We leave Cape Leeuwin heading up through the Margaret River region towards Perth, we are lucky the warm sunny days are unusual for autumn, the locals say it’s usually raining by now and all the paddocks should be a lush green, instead of the washed out brown colour. Our original intention was to be out of Perth by the end of April but as the weather has been so good we are taking our time getting there, enjoying the beaches and scenery on the way. The beaches on this stretch of coastline are reputedly the best surfing beaches in Oz with the big Indian Ocean rollers continually pounding the shore, not that Jan is tempted in just yet, still a bit on the cool side. We both go fishing, yes Jan now has her own rod, on her first cast (I’m sure before even her hook hit the water), a reasonable sized mulloway had thrown itself on to the end of her line, to say she was pleased was an understatement! But it couldn’t have been beginners luck because she caught a second one later in the day, JAN IN FISHING MODE
I did get two whiting so contributed a little to the supper table. This now brings our tally to 6 whiting, 12 rock cod, 4 herring, 3 flatheads and a sweep, oh and of course Jan’s two mulloway’s. Fishing on this coastline is far more difficult with the large waves, and so our supper table is suffering, but the supermarkets are pleased. WEDGE TAILED EAGLES WITH ROADKILL
The large Jarra forests and spectacular coastline make this a very popular spot with the Australians and we are glad we pass through when it’s not so busy, some of the furniture shops have some amazing wood furniture which we would love to take home, but with price tags of seven thousand pounds I think we will keep on looking. It’s while we are camping here that we come across our first bandicoot, a cross between a rat and a rabbit but especially partial to the juice out of a tin of salmon, and much friendlier than the Tiger snakes from our last blog update, you could always tell when the bandicoot’s were about, because Jan would sit on top of the picnic table with her feet on the seat. 
We call in at the bush shack brewery which was a bit of a disappointment as they were not brewing at the time, but they did have some really nice dark beers unusual here in Oz where most people enjoy the cold light beers. We tried a couple, and had a couple of games of pool on a round snooker table another first for us, a completely different game to play with the black having to go down the centre hole to win, at least that stops the arguments over the nominated pocket, and just for the record yes it was one game each, my smack em and see technique didn’t work quite as well with the pocket in the centre of the table!
We meet up with Trish & Graham, a couple from Queensland who are driving around Oz like us. We have bumped into each other a few times (not literally)
and now have exchanged phone numbers to keep track of each other’s progress, our last get together was a day before Perth at Lake Peel a nice free campsite with lovely sunsets 
and so Trish & Graham tell us wonderful sunrises, perhaps one morning we will make it up in time to see! Next stop Fremantle and Perth a day down in old Fremantle to visit the old colonial city (it’s more a less a suburb of Perth now), a big tourist attraction is the prison, built during the 1800’s by convicts, it was in service up until 1992 the guided tours are an interesting insight into the history of the city. Perth the last city for us to visit (we done Brisbane back in 2006 when we visited our girls) and a very well laid out and pleasant city it is too, free buses all over the city centre,
The large Jarra forests and spectacular coastline make this a very popular spot with the Australians and we are glad we pass through when it’s not so busy, some of the furniture shops have some amazing wood furniture which we would love to take home, but with price tags of seven thousand pounds I think we will keep on looking. It’s while we are camping here that we come across our first bandicoot, a cross between a rat and a rabbit but especially partial to the juice out of a tin of salmon, and much friendlier than the Tiger snakes from our last blog update, you could always tell when the bandicoot’s were about, because Jan would sit on top of the picnic table with her feet on the seat. We call in at the bush shack brewery which was a bit of a disappointment as they were not brewing at the time, but they did have some really nice dark beers unusual here in Oz where most people enjoy the cold