Thursday, 17th May. 10Km Peg Overlooking the Bight to Nuytsland Nature Reserve

This morning we climbed down to the beach which was probably a kilometre from where we were camped on the edge of the cliff.  It was pretty slow going down the rocky slope and finding a firm foothold was a bit of a challenge.  Once at the bottom it was then across sandy dunes to the beach.  Lots of wildflowers and a completely deserted beach.

 

 

After breakfast (a final fry-up of all remaining vegetables) it was on to Border Village with a big kangaroo holding a jar of Vegemite and Nullarbor Links number 6 hole. Through the border gate (after being checked for fruit and veges) and then on to Eucla and Number 7 hole, about 5 km out of the village where there was a bit of cleared ground used by the Sporting Shooters.  Lots of pieces of clay from Clay Pigeons which made the golf interesting. 

Next stop was Mundrabilla Road House and hole number 8. No Fairway and quite rough so there was no run.  We stopped for lunch just out of Mundrabilla at a spot where there were two water tanks and a huge roof area to catch rainwater.  A big sign = "Boil before use". 

On to Madura for whole number 9. Fuel $1.98 per litre.  The most dramatic feature about this area is the Madura Pass where, after hundreds of kilometres of flat terrain, the road suddenly rises from the Roe Plain.

Camp tonight was 100km further on at Nuytsland Nature Reserve.  Lots of caves in the area.

Friday 18th May. Nuytsland Nature Reserve to Newman Rock (Near Balladonia)

A leisurely stroll along the tracks of Nuytsland Nature Reserve this morning before breakfast and on to the road to Cocklebiddy a short distance down the road.  Quite a few caves but all fenced off in this area.   The reserve is named after Dutch explorer Peter Nuyts who sailed this coast in 1627. More than two centuries later, explorer Edward John Eyre traversed the area by horseback and foot during his arduous journey from Adelaide to Albany in 1841.  A little easier travelling the area today.

Cocklebiddy lies on the southern edge of Western Australia's vast sheep grazing belt. Within the area are several large scale sheep grazing operations, some larger than a number of European countries. With limited rainfall sparse stocking rates of about 8 to 10 sheep per square kilometre are the norm. During its pioneering years Cocklebiddy was the site of an aboriginal mission. Today, however, all that remains of the mission are its stone foundations.

In recent years Cocklebiddy has gained an international reputation as a site for one of the world's largest cave systems. Ten kilometres to the north west of Cocklebiddy Roadhouse lies Cocklebiddy Cave. In 1983 a French caving expedition created history by exploring the cave to an unprecedented distance of 6.4 kilometres.

We were here for Nullabor Links hole number 10 - Eagles Nest (They even had a wedge-tailed eagle in a cage (which we felt rather sorry for).

Next Stop was the Caiguna Roadhouse and Hole number 11- 90 mile Straight.   The section of highway between Caiguna and Ballidonia includes what is regarded as the longest straight stretch of road in Australia and one of the longest in the world. The road stretches for 146.6 kilometres (91.1 miles) without turning, and is signposted and commonly known as the "90 Mile Straight".

Just out of Caiguna we stopped at Caiguna Blowhole. To quote the sign "The blowholes on the Nullabor have been formed by weathering through underground cavities.  All the caves breathe to some extent.  Nullabor caves breathe more vigorously then caves in other areas of Australia.  Air movement at one cave entrance on the Nullabor has been measured to be about 72km/hr."  While we didn't experience that we did experience the cool air coming from the blowhole.

On to Balladonia Motel at the other end of the 90 mile straight and hole number 12 - Skylab.  Balladonia has quite a connection to Skylab, the space research laboratory constructed by the United States National Aerospace Agency (NASA).  In July 1979 when it eventually succumbed to the Earth's gravitational pull and re-entered the atmosphere it landed in fiery chunks around Balladonia.

Over the period before its final descent, the world had become fascinated over where the doomed station would land. The US President (Jimmy Carter) personally rang Balladonia Hotel Motel to apologise for Skylab falling on them.

For only the second time in its history, the National Geographic Magazine stopped its presses to include the story. The local shire ranger (Mr David Somerville) was photographed giving the director of NASA a littering ticket, which received huge international coverage (the council later waved the fine).

Camp tonight is at Newman Rock, 50 km east of Balladonia and what a pretty spot just off the highway.  A huge rock outcrop with a natural water reservoir on top looking out over the countryside with a salt lake in the distance.

 

Saturday the 19th of May, Newman Rock to Norseman

Newman rock near Balladonia. 

A morning walk around this amazing Rock - around and on. It seems to cover a lot of ground - huge. We saw a "fog rainbow' no, colour, just white but shaped like a rainbow.

