The Gear Box

The gearbox in the van has been making a bit of a noise when in fifth gear. When we arrived at Tom Price it decided that it was going to get a bit worse and that in order to change gear Graham would have to double de-clutch. We thought to start with that with a bit of luck it was only playing up due to the long drive and the heat but no it was on it’s way out. There was nothing in Tom Price to help us so we decided that we would go on to Port Hedland in the hope that we could find a wreckers and a replacement box. That turned out to be the easy bit. No problem getting a replacement box getting it fitted was another story. No one was able to do it for at least a week and it wasn’t the sort of place that you would really want to spend a week. So once again we decided that we would risk it and drive on to Broome 600k away. We got to within 200k when we slowed down to see if a car parked at the side of the road need any help. It didn’t but we did fifth gear decided to go so we limped into Broome in fourth gear hoping that it would last just a bit longer. Managed to find a repairer who could fit it the following day.

Graham took the van to the repairers and walked the 8k back to the site while yet again I sat homeless with all our worldly goods in a heap on our campsite. A very nice Australian man in the caravan next us was going out for a while and said that I could sit under his awning if the sun got too hot and I lost what shade I had. When Graham got back from dropping the van off he said that they were going to phone when it was ready and that it would take him about and hour and a quarter to be back to them. He then realised that his phone was dead and the charger as you can guess was still in the van. About lunchtime he walked back to pick the van up. When he got back the first thing he said was ‘How long do you want to say here?’ It turns out that the gearbox that he had got from the wreckers was the wrong one. Oh shit shit shit!! He has now ordered a new one but it won’t be here till Weds 25.10.06 as it’s coming from Perth and today is Friday. Still the sun is shining and Broome is a lovely place so it could be worse.

Tom Price and the Karijini National Park

The coast road from Exmouth to Broome didn’t seem to be all that exciting so we decided to cut inland for a change and go to the Karijini National Park which some one had recommended that we visit. Tom Price is in reality a mining town but has sealed road access to the national park. We decided that it would be best if we took a tour as most of the roads in the park are not sealed. Our guide Jeff picked us up and we joined 6 other people for the trip. Nearly as soon as we left we stopped for a goanna that posed nicely while we took photos. Not long after another one appeared and again we stopped for a photo. This one though decided that it would sit under the coach so rather than risk running it over Jeff persuaded it to come out. The park is made up of gorges, waterfalls and rock pools. It is impossible to describe how impressive the views are so I will leave that to the photos although I don’t think even they will do the place justice. We spent the day exploring the gorges, swimming in rock pools and the last part of the day we walked the bottom of the Weano Gorge to Handrail pool. This involved walking through water waist deep and through narrow chasms. Jeff was great and I can recommend his tour without hesitation. His company name is Pilbara Gorge Tours http://www.pilbaragorgetours@bigpond.com/

Up the coast to Exmouth

We left Perth and started to head north up the coast. Our first stop was in Cervantes where we went see the pinnacles at sunset. They are limestone columns that stick up out of the sand. They look like odd shaped gravestones. Our next stop was at Geraldton but we didn’t do a lot as Graham spent most of the time putting a new distributor on the van but we did manage to get to the HMAS Sydney memorial. It is a dome covered in 645 silver seagulls to commemorate the sailors who were lost when the Sydney sank after an encounter with the German raider HSK Kormoran. We popped into Northampton and then on to the Hutt River Province where we officially left Australia. Leonard Casley seceded his property from Australia on 21.4.1970 and formed his own sovereign state. We were lucky enough that the man himself gave us a guided tour and stamped our passports in and out. I’m not sure how we stand now as our visa does not allow us to re-enter Australia if we leave. We could be illegal immigrants!

Our next stop was at Kilbarri which is a beautiful small town with a wonderful beach ideal for children as it is very shallow. The place was full of kids as well as it was the middle weekend of the school holidays. We even met the barmaid from the football club in Cervantes there up with her grand children of a few days. We went walking in the gorges and while we were sitting in the car a bloody big snake came slithering past. It turned out that it was a brown snake which are highly venomous but that didn’t stop Graham getting a picture. On then to Shark Bay where we met the dolphins at Monkey Mia.

We then stopped off in Carnarvon for a couple of days to get the aircon gassed up as it is now beginning to get hot. It seems odd that just over a week ago in Perth it was cold and raining. While Ugly (that’s what we’ve called the van due to it’s rego being UGL 054) was being fixed I sat on our campsite with the table and chairs playing with the laptop. I got several bright spark Aussies come out with comments like ‘someone nick your house?’ ‘Should have paid the rent’ and ‘I’ve seen people travel light but that’s taking it too far’. We then went on a plantation tour seeing how they grew bananas, mangos, melons and grapes. Graham finally got a few tips on how to prune the vine. They also make sauces, chutneys, jams and the best mango ice cream in Australia.

Then it was on to Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef. We bought ourselves masks, snorkels and fins to go snorkelling on the reef. The reef can be accessed from the beach so it makes it very popular. We went to Turquoise Bay but I bottled out and Graham went in on his own. Apparently it was fantastic.

Perth and around.

Just to let you know West Coast Eagles won by 1 point.Our first stop in the Perth area was Freemantle. It is full of character and most of the old buildings have been really well preserved, although some they have just keep the fronts and the backs are all new modern structures. We visited the Maritime Museum and the decommissioned submarine HMAS Ovens. We also visited the Freemantle Prison.

Then into Perth visiting the museum, state library and art gallery because it was blowing a gale and chucking it down with rain. When the weather cleared up we walked round the city area and then jumped on the free buses to get to the areas that were a bit further away. Went to The Perth Mint to see a gold pour and some of the biggest gold nuggets ever. Shame they were only plastic copies although they did have some big ones in the vault and a 400oz gold bar. You could weigh yourself and it told you your weight in gold. We were talking to a lady on the reception desk and it turned out that her mother-in-law used to live in Bletchley! We also went to the Swan Bells where 12 of the bells of St Martins in the Fields are now housed and even got to have a go at ringing them. Spent a day in Kings Park which holds the botanical gardens and the State War Memorial. It was a lovely day to wander around the plants that were mainly Australian natives.

Down to the South West.

To get back on track we drove direct from Kalgoorlie to Esperance on the South coast. Arrived in Esperance and did the usual reccie for somewhere to eat. Found a hotel that was doing Sunday roast which was very good but we didn’t realise that it was karaoke night! Country music rules round here unless you’re aborigine then its Louis Armstrong! Graham reckoned that we had entered a time warp. On then to Albany where we managed to find a nice microbrewery called Tanglehead Brewing Company which Graham found very interesting but they didn’t any vacancies in the tasting department. We also visited Whaleworld which is an old whaling station and it tells all about the hunting, capture and rendering of whales less the smell.


We then headed on to Denmark. Here we decided that we would do the Wilson’s Inlet walk at 7.5km each way we thought that we would be able to just about manage it. However part of the track was flooded so we had to add another 2km to the distance. Still we did see our first snake in the wild and some lizards. It did get a bit scary when you could here rustling in the undergrowth but could never see anything. Next stop was Pemberton which is in a Karri forest. We could have done another treetop walk but after the Otway Flywalk I wasn’t that keen so instead we took a tram ride through the forest. The driver pointed out all the different species of trees and wild flowers and also told us how the forest was managed and all about the logging industry.

We then went up the coast to Busselton which is your typical bucket and spade beach just a lot longer than at home. Spent another Saturday watching AFL but it was the final. Go West Coast Eagles go!!!

Kalgoorlie and the goldfields.

The weather in the southwest wasn’t looking too good so I managed to persuade Graham that a 400km round trip north to Kalgoorlie was a good idea. We stopped at Coolgardie on the way where gold was originally found before the discovery at Kalgoorlie although it is more of a museum town now as there is no mining there any more.

At Kalgoorlie we walked into town and along the main street which is full of very well preserved buildings and we visited the WA Kalgoorlie museum which showed some of the life of the prospectors. I had to explain to Graham as we were walking by a bar what a skimpy was (barmaid in few clothes) which are a throw back to the early years along with brothels etc. In fact we could have gone on a tour of a brothel if we had wanted. We then visited Mount Charlotte reservoir where water is stored after being piped from Mundaring Weir 563km away on the coast. Then on to the reason why Kalgoorlie still exists the Super Pit. An open cast gold mine that is approx 3.5k long, 1.5km wide and 400m deep. It is about the same size as Ayres rock but downwards! Amazing. Stopped in Boulder on the way back to the campsite and then spent the rest of the day watching AFL in the pub. Much like any normal Saturday.

Crossing the Nullarbor

We had been told lots of stories about the Nullarbor crossing so we decided that we had better be well prepared. We loaded the van with all the extra provisions that we might need for the 1200km journey. We bought extra jerry cans for fuel as we had been told that the prices can go as high as $3.00 a litre (usually about $1.25ish) and we didn’t want to be caught out having to pay the highest price to fill up. We filled our water tank to the brim and bought plenty of essential provisions like beer, chocolate éclairs and a small bottle of drinking water! We had also been told that the roadtrains would as good as run over you if you were in the way and just for good measure the drive was so boring you were bound to fall asleep at the wheel.

In truth we did need the extra fuel as this gave us a bit of a choice of where we filled up and we needed the beer and chocolate éclairs. The roadtrains were big but we managed to stay out of their way. The journey is not boring at all especially when you’re not driving! The countryside changes constantly and is not a flat boring plain all the time. In fact I thought it was quite stunning in places.

We stopped at the Head of the Bight to watch a few more whales and it was the best sighting that we have had and stopped again to take photos of the cliffs. We also stopped to take photos of the road signs! We spent the night at Madura Roadhouse but were up early the next morning to beat the rush hour traffic and to get to Norseman that day or at least that was the plan. We must be the only people to get caught in a traffic jam on the Nullarbor due to road works. Still we made it to Norseman in time to get our certificate saying that we had crossed the Nullarbor and to have a lunchtime beer. We are now in Western Australia.