Some interesting statistics of our trip

Days on road	374 days 6 Sept 2009 – 22 Sept 2010
Kilometres travelled	36,500
Vehicle	1992 petrol Pajero
Caravan	1995 twin axle 21.6ft Windsor statesman royale caravan
Total cost of fuel	$11,004 (ave. $250/week)
Total litres of fuel used	7,907
Most expensive fuel	$1.97/litre at Renner Springs, NT
Average cost of fuel per litre	$1.39/litre
Caravan park fees	Average $25.00/night
Days spent in each state	SA - 72 Vic – 36 NSW - 13 Qld – 115 NT - 26 WA - 126
Longest stretch covered in one day	800kms Mt Isa, Qld to Renner Springs, NT
Favourite State	John - WA Karen – WA
Favourite spots	John – Emma Gorge, El Questro WA Karen – Too many but the standouts are Uluru and West MacDonnell Ranges NT, the Kimberley WA
Scariest experience	Racing bike fell off the roof of a 4WD overtaking us, bounced onto the road before hitting our windscreen Running away due to a catastrophic fire warning in Eyre Peninsula, SA

Day 374 – Busselton, WA (22 Sept)

Well we now home and feeling shell shocked.  Our house has been left very clean and tidy and we are very happy about that as we had heard some horror stories from other travellers about their homes when they returned.  We are both feeling numb at the moment so not much else to say.  The sun is shining so a good start.  Will post some stats from our trip shortly.

Getting too close to home now

Home sweet home

Days 370-373 – Perth, WA (18-21 Sept)

Had a busy few days in Perth catching up with friends and family and getting some stuff done on the car.  Weather has been really nice in the day but really cool at night so taking some getting used to.  The park we are at is very nice backing directly onto the ocean so lots of nice walks.  Have some yobbo neighbours who are extremely noisy and inconsiderate.  Three guys and a dog living in a tent.  The dog owner is a nasty individual who beat the living daylights out of his dog at 4.00am one morning, John was out of bed ready to have a go at him but he stopped before he got there.  Us and two other campers have complained to the managers but don’t think anything will happen as the three guys are helping with renovations on the attached coffee shop so no doubt done a trade for cheap labour.  Certainly leaves a sour taste on the whole stay here as the park is very nice and the location is just fabulous.  Our last night of freedom we treated ourselves to a Govenders curry.  We have followed this curry shop from Morley to Woodvale to Whitfords now to Joondalup for the last 19 years and the original Indian man Govender is still there although he says he is semi retired.  And the curry was delicious as always.  This has also been a few days of ‘lasts’, ie last photo, last blog entry, last caravan report, last caravan park shower, last stop etc. All coming to an abrupt end now.  Anyway off home tomorrow to deal with the dramas that will no doubt unfold there, not looking forward to that one bit.  We will post some statistics about our trip once we are more settled.  

Day 369 – Perth, WA (17 Sept)

Woke to a chilly morning in Dalwallinu, packed up and headed south to Perth.  The road to Perth was narrow and very bumpy in parts so slowed us down somewhat.  Stopped in New Norcia and it was cold and windy.  New Norcia is a historic town and the only monastic town in Australia.  In 1846 Spanish Benedictine monks started an aboriginal mission for the local aborigines.  The town houses two boarding schools, Abbey Church, an old mill, a wine press, a hotel, and the monastery itself.  The last Spanish monk died in January 2010 and was 99 years old.  We got to Burns Beach where we are staying at about 12noon.  Burns Beach is in the northern suburbs on the beach and the caravan park backs on the beach and we are lucky enough to have ocean views from our site.  The sun was shining, blue sky and blue ocean so all good.  Drove to the shopping centre to restock groceries and overwhelmed with the busyness of the whole area, traffic, people, buildings and noise. We couldn’t get back to the sanctity of our van quickly enough but even then we have a noisy neighbour and can constantly hear the background hum of suburban life.  Will take us a while to adjust after the peacefulness and beauty of the remote areas we have been in.

