Night 111 - Nullarbor

After we left our not so quiet free camp we hit the longest straight road in Australia, 146kms. What can I say? It was long and straight and very boring!



Craig tied up the steering wheel with occy straps and we both watched a movie. Just joking mum! The scenery changes all the time from small scrubby bushes to big tall trees to then nothing but brown grass. The land is dry and flat. The road side petrol stations are old and run down and just appear out of no where. We are paying about $1.70 for petrol, it actually isnt too bad as we thought we would pay over $2.



We drove pretty much all day, from 8am to 5pm. The kids have been amazingly good, it helps when I have a whole heap of dvd's they havent seen! We stayed at Eucla Caravan Park which isnt really a caravan park. Its a huge petrol station with a dirt patch out the back. $20 per site which isnt too bad. $1 for 5 minutes of hot water showers which was pretty great!

More driving tomorrow...

Night 110- Nullarbor

Left Lucky Bay nice and early with some of the locals waving good bye to us!!



Cape Le Grande has been yet another highlight of our trip!!

We headed back in to Esperance to stock up as our passage now will take us across the Nullarbor......Dan Murphy`s first port of call!!

About 20k`s to the north out of Esperance, is this country`s finest and most underrated country town, "GIBSON"!! Without the Gibson soak, a watering hole for camel-trains heading to and from Esperance and Kalgoolie, this country would still be in 3rd world conditions. The green pastures, flowing meadows, goldfields, diamond mines, the brewery that gives its beer away for free and coral reefs here are unbelieveable!! Drop what you are doing now and visit "Gibson"! The population of 190are the most warmly people you will meet and are more than happy to provide a lodging free of charge if you ask politely at their front door. "Gibson" is also at the forefront in developing Australia`s 'Silicon Valley' through which we will be a leader in the world`s 'Tech Race'. Get to know where Gibson is now!!









We then hit a place called Norseman and turned right onto the Eyre Highway and the start of the Nullarbor Plain.





We drove for about an hour before the sun went down and we found a place to camp by the road side for tonight.

Night 109 - Esperance

Another day of surfing, fishing and just having fun. Its our last night as tomorrow we will start out trek across the Nullabor.















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Night 108 - Esperance

We woke to more cloudy skies this morning, it almost rained but held off. Every day we have been here we have woken up to grey sky and by lunchtime its back to perfect blue cloudless skies.

For Craig today started with an early surf. The boys went along and played on the beach while he surfed and they came back very excited to say they had seen dolphins surfing and jumping the waves.

After breakfast we all went down to check the beach out, hoping the dolphins would still be there and they were. There must have been about 10 of them just swimming up and down Lucky Bay. We have seen many dolphins on out holiday but each time we see them it still feels special.







We went for a walk around the rocks and we saw some guys pull in a big squid, I know what Craig will be doing for the rest of the arvo!

We checked out Hellfire Bay which was out of this world. Definitely one of my 5 most beautiful beaches I have been to, so spectacular.





As we were driving up the road from the beach we saw this little guy in the middle of the road. We have seen far too many dead ones so we decided to jump out and move him off the road and back on to the sand. Well he hissed and went for Craig so we decided to leave him alone. Oh well, we tried!



Next up was Le Grand beach which was long and straight with pure white sand and unbelievably clear water.



After Le Grand beach we went to Thistle Cove which was named in memory of John Thistle of HMS Investigator in 1802. Another amazingly beautiful cove.



Here are some more pics of beautiful Lucky Bay.....







We still have not decided if we are going to stay another night. Craig and I could stay here another week but Im worried we are going to run out of time. We shall see!

Night 107 - Esperance

This is without a doubt the best national park we have camped in. The beaches are gorgeous, the bush walks are great, and the facilities are excellent. We actually have real hot showers, a nice bbq area and each site has picnic tables. It costs our family $20 per night which is a little expensive for a national park but its well worth it. Any of our friends we have met along the way who are behind us…..you will LOVE this place!

We had more rain last night and woke up to cloudy skies. Craig took the boys for a fish in the rain and Ellie and I drove into town (50km’s to Esperance) to get some more supplies for the next few days. We had a look around the town, its nice but nothing special. The beach looks great though, cant wait to get back there for a swim.

In the arvo we went for a bush walk to Thistle Cove, we didn’t make it all the way as Ellie holds us up a bit but we will come back another time to check it out. Beautiful views from up here!



Its been a bit chilly at night and the kids are pretty worn out so we put them to bed early and Craig and I sit back and watch some dvd’s. I think we have nearly seen everything we have now.

Night 106 - Esperance

We didn’t see much of Esperance this morning. We left the caravan park by 8.30 quickly filled up with petrol then head to Cape Le Grand hoping there was a place for us. We got to the front gate and paid the entry fee of $11 and the lady said there were some places available.

Driving around the cliff and seeing Lucky Bay for the first time was unreal. It was so beautiful it was almost unrealistic. Here in this bay is the whitest sand ever, not just in Australia but in the world.



We drove straight to Lucky Bay hoping to get a spot and there were 13 spaces available out of a possible 20. I highly doubt this place was fully booked last night, we are here so early and its nearly empty.

We nervously get out of the car and find that the fly situation is great. That makes us so happy!!

We find a great spot with our own picnic table and ocean views.



We walk the 100m or so to the waters edge and its amazing, the turquoise water is like nothing we have seen before. We thought Ningaloo Reef was pristine, this is unbelievable.

