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Blog 17
And then there was three
We spent several days around the Alice springs area looking for a suitable place to take Linda for a nights bush camping because we didn’t feel safe enough spending two nights in town , there had been a lot of violence , it wasn’t safe to be on the streets after dark. We went to the site where 4 meteors craters were , this was very interesting , one of the craters had it’s own micro climate , everything in it was green and lush, the others were barren , there was no shade at the site , but the sunset that evening was 180 degrees and lasted a good hour changing from pink and blue to a fierce burning red and orange , we ate dinner while watching it change colours and eventually sink below the horizon, this was definitely a maybe.
Our next stop was rainbow valley. Both these places were south of Alice, rainbow valley was also nice a sheer cliff all the colours of the rainbow , next to a dried up pink salt lake, unfortunately during the early evening a group of young folks arrived , put a couple of speakers on the roof of one of the cars and proceeded to play loud music into the night , but we won , a couple we had met there in the afternoon , Steve and Alison , also were able to play music loudly , starting with classical opera through to didgeridoo, we had to stay up til one in the morning but it was worth it , they had all retired to there swags and Steve put on we are the champions by queen, we also got our own back in the morning , our van is called a whiz bang over here , as when the sliding door is shut it goes whiz BANG, we did this several times, just to make sure they didn’t sleep in.
We met Linda at the airport , did some shopping , then we visited the school of the air , this was very interesting , not two way radio’s anymore most of the work is done over the internet, all the equipment is supplied to the children on the stations , work packs are delivered by the mail plane every 2 weeks. There has to be a separate school room , on the bigger stations a governess oversees the children and their lessons , at the station we stayed on at Banka Banka there were six children , and the governess would organise the schoolwork , but all the work is set by teachers at the school of the air. It was really interesting. We spent the night at Alice Springs after eating a meal at the hotel we sat on the balcony with an Australian couple and the lady was using sign language as she was talking , Linda started signing back and she discovered there was little difference between Australian and British sign language . It rained that night which kept trouble off the streets . The next morning we headed south to Trephina gorge on the east Mac Donnells , This place had it all we decided , we would see how Linda coped with bush camping , she loved it , we wandered down the gorge and while swimming in the water hole a flock of budgies came to the waters edge to drink , we cooked on an open fire , and relaxed to watch the sun set over the gorge, much better than another night in Alice, since we left the town has been declared a dry town , a lot of the problems stem from alcohol.
The next morning we headed south once more to Yalara , David asked if she would like to ride a camel, I think she thought we were kidding until we pulled in at Stuarts Well where camel rides were on offer, David declined , he still remembered how uncomfortable he had been 6 years ago…. I volunteered to accompany her. It was funny sitting astride the camel , we had to lean well back while it unfolded it’s legs and zig zagged to it’s full height then swaying from side to side it ambled up the paddock , then it took off at a trot ,Linda was alright her stirrups were the right length , mine were too short , so I bounced along gripping on for grim death , great. On the long drive we stopped at Mount Connor , the day was overcast , but still warm, late afternoon we arrived at Yalara , the resort near Uluru (Ayres rock) We rose early the next morning 4.45am to be exact to go on a trip to see the sun rise on the rock . Then sky was more impressive than the colours on the rock , next we took a ride around the rock and a visit to a water hole and cave paintings. By 10.30 am we were back in bed , it was then the rain started, it is very rare to see water on the rock , and so under our own steam we returned and water was running down the gullies though not very much. In the evening there was entertainment in the form of a country singer. I’m sure if you ask Linda she could sing about a home among the gum trees with lots of plum trees , a sheep or two and a kangaroo , a blowfly out the back , veranda out the front and an old rocking chair , and I’m sure if you said please she would also show you all the actions to accompany the song.
In the morning we drove to the Olga’s now called something else that escapes me at the moment , we went for a walk to the valley of the winds , it was as if we had stumbled upon a beekeepers convention , everyone was wearing the good old Aussie fly net ,including us. We felt the Olga’s were more impressive than Uluru , we saw zebra finches while doing the self walking tour through the valley of the winds , I didn’t make it all the way , there was a rock face to climb , I think I could have got up this but I’m not sure I could have made the decent on the return , but Dave and Linda succeeded and saw wonderful views .That evening we went on a tour to see the sun set this would be a challenge as it had been overcast most of the day. While we were waiting to go on the evening tour we amused ourselves watching Japanese tourists collecting there luggage from storage , they had been on a lunchtime trip and had each been given a small rucksack containing their lunch , most brought back a muffin and a bottle of water which was removed from the rucksack , the rucksack was then neatly folded and placed in the suitcase , what then to do with the small bottle of water and muffin , ? These too were put in the suitcases , one woman nearly unpacked her whole case to get the muffin in, it was like watching a game out of the Krypton Factor . This was repeated by about 50 Japanese tourists. How we laughed. The next morning we drove to Kings Canyon, what a disappointment , nothing compared to Trephina gorge, but one of those places the brochures say you should visit.
