5 States, 1 territory, 13,158 kms and .....home.

Our last leg was from Wagga to home. We have done an amazing 13, 158 kms, through all 5 mainland states, plus the NT.  It has been a fabulous trip, just planning the next one.....

Our 5th state and counting!

We are now in South Oz so that makes the 5th state this trip. We camped at Tcharkulda Hil last night. Gaz and I walked to the top and watched the sunset.We had a lovely view across to the Gwaler ranges. The hill is covered in these huge granite boulders that reminded us of the coast on Kangaroo Island. They are a bit reminiscent of picnic at hanging rock too!
Tonight we are camped up at Renmark on the Murray River. We watched a lovely sunset again with a wine and a nice hot curry. We are still adjusting to the cooler weather. Allison and Greg are in Balranald tonight and hope to get home tomorrow. They had a flat today so that cost them a bit of time.

Tcharkulda Hill

Renmark SA Murray River Sunset

Across the Nullabor

We have camped 2 nights on the Nullabor, both bush camps. The first one about 50 clicks past Balledonia and last night we camped about 80 kms east of Eucla. It is very windy and now that we are down south it is cold too. We bought a few extra warm things in Kalgoorlie, including some ugg boots for me. Gary wanted a beanie and made the mistake of joking that when Allison and I were shopping we should get him one with a Pom Pom - so we did !
We stopped at Eucla to view the ocean from the lookout and this morning as the highway paralleled the Great Australian bight we stopped to view Bunda Cliffs. These limestone cliffs extend as far as the eye can see, carved out by the Southern Ocean. We drove on to Ceduna where we had fish and chips and said our farewells to Allison and Greg. Their  dog is very sick and they want to get home quickly so they are driving on ahead. We will miss them on the last part of the trip as we have all had a really fabulous trip together.

Be careful what you wish for! 

                                         

Nullabor 'Selfie'

Eucla Lookout

Bunda Cliffs Great Australian Bight

Kalgoorlie - Gold Country

We have made our way from Karijini down to Kalgoorlie and the temperature has dropped as we have headed south. What a shock after having 5 weeks of sunshine and 32 degree days. Last night it was 1! We have had to swap our thongs and shorts for ugg boots and 'trackies'. Camped at the start of the Canning stock route  one night, just near  Well 2,  north of Wiluna. Had a beaut bush camp and a nice fire but still wished we were able to head back up north via the stock route and find the sun again.
We contacted Debbie and Vyaslav ( some good friends of Jill's cousin Deb that we know from Sydney, who now live in Kalgoorlie). We arranged to meet them at Paddy's at the Exchange hotel for dinner. We had a lovely dinner catching up. We are the first visitors they have had in the 4 years they have been here! Can I tell you all there is plenty to see over this way so I can't believe no one has been over.
This morning we took Alison and Greg to see the super pit - Kalgoorlie's massive gold mine. We saw it for the first time when we did the Canning Stock Route. It never ceases to impress you though - it is enormous. The huge mining tipper trucks look like 'Tonka' toys.( if you look closely at the pictures of the pit below you will see what we mean) There are 31 of them on site at a cost of 4 million each. Each truck has a 225 tonne payload, and each load bears the equivalent of one egg size of gold. If filled with water the pit would take 220,000 Olympic swimming pools to fill. Amazing.
Time to move on .... we now head east and start our track across the Nullabor.

Well 2 Canning Stock Route

Morning tea- getting cold

         

Super Pit 

Karijini National Park and a change of plans.....

Arrived in Karijini National Park early in the day so we did a nice walk around the rim of Dales Gorge, the circular pool and the Fortesque falls.  The Hammersley ranges are beautiful. The drive in was gorgeous lots of  orange /red boulders , red , red earth and all sprinkled with miles of spinifex.
Unfortunately we are now not going to be able to truck the cars back from Perth.........
Soooooo.....we are driving home. As we are still in Karijini we have decided to head home from here. It will be a lot less driving than if we go out  to the Coast first, so we are missing Ningaloo and heading East. Through Newman, Meekatharra, Wiluna , Kalgoorlie then across the Nullabor. We will have a week to do it so it shouldn't be too bad, not quite as relaxing as a flight though!

Into the Pilbara

We spent 5 lovely days up on the Dampier Peninsular.  Found some fabulous fishing spots we will definitely come back to ! After 'supplying up' in Broome we started our journey South to Perth. First stop was Barn Hill, a cattle station that has ocean frontage! They have a large camping area which is a mecca for fisherman. The beach is unusual with white sand but the beach cliffs are red. We watched the sunset, it was lovely with a full moon and as the sunset it lit up the cliffs to a dazzling orange / red.
We are heading for Karijini National park for a few days then on to Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef. Yesterday we drove through Port Headland, it is an interesting place. Mining, mining,mining. There are thousands of mine cars, road trains, and the rail trains have too many carriages to count. The port is huge and a hive of activity. It must of been crazy when the mining boom was at its peak. Last night we just camped alongside a dry creek bed, nestled in among the paperbarks and wattle trees and had a BBQ campfire.

The Dampier Penisular

Now if you look at a map and find Broome , than run your finger up to the top you will see Cape Leveque on the Dampier peninsular. We have been camped on the peninsular for the past 3 nights. It is magnificent. We have been swimming fishing and just plain lazing. The swimming isn't quite as relaxing as one would like, usually one of us is on croc watch. One of the locals said '  it is ok to swim but don't relax' .We were swimming on Cable beach the other day , and as we were leaving we saw a notice advising of  a recent croc sighting. It was on the 4th and we were swimming on the 5th! The beach was open so we are assuming the croc had left, but we were still glad we saw the sign as we were leaving as we don't think we would have been brave enough to swim otherwise.
Gary fished  this evening and caught 10 Trevally ( which he threw back) and he then caught 2 big Queenies but the sharks wanted them more then he did. As we write this blog we are watching the most amazing sunset. It is going to be hard to leave and head South on Wednesday.
Almost forgot - we got a puncture driving on the grass in the campground! Lucky we have a spare - oh that's right we don't - it left us 600km's ago - but we do have a puncture kit.  Thats lucky!