My Oasis

Esperance 22.04.2012 to 01.05.2012

Sunday the 22nd April we finally entered a little place in the big state of Western Australia called Esperance. I have spent many a time in this township and I can never get used to how beautiful this place and its surrounds are.  I always feel the magic of this little town where the water and sand casts a spell on me everytime.  It is a place where you find beach upon beach along their Great Ocean Drive, where every spot entices you to stop and take in it's beauty, or just watch the surfers do their thing. 

                                                                                  Murph taking the scenery in

                                                                                  Twilight Beach (no vampires)

                                                                                 Surfer Catching a wave at Salmon Beach



I guess you can tell I am in love with this place and it gives me great joy to be able to share it not only with Crowey but our good friends Mike and Alana, who we have been lucky to catch up with along our journey. Mike and Alana had the opportunity to camp out at a great National Park, just 50kms from Esperance, called Cape Le Grand. As they told me about their experience of this place, I could tell that the magic had touched them too. It has been wonderful catching up with Mike and Alana on our trip, sharing stories about places we had been to and I think just really enjoying each other's company. Mike and Crowey have been friends for a long time so it was great for them to chin wag and maybe have some "boy" time, where Alana and I certainly took opportunities to do some "girl" time with a ride into town, coffee at a lovely little cafe, some shopping (ok maybe mostly just looking) and do what girls do best, talk!

I believe I could go on forever about Esperance, a place where we swam, snorkelled, jumped on the boogey board, walked along the whitest beaches in Australia and enjoyed every single day. The day we went to Cape Le Grand the weather was kind to us with the sun shining all day (Esperance is also known to have erratic weather, 28 degrees one day and 19 degrees the next). Mike and Alana were so happy they could enjoy this part of the world again as they have a motorhome and usually get around on their bikes to do shopping or any exploring. What a great day we all had.

                                                                                 Murph and Crowey making out they are fish

                                                                                              Murph in Heaven

                                                                                             Sand as white and fine as powder

                                                                                       Mike and Alana falling in love again

                                                                                          Footprints on Lucky Bay (size 9)

                                                                                        Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

                                                                                             Hello from Lucky Bay!!

                                                                                         The boys taking the lead

      The end to another perfect day at Cape Le Grand     

I was interested in Mike's observation of Esperance (probably over a beer or two) where he thought if you could pick it up and put it somewhere near Melbourne so we could enjoy it more often how great it would be, but then if that happened it wouldn't be Esperance anymore. There would no doubt be high rises on the bay, more development along the West Beach where the Great Ocean Road snakes around some 16 beaches and as for the National Parks, well we could only guess what would happen (Gold Coast comes to mind).  So Mike has come to the conclusion, and I would have to agree, that Esperance is definately where it needs to be, some 7 hours drive from Perth, the closest capital city and right where it is now.

Crowey and I are off tomorrow (1st May) after having spent nine nights (yes our longest stop off to date) at Esperance. It is here that we also bid Mike and Alana farewell until we meet up again along the track in Western Australia.

Murphs new fad? interest? love?

Whenever I have had a tinker with my little ukulele in the past that I am carrying with us on our trip Murph has never really shown any interest but then since meeting up with our great mates Mike and Alana here in Esperance that also both play ukes the Murph has started tinkering with mine. Now she has mine out way more than I do practicing the 3 chords and strumming rhythm I showed her. All excited that she can produce music that isnt a headache now wants to buy her own. I have had to put the hard foot down and tell her she has to prove to me that she is still really interested in it and can play a lot more chords before we get to Perth before she can start thinking about looking for one.  Murph has said she wants one of her own so she can play along with me (grrreat lol) and would be easier to learn if I was playing along with her. We will see what becomes of this interest? fad? new love?

biting the bottom lip must help

look out Jake Shimabukuro

20.04.2012 to 21.04.2012 The Nullarbor

 Early to rise at 6.00am (for a change just like the old grey nomads) and all prepared to set off for the big trek across the Nullarbor. A big thick fog had set in so the driving started with some slow going, but it soon lifted and we were well and truly on our way out of South Australia and heading towards Western Australia. The first time I took the journey I thought it was going to be nothing but desert, but how wrong I was. Along the way you get to see The Bight and many different roads along the way taking you to the cliffs edge where you swear you can imagine it has just been snapped off from the rest of the world all those millions of years ago. The road isnt all straight and not all flat infact there was a big range that we climbed at some stage and drove beside for ages 

The scenery along The Nullarbor Plain is mainly thick dense shrub with no trees and the name was derived from Latin "nulla" (meaning no) and abor (meaning trees). 

