KKK No 12 - Homeward Bound

“K K K”

No: 12

Homeward bound via

Inland SA and Western NSW

Even though the Nullarbor Plain is loosely described as stretching 1200km from Norseman WA to Ceduna SA, its land types and topography vary significantly along its lower highway route, encompassing mature forest, semi-arid saltbush plains, hilly scrublands, open grazing pastures and farmlands cultivated to grain. 

Eastern Nullabor Plains

The vast open Nullarbor Plain lands (‘null arbour’ - no trees) lie farther north of the highway. We saw no domestic livestock at all, only birds, 2 lizards, one snake and, sadly, three dead (road-kill) Wombats.

We enjoyed the Nullarbor and its changing scenery, from arid to grasslands,  passing  thru 200km of grazing country, then the western extremes of SA’s huge grain belt approaching Ceduna, with its Quarantine stop some 486km in from the WA border, but only took a quick look around this busy coastal town with its charming old stone architecture.

After refuelling, continued along the Eyre Highway inland through continuous wheat farms, in to the grain-hub village of Wirrulla with its large grain silos.

All around Australia, town Councils vary in their attitude to caravaners – some welcome, others shun – and tiny Wirrulla is a shining example of the former. A concrete pad with power, toilets and hot showers is provided for $10 per day, adjacent to the supermarket and pub, and you can’t get much better than that!

Wudinna Grain Silos

Following a 7 degree cold night at Wirrulla we drove 70 km through more wheat before arriving at Wudinna with its huge grain storage facilities, and a striking granite statue, which acknowledges the district’s importance as a granite quarrying centre. 

Granite Statue at Wudinna

We continued along the highway through rolling ridges bordered either side with eucalyptus trees concealing the now ubiquitous fields of wheat, but still no livestock to be seen, just km after km of grain, then, as if to break the green monotony, a bright blaze of yellow heralded the first canola crop in more than 1000km since WA .

Expansive Grain Growing

Our planned o/nite stop on 28/8 was for Kimba in the central north of the Eyre Peninsular, which we’d been told was RV friendly, a nice public campground in town with internet connectivity. We ran our quiet Honda 240v generator all afternoon to charge up phones and iPads etc, and power up the laptop to make a start on writing this Blog.

Got an early start next morning passing through fertile farmland again until Lake Gilles Conservation Park where the land changed to hilly forest ridges, then flattened out to low saltbush scrub plains as we neared Iron Knob, birthplace of Australia’s iron ore and steel industry.

Iron Knob

Iron Knob is almost a ghost town now with only a handful of residents, but the original two mines of Iron Knob and Monarchs still operate on a “FIFO” basis, having produced non-stop since the discovery of exceptional quality iron lodes in the 1890’s. 

Iron Knob Museum

Talk is that Iron Knob’s mineral reserves will last only a further 25 years and the already unkempt empty houses and buildings which dot its few streets will be joined by the rest of this tiny village to become a ghost town. The modest, though informative local museum details the mines’ history and rewards its few visitors with free coffee or tea in appreciation!

Horricks Pass - Flinders Range

Two hours later we’re back on the road driving through poor country of saltbush and flat claypans and on into Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf. Backed by the Flinders Range, the town boasts early settlement history, but apart from quick fuel and supermarket stops, we didn’t linger here.

Main Street Wilmington

The country around Port Augusta is influenced by the Flinders Range, which was presently quite green as we drove up through scenic Horrocks Pass and on thru Wilmington, after which the grain belt returned all the way to Orroroo, a pretty, well-kept prosperous looking town with lovely gardens down its clean main street, and is a credit to its residents.

Massive Red Gum

Open green farmlands, then we came upon a giant red gum tree, said to be over 500 years old, with a girth exceeding 10 metres. Then on through Peterborough, noted as a railway town being the intersection of the E-W (Port Pirie-Broken Hill) and N-S (Alice Springs –Adelaide) railway lines. Its original name Petersburg was changed in 1917 due to anti German sentiments.

Welcome to Peterborough

Here we joined the main Barrier Highway connecting Adelaide with Broken Hill, and open pastures grazing sheep replaced the grain belt, as we continued on to Yunta, little more than a roadhouse in this sparse outback of central South Australia.

A further 35km brings us to Manna Hill, with its lovely old railway station, perhaps ten houses and an old pub, whose front yard humorously displays a “legal Pot tree”, and where we spent the night in their rest area, sharing it with a young attractive Sydney girl, who arrived just after dark, enroute to her work in Alice Springs, travelling and sleeping alone in her old Volvo station wagon! 

Manna Hill Railway Station

Sat 30/8: day 147. We’re out of Manna Hill by 8:20am and back into semi-arid and flat scrub plains as we continue on, through the wee hamlet of Olary comprising only three very old stone buildings; further down the highway we came across another bit of Aussie roadside humour, a Hills Hoist clothes line on a creek-bank mound, with all the washing pegged out, complete with laundry basket, and not a house for miles around.

In the middle of nowhere!!

A little further along we arrive at Cockburn on the SA–NSW border and stop for a quick look and photo – nothing much to see here, so drive on through more poor hilly scrublands; however, as we continued the country improved, though still semi-arid red country, basically the bottom end of SA’s Strzelecki Desert, all the way to Broken Hill.

Broken Hill, “the grand dame of the outback” with a population of 33,000 is home to BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, and dates from fairy-tale beginnings in 1883 when Charles Rasp, a station-hand boundary rider pegged a 40 acre mining claim, thinking he might have discovered tin, thereby sowing the seed that flourished to become this nations richest company and the world’s richest source of silver, lead and zinc.

Overlooking Broken Hill

When Charles Rasp told his boss George McCulloch, the station property owner about his find, McCulloch suggested they form a syndicate, comprised of seven of the sheep station’s employees to fund its development. Each invested £70 to form BHP in 1875 and the value of their original shares today would be in excess of a billion dollars each.

After more than 130 years mining a 300 million tonne mineral system, both town and company are still going strong. Broken Hill is a typical old mining town with many grand old, heritage listed buildings, together with many, many small miner’s cottages all adding their charm to the character of the place.

We toured the city, lunched at the central lookout, then departed mid afternoon and drove 200km to Wilcannia where we spent three days in Victory Van Park in nice grassy surrounds shaded by giant red river gums on the bank of the mighty Darling River, the nations longest at 1472km.

Way out in the middle of nowhere, Wilcannia in 1860 was Australia’s third largest port after Sydney and Morpeth near Newcastle; in 1887, 218 river barges arrived and left here. There were more than a dozen hotels and a pop. of 13,000, and by 1880 there were 3000 people and 13 hotels. Today’s pop is 600, of whom 500 identify as being aboriginal.

Wilcannia's Historic Buildings

Wilcannia has for years been known as a ‘trouble town’ and has the highest ratio of Police in all of NSW. Sadly, Wilcannia now relies on government welfare to exist, having little local economy, but its former legacy is apparent today on streets lined with historic architecture.

2 Sept, (day 150) we depart Wilcannia after (rare) 5mm rainfall overnight and drive through the 12km wide soft riparian soils that comprise the Darling River flood plain; then climbed up into higher, hard red country of timbered rolling ridges which in turn became red Mulga scrub before changing again to open forest grasslands timbered with Box and similar eucalypts.

250km bought us to Cobar, a very progressive town of 5000 with a copper mining background from 1870. Had lunch and a look around then took the Kidman Highway north for approx 51km, to where we had read about a nice off-road free camp, well back from road noise, on clean, flat red soil in open Mulga, with lots of firewood – one of our best camp spots yet. We stayed there two nights all to ourselves, ran the 240v generator for the computer and commenced this report.

Roaring log fire and wide open spaces!

By now we were becoming like an old horse that can ‘smell’ home and wanted to be there, so we stopped for a quick look around Bourke with its old wharf on the Darling River and some lovely old well kept homes, then pressed on through more Mulga country, seeing hundreds of wild goats grazing the sweet grass in the table-drains all along the next 97km stretch. 

Post Office - Bourke

Next stop was the traditional aboriginal town of Brewarrina, pop 2000, renowned for its aboriginal fish traps, said to be 40,000 years old and thought to be the oldest man-made structure on earth. This elaborate network of rock weirs and pools, built to catch fish as they swam upstream, stretches for around 500 metres along the Darling riverbed at the back of town, and continues to lure fish today.

We continued along the Kamilaroi highway passing through productive black soil western plains grazing country and much dry, fallow cultivation for the 132km run to Walgett, home to the largest temporary wheat storage (30000 + tonnes) in the Southern Hemisphere. Walgett has a significant aboriginal community, and an 8.5km levee bank which completely surrounds the town. We camped the night there in the Rotary caravan park.

Highway scenery

Friday 5 Sept (day153) we departed Walgett and took the Gwydir Highway 75km (surely Australia’s roughest bitumen road) thru Collarenebri, a sad looking, small run-down whistle-stop of a place and continued a further 140km to Moree; the farther east we travelled the better the country became.

Droving cattle near Moree

We thought Moree was the prettiest, tidiest, best presented country town we passed through in our ‘round Australia’ trip. Situated on the black soil Moree Plains it is the centre of an expansive agricultural area extending northwards to the Qld border, and is also Artesian Water country.
 

We saw many different country Mail Boxes

Following a good look around we headed up the rough Newell Hwy to cross the Queensland border at Goondiwindi, another well kept attractive town. By now we were within easy distance of Brisbane, so changed our plan for one last ‘country overnight’ stop, and after passing thru dark rainy skies at Warwick which further influenced our decision, we arrived back home at Cannon Hill that evening, ever grateful for a fabulous 5 month around Australia touring experience loaded with many happy memories.

153 days; from 6 April - 5 September 2014                 
Distance traveled 18,424km

3,900 litres Petrol cost $6,694.35:  
Price range; $1.39 - $2.50 /litre

Avg: 21.17 litres per 100km.         
74 paid nights ($2030) and 79 free camping nights

Farewell until our next adventure

Bruce and Audrey

9 Sept 2014

KKK No 11 - The Nullarbor

 “K K K”

No: 11

WA’s South-West Corner

and the Nullarbor

A fine sunny morning at Baldivis on 11 August, day128, marks the end of our wonderful 11day visit to the ‘greater Perth region’ as we take the divided freeway southwards heading for the Margaret River area.

We soon enter the Peel Region and pass through emerald-green open pastures attractively shaded with large trees, under which graze both beef cattle and merino sheep. Angus and other British beef breeds dominate, no Brahmans here.

It has recently occurred to me, following weeks of fleeting casual observations, the reason, perhaps, why Western Australians are affectionately nick-named “Sand Gropers” – virtually everywhere we’ve been here the soil is so very sandy, far more so than the heavier loams of the eastern states; yet it grows big trees, excellent crops, pastures and gardens which in ignorance, I find quite interesting.     

Bypassing Bunbury and Busselton we arrive at Margaret River with its tree-lined main street and touristy village atmosphere, as you’d expect, being the centre of WA’s famous wine-growing region. Since we’re coming here again on our return trip in 6 weeks’ time, we press on under dark skies to make camp asap before it rains. 

Pruned Vines - Margaret River

 

But equally interesting is the village of Cowaramup (ko-warra-mup) a little further south, affectionately known as “Cow Town”, a once major dairying centre since starting as 160 acre “settlers’ selections” in1920, supplying much of WA’s milk; however, during recent decades many of the dairy farms have now become vineyards. Fibreglass cows now dot the village in keeping with the “Cow Town” theme. 

One of many fibreglass Cowaramup Cows

Just past Cowaramup we drove 25km inland to Rapids Conservation Park where we made camp beside lovely Cane Brake Pool, clear freshwater approx 300mtrs long on the upper Margaret River, a splendid campsite with the unusual blessing of mountains of firewood provided, albeit green, sawmill offcuts.  

Canebrake Pool - Margaret River

Canebrake Pool Woodpile

We had it all to ourselves other than for some day visitors, environmental scientists doing research into the endangered Hairy Marron, a native freshwater crayfish being attacked by another introduced species. They encouraged my inquisitiveness, making me an ‘authority’ on these matters and I can now identify the gender of crayfish. Smart, eh?

After two pleasant days there, notwithstanding a few rain showers, we moved on through Witchcliffe to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park where we stopped overnight in the Conto campground, which was equally appealing to both us and our fearless wallaby visitors.

Conto Wallaby

The following morning we drove the short distance to Augusta, to visit school-days friend Gil Goodwin, who welcomed us into his hillside home with its great views over the Blackwood River, beside which Augusta was settled in 1830, being WA’s third oldest European town (after Albany and the Swan River Settlement) and today is a lovely small town loaded with history and charm.

 

We enjoyed this SW Cape area immensely with the three major highlights being:

 

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, mainland Australia’s tallest, built in 1895, of which we took a guided tour and a memorable climb to the top of the 250 steps to the light platform with its superb views over the rugged coastline and meeting point of the Southern and Indian Oceans. The light’s flash is visible from over 47km away. 

We've come "up" in the World

Augusta Museum offers a wonderful insight into local history and, it’s said, many visitors rate it the best small Museum they’ve seen, with which we totally concur, being packed with some significant displays and pieces covering Matthew Flinders circumnavigation, early coastal Shipwrecks, Whaling, the Timber industry and early pioneers to name a few. Much local pride attaches to the fact that Matthew Flinders 1802 circumnavigation of Australia commenced and finished at Augusta.

Jewel Cave was the best by far. This SW corner comprises vast areas of limestone and subsequently many underground caves. Jewel Cave is a stunning crystal wonderland of timeless beauty and is home to one of the longest straw stalactites found in any tourist cave in the world. Its glistening array of formations left Audrey and me in awe! 

Jewel Cave Stalactites

The flora of WA’s south-west is famed for its diversity and one of this region’s major assets is its unique and unusual wildflowers. As spring approaches additional wildflowers will come into full bloom with all their shapes and colours.

However, the trees of the south-west are the regions well-known plants, dominated by the beauty and grandeur of the tall Karri, Marri, Jarrah and Tingle hardwood forests. The handsome multi-coloured Karri is WA’s tallest tree and one of the tallest in the world, growing up to 90 metres high. 

Hardwood Forest

We left pretty Augusta on 17 August and drove the 320km directly back to Perth from where Audrey flew that night to Sydney on an unexpected family matter, so Bruce and the KK checked into the Discovery Caravan Park at Forrestfield near Perth Airport for a couple of totally miserable days of strong windy rain.

Day 137, August 20 we depart Perth via Roe Highway up through the Perth Hills and nearby Mundaring Weir, the beginning of the 528km (300 miles) Golden Pipeline, completed in 1903, that delivered 5 million gallons of water daily to the thriving, thirsty gold mining towns of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The pipeline follows the highway for most of its length.

The Golden Pipeline

Nearby John Forrest Nat Park was very hilly and densely timbered but soon the countryside opened in to grassy grazing lands upon which both cattle and sheep grazed. Continued on to the lovely town of York, settled in 1831, with its many old stone 2 &3 story commercial buildings and verandahed hotels. 

York Town Hall

By now Perth’s rainy weather had gone and we continued on via a lovely country road through fields of wheat and canola, intermingled with shaded park-like open forest grasslands, passing the hamlets of Greenhills and Dangan, on through the village of Quairading and past Shackleton, home of Australia's smallest bank, and in to the regional town of Bruce Rock, all part of the WA wheatbelt.

Bankwest Shackleton opens 2 hours every Friday

WA’s famous wildflowers were all about and a small campground at Kwolyin, a newly constructed Shire Council free campground, was a perfect example of that.

Wildflowers at Kwolyin Reserve

We had it all to ourselves overnight but next morning finds us back on the road, passing through Bruce Rock and on up to rejoin the Great Eastern Highway at the major centre of Merredin. Fortuitously found a garage where we had the Land Cruiser serviced, and plenty of red dust came out of the air filter! Camped that night in a noisy roadside rest area at Burracoppin - you can’t win ‘em all.

By the time we reached the town of Southern Cross we were now out of the southern farmlands grain belt, and by Yellowdine Roadhouse, low scrubby heath was prevalent.

Another two hours’ drive found us in Coolgardie, the 1892 birthplace of WA’s famous gold mining boom when Arthur Bayley and William Ford collected 554 oz (16.8kg) of alluvial gold using nothing more than a tomahawk. Coolgardie saw the biggest movement of people in Australian history when gold was found - the rush was on!! 

Coolgardie Old Grandeur

We stopped for lunch in this town of barely 700 pop, a far cry from its mighty heydays as reflected in some magnificent old buildings that remain from its rich past.

A further 40km that afternoon and we’re in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, where in 1893, three down-on-their-luck Irishmen stumbled across 100 oz of alluvial nuggets when forced to stop to replace a shoe on their horse. Paddy Hannan is credited as being the discoverer, with the main street named for him.  

The twin town Kalgoorlie-Boulder is still one of the world’s biggest gold mining cities (pop 33,000), and both have beautiful examples of Goldrush architecture.

The gold mine’s open-cut “Super Pit” is a man made wonder that can be seen from space; a massive gouge carving into the red earth where trucks the size of houses move hundreds of tonnes of rock in the hope of extracting a few ounces of gold at a time.

Kalgoorlie Super Pit

Next stop was Norseman, a historical gold mining town, starting point of the Eyre Highway and gateway to the Nullarbor. A tired looking old gold mining town which has yielded over 5 million ounces making it the second richest goldfield in WA. We stopped that night

By late afternoon we reached Palms Lakes rest area just past Fraser Range Station where we camped 200mtrs back from the highway amid the trees and a few other vans. Country is still open forest and some scrublands, but we’re at the edge of the Nullarbor.

Next morning we topped petrol at Balladonia which made world headlines in 1979 when space debris from Skylab landed 40km east on Wooriba Sheep Station. The Roadhouse, on the western end of the Nullarbor Plain, has a small museum which included an exterior section of the Skylab.

Just east of here is “the 90 Mile Straight”, from Balladonia to Caiguna, the longest straight stretch of highway in Australia (146.6 km). 

The 90 Mile Straight

We stopped at the Caiguna Blowhole with its strong current of cold air from the underground limestone caverns; topped up fuel at Cocklebiddy then passed thru Madura, the midway point between Perth and Adelaide; and enjoyed the elevated view of the sprawling Roe Plains from Madura Pass Lookout, enroute to our next overnighter at Moodini Bluff, where we camped well back from the road noise under shading trees.

After an early start next day we soon pass through the locality of Mundrabilla where Australia’s biggest meteorite was found, weighing over 10 tonnes.

Continued on through low scrubby country then up through scenic Eucla Pass - where the Nullarbor Plain rises from 20 to 80 metres above sea level - into tiny Eucla village which, in the early 1900’s was the busiest (Morse code) Telegraph Station in Australia beyond the capital cities. The historic old station building now lies in ruins.

Just past Eucla lies the WA - SA Border and the highway now runs along the high cliffs coastline of the Great Australian Bight, for about 100 km, with many lookouts. We stopped and viewed them all, but the Sun’s northern trajectory over this shaded southern coast makes it difficult to take bright photos. The high cliffs are very attractive, but unfenced with sheer undercut drop-offs – and quite scary to photograph from close to the edge.

Great Australian Bight

Stopped that night at a rest area identified as the ‘81km peg’ about 100km west of Nullarbor hamlet. Like many others across the ‘Plain’, a complex series of dirt tracks wind back several hundred metres from the highway to minimise road noise and we always went in a few hundred metres. Some were like a maze and challenging to pick the main track back rather than driving around in lost circles!

Two days were spent here alone at the ‘81 Peg’ running on 240v generator power to prepare this KKK # 11, before heading off on 27/8, trip-day 144, towards the end of the Nullarbor.

81 Peg Campsite

100km eastwards Nullarbor Hotel/Motel and the Roadhouse pretty much comprised the total village and we passed on by, entering the Yalata Aboriginal Community Lands, about 100 km of heavily forested, high rolling ridges, not much driving fun pushing a two tonne rig constantly up hill and down dale.

But push we did and eventually drove out of the hilly bushlands and into open green grazing land and fields of wheat, just before arriving at Nundroo, marking the western edge of SA’s vast grain belt which extended the 150km into Ceduna.

Since the Nullarbor Plain is loosely regarded as running from Norseman to Ceduna, we’ll leave the rest ‘til the next instalment.

Bruce and Audrey

Kimba  SA – 28/8/14

 

Bunda Cliffs - Perched on the Edge of Australia!!

KKK No. 10 - The Coral Coast to Perth

 “K K K”

No: 10

The Coral Coast to Perth

WA’s Coral Coast stretches 1100 kilometres from Exmouth down to just above Perth and boasts some of that States major tourist attractions and natural scenic beauty, with Shark Bay, Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay and Point Quobba among its ‘hotspots’.

Old OTC Satellite Dish

It’s our 111^th. day away and we’re up early packing for departure from Quobba Station and then revisit Carnarvon to inspect the old OTC Satellite Dish, the Mile Long Jetty and top up provisions before continuing on southwards. Early Wildflowers are now coming into bloom.

WA Wildflowers

We passed through km upon km of endlessly flat, red, open Saltbush plains, seeing only a few cattle but many goats, and an Emu mother in the table-drain, as we sped past so perilously close, was hopefully instructing her 5 chicks about ‘road safety matters’.

Our first overnight stop was at Gladstone Beach, a Council-run campground 6km from Yaringa on the eastern foreshore overlooking Shark Bay, which became a World Heritage Marine Park in 1991, one of only a handful of places in the world to achieve that status. The bay was discovered in 1616 by Dutch Captain Dirk Hartog, but named by English buccaneer William Dampier on his visit in 1699, for its many Tiger Sharks, before sailing on to Timor.

Whalebone Bay

Next morning we passed through 65km more of red saltbush scrub to the Overlander Roadhouse where we took the road to Denham. The weather was overcast, with distant rain showers, but we managed a few photos of Goulet Bluff and Whalebone Bay during sunny breaks enroute to the pretty seaside township of Denham, Shark Bay’s commercial centre.     

After a coffee break and look around, we continued a further 28km on to Monkey Mia, world famous for its friendly wild Dolphins and Emus, and booked in to the Caravan Park within the up-market Dolphin Holiday Resort. 

One of the Locals

The following morning at 8am is Dolphin feeding time; for many years wild Dolphins have come in to the sandy-beach, calf-high shallows at Monkey Mia to be fed by Park Rangers, who pick 8 people to hand- feed fish to adult females only, and yours truly, that’s me, Bruce, was one of those chosen few!! How good is that? 

 

Thanks Bruce for the fish!

Having now achieved “celebrity status” just two hours earlier that morning, we’re back on the road again retracing our route of yesterday, but stopping to ‘smell the roses’ along the way.

First stop was Shell Beach, an amazing pure white beach and one of only 2 such beaches in the world, created entirely naturally from billions of tiny cockle sea shells layered up to ten metres deep, stretching for over 120km!

 

Shell Beach - tiny, 5 to 10mm in size

A little farther on is Hamelin Pool, one of the few places on earth where living microbes build marine Stromatolites (strom/mat/toe/lites) . These rocky looking lumps in the highly saline shallow waters are similar to the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth, dating back 3000 million years, built by microbes of blue-green algae, and are incredibly slow growing at 0.3mm a year. 

 

Hamelin Pool Viewing Deck

 

Living Stromatolites

Continuing south on Hwy #1 we enter the Batavia Coast region where the ubiquitous red stony scrub country turns to greener forest grassland and fields of young grain, then find an excellent overnight camp spot on the north bank of the Murchison River beside Galena Bridge, and warm ourselves with a welcome campfire. There’s no moon tonight, and the Milky Way glows brightly in the dark heavens.

Murchison River Campsite

We then leave the main highway and take the Kalbarri Road toward the coast through Kalbarri National Park, where we deviate to see Hawks Head Gorge and Ross Graham Lookout overlooking the Murchison River, and just before Kalbarri township we enjoy the panorama of the town, and river mouth entrance to the Indian Ocean, from the limestone capped Meanarra Lookout behind the town, all of which are situated within the Kalbarri National Park.

Hawks Head Gorge - Kilbarri NP

There’s nothing much to see in Kalbarri village so we head off 25km southwards down the coastal road with its scenic ocean views and decide to camp that night, with two others, at a roadside rest area with a gazebo, and pleasant ocean views beyond an open grassy field. Excellent dry fuel lay all around, so another warming campfire was enjoyed. Early next morning an Ultralight Aircraft passed overhead which I was surprisingly able to photograph on zoom.  

Ultralight

Next was Port Gregory 42km away, near the mouth of the Hutt River, which is said to be the windiest place in WA. A picturesque fishing village enclosed by 5km of exposed coral reef, it is also bordered by Hutt Lagoon, also known as the ‘Pink Lake’, due to its pink colour created by the naturally occurring beta carotene. 

A few kilometres long and all Pink

Many of you may recall this region has another interesting aside, in that it is home to the “Hutt River Principality” a self proclaimed micronation established by wheat farmer Leonard Casley, who succeeded from Australia in April 1970 in protest against a newly introduced wheat quota system.

Assuming the title of Prince Leonard with his wife Princess Shirley (who died last year), though not acknowledged by government (and he still pays Council Land Rates), the province is open to visitors daily, issues its own passport and postage stamps, and is a successful tourist attraction in addition to its pastoral income.  

A further 42km finds us in Northampton, one of the oldest settlements (1864) in WA outside of Perth, and home to WA’s first public railway in 1879. With many old historic buildings and cottages, and classified as a historic town by the National Trust of Australia in 1993, it is an interesting mix of history and charm.

By now the countryside was changing to gently undulating open grazing pasture being interspersed with fields of young green wheat, starkly contrasting with fields of bright yellow maturing Canola, offering attractive snapshots of rural scenery. Canola, an acronym of Canada Oil, is the ‘new’ name for the “old’ Rape seed, whose burgeoning popularity occasioned the name change to Canola.

Fields of Canola

Intrigued by the mystique of ghosts, we decided to visit Okabella Homestead, south of Northampton, which is said to be the most haunted house in Western Australia. The old white-washed stone homestead has, over its long history, witnessed the mysterious deaths of a man and a boy, and is open for public inspection as a paid attraction. 

The Haunted Oakabella Station

Rub-a-dub-dub 3 Emus in a tub - Oakabella Stn rustic art

We did a conducted tour of the homestead, fully furnished with much of its original 130 y/o pieces, plus its several outbuildings, culminating with a home baked Devonshire Tea, then stayed that night in their open field Van Park with several others.

In the morning we drove into Geraldton, a bright, modern city with nice ocean beaches and a sizable shipping harbour, and having a distinct holiday atmosphere. After a look at the waterfront we toured the town and reprovisioned foodstuffs, then took the coastal highway with its ocean views through ever green countryside dotted with fields of green and yellow and, increasingly, flocks of sheep.

Near Geraldton

Continuing on Hwy 1 through Dongara, we lunched at Eneabba (E-nee-abba) Roadhouse then continued on through Badgingarra and took the inland road at Moore River, enjoying a very scenic drive through park-like shaded grasslands grazing sheep, down to Wannamal, passing through a few rain showers, a rare occurrence since departing Brisbane 116 days previously.

A cold night was spent in the Wannamal Rest Area, though not unexpected as we venture farther south. Wildflowers, Parrots and Grasstrees were a feature here. Dew, almost the size of rain droplets, covers everything in the early morning, a reminder that we’re free of the semi-arid climate of further northern regions.

Wannamal Rest Area

On July 31, day 118, we’re on our way to Perth, deviating via the town of Gingin which shares its name with Gin Gin in Queensland, a cattle grazing area where Bruce started his Auctioneering career fifty years ago, so the namesake was a ‘must see’.

Before we knew it, Perth’s excellent freeway systems had delivered us to the Baldivis home of sailing friends Nic and Jen Devonport, on lovely rural acreage near Rockingham about 45km south of Perth, where we spent the following ten days discovering Perth, Fremantle and the local region.

Planting Australian Natives with Nic and Jen at Baldivis

Perth is a very vibrant city with its mixture of old and modern architecture wonderfully situated beside the Swan River and all so attractively overlooked from Kings Park with its mix of huge trees; the Perth CBD has grown noticeably since by last visit 10 years ago. Since we are returning to Perth for a family visit in late September, to celebrate Lavinia’s 90^th, we will report further on it then.

Old Fremantle Market

Fremantle is surely one of this nation's heritage treasures, with much historical interest amid its well preserved old buildings, streets and parks. Bruce met his comeuppance in the old Round House Gaol when an attractive young Ranger locked him in The Stocks; then we particularly enjoyed seeing the shipwreck museum which features the skeletal remains of the VOC trading ship ‘Batavia’, wrecked on her maiden voyage as a result of munity in 1629.

Bruce in The Stocks!

Time has caught up with us and we need to keep moving, so on Monday we'll head off down to the Margaret River Wine growing region,then on to Augusta and Cape Leuwin, all of which will be delivered to you in due course.

Stay safe,
Bruce and Audrey
9-8-2014