Half way round the BIG Island

Coming back into Mildura brought back memories. On the 2nd May 2011 we were at this same intersection and turned right to head north on the start of our holiday, but this time we turned the opposite direction. We both so wished we could have done that right hand turn and started out journey once again.
Our planned next stop was at Watts bend 60kms south of Mildura, once again on the banks of the Murray River. After stocking up on supplies we found a lovely campsite to enjoy the next week relaxing before heading home. On Friday 28th October Ross and Jemma arrived at 4.15pm to spend the weekend with us. It was so lovely to see them both again and catch up on all the happenings back home.


Tuesday 1st November we packed up and left about 9am for home. We got home around 4pm with the massive task of emptying the car and caravan and all the cleaning and washing that had to be done.
To sum up our holiday here are a few interesting facts.
1. Left Melbourne on 1st May 2011
2. Returned on 1st November 2011
3. 184 nights
4. 135 nights in our Southern Cross Tent and smaller OzTrail dome tent
5. 49 nights in our new Kimberley Karavan – purchased in Freemantle, WA
6. 119 days from leaving home until we had our first shower of rain
7. While we were away 36 family and friends celebrated their birthdays
8. Travelled 23000kms
9. Hottest day was in Whyalla, SA on 19th October 2011 - 37 deg
10. Coldest day was in Albany, WA on 27th September 2011 - 12 deg
11. We used 3085litres of diesel
12. The highest price we paid for diesel was $1.98/lt at Drysdale River on the Gibb River Road
13. Lowest price we paid for diesel was $1.38 at Freemantle in WA
14. We stayed at 38 different places on our journey
15. Best tarred road was the Stuart Highway up to Darwin.
16. Worst tarred road was the South Coast Highway in WA.
17. The worst dirt road was the Windjana Gorge road
18. Some of our favourite places - Horizontal Waterfalls, WA, Cape Leveque, WA, Francois Peron National Park, WA, Cape Le Grand, Sth WA, Home Valley Station on the Gibb River Road, Barn Hill just south of Broome and Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth WA.
19. Best amenities Coffin Bay, SA and Home Valley Station, WA
20. Worst amenities Wageo Beach, WA
21. Best bush toilet facility was Coward Springs on the Oodnadