On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 43

16/9/2010

Our Misty

Well here we are home again after our 43 day sojourn; it is nice to be home with all our stuff about.  Caught up with  some of the grandchildren and picked up our dog Misty, she was happy to see us and could not get to the car quick enough, she has not let us out of her sight since, I think tomorrow we will be ready to take off again, how does that song go, dream, dream dream.

The trip was fantastic, I will be writing one more blog in a few days after I have completed some calculations, so please don’t hit the delete button yet, until then, play safe in your backyard.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 42

15/9/2010

The remains of the Pt Germein Jetty

Longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere

We are definitely on the homeward leg, it is becoming a custom that we spend our last night out at the Pt Wakefield Caravan Pk (34’11’155s  138’08’713e) where can have a good shower, clean clothes and a good pub meal.  This was all after leaving a restful Kimba on the West Coast, the trip through was uneventful, thankfully, with a break at Pt Augusta for coffee and a small walk with lunch being taken at Pt Germein then a walk along the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere, this was once 1,680 metres and had duel railway tracks running the full length.  During a storm one night 120 metres was blown away leaving now a length of 1,560 metres in each direction, which was our walk for the day.

Pt WakefieldC P

Thomas front; doing very well and still putting on weight and now getting little rolls of fat in the legs.

The weather was fine until half way between Pt Augusta and Pt Pirie where it started patchy rain the bright sunlight, outside temperature about 18 degrees.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 41

14/9/2010

After a restful night and pleasant drive into Ceduna this morning passing through the quarantine station was a bit of a joke, although we had nothing on board that should be declared nothing was checked apart from a cursory look in the fridge, I opened the back door of the car to show 2 fridges and this went un-noticed, we felt this was poor and we could have concealed any amount of contraband.

Lions Pk Kimba

Continuing through with our goal for the night at Kimba, our day was quite uneventful.  On arriving at The Gums Rest Area and being the first there by about two minutes we selected what appeared to be a good spot, parked the car and into IGA for some last minute groceries then into the Big Galah for another look having been there on the way to Perth.  Talking to the lass in the shop and stating we were staying the night at the Gums she asked if we minded her showing us a quieter place in town, now obviously we said no we would rather stay on the noisy road with the grain trains rolling past our bed all night, like heck.  At the back of town is a Lions Pk (33’08’305s  136’24’984e) that is also a free camp area for a gold coin donation to the Lions Club, yes here we are.

Made contact with all our children today and checked on all our beautiful grandchildren, we miss them so very much and will be great to see them.   Brett said that Thomas is settling in very well and putting on 100grs per day, this is so good to hear, Mary is also settling in with the help of her mother Judy.  On the trip to Christmas Island not one little cry from Thomas, but Brett, OH! Just joking.

Weather report:  intermittent showers d and rain all day, sunny periods then the cloud would come with showers then sunny again, this did make for tiring driving, and however, we did make it in the end.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 40

13/9/2010

A lazy mum

After writing the blog last night I went out for a small walk, the sky was alight with the most beautiful 10 billion stars, well that’s all I could count before I missed count and didn’t want to start again, not a cloud in sight and no wind, wow.

Arriving at the Bight about 9-45am it was don warm clothing as it was windy and cool, to say cold would be an exaggeration, but it was cool enough to be rugged up out of the wind.  Today’s count of whales in the Bight was 52, now this is not the number we could see, however, mums and calves we counted about 30.  Some of the calves would not stray too far from mum and kept nuzzling and touching, the sign said that these were newly born babies; others were playing with each other then return to their respective mothers then off again.  To see these giants and baby giants of the sea playing, rolling over, flippers out of the water, tails out, heads up, twisting this way then that again truly a privilege to be able to see these wild animals being so natural in such a setting.

The kids are playing

The rugged coastline of cliff faces 100 metres high at the least in one direction, in the other direction was sparkling white sand dunes equally as high, these stretched for kilometers.  The viewing platform to see the whales is a zig zag board walk that has been built out over the very steep sloping embankment leading to the edge of the cliff top, this allows visitors to see unimpeded the action bellow.  For us today there were two white calves, one newly born the other a little older, again the sign stated about 2% of all calves born are white at birth, we were so blessed.