light beers. We tried a couple, and had a couple of games of pool on a round snooker table another first for us, a completely different game to play with the black having to go down the centre hole to win, at least that stops the arguments over the nominated pocket, and just for the record yes it was one game each, my smack em and see technique didn’t work quite as well with the pocket in the centre of the table! We meet up with Trish & Graham, a couple from Queensland who are driving around Oz like us. We have bumped into each other a few times (not literally) and now have exchanged phone numbers to keep track of each other’s progress, our last get together was a day before Perth at Lake Peel a nice free campsite with lovely sunsets and so Trish & Graham tell us wonderful sunrises, perhaps one morning we will make it up in time to see! Next stop Fremantle and Perth a day down in old Fremantle to visit the old colonial city (it’s more a less a suburb of Perth now), a big tourist attraction is the prison, built during the 1800’s by convicts, it was in service up until 1992 the guided tours are an interesting insight into the history of the city. Perth the last city for us to visit (we done Brisbane back in 2006 when we visited our girls) and a very well laid out and pleasant city it is too, free buses all over the city centre, PERTH BY NIGHT
but while we are trying to locate a specsavers (so Jan could get some more contact lenses the ones that didn’t melt while going through the desert in Pakistan have now run out). The lady who was very helpful in the information booth assured us we would need to catch a bus to get to where this shop was, but after checking our map a brisk 10 minute walk and we were there, we are beginning to wonder if Australia is turning into a mini USA, where nobody walks anywhere anymore. We meet up with Jenny, the last of Jan’s unvisited relations in Oz and have dinner with her and her two children, unfortunately as we had just been to Fremantle that day and were speaking about the visit to the jail, Jenny’s daughter Ella thought that we had actually been in jail and so was very quiet and cautious of us, as long as she didn’t think we were old enough to arrive on the first convict ships! Which brings us nicely to leaving Perth on Friday 15th May my wife’s birthday, although I’m not allowed to mention how old she is but if you take 8 away from 60 you won’t be far wrong ( or was it 21 + a lot of something’s), last year she spent her birthday in Iran, a completely dry affair apart from tea of course, this year it’s Oz and the red wine made a longer than usual evening appearance at our camper van dining table and the birthday present that I had got her, kept her warm through the night (a hot water bottle!)
We drive back across country to Hyden, farmers across this part of the country seem to have a bit of a competition going to see who could get the most unusually placed ute (pick up truck) in their field very entertaining on the long straight roads. 
Wave rock is Hyden’s big tourist draw, Wave rock itself is an impressive sight being some 15 metres high & 2700 million years old, formed by weathering & water erosion that has undercut the base to form the wave like face. 
We arrive just in time to catch the setting sun over the rock, before heading off in the morning (again missing the sunrise) to Kalgoorlia and the goldfields. We have taken over a 1000 km detour so that we can visit the goldfields of western Australia perhaps this is a way of financing the second part of our round the world trip? Soon after arriving in the region you notice people both male and female wearing these old chequered work shirts and jeans, it appears to be the uniform of the prospector, complete with beat up old 4wd truck and tales of nuggets found 100’s of km’s out in the bush. I knew then that our chances of finding those elusive gold nuggets were not going to happen; there was no way that Jan was going out into the bush after her last close encounter with Tiger snakes. We were happy to sit around the camp kitchen and listen to the stories of nuggets, similar to fishing stories we decided, because they were all still driving old trucks and camping in caravan parks. At Kalgoorlia is the super pit, this one square mile of ground is so rich in gold that they are just digging a huge great open cast mine to remove it all, which they hope to do by 2017, perhaps I’ll pop back then and have a little route around in the bottom of the hole just to see if they missed anything! 