Along the way we saw a dingo, a wild dog plus fourty thousand crows sometimes moving a couple of inches to stop being run over. Because of us both loving birds marveled at the beautiful big eagles we saw just sitting in dead trees, resting, as big as a medium sized dog. I wish we could have taken a photo but when you are travelling at 110km per hour by the time you pulled over they would have taken off anyway. The signage along the way is quite unique to this area with warnings of camels, wombats and of course kangaroos all on the one sign. We didn't see any camels,live wombats or live kangaroos though, rather disappointing. We did see one thing that made our eyes bulge, the price of fuel at Bordertown (where SA meets WA) with the bowser stating a princely sum of $1.99, needless to say we only did a top up not a full tank. The road is fairly straight with one sign boasting the road being straight for the next 96 miles (146.6 kms)!!

Everyone should do this trip at least once in their lives and I know Crowey enjoyed  the drive, just as I did for the second time. The first day saw us do over 700 km's as we settled in a camping area west of Caiguna as the sun was setting for the day.

I love cliffs (if you havent noticed)

the idiot copying a sign

beautiful sunset at our campspot just off the road

That night Crowey decided to leave the curtains open (which I hate) so the sunrise would wake us up in the morning. It did in the middle of the night with lightning lighting up the van then a massive downpour.

21.04.2012 to 22.04.2012 Kalgoorlie

Up early once again we headed off for the mining town of Kalgoorlie. I lived in Kalgoorlie for over 3 years and wanted to show Crowey the history, atmosphere and the still very active mining in this remote town sporting a population of over 30,000 people (it has been amazing to have seen so many places built up with mining then die once the mining had run out). Arriving in Kalgoorlie about lunchtime we set off to explore a man made marvel "The Super Pit".  This super pit is the biggest open gold mine in the country and produces over 850,000 ounces of gold per year. The pit is currently 3.5 kms long, 1.5 kms wide and 360 metres in depth. I have seen this pit many times, always amazing me how big this hole in the ground is. You will see in the photos how small even the massive dump trucks look in comparison.

As we toured around Kalgoorlie taking in the gorgeous old pubs, historic buildings and of course a drive down Hay Street where the history of the "ladies of the night" are situated, what should we come across our driving around town...................... a couple of bulldozers, so of course keeping in with Crowey's ambition to take a photo of every bulldozer he sees, here are some more (he has to deal with me taking hundreds of pics of the coastal cliffs so I have to deal with it and you can also share my delight from time time to time, lol).

Sunday we pack up once again to head for my favorite spot in WA, Esperance!! It is here that we will get to meet up with our friends Mike and Alana who are also doing the semi grey-nomad stuff and travelling around the country.

a big boy now retired (the bulldozer that is)

17.04.2012 to 19.04.2012  Streaky Bay to Ceduna

After leaving the town of Elliston we headed for Streaky Bay. Along the way we stopped into a little town by the name of Venus Bay, which once again proved how rugged this coastline is. We never get tired of watching the ocean break against huge rocks, smoothing some of them to a flat platform, wave upon wave crashing onto them. How many years has it taken for the ocean to do that I wonder?

Continuing on we made another little detour into a town by the name of Smoky Bay which ended up bringing great excitement for Crowey. As you came into the town there was a tractor yard and low and behold outside, right at the front, was one of the oldest rusted out bulldozers I have ever seen, but Crowey was soon pulling up on the side of the road, jumping out of the car and telling me to bring my camera!! Crowey has now informed me that it is his mission to get a photo of him beside every bulldozer he sees across Australia (oh boy, I can hardly contain myself). But that is what you do when you travel, it's all give and take. So I guess you all will be coming along on the journey with me - Bulldozers in Oz with Crowey. (LOL).

