We have been quiet on the blog for the past couple of weeks as we have as intended been spending time with our family who live in Perth. In addition, we have had some unplanned journeys after dialling 000 as a result of some cardiac arrhythmia issues. An ER is a really interesting place to watch a different slice of human endeavour. The ER was locked down with police guards when my ambulance arrived. From Marg's nursing experience I was aware that this mostly happens when a felon, or seriously at risk victim needs urgent medical assistance. In this instance, the patient was under constant armed guard as well as the external entry/exit from the busy ER. During the 4 hours where I was being sorted out by ER plus resident Cardiologist, there was an amazing ... read more

Having an early start off the Nullarbor run yesterday (Saturday), we headed south to Esperance Info Centre to get our National Parks pass for the time we will be in WA. It is $8.00 per day, $40 per month, or $50 per year. Since we will be in WA for 3 months and visit several parks over the time, we opted for the annual pass. Armed now with our access, we headed east from Esperance for 50 odd ks to Cape Le Grand. It is a grand and interesting place. The high granite rocks (345 meters from sea level) are thought to have been islands now pushed up out of the sea. (Or are sea levels now 50 meters lower than the past) The landscape has many boulders that have dropped off the peak, and others ... read more

We have stoped a couple of times previously in Ceduna. This is a town where there is a real cultural mix and a happy hunting ground for lovers of Aboriginal Art. There are some very talented artists here, and every time we come, we just love viewing their latest works. The best of the best are outside our budget, but are wonderfully crafted, often blending aboriginal traditional techniques within modern art styles. Almost always these works tell a story. One we admired was a traditional styled 'Bush Fire'. The patterns and styling were fantastic. Ceduna is also a grain export port, and the dock was busy during our stay. The plains from the top of the Eyre Peninsular to Ceduna and west are very productive with a mix of grains, canola and sheep stations. The farmers ... read more

Sunday 5th May We love being woken with birdsong and waves swishing on the shoreline. Today we were woken by some great rumbling thunder and wondered if we should cancel the day and hide under the blankets for 24 hours. Oh joy, within half an hour the sun was out and any thought of wasting the day vanished. As an aside, while we slept well at Elliston, the occupiers of a pop-top caravan next to us didn't. Every few minutes a gum nut would drop from the tree and land on his tin roof with a real 'Plop'. On more than one occasion it wasn't one, but rather a shower from a pretty tall tree. I hope they had the gumption to ask for our gum nut free site after we left this morning. Marg was ... read more

Tuesday May 2nd Well, we reckon we are 1/4 of the way around Australia on our big adventure! We have driven over 5,000 kilometres since we left home and this is day 72, so on both counts we are around 25% through our circumnavigation of Australia. This morning was bright and fine so after breakfast we headed south out from Louth Bay and down towards Port Lincoln after taking a picture of the glistening sea at the Louth Bay jetty. Along the way we came to The Black Stump. Well, the official black stump was destroyed a few years back after a bush fire. The new Black Stump is actually a Black Rock - more fire proof! The Black Stump commemorated an early mission established in the area in 1850 called the Pooninde Mission. Now it ... read more