The pit is some 3.4km long, 1.45km wide and at the present moment 440m deep they blast and then remove the rock with shovels that lift 60 tonne in one go,
but while we are trying to locate a specsavers (so Jan could get some more contact lenses the ones that didn’t melt while going through the desert in Pakistan have now run out). The lady who was very helpful in the information booth assured us we would need to catch a bus to get to where this shop was, but after checking our map a brisk 10 minute walk and we were there, we are beginning to wonder if Australia is turning into a mini USA, where nobody walks anywhere anymore. We meet up with Jenny, the last of Jan’s unvisited relations in Oz and have dinner with her and her two children, unfortunately as we had just been to Fremantle that day and were speaking about the visit to the jail, Jenny’s daughter Ella thought that we had actually been in jail and so was very quiet and cautious of us, as long as she didn’t think we were old enough to arrive on the first convict ships! Which brings us nicely to leaving Perth on Friday 15th May my wife’s birthday, although I’m not allowed to mention how old she is but if you take 8 away from 60 you won’t be far wrong ( or was it 21 + a lot of something’s), last year she spent her birthday in Iran, a completely dry affair apart from tea of course, this year it’s Oz and the red wine made a longer than usual evening appearance at our camper van dining table and the birthday present that I had got her, kept her warm through the night (a hot water bottle!) We drive back across country to Hyden, farmers across this part of the country seem to have a bit of a competition going to see who could get the most unusually placed ute (pick up truck) in their field very entertaining on the long straight roads. Wave rock is Hyden’s big tourist draw, Wave rock itself is an impressive sight being some 15 metres high & 2700 million years old, formed by weathering & water erosion that has undercut the base to form the wave like face. We arrive just in time to catch the setting sun over the rock, before heading off in the morning (again missing the sunrise) to Kalgoorlia and the goldfields. We have taken over a 1000 km detour so that we can visit the goldfields of western Australia perhaps this is a way of financing the second part of our round the world trip? Soon after arriving in the region you notice people both male and female wearing these old chequered work shirts and jeans, it appears to be the uniform of the prospector, complete with beat up old 4wd truck and tales of nuggets found 100’s of km’s out in the bush. I knew then that our chances of finding those elusive gold nuggets were not going to happen; there was no way that Jan was going out into the bush after her last close encounter with Tiger snakes. We were happy to sit around the camp kitchen and listen to the stories of nuggets, similar to fishing stories we decided, because they were all still driving old trucks and camping in caravan parks. At Kalgoorlia is the super pit, this one square mile of ground is so rich in gold that they are just digging a huge great open cast mine to remove it all, which they hope to do by 2017, perhaps I’ll pop back then and have a little route around in the bottom of the hole just to see if they missed anything! The pit is some 3.4km long, 1.45km wide and at the present moment 440m deep they blast and then remove the rock with shovels that lift 60 tonne in one go,BUT ITS STRUGGLING WITH US!
this they transport to the surface in dumper trucks that carry 225 tonne of ore at a time, and out of that only about 500 grams will be gold, about the size of a golf ball. For every truck that comes out with ore on board another five will come out with just rock on board and this whole operation viewed from the top of the pit looks just like kid’s toy trucks being played with.
this they transport to the surface in dumper trucks that carry 225 tonne of ore at a time, and out of that only about 500 grams will be gold, about the size of a golf ball. For every truck that comes out with ore on board another five will come out with just rock on board and this whole operation viewed from the top of the pit looks just like kid’s toy trucks being played with.
SHE'S DETERMINED TO FIND GOLD, OH LOOK A SMALL BAR !!!!!
THATS WHAT YOU CALL A SPARE TYRE !!
So we leave the goldfields nuggetless but we have enjoyed visiting some of the old ghost towns,ANOTHER POTENTIAL RETIREMENT RES ? 
LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR TONY BICKERS
even if getting used to the ways of living out here in the outback is strange, such like shops closing at midday on a Saturday and nothing opening on a Sunday which is fine unless you have just arrived in town after travelling for three days and you need provisions which we inevitably did. Our next two campsites are out in the back of beyond, the first being Rowles Lagoon which happens to be my mothers maiden name, 
the Rowles part that is, so perhaps relations of mine have already been here, especially as when we arrive we have the place completely to ourselves and somebody has chopped a load of wood for the fire, all that was missing was a fridge full of cold beers but luckily we already had that covered! The second spot was Lake Ballard a huge salt lake that has 51 steel sculptures of people on it, NICE PROFILE
everyone supposedly scanned from a person living in Menzis the nearest town, but apart from the difference between children and adults, male/female, they all looked the same!
everyone supposedly scanned from a person living in Menzis the nearest town, but apart from the difference between children and adults, male/female, they all looked the same! SPOT THE SCULPTURE
But I expect the artist still received a huge payout for doing it, nice free campsite on the edge of the lake though, with a great fire and plenty of stars & the Milky Way for company. I THINK SOMEBODY'S FOLLOWING ME
We are now back off to the coast getting back on track with the Pinncales Desert, which features thousands of limestone pillars that rise up to 4metres in height out of the stark landscape of yellow sand, how these were formed is still being debated by scientists today.
The road north is getting very busy with campervans & caravans heading north for the good weather,
We are now back off to the coast getting back on track with the Pinncales Desert, which features thousands of limestone pillars that rise up to 4metres in height out of the stark landscape of yellow sand, how these were formed is still being debated by scientists today. The road north is getting very busy with campervans & caravans heading north for the good weather, LOVELY WEATHER
we join the great getaway mainly being overtaken by most of it, while we happily plod along at our sedate 80 kph. The weathers definitely improving and we reach Geraldton our first major town since Perth. Here we take a guided tour around the lobster processing centre where live lobsters are exported to the likes of China, Korea & Singapore. 
They come off the boats and are handled as little as possible as they can throw a leg off when there distressed, this is all about the presentation in the restaurants fish tank at the other end, they can have two legs missing as long as it’s one from each side but two missing on one side and that lobster would be rejected, the S.E Asian market simply would not eat that lobster, the fact that it makes no difference to the taste only the fact it would have a limp when walking around in the tank sounds like an equality issue to me! These lobsters are weighed sized and priced by girls who do it all by hand, no scales involved, just one colour chart, then they are kept in tanks for three weeks being flushed through with clean sea water, put to sleep by dipping them in sea water at only 8 degrees (it felt like the sea temp at home), packed in pine shavings, flown from Perth airport to S.E Asia, and then woken up by being put back in warm sea water, placed in the restaurants tank, selected by the customer, then promptly boiled alive and a very well paying business it is too. The Chinese pay upwards of $240 about 120 pounds per lobster even if all they eat are the tails. We managed to buy five lobster tails for $30 about 15 pounds but of course these would have two legs missing on one side, and yes they tasted lovely. We meet up with Trish & Graham, it’s amazing just how small the open road is sometimes. We find a nice little spot overlooking the beach and settle in for the night. Trish has cooked a joint of pork in her camp oven over the open fire, and so for dinner that night we have, lobster tails and salad for starters, with main course being roast pork & apple sauce, roast spuds with vegetables of the day mmmh.
we join the great getaway mainly being overtaken by most of it, while we happily plod along at our sedate 80 kph. The weathers definitely improving and we reach Geraldton our first major town since Perth. Here we take a guided tour around the lobster processing centre where live lobsters are exported to the likes of China, Korea & Singapore. They come off the boats and are handled as little as possible as they can throw a leg off when there distressed, this is all about the presentation in the restaurants fish tank at the other end, they can have two legs missing as long as it’s one from each side but two missing on one side and that lobster would be rejected, the S.E Asian market simply would not eat that lobster, the fact that it makes no difference to the taste only the fact it would have a limp when walking around in the tank sounds like an equality issue to me! These lobsters are weighed sized and priced by girls who do it all by hand, no scales involved, just one colour chart, then they are kept in tanks for three weeks being flushed through with clean sea water, put to sleep by dipping them in sea water at only 8 degrees (it felt like the sea temp at home), packed in pine shavings, flown from Perth airport to S.E Asia, and then woken up by being put back in warm sea water, placed in the restaurants tank, selected by the customer, then promptly boiled alive and a very well paying business it is too. The Chinese pay upwards of $240 about 120 pounds per lobster even if all they eat are the tails. We managed to buy five lobster tails for $30 about 15 pounds but of course these would have two legs missing on one side, and yes they tasted lovely. We meet up with Trish & Graham, it’s amazing just how small the open road is sometimes. We find a nice little spot overlooking the beach and settle in for the night. Trish has cooked a joint of pork in her camp oven over the open fire, and so for dinner that night we have, lobster tails and salad for starters, with main course being roast pork & apple sauce, roast spuds with vegetables of the day mmmh. DINNER WITH AN OCEAN VIEW
Kalbarri National Park is our next port of call, here they have a feature called Nature’s Window. This rock formation overlooks a huge sandstone gorge after our standard photo shoot, we opt to do the 8km trek around the loop of the river following the gorge, even Jan who is on constant snake watch nowdays enjoys the trail made even better by the fact there were no snakes.