Everlasting daisies

Fields of daises

New Norcia Monastery

Day 368 – Dalwallinu, WA (16 Sept)

Short day today only 320kms south to Dalwallinu.  Saw another two dead eagles on the side of the road.  We did see a magnificent looking eagle sitting in a tree on the roadside but too slow with the camera. Starting to see evidence of the wildflower season which is a little late starting this year due to the lack of rain.  Sun is shining as the day went on and ended up being a lovely spring day.  Dalwallinu is a small Wheatbelt town of about 700 people.  It is actually a nice little town and its claim to fame is that is the wattle capital of the world with 186 wattle (acacia) species being found within a 100km radius of town.  Wendy and Rob, the layout of the town reminds us very much of Pomona with the railway line kind of in between.  It is also the first town of the Wildflower Trail which heads northwest. Very popular with wildflower enthusiasts.  The wildflower season is from July to October.  Coco and I did some exploring and found some lovely bush walks and some small pockets of wildflowers.  Tomorrow we head to Perth (220kms) where we will spend a few days catching up with family, friends etc.  Yes we definitely are in the doldrums now - home is getting far too close!

 

Days 366-367 – Newman, Mt Magnet, WA (14-15 Sept)

Left Port Hedland to a very pleasant morning and some very ominous back clouds, hoping we leave them behind!  The Pilbara has had some very unseasonal cool and wet weather over the last few days.  Few puddles around.  We are travelling 452kms today to Mt Newman. We travelled through some spectacular scenery with lots of hills with some pretty neat formations, big boulders and the colours are just wonderful.  I really do like the Pilbara landscape. We got out of the car to refuel at Auski Roadhouse and it was freezing, damp and grey. Of course we were in our shorts and tshirts having left a balmy Port Hedland morning.  When we got to Mt Newman it was so cold only 17 degrees and raining!  Only the day before it was 37 at Barn Hill so we have dropped 20 degrees with no time to get acclimatised.  So out came the heater from under the bed and our winter woollies and uggies from out of the cupboard.  It rained the rest of the day and night, yuk.  With the umbrella found buried at the bottom of all our stuff in the back of the car, I braved the rain and took Coco for a walk into town.  Not much in town except a Woolworths, PO etc.  Oh there was a Subway.  Out of the mining town we have seen Mt Newman is probably the nicest (as far as mining towns go) and the mining companies seem to take care of their workers with nice facilities.  Next day we left Mt Newman by 7.22am – getting earlier – heading to Cue 545kms today.  Certainly raking up the kms.  There is not a lot to see really except evidence of lots of mining, mining vehicles and lots of road.  The only stops between are roadhouses, there some nice looking free camps but timing not right (don’t want to stop too early) so best to keep going.  Coolish when we left Mt Newman but I braved it and hoped it would get warmer and put on my shorts.  At least it had stopped raining.  Today we have seen quite a few wedgetail eagles particularly on the roadkill.  If there are crows on the roadkill then an eagle generally is not far away.  They are magnificent birds and too watch them soar is fantastic.  Unfortunately we counted five dead wedgetails – because of their bulk they can’t take off too quickly and end up getting hit by trucks which move so fast and are huge.  We also saw about six oversize vehicles with escorts moving various pieces of mining equipment.  Proves just how much mining is going on.  Scary really.  We re-fuelled four times today including a stop at Meekatharra – not much there except a few businesses which have burglar bars on the doors and windows.  Both Meekatharra and Cue are looking like ghost towns with hardly anyone around.  We eventually get to Cue and the park was horrible.  It was busier then we anticipated and discovered there were a lot of prospectors staying there.  We had wondered what all the diggings were along the side of the road must be the prospectors.  So we decided to move on another 80kms to Mt Magnet.  So in total we travelled 615kms today.  Another big day!

Colours of the Pilbara - Port Hedland to Newman near Auski

Colours of the Pilbara - Port Hedland to Newman near Auski

Colours of the Pilbara - Port Hedland to Newman near Auski

Enroute Port Hedland to Newman

Enroute Port Hedland to Newman

The Hilditch's - Mt Newman iron ore finders in 1957

Oversize road train with escorts

and another one

Lunch stop - near Cue

Meekatharra Picture Theatre - who would have thought!

Mining tailings outside Cue

another oversize vehicle

and another one

Day 365 – Barn Hill to Port Hedland, WA (13 Sept)

Awake early at 5.30am!  So on the beach in 6.00am with Coco for our last walk.  We have had a wonderful time at Barn Hill and is hard to leave but have to leave eventually I guess.  Heading to Port Hedland 490kms south.  We have decided to head home via the inland route (Great Northern Highway) which is a little shorter than the coastal route and we are hoping to see some wildflowers along the way.  Were originally going to go home via the coastal route and stop in Exmouth but with the impending school hols and noticing the number of kids that were coming into Barn Hill decided to get home before the school hols start as it is always bedlam anywhere on the coast then.  And we have done the coast run twice this trip so wildflowers sound like a good option.  After 12 months on the road I discovered today that I can watch DVD’s on my laptop in the car!  Can’t believe I didn’t think about this before, when we are doing the big kms in a day time sure goes quickly!  We put $250 worth of fuel in the car today, two fills - that is scary!  We stopped at Sandfire about halfway between Barn Hill and Port Hedland and were surprised to see peacocks, about 15 of them wandering around the shop entrance and around the bowsers, not worried at all by cars, trucks or people.  An albino one had his tail on display, beautiful!  We stopped at the entrance to Pardoo Station for a celebration photo as this marks the exact spot where we completed the circuit around Oz! (this was as far north as we got this time last year before deciding we’d missed the window to go clockwise as it was then too hot and we turned around and heading South East via Kalgoorlie.  The Ellis’ and Smiths will remember Pardoo Station, we spent a few days there together before going our separate ways. 
We should be in Perth by the weekend and will spend a few days there before the final trek home.  We really are on the downhill track now and the ‘big dread’ of getting home and back to reality is biting hard!!  We really don’t want our trip to end (even temporarily) but a little part of us is looking forward to having some space again, stability (not packing, hitching and unpacking/unhitching the van/car every few days) and having our own clean bathroom again will be heaven!  Just hope summer will be kind to us and be warm.

Welcoming committee, Sandfire Roadhouse

What a display, Sandfire Roadhouse

Days 359-364 – Barn Hill, WA (7-12 Sept)

Well just can’t leave the place keep extending our stay.  It is soooo nice and relaxing although starting to get a little hot, mid 30s every day and mid 20s at night and due to the limited power we can’t run our air conditioner so feeling it.  Some days there is a nice ocean breeze which keeps it a little cooler but not all the time.  It is quite a different experience to be in the heat in a van which is more like a tin shed rather than a brick and tile home – not quite as comfortable.  We have spent a fair bit of time with David and Carmel and Nellie with the boys going fishing and Carmel, Nellie, Coco and I spending lots of time of the beach cooling off and long beach walks.  David was the first to catch a fish, a giant threadfin salmon so the following day for lunch we cooked it on the Webber and devoured it for lunch.   It was beautiful.  For anyone who has not tried giant threadfin salmon try it is is delicious.  Its not a fish you see in the seafood shops though.  The next day John also caught a giant threadfin salmon and a shark mackerel.   So we had another lunch the following day.  In the afternoon David caught another salmon.  In the meantime David and Narelle and Daisy (maltese dog) arrived and David caught a giant threadfin salmon the following morning so that day we had two salmon for lunch.  So deja vu lunch three days in a row!  Wonderful that’s what it is all about.  David and John went to Broome on Tuesday to restock on supplies (240 kms return trip).  John did very well and got everything on the list without buying any extras!  Other than the excitement of catching fish Coco and I have been doing lots of beach walks and wallowing in rock pools at low tide.  Today (Sat) the tide went out 10m at 6.15am.  It comes in quickly and goes out quickly.  When the tide is out the rock pools are exposed and there is an amazing amount of live coral on the rocks, oranges, greens, yellows.  Quite surprising.  Its a shame that everyone walks over the rocks to look at it, so much must get damaged.  When the tide is in it is great swimming and the water is cool but not cold.  Spent our last day packing and went to the evening roast again with entertainment.  Same band as last week, another good night.  John spotted a frill necked lizard in a tree nearby us, gee they move quick and we have gorgeous tawny frogmouth nesting pair in the tree next to our van.  Did you know they are not related to owls, don’t catch food in their talons and basically just camouflage themselves in a tree fork and wait for anything to wander by like a lizard, frog, mouse etc and they catch it with their beaks! 

Tawny frogmouth - love that face

Barn Hill - stairway to campsite

Sunset over the rockpools

Casper the ghost

Sunset at Barn Hill

Sunset at Barn Hill

Castaway

Giant threadfin salmon - good eating
 

sunset at Barn Hill

Beautiful rock formations - sunset

Our bushcamp, me coming out of amenities - setup just behind - spot our kayaks

green frog in mens loo

Toilet bowl inspector

David and David checking the fish

John fishing at low tide 6.15am - 10m tide and its out

Coral exposed at low tide

Looks like a starfish

brain coral?

dinner time

John wallowing

Frilled neck lizard