Esperance to Margaret River

Cape Le Grand National Park

We stayed for two nights at the Esperance caravan park and it was a great to not have to drive anywhere and to stock up on some fresh fruit and veg after our Nullarbor trip.  Esperance is a pretty seaside town with everything that you could possibly need.  We finally got the bikes off the caravan and went for a ride along the beach, into town- Aidans first ride on the bike and I could hear him laughing some of the way!  He loved it.





We then headed to the Cape Le Grand National Park, to stay at the Lucky Bay campground.  It was absolutely beautiful driving in; the ocean is a light blue, the sand is white and the rocks surrounding are various colours of brown and red.  Unfortunately it became a bit cool here, but the storm that was meant to hit us never did, which meant that alot of people left the campground after the first night.

We met our friends, the Shearers, for one night.  Flynn loves playing with the boys, and Nick has obtained the nickname 'the tea master' for his bottomless cups of tea served to the boys.

Aidan on the beach

We also met a lovely couple, Dennis and Robyn, who took to the boys and made us fishcakes from salmon caught from the beach that afternoon, Robyn read and drew with Flynn and then we had chockies and a slide night in their very luxurious caravan!

The tourist brochures for Lucky Bay always include a kangaroo lying on the beach in the sunshine.  Unfortunately there wasn't much sunshine but there were some very friendly kangaroos.  We wished they weren't so friendly as Flynn took to chasing them.  My heart was in my mouth a few times when the kangaroo just didn't run away and but stood their ground and growled at Flynn.  He finally got the message to stop chasing them.  And the kangaroos did visit the beach, but must only lie around in the nice weather.  They did however sneak to the back of the car and eat the bait that Nick and Dennis were using whilst fishing.  They had to be pushed away to get them out of it- not afraid of humans at all!

Couldn't get a photo of kangaroo laying on beach, so Aidan will do!

Flynn  loves the huge mounds of sea grass!

All rugged up for a walk

Nick getting hairier each blog!!

We then had a couple of driving days to get to Denmark, which is such a gorgeous town, surrounded by green farming land, forests and the ocean.  We stayed next to a river that ran into a lake that was very still and misty, very pretty.  We had another ride on the bikes along the lake where we met a lady riding her horse after work- that looked like a nice way to end the day!   

We did a lot of driving to get to Margaret River with a few stops at spots along the coast and the forest.  We stayed at the Shannon National Park for a night and again were the only ones in the camp ground.  Nick had a great night with a bottle of wine and an open fire while I stayed up as long as I could before going to bed.  Not sure what was happening out there, but it sounded like fun!!  We took lots of photos of very big trees with holes in the bottom of them- wont bore you with too many photos!  We did the Valley of the Giants treetop walk.  Also took a tramcar ride through the forrest at Pemberton where every time we stopped for some commentary, Flynn yelled out 'ready, set, go'!  Was funny the first few times!

We are staying just out of Margaret River on a working farm, and Flynn is loving feeding the animals each night- three cows, goats, sheep and a horse.  He seems to have a soft spot for sheep for some reason, so we decided to visit a local sheep farm where they have shearing demonstrations; it was fantastic.  The kids were able to get involved and we watched a sheep being shorn, dogs rounding up the sheep and we all gave a lamb a bottle of milk.  Nick then had the job of burping him- seriously!!  Flynn and the other little kids were then able to jump in the pen with the lambs.  He loved it, he was herding them around and cuddling them.  It was so cute!

We visited the Nilgili cave, which the photos didnt do justice to it.  It was a kilometre long, and a guide takes you down and leaves you to walk at your own pace.  There was a huge cavernous room that was beautiful and Flynn loved climbing up and down the steps and there was a safe tunnel made for kids which I really didn't want to get into, but he crawled the 50m through it without any problems.  About half way through he lost it a bit and wanted to run off and do his own thing, but we managed to salvage the situation.

We haven't visited many wineries at Margaret River, but have had a fantastic time anyway.  We sampled some of the produce at various farm properties, had some Margaret River chocolate, cheese and went to a dairy farm that has their own ice creamery.

Flynn has learnt to ride his bike independently which was exciting- then we stayed at a camp site with steep hills!

We are looking forward to heading towards warmer weather with one last stop on our way to Perth!

The Nullarbor

 What a huge week we have had!  We have travelled approximately 1550 kms from Ceduna to Esperance.  The Nullarbor seems to have a bad reputation, but we really enjoyed the trip.  We were however glad to stop driving for a few days.  We are also glad that we prepared well, as there was no water available and food was really expensive.  We splashed out on lunch (2 burgers and chips) at a roadhouse one day and with Flynn sharing our food, it still came to $50.  The scenery was amazing and changed regularly.  There were some absolutely flat and vast areas like I have never seen before.  There were some very woody areas, and the dirt was constantly changing colour from sandy to red.

 On our first night we stayed at the Nullarbor road house and the low shrubs were so beautiful and as the sun set, changed between shades of green, blue and purple.  There was lots happening to excite Flynn as well.  He met a truck driver who was driving a huge, over sized truck and got to have a seat behind the wheel.  We also saw three planes land, including a tigermoth.  He was also pretty interested in the many large holes in the ground that were the homes of some big black beetles- there was lots of stick poking happening!  Hopefully there werent any casualties because there was no stopping this activity!

Big day for Nick!
Our celebratory dinner- Nick resigned from Coles on this day after 16 years!!

Plane landing at the Nullarbor roadhouse

Whales at the Great Aust Bight- mother and calf

Bunda Cliffs

We were lucky enough to see some whales at the Great Australian Bight.  There were about six of them including a mother and calf.  There were beautiful views of the Bunda Cliffs which are the largest and longest in the world.

We took a side trip to the Koonalda Homestead which has been deserted since the 80's.  In years gone by passing travellers would fill up on fuel at the homestead and it became a graveyard for cars that broke down or were damaged by the large pot holes.  It took us about 45 minutes to drive 14 kms to the homestead from the main highway.  The dirt road wasnt in great condition and with a caravan in tow we took it pretty slowly.  You are able to walk through the homestead which still contains some furniture, an old sewing machine and newspapers from the 70s.  There is a smaller hut where you can stay and light the fire.  There must have been a hundred old, rusty cars, all have been stripped of anything valuable and windows broken, some turned over.  The property is now owned by parks SA, and they allow camping, so we had planned to stay the night.  However the place was so spooky and depressing, that I was not staying, and we drove back out and found a great spot off the side of the highway.

Our campsite that night.  Flynn and I quite weary after a long day.  Nick and I spent the evening infront of the fire and under a sky full of stars.  We kept an eye out for UFOs and thought we saw one, but then agreed it was a satellite.  We confirmed this the following night when it was blinking at us from the same part of the sky!  Must admit that I was a bit jumpy after spending the afternoon at a deserted homestead- phew, we survived the night!!

We stopped in Eucla after crossing into WA and discovered a park with play equipment that reminded Nick and I of our childhoods.  There was an old tractor, a slide that was huge, a seesaw that was a big heavy plank of wood, all smooth from years of use.  It made me realise how safe playgrounds have become!  So Flynn learnt how to walk the plank of the seasaw and land on the other side with a big bang of the plank, and he climbed the biggest slide that he has ever been on, and loved it!  Mummy even had a go, and you go fast!!

Over sized road train- we saw lots of these and they take up about two thirds of the road.  We just got off the road anytime a truck came up behind us or an oversized one was coming the other way.  The great thing about the Nullarbor is that you see them in plenty of time and can get out of the way.

Longest, straightest bit of road in the world.

We stayed a night at Fraser Range Station, which was really beautiful and was like absolute luxury after a week of bush camps and roadside stops.  We met some lovely people and went on a sunset tour of the property.  It is something like 140kms long by 22 kms wide (something like that)!  It was a bit of an eye opener though, the owners are obviously looking towards tourism for an income as the government wont allow them to run sheep as the property is too damaged.  There were rabbit warrens everywhere and trees dying because of it.

Flynn at Fraser Range station, sitting on the wall of a dam built by convicts and aborigines built in the 20s.

Flynn driving the tour bus.

So as not to misrepresent ourselves as being the only family to cross the Nullarbor with no dramas or concerns, we thought that we would let you in on one little exchange of words.  Aidan decided that throughout the Nullarbor crossing, he would wake up at around 2.30am and cry for about 2 hours, each night.  Needless to say he woke Flynn a few times also and both wanted to sleep in our small double bed.  So after a few nights, we were feeling a little tired, and one afternoon when we were thinking about things such as showers, flushing toilets and heating, I took out our last fresh item from the fridge- some chicken.  It was off and Nick felt like this was a disaster.  I began opening cans and was making dinner when the gas ran out.  We have a spare bottle but the damn bit that screws on is really tricky and takes ages to do (Flynn beside himself by now).  So Nick tells me to change the gas bottles, to which I cracked it, and then he cracked it right back at me.  Nick put Flynn in the pram and started walking to Perth.  It started raining and Flynn wanted to 'do play doh with mummy', so he turned around.  So we were lucky that there were no accidents, flat tires, etc etc.  But it has been a challenge at times!  I discovered a new recipe that night-  rice pilaf with peas and carrots (tinned).  Well I called it that to make it sound a little more appetising!                                                                                                              

Coffin Bay to Ceduna

Coffin Bay township

We spent three nights at Coffin Bay national park and were joined by our new friends, the Shearers.  All the boys tried a bit of sand surfing, which included a mighty face plant from Flynn, which he recovered well from.  We went on a bit of a hike to a lookout and we were very impressed that Flynn walked for about 40 mins without having to be carried.  Nick had his first taste of four wheel driving, we drove onto the beach and some of us had a dip (it was chilly!).  Nick made his first camp oven meal, unfortunately it was a little more slow cooked than we thought and the boys had to make do with baked beans, but Nick and I enjoyed a delicious roast by the camp fire, under the stars, with all kiddies tucked up in bed.  We were lucky enough to be given some fish for dinner one night, straight out of the ocean.  They were delicious cooked on the coals of the fire.  We took the photos below and Nick was going to tell a little white lie to Chris (his brother in law) about catching them, but doesn't need to anymore as he actually did catch a fish! (more about that later).  So Coffin Bay has spectacular scenery, rugged cliffs and ocean and some beautiful quiet little bays, lots of wildlife, and friendly fellow travellers!

Coffin Bay National Park

Coffin Bay National Park

Next stop was Venus Bay, which is all about serious fishing!  We had a walk along the pier and Flynn saw bucket fulls of fish, which he was quite unsure about.  There are lots of pelicans here and we watched them being fed fish scraps.  Nick became friendly with a couple of guys who invited him fishing at the pier that evening.  They lent him their lucky rod, and within 2 minutes he had pulled in a fish!





We stayed at Streaky Bay for two nights.  We had one very wet weather day which is not much fun being in a caravan, but we all put our jackets on and the rain cover on the pram, and hit the town!  The next day we had a walk on the pier and watched a dolphin swim right under us and have a play around.  We also went to some blowholes that were about 15kms out of the bay.  The coast was beautiful, and although it wasnt the largest blowhole I have seen, the sound of it was amazing, it was like some giant monster breathing.  The power of the ocean and the sound of the blowhole was pretty frightening to a two year old!

MMmmmm...

Murphy's Haystack, near Streaky Bay

Nudie run at Coffin Bay

We have arrived in Ceduna today and are preparing for the trip across the Nullabor.  We have a rough idea of driving distances and where we are staying and are hoping that it will take us about 5 nights to get to Norseman.  We go through the WA boarder in two days, where we cant take any fruit, veg, honey or eggs, so it is all canned food from there on.  See you on the other side!!