Crossing the Nullabor

On the 17th of May we departed Perlubie Beach (mouseland) and drove 100km to Ceduna where we stocked up on groceries and bought Hannah a pair of jeans for $1 from an Op shop. Actually, we've done a bit of op-shopping along the way - cheap beanies, skirt for Hannah, jacket for Mum (mother's day pressie). From Ceduna we drove another 150km to our first Nullabor stop at the Nundroo Roadhouse where for $20 we got a powered site, showers and toilets for the night. The next day we drove about another 150km to the Head of the Bight. This is an amazing lookout where you can gaze at the awesome coastline and watch the whales that migrate here from Antarctica each year to have their calves. Unfortunately we were a month early for whale watching but the view was stunning. After lunch we continued on to a rest area at the 13k peg (13km before WA border) where we stopped for the night with our travelling companions from Victoria. It was a very windy night with road trains roaring past, so we were up and out early the next day and through the border crossing where they took our leftover honey and a few vegies. We stopped at Eucla for diesel (1.611/litre) then drove 450 km to another rest area for the night. Along the way we saw a lot of trees that had been decorated with shoes, hats, beer bottles, undies, bras, ties, teddy bears and one wrapped up in foil. It was a bit of entertainment along a very boring stretch of road. As we journey into Western Australia the soil starts to look a bit redder and there are a few more trees. On 20th May (Happy birthday Jacque's Warwick!) we stopped at Balladonia for diesel (1.75/litre) then continued about 200km before stopping for the night at our first real WA town - Norseman. We checked into the caravan park, did some washing and had a delicious celebratory dinner of beef stroganoff. We made it!

Tractors and Mice

This was the theme for the west coast of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula - tractors towing boats down to beaches and a serious mouse plague in Ceduna! After beautiful Sheringa Beach we stayed one night at a busy caravan park in Venus Bay and did some washing then headed to Streaky Bay. Along the way we stopped off at the bizarre granite outcrops called Murphy's Haystacks and dropped into Elliston for some fishing on the jetty. It was raining in Ceduna but we ended up spending the day having a UHF radio and antennae installed and a new TV aerial as our current one was lousy and we thought it would probably be something we'd need to replace before we sold the van (and we needed to get organised for the World Cup!). In the evening we drove the short distance to Perlubie Beach and were reunited with our friends from Farm Beach. It was another gorgeous South Australian beach but this time we were in mouse plague territory. We spent the next two days swimming, fishing, boating and relaxing and the next two nights catching mice - 14 in one night! Time to get out of here and head to Western Australia!

Coffin Bay

In Coffin Bay the weather is fine and sunny, though the nights are very very cool. We stay at the National Park at a place called Yangie Bay and cook squid with chilli and garlic on the campfire bbq for dinner. We stop off at an oyster shed and pick up a doz (actually there were 15) plump delicious oysters for $7. Making our way along the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula we stay at a basic $5 p/night campground at Farm Beach and meet a lovely family with 4 daughters. It has been a while since we've met other kids so the girls are very happy. That night one of the campers puts on a dinner of lamb stew for everyone staying there. Sheringa Beach is our next stop where sand dunes back on to clean white sand and clear blue water. Ashleigh writes in her journal, "This morning we had a mouse in our van. Mum screamed and jumped up on to the couch. Dad tried to kill it but it ran away. I thought it was funny." It is not the first mouse we've had!! Yuk-I hate them!!

Lincoln National Park

It was raining and cold as we drove along the very corrugated roads into Lincoln National Park but it was a really beautiful place and during our stay we saw lots of wildlife including Port Lincoln Parrots and some pretty scenery. Hannah and Ashleigh collected mountains of shells and saw lots of Razorfish shells.

On to the Eyre Peninsula

On the 2nd of May we left the Flinder's Ranges, stopped off at Port Augusta for groceries, then began the trek around the Eyre Peninsula with our first stop at Whyalla. We wanted to do a tour of the OneSteel factory but unfortunately there had been a fire in a blast furnace (isn't that where the fires are?) and the tours were off. Also, the weather was very cool and windy so we only stayed one night and continued along the coast to Cowles where we took a really interesting tour of an oyster factory and stayed a couple of nights at Arno Bay. Arno had a lovely beach and a great jetty for fishing but we didn't catch much. From here we travelled further south to Tumby Bay and ended up staying 6 days. Tumby is a beautiful town on a little bay with a jetty, crystal blue water and the friendliest people we have found yet. Everyone says g'day to you and even when we were riding our bikes around town people in their cars would wave. We loved it! We stayed at a very small CWA campsite (4 sites) right on the foreshore in the centre of town. Simon and Ashleigh fished everyday, we went to the footy, the craft markets, to church, did school work at the Library and met a lovely couple called John and Barbara who invited us for lunch at their house on mother's day.

The Flinders Ranges

The Flinders Ranges are incredibly beautiful and we are so glad that we diverted away from the coast for a few days to explore them. The majestic red and orange mountains radiated in the sunshine as we made our way to Wilpena Pound. We stayed at a campground at Wilpena where we were able to have a campfire each evening and enjoy the local kangaroos that visited the park as well as come up with a new dessert - pancakes with marshmallows on top! The weather was clear skies and from here we hiked into the pound and enjoyed the spectacular views and more kangaroos and emus.

Mt Remarkable National Park

We had a wonderful time camping at Mambray Creek in the Mt Remarkable National Park. The park lies just south of the Flinders Ranges and has beautiful mountains, gorges and dry creek beds surrounded by amazing River Redgums, some of which must be over 100 years old. These gums stop growing and discard branches when there is not much water about then continue growing when times get good. In the older trees you can see where a huge tree has started to grow then part of it has died off and then growth has begun again. We enjoyed meeting the wildlife (kangaroos, rock wallabies, emus and goannas) and sitting around the fire each night. On our first day we ate the Blue Swimmer Crabs that we caught and cooked at Port Germein the day before - yummo! Ashleigh caught up on some school work while we were here and Hannah rode her bike for the first time using the pedals. We also cooked our first damper in the camp oven.