First stop today is Frasers Range Sheep Station and the next golf hole. Sheep's Back, Hole number 13).  Frasers Range is a camping area (quite large) as well as a station.  The Fraser Range area is home to the world's largest Eucalyptus Hardwood Forest. The blackbutt, salmon gum and gimlet trees are a spectacular sight, often 20 to 30 metres tall, they attract an amazing collection of wildlife to the region.  The Station was first settled in 1872, making it the first to be founded in the Nullabor Plain area. It's comprised of vast open grass flats, upon which the shepherds moved sheep over 100 years ago. The shepherds moved their herds from flat to flat before returning to the Fraser Range homestead for shearing annually. It's quite a scenic spot.   

Lots of kangaroos and a huge flock of galahs on the ground seemingly eating seed. We wondered if the sheep station folk may have spread some seeds around to encourage them for when they take tourists on farm tours.

Driving through the range was a nice change from the Plains country across the Nullarbor.   Lots of tall granite hills, the highest being Mt Pleasant (579m). 

Camp tonight was at Norseman caravan park after lunch and a stop at the information centre (for information about Norseman). We set up camp then did washing and showers and hair washing - wow. We hadn't wanted to use much water when crossing the Nullarbor as didn't know when we would be able to fill up.   

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the Norseman Golf Club (just through the fence of the Caravan Park) for two more holes (Hole 14 - Golden Horse and Hole 15 - Ngadju).  Hole 14 named after Norsemasn's Golden Horse.  According to local legend, the town of Norseman was named after a horse. It is said that in 1894 a horse named Hardy Norseman was tethered to a tree for the night by its owner, Laurie Sinclair. Upon returning to his horse Sinclair had the good fortune to discover that Norseman had unearthed a gold nugget.  Since then a statue has been erected in honour of Norseman. Today Gold Mining continues to be a major activity with reports that the Norseman fields have produced over 5 million ounces of the precious yellow metal.  Hole 15 named after the local indigenous people.  "You are now standing on Ngadju ground and the Ngadju people are the traditional owners of the land."  The lake near the course is called Warrarnbunna meaning the place of the long ground. The eucalypt forest around is the largest woodland forest on the earth and called the Great Western Woodland. 

The royal wedding is on tonight (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle). Margaret and Arthur have their TV set up outside their van.  Beer o'clock while we watched the wedding. 

Dinner at the Norseman pub.

Sunday 20th May Norseman Caravan Park

Well, the washing got dry on the line by the time we left to go to Kambalda and on to Kalgoorlie for 3 more Nullabor Link holes.  One hole at Kambalda (Hole 16 - Silver Lake).  

Silver Lake or Lake Lefroy is approximately 510 sq km in area and nestled on the edge of Kambalda and Widgiemooltha and is widely used for land sailing. It is considered by many all over the world to be one of the best places to sail a land yacht due to its size and the texture of its surface.  The lake and has also been used in the past for Australian land speed record attempts and also hosted the 2007 Pacrim Land Sailing Event in which competitors from all over the world descended on its flat smooth surface.  

From Kambalda we drove on to Boulder where there was an arts festival happening.  Lots of stalls outside many of the shops and in a nearby Park. We heard the junior and senior choir the Kalgoorlie Public School sing.  Jill bought a wooden top for her spinning top collection.

Next stop Kalgoorlie - some lovely old buildings. Had lunch at a cafe which Google rated highly as "best lunch in Kalgoorlie". We think it might have changed hands lately as it was nothing to rave about.  Fortunately, our lunch spot was next to the Information Centre and we had had a quick look in there just as it was about to close.  We discovered that it was at the Information Centre that you received your certificate for completing the Course and the kind lady let us have our certificates even before playing the last two holes. 

We had a drive around Kalgoorlie looking for the lookout we had heard about even though we had also heard that the two lookouts were closed.  Anyway, we did drive up to a lookout at Charlottes Reservoir. It was not closed and we had a good view over Kalgoorlie and the tailings mountains.

Then it was on to the golf course where we played the last two holes of the Nullarbor links course. (Hole 17 - Golden Mile and Hole 18 - CY O'Connor.  Hole 17 recognising the discovery of gold by Paddy Hannan in 1893 which led to one of Australia's great gold rushes.  Hole 18, The Pipeline CY O'Connor built, tells the story of the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie pipeline designed by Engineer-in-Chief CY O'Connor.  The pipeline carries fresh water from the hills on the outskirts of Perth to the eastern goldfields of Western Australia, across a distance of 560 kilometres. It took five years to build and was completed in 1903.  It is still in use today and supplies water through 8000 kilometres of pipe to almost 100,000 people and 6 million sheep throughout the goldfields and surrounding agricultural areas.  Our lookout reservoir was part of this scheme.

The Kalgoorlie Golf Course has had a recent makeover to the tune of 4 million dollars. Quite fancy green greens and even green teas. 

