Ellison sculptures by the cliffs, Port Lincoln, Lincoln national park (21-25 Oct 2010)

Hello all,

Matt here, I trust everyone is doing grand!!!

With all the flat areas we are hitting along the way for telecommunications including internet, I wanted to post this quick blog out to keep you all up-dated on our journey thus far...

Since coming across the WA border into South Australia, the coastline has been quite superb and some of the camping spots, particularly in national parks has been fantastic.  The weather has been very kind to us, although we have been plagued by flies and we have had to resort to wearing our $8.00 fly veils LOL.

There has been a few surprises along the way with the sculpture by the cliffs in Ellison, and loads of Kangaroos and Emus just grazing out side our van when parked up in the national parks.

I must say there is something very relaxing watching these animals behave in the wild, and you can't help but feel some kind of a connection to nature.

Port Lincoln was a very friendly town where we discovered at their local library, you can use their free WI FI connection and this applies to every library in the state, GO SA!

We even found out that when Emus have chicks, it is the male that looks after them (please see pic) and when I walked outside to view the full moon to my amazement, I saw two male Kangaroos fighting just on the grass in the picture below.

We left Port Lincoln today (25 Oct 2010) and are on our way to Wyalla, Port Augusta and then up to Coober Pedy.

We will try to get the blog out as much as we can, but I envisage no internet coverage once we start to head towards Coober Pedy, so please forgive us if a blog is not posted within the next week or two...

On a sad note I just wanted to say, we saw the last episode of 'The Bill' the other night and Louise and I were both terribly upset, after having watched it from it's infancy 27 years ago. Our Saturday nights will never be the same...  Boo!

Hope you are all very well and are enjoying our blog, stay well and feel free to comment.

Matt xoxoxox

The attack of the flies!  24.10.10

Our camp spot in the Lincoln national park where kangaroos and emus would be feeding on the grass in the photo taken. We even saw kangaroos having a punch-up in the full moon, which was the first time for us!

The father and his chicks in tow feeding them from just outside our camp spot.

For all you Melbourne cup fans, this photo was taken in Port Lincoln SA (home of the famous race horse Makybe Diva) which has the largest fishing fleet in Australia this town of 15,000 apparently has more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in Australia. 

I can see why, after I was very keen to dive with great white sharks, only to discover it would set me back a mere $495.00 and I was not even guaranteed to see a shark.

If I did not see any sharks I had the option of paying a half price ticket to go out for a second day, but, still not guaranteed to see a shark!

'HOW'S THAT FOR VALUE?'

One of the many sculptures we discovered on our coastal drive around Ellison.  21.10.10

Eat your heart out Geoff Williams, who is a friend of ours back in Sydney who regularly like us also visited the yearly Bondi sculptures by the sea exhibition and we would frequent the art galleries of Sydney.

Matt could not resist getting a photo opportunity.

If you look closely in the foreground you can see a blue tongue (shingle) lizard...

There were many on the day, every time you jumped out of the car to look at an art piece, there was a lizard there to welcome you.

Does this sculpture remind you of somewhere else?

This was my favorite!

Louise and her flip flops/thongs -  she loves her foot wear.

This was also one of my favorites.

Adios from matt and louise

Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Nullabor W.A and the state of South australia

good morning readers;   'We're baaacck'

Louise here and once again sorry for not getting back on line b4 this;  we were 4 days coming across from Kalgoorlie W.A  into the state of South Australia, where we are now, in a place called Port Lincoln which is very pretty.   Matt has fired up the generator to run the Mac and I am letting my fingers do the walking - make that talking -  of our adventures.

The trip across the Nullabor plains from WA into S.A of course had no wifi service and no phone service either, which makes it had to keep in contact with the outside world, as you can imagine.  Happily we had no accidents or other dramas and made it across the states and borders in one piece.   

Our Toyota motor home has now clocked up 28,000km of our journey around Oz,  we shall probably do the same again before we finish up, we are thinking.  I never was a Toyota fan before this but I am happy to say I have changed my mind big time.  

