ACROSS AUSTRALIA IN 9 DAYS

Day 1  Marcus Hill to Murray Bridge

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

 

Day 2  Murray Bridge to Kyancutta (between Port Augusta and Ceduna)

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Day 3  Kyancutta to Border Village

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Day 4  Border Village to Fraser Range Station

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Day 5  Fraser Range to Perth

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Are you getting the picture of what’s happening this trip?  We were even driving in the dark getting into Perth. Finding the caravan park and trying to put the caravan in the right place in the dark was not fun!

The trip across the Nullabor was different this year, with overcast weather and misty rain for quite a bit of the way.  The sky was grey, the vegetation was grey and the road was grey.

Crossing the Nullabor is always interesting with different things to see on the way, even on the very long straight bit.

There are some beautiful trees, Salmon Gums, in the area near the SA/WA border.

We also stopped for a Tugga break near where the original rabbit proof fence was built.

That worked well, didn't it!

There always seems to be some large piece of machinery to be seen somewhere along the way.

The Fraser Range stop coincided with my birthday and fortunately they served meals there so I got to have a real birthday dinner. 

We had stopped there last year and the food was very good.  Not so good this year, but I didn’t have to cook it so that makes it delicious. 

The big fire was very welcome as it was a bit cold.

As many of you would know it is a goal of mine to get a photo of a wedge-tailed eagle.  I travel with my camera on my lap all the time ready to get the elusive photo.  The perfect opportunity came with a magnificent specimen feeding off a dead kangaroo and just taking flight as we got near.  Unfortunately, just before that I had put the camera down.  Bummer!  I did however get a photo of one at Cocklebiddy.

This beautiful bird had been hit by a road train and was very badly injured.  It was sent to Perth to a raptor vet and after a lot of treatment was returned to Cocklebiddy Roadhouse.  It cannot be released back into the wild and the cage that has been built to house it cost $15,000.  A million dollar bird!

We stayed in Perth for 2 nights as we wanted to catch up with some friends and meet their gorgeous new baby, Harry.

Unfortunately our timing wasn’t quite right and we missed Dan as he had flown out that morning for work on the rig off Exmouth.  We did however spend a very enjoyable couple of hours with the lovely Michelle and got to have lots of cuddles with Harry.  

I also delivered his quilt.

Day 7 Perth to Kalbarri

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Day 8 Kalbarri to Minilya roadside stop

Lots of driving with a few Tugga breaks.

Tugga travelled very well, sleeping most of the time and letting us know when he needed to stop for a break.  

He slept inside the caravan most nights as it was a bit cold outside across the Nullabor. 

Once we got to warmer weather he has slept outside.  There have been a few barking issues during the night when he hears/smells something he wants to play with.  Hopefully that little habit during the night will be resolved.

Day 9 Minilya to Yardie

Not so much driving today, a short stop in Exmouth for a few groceries and then on to Yardie for a much needed long stay. We weren’t sure what to expect after the 2 cyclones that had hit Exmouth in the last few weeks. Driving into the town, we could see that there was a lot less foliage on the trees but there didn’t seem to be much other damage evident.  I’m sure to the locals it was a very unpleasant time and that there had been much work put into cleaning up.

As soon as we pulled in to the caravan park at Yardie, we spotted the Strattons and would you believe that at 11.30 Laurelle had a glass of wine in her hand!  She did however peak a little early and had to have a nana nap in the afternoon.

It has been very welcome to stop for more than one night and get everything set up properly, and also to renew old acquaintances from last year. 

It is reasonably quiet in the park as many of the sites are not in use, having lost power to that part after the first cyclone.  It will take quite a long time to get that all repaired.  

There are also some problems with the boat ramp after the cyclones, with lots of sand making it difficult to launch and retrieve boats.  It still provides some good photo opportunities though.

The weather is quite warm but cool at night – just as we like it!  We had been warned that the flies were in plague proportions in this part of Australia but they aren’t too bad.  A little further south they were much worse.

We are all settling into the relaxed mode that this type of life evokes.  Alan hasn’t been out fishing yet, but Ray went out with one of the regulars here, Arnie, and they managed to come back with a reasonable haul. As usual, it was shared around amongst fellow campers. 

If the weather is OK tomorrow, Alan will be going out, so there might be more fish photos next blog.  I know not all of you readers are excited by fish photos, but that is the reason we come here.

Talk to you again soon.

Merrilyn x