                                    Crowey finds another one                                        

                                       
Heading off again our next port of call was a tourist destination called "Murphys Haystacks" so of course we had to stop there and get some photos. Murphys Haystacks are a unique outcrop of pink granite boulders and are reported to be over 1500 million years old. In a paddock are these huge boulders from one end to the next, you can actually see them from the main highway. It was an interesting photo opportunity and of course Crowey had to play the clown and give us some funny shots, as you will see by the photos below.

                                          Murphy's Haystacks

                                          Murph at Murphy's Haystacks

                                          Crowey gets eaten by a rock at Murphy's Haystacks

                                         Crowey showing his strength holding up a rock

We finally got to Streaky Bay and pulled up in a nice little caravan park, just in time for Beer'O'Clock. Right on the Bay looking over the water, watching the sun go down. Another hard day at the office you might say.

                                          Murph taking it easy

                                         Crowey making his famous burgers on the Weber

                                          The end of another day


The next day we were up fairly early headed for Ceduna. Not a lot to say about this town. It is certainly a traveller's stop on the way to or back from WA. This town alone has five caravan parks! The couple next to us have been here for a month, why you would want to stay a month in Ceduna has me baffled, but each to their own I guess. It hasn't turned out to be my favorite stay as I have not been well the last few days and Crowey ended up taking me to the emergency section at the Ceduna Hospital due to severe stomach cramps. But with a few good drugs I am now on the mend and ready tomorrow to hit the road again, heading towards the border and across the famous stretch of road called The Nullarbor.  

                                     Sunset at Ceduna Jetty

15.04.2012 to 17.04.2012 Elliston

Day 1.  After leaving Coffin Bay we basically headed straight to the next town on the map that was on the beach, Elliston. We had explored the nooks and crannies between the two towns during our stay at Coffin Bay.
 A beautiful day to arrive at a nice little seaside town enough to sell us the town for a couple of days.
 Dropped the van off and headed to the waters edge to have a peek at what the area had to offer and boy were we blown away with amazing cliffs which reminded us very much of the Great Ocean Road in Vic but this one the road was gravel with the occasional statue and sandy beaches.
 The ocean swell was magic for surfers and they were out on a point way below us surfing with great waves.
  We found a sheltered part of the bay that looked like it was snorkleable but were disappointed with seaweed being the dark spots we could see when looking down from the cliffs edge hoping it was rock of some sort but we still got wet.
 A great day and still blown away at the waves breaking all along the entrance to waterloo bay.
Day 2.  A day of rest today with Rach not feeling the best. We have decided to still roll on tomorrow to our next port of call.

                                         Rugged coastline

                                         Murph with statue on cliff top drive

                                         Murph being chauffered in the carriage

                                         1 Crowey power

                                         being dinked

                                         Thong sculptures with Anxious Bay in background

                                         I always love sun on water shots

                                         Elliston known for salmon

                                         4 dudes with more amazing background

                              waves breaking at bay entrance .... had to be seen in the flesh

                                         giant swimming dog rock

12.04.2012 to 15.04.2012 Coffin Bay

The last three nights we have spent in the lovely little coastal town of Coffin Bay. Our first day we went to the Coffin Bay National Park and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The day was glorious which meant the water looked like a sapphire. The second day we headed over the other side of the Coffin Bay National Park, which is a 4WD track and we soon discovered why, the track was mostly sand and we soon found ourselves bogged! We were lucky enough that some locals happened to be heading our way and soon helped us dig the Prado out of the sand. I don't really think Crowey wants to say anymore on this subject (??!! lol). We decided to then go around the bay and explore the other side of Coffin Bay which lead us into lots of different roads with the result of never ending beautiful scenery.

Third day in Coffin Bay, another glorious day, so we decided to have a fairly casual day and went seeking a lovely swimming spot. I was soon jumping in the water and even decided to grab the snorkelling gear, which soon lead me to see lots of red starfish and crabs on the bottom of the sand. It never ceases to amaze me what you see with a snorkel and mask. Another world lives in the ocean. It is times like this I wish I had an underwater camera.