To 25-Sep-06 (Esperance WA to Ceduna SA)

OUR PROGRESS
PHEW, we’ve now travelled 29,000kms in the Pajero and towed the van 17,000kms. The highest petrol price we’ve seen has been 184.7 cpl at Madura WA on the Eyre Highway and fortunately we didn’t need to buy any there (another phew). Blogger refuses to accept our latest map and so we'll include one next update.


ESPERANCE WA (Esperance Bay Holiday Park)



What a beautiful place. We swam here at Twilight Cove beach 28 years ago when the Sydney-based family (7 adults and 2 children travelled to Kim (Spen’s brother) & Sue’s wedding in Perth). Esperance is still very lovely and unspoilt. In fact, the beaches around Esperance have been acknowledged as the most beautiful in Australia (or that’s what all the signs say).


We were also intrigued to see the collection of Skylab debris in the Esperance Museum - those of us old enough can remember Skylab crashing to earth in 1979 (mainly in the Esperance region). It remains a wonder that no people were killed or property damaged.


CAPE LE GRAND NATIONAL PARK, Esperance WA (Lucky Bay Camping Area)
We spent 2 delightful days in this National Park just 60k or so east of Esperance. As well as playing with a family of Kangaroos, doing lots of walking and climbing Frenchman Peak (a challenging climb up a very steep rock face), we found time for some real relaxation and to soak up the natural beauty here.



This is Hellfire Bay with its white sand, turquoise and deep blue water and rugged countryside. They say that this is one popular beach in summer.







Heaps of wildflowers here and this is the One-Sided Bottlebrush. We have lots and lots of photos and will make sure that most of them are in our slide-shows when we return to Sydney . . . so look out.





FRASER RANGE WA (Fraser Range Sheep Station)
We finally said farewell to Esperance and drove through Norseman where we patted the statue of Norseman the horse, said to have uncovered gold with his hooves as his rider camped nearby. Then we turned right and drove along the Eyre (Nullarbor) Highway for the 7th time. After about 100k, we came to Fraser Range Sheep Station, a delightful and friendly caravan park on a working sheep station. We walked heaps on the farm, climbed hills and saw the homestead. This is one enormous property – 437,000 acres and 160k long!


COCKLEBIDDY WA (Observatory Turnoff Rest Area – Free-camp)
Next stop was a peaceful free-camp just past Cocklebiddy, almost a kilometer off the road. Two other vans were there and the stars were truly awesome on the beautiful, clear night.



What can we say – 146.6k is a long way without turning the steering wheel!










EUCLA WA (Eucla Roadhouse Caravan Park)
We arrived at the Eucla Caravan Park in time for lunch and were the third van in. By 5pm, there must have been 25 others and it was pretty crowded. A quick drive around Eucla revealed a small township which we had not discovered on previous trips.


This is what’s left of the old telegraph repeater station near the beach. There seems to be much more of the stonework visible this time (we remember that only one corner was visible 17 years ago). It’s amazing how the wind spreads the sand and then cleans it away. Apparently, the sand dunes are advancing at around 11 metres a year.





Aren’t these amazing cliff faces. The land is almost totally flat inland and then suddenly, wham, there is this enormous cliff face.







HEAD OF THE BIGHT SA (222k Peg Rest Area Free Camp)
Wow – there were 7 mother southern right whales with their calves resting just offshore of the whale-watch lookout boardwalk. We spent ages just looking at their huge size and graceful swimming. One of the calves even put on a tail-slapping show for us. Actually, tail-slapping is thought to be an “I’m scared or I’m not happy” action – his mum had swum away for a few minutes and he must have been getting a bit lonely.


It’s amazing too that the old dirt Eyre “Highway” is still visible beside the current bitumen version. We recall Spen’s sister Diana taking us for a long drive on the dirt version just for the experience – “Get back on the tar” was the universal cry as the minibus started to fill with dust. We prefer tar!





CEDUNA SA (Shelley Beach Caravan Park)
We decided to laze around Ceduna for 3 days after overnight stops on the Nullarbor and really appreciated the stop (and the “laze”). We also discovered the delicious oysters grown around Ceduna – how does $8 a dozen sound?

Also, the wind really knows how to blow in this part of the world. We met a couple in a 5th Wheeler (semi-trailer type huge caravan) who had been in Ceduna for a few days waiting for the wind to die down before driving across the Nullarbor to Perth. They gave up and set off Sunday morning. However, we really appreciated the huge tail-wind on our easterly drive – the decision to go anti-clockwise was a good one!


May you each enjoy life and care for each other well,

With best wishes & God bless,




Spencer & Rhonda



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To 11-Sep-06 (Bunbury WA to Esperance WA)

9/11 and 2 recent fatalities
We take a brief but serious pause in our travel blog because today (9/11) we remember the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001 which killed so many people and shattered our peace paradigm. Also in the last week or so, two well-known Australians (Steve Irwin and Peter Brock) have died. Each one passing from this life to the next.

Often, we in the western world tend to avoid thinking about our own mortality because it can be largely unknown. There are many theories about what happens after death and the shortage of people who’ve been there and back to tell us about it means they stay just theories – all but one that is. Jesus did die and his dead body was guarded for 3 days. Then he came back to life and was seen by many people, including over 500 people at one time (that’s pretty convincing proof). Christianity is the only religion in the world where the “prime mover” has been proven to have conquered death and who then provides His followers with the promise of eternal life through faith in Him. We really encourage you to investigate Jesus and His claim on your life if you haven’t already. You can start checking it out for yourself at www.christianityworks.com.au, ask a Christian friend or send us an Email at MADDRELL_S_R@bigpond.com).


NOW, BACK TO OUR TRAVELS


MARGARET RIVER WA (Taunton Farm Holiday Park)
On the way south from Bunbury, we stopped for morning tea at Busselton, walked the whole 1.9k jetty (it’s a VERY long way there & back you know!), then did some serious munching on lunch before setting off for Margaret River.

A gentle drive south brought us to Cowaramup - where do we hear you say? . . . it is just a few kilometers north of Margaret River.



We stayed in a caravan park on a working farm. It was a very beautiful, peaceful place complete with cattle, sheep, ducks and even a camel. Here are some of the “locals” just outside our van window.

The Margaret River area is very lush, rich country with many tourist attractions – beautiful natural features plus vineyards, cheese tastings, a chocolate factory and a coffee roasting centre. We were nearly blown off the gantry atop Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse because it was sooooo very windy.


AUGUSTA WA (Flinders Bay Caravan Park)



We were delighted to find a sheltered caravan park beside this beautiful beach. We settled on a big double site with bottle-brush hedges on 3 sides – very private and we enjoyed watching New Holland Honeyeaters and Wattle birds feeding as we sipped our morning coffees and chatted.

We also managed to see some whales from the whale-watch lookouts – in fact, Spencer has quite a few videos of what he now calls “rock” whales i.e., big rocks at sea level which really did look like whales in the surging see (that’s what he says anyway!).




Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly point in Australia and boasts a high lighthouse to protect the shore from ships (or maybe the other way around). A kind German tourist took this photo with the Lighthouse in the background. We thought we’d share it with you.



It was also interesting to see the petrified water wheel near the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. The wheel was built in 1895 and powered a water pump for the lighthouse construction. Limestone from the water flowing over the wheel has calcified and frozen it with much of the wooden wheel being petrified already – demonstrating that this process can happen quickly when the conditions are right.


PEMBERTON WA (Pemberton Caravan Park)
A very leafy area and we nestled amongst the trees in this caravan park. We drove heaps through the tall Karri forests and visited the Gloucester Tree (60m high with a 2 story tree house on top) and the Bicentennial Tree (75m high with a 4-storey tree house on top). Spencer just had to climb them both (Rhonda wasn’t wearing the right shoes that day . . . rats!). He was very impressed with both the climb and how the steel climbing spikes had been driven into the tree trunk. The views from the top were really spectacular.


This photo shows the view looking down the Gloucester tree from near the top – Spencer’s joggers are getting ready to continue the descent. The lady disappearing down the climbing spikes is deaf – a seriously impressive feat for her to have climbed this tree.

We also met Brigitte and helped start her car when she accidentally left the fridge connected to her car battery overnight. Then we managed to do the same when we too forgot to switch off the power feed to the van while we visited a wood-work shop for coffee and a browse. Thank goodness for the caravan battery – car started no probs.


WALPOLE WA (Treetop Walk Turnoff Free-Camp)
Fresh from the big tree climbs, we just had to stop at the Tree-Top Walk – a 40m high steel walkway through the tops of huge Tingle Trees. The splendour of these tall trees was remarkable. Also, the height and structure of the walk plus the fact that it was erected without cranes or helicopters was impressive.

We met Brigitte again and then spent the rest of the day together. She told us that she came to Australia 25 years ago with a life expectancy of 5 years (praise God that she is still powering on). We enjoyed a very encouraging meal together at the free-camp and discovered that she is a delightful lady who is on-fire for God.


This is part of the Tree-Top walk. The gantry wobbles quite a bit, especially when a group of young Irish tourists decided to try skipping along one section. The lady was out of her office in a flash and escorted them along the rest of their circuit.








ALBANY WA (Middleton Beach Holiday Park)
It was so windy and cold here that we broke out our parkas (anoraks for our WA friends) for the first time. We saw some whales very close to the beach beside the caravan park and one waved at us – we waved back of course!

Albany has grown heaps since we were last here. We really enjoyed our 3 days there and saw most of the touristy sights.


Spencer liked the name of this pub, though he felt that something a bit more regal than “Earl” would be better. The pub was located on the corner of Earl and Spencer Streets – so no prizes for guessing where its name came from.










BREMER BAY WA (Bremer Bay Tourist Park)
We stayed 3 nights here and visited the beautiful Fitzgerald River National Park. There are so many wildflowers here. Whenever you stop on the roadside and take a moment to look around, you discover that wildflowers are everywhere.


This is Native Dog Beach with the wind making spectacular plumes from the wave spray.









RAVENSTHORPE WA (Ravensthorpe East Rest Area Free Camp)
We were lucky to visit Ravensthorpe just as their Wildflower Show started. There were over 600 different wildflower blooms on display and some very knowledgeable and enthusiastic locals to help us enjoy them. We spent ages in the hall and really enjoyed it. Rhonda also added many more photos to her already large wildflower collection, the building of which helps explain why it can take us some time to arrive at our destinations.



ESPERANCE WA (Esperance Bay Caravan Park)
Only arrived today so we’ll give the Esperance info next update.



May you each enjoy life and care for each other well,

With best wishes & God bless,





Spencer & Rhonda




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