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We have done it again, managed to ensure that rain has drenched both the Eyre Peninsula as well as the whole Eyre Highway.
The majority of this blog is about the sky.
We headed out from Ceduna on our way to the Head of the Bight where the best whale viewing in Australia is located. According to the website there should have been 8 whales to view. The season has not yet started properly. Thank heavens we asked before we paid our money. The people in charge said there were two whales in the bay - and the bay is huge- but the people who had just returned from the viewing area said they only saw a few dolphins. As the last time we came to the Bight there were 68 whales we decided not to view this time around.
If you haven't been to this area it is remote, but well worth coming too. The facilities are excellent and if the whales are present lots of things to look at. When you are on the platforms over the sea the whales are swimming and sun baking some of them just a few metres away. Then you turn
around and behind you are the Bunda Cliffs. I can remember Mum having a calendar on the wall in the kitchen some time in the 1960's with a photograph of this exact location on it. Woke me up to the great beauty and wild areas of Australia.
Back to the caravan for lunch where the local birds had already started their picnic eating all the squashed insects off the caravan. When we got out to get ready to leave I could not help but notice the incredible cloud formations. The wind must have been blowing very fast up there. The photos do not do them justice. There were some many different textures mixed together.
We continued down the highway passing through showers all the way and pulled in to stop overnight in one of the many available free camping sites on the Eyre Highway. The first thing we noticed was a massive storm moving towards us and the wind was gusting very, very strongly. Normally we simply ensure we cannot be seen by anyone else and set up our porta potty along the side of the caravan. Because of the weather and the number of vans arriving to
set up before the rain struck we decided to erect our shower/toilet tent. The ground was so hard the pegs would not hold it down so we ended up tying it to a tree and having three tent pegs in each corner. Just finished and got the toilet into the tent and the rain struck. It pelted down and was accompanied by lots of very loud thunder. We did not see any lightning.
It rained on and off all night.
Next morning we got back on the road in the rain and it kept raining all day. Chewie amused himself by watching the rain through the windscreen. Eventually he got bored and lay down to have his Nanna nap.
We pulled over very early and set up camp in the rain. We settled in and the first two vans who also came in parked in front of us ensuring we were unable to exit from our camp site. Thank heavens we tend to be the last one to leave each morning. One of the vans was a brand new Jayco Silverline (new 2014 release) with all the mod cons including slideouts. The other the most unusual Winnebago
I have ever seen - see the photos - GMan says the sign actually said "Minnebago".
It rained hard right up until 5:45 pm then eased off and the showers lessened in ferocity and length.
In the morning we had to linger until one of the two vans hemming us in moved and then we moved off. The amount of water lying around in the parking area was amazing and we drove through very deep puddles to get back to the road. Showers throughout the day along with lots of partial rainbows and finally a beautiful whole one near Caiguna, once more the photograph just doesn't do it justice.
We pulled in early at a place called Afghan Rock (I couldn't see a rock anywhere about) and managed to make contact with people who had been trying to call us for days. Best news was about the three young lads who play for Yacka Bowling Club. They all attended a training session in conjunction with the Under 18 State Team last Sunday. 36 lads attended and 4 where asked to join the squad. 1 from Loxton and the other three from Yacka. Yes every one of them.
How good is that. They have to attend training in Adelaide and may eventually be selected to play for the State.
The best thing about Afghan Rock was NO RAIN. Beautiful clear night, lots of stars and cold. Upon waking up we decided to just drive 400 kms to Kalgoorlie. Normally we try and restrict ourselves to around 300 kms per day. There is no need to hurry. Chewie inspected the fire place next to our van and was firmly told no we would not be lighting a fire to roast marshmellos - we didn't have any.
Heading out we passed through areas which were badly affected by fires about three years ago. We thought the regrowth was remarkable last year and the improvement this year was astonishing. The new trees are now over 6 feet high.
50 kms from Norseman we pulled in to a parking area along side a salt lake. Unusual because it was red instead of white, simply because there had been rain. In this area someone had helped themselves to the door of the toilet, how odd we thought, and the plaque from the memorial. What was significant about the lake is
that we are extremely familiar with this type of natural land form. GMan has managed to get us bogged up to the axel of the various 4X4's we have owned on many occasions. One Sunday we turned up to collect our friends Alan and Sylvia for a day in the bush near Kalgoorlie and the first thing we saw lined up were three shovels!! The previous time we had been out we had been bogged in the middle of a lake, up to the axels and whilst Alan and Graham we excavating Sylvia and I were walking the 1/2 km backwards and forwards collecting branches to place under the wheels - when we could find them. We managed eventually. Next day at work one of the trade lecturers came into the library and simply said, see from the condition of Brutus (our car's name) you went bush yesterday. That was our reputation.
The area around here is know as the Greater Western Woodlands and is the largest remaining piece of Mediterranean style woodland in the world, albeit in Australia. The gums are beautiful through here and are mainly gimlet gums with their beautiful copper coloured trunks. Because of the
amount of recent rain all the leaves were a beautiful deep green and there was lots of gum flowers out. All the dust had been washed away. No sight of wildflowers yet this season in this part of Australia.
Into Norseman to refuel and a word to the wise. Do not order a large serve of chips at the BP service station, over half of them ended up in our friend Mieke's compost bin. What we also got from there were some empanadas. Yum, Yum. We had heard of them but never had the opportunity to try. Looked like a pasty but the filling was tender chunks of beef richly flavoured with a hint of cinnamon.
Matthew Burford. My friend Mieke also says that "Gardening Australia is her favourite television program. She watches it every week just like you do.
From Norseman to Kalgoorlie the landscape and especially the trees were so familiar - it was good to be back again. The gimlet's with their copper colours and now the beautiful salmon gums just starting to shed the dark grey old bark from last year to reveal the new salmon pink display of this year. Between Kambalda
and Kalgoorlie we were amazed to see how much the Jubilee mine site has expanded.
We arrived in Kalgoorlie and dived into the beautiful hot shower. Mary came around and Mieke, Mary, GMan and I sat around and drank tea and caught up. Mieke was not quite ready for us, she made a foolish decision choosing to do the house cleaning before baking boterkoke - the dutch butter cake which is full butter and very rich. She was advised she needs to sort out her priorities and not by Chris. Magic woman Mieke she pulled from her cupboard a bottle of Stone Pine gin. I introduced her to it last year and she told her boss about it and they ordered it from the distiller in Bathurst. I was treated to a G & T before dinner last night. Life doesn't get much better than this.
Haven driven around a little today, Monday a public holiday, we are impressed with bow the local government has improved the streetscape with beautiful plantings in areas which were desolate previously. All very neat and well attended.
We plan to stay here in Kalgoorlie for about a week catching up with
friends, lazing about and reading before heading north along the Goldfields Highway to Wiluna and west to Meekatharra.
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Delores Vester
non-member comment
Looks great
Your write ups always so good to read and your wonderful photo's enjoy yourselves. From D & R