Friday 22nd January 2010
Left Kalgoorlie before 8.30am and drove 200 km back to Norseman before filling up and heading down the Eyre Highway for the Nullarbor. It wasn’t long before we were on the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, 90 miles or 146.6 kilometres. Bev decided to drive for the first time with the van attached as it was a good road with plenty of visibility to see what was coming and luckily had no traffic at all that overtook her. She did good 
The start at Norseman
Note the concentration
Self explanatory
We drove around 500 kms for the day and overnighted at a roadside stop where there were a number of other vans that had stopped for the night as well.
Road side stop
Saturday 23rd January 2010
Up with the sparrows, we had breakfast and were away by 6.45am which was exceptional for us. Another 550 kms for the day, passed some strange trees and wildlife on the way and overnighted at a National Park campsite on the Bunda Cliffs in South Australia, just off the highway with spectacular views of the Great Australian Bight.
Unusual flora
More of them
Mother out for a walk with the kids
Stunning scenery
Sunset over the Bight
Sunday 23th January 2010
Another long day with a few stops including the Nullarbor road house for fuel and coffee and Ceduna where we had a late lunch and collected our certificate for crossing the Nullarbor at the Information Centre. We arrived at the Streaky Bay caravan park on the Eyre Peninsular, set up, had a quick meal and crashed for the night.
The treeless plains
Recognition of our great achievement
Our spot at Streaky Bay
Monday 23th January 2010
A recovery day. Just walked along the beach to the town, had coffee and back to the van for the rest of the day.
The pub built in 1866
Tuesday 24th January 2010
Australia Day! Free breakfast on the foreshore at Streaky Bay with all the locals. Afterwards we drove to Point Labatt where there is a great vantage point to view the only permanent sea lion colony on the Australian mainland.
The breckie queue
Sorry, could not zoom in any more. There are sea lions there
Wednesday 20th January 2010
Drove most of the day from Esperance to Kalgoorlie via Norseman and went from 25 degrees at Esperance to 45 degrees in Kalgoorlie (our car thermometer showed the outside temp as 47 degrees). We checked into the Discovery Caravan Park in Boulder and headed straight to the pool after setting up to cool down. Fortunately a wind and thunder storm came through in the early evening which cooled things down to a comfortable level.
Thursday 21st January 2010
Took in most of the tourist spots starting at the WA museum for Kalgoorlie-Boulder, then the Super Pit, the working brothels, the local architecture and the water pipe line from Perth, an engineering feat of its day, all of which was all very interesting.
Museum entrance
The Super Pit
Blasting-the force of the wind after the blast was tremendous
The Super Pit will end up being 500 metres deep and 3.5 kilometers long. It is just awesome.
One of the last remaining brothels
They are only manequins
Kalgoolie Town Hall
Paddy Shannon first discovered gold here
The Exchange Hotel
The end of the water pipeline from Perth
Kalgoorlie has its own unique character along with the nearby town of Boulder which has the most charming lolly shop with all our old childhood favourites. It was like stepping back in time. The Town Hall has the last remaining drop scene curtain in the world painted by Philip Goatcher, the highest paid scene painter of his time.
Statue in Bolder
Boulder Town Hall
Goatcher's drop curtain
Beautiful interior
Friday 15th January 2010
Denmark was a short drive from Parry Beach and after a quick look around we headed to Albany and the old whaling station about 17 kilometres around the bay. Bev had been there when it was still operating in 1977 (it was closed the next year) and can still remember the stench that permeated the whole site. The tour guide went on at some length about the terrible smell and how the workers were unable to get rid of the smell from their person.
Old whale hunter
The whales were hauled up the ramp and then cut up 
On to Cheynes Beach which is about 30 kilometres east of Albany where we overnighted at the caravan park. We had not booked and were lucky to get a site as it was fully booked being school holidays but they kindly found a bit of grass for us to setup on right next to the kids playground (which was fine by us as we had planned to only stay 1 night anyway) . I had forgotten how noisy a group of little ankle biters can be!!
Cheynes Beach
Saturday 16th January 2010
We left around 9am and drove most of the day, a distance of about 400 kilometres, through the small towns of Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe before reaching a roadhouse at Munglinup where there was an overnight area across the road. There was not much else there and 4 other vans joined us for the night. It feels much safer when there are other campers around in these remote places.
Sunday 17th January 2010
Arrived in Esperance early morning and headed for the French hot bread shop as it was all that was open at that time and had a pie for breakfast. The fresh bread aroma was too tempting. We booked into the Pink Lake caravan park not far from a “real” pink lake. Apparently the algae in the lake with the high salt content combine to produce a pink water colour.
The Pink Lake
Splashed out and had dinner out at a nice seafood restaurant but were unable to sit out on the deck as it was blowing a gale.
Monday 18th January 2010
Just beautiful
Drove the “Great Ocean Drive” just out of Esperance and were delighted with the most spectacular scenery. Even spotted a pod of dolphins from one of the vantage points (West Beach).
Dolphins
Tuesday 19th January 2010
Left Esperance and drove to Cape Le Grand National Park. We (I) programmed the GPS to get us there but about 50 km later on a remote dirt road a local farmer actually turned his car around and asked if we were lost. He had a good laugh when we told him where we were headed but he kindly drove to the main road showing us the way so we could get back on track. Finally made it to Lucky Bay in the park but it was a bit of a disappointment as a number of people had told us it was a “must do” with the best beaches in Australia but frankly we could not see what the fuss was all about. Perhaps the overcast weather and the strong winds coloured our perception of the place.
Wednesday 13th January 2010
Left Margaret River and headed to Augusta, a pretty coastal town at the extreme south west corner of WA. Actually, Cape Leeuwin is the southernmost point about 14 kilometres south of Augusta where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.
Cape Leeuwin lighthouse
From there we drove along the South Coast Highway to Pemberton which has the most awe inspiring Karri forests. Outside of Pemberton there is a Karri tree that was used for fire spotting and can be climbed to its top at over 60 metres tall. The stairs are steel bars driven into the tree which winds around it to the top. Not for the faint hearted, but I climbed it with heart in mouth.
The Gloucester Tree
Check out the steps
At the start of the climb
On the very top platform
About to head back down
Further on we stayed for the night at Shannon National Park and at $12.00 for the night it was a bargain.
Shannon National Park
At our van
Cheers
Thursday 14th January 2010
On our way to Denmark we stopped at the “Valley of the Giants”, a terrific tree top walk amongst the karri trees. It is very well done with a suspended walkway designed to sway with the movement of the people to give the feeling of being amongst the swaying branches of these huge, majestic trees. At over 40 metres from the ground it sure did.
On the Tree Top Walkway
Tree top level
A Karri tree base
Our overnight camp was at Parry Beach just before Denmark and at $7.00 for the night for the 2 of us it is the cheapest so far. Mind you, there is no power and only bore water but the beach and setting was beautiful.
Rock shelf around from Parry Beach