Back to camp at Norseman via Coolgardie.  By the time we got back, it was dark so we were lucky that there were no kangaroos out and about.  A long day.

Monday 21st May. Norseman to Cape Le Grand National Park

After breakfast we headed south to Esperence where we visited the Information Centre and collected some information on Cape Le Grand National Park. We also intended to book a spot for the next few days. That didn't happen as we discovered it was a first-in-best-dressed situation. A quick decision was made to get out to the park ASAP to secure a spot.

Arriving at Cape Le Grand Beach Campsite around 12:30 we found it already pretty full. We did, however, find a couple of lovely spots opposite each other near the entrance. Just as well we hadn't waited as the park was soon full and people were turned away.

We had lunch and a restful afternoon. The beach is lovely and the water an amazing deep blue. Beer o'clock on the beach followed by an amazing sunset.  We were even entertained by dolphins.

 

We put up our fairy lights around the campsite (first time for the trip) and had a very pleasant dinner in our own peaceful “beer garden”.

Tuesday 22nd May. Cape Le Grand Beach Campsite

This morning we drove along the beach the 22 kilometres to Wylies Bay and then another 5 kilometres into Esperance. We drove up to the Rotary Lookout overlooking the town and then got a few supplies and had coffee and cake at the Brown Sugar Cafe.  The coffee was good but there was too much froth for Jill. "Why else would I order flat white," she says.  The Banana muffin was yummy.

On the way back to the campsite we called into a tourist attraction - Stonehenge.   The only full-size replica of the original fund in the world. It appears as the original would have looked around 1950BC and consists of 137 stones of Esperance Pink Granite that were all quarried locally less than 1km from the site. We thought it was going to be just another tourist attraction and a bit "kitsch" as many of the "big things" around the country are but found it fascinating.  The woman who, with her husband, built it was there selling tickets and then speaking about the how, when, where and why of it.  We were actually lucky to see it as they don't usually open on Tuesday and were only open for a busload of elderly folk who were there for a guided tour.  We tagged along.

 

Back to our campsite for lunch and then a drive on to Hellfire Bay and Lucky Bay where the other campsite for the park is situated.  It's bigger than where we are with lovely views but a lot more exposed.  We're happy with our choice.  Saw a kangaroo on the beach (just like in all the photos promoting the park).  He was snuffling around among the seaweed.  Not sure what he was eating.

 

 

Sunset on the beach with nibbles and drinks again. Greg, the Camp Host came and chatted some - what a lovely camp host and what a good idea Camp Hosts are.  NSW could certainly adopt the concept.

Camp oven roast dinner tonight - chicken  and veggies (in Arthur's Oven)  

Wednesday 23rd May. Cape Le Grand National Park to Cape Riche

This morning we walked up to a little lookout overlooking our campsite. This is a spectacular part of the world and one can certainly understand its popularity.  We could see Greg out and about raking each of the campsites as people left.

We headed off to Esperance and after fueling up drove on to the wind farm just west of town. Amazing to be up close enough to touch the wind turbines.

We drove on past the Pink Lake (not very pink at the moment) to Ravensthorpe for lunch. Ravensthorpe is one of the towns that has painted its silos. Pretty amazing but not as spectacular as some of the photos we have seen of others.

Camp tonight is at Cape Riche Campground. 20 km of good gravel road in off the main road and a pretty spot. The campground is run by Albany council - $8 per night and $15 per bag of firewood (Jarra). We only used half of it so packed the rest on the front of the camper for the next time we would need a fire. 

Thursday 24th May. Cape Riche Campground to Albany

This morning we had a walk on the little beach and a climb on the rocky headland need the campsite. Arthur even threw in a line but did not catch dinner.

We drove to Albany which was only about 90 kilometres away so decided to go for a drive around the district once we had set up at Albany Gardens Holiday Resort – quite a nice spot, really large sites, green grass and not too crowded. Will get some washing done here.

Our drive took us to the Gap and Natural Bridge in Torndirrup National Parks. There are quite a few bushfires in the area so it's quite smoky, unfortunately.

From there we drove on to the Historic Whaling Station. Didn't feel the need to go in, considering the price they were asking and the fact that we had been there before, many years ago. Did have a cup of coffee and a snack though.

Next stop was the Princess Royal Fortress, the National Anzac Memorial and Mount Clarence and Padre White Lookout.

Back to the caravan park, via Dog Rock, for nibbles and a drink.

For dinner, we headed across the road to the Curry Leaf Indian Restaurant. It was lovely - great food although service was very slow as they seem to be understaffed tonight. By the time we got back to the vans the wild weather was beginning – we were warned about it by the woman in reception who suggested we should not put our awnings.

A Little rain in the night but not enough to put out the bushfires in West Cape Howe National Park west of the city - people have been evacuated.