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Published: April 10th 2010
Saturday 27th March 2010 We woke early but by the time we had packed, hitched up the van and had a shower it was already after 0900 before we got away. Made good time to Norseman where we went to the Shell garage as advised by Glen for the cheapest fuel, and also picked up a printout they supply giving the cheapest fuel stops across the Nullabor. It was fairly accurate we found but the differences in price were nearer 10c/litre rather than the 20c we were made to expect. Still a good saving though considering the distances we were traveling.
We alternated in driving, doing about 2 hours per stint, and by the time we were ready to call it a day had passed Cocklebiddy and found a campsite about 20kms past. 670 kms in a day.
Sunday 28th March 2010 After toasting our 11th wedding anniversary with a cup of tea we set off once again for a long day and covered over 620 kms. We stopped at another rest area to the south of Penong, about 30 kms before Ceduna.
We shared this campsite with a couple from Ocean Reef who were
on their way home after 12 months on the road, as well as a group going to the Off-road championships to be held at Hyden over Easter. This group was very well set up with large trailers, 5th wheel trailers containing the living quarters as well as the off-road buggy, and most impressive of all,a specially built trailer with a prime mover in front. The owner, Bruce, was proud to show us the large living area with a double bedroom, shower, toilet, kitchen and sofa space. This was reached by a steep set of stairs clipped to the side. Beneath this were the water tanks and holding tanks. Behind all of that was a large, fully equipped workshop with its mandatory beer fridge and behind this was the buggy on an inclined ramp so that it could be worked on from underneath. We don't think that there would be much change from $1m for the lot.
Bruce mentioned that they came to WA regularly to compete, which is why he built it. He also mentioned that he came from Tamworth, so being sticky-beaks we Googled him when we had reception and found he is a Director of Readimix.
Monday 29th March Our watches said 0530 when we got up this morning, there being only a little bit of light. The whole morning was spent in confusion about the time, SA is still on daylight saving until Easter Sunday.
We reached Ceduna at 0800 (we think) after going through the Quarantine Stop just outside the town. What a farce that was. We had cooked up our apples to put on our muesli, cooked and frozen any vegetables we had. Last time we came across from Queensland ,when we bought the Jeep, we were searched thoroughly by the WA Quarantine and they even confiscated empty fruit boxes. SA Quarantine stood at the door of the van, saw the fridge was clear and told us to pass. If we were 'smuggling' vegetables or fruit that would be the last place to leave them. In fact we later found some rotten plums we had put in a cupboard when leaving home and forgotten!
Just as you come into Ceduna there is a toilet 'dump' station (nice tautology!) which we used, and also took the opportunity to top up with fresh water. Pity I left the the water cap behind.
:-(
Now we had the choice of staying or continuing from Ceduna. As it was, after we had decided to continue towards Port Lincoln, we heard that the caravan parks were fully booked.
A lovely spot remained at the Streaky Bay Caravan Park, right on the water's edge. Judy fell in love with the area and has been doing her maths. She reckons that the distance between here and Perth and the distance between Perth and Broome are about the same, so why not come here? Rags pointed out that that might be ok at this time of the year, but Broome in Perth's winter would be far nicer than winter here.
The afternoon was spent on a drive around town and then a coastal scenic drive out to Cape Bauer
the Blowholes and Whistling Rocks. Spectacular scenery reminiscent of some of the cliff and surf areas of our SW.
On our return we talked to a couple cleaning a catch of crabs on the beach, only to be given large handfuls of crab to “eat now while they're fresh”. This we did over a cold beer, the crabs being the tastiest either of us have had
for a long time.
As by now it was 'beer time' (we think) we then sat under the trees drinking champagne and eating the oysters we had bought in Ceduna, to belatedly celebrate our anniversary.
Tuesday 30th March 2010 - Thursday 1st April 2010 We arrived in Port Lincoln in the early afternoon. We booked into the caravan park, all sites being 'steppes' in the side of a hill overlooking the ocean. We may have a few problems finding caravan sites over Easter, ours only available for tonight. As the park was no-where near full they must be expecting a lot of people tomorrow.
Judy had managed to contact Leona, a 3rd cousin, who lived there and we had been invited to dinner at her place. We were welcomed to her new home, an older one now being refurbished, set fairly high, close to the shopping precinct and overlooking the harbour.
Later, Marcus, her new partner arrived and we renewed/made acquaintances over a platter of delicious cheeses washed down with wine. This was followed by a simple pasta meal and much discussion on life etc. Marcus, a bit of an artist, sketched a caricature of
Streaky Bay
What a perfect spot right on the beach!Rags whilst we were talking. He's not too certain on whether he likes it or not!
