Here we are home, rejoining the "ties" that bind us, some that we have missed sorely, family and grandchildren especially, others that absence and remoteness can give a clearer picture of just where so much of our time at home goes to. Some of this is especially relevant for Marilyn whose departure on our six-month trip has marked the switch to retirement!
It has been a wonderful trip, however, and I need to round out this blog and give us something to look back on and remind us of the experiences.
Our last blog was posted in Perth (Freemantle) Western Australia on 31 August, 2017. Our intention was to leave the following morning for Albany on the South Coast of WA where we wanted to visit some special friends, then East across the Nullarbor Plain and then choose from a number of options which way home from there. Time was becoming a factor and, as always, I indulged in some listings of the ways ahead with estimates of distance/travel times and destination preferences - pieces of paper everywhere!
We knew that choices would have to be made about what to leave out as much as what we could include, for example we reluctantly left out the Margaret River area (and some very inviting painting possibilities) because we had spent quite a deal of time there on an earlier trip five years ago. At that stage we were aware that the run home East of the Nullarbor may have a lot of kilometres to cover in a relatively short space of time.
We left Fremantle as planned on the morning of Friday 1 September 2017, a summary of our log from then to home, expanded with some anecdotes and photos, follows:
1 Sept 2017 (231km) to Wattle Ridge Winery near Kojonup WA
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| "Wattle Ridge Winery" was listed as a free camp, not far off the Albany Highway from Perth. Free camps have been our preference throughout this trip and not just because they are "free". It's the freedom from restrictions of structured caravan parks and the "free spirits" in people you meet. The friendliness is a trademark, almost always. For Wattle Ridge Winery it sounded a bit unusual, so we rang ahead and were welcomed. It was a small show, obviously, and it wasn't so free after we had bought some wine, but good fun nonetheless! |
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| Photo from Wattle Ridge taken in the morning, after a very cold night (ice on the windscreen) - a big change after the warm weather we had just come from. |
5 Sept (108k) to Albany
7-8-9 Sept (498k) to Fitzgerald River National Park
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| View from Caves Point in the Fitzgerald River National Park - a very impressive National Park. The wildflowers were wonderful. We were camped not far from here at Hammersley Inlet, which is a small pocket not actually in the national park, but controlled by the local shire. I think it had something to do with a large sum of money handed over after the closure of a mine. In any event it was a very well prepared and maintained camping area, at a cost to us of only $10 per night. Our entry into the national park was covered by the WA annual all-parks pass that I knew to purchase as soon as we got into the State at Kununurra. The cost was paid for in savings easily. |
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| The paint sketch done at the location pictured above |
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| A striking example of the roadside flowers in Fitzgerald River NP - These towering Royal Hakeas were all around us |
16-17-18 Sept (351k) to Cape Le Grand National Park
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| A painting site chosen in the Cape Le Grand National Park, right beside a parking bay with a lovely view of the wildflowers right at hand and looking over some of the islands to the South-West |
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| This beach was just near our campsite in a sheltered area down behind the sand dunes. Just as well it was sheltered, as high winds and big seas from the Great Southern Ocean the night before left these piles of seaweed on what was an empty beach the day before, and what became an empty beach again just 24 hours later! |
21 Sept (74k) to Gibson Soak just North of Esperance, on way to Norseman
(We had left Cape Le Grand rather hurriedly this morning ahead of storm warnings. Severe damage had been done East of Albany, not that far away, the night before and we judged it was time to leave the coast and head North. The camp at Gibson Soak was still pretty close to the action so we tucked the Ladybug into the most sheltered spot we could find and survived it okay)
22 Sept (478k) to Baxter Rest Area (R/A), (on the Nullarbor Plain)
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| The 90-mile straight on the way to Caiguna where the first bend comes up. Baxter Rest Area where we stayed for the night, with a big storm looming, is a considerable way ahead of us along the straight. |
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| Our Bush Camp at Herder's Hill |
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| Sunset at the same camp - a very pleasant spot |
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| Looking East along the clifftops of the Nullarbor - An unusual cloud formation |
25 Sept (263k) to Minnipa Village (on the way to Port Augusta)
(This was an interesting situation - the free campsite was in a sheltered and tidy park right in the middle of the village and we shared it with some other caravan and motor-home travellers. The local government authorities in Western Australia encourage small towns especially to declare themselves as "RV Friendley Towns". There are a lot of travellers making use of this (and spending money locally)
26 Sept (434k) to Peterborough
27 Sept (284k) to Broken Hill NSW
28 Sept (130k) to Kinchega National Park (near Menindee Lakes)
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| Our camp on the Darling River, Kinchega NP on the return trip. Note the full annex that we didn't have at the start of our journey (we ordered it and picked it up by arrangement at Fremantle) |
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| Room to paint in the annex - catch up on the unfinished works! |
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| Our camp was right alongside the Darling River |
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| The access road along the river just near where we camped |
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| Another sunset, this time opposite our river view |
- We covered a stretch of nearly 2,500 kms in 8 consecutive days after leaving Cape Le Grand in Western Australia. This was much more than what we had normally travelled without rest days on this trip. It was possible and safe because we shared the driving and took enough breaks. Nonetheless we enjoyed the subsequent rest on the banks of the Darling River in Kinchega National Park NSW.
We had made the decision by then to deviate North/East across New South Wales into Southern Queensland to visit family there and then friends in Coffs Harbour NSW, attend a family wedding in Kempsey and finally back down to complete the circle at Port Macquarie where we had left 6 months earlier.
The log continues:
2 Oct (380k) from Kinchega NP to MacCullochs Range R/A near Wilcannia
3 Oct (407k) to Sandy Creek R/A (near Warren) via Narromine
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| An overnight camp at a rest area called Sandy Creek, near Warren NSW. There was nobody else around at this one, so we made use of a picnic table shelter on this occasion. (The map on my phone identified this as "Snakey Creek". Perhaps the travel maps we were using were trying to be bit more welcoming!) |
4 Oct (414k) to Bingara via Gilgandra, Narrabri and the skirts of Mt Kaputar
5 Oct (152k) to Beardy Creek R/A on the New England Highway, just North of Glen Innes
6 Oct (355k) to Burleigh Heads Qld, via Tenterfield, the Bruxner to the coast near Byron Bay
- You can see we are still pushing things along, over 1700 kms in 5 straight days, in beautiful country from the Western Plains of NSW over the Great Dividing Range to the North Coast and into Queensland - a shame to hurry it.
11 Oct (282k) to Halfway Creek Roadhouse R/A (South of Grafton, on the Pacific Motorway)
12 Oct (80k) to Coffs Harbour (into a big house and a real bedroom - Wow!)
13 Oct (208k) to Port Macquarie via Kempsey and the wedding we were making for(made it).
17 Oct (250k) the last leg home to Newcastle.
Well done Ladybug and the X Trail - 20,000 kilometres and 6 months, through the Red Centre, the Top End, the Kimberley, top to bottom of Western Australia, back across the Nullarbor, across South Australia, a diversion through the North-West of New South Wales to South Queensland and finally back down the coast to Newcastle and home.
We certainly will go again in the Ladybug, but not so far of for so long. It's a big country!
