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Published: August 6th 2011
Albany is quite a large town right on the Southern Ocean. Famous for it’s whaling history and fishing. We also discovered it is good for Strong Weather. As we drove, the winds were strong and the rain was coming down consistently. We pulled in at the Emu Beach Caravan Park and setup for the night. The kids enjoyed the smooth roads of the Caravan Park with their scooters (they haven’t had much action for a while) and jumped on the jumping pillow. BIG 4 parks are very good setups, unfortunately they are quite expensive. This was $70 for us to stay per night, powered site.
That night the cats and dogs smashed at our roof and bed ends all night. Next morning we headed out early to the Southern Ocean side of the National Park to visit “The Gap”, “The Natural Bridge” and “Cable Beach”. It was very gusty and intermittently raining. However the view was spectacular. The Land here was connected to Antarctica some 45 million years ago before it split. The coastline reminds me of photos I have seen of the land in Antarctica. It almost felt as cold and windy! The land formations have to be seen
Albany coastline
Previously connected to Antartica 45 million years agoto be appreciated. Many have died along this coastline in boats and rock fishing and I can see why. The swell and waves today were so powerful you wouldn’t stand a chance. Not sure the water would too warm either.
Off to town we headed for some lunch and provisions and pick-up some new radiator hoses we had pre-ordered. I must say most townships have a Auto1 and the larger townships have had Supercheap. At all the stores I have delt with the service and help has been outstanding. Thanks to Daniel @ Supercheap Albany to get in a hose kit for the Pajero from Melbourne in two days for $118.
We checked out the BRIG Amity, a 1800’s sailing ship on the foreshore that the kids really enjoyed. They also had a MP3 self-guided tour through the 3 levels of the ship. I felt like a GIANT trying to make my way through the ship. We were lucky again with the weather, it seemed to stop when we got out of the car.
As we drove down to Whale world, we noticed a Sock fence that had been erected, so Ben volunteered one of his holey
Ben
Sock Fence! socks to the cause. Good lad. Guess we had to go shopping to get him some new socks! The weather eased up a bit on our second night, however the howling winds continued above us in the trees. We had chosen a nice sheltered spot in the caravan park.
The weather is just not going to improve. More rain and wind and thunderstorms predicted to Esperance too. The trend seems to be a mad rush packing up before the rain hits every morning. Jac is getting soft … “wouldn’t it be nice to have a caravan”, so I called her precious! …. Says me who bought an electric blanket yesterday for our bed! Hehe.
The Southern and South-Western Coastlines are very beautiful and at the moment are extremely green with some 3 weeks of rain they have been receiving. Esperance Township was just over 4 hours drive today and we arrived early for once. After setting up at the Esperance Bay Caravan Park, not known for it’s friendly staff) we headed into town with the scooters. After checking it out we made our way back along the foreshore stopping at the skate park. It was quite good and
Station Chrysler Ute
Swapped for a Camel, Ad said "will trade anything" the boys made plans to return with their helmets and try the big ramps in the morning. The Park we are staying in is small, but clean, cheap, very sheltered and in town. So I would recommend it for short stays, especially in this weather! I have to mention the train at midnight going past wasn’t ideal. The only downfall. They are only crawling along, however a coal train 50m from your van is no mouse!
Jac and the kids spent the next morning exploring town and the foreshore. Being a Saturday they hoped there would be some markets on. Unfortunately there wasn’t , so they visited the Information Centre, bought some souviners and returned to the foreshore to see the beach and head back to the skate park. Meanwhile I was busy servicing the car, tightening our recent fan belts, installing the clutch fan and replacing most of the radiator hoses (there is 9 in total!).
The kids returned home and we spent the afternoon in town finally catching “Kung-fu Panda II” at the Esperance Cinema 3!!! We then decided to go out for tea to the Esperance Hotel and had a Pub meal. WA seems to
have the most expensive eateries I have ever been too. Not sure if it is the lack of pokies? Any main meal is skyward of $25 dollars. With dinner and beer in belly we staggered back to the van and crashed. We are off early tomorrow. Unfortunately due to me servicing the car, we were unable to make it out to Lucky Bay (Cape LeGrande N.P). We have to be back before the weekend and it’s a push back to Adelaide now. Jac and I will catch it on our next trip …. Without the kids … sorry kiddies.
After a quick breakfast we headed off for Fraser Range station. The weather has been mostly sunny but very strong westerly winds. On the way north to Norseman we had a severe cross wind. Watching some oncoming caravans and 5th wheelers, it was clearly a struggle. After turning east at Norseman we had a fantastic tailwind, for the first time we were getting 10.5-11.0Lt per 100km. The fuel prices around southern WA have been great $1.45-$1.55 for diesel. I don’t think that is going to last across the Nullarbor.
Arriving at Fraser Range it is at the bottom of
Jac
Not as straight as some! a Gully and nicely set out. The Homestead dates back to the mid 1800’s and has been used as a sheep station since then. The Van park is nicely set out and for $25 for a powered site, is quite cheap. The showers are $1 for 5 mins, which the boys thought was great till there $1 ranout! “Dad can we have like 100 coins to take next time?”. I guess you figure out my answer! They run a sunset OKA tour through the farm showing the highlights. We gave it a miss ($40 Adult or $120 per family). We elected to take the cheaper self tour up Mt Magnet which was a 1.5 hour walk. The walk was great we saw heaps of roos, hairy sheep and bones. Ben discovered a Rams head almost complete with horns. “Dad I’m going to keep THIS!!” Great … where am I going to put that? Not inclined to say no, we lugged it back down the mountain, not before stopping first and admiring the excellent views.
Dinner was next and Jane frantically finished her homework while the boys worked on their diaries. Jac and I finished off the 2nd 2Lt JUG
Blowholes
Yep .. they blow! of Beer from the Colonial Brewery, which was still very nice. More burgers tonight, thick we have two more batches left then NEVER AGAIN! With the stars out we lit the fire and had a Bonfire with hot chocolates and toasted marshmallows. We haven’t been able to do this as much as we would have liked, mainly due to the amount of time spent in 1 place. Tonight, about midnight it rained. I hadn’t bothered putting the ‘bed end flys’ up, which stop water coming in, however by the time could get myself out of bed, the rained stopped. The next morning our roof was soaking wet and the edges of our sheets. Lucky for our portable heater!
Today we hit the road for Eucla. We have planned for fishing, however with the distance ahead and the time difference as we come towards SA, we may not make it. Along the way we stopped at the Blowholes. They are an underground cave about 0.5-1.5m high and as the air cools inside they blow out the other end. Not very exciting, but worth a quick look. Back on the road we discovered the different trees with items in them. Show
Thong tree
Not to be confused with undie tree! tree, CD tree and finally a thong tree. We stopped and put Matt’s spare thong in there and back on the road for Eucla.
Finally reaching Eucla you can see the blue sea above the white sand dunes just before you climb the hill to Eucla. There is a road that leads down to the beach and the old Nullarbor Telegraph building. We had little time left so we setup and cooked Dinner. Early start tomorrow, we cross over the WALL into South Australia and head for Ceduna, hopefully try our luck at fishing there!
The view from the cliffs at Eucla was awesome looking over into the Bight. We could have stayed for weeks and explorer the vast sandy beaches fishing, however we had to home by Thursday so time to hit the road for Ceduna. Along the way we stopped at several spots along the Bight.
The cliffs were stunnning and some 90metres + high. We kept a look out for whales, but we were stopping at the "Head of Bight". When we arrived we paid our $26 and headed down to the Whale watching platforms. There we saw more than 30 whales right in
front of us. They were metres from the cliff where we were. The Southern Wright Whales come here to give birth and feed in the calmer and warmer waters. The females close into shore were all with there calves about 20m apart from each other spread along the shore. The Males (we think) were another 100m out frisking around. They had reported there were 40 in the bay at the moment. We watched the whale watching planes zoom above us, but we couldn't help but think this was the best place to watch them from! They appeared to be puting on a show for us!!! This has to one of the best whale experiences I've had aside from swimming with them in Exmouth. There were just soooo many and so close!
After watching the whales for an hour or so headed for Ceduna and set up quickly so Matt could have a fish. Unfortunately with the outgoing tide all we caught was seaweed, but they had fun. The weather accross the Nullabour has been awesome. 27deg days and mild nights, I hope we can bring this weather home with us.
Today we are off for Streaky Bay and
then we might pull up in Whyalla or head straight home. Not sure yet. With the trip coming close to the end, I can't help but think of all the good times we have had and how tempting, when we get to Port Pirie, it will be to head North again! Do over!
Packing up we head for Streaky Bay, although a little off track, we wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so we pulled up at Perlubie Beach. The sun was out again today about 26degs, no wind, so we decided to drive the camper onto the beach. We jumped out and decided we needed to try out a "streak" at Streaky Bay. After frightning one of the locals, we got dressed and climbed back into the Pajero.
Trying to climb out off the soft sand with full pressure tyres and 1.5tonne behind us we soon dug into the soft sand. Not to worry ..... Diff lock. We just dug in deeper. Opps. Jac was worried that the incoming tide was going to "get us", but I calmly informed her "we just need to let the tyres down and she'll be apples!. We dropped
the pressure to 15psi all round .. camper too and unloaded the troops.
Soon enough I had here out of the hole and back up the beach safely some 50 mins later. Lucky for us just before the tide reached us! Out off the beach we decided we needed a refreshment and a snack, as well as some air for the tyres and we headed in Streaky Bay Bakery. Awesome little bakery that made great coffee. We sat out in the sun on the foreshore eating our goods. The bay is lovely and I'm sure we be nice is summer too.
Heading out we decided to limit our stops on the way and head for home. We stopped in Port Pirie for dinner and kept going arriving home at 10pm. Tired and drained we spent an hour with Toby and Tex who had missed us and thencrashed into our own Beds. After spending some 8 weeks travelling in a small van with very little room, our house now felt suddenly large. All the "things" we aquire in a life time we handn't missed and I think we all appreciated what we had on the trip alot more. Family
Pajero bogged on Streaky!
time to let out all the hot air! and friends.
Thankyou to all who have read our blog, we hope we have inspired some of you to travel and see a bit more of our backyard, it is truely very beautiful. To all the people we met on the road, it was lovely to have met such a bunch of friendly and sharing people.
Unfortunely now it has finished, however stay tuned to our Tour de Tassie coming soon.
With Love,
Rus, Jacq, Jane, Matt and Ben. xoxo
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