Bussleton

We moved from Mandurah to Bussleton on Wednesday 12th October. It wasn't far, only about 160km. You can't drive too far in one go you know. We had a quiet couple of days before heading out and about. The weather wasn't very nice so we caught up with some domestic stuff and did some shopping. Friday 14th wasn't a brilliant day but we decided we had better have a look around because if we waited for fine weather we might still be in Busselton at Xmas.

Looking towards Moses Rock which is off Caves Road in the Margaret River region

 We headed towards Margaret River via Cowaramup and then out to Moses Rock. Because the day was windy, the sea was pretty angry with the waves crashing on to the beach and rocks.

The waves were so blue as they were curling over that it was worth a picture.

You could even see bits of weed in the break.

Next we visited the goody shops, Margaret River Nougat Shop and the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Margaret River Chocolate is lovely, very creamy and smooth. I would bring you all some home, but it won't last that long. Sorry.

Then to Prevelly, which is where the Margaret River enters the sea sometimes. (Other times it is silted up and only gets out on a big tide). We both thought the entrance would be something spectacular but it wasn't.

Then next stop the Fudge Factory, the Berry Farm, for some jam and lastly the Cheese Factory. This was just about enough for one day, so we trundled back to Busselton for Happy Hour.

Saturday was another quiet morning and Sue and Terry appeared and we had a long Happy 3 hours in the afternoon. I am glad we don't do that too often.

 So on Monday we decided to go to Gnomesville. We had never heard of it until Terry and Sue told us about it.

Apparently some time ago some people were moving from a house to a unit and decided to put their garden gnomes on a roundabout out east of Bunbury. Of course the council didn't like this so they cleared an area beside the roundabout and moved the gnomes there. Over the years people stop by and place gnomes all around.

A lot of social clubs have put groups of gnomes there. Hens parties have got groups of gnomes. Bikie clubs, car clubs, rotary clubs, retirement villages. There are thousands of gnomes.

They are spread over quite a large area. Some are under logs, beside creeks, in trees.

 As you can see some even have their own caravans.



Maura with purple gnomes



Ray with gnomes



These are the gnomes we left. We put them near Santa as we thought they would be busy soon and that would keep them out of mischef



Gnomesville, a magical place. Now I know where all of those stolen gnomes have gone.

On Tuesday 18th October we went for a run out to Cape Naturaliste which is to the west of Dunsborough and Bunker Bay. It had rained on and off all morning so we left Busselton about 8am and drove straight out to the Cape. We wanted to walk down to the whale watching platform and didn't want to get caught in a shower. It was about a 1.2km walk down to the platform and the last 200metres was quite steep but it was worth it. The view was pretty good. The sea lions were sleeping on rocks below and you could see whales further out to sea. We did get caught in a light shower on our way back to the car.



Looking out from Cape Naturaliste



Seals basking on the rocks below Cape Naturaliste

From there we drove to Sugarloaf Rocks and then to Canal Rocks.

Sugarloaf Rock

Canal Rocks

More wildflowers. Rose Bantjine

The Busselton Jetty is 1.8km long and has recently been rebuilt after falling into disrepair. There is an Underwater Observatory at the end and a train goes out along it also.

Back in the West

Well, we are now back in WA. We got here last Tuesday, the 4th October. We had a great time at home, but so busy. Preventative maintenance doctors appointments, catching up with everyone, Mum's 80th celebrations, out to lunch with Rays family and seeing the grandkids.



Mum, daughters, grandaughters

 On Wednesday we moved from the Adventist park down to Woodmans Point which is about 10km south of Fremantle. A nice park, a bit close to the main road from Kwinana to Fremantle but the traffic slows down after dark.


Storm clouds building up over caravan park at Woodman Point


Ray rang his cousin Colleen, who has lived in Perth for many years. She was originally from Forbes in NSW but moved to WA some years ago. I hadn't seen her since we met up with her in Geraldton in 1981. Ray has seen her intermittently in more recent times. Anyway she asked us to her place for lunch with Charlie, her husband, tomorrow, which is Friday. She now lives in an apartment in the centre of Perth. Parking is at a premium for something of our size, so we decided to drive into Fremantle and suss out the public transport option. After going to the Tourist Information and looking at the all day parking options we decided to go by public transport. More on that later.

After visting the tourist information we went for a walk around Fremantle and got lost. We had to ask a couple of different people how to get back to where we had parked the truck.
Anyway after that adventure, we drove down to the port and watched a couple of ship unloading and one coming in.



Sheep ship for live export



Quirky sculpturesat Fremantle Port

Another sculpture at Fremantle

Container ship coming in to port

Container ship getting closer



Container ship loading


Then around to the Fishing Boat Harbour whre we stopped at Kailis Cafe and Fish Market and had lunch. We knew their seafood was good as we have been eating their prawns whilst coming down the west coast. And once again they didn't disappoint.


Pink snapper, calimari and chips



Kailis fishing boats at Fremantle

Fishing boat harbour surrounded by restaurants. Each restaurant appears to have its own fishing boat.

 We even bought a kilo of Pink Snapper fillets as Peter Edler was coming for lunch on Saturday and we decided to BBQ some fish.

After lunch we went for a drive down to Rockingham via Henderson and Kwinana. Henderson is where all of the boat building happens and we seen an enormous nearly finished catamaran which is probably destined for the Mediteranean.


They have huge catamarans in Fremantle


Kwinana is very industrial and Rockingham was very busy as it is a seaside town and the WA school holidays are on.

Well, today is Friday and we are going on our big public transport adventure. First we caught a bus from the caravan park. Surprise Number 1, it only  cost us $3.70 each for all day travel on bus, train and ferry. That is because we are a little older. So we caught the bus from the caravan park to Fremantle Station and hopped on the train to Perth. Surprise Number 2, the trains are immaculate. Carpeted floors, comfortable seats, no graffiti. There are also security cameras and railway security everywhere. It took about 40 minutes to get to Perth. We then had a wander around and then caught a bus to Colleens. Surprise Number 3, the buses which go around the CBD of Perth are all free. 3 different routes and you can hop on and off wherever you like.

We had a great lunch with Colleen and Charlie. They live in a great garden apartment just 5 stops from the centre of Perth and opposite a park and very close to all of the theatres and entertainment venues. Later in the afternoon we travelled in the reverse direction back to Woodman Point.
On Saturday, Peter came out to us for lunch and Colleen and Charlie came for afternoon tea. We had another great afternoon.


Maura, Colleen, Ray and Charlie


Sunday 9th October we are moving on and we woke up to pouring rain. It rained on and off the whole time we were packing up and decided to stop when we had finished. We arrived in Mandurah before lunch and had afternoon drinks with Terry and Sue who we had originally met when they were crossing the Pentecost River up on the  Gibb River Road. We had come to Mandurah as Terry was turning 60 on Monday 10th October and they invited us out to lunch to celebrate this momentous occasion.

We went to Murphy's Irish Pub for lunch and then walked along the foreshore to have coffee and dessert at the Dome Restaurant. We were joined by Col and Mary, two friends who Terry and Sue had met last year while travelling in South Australia. Col and Mary live in Mandurah. We had a fantastic afternoon with lots of  laughs.

Ray, Terry and Col at Mrphy's Irish Pub, Mandurah

Terry and Sue

Mary, Terry and Maura

Terry, Ray and Col

Maura, Ray and Terry walking to the Dome Restaurant after lunch

On Tuesday we had a look around Mandurah, going down to the marina and driving south down the coast.

Mandurah foreshore

Sculpture 1 at Mandurah Marina

Sculpture 2 at Mandurah Marina

 We had a farewell happy hour with Terry and Sue and Col and Mary dropped around also. Next morning we followed Terry and Sue south. They were going to Bunbury and we headed on to Busselton.

Perth

This is only going to be a very short Blog. We arrived in Perth last Thursday and it has rained every day since. We went out to the Swan Valley on Friday morning and visited the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and then went for a drive to Whiteman Park. Bit wet though.

We originally set up in a caravan park in Forestfield and were joined by Rick and Lorraine on the Friday and Peter, Cheryl and Rachael Edler came to stay for the weekend also. Peter and Cheryl used to live across the road from us and Peter used to work with Rick and Ray, so the friendship goes back for a long time. Peter is currently working in Perth for a while for Billiton so it was a good chance to catch up. We had a few drinks together and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Sunday we all went seperate ways. The Edlers went home, Rick and Lorraine were going down to a caravan park at Fremantle and Ray and I headed to the Adventist Park at Maida Vale. It is a nice park with lots of trees but the weather was atrocious on Sunday. It poured and blew like crazy all day so we just set up camp and stayed in for the day.

Today, Monday we went to the Belmont Shopping Centre to get a birthday present for Emma, which we will be posting home as soon as we come back to Perth.(We promised to send her a parcel for her birthday). Then we came back to camp to get ourselves organised to fly home tomorrow. The caravan and truck are going to be stored for 2 weeks so we have to make sure all of the perishables are out of the fridge. The caravan fridge will still be running on solar but just in case something happens we will get the perishables out and eaten.

We fly out at 10.30am tomorrow and get into Sydney at 4.30pm. Allan has kindly offered to come and pick us up. My Mum turns 80 on Friday and all of the family are going to Hyams Beach for the weekend to celebrate. Lee is coming down from Lennox Head and we are all looking forward to getting together.

I will Blog again when we resume our travels after 4th October.

Jurien Bay

We arrived in Jurien Bay on Friday and decided to stay here for 4 nights. The weather is cooler down here but the wind doesn't seem to be as strong as it was in Geraldton. On the way here we stopped at a couple of nice spots. One was called Big Freshwater Point and it looked as if it is used as a refuelling point for the crayfish boats as there was a big marine refuelling tank right on the beach. The rocks were alive with roosting cormorants.

There are fishermans shacks on the beach for about 40km along the coast.

Jurien Bay is a very pretty place. There is a wonderful brick wall surrounded by wildflowers which welcomes you to the town.