We are making our way to Steeps Point the most westerly mainland point in Australia, Hamelin Pool is on the way and we call in to see the stromatolites, which produce oxygen, they have survived here for over 5000 years and are related to the original guys who first appeared on earth some 3.5 billion years ago. It’s thanks to the original stromatolites,
Kalbarri National Park is our next port of call, here they have a feature called Nature’s Window. This rock formation overlooks a huge sandstone gorge after our standard photo shoot, we opt to do the 8km trek around the loop of the river following the gorge, even Jan who is on constant snake watch nowdays enjoys the trail made even better by the fact there were no snakes. We are making our way to Steeps Point the most westerly mainland point in Australia, Hamelin Pool is on the way and we call in to see the stromatolites, which produce oxygen, they have survived here for over 5000 years and are related to the original guys who first appeared on earth some 3.5 billion years ago. It’s thanks to the original stromatolites, ACTIVE LITTLE SOULS AREN'T THEY
who expanded in numbers and released more and more oxygen, eventually raising the oxygen levels to 20 % of all atmospheric gases that air breathing life forms evolved, enabling me to bring you this blog update today! We leave earlyish the next day for Steeps point it’s a 140 km drive on unsealed roads, the last 40 being over 4wd tracks across sand dunes and beaches. We have now got our compressor so tyre inflation is no longer a problem which means hopefully neither will the soft sand be! The first 100km we knock out in no time, 
then its tyre deflation ready for the sand dunes and beaches which our camper handles with no hesitation, unlike my wife who has the occasional hesitation as we top a dune and can’t see anything but blue sky until we tip over the top. 
who expanded in numbers and released more and more oxygen, eventually raising the oxygen levels to 20 % of all atmospheric gases that air breathing life forms evolved, enabling me to bring you this blog update today! We leave earlyish the next day for Steeps point it’s a 140 km drive on unsealed roads, the last 40 being over 4wd tracks across sand dunes and beaches. We have now got our compressor so tyre inflation is no longer a problem which means hopefully neither will the soft sand be! The first 100km we knock out in no time, then its tyre deflation ready for the sand dunes and beaches which our camper handles with no hesitation, unlike my wife who has the occasional hesitation as we top a dune and can’t see anything but blue sky until we tip over the top. DUNES & BEACH DRIVES WONDERFUL.
Steeps point itself is a well sort after fishing spot and we manage to get a camp spot for a couple of nights, but what a spot, right on the beach fishing from our door almost. 
Fresh fish for tea flathead, flounder & dart all in our first hours catch plus one bloody big ray that we promptly let go. Having achieved another of our goals driving to the most westerly point,
this now only leaves the east & tricky northern section to do, which could involve wading through crocodile infested rivers, looks like I’ll better get Jan those gaiters then, to stop them nipping her ankles as she tests the depth of water so that I can drive safely across!!!! Anyway from the Jellsdownunder we hope your all well and enjoying the tales of our travels, so until next month G’day!!!Oh and Space what happened to Man Utd in Rome!!!!!!!!