Wednesday commenced with a tour of the town, a visit to the marina where we saw the crayboats, tuna boats and oyster farms as well as the modern development of the quay with many flash apartments and houses with absolute water frontages. This was followed by a long day of driving, finishing at Port Augusta.
Thursday was another early start, we having gone to bed quite early. Judy has picked up a wog of some kind as is not feeling the best. About 120kms out of Adelaide we stopped for morning tea and as there was a strong mobile signal took the opportunity to book a caravan park. Just as well we did, the first was booked out, the second would only take us for 1 night. We took this and will work out what we are doing when we got there.
Three people met us at the gate of the park when we got there, 3 vans in front of us and more coming in behind. All the paperwork was pre-prepared, all we had to do was sign the register
Razor Fish
We saw people collecting these for the tasty morsel inside. and in we went. The park is very large and there seemed to be lots of space but when we returned after a trip to the city the place was nearly full. All of South Australia must come here at Easter!
Our couple of hours in the city was a bit like going down Memory Lane. Judy was born here and she pointed out different areas she remembered and we took photos of the outside of the high school she attended for over 2 years. Part of it is now a Montessori Child Care, and it appeared as if it was lodging for uni students. For Rags it was remembering his first ACEC conference he attended with Judy in1998.
The Adelaide Markets was the key objective, we loved them so much all those years ago. The stalls with their brightly coloured displays of fruit and vegetables, the cheese stalls, the stalls dedicated to dried sausages such as Tununda Mettwurst as well as the meat displays of the different butchers make this place an exciting and interesting one to experience. We couldn't buy any fruit and vegetables as we will be crossing into Victoria in the next couple of
days. We did however buy some cheeses, a couple of different mettwursts including emu, as well as some pickled calamari and a couple of chicken, spinach and pine nut sausages to have tonight. One thing we noticed was how much cheaper meat and vegetables are here compared to Perth. More competition and less transport costs we assumed.
Our caravan site is surrounded by camps with lots of children, including a camp school behind us that we hadn't noticed previously. Pretty noisy but seemed to calm down a bit by about 1000hrs.
We're moving on tomorrow towards Melbourne, another 700kms away, intending to spread the trip over 2.5 days giving Judy a chance to do some marking of her online uni students' work when we stop on the way. No rest for the wicked!
Good Friday, 2nd April 2010 We joined the throng leaving Adelaide this morning. Luckily, there are lots of passing lanes as there were always cars ready to pass us when we arrived at these. We came across a fresh accident where 2 cars had obviously touched and now both were on their roofs in the bush at the side of the road. Lots of
cars had already stopped so we continued on our way warily. We had decided to take the opportunity to stop early and get off the roads when we found a super campsite in a little town called Keith. Here Judy spent the afternoon getting her head around the first assignment for her Humanities students and marked about half of them. Rags relaxed with his novel and spent some time chatting to our neighbour who had a newish Jeep and caravan.
The barbecue area was right behind us so we made use of it. A young French couple came to cook their meal and we started chatting with them as well as sharing our left over vegies with them. We discovered they'd blown a tyre on their one week old camper which they had bought to drive to Perth. They had been told that nothing would be open in Keith until after Easter and were resigned to waiting as their spare was also soft. Rags offered to use his compressor to pump it up which he did as well as another one and we suggested they try to get to Murray Bridge on Saturday as being a bigger centre it
should have somewhere open that could supply them with a new spare.
Saturday - Sunday 4th April 2010 Saturday was just a travel day with a stop at Horsham, where we did some shopping. As Judy had a hankering for a roast meal we had a $10 counter meal at one of the pubs before stopping the night at a little town named Ararat just outside of Ballarat.
After a very cold night we continued on, reaching the outskirts of Melbourne just before lunch. A missed turn on the freeway (the GPS 'told' us too late to turn) delayed us a little but eventually we found ourselves on the edge of the city. Doncaster was where we were headed, some distance out of Melbourne and we had hoped to bypass the city.
After a few wrong turns and corrections we found ourselves headed for the right freeway only to notice that we were likely to run out of fuel before reaching our destination. Luckily we still had a full jerrycan so the tank was topped up before we set off.
We reached Judy's old Perth friends, Carol & Richard, and were made very welcome and
given a lunch. After a bit of judicious pruning we were able to park the caravan on their driveway where it will stay for the rest of the week.
One of Carol & Richard's daughters, Jackie, and her husband plus a couple of nieces & partners, came for an enjoyable Easter afternoon tea after which the four of us spent a relaxing evening talking.
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kerry
non-member comment
Hi from the Costa Brava
Sounds like a pleasant trip. We loved Streaky Bay. Love Kerry and Steve.