 Like most seaside towns in this area it has a large crayfish fishing fleet which operates from November until May. It also has a lot of Perth people who come here for weekends as it is only 220km from Perth.

The next day, Saturday, we headed back out of Jurien Bay and went north to a village called Greenhead just to have a look around. On the way into Greenhead we turned off towards Milligan Island, but before we got there we followed a sign to Point Louise Lookout. It was very pretty with views looking over a bay towards Greenhead.

Next stop was a bay called Billy Goat Bay where we watched a large flock of crested terns fighting over rock space.

Then we finally fund Milligans Island. It was very close to the shore and looked as if it was a nesting spot for sea birds.

Then we drove out to a scenic lookout (no name) and took some more pictures.

The west coast certainly has a spectacular coastline. Lovely white sand beaches and beautiful turquoise water.

We finally got to Greenhead which is really a small fishing village with lots of holiday homes and a small crayfish fleet.

After leaving we stopped at another lookout, Grigsons Lookout, which gave a much better view of the whole area.

The next day, Sunday we decided to go to Cervantes and then down to The Pinnacles, then cut back inland and up the Brand Highway and back across to Jurien Bay again.
On the way to Cervantes we stopped at Molar Hill Lookout which looks out over the coast between Jurien Bay and Cervantes.

We then went into Cervantes which is another small fishing village with a lot of huge WA mansions on the outskirts. I reckon some might be holiday homes. They are pretty big.
We went to yet another lookout, this one called Hansen Bay Lookout. We had to climb a fair few steps but the view from the top was worth it.

Looking back down to the truck from Hansens Lookout

Next stop, The Nambung National Park and The Pinnacles. First we walked up to a viewing area which looked out over part of the Pinnacles and then we drove around the Park. It is only 4km but it took us well over an hour. The Pinnacles are limestone pillars which were created from ancient shells. Over the years natural processes have combined to remove surrounding material to result in the limestone pinnacles jutting out of the sand. They range in size from a few centimetres up to over 3 metres high. They look like an ancient village. Parts look like Stonehenge and tombstones.

Ray thought this pinnacle looked like a ghost



This looked like Pinnacle headstones


Then we drove inland to a place called Badgingarra, saw some more wildflowers and drove back to Jurien Bay.

Acorn Banksia

We are having a quiet day today, Monday, and are heading south to Ledge Point tomorrow. Ledge Point is only about 130km north of Perth. We will be in Perth on Thursday.

Geraldton

Before I go into detail about Geraldton, let me tell you it is the windiest, coldest place we have been to on this holiday so far. The locals tell us it is windy every day and it just changes in intensity. The  weather has been sunny but you can't sit outside and enjoy it as you get blown away.

We arrived here on Sunday 4th September and it took us a while to set up as the first site they gave us had someone on it already, the second site we couldn't fit on and the third one was just right. A bit like the story of the three bears.
The next day we had the van booked in for some repairs so we dropped it off about 8.30am. We then went for a drive around the local beaches and points of interest.

We got a phone call from the van repair place to say that the water tank needed replacing so we now have a new water tank. But the toilet couldn't be fixed without a new part which needed to come from Melbourne so we came back to the caravan park for another few days.

The next day, Tuesday we decided to go for a drive. We drove south from Geraldton down to the entrance of the Greenough River. As the wind was up, there was quite a good surf running and there were a few brave people out there catching waves.

Next stop was The Leaning Tree. Because of the strong winds some of the trees actually turn and grow horizontally. Quite a weird phenomenon.

We then went to a hisoric village in Greenough but it was too windy to walk around.
So next we drove to Mullawa which is the main town in the wildflower area. On the way we stopped at Alinta Wind Farm, which is the biggest wind turbine farm in Australia. 54 wind turbines producing enough energy to power 60,000 homes annually. It's good to see that wind is good for something.

Next stop was Ellendale Pool which is surrounded by a pretty gorge and those wildflowers again.

Then Mullawa which I found a bit of a disappointment as there were only a few wildflowers around.

On Wednesday we had another quiet day. We drove into town and the cruise ship "Sea Princess" was anchored in the bay and ferrying passengers in to the dock at Geraldton for them to have a look around. Apparently about 20 cruise ships stop in Geraldton each year. It beats me why, unless all the passengers love that wind.

Now to today. We got a phone call from the van repairers. The part we need isn't sold as an individual thing , we have to buy a new base unit There is only one in Australia at present and that is in Queensland so it is being shipped to the Dometic offices in Perth and we will pick it up there next week. We had to pay for it in advance as well as the cost of shipping but hopefully this will be the end.

So we are leaving Geraldton tomorrow to head to Jurien Bay for 4 nights. From there we will be able to go to Cervantes and to The Pinnacles. Ray is looking forward to that. If any of you like Billy Connelly, when he did his show of travelling around Australia, he did a great show at the Pinnacles. He actually did a streak around some of the pillars. I hope Ray doesn't want to do that!!!
I will do some more Blog from Jurien Bay and let you know what happens.