A small world

 Leaving the lovely Munglinup beach we headed towards Hopetoun via a dirt road (highways are for trucks, grey nomads and motorhomos) called Springdale Road which after texting my brother Peter later found out I also would have driven past a farm he worked and lived on in another lifetime.

 Rolling into the quaint little town of Hopetoun we headed straight towards the water and such a small world there was our mates Mike and Alana sipping on a cup of tea.

 Rach and I decided it was time for a plunge into the water with snorkels and goggles to explore the underwater life next to the jetty and boy were we surprised at the amazing types of fish just cruising around by themselves or in pairs or small schools depending on the species. I never get tired of looking at the underwater world and its always a new surprise especially when you cant see a damned thing when not in the water.

Snorkelling right next to van was spectacular

 After our little dip we had lunch with our fellow Melbournites by their motorcamper (which I thought was a motorhomo but have since been educated by Mike about the definitions of the different sized motorhomos which ia a story for another time) enjoying the view over the water.

Our friends the motorcampyhomos at Hopetoun

 Alana started chatting to a guy who was also having a bite to eat and admiring the view about his little dog and we all got talking to the local (Sid) about the area and general bla bla and low and behold he knew my brother from when he lived in the area and apparently played footy with him.

 The "motorcampyhomos" Mike and Alana and us decided to travel together in convoy with them leading the way towards Bremer Bay with an overnight stop in between found in the good old "camp 6" book of free camping spots by the side of the road which was another good different experience to share with our friends.

Munglinup and surrounds

After leaving Esperance Tue May 1 lunchtime we said our goodbyes to Mike and Alana and headed for Munglinup Beach via a couple of roads that went to the beach. Munglinup is a name that sticks in my head as it was home for my younger brother Peter for some time a long time ago so we first went into town to take a photo of the roadhouse where Peter called home for 12 months or so.

 Reaching "Mungi" beach we saw that it had campsites right at the beach so pulled up the van and went for a walk along the sand.  Murph went absolutely spastic at the amount of shells on the beach so I went and did a bit of exploring over the rocks. This place would have been great for snorkelling but the swell was was too big to enter the water.
 We finally got back to the van and decided to camp there for the night nodding off with the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. This was a spot I really liked and so did Murph as she was up at sparrowfart scouring the beach for more shells "will have to go over a set of truck scales soon to see if we are overloaded.

Murphs additions to collection

Murph still tinkering

The handwave

 Whats with the handwave? After being on the road for about 6 weeks I still cant work out the oncoming traffic handwave. It seems like there is some unwritten rule that oncoming caravanners must wave to "fellow caravanners". When driving along the roads in South Australia caravanners were more common than flies so there was a lot of waving to be done. Its amazing you can almost tell the character of the oncoming driver just by their wave or am I just taking things too seriously when it comes to the friendly or even not so friendly handwave? Early on in our travels we found it very interesting or a new experience anyway with the oncoming caravanners waves especially after driving in Melbourne where oncoming traffic would rather give you the finger if anything.
 After getting into this new found wave action for the first couple of days I was almost offended when a "fellow" caravanner didnt wave to the point of giving them the finger after they had long gone past. The Murph had to settle me down but even she would come out with the comment of mother f..kers or something like that now and then. Sometimes I would wait to see if the fellow caravanner would instigate the wave but then most of the time they were past me before I got to reply so from then on I just eased into the wave to every oncoming fellow caravanner in some form or another. There is quite a variety of waves happening out there on the bitumen which could be dependant on what sort of character the fellow driver is or the mood they are in which I can see in the types of waves I do sometimes.
 First there is the full hand wave (a much friendlier type) with the whole hand off the wheel, the full hand but still touching the steering wheel, even the royalists queen wave, (a smile has been seen occasionaly too which is good). Then there is the one finger types of which there are a few varieties: there is the vertical 1 finger, the angled 1 finger almost pointing at you and then the half hearted droopy 1 finger which I associate with the people that couldnt really be fucked waving but are doing the "right thing" and then there is the frowned upon NO WAVE driver from which I get the comments from murph or even we get to make the same comment at the same time.
 To break the boredom of the wave action there can be the odd "out of usual" wave action which I must admit we have participated in now and then. There can be the full hand off the steering wheel wave and even with the passenger joining in as if you have come across a long lost friend which I must admit can be a nice change and a bit of fun especially if the road is long, straight hardly anything else to see but fellow caravenners. I have tried a wide variety of waves changing my types now and then probably depending on my mood. I have counted two thumbs up waves since heading off.
 Now there is the other wave actions which I think amusing as well which I can imagine you are at the edge of your seat waiting to find out what they are now. The motorhomers or I call motorhomo's are another breed of travelling holidaymakers as we only get a wave now and then from them but they have their allegence to themselves I have been informed by my motorhomo mate who has commented that he doesnt get the regular waves from caravanners but does from fellow motorhomo's. Another twist to the motorhomo is the rented out motorhomo's mainly rented out by euro's which very rarely wave at all which I am guessing they cant work out this wave action (pack of dumbarse poms and frogs etc).
 If its not caravanners and motorhomo's on the road then its truck drivers who wave rarely just to catch me out expecting a snobbery look from their big rigs so depending on my mood at the time will wave at every truck driver going in the opposite direction for a change to get a response but I am getting the thoughts that the truckdrivers look at caravanners as a pack of travellers which are only pests and shouldnt be on the roads.
 Maybe one day there will be some government research on it all just to burn up some taxpayers money giving us stats and graphs just like we did at school or even a documentary narrated by someone like David Attenborough.
 I thought of taking photos of people doing the above but with laws about privacy bla bla bla etc I just thought while sitting down relaxing under the annexe I would put this piece of crap together but I guess that is partly what blogs are all about.

Meeting up with Mike and Alana in Esperance

After Mike and I back home in Melbourne talked about doing this grey nomad stint around Oz for ages and ages we both finally got to hit the road. Mike and Alana got a month or so jump on us thanks to me breaking my ankle and also having problems with the caravan but because of their longish stays in a couple of places they loved we caught up in Esperance and spent a great week or so together checking out the sights, dining, drinking, making noise hoping it came out as music and just enjoying each others company. It was a great time I will never forget and I hope we cross paths again on our separate journeys.


Watching Collingwood and Essendon at the local

Cycling around Esperance taking in the sights

On the way to Cape Le Grande

Oh what a feeling

Strolling one of Cape Le Grandes beaches

 ride em cowboy

after a great roast

Duelling Ukeleles

                                              


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)