What a view of the edge of Australia

Still no news on the Thomas front, we will be in Ceduna in the morning and will try to contact Brett then if not too early as Christmas Island is 2 1/2hrs behind SA time.

With only two night left for our camping holiday we are making the most of it, Elsie works well.

Weather report:  cool but sunny day about 18 degrees.  Tonight we are camped at Cohen East Rest Area (31’51’665s   132’51’879e) not a bad spot not too close to the road but we must remember we are back in SA and they want all travelers to stay in caravan parks, there are three other vans camped with us tonight.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 38

12/9/2010

Koonalda Homestead

Where do we start, so much to talk about today.  An early start , well we were on the road by 8-45am and that is really good for us, stopped at Eucla and sent off the blog as this is the first time we have had coverage since leaving Norsman, it was too early to ring Brett and check on the Thomas front, we pray that all things are going well.

We were heading for Koonalda Homestead (31’27’368s  129’51’521e) in the Nularbor Nation Pk, this was once a working sheep station and refueling point on the Original Eyre Highway, today, the homestead is owned by the National Pk and appears to be slowly being renovated.  It is open for travelers to stop over and camp; this was our plan, what I had been told coupled with what I had read it was a 14kl dirt road leading off the new Eyre Highway.  Well, the first 5kl is exposed rock and extremely rough, the following 9kl is brown clay that when wet turns immediately to mush also was full of pot holes with a number of water crossings (most people call them large puddles but us 4x4 people use the term water crossing), it took us an hour to drive the 14kl.  We set up camp, had lunch then went for a walk, this place is fantastic, if ever in the area take the time and have a look.  The homestead and shearers quarters have been built out of railway sleepers, the rafters for the verandah are railway iron, the doors and windows were from the original telegraph station at Eucla, inside there are still some beds, not for me thanks, the wood stove is there although not working, large bathroom, kitchen, all bedrooms are larger than standard double bedroom, loo out on the veranda next to the laundry.  All power was generated on the property via a diesel generator.

Sheryle serving petrol at the servo

 As part of the station business was supplying fuel to the travelling public, a single electric bowser with in ground tank is still there although not in a suitable working condition, Sheryle thought we were back in the servo and wanted to serve petrol. Moments of thought by Sheryle; it would be a high probability that very dear friends of ours Bob & Clare Clark would have stopped at this very pump on their two crossings of the Nularbor in about 1970 and 1974, this bought a special meaning to us being here now. 

Across from the servo was the shearers quarters, this is where most people stay, there is a new water tank and a working fireplace, there still needs to be a lot of work done, something that maybe the 4x4 association could take up with the National Pk.  The shearing shed was great, the homestead was vacated in 1988 yet you can still smell the sheep and lanolin from the wool, the timbers are still smooth, on walking in one would think it was still in use except there are no tools, sheep,dogs and people.

Clay Dam Cave

There is not one but two grave yards of cars that failed to make the journey across the Nularbor, they have been picked clean years ago most likely to help others complete their journey.   Not only cars but trucks also, the tray of an old wind up tipper truck, this reminded me of the one my father had back in the 50’s and it was a real gut buster to wind when it was full, trust me.

Clouds before the storm

Looking westward we could see a storm brewing, thunder and lightning in the distance, we felt we must make an early decision either stay and take our chances on getting out tomorrow or leave now while we know we can get out albeit slowly, the latter was our decision.  Once on the rocky ground at the 5kl mark we started looking for a camp spot, a nice clearing was selected (31’33’580s  129’54’108e), again make camp and hang out some washing, this is just too good.  After a coffee it was walk time, looking at the clouds build up in the west and hearing the thunder with the sheet lightning we continued our walk, turned a corner and there in front of us was this humungous hole in the ground, we had walked upon Clay Dam Cave, OH boy, this was great even took our mind off the storm, the perimeter circumference about 100 metres, depth 50 metres, what a hole in the ground, many photos were taken.  On returning to camp it was decided that we turn the car & van around so as we could have the car on rock for a take off if need be.  The rain came, within 2 minutes it was hang on Sheryle I am moving the car NOW,  within this 2 minutes the ground was slosh to walk on, we are currently camping on the rocky road, camp 3 for tonight.

