealer to sort these out, get the ... read more

Well there we were, settling down in the camper for another quiet night, when there was a knock at the window and a ‘nice’ ranger man said that we couldn’t spend the night there and would have to leave. Not too much of a problem in most countries, but in Oz, particularly out west you don’t want to be on the road at or after dusk. The reason why? In a word - Skippy. Well actually, we’re not talking a cute little kangaroo hopping around harmlessly and helping needy folk out, but thousands of the buggers bouncing all over the place. They are seen as a pest out here and actively culled in some places and you guessed it we did our bit for the cause and not only took out a roo, but the front ... read more

Today is a very late start as the first place we are due to go is the Royal Flying doctors (RFDS) base in Kalgoorlie. We arrived at the base at 10am and was shown a film and then had chance to look around but could not see the plane as it was out on a call. The RFDS is a charity and does not charge for taking patients. We then followed the golden pipeline trail which is a water pipe from Perth to Kalgoorlie. We then took a short cut which meant a drive of 2 hours down an unsealed road. We then arrived at our accommodation which was a cabin at Hyden or Wave Rock. We went to look at Wave Rock which is a rock that look likes a big wave then we went ... read more