The trip home

Sadly the time has come for us to to take the road home, as with all holidays we just wont to get home now but we still have 4,000k to go.
We leave on Sunday at 6.00am with a very tearful farewell to our family in Bunbury and head off for Coolgardie. We(I) drive 600k on the first day and stay at a free camp.

One minor hiccup on our first day, a fellow traveller alerted us to the trailer having a flat tyre so we pulled into the nearest spot and I proceeded to change the tyre and while doing I noticed that the wheel had a fair bit of play in it so I decided to check the bearings and ended up replacing the front bearing.The weather was very hot and the flies were in plague proportions so Wendy stood beside me with a tree branch swooshing the flies away while I was working but I was sure she hit me more thn any flies.

The next day we wont to try to get onto the Nullabor so again a pre dawn wake up to be on the road by 6.00am.

We get to Caiguna roadhouse and stay the night at van park behind, another drive of 660k . Our goal for the next leg is to be in Ceduna a 850k drive.
Originally we had planned to use the free camps but tho there are plenty of these none have any toilets a very poor showing from both WA & SA, it is later that we discover that the WA govt owns all the roadhouses so it seems that they are forcing travellers to use them as there overnight stops.As far as SA is concerned they have the worst stops of any state and really need to lift their game.
Wendy finally decides to leave our found cd's at a roadside stop near Madura.

We arrive in Ceduna and stay at the Foreshore van park one we have stayed in before it is ideally located right next to the pub that serves fabulous meals which we partake.
Our next leg takes us to Peterborough in SA as we intend to travel home via Broken Hill it is here that after 31/2 mths we finally meet some one from my home town, the Barber from Unanderra who cut my hair for many years.
Our next leg takes us to a free camp between Cobar and Nyngan then the final leg home through the dreaded Bells Rd which I vow I will never travel again.
We arrive home at 5pm on Friday our car and camper have travelled 18,500k and brought us home safe and sound.

Bunbury

Ok we are in Bunbury and staying with the kids at their rental property and sleeping in a real bed indoors woohoo. We are both excited and sad as we realise that our adventure is drawing to a close. We have visited the kids new home which is getting very close to being completed and Wendy has spent time with Kristy helping her select some furnishing and the little nicnacs that go into finishing off. Have done some minor maintenance to both the car and the trailer. We have a long trip home 4,000k and will only being doing overnight stops

Cervantes

A very exciting day as we are due to meet our Kristy,Shane and our 3 grandkids Stina,Kobe and Kingston we will be spending 5 days with them here before travelling with them back to Bunbury for  another week.

Well we have had a great time here tho the weather has not been so kind visited the Pinnacles walked thru them then did the drive thru which covered a much greater area. A truly fascinating place  was almost like walking on another planet. Took the kids fishing but the wind and all the seaweed made it very uncomfortable.

Geraldton

Have spent just 2 days here, is easily the biggest town we have been to since leaving Darwin.
We now realise that we are heading back into the more populated area as there is no longer the endless hours of driving between our destinations.
It is now wildflower season in the west and the bush on all sides of the road is a mass of colour tho I am over yellow and we spend time trying to spy any other colour.
Geraldton is a major port and is the first that does not have a long jetty but a deep water port that sees the ships come right in to shore.
We have noticed on our journey down the west coast a lot of development and gather it is from a government funded program Royalties for Regions, Geraldton has completely revamped the waterfront removing all the railway lines that were along the shore and replaced with open public space and tourist development such as marinas and accommodation. 

Denham/Monkey Mia

Have arrived here and staying for 4 nights,passed thru the Tropic of Capricorn and the weather has changed as well, gone are the hot summer days of 30+ , the wind is blowing and the sky is grey very tempted to turn around and head back north.
 Denham is part of a world heritage area because of the sea grass that grows here.

We travelled to the well known Monkey Mia today to see the dolphins they wanted to charge us $8 each to enter luckily they did not have eftpos and said we had to pay at shop inside which of course we did(not). The dolphins were just swimming around in the shallows right out the front, it has become very commercial which has taken away some of the mystic

Carnarvon

We have arrived at about 12pm and as we had not booked we just picked the closest park to the town centre. Carnarvon is a major farming area with bannanas and other fruits as well as a large commercial fishing fleet.

We have to stay 2 nights here mainly as we need to exchange the battery we bought from Beaurepairs in Katherine as it is not holding its charge, so have not planned to do anything special here other than have a look around. A nice town situated at the mouth of the Gascoyne River is an old town with several buildings dating back to early 1900's but neither of us was greatly taken by it.

Coral Bay

We have moved on to Coral Bay a big road trip of 155k down from Exmouth, very exhausting drive.
This is a truly holiday destination with 2 caravan parks and small shopping centre, the parks are both full with 99% sandgropers and a lot of families with kids still dont know how or why these kids are not at school.
It is still with in the Ningaloo reef marine park but here the reef is much further out so the beaches have a lot more sand and the main bay is very shallow and a popular spot for snorkelling.

this is Bills Bay directly opposite park

 the Bayview Caravan park






We went out to Mauds point which is just north of the town to fish and enjoyed a cple hours where Wendy caught 2 nice fish, a dart and a good sized longtom tho we did shock a few fishos when we throw them back.