Storm clouds with the sun to the north

The cloud formation as the storm was moving in was incredibly  magnificent, this band of blue, black and grey cloud some smooth rounded longitudinal looking while just behind swirling black with other sections grey puffy, at the northern end bright sunlight and blue sky, such a privilege to be in a position to see such a sight, again many photos.  When we first made camp 2 there was a strong wind from the north east, then there was a complete drop in the wind and quite still almost eerie, the storm was in the west and a distance from us, the wind came up again from the west although not strong but in came the clouds the large front passed then the rain came, our decision to move a) from the homestead and b) from camp 2 was certainly the correct move.

Tomorrow, off to the Head of the Bight to see the whales, we have been told there is a white calf there at the moment.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 37

11/9/2010

Still at Jillah Rockhole

Today has been a rest day at our 50 billion star resort, Jillah Rockhole Rest Area,  and that is exactly what we did, slept, pottered, ate, drank, tendered our fire, collected more fire wood, had the most tremendously tasty camp oven cooked Ozo Bucco, walked and talked. 

Reminiscing on highlights of our trip so far, taking out the obvious, Thomas, for Sheryle’s top 3:    The Valley of the Giants tree top walk& Emperors walk , the whales at Albany and our camp here today; for me:    The Valley of the Giants tree top walk & Emperors walk, Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and  travelling the Nularbor including our rest day here. 

We have discussed the set up in our van, what has and has not worked for us and changes to be made before our next trip.  In the main everything has worked well, however, the 3 way fridge is going and will be replaced with a compressor fridge; at this point in time the Invitri Frigo is what we are thinking of as the compressor is separate and gives an extra 30 litre capacity for the same size as other fridges.  A new drop down leg for the large draw in the tunnel boot, the instillation of Holland blinds at the windows, 12v outlets by my side of the bed so as there will be no need to have an extension cord at night, and continuing to think over the electric bikes and how we could mount these on the van. 

We have found the van to be extremely comfortable and roomy, we have looked at what we are carrying and what has and has not been used, only the turbo oven has not been used to date, items added while away, an electric fry pan and pie maker; the fry pan  was always to be included just had not got around to getting one, the pie maker, well now we have 2, this is not a bad thing as when we are home we make a swag of pies at one time and this will halve the time spent in the kitchen.

The van tows like a dream, Tom Oltoff???on the spelling, an engineer and specialist writer for Caravan World for many years has stated it does not matter what you are towing “a brick is a brick” size and weight have little baring if you have your weight distribution balanced, “a brick is a brick”, this I find is correct the fuel consumption between towing our 25ft,  2,600kg unladen Regent and 16ft 6in 1,600kl Island Star, the main difference is take off and hills, once rolling on the flat there is little difference.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 36

10/9/2010

Jillah Rockhole

What a glorious day this has been, not doing very much drove from Domblegabby to Jillah Rockhole Rest Area, (31’50’294s  128’07’738e)  it is so nice here that should the weather continue to be kind to us we will stay again tomorrow, as we have only driven about 300k I think we deserve a rest.   This rest stop we would give as a 5 star plus rating, should the need arise there could be up to 100 campers, tonight, about 10.  There are a number of walks that can be taken utilizing the tracks within the camping area, and then of course you could should you so desire took foot across the hill to the actual Jillah Rockhole about a 15k round trip and no trail to follow.

We did catch a little rain about 10 minutes out of Jillah; we thought we were in for it, looking to our right over the Great Australian Bight you could see the stormy clouds dumping buckets of water on whoever was there at the time.  From our left these low clouds just slowly rolled on causing Sheryle to put on her wipers, as we pulled into the rest area and I stepped from the car to look for suitable accommodation it simply stopped allowing us to get down the back where there is ample fire wood and privacy.