South again the next morning to Coober Pedy , this is aborigine for white man in hole, this is an opal mining community that mostly live underground because of the searing heat, the highest temperature 52.6 degrees. It was cooler this time of year, in fact it was bloody freezing at night. We had booked a tour of Toms mine, it was no longer owned by Tom but a chap called Noel, our guide was called Dave , his first introduction to us was ‘’ hi I’m not Tom , my name is Dave , I shall be your guide , I’m a depressed opal miner , part time. By the time the tour is over you will know as much about opal mining as I do.’’ We appreciated the humour but I feel it was lost on the Germans and Japanese chap that accompanied us. We camped that night by an opal mine .Dave could have erected his tent underground but decided to stay above ground with us. Tonight Linda cooked a wonderful meal that tasted remarkably like spag bol , in fact that is what it was , see , nothing to this bush cooking. In the morning we went fossicking for opals with a little success. We then visited an underground church. The carvings were beautiful , of angels , Madonna and child , and other holy figures, well worth a visit. Our next stop on the long trek south to Port Augusta was Woomera , this was a disaster, the campsite was in front of the roadhouse but there was nowhere else to stop, and there were others camped there , we couldn’t get the tent pegs in but not a problem , with Dave inside it would be ok ,as there wasn’t much wind anyway , we had dinner then went to the roadhouse for a couple of drinks before retiring , oh I forgot Linda washed up and the plug went flying out of the door , still not a problem we would find it in the morning. In the early hours of the morning we were joined in the van by a wet and cold Dave , he had risen to point percy at the porcelain and when he returned to the tent the door was on the top, it had blown over , but that was not the disaster ,the evening before we had left our glasses on the table outside and the wind and driving rain had taken them off the table and smashed them into the sea of mud that now surrounded us., now that was a disaster ….We dismantled the tent , our feet getting heavier as the red clay soil stuck to them, how we laughed. Still we had breakfast bypassed Port Augusta and headed for Streaky Bay. So called because of the different coloured seaweed .Here we dried out washed away the mud and met a nice couple called Leigh and Jeff and their dog called Bryn, there was also a local dog that tried to get in the tent with Dave , Linda lit an amazing fire and we spent a lovely evening . We decided to stay another day here before crossing the Nullarbor . Leigh and Jeff were going into town , did we need anything, we gave them a shopping list. We had a relaxing day walking along the beach , and gathering wood for the nights fire , another camper came to talk to us , I didn’t get his name , he was telling us about his house in France , and how he and his wife had been travelling for twenty one years , he was 76. Linda asked if he had thought of settling down , ‘’ home is where the wife is ‘’he replied ‘’and she’s in the van ‘’ before we could ask to meet her he said ‘’ she’s been dead a year’’ we looked at each other , what could we say, we all had visions of her mummified body in the caravan , but he added that he had , had her cremated , so in fact it was her ashes that were in the van , ‘’I strap her into the front seat of the car when we are on the move though.’’
No sooner had he gone than the wind began to pick up, the tent was looking decidedly unstable , we walked around the site looking for a more sheltered spot , which we found down by the man and his wife’s ashes , he would make sure nobody camped there while we gathered up our stuff , another evening was spent around one of bushy Linda’s fires. In the morning I asked Linda if she would like a kettle boiled for a wash ‘’ I had one yesterday ‘’ was her reply . From here we stopped at the Nullarbor Roadhouse, it was very cold and windy but at least we could have a hot shower. We paused briefly at Cocklebiddy , to see if we could see any whales in the great Australian bight , but there was what the Australians call a lazy wind , it cuts right through you , too lazy to go round . We didn’t stay long. Across the Nullarbor we noticed 3 or 4 landing strips on the road for the Royal flying Doctor to use.
