Log 31-10 Wagin

Since leaving Augusta we have visited 1 more cave, Lake Cave, different to Jewel as it has an internal lake but otherwise similar. From Augusta to Bunburry there are some 83 wineries plus heaps of other attractions, nut & wheat farm, dried fruit farm, chocolate & cheese factories to name a few. We have spent the past week visiting various towns like Margaret River & Dunsborough, spent a couple of days in Rapids Conservation Park & checked out the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. The weather hasn’t been great, much cooler than we’ve been used to & WA has had an extra public holiday on Fri. 28^th for the queen. Perth central has been closed to all traffic in readiness for the Sat spectacular so when we arrived in Busselton the town was buzzing & it was hard to find a c/park that wasn’t full. We don’t know who is going to watch the parade coz they’re all down here.

After 2 nights, walks around town & the 1.82Km jetty, we continued on to Bunbury then decided to strike inland again as we are just waiting to fly home in November. We’ve decided on a 2 day stop in Wagin (Way-gin). As well as the usual pubs, churches & old buildings, they have a lake here that turns bright pink in the summer months due to high salt content, unfortunately we’re a bit too early to see the change.

Not a lot to say as it’s a repeat of last week,  same scenery, just different towns.

This is in Lakes Cave, you can see the fall in the level
of the internal lake after a long period of
stability

These are some of the 300 stairs down into the cave

The chocolate factory, white at the back,
brown either side

Just another of the 800 different wildflowers here

Log 24-10 Augusta

On the road again & we’re still undecided whether to cut the trip short or continue on. Driving south towards Norseman we stopped at Widgiemooltha for a cuppa, this area is noted for the ‘Golden Eagle’ nugget found in 1931, weighing 1,135 Ozs. & sold for £4,660, (AVERAGE WAGES THAT YEAR WERE £925). We stopped for the night at Lake Cowan (dry), just outside of Norseman. After much discussion we decided to continue South instead of turning left at Norseman.

Norseman proved to be a surprise, it looks like no maintenance has been done to the town in the last 50 years so we drove straight through & on to Esperance. What a great town, bigger than we expected, beautiful aquamarine water & squeaky white beaches & quite a decent shopping centre. There are over 100 islands around here, many visible from shore. After a 2 hour stop we continued on to Cape LeGrand N.P. where we camped just behind the beach, unfortunately it started raining a short time after we arrived.

W.A. lived up to it’s name as the wind blew hard all night & the next day, so we packed up early, returned to Esperance for another couple of hours & then proceeded to Ravensthorpe for a freedom-camp night.

Albany was our next stop, a beautiful town with lots of reminders of it’s early history as a whaling town & the 1^st town settled in the Southwest, going back to 1865. Classic old buildings line the main street in town & Whaleworld sited on the last whaling factory to close down (1978) was well worth seeing. We visited Emu point for lunch saw where Major Edmund Lockyer landed & stayed the night at a harbourside Caravan park.

Another freedom-camp spot at Torbay Inlet for the night, although very nice it was very isolated & we were glad when another motorhome pulled in around 6PM. We can’t get over the countryside in S/Western Oz it’s like no other part of the country, lush green rolling hills, vast forests of Karri trees (the tallest trees in Oz) line the highway, herds of sheep & cattle in the paddocks & sometimes we even see another vehicle. We arrived at Denmark for morning tea & some shopping, although very small this town is very cosmopolitan, sidewalk cafes abound, smart little boutiques lined the roads. The whole town looked smart & clean. Moving on we took the Valley of the Giants Road where we stopped at the Canopy boardwalk to view these majestic trees close up. Another great place to visit. To end our day we drove another 85K’s to Shannon campground but didn’t like it so we found a little roadside stop at Mt Burnett for the night.

Next day we stopped at Pemberton for a look at the Gloucester tree, this tree has metal spikes forming a ladder around & up the tree which is used as a fire lookout but anyone is aloud to climb it’s 61mt height. Unfortunately the showers of last night have turned into steady rain so climbing was no go. From there it was national parks & karri forests all the way to Augusta. By now it was extremely windy & the rain was lashing at the van so we pulled into a van park, raced around getting set up, jumped into the van, put the heater & TV on & stayed inside for the rest of the day.

Not raining but very cold next morning as we set out for Cape Leeuwin, the most South Westerly point of WA. It’s where the Indian & Great Southern Oceans meet. The lighthouse here is the tallest in Oz & we did a quick walk around the grounds then back into the van & back to Augusta for a look around & some shopping. It seems each town has something different to offer visitors, all very attractive in their own way. Finding out that there are some great caves around here we drove to the Jewel Cave, breathtaking stalactites & stalagmite formations, leaves Jenolan Caves for dead. We decided to stop in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park for the night, hoping that there would be no more rain as we had covered several K’s of dirt road. Amazingly, even though it was a Monday night several other vehicles have pulled in to the area for the night, it said at the entrance to the park ‘for small vehicles only’ but we managed to squeeze in.

What was the name of that place again?

You can't have any fun nowadays

Park in Norseman

Cape LeGrand beach in the rain

The Amity

Whaleworld

The last of the whalers

Copy of photo, cutting up a whales head.

Whalers house, you'd work for free to live here!

At the base of a tingle tree

Lib approaching a tingle tree

Grandma tingle, approx 400 years old

Lib called this one 'Indecent Tingle'

The Gloucester tree

Too wet to climb (thank goodness)

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

Leeuwin lighthouse

2 oceans

Lib's new friend
It is so windy, just look at Lib's hair!

Inside the Jewel cave

We are 12mt below ground & this is the root of a karri tree

Straw stalactites

Add caption

In Leeuwin Naturale National Park

Kalgoorlie

I meant to post this as soon as we left Kalgoorlie, but, once again, lack of internet availability defeated me. So better late than never!!! 

These are just a few of the great buildings in town.

York Hotel 1901

City Markets

Town Hall 1908

The Australia Hotel 1898

McKenzies

Palace Chambers

The Irish Pub

Hannan Street (main street)

Mechanics Institute

Post & Telegraph Office

Grand Hotel 1895

Roads Boards Chambers

Nightclub

Cohns Building 1899

Catholic Church

Log 17-10 Kalgoorlie Rally

Well, our rally is over now & what a week this has been. Straight into our parking spot in the rally grounds, investigating the area, seeing what was in store for us. It was good to get in a day early, the organisers had been selecting vehicles at random to be the guinea pigs for the volunteers allotting us our parking, this gave us time to wander with only a few hundred vehicles there.

Since then we have been to seminars, Libby has been to craft workshops, we’ve tried our hand at disk bowls (knocked out in the first round), been into town to do a tour of the brothels (there’s only two) they have a long history having been here since the mining days & although illegal, they are permitted as they are in heritage buildings & under existing usage laws. Been to the Irish pub for lunch (huge), had dinner in the canteen (lined up for over ½ an hour), met up with many people from previous safaris & rallies, checked out all the new motor homes & had lots & lots of happy hours. Every night there is entertainment, poets breakfast every day, lots of talking & finding out new ideas for the van.

Every morning that we can access the pool area adjacent to the rally we start the day with a swim in the heated pool & every night we go to bed dead tired with the activities & it’s a long walk between the new vans, the toilets, the mess hall, the entertainment area, the spare parts area, 200mt here, 200mt there, we’re on our feet all day. The ‘Fields of Gold’ ball was held on Friday night & it was a ball with more than half the people dressing up as a part of the gold scene. There was gold coloured clothing or accessories, miners, prospectors, prostitutes, period costumes & just crazy outfits. There was dancing, 1^st class entertainment & lots of frivolity. Considering we’re always in bed by 9:30, it was a change to see everyone still partying on after midnight.

On Saturday was the judging of the photo competition, Libby put in 2 photos, her wildflower got 1^st prize & peoples choice, & her happy snap got peoples choice. This on top of her getting best presented dinner & best diary on the safari, she is doing very well in everything thing she enters. The presentation was held on Sunday night at the conclusion of the rally. We are in a bit of a dilemma now as it would be really good to attend the next rally in Sale, Victoria next April but that would mean cutting this trip short & missing the rest of WA.

Well the prizes have been awarded, Lib got 3 awards for her photos & on top of that she got an award for being the most successful & her name inscribed on the perpetual award, but for her, the real prize was the recognition of a job well done. Lib got 3 penguins on a stand that jiggled around when it was turned on for the best presented meal & a busy bee that buzzed & it’s wings flapped for the diary. Most surprising I won one of the IGA daily prizes which was a refund of the cost of the purchases I had made that day.

After 3 safari’s & 2 rallies we are getting to know many club members as the same people go to both & it was good to catch up to people & swap stories re our adventures since our last contact. But alas, it is now time to part once again. A long drawn out affair with lots of hugs & kisses before finally getting on the road again.

Incidentally the number of homes at the rally was 795. Will try to scan the rally photo.

With her eye on the disk

Oasis pool, & it was warm

At the ball

Happy hour

Trophy night

After the ball was over

Winning wildflower

Winning happy snap