We have no communication therefore no baby update, we will arrive home next Thursday in time for our Granddaughter Taylor’s 10^th birthday, it is hard to believe she was 3 weeks old when we left for 3 years caravanning.  We are sorry we were not home to see her sing in her school choir at the Adelaide Town Hall 2 weeks ago, we are missing all our beautiful grandchildren and are looking forward to hugs and cuddles on our return.

Catch you tomorrow  

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 35

9/9/2010

Well our little family flew out of Perth at 1pm today to sunny Christmas Island; we pray that Thomas has travelled well on the 4 1/2 hr flight.

As we traveled the Nularbor today it was interesting to see the variation of gum trees from the tall multi trunked Salmon Gums to spindly sticks with a leaves only on the top canopy from tall trees to trees only 2 to 3 metres fully grown.  The   under storey far too numerous even try to name even if I could, although I do know saltbush, as we are moving east this is progressively getting more prominent.

Stopping off at Baladonia refueling and moving our clocks forward 30 minutes, slowly getting back to SA time, we had a look through their museum, artifacts and relics from the Afghan Cameleers, the RedX round Australia rally and of course “SKYLAB” when it crashed to earth near Baladonia, I was surprised to see that the housing skin was aluminum, I would have thought this would have melted during re-entry.

Domblegabby Rest Area

Sheryle started to count the number of caravans against trucks, at one stage, all travelling in the opposite direction to us the count was 14 caravans to 1 truck, go the Nomads.

Tonight we are at Domblegabby Rest Area (where do they get these names from) (32’19’539s   125’04’423e). We arrived early waaaaay down the back, had lunch and set up camp then off to do an emu bob, to the uninitiated that is picking up papers and other rubbish that has been left by other travelers and road maintenance crews from years past, today apart from our bag of rubbish, papers, plastic and cans an old tyre, 4x20 litre plastic drums and an old rusted metal box were added to the pile by the bin, I only hope they take them away too.

Weather report:  with the wind at our back it has helped the mileage today, mainly sunny but overcast at times with high clouds, hard to predict the temperature due to the wind keeping things cool.  We have been told by our neighbors that we are heading into cold weather, not looking forward to that.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 34

8/9/2010

A safe journey today to the Fraser Range Rest Stop (32’04’515s   122’35’824e), before leaving Esperance this morning it was off to buy a new gas jet for our BBQ, this particular jet you cannot buy apart from a full kit, $32 thank you very much, for us a must have while we are out camping.  Taking the opportunity with a late checkout I was able to wash the van, surprisingly it changed colour from brown to white, we’ll see how long it stays that way. 

At Norsman we were able to contact the family explaining we will be off air for we don’t know how long, depending on the weather, we will stretch it out as long as possible though.  On arriving at Fraser Range as we were the only one here we could choose our own spot, way down the back where no one can see us, nice and quiet.

After doing our bit for the ecology and clearing our site of rubbish and white tails we settled down to a quiet evening listening to our lovely music.

Weather report; sorry, but a lovely sunny day today about 19 degrees, very late afternoon broken dark clouds blue past although the temp dropped quickly they were too high to bring rain.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 33

7/9/2010

Thomas Eric Ford

Great news on the Thomas front, Brett & Mary saw the pediatrician yesterday, his instruction was to cease breast feeding and immediately and transfer to a formula, this they did from the next feed, instant success.  Last night Mary had 7 hours sleep, praise God.  Tomorrow is their last day in Perth before flying out on Thursday at 1pm; Brett has to attend court for a case he is involved in from the island also trips to the pediatrician, chiropractor, obstetrician plus several other last minute incidentals that must be done.  Thank you for your prayers and please keep praying for this little family.

Tonight we are at Esperance (33.84’573s  121.90’ 131e), an uneventful day apart from the weather being truly wonderful, sunny all day about 22 degrees and just yum.  After tea we went for a walk to the local jetty, no sooner had we stepped onto the jetty and there was this almighty splash in the water, not one but two seals splashing and chasing each other, one is huge the other about half the size, no camera, sorry.  As the information goes, these seals are residents of the area always waiting for a feed from the fishermen as they clean their daily catch, apparently they put on quite a show, tail walking, head stands, flapping it’s flippers and other tricks to get the fish, boy are we lucky.

Tomorrow we start heading across the Nularbor, we don’t know how long this will take or where we will have phone contact.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 32

6/9/2010

Today has been a little different, after leaving the Happy Days Caravan Pk, although this is not a Big 4 park we would highly recommend a stay here if passing through, very friendly and very clean, we had need of the assistance from a refrigeration technician and the caravan park recommended one in Albany.  We were required to unhitch and leave the van for a couple of hours; we took this opportunity to give the car a good bath at the local car wash, now it looks good.  As we arrived in Albany on Saturday night I noticed the 12 volt shop that regularly advertises in the 4x4 magazine and thought if we have the time I wouldn’t mind having a look, very similar to the Home of 12 volt at Mt Barker.

On returning to the van we were told that the fridge is OK, however, the indicator that tells you that the gas is on and working has died and should be replaced when we get home.  They have offered to get one in and send it home to us so I can replace it at my convenience.

Tonight we are camped at the Januc Rest Area (33’49’855s  119’15’222e) 79kl west of Ravensthorpe, this is a nice spot with 6 campers here tonight each keeping to themselves, a nice quiet evening with no phone coverage. The drive through today was lovely, there has been plenty of trees and bushes left between the road and the cereal crops, the vast crops of beautiful yellow canola breaks the endless green of wheat.

 Weather report:     Delightful sunny day temp about 21 degrees with a little wind in one section of the road for about 50 kl.

Thomas front; no news today, they leave for Christmas Island on Thursday, Mary’s mother Judy has flown home to Queanbeyan yesterday and returning on Thursday to travel with them and help Mary for about 10 days, that should help Mary, our thanks to Judy.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 32

6/9/2010

Today has been a little different, after leaving the Happy Days Caravan Pk, although this is not a Big 4 park we would highly recommend a stay here if passing through, very friendly and very clean, we had need of the assistance from a refrigeration technician and the caravan park recommended one in Albany.  We were required to unhitch and leave the van for a couple of hours; we took this opportunity to give the car a good bath at the local car wash, now it looks good.  As we arrived in Albany on Saturday night I noticed the 12 volt shop that regularly advertises in the 4x4 magazine and thought if we have the time I wouldn’t mind having a look, very similar to the Home of 12 volt at Mt Barker.

On returning to the van we were told that the fridge is OK, however, the indicator that tells you that the gas is on and working has died and should be replaced when we get home.  They have offered to get one in and send it home to us so I can replace it at my convenience.

Tonight we are camped at the Januc Rest Area (33’49’855s  119’15’222e) 79kl west of Ravensthorpe, this is a nice spot with 6 campers here tonight each keeping to themselves, a nice quiet evening with no phone coverage. The drive through today was lovely, there has been plenty of trees and bushes left between the road and the cereal crops, the vast crops of beautiful yellow canola breaks the endless green of wheat.

 Weather report:     Delightful sunny day temp about 21 degrees with a little wind in one section of the road for about 50 kl.

Thomas front; no news today, they leave for Christmas Island on Thursday, Mary’s mother Judy has flown home to Queanbeyan yesterday and returning on Thursday to travel with them and help Mary for about 10 days, that should help Mary, our thanks to Judy.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 31

5/9/2010

Oh boy what a day in down town Albany, we went to a market in the boat shed on the harbour this morning, as we were leaving after buying some of the most incredible goat, sheep and cow cheeses, yogurt and milk we were told by a local that there were a number of whales in the bay playing, well this we had to see.   Stopping off at a lookout above the bay there they were, five in total that we could see, earlier there were twelve close to shore, within 100 metres of the beach.  For most of the time we were and that was about 2 ½ hrs there they were split up into three groups, two pair and one single.