Kai grabs his surf board and jumps straight into the water. There aren’t any waves here but that doesn’t stop him from having a great time paddling. We meet an older couple on the way out to do some snorkelling, that’s something we can do tomorrow!



Craig and the boys head off for a fish while Ellie and I have a siesta, great thing about having a 3 year old that still sleeps during the day means I get to have a rest too! After Ellie wakes up we go around the rocks to find the boys, just in time to see Kai catch a small fish. He was so proud of himself!



When we return the camp ground has filled up a bit but there are still at least 10 spaces available. We sit back and relax for the rest of the night….

Night 105 - Esperance

We left our free camp this morning as quick as we could. The flies are driving us mad and we have had a restless night thanks to two carloads of French backpackers that had just met for the first time. They sat around the camp fire laughing and chatting all night.

We drove through Jerramungup (nothing to see here!) and then Ravensthorpe (rough as guts!) where we stopped for lunch. After Ravensthorpe we drove for another 100km’s to our next little free camp called Quagi Beach. In the Camps 5 book this place looked perfect so we travelled down the little dirt road and found our secluded camp spot. I stepped outside to guide Craig back and was overwhelmed at the amount of flies that landed on me within a minute. Oh no here we go again.

We jumped out of the car and headed down to this gorgeous beach, another little piece of paradise! Craig was surveying the fishing area and all of a sudden we started to get bitten by huge march flies. Now its one thing to have a thousand flies on you but its another thing when they start to bite. Kai threw off his shirt and jumped into the ocean and he was still getting bitten. There was no relief in sight so we all jumped back into the car and headed for the next spot. Bailey was in tears because he was sick of driving (we all were too) but it was nothing a packet of chips and a dvd couldn’t fix.

We had planned to stay at Cape Le Grand National Park tomorrow night so we thought we will just head over and stay there, it was only another 120km’s away. We arrived in Esperance at 4pm and went to the info centre to grab a map, I just happened to ask if she knew how many camping spots where left at Cape Le Grand and she said it was fully booked which was highly unusual. No other option but to stay at a caravan park, not what we wanted to do but it rained and thundered all night so maybe it was just meant to be.

We will check out Esperance tomorrow morning before we head out to Cape Le Grand where we plan to spend a few last days before crossing the Nullabor. Wont have any internet or phone service so will update when we can....

Night 104 - Pallinup River

Everything ends in "up" in sw Wa!!

So we filled up the water tanks and did our final load in the laundry ready for a stint of national park camps in the next few days. The kids and I went and fed the Alpaca's at the campground then Kai and I had a game of chess to let mum have a sleep in.




But first and foremost........we are going to Whale World...woo hoo!! It was the last whaling station in operation in Oz and shut down in 1978. It is still in its original form with most of the equipment there but they have added heaps of cool things with 3D cinema`s, heaps of whaling memorabilia including the whale chaser (boat) "Cheynes IV" onsite which still has its gear and rigging intact including the harpoon up forward. They also had real skeletons of whales including a 'Blue Whale' skeleton. The 'flensing deck' at the station was pretty creepy as this was where the whales were cut up to then be boiled down. The 'Head Saw' looked gruesome indeed!!










Interesting to see the old whalers thoughts on conservation back then too.....there was a picture of a white sperm whale (Moby Dick?) being hauled onto the flensing deck to be slaughtered....could you imagine if the Japanese whalers did this to our 'Migaloo', the albino humpback, down in Antarctia....we would declare war on them and start bombing the joint!!!




It was a great piece of maritime history preserved there and definitely worth the visit just in case you take a wrong turn on Pittwater Rd and happen to swing by Albany!!

We had lunch back in town, by an old wooden sailing ship called "Amity", then kept going on our trek east after having a last stock up on food (Lisa eats heaps!) and other supplies.

The countryside changed quite dramatically to a more drier look with lots of wheat fields (all of the fields look like wheat....could be anything for all we know really!). We are just heading to a free camp by a river called "Pallinup River".

It would have been a nice spot to go for a walk and chec the place out but omg...the flies were pretty bad. You now those nasty buggars that head for the corner of your eyes, your ear canal and nose....that a blow from your mouth doesn't even budge 'em'!! They didn't bite but they had perfected the art of annoyance.

So school work in the van was declared for this arvo to the delight of all!!

Night 103 - Albany

What a great little spot Parry's Beach! We would have stayed another night here but as we have solar panels on the roof of the van and this place is so shady, it didnt really work for us.



Its Melbourne Cup day and I didnt even see the race. We arrived in Albany at 10am and went on the hunt for a caravan park. Craig went into the first one and they wanted to charge us $59 for one night! We drove around looking for another one and I went in this time. The price she quoted was $59, I almost walked away and she said she could drop it to $48 so I accepted. Its an absolute rort having to pay for the kids, usually they cost an extra $8 each a night which is why we are avoiding caravan parks. Without a doubt this is the most we have paid for a caravan park and its not even a capital city!! We are fully self sufficient with our solar panels, gas cooking and batteries. We can camp in a national park for next to nothing but as there aren't any in big towns often we have no choice but to stay in a caravan park.

After we set up we went into the town to shop at a decent supermarket, Craig put a bet on for the race and have a look around. Unfortunately we didnt win a thing on the race. The town of Albany is massive, its probably as big as Wollongong.

We drove out to the Albany Wind Farm which was awesome. There are 12 turbines that are 60m high and work almost every day of the year. Pretty impressive.






We have been bush camping for the past 6 nights its time to do some washing, fill up the water tanks and have a decent shower which is exactly what we did.