Nullarbor , many people think this is an aborigine word in fact it is Latin meaning no arbour , no trees. It is a vast red plain , with the odd scrub and it goes on for miles , often we drove through rain , or could see rainbows in the distance. We camped that night at a site called Domblegabby it is just after the start of the longest , straightest , stretch of road in Australia , it goes 146 kilometres without one bend not even a slight one. We saw kangaroos on our arrival , the wind had dropped , the sky was clear, Linda set about gathering wood for the fire. The sunset that night was perfect , it dropped behind a mulga tree. The stars were bright , the fire provided much needed warmth, the toilet was a bit primitive, but no creepy crawlies .
There was great excitement the next morning , we were nearing the town of Norseman . Popular legend has it Laurie Sinclair was passing through the area on a horse called Norseman , he had stopped to track down his brother who was prospecting , he tethered his horse for the night , and in the morning discovered that the horse had pawed the earth and uncovered a chunk of gold reef. His find was named after his horse , and in time the mining town sprung up on the sight and took the name as well.
Alas even though it was written in big letters on the map it was another outback town that had seen it’s heyday. Our next destination was the town of Hyden , this is where we would see wave rock. We had hoped to go south to Esperance , and round the bottom end and up to Perth but the weather was too cold. We asked in the tourist information about the dirt road that went straight from Norseman to Hyden , the lady assured us it was a good road after the first 20 kilometres , which was corrugated, and so we decided to chance it even though it was best part of three hundred kilometres.
And she was quite right , we stopped halfway across at Lake Johnston , this was another salt lake but we soon settled on it’s shore , Linda lit the fire which we cooked on that night , and breakfast the next morning. The next day we reach wave rock , The days are warm , the evenings still cold but not as bitter as they have been , and no more rain.
We were nearing the Indian Ocean , we decided to head north of Perth , stopping the next night in Quairading in one of those old Victorian hotels , very basic but hot showers down the hall.
At last we reach the coast just north of Cervantes , at a place called thirsty point , Linda heads straight for the water , it’s that beautiful turquoise colour and looks so inviting, but its cold, we find a site near the sea , tonight we eat out at Jurian bay . In the morning we go down to the beach determined to have a dip , we are the only ones on the beach , we get in just above the knees and decide the rips are too strong . After lunch we go to the Pinnacle Dessert , and a lake where there are some stromatalites , ( We have since discovered in fact what we were looking at were not stromatalites but a close relative , thromatalites) here we see kangaroos and emu and another lot of different shaped rocks .The next morning we travel inland to Eneabba a place called Lake Indoon , the lake is empty the mines screwed it up, but we meet Alan and Norma , Maureen and Ted , there is a sign that says fires prohibited , so we don’t light one and everyone retires early .The next morning we are still shivering when the ranger comes round he allows us to light a fire, and even gathers some wood for us , while Linda is digging a pit, she really has taken to bush camping , or maybe it’s because it’s so bloody cold at night and first thing in the morning , a fire is a must.
Now we head south for Perth we book into the same hotel we used 6 years ago it is still perfect. We wash our clothes , ourselves , and take a taxi into town for dinner , with waiters and everything. The next morning we visit the swan tower which houses the bells that used to be in the tower of St Martins -in- the-Fields in London. We then take a boat down the swan river to Freemantle , where we take a tour of a submarine before returning to the hotel for dinner. Linda’s last day we visit Kings Park then we drive back to Fremantle to visit the old jail , we had an interesting tour by a chap from the Portsmouth area of England , but he new his stuff. And all too soon Linda’s trip was over , with heavy hearts we took her to the airport .
And so we start the last leg of our journey , now we are two again , we return to lake Indoon for one night and light a fire for Linda, it just seems strange her not being here.
We don’t have anything planned we just drift along up the west coast until something quirky catches our eye and our first port of call is Oakabella Homestead it was constructed in 1860 , they raise sheep and cattle and do Devonshire cream teas , well you didn’t think it was the sheep or cattle that caught our eye did you ? We are the only ones there , we discover that the homestead has been featured on a television programme called Australia’s most haunted and our host is able to pick up strange auras , I am afraid we are too sceptical to be drawn in, but Loretta the eccentric cook tells us that tomorrow being Sunday she will be cooking up a roast beef dinner , she hopes she will see us tomorrow , so we camp the night at Coronation beach , we decide we cant miss this , and when we arrive the place is bustling but our table has already been reserved, spooky as we hadn‘t decided that we were actually going while we were there yesterday , we didn‘t even have a camp site, dinner was great , cold chicken and salad followed by fish , then the mighty roast beef , followed by a pudding taken from an 1829 recipe. We slept that afternoon then enjoyed a pleasant evening with a bush musician and his wife and a merry widow , they were all heading south , we warned them of the weather, and no she didn’t carry her husbands ashes in the van.
Our next stop was the Principality of the Hutt River Province , this is the second largest country in Australia . It was created on 21st April 1970 , a farmer called Len Casley had bought 75 square kilometres of land and he grew wheat , that year he had a good crop something like 54thousand ton , but the government said he could only sell 1 thousand five hundred ton under the government quotas, the rest would have to rot in the fields .Looking in the face of ruin , Len decided to secede from the commonwealth of Australia under a (hastily closed) legal loophole, he had read how to do it in The Encyclopaedia Britannica . He could now export his wheat to Australia.
On the 2nd December 1977 a state war was declared between Hutt river Province and the Commonwealth , on the 4th December 1977 the war was officially declared to be ceased. It is an International Law Principle that sovereignty is automatic to a country undefeated from a state of war. In June 1978 official notification of the acceptance and application of the Geneva Convention of 12th August 1949 act 103 of 1957 of the Commonwealth of Australia. This Commonwealth Law stipulates that the occupying power shall govern. Hence under the law of the Commonwealth of Australia the government of the Hutt River Province is the only government authorised to govern the territory of the Principality. Clever man , Prince Leonard , he showed us around the Principality , it has a government office where passports are issued , it has a post office the first day covers were painted by his granddaughter , it has a beautiful church , it’s own army , navy , in fact anything you would expect , even its own bank notes . Despite concerted efforts by the Western Australia Government to legally overturn the secession , more than 30 years later Prince Leonard and Princess Shirley remain the monarchs of the only principality in the world declared without bloodshed. The Government think it will all die out when they die but the family numbers 35 members now with children and grandchildren and great grand children , and the sons say there father fought too hard and long for them not to continue and see that future generations do the same. What a wonderful place.
From here we went to Hamelin Pool , home of the Stromatolites , for those of you who don’t know what these are, they are the oldest living things on the planet 3,000million years and 2 weeks old, well they were 3,000million years old when we visited and that was two weeks ago, they are strange rock formations that make a chemical reaction , this enables them to give off small amounts of oxygen and over millions of years they raised the level of the oxygen on earth to enable other life forms to evolve , that is me and you. In the old telegraph station nearby there is a stromatolite display and in a tank lives the only living stromatolite in captivity . With patience and your nose pressed against the glass you can see small bubbles of oxygen rising through the water . Our guide couldn’t understand why people travelled from all over the world to look at a bubbling rock . He had , had this job for two weeks , we suggested he read Bryson’s account of this , he said there was a copy in the adjoining café , perhaps he would , but they were still just rocks.
And so we carry on north turning left to Denham , we didn’t go to Monkey Mia to stand on a beach with a hundred other tourists to feed the dolphins we went straight on to Cape Peron , here there is a lookout where you can see the dolphins in the wild , we saw four surrounding a shoal of fish driving them into the shallows and feeding themselves, much more satisfying. Plus the road was a bit of a challenge , soft sand , engage 4 wheel drive all the way , good practice for the Paris Dakar. We are at Canarvon at the moment we realise we may not get another connection before , who knows when maybe Darwin. Plus we both needed haircuts , got to keep up standards you know , drinking out of glass again. You may be wondering about the lost plug , well the old one always was a bit annoying , the bit in the middle was always catching on something and I would lose precious water , Linda bought a new one in Norseman a much better plug. The trouble with this side of Australia is there is a lot of space between , but we love it , the scenery changes , the view to the horizon , and who knows what you might find along the way. Tomorrow we cross the tropic of Capricorn again, we hope the weather will improve , although the days are warm the nights are still cold.
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Linda
non-member comment
Thanks
Hi Jo and Dave Thanks for the amazing trip I loved every minute and wasn't at all bothered it wasn't scorching every day. I miss all the O'Clocks and am introducing them here. Miss the fires too, but have the chimenear to fire up. Miss you too but can't make a cut out so will put up with it. See you soon, watch out for the scorpians in the bog. p.s. have just about managed to stop slamming down the toilet seat!!!!