The school holidays have just finished here too, which means the roads are emptier and we do not have to queue in McDs when we stop here and there for breakfast...

Oh, and the other thing I wanted to tell you about was the hoards of Grey Nomads we see on our trip; especially the ladies - here I am about to become the fashion police, so any of you lovely men reading who do not want to be dragged into my sartorial whims, please look away now...  

You all probably know that in my younger days (when I was thin and better looking!) I did a bit of photo modelling and I was a film extra for about 5 years in UK, did some TV ads here in Australia when I first arrived and I have acted as a stylist for the odd magazine when asked....  So I feel I can comment on what I see - as we go around Australia  I see the female of the grey nomads species all dressed as follows;  Short grey hair, usually NOT permed (thank the gods) a baggy man type shirt or T Shirt (usually from that shop they all love - Millers) and  the ubiquitous three quarter trousers/pants followed under by some kind of sneakers/trainers; this awful look can be completed with cheap rubber thongs (flip flops for the uk readers), which makes me want to squirm.  Ugh! 

 If I had a dollar for every woman I have seen dressed like this I would be up to my ears in cash!  C'mon ladies, look around!  Just because you have gotten older and put a few kilos in weight on, you don't have to dress like this.   And as I always say when it comes to fashion, "be a shepherd not a sheep".

OK -  I feel better now for that, and I'll just relate under the photos below the relevant details... Please excuse them being a bit out of order, but I loaded them on at the local library, then lost some text and they appeared as below.     Oh the trials of being a blogger.

Here I am under one of the giant boulders in a field near Streaky Bay S.A; they are known as Murphy's Haystacks and there are about 20 or so here; they are 160 Million yrs old and have been weathered over that time.  Wed 20.10.10

Here is Matt with a skull of a baby humpback whale that was washed ashore at the Head of Bight along the Nullabor Plain just inside the SA Border;  Matt was pissed off they charged us $12 ea to get in and we only saw 2 whales (mother & calf) about 50m off the shore;  Most other places we have 'whale watched' have been free...  sun 17.10.10

A view of the "90 Mile Straight' road from W A to S.A (going east); this truck overtaking us here was one of the smaller road trains I should add...  fri 15.10.10  11am

Here is matt at the sign to the Head of Bight Park;  quite cold it was too;  sun 17.10.10

Here is Matt at the sign at the start of the '90 Mile straight'  - there was a tree opposite with odd socks and other junk left my various travellers;  Fri 15.10.10

Here I am at the sign for wildlife;  I have to say, we did not see any of the ones on the sign; Sat 16.10.10

Matt with the Nullabor Plain sign;  Nullabor is short for 'nullis arboris' meaning "No trees", but I have to say we only counted about 50km or so of absolutely no trees, only scrub.  16.10.10

Here I am inside the Questa Casa brothel in Kalgoorlie WA;  That's a whip by the way;  as this is a gold mining town, they had some odd rules about brothels etc;  This one is the oldest one still working, and the girls sit in booths in the front and entice the customers, this is the s&m room if that sort of thing is your fancy;  the girls get paid 60% and the house 40% of the fees, but girls here can refuse customers if they want.  Unlike other places here where the customer pays, picks a girl and she had to do the deed.

Here I am outside the place, managed to get the boob job done after all; and yes, that thing I am holding does take batteries...

One of the original hotels; the York, in the main drag of Kalgoorlie WA;  we had lunch there and very nice it was too;  they have accommodation as well, and the inside was lovely too;   tues 12.10.10

This is the 'super pit ' gold mine that is literally 1km from the York Hotel (above) in Kalgoorlie WA; this gold mine was originally hundreds of small mines, but Alan Bond in the 80s bought them up and made one big mine out of it;  its 500m deep and 3km long;  those dots are the massive trucks used to carry the rocks to the ore crushers (260 tonne) each trip.  13.10.10

this was the best beach!  Its Cape Le Grand beach, in Cape Le grande park,  just outside Esperance WA;  sun 10.10.10

Here we have Skippy on Lucky Beach, Cape Le grand;  10.10.10

Lucky Beach, Cape le Grand;  a fantastic beach, the sand is so fine, its like walking on talculm powder. 10.10.10  (west view)

Lucky beach, WA (east view)

Here I am with a dragon fly I rescued from the shore edge as a wave had washed over the poor thing; he dried out on my hand and then flew away;   Twilight Beach, Esperance ,WA ; fri 8.10.10

Head of Bight National Park;  cold & windy,  17.10.10

I will finish this post now while we have the net access;  please leave comments if you can; we value all and every bit of input from you all;

regards

Louise and Matt

(Loma)  24.10.10

quick update

dear readers


A text blog only!


just a quick note to apologise for not posting a blog b4 this;  we were 4 days coming across the Nullabor plain from Kalgoorlie, W.A.  to now being in South Australia and had no signal; mobile phone or Mac; not good, but luckily we did not get stuck anywhere;

Hope to post a blog later today;  we are off to the Gawler Ranges Nat Park and I am sorely hoping we have some Wi fi coverage;;;

I hope all our readers are well and we shall get some pics and news out to you all soon;

Louise
& Matt

Valley of the giants, Albany W.A. (2nd - 6th Oct 201

This pic was taken form a lookout over one side of Albany, it is a beautiful  place but can get very windy and quite cold.

Matt at one of the fluoro white beaches Albany has to offer.

The natural bridge at the Doonilup national park just outside Albany,  this is the last bit of land between Australia and Antarctica.

You can really feel the immense power from the ocean swell, if you jumped in there you would be swept out to sea in a matter of seconds and gone forever!

This pic was taken just on the other side of the natural bridge, if you look at the cliff face, you can see where the Antarctica landmass tore away from here. 

Matt trying to be a tree hugger while visiting the valley of the giants, these were over 400 hundred years old.  Walking amongst these colossus gave you some sense of feeling very insignificant. 

A beach we stayed at overnight about 15km before Albany called Cosy Corner.

WOW

Even with the hollows in these magnificent giants, they still manage to hold onto life and just keep growing!

Your breath is just taken away when you see how straight up these monsters grow 'straight up'

The 650 metre tree top walk through the canopy of the valley of the giants, you get a real birds-eye view  being 60 metres up, in fact I almost shook wings with a couple.

Louise getting a perspective on how high we were up.

Just at the beginning of the tree-top walk, when you get a few people on the walkway it can get quite wobbly.

Well hello again neighbours,  Matt here...

We are currently camped up for the night at a rest area 200km west of Esperence and had really great Internet coverage and thought, why not get a quick blog out!

The Valley of the giants was a real highlight of our trip thus far and compared to a month ago when we were in the Pilbara (rock country) it was chalk and cheese.

The south western corner of WA, all the way down from Perth to Augusta and stretching across to Albany is by far the best part of the trip for scenery.  Don't get me wrong, the desert/rock country was truly spectacular but, for me, the trees, surf, coastline and lush green countryside have it!

The valley of the giants and the sheer beauty of the coast, just makes you feel so lucky to be living in a wonderful country that has everything to offer.  Albany with a population of around 30+ thousand was very friendly and clean, the beaches just keep on getting better as we go around the coast, the only bad thing being, the water is still too cold to put your toes into.

But then again we could still be in the Kimberly where the day temp is around 38C and humid, so for the time being we are putting up with the cold and I am sure we will get some of the heat as the year goes on.

We will be in Esperence tomorrow and we hope to stay a one of its national parks called 'Cape Legrand' which has a reputation for having some of the nicest beaches in Australia, we hope the weather will be good and we plan to take many photos and post them on our next blog.

We wish everyone well and would also like congratulate my sister Denielle for tying the knot to her husband Dan over the weekend just gone in Townsville.

Please feel free to leave us comments - we love to hear from you...

Matt and Louise xoxoox

Margaret River region and southwest of WA

One of our lovely camp spots at the Mary River National Park around the Margaret River region.

I took this photo on a bush walk we done in Hamelin Bay of a red shingle backed lizard which is a member of the blue tongue lizard family... I think?

Louise up close and personal with a sting ray (you can see the shape of it just in front of Louise), many of these rays come close to the shoreline to check out the local talent.  They almost touch your feet!

Matt having a relaxing day touring the wineries, you need at least a week and a big pocket to see all the wineries.

We did sample many of the wines on offer, but, because we were toooo tight to pay $90 each for a wine tour, we opted to drive ourselves and spend the $180 we would have spent on the tour on purchasing a few bottles of vino.

So when it came to tasting the beautiful juices the grapes had to offer, we had to spit it all out into one of those spit bins, mind you some drops did accidentally slip down the back of our throats.

Another one of our camp spots in the Margaret River region, the coastline spreads over a length of 100km which you can also walk along a walking track.  We met 3 gentlemen doing the walk and they said it took them 6 days... phew!

Another camp spot along the coastline, just behind the vehicle there was cliff drop of around 100 metres. Louise made me  chock the rear wheels with some big rocks so we would not inadvertently roll back over the cliff during the night.

During the sunset there were two mad surfers all by themselves (this area is known for great white sharks) and all of a sudden a pod of Dolphins come cruising past, you can imagine the body language on these surfers when they realised it was not a shark.

This shot was taken on the beach from the campsite above.

Another shot of the coastline along the Margaret River region.

Louise at a place called Prevelly, there are some really magnificent beach towns along this stretch of coastline, if you have a cool $800K or over! - and that is cheap compared to some places.

Well hello again sailors and sailor-ettes (if there is such a word),  Matt here this time...

Louise is off shopping around all the charity stores and thanks to the idea we got from our friend BB, back in Blackpool (England) when we visited him in 2009, I am currently sitting in the Albany library trying to charge up the laptop through their power point instead of having to drag out our generator in the middle of the street and annoy all locals with the sound that comes from it.

As you can all probably guess we just finished visiting the Margaret River region and boy - was it spectacular, mind you, due to my naivety I always thought Margaret river was actually on the coastline but in reality it is situated around 20km inland... DOH! Nevertheless the coastline which stretches over 100km is to die for.

Every corner you turn there is a WOW factor and the quaint beach towns which litter the coastlines are amazing also, but, unless you have either won the lotto, or are rich,  forget it.  As with most of the costal places we have visited so far in WA, the mining boom has had its impact and if you bought into these places 10-20 years ago it would make a very nice nest egg for your retirement, but then why would you want to sell being in such a nice place to begin with?

We spent a few days just cruising up and down the region checking out all the fluorescent white sandy beaches and finding any camp spots along the way, and with soooo many wineries in the area, what would it be without a day at the vine yards.

All the cellar doors we visited were very friendly and were more than happy to run you through their wine tasting list, some of the best wineries were the boutique ones run by families, we tried a chili infused wine made by one of the owners 20 year old son - for his first time, it was spot on and we had to buy a bottle.

To have a good look around the wineries (because there are so many) you would need a very strong liver and a least a week, but we gave ourselves a day and must have visited at least 10 as well as dropping into an olive oil factory and a venison farm which we have been salivating and living off their produce for the past 3 days after purchasing so much...  Lovely!

We also managed to visit Augusta along the way and as the name of the place best describes it, it is really windy there and not much else apart from a light house where if you wanted to walk in the grounds, it would set you back $15 each! I figured we can see the Byron Bay lighthouse for free, so we can wait till then.

OK folks, I will stop blabbing on and will let you all get back to your activities and sign off until our next instalment, whereby it wil most likely include places from the south coast of WA.

Hope you are all well and thank you for taking an interest in our travels.

Lots of hugs and kisses.

Matt and Louise xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox