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Week 5-6 (8th - 24th April 2006)

We arrived at Esperance on the afternoon of April 7th after a 4 hour drive east from Albany. Esperance is based around a port which controls a large portion of the wheat export from the agriculture-belt that runs from Perth 600km to the east. The export of wheat (and a few other commodities) takes place through a huge hangar style building with a customs building tacked onto the side of it. The shipping of the goods is done using the railway and also the notorious 'road train' vehicles, which are 3 articulated lorries joined onto each other to make one huge train. Now that I have set the scene - our camsite was alongside the main road into the export yard. This meant that we had a constant noise of the air hissing from the road trains' braking systems and the low revving of their engines as they lumbered up and down the road into the yard. Every now and then, however, we couldn't hear the sound of the trucks. The sound was occasionally replaced, or should I say drowned out, by the high pitch squealing of the export trains grinding to a halt before entering the yard, only punctuated by the loud honking of their horns just in case no-one had noticed they were there! It was a big mistake booking into the park for 3 nights but we had a bit of a chuckle when through the gates came John & Denise, a couple from the Isle of Wight that we had met at the campsite in Albany. Oh how we laughed.....that'll teach them for stalking us from campsite to campsite.

Esperance is in a nice place for beaches and there are loads to be found in the Cape Le Grande National Park. Following a bit of excitement with a large snake on the way into the park we headed to Lucky Bay which, we were reliably informed, is one of the top beaches in the country. Nope - not seeing it myself. Even Claire didn't want to take a swim which is saying something! The nice thing about the beach was that there was a family of wallabys lounging around on the sand. People were passing them by but they didn't care and continued to chill and work on their tans (if a Wallaby can get a tan that is!?). Moving on from Lucky bay, through the fantastic scenery in the national park, we visited Thistle Cove which has the same volcanic rock outcrops as seen in Albany. This coastline is another that was once connected with Antarctica and we explored the rock formations for about an hour before heading back to the truck for refreshments. On our second day in Esperance we checked out the surfing beaches to the west. After ''9-mile beach' and '11-mile beach' we decided to stop at '10-mile lagoon' for a while before visiting the Lagoon Wind Farm, up in the hills behind the beaches. 23% of Esperance's electricity comes from the windfarm and it has been opened up so that peope can drive or walk through the huge generator towers and see them up close. The tourist project has become an exercise by the local council to show that the wind-generators don't make very much noise whilst generating electricity. I only wish that they'd had a word with the guys at the export yard when it came to noise-abatement as I would have much preferred to have camped beside the windfarm any day!

After another truck & train filled evening we woke bleary eyed to begin our trip up north to Kalgoorlie, the home of the 'Super Pit'. Kalgoorlie was the site of the Australian Goldrush in the late 1800s and the final destination of the 'Golden Pipeline' that we came across just outside of Perth. Following the creation of practically hundreds of small goldmines over the decades, it was decided that the gold could be mined more efficiently using modern technology if all of the mines were bought out by one company. The gold is now mined in an open-cast pit instead of down dangerous mineshafts and the consolidation of all of the mineshafts has led to the creation of 'Super Pit'. I find it better if you put on your deepest, boomingest voice when you say it. "SoOOOoPer PiTTT". The pit will eventually be completed in 2018 at several kilometres long, half a kilometre deep and is being worked on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Upon arrival at Kalgoorlie we headed straight for the pit and the awesome sight of this megastructure was only slightly ruined by the chomping that we both received from the dusk-light mosquitoes. The next day, dosed up on anti-histamines, we headed for a daylight viewing and could actuallly see the digging progress that had been made since the previous evening. In the afternoon we went to see how the old mines were created at the 'Gold Mining Hall of Fame'. After watching the pouring of a gold ingott (made of brass as they couldn't afford the security to pour gold) we got to go underground to the the first level of a 14 level gold mine. Going down the 36 metres crammed into a tiny cage was quite an experience and once down there we got to see the further cramped conditions that miners worked in. They originally used hammers and chisels to do the digging and had only 4 candles (not 'fork handles') to light up a whole day of work. More modern miners obviously used electric lighting and had air powered drilling lances to do the hard work but this was all laid to rest once the idea of 'SuperPit' was conceived. Partly funded by Alan Bond, one of Australia's richest men, the pit now generates huge amounts of gold which is taken to a secure facility near Perth - the only place in Western Australia where gold in now poured. There was a place on the way out of the Hall of Fame where you were allowed to pan for gold. We didn't bother as we'd been told by the old geezer in the gold pouring room that the gold chips were actually put into the river bed by hand - and not really worth breaking your back over due to the cost of getting the gold processed from it's ore stage through to finality.

Back at the campsite in Kalgoorlie John and Denise had found us once again - I checked the truck for tracking devices but think that getting it scanned by governmental officials in Perth will be the only way to make sure! We left Kalgoorlie in the direction of Hyden, leaving John and Denise to travel eastwards across the Nullabor Plain to Adelaide. Or that is where they SAY they are heading. I'm yet to be entirely convinced. The road to Hyden was an interesting one as it's classification in the map book is 'unsealed highway'. I think in England we would have classed it as 'waiting to be finished' and would have cones across either end and loads of yellow 'diversion' signs. Bravely I slipped the truck into 4 wheel drive and off we went for 170km along a rutted sandy track, passing only 5 or 6 other vehicles before getting to the other end. It has really started to sink in how big the country is and simply taking a small diversion on the way back to Perth took us a long way from anywhere, or to 'The Back of Bourke' as they say here. I don't know exactly where Bourke is but apparently out the back of it is a rather remote place!

Yards from the end of the unsealed highway we took a left turn and we were at wave rock - quite a nicely positioned tourist landmark apart from the obvious 300km distance to the next habitable place. Wave Rock is, erm, a rock that is shaped like a wave. At 100m long and 15m high, it is made out of granite and has stripes of different colours running through it which gives it a dynamic look, like a crashing wave. We posed for the 'hey dude I'm surfing' style photos and then went on a little walk. There are several rock formations to go and look at in the area with 'The Breakers' being a baby Wave Rock and 'Hippo's Yawn' being a large scoured out, two coloured rock that resembles the inside of a hippo's mouth. A circuitous route links the rock formations together and a 40 minute walk is supposedly possible - if you go the right way that is!! Claire and I followed the path from Wave Rock and read the information boards about the formation of the rocks. When we came upon a sign next to a hole worn in the fence we both read the warning sign alongside the hole as "Warning, blah blah blah, you can't go this way, blah blah blah" so we continued to follow the path further around the rocks that was obviously the way to go. 1 hour later we had done a complete circuit of the whole rock formation without seeing the key landmarks, although we saw other interesting things within the rather bleak landscape it suddenly dawned on us that we had just been 'off road' for the past hour when we returned to the same warning sign only to see a bunch of senior citizens heading through the hole in the fence! Returning red-faced to the truck we drove round the corner to see 'Hippo's Yawn' and then it was time to find some accommodation. Hyden, as previously mentioned, is not the most connected of places. You can stay in the particularly moth eaten caravan park or you can stay at the luxurious Wave Rock Motel. As it was only for a night the Motel seemed like a good idea and gave us a chance to watch TV, heat leftover Chinese takeaway in the microwave and spend a night in a warm comfy bed. I already had the feeling that our shopping trip to Perth was going to be an expensive one!

Arriving back in Perth we stayed at the Perth International Tourist Park, being newly managed by Tony & Jen, friends of ours that we had met in Busselton. As it was the Thursday before the long Easter weekend we stocked up on supplies and sat back to relax on the campsite with our little camp stove - only to have the management invite us up to 'The Big House' for a meal and a nice evening inside, protected from Perth's cold evening winds which are frequent this time of year. Perth city centre was a joy to drive around with everyone elsewhere, jamming up the roads out of the city to go away for the Easter break. On Saturday we booked onto a tour over to Rottnest Island with Tony & Jen and Graeme & Ruth, a couple of retired school teachers from NSW. The island sits just off the coast of Freemantle to the west of Perth and is so called because the first settlers to land there were greeted by the islands main inhabitants, small furry rat-type marsupials called quokkas. The island seemed at first glance to be a rat's nest and due to the settlers being of European extraction, Dutch or something like that (I didn't pay attention to the information boards) they called it Rottnest! We hired bikes which were waiting for us on the other side of the ferry crossing. I wish that we had just taken the coach tour because the island is not exactly flat - unlike our backsides once we had peddled around for 4 hours! It was worth it though with lots of sparkling white scenic beaches along the way and Claire saying it was a bit like 'The Famous 5'. The Enid Blyghton books had characters gayly cycling around mysterious islands, solving crimes and drinking lashings of gingerbeer - I can't recall any of them not being able to sit down on their saddles due to an unfortunate chafing! Maybe that's what the gingerbeer was for?

The rest of the Easter weekend was nice and relaxing as we spent time with our new friends, eating and drinking too much - not an Easter egg in sight though! The grand re-opening of the shops in Perth meant that the long-awaited shopping trip was on the cards. Final purchases before the long trip onwards had to be made so we now have a warmer sleeping bag with a hood, nice matresses for the campbed, warm fleece tops for the cold winter nights, a UHF radio for listening to sweary truck drivers and of course the essential Wireless Broadband Internet PC Card for the laptop! Ruth had kindly shown us this cunning little device in action and we couldn't help ourselves. We had read about 'Flashpackers' before leaving the UK, being defined as "30-something professionals who jack in their jobs and pretend to backpack around foreign lands - choosing to stay in 4-star hotel accommodation, whilst driving expensive vehicles kitted out with sat-nav & laptop computers." We didn't like the idea of sat-nav and only had a tent so we went for the wireless broadband option in order to close the gap! Apart from a lifestyle choice, this means that don't have to mingle with the hoards in the internet cafes in order to email back to the UK......we can sit in the opulent environment of our tent, sipping cold beer, listening to the MP3 jukebox whilst composing the most eloquent prose recounting our adventures. You know it makes sense!

We said our farewells to the guys in Perth and following a quick stop off at my cousin Paul's to collect our mail we were properly on the road. The month-long trip up to now had been 5000 kms to test the truck and to find out which item of camping equipment we were in desperate need of. Not too far north of Perth we found ourselves in Cervantes and the Pinnacles Desert. Yet another geological oddity, the Pinnacles Desert is a large area of glowing yellow sand set within the normally red-rock landscape and unusually populated by hundreds of limestone pinnacles, some of which are over 4 metres tall. The desert was recently visited by Scottish comedian Billy Connoly who famously streaked through the rock formations - a feat that neither of us were prepared to repeat. We carefully weaved our way through the pointy rocks whilst they cast long, dark shadows in the late afternoon sun. A definite must see, but a sunrise viewing at 6:28am the following morning seemed like a bit of a mission so we swiftly moved onwards and northwards to Geraldton.

The next big town name on the map, Geraldton, was a bit rubbish and although the beach-side campsite looked very nice, the beach wasn't up to Claire's exacting standards so we got back in the truck and decided to head further north to Kalbarri National Park. The sandstone coastline on the way into Kalbarri is simply stunning, and I'm saying this after having seen quite a lot of rocks in the past few weeks! Kalbarri National Park has the Murchison River carving it's way through the layers of multicoloured sandstone creating gorges, cliffs and interestingly colourful rock formations. Seen both beachside and along the river, the glowing, multi-coloured formations are stunning when contrasted alongside the bright yellow sand and vibrant green vegetation. Another must-see I think. After checking out numerous inlets and gorges we went deep into the national park to visit 'Nature's Window' and do a hike around 'The Loop' which follows a partially marked path around an 8km loop of the river. We were greeted by a woman who's two kids had disappeared off on the path about an hour earlier and when asked if we were doing the whole of the loop we said that we'd only be doing about a third of it but would send their kids back if we saw them. They hadn't taken any water with them and the woman was starting to look a bit worried! An hour into the hike, which took us along high cliff-edges and down to the river valley below, we both realised that we were quite worried about the safety of the two children so decided that we'd complete the loop in order that we might find them. 2 hours into the hike and we discovered the part of the track that had been washed away in the recent floods and we had to scramble, climb and crawl in order to work our way around the rocks, over the flood debris and finally back up to 'Nature's Window'. The two children had been found and already been given a good kicking by their mother - although their father was still in the bush looking for them and two nice policemen were waiting to have a word. Glad they were safe though.......little brats! This 3 hour hike had shown us the importance of having loads of water with you, as we had drunk 3 litres between us but should have really taken double that amount to survive if we'd gotten lost. It wasn't that hard to get lost though......the hike wasn't called 'The Loop' for nothing!

Today is Monday 24th of April - tomorrow is Anzac Day, another public holiday. I'm beginning to wonder how they get any work done around here as there seem to be so many holidays, including the Queen's Birthday! I get the impression that they don't really like her but keep her around as it's another day off. Anzac Day is a day of rememberance for the Australian & Kiwi troops killed during war & also a celebration of survival for the war veterans. Tomorrow we will be making our way up to Monkey Mia to see the supposed 'wild' dolphins that swim with people for a bucket of fish. I'm sure they're the most intelligent lifeforms on Earth but I'll get back to you once I've seen them perform - at least if I get to feed them then I can tell Debbie about it.

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Photos

On The Road Again
Cape Le Grande gave us a good chance to do some practice on unsealed red roads - and the contrasting colour of the red against the vegetation and sky was stunning!

Thistle Cove
Big rocks, white sand, azure sea, great waves for surfing - what else could we want? Well.......to be able to surf I suppose.

Load of wind
It was nice to be able to get up close to the turbines and see what made them tick......I had always guessed it was the wind that made them tick but I just had to be sure.

Kalgoorlie Sooper Pit
It's as if the Australians are trying to create a man-made version of the Grand Canyon. They're almost succeeding! If you look closely you can see one of the tiny trucks in the foreground which can carry 250 tons of ore in one bucket.

Serious equipment
Rock and roll! A much more interesting way of mining if you ask me. Going to get me one of these for home!

Road under completion
Nice road - will be even better when they fork out for the bitumen.

Surfs up dood
Claire working on her surfing stance on Wave Rock. This pose is repeated so much by idiot tourists that the area at the bottom of the rock is worn smooth. I of course did not degrade myself and refused to pose for a picture - Claire just happened to snap me posing when I was least expecting it!

Hippo Breath
Finally we reached 'Hippo's Yawn' only to find out that it looked a bit like a hippo's gob - and was quite boring actually.

Master Splinter
Awww.....cute. Look at it's evil red eyes.....it's a RAT....don't fool yerself luv.

Pinnacle Dessert anyone?
Pinnacles of rock in a desert. Woman waving arms about out of car. Nuff said.

Rock rock till you drop
Another natural rock bridge. Brilliant scenery though.

Around the bend
A sharp bend in the Murchison River in Kalbarria National Park - cunningly called 'Z Bend'. There must be an office somewhere full of people that have the job of naming places of interest. These people obviously need to get out a bit more!

Window on the world
Claire sitting in 'Natural Window'. She's hiding her face behind her hat as it is rather red following the hike we'd just completed. We would have got away with it if it hadn't been for those pesky kids!

Comments

[Lawrence and George]

Thank you For The photographs
George and I really enjoyed seeing all your photos and reading youy stories. Lots of love from Aly, Lawrence, Evelyn, George, Wilfred. PS when are we going to the cinema again?

[mummy and daddy beswick]

you wouldnt listenwhen i told u to take your long johns and wooly hat !!!!! we r having a b it of good weather at the moment so making the most of it going to bBlackpool for a few days, bet you are jealous. wel will close now looking forward to the next episode . So its good night from him and goodnight from her. take care of eaCH OTHER AND SPEAK TO YOU SOON LOVE MUMMY AND DADDY BESWICK XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Marion]

Fatabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!