JOURNEY SOUTH

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DUE SOUTH

29th September - up at 6am (it actually feels pretty good being up with all of the sunlight hours of the day) by 8am we were on our way to Geraldton, in big letters on the map so it must be good!!

We drove past Hutt Lagoon, which is a massive pink lake! Kind of lake coloured with a pink tinge to it. For all you science buffs the colour is due to a naturally occurring food dye - Beta caratine. We didn’t stop. Seen one pink lake seen them all, that’s what I say.

In Geraldton we bought trekking shoes for Maria and a new pair of Sunnies for me. Then drove around looking for the centre. Geraldton is just miles and miles of chain stores and commercial outlets. A retailers paradise but one of the few places in WA that obviously did not thrive on it’s tourist industry.

We stopped at Grenough a few km down the road, a historical town site where you had to pay to walk around what looked like 8 abandoned buildings. We used their facilities then headed off to find a nice spot for lunch. We ended up at yet another beautiful little cove called Freshwater Point. Lovely.

A little further down the coast road still we stopped for the night at a National Park camping ground called Sandy Cape. Another gorgeous beach and a pleasant night under the stars.


30th September
We headed off this morning to Cervantes in search of Pinnacles - columns of rock standing in a desert landscape. Very surreal, I felt like I was in a scene from Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. We played “Where’s Wally?” with the photos, see if you can spot us.

As it was my birthday tomorrow we drove for the rest of the day past Perth and to Mandurah. We stayed at a campsite outside of Mandurah and got funny looks from a group of blokes who came and stood at our van. I must’ve parked it wonky or something.
I thought blimey, if this is what they’re like in the Caravan Parks then Mandurah may be a little too posh for the likes of me.

I went to bed a little nervous but excited J

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Comments

[Paul Harvey]

Enjoying reading your blog
Found your blog through a google, really enjoying reading it since my wife and I (both silver haired) are planning on doing much the same route in a year or so

[adnria]

Thanks
Glad you are enjoying it, it has taken us a long while to get it together! If you have any questions at all, now or in the future just drop us a line :)

[Paul Harvey]

Four wheel drive
You did not seem to be using a four wheel drive, did that stop you going any where or cause problems? How hot did it get sleeping in the van at night? thanks

[adnria]

4 wheel drive
Hi Paul, yes there were a few places that we couldnt go as the van wasnt insured and i dont think it would have made it! Places such as the gorge just outside kalbarri (natures window i think it was called) for example we would have had to do a tour to be able to go there as it was unsealed roads. Most places on the whole had sealed roads though and we didnt miss out on any major sights. Most of the unsealed roads were north of perth as far as i can remember. It did get a bit cold in the van at night, even in exmouth when it was 30/35 degrees in the day. I wore long trousers, tshirt, and a sleeping bag and blanket (the last two were provided by travelers autobarn). Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions! :)