A small boat stopped about 200 metres from one pair, no sooner had he turned off his motor over they came, swimming around the boat then from side and rubbing along side of the boat, how must have those on board have felt.  At one stage one of the men on the boat lent over the bow (that’s the sharp end of the boat, “how nautical am I”) and attempted to touch one as it came so close, all this is within 100 to 200 metres from the shore.

As the story goes; one large old whale came into the bay several days ago to die, it appears there is a ritual that when one whale is dying a group of others follow into a sheltered bay and form a security screen to keep the sharks away until it has died.  The local marine/whale experts agreed there was nothing to be done to help except to expediate the process and euthanize the animal.  As the whale was too big for injection which is apparently normal in these cases (I think that may be the size needle my dentist uses) they used an explosive to the head with instant success, the rest of the whales are happily playing in the bay to everyone’s delight.

The scenery here is beautiful, from white squeaky sandy beaches to smooth granite hill running into the sea, a calm balmy bay on one side and the Great Southern Ocean on the other, small bushes, shrubs and trees the tallest being no more than 2 metres covering the ground from the granite rocks to the sea, the sun shining onto white sandy outcrops on the other side of the bay this was being lit up just for us, now how good does it get.

Out back of our van are two goats, these are used as lawn mowers to keep the grass down between the park and the river, one sits on a tree stump at night, I think this must be his bed.

Weather report; Brocken cloud for most of the day with long sessions of bright sun, no wind about 18 degrees.

Thomas report, please keep praying, little change.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 31

5/9/2010

Oh boy what a day in down town Albany, we went to a market in the boat shed on the harbour this morning, as we were leaving after buying some of the most incredible goat, sheep and cow cheeses, yogurt and milk we were told by a local that there were a number of whales in the bay playing, well this we had to see.   Stopping off at a lookout above the bay there they were, five in total that we could see, earlier there were twelve close to shore, within 100 metres of the beach.  For most of the time we were and that was about 2 ½ hrs there they were split up into three groups, two pair and one single.

A small boat stopped about 200 metres from one pair, no sooner had he turned off his motor over they came, swimming around the boat then from side and rubbing along side of the boat, how must have those on board have felt.  At one stage one of the men on the boat lent over the bow (that’s the sharp end of the boat, “how nautical am I”) and attempted to touch one as it came so close, all this is within 100 to 200 metres from the shore.

As the story goes; one large old whale came into the bay several days ago to die, it appears there is a ritual that when one whale is dying a group of others follow into a sheltered bay and form a security screen to keep the sharks away until it has died.  The local marine/whale experts agreed there was nothing to be done to help except to expediate the process and euthanize the animal.  As the whale was too big for injection which is apparently normal in these cases (I think that may be the size needle my dentist uses) they used an explosive to the head with instant success, the rest of the whales are happily playing in the bay to everyone’s delight.

The scenery here is beautiful, from white squeaky sandy beaches to smooth granite hill running into the sea, a calm balmy bay on one side and the Great Southern Ocean on the other, small bushes, shrubs and trees the tallest being no more than 2 metres covering the ground from the granite rocks to the sea, the sun shining onto white sandy outcrops on the other side of the bay this was being lit up just for us, now how good does it get.

Out back of our van are two goats, these are used as lawn mowers to keep the grass down between the park and the river, one sits on a tree stump at night, I think this must be his bed.

Weather report; Brocken cloud for most of the day with long sessions of bright sun, no wind about 18 degrees.

Thomas report, please keep praying, little change.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 30

4/9/2010

A BIG day today, the tree top walk at Walpole and BIG TREES.  There are so many superlatives one could throw at what we have seen today and to pick one or two certainly would not do justice to this majestic sight.

One of our long time dreams has been to walk the canopy of some of the largest trees in the world and today we did it, walking 40 metres above the ground on a moving footbridge was exciting to say the least.  Branches from trees over 1 metre in diameter have been cut off 40 metres above the ground, can you imagine the size of that tree. There were Red Tingles, White Tingles, Karri and scores of others I simply do not know their names, however, they were great, We took our time and savoured the experience (by now you should have an idea we thought it was ok).  Once the tree top walk was completed we walked the Emperors Walk around the base of these beauties, burnt out sections so large up to 30 people can stand in them, the base of some of these trees would be plus 20 metres, yes, you did read correctly.  

After pulling ourselves away from these proud majestic tall trees it was off to Denmark to see the world’s largest working barometer on show at the Denmark Tourist Information Centre.  Standing about 12 metres high, at the top one can read the barometric pressure, it was fantastic, (Google worlds biggest barometer to get the full info).

We were going to camp out tonight but left our run too late and had to settle for Happy Days Caravan Park on the King River on the outskirts of Albany (34’56’158s   117’54’095e), as it was dark when we arrived I’ll let you know tomorrow how it is.

 Weather report: only rained while we were driving and setting up our camp tonight, apart from that it has been a very pleasant day with the sun shining about 18 degrees.

Baby front:  Please pray for our little family as they are doing it very hard, with only a few days before they are due to head back to Christmas Island, Thomas is still not settling at night and with little sleep they are almost at their wits end.  This is very hard for us as we can do nothing to help.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 29

3/9/2010  

Gee, last night was cold, brrrr, it was hard to get up this morning and take on the shower, but felt good after.

 Leaving Roundtu It after breakfast and into Pemberton for the Pemberton Tram trip, this was excellent to gain some history not only of the region but also on the flora and of course the big Karri trees.  These are not the biggest trees in the world; however, they are the biggest hardwood tree in the world, if in the area we would highly recommend this trip.  After a huge lunch of fish, chips and salad it was off on the 80kl Karri Forest Explorer Drive, it was a great experience, driving through these fantastic trees some up to 65 metres high with a circumference of 15 metres truly superb, yes, that’s the tree hugger coming out in me.

Weather report:  started off raining, by the time we arrived in Pemberton it had stopped and was cool but dry for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow off to Walpole to see bigger trees.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 28

2/9/2010  

Today I conquered the world::

As most know my medical history, today I climbed to the top of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, inside the building is a 179 step circular staircase, I have not been able to do this for over 3 years, today I closed my eyes taking each step slowly and holding the hand rail and resting on each of the 4 landings I made it to the top where the view was breathtaking.  The return journey was taken backwards, Sheryle was very worried that I would have a bad turn; thankfully all was well, although I did require a coffee at the café to recuperate.

We were talking today that this time last year we were dipping our toes into the water at the most northern tip of  Australia Cape York, today we were at the diagonal  opposite, the south western tip of Australia Cape Leeuwin WA and it was awe-inspiring, following this we saw our very first Karri Trees, treemendous.

For the next couple of days we are base camping at the Roundtu It Eco Park in Northcliff (34’38’535s  116’08’425e), cannot really say it’s Big 4 but it is in the bush with kangaroos, all sorts of birds and they breed alpacas.  Tomorrow off sightseeing.

Thomas front, slept for 4 hours last night, YEY.

Weather:     Good sunshine when not raining, most of the rain was when we were driving.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle

On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 27

1/9/2010  

A beautiful day in downtown Margaret River; casually up this morning and off to investigate this well known and talked about region of Western Australia.   Our eldest son does not believe we should be here as neither of us drink wine, however, we do enjoy the niceties of life like the pampering oneself with delightful olive oil body lotions along with the edible olive oil products, beautiful scenery even if the jetty at Bussleton was closed until November, delightful early spring wildflowers the colours magnificent, scrumulicious chocolate that says eeeeeat me, the most magnificent garden at the Voyager Winery a sight to be seen, working lighthouses, tremendous art from paintings to sculpture from natural to well not our cup of tea.  We were disappointed at the Colonial Brewery, we thought as nice gesture we would take home a bottle of beer for our eldest son just to brag where we had been and he has not, unfortunately they only sell 2 litre bottles, now that was not the problem, these bottles must be opened within 5 days of filling then consumed in one sitting, bad luck, another 2 weeks before we are home, sorry son.

Weather report:   nice sunny day, broken clouds with a couple of light showers that required the wipers twice, about 18 degrees.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle