Geraldton and Denham

We only spent an overnight stay in Geraldton, at the Sunset Beach caravan park. This park was quite nice and i spoilt the girls by lashing out for an ensuite site .

The caravan park is right on the beach as can be seen in our previous post so we all had a great night sleep, away from any major roads (and road trains), to the sound of the waves on the beach.

When we got up in the morning, Caitlyn, Dad and i went for a walk on the beach but as it was high tide, there was not much beach. I was suppose to get up at 4:30am to look at the eclipse but as i was having such a good sleep, that did not happen.

We had a few things to do before we could head on up to Denham. Steve and Rhonda had called through a shopping list so with our caravans off of the ensuite sites and parked in caravan storage we headed off in to town to visit the HMAS Sydney memorial and the local Woolworths.

The Shrine was quite good and once reading the stories on the wall or remembrance it was clear why they had used seagulls in the dome.

Caitlyn was quite fond of the Lady here looking out over the sea and spent quite a bit of time holding her hand

Once we returned to the caravan park to pick up the vans we were on our way. It was an easy trip up to the Overlander roadhouse, where we had to ring ahead to Denham to order our escort into town.

Steve and Rhonda came out to meet us on the road and take us through town to their place. Denham seems to be a nice seaside village and it takes all of 2 mins to cruise the main street from roundabout to roundabout

We had a nice catch up on the first night, and we are sleeping inside so this was a very quiet night. We also spent most of the first day here in Denham relaxing and cleaning. Once we had had enough of this we went down to the main street for a walk.

We then took the drive out to the Ocean Park where we were able to see fish and shark feeding.

We had a nice barbeque with  everyone, including Belinda and Guy before heading off to bead for our second night here. We had an early wake up to look forward to as we were heading off to Monkey Mia to see the Dolphin Feeding.

When we got out to Monkey Mia it was to find a good crowd already gathering. There is a range of accommodation available out there from back packers and caravan sites through to hotel rooms and chalets. It did not take long before the dolphins arrived and we got some great photos before the guides allowed everyone down to the water. They then talked about the dolphins, monkey mia’s history and the feeding process before asking everyone to exit the water again for the feeding to begin.

We happened to be in luck today as Caitlyn got picked to feed with the very last fish in the guides bucket.

With the feeding over we went up to the cafe for a light brunch before we booked on to the Shotover catamaran for a sail in the bay looking for Dolphins, Turtles and Dugong. We did not see any Dugong but we did find everything else and had a great 2.5hrs out on a nice sunny, calm day.

With the sail over we had lunch before heading home. just as we were leaving monkey mia a small turtle decided to visit and swim around the jetty.

Our last destination for today was the Peron Homestead where they have a small museum and a great artesian fed hot tub.

There was a lot in this update, feel free to ask questions via the comments if i have glossed over anything to fast

Perth to Geraldton

We had a wet pack up today as it decided to rain most of the night again. Sara and I awoke to mum and dad having already packed their van due to a lull in the weather. We began the process of packing up our site as well, in the rain, before heading off. I have to say, this caravan park had the worst speed humps i have found yet in a caravan park, even the car, unburdened by the van, scraped going over these. Why do they put speed humps into a caravan park???

Anyways, our first destination today was New Norcia, a Monastery outside Perth. We did not have much of a look around as we missed the tour time but we did manage to snap up some great fresh bread that they make. Most of this was consumed in their car park for our lunch

With this done we began the trip to Geraldton. This began with a great trip through some quiet farmland with no other traffic, they were back roads. Once we hit the freeway however we got stuck behind a series of 4 wide load trucks, two with machines and two with portable homes. the portable homes were all over the road and we could not pass them until we encountered an overtaking lane, over 1 hour later. Even with the extra lane i spent a fair amount of the time on the wrong side of the road getting past.

We arrived in Geraldton around 5pm and went straight to the beach before the sun set. Tomorrow we head off to Denham after visiting the HMAS Sydney memorial. We are nearly at the half way mark in our trip. The trip has so far seen us drive 4500km.

Perth

We have spent only two days here in Perth, we thought that would be enough for a taste. Unfortunately the weather was working against us.

We had only planned two things, one being a tour of the Perth mint and the second being a ghost tour of the Freemantle jail. Sara had also wanted to visit the gardens and also get a nice evening picture of the city skyline.

Well..... We made it to the Mint. The first night here was ok, just a bit windy, but by morning the wind had picked up a bit and the clouds had settled in. We first went for a trip out to Bullsbrook, where dad was stationed when I was 3-4 yrs old. We saw my old house and the kindergarten I went to.

From there we drove back towards the city with the aid of the tom-tom. It seems tom-tom and Sara were working together as it took me straight to the Margaret River Chocolate factory. We went in and it was wall to wall chocolate with viewing windows through to the manufacturing areas. The kids found the sample bowls and disappeared back to them every now and then. We purchased some nice truffles for dessert.

Back on the road we went past lots of cellar doors that mostly seemed closed, possibly due to it being a Monday. Anyways, into the city we found the Mint easily enough but not so a car park. Once we found that it was a brisk walk to the mint, just in time to see the gold pouring demonstration. unfortunately it was no photos in here or in the gold vaults but the kids loved the show. Caitlyn was particularly interested when some of the gold spilled out of the mould and onto the floor

After the pouring we went back to the start of the gold tour and moved through the exhibits. they had a collection of gold bullion, which would be a nice collectable to get into i would think, then a display of all the various forms of gold nuggets found. We even got to lift up a real gold bullion that was valued at $600000.

After all this we moved into the viewing are of the precious metal coin stamping. some of the machines were highly automated but some still had an operator loading a coin blank into a press and then unloading at the end of the cycle. We bought a souvenir silver and gold coin with all of our names engraved in the back.

After the Mint we moved onto the main city malls where we just strolled in and out of the various malls as the weather had turned very cold and windy. we did this until we had to return to the car.

Our second day in Perth, due to the bad weather was spent indoors at a local shopping mall. All the girls got their shopping fix and we stocked up for the next leg. We ended the day with a great dinner at Scott and Nicole’s in the evening. Thank you

Kalgoorlie to Perth

Well what a day we had in Kalgoorlie. After much advice we rang ahead last Tuesday to book our seats (7) on the super pit mine tour. The booking was for Saturday. I was lucky that I had the confirmation email sent to my phone, but I should of read it as the lady that booked us in had actually booked us in for Tuesday, the day I rang :(

This meant that when we arrived keen and early for our tour at 9:15, we found that our names were not on the list. We were not very happy. I should of read the confirmation email. Anyways the lady that served us on the Saturday was very helpful and managed to squeeze five of us onto a special session. It turned out that the Tuesday tour had been cancelled due to bad weather anyways.

This also meant that our day had been turned upside down as the second tour left at 1:30 so we had not quite half a day to waste. We walked the main street for a while before descending on Coles for some supplies for the next few days and then heading back to camp for some lunch.

1:30 found us back down the main street and boarding the tour bus for our tour. The tour was very informative and the guide really knew what was going on. We loved the tour and the inside view it gave us. One funny part was when we came back on to the bus after an outside viewing and the driver, after doing a head count, looked down the bus at Caitlyns seat and asked if anyone was in it. Caitlyn had to stand up to show she was there ;)

After the tour we returned to the camp for a great barbecue dinner before starting our packing for the next days drive. The night also turned out to be very cool and windy.

Sunday found us driving from Kalgoorlie to Perth. Even though this was supposed to be a long days drive it turned out to be quite nice and we pulled into the caravan park at 4:30pm. We stopped for lunch in southern cross and again at Cunderdin where we let the kids out for a play whilst we had a look at a gathering on vintage cars.

The caravan park, Karyinyup waters resort, seems nice enough, but we were a bit disappointed since we booked this place in advance, for two sites, and when we arrived we were told we could have our pick of grass sites down the back, all the slab sites were taken, and we could not be together as where no double sites available.

Tomorrow we are off to the Perth mint and a walk through the CBD.

I am doing many of these short blog posts using bloggsy on Bianca's iPad the software works well but since all the photos are on the laptop it is easier to do the photos with windows live

Fraser Range station to Kalgoorlie

Today's trip was a short one of only around 3hrs to we took our time.

We first rose early in the morning, Dad and I at least, for a coffee and a walk around the station. Then, once everyone else was awake we cooked up bacon, sausages and eggs in the camp kitchen. This was nice.

After breakfast we started to break camp and got both vans to the point that we could drive off. We then went for a group walk to the top of a nearby hill. This gave us a great view out over the station. We could see the caravan park and many small cairns that people had made. We also found a group of rock wallabies on the far side of the hill and spotted a group of kangaroos in a distant field. This made the kids morning.

When we returned to the vans we stopped for a few more photos, one of some bush humour, before heading off for Norseman.

We need to stop here to inquire about a fossicking location we could find agate at. Unfortunately we could only access the free site with the van so it was here we headed, down a long and winding dirt track. It ended up being a nice spot with a fireplace so we got that going for our coffee and tea and had lunch before specking around for agate pieces. We found a few and it will be interesting to get home and cut them up to see how they really look.

 

We left Norseman after this to head to Kalgoorlie where we have booked into the Discovery holiday park. We have a great sized site and plan on being here 2 days as we have booked a super pit mine tour for tomorrow.

Border village to Fraser Range station

After a nice night at Border Village, a very basic overnight stop, we headed off to as far as we could get in a day.

Border village was the first place where we (the kids) encountered the pay per use shower. It was $2 for 10min which was more than enough. The next night, at Fraser range it was $1 for 5min, so half as long for them as we only give them the one coin ;) these showers are long enough, I just need to get something like this at home for their bathroom.
Anyways, after we set up in Border village and had tea we walked up to the roadhouse to the dinner and bought the kids dessert. Then, as it was so dark, we all went to bead. The other thing that is causing us issues is the changes in time, we have had 3 time changes in the last 4 days. Therefore after waking up at 4:30 am, I simply waited for the others to catch up.


The day started off great, funny anyways, with a stop at the quarantine centre at the SA/WA border. We had used up all of our fruit and vegetables and stated so, but the inspector still needed to look through the car and caravan. Whilst they were doing this I mentioned we might have some tomato. We had some left from lunch the previous day and I could not remember throwing it out. They went through the fridge with a torch and could not find it so we were free to go. Later, at lunch time, I reached into the fridge, without looking, and found the tomato ;)


We had a few stops on the way, mainly for fuel, and spent most of the day searching for the "bottle tree" which we did not find. We had a bottle all set up as well.
We had planned to stop at Balladonia road house but as we still had plenty of light left we decided to head for Fraser Range station. This proved to be a great decision as it was well off the road, cheap ($28 per site for the night) and it had a central camp fire. We spent most of the night around this fire with most of the other people camped here. It was the best night of the trip so far.




One of the things that allowed us to set up late in the day was the fact we had cooked our tea at Border Village. We cooked a nice beef stroganoff in the slow cooker which also used up all of our vegetables.