2nd day at Mauds landing which still has some of the old wooden piers in the water, we fished it on the high tide this morning and caught a fish for every coral prawn bait we used. A lot of fun even tho we did not keep any.
Our last day here we had decided to try fishing south of the town the road wound its way thru the sandhills back of the beach, needed to let tyres down to 20psi and use low range 4wd. After an hours driving we finally emerged near the waters edge but it was very steep and a lot of rocks so gave it a miss and went back to Mauds with its clear water and lots of sandy beaches. To our dismay when we arrived there was a 3m Tiger shark cruising just a few metres off the shore, there were people at the beach and one group had 2 dogs that kept running in out of the water and I am sure it was the dogs that kept attracting the shark.

Oh well we still spent a cple hours there no fish but who cares, tomorrow is fathers day and we are off to Carnarvon.

Exmouth

We are so glad now that we have come here, a truly holiday town with the ocean on both sides and the start of the ningaloo reef. We have seen a lot of sea life from turtles and dugongs cruising not mote than a metre from the shore to seeing majestic whales breaching further out.
Exmouth is a town that like so many in the far north of WA is undergoing some major boom in building and infrastructure, could not believe the amount of housing that is going on up here. Exmouth even has a new marina with canal housing much like the Gold Coast and prices to match. Also situated up here is Australias major naval communications centre as well as several others belonging to America.

I have had some luck fishing from the beach tho the loss of tackle has been expensive because the reef is close to shore, a mixed bag of fish all kissed and thrown back

Ningaloo Station

We were really looking forward to this but alas the 52k trip in was some of the worst road we have encountered and the camp sites were not the individual spots we had hoped for. The scenery and ocean outlook was shear magic but we could only stay 2 nights as there just was not enough here to warrant the hardship of staying so we have packed up and headed for Exmouth for 4 nights.

Fortsecue River

A one night stop here on our way to Ningaloo Station, the roadhouse has over 700 dongas out the back.

80 mile Beach

Wow have been without internet for over 2wks so much to tell, we had 1 last night out with Wayne and Barb at Divers Hotel to help celebrate her B'day we all had steak what a fabulous meal with great company.
We headed off after spending 7 days in Broome and next stop is 80 mile beach for 6 days, Wayne and Barb will catch up with us here for a cple days and then we will finally part company a little sad for both of us but am sure we have made some good friends who will always be there.

80 mile beach is a perfect spot only 1 sandhill from the beach, it is fairly crowded but who cares when you have a spot like this.

This park is like a small town they held a memorial service for the Vietnam vets to honour the 50th anniv of one of the major battles, they have a small memorial built at the park as a lot of vets started coming here some 15yrs ago. Also they have markets every Sunday and Wednesday I actually went to the Sunday ones and tried selling some of our Pizz off Flies.
Also Sunday they have a roast beef diner for $12 served at the shop or take away.
This beach has some very large tides going out some 1.5k on low tide which allows us to drive on the beach.
I have spent 4 days fishing along with everyone else from the park and as far as the eye can see there are people fishing. I managed to catch 1 a threadfin salmon. I did see some of the the locals who use quad bikes to drive on beach with several at least 20lbs and they caught them every day, maybe I should have followed them.

another sunset spent on the beach with good friends

Broome

arrived in Broome on Thursday and had planned to stay 5 nights but have extended that to 7is so much to do here, it reminds me alot of Byron Bay with its layback people and even the town itself centred around the ocean.
 We could not help ourselves but to go straight to the ocean as soon as we had finished setting up and what a truly beautiful sight it is.

We had met a very nice couple at Fitzroy Crossing and have again found them here at same park in Broome we visited them just to say a quick hello on our 2nd night but 2 bottles of red later found us skipping back to our camper wondering what the hell happened. They have invited us back for a barra meal with them on Monday night, might need to leave a bread trail to find our way back.
On Saturday we went to the markets held at the old court house and bought some nice trinkets for ourselves, later we drove down to Cable beach and found we could drive the car right onto the beach which we did joining lots of others. I put the awning up and Wendy sat there reading while I went for a fish off the rocks caught a couple nothing to rave about but still a enjoyable.

We have planned to go again but later in the day and take and cook our tea, spend the evening watching the sunset but to date that has not happened as the wind has come up these past 2 days and tho not strong it is uncomfortable being sandblasted.






We went out for a meal on Saturday to Matso's a very iconic pub in Broome they brew their own and was quiet nice, the meals were great and the atmosphere.

 Spent the day touring the sites around Broome went to the Port and walked out on the jetty then into town to drool over all the pearl shops

Had our night with new friends  and enjoyed a super Barra meal and several wines, a great night was had will be sad to part company as they are here for another 3wks.

Today we have planned to go to the beach to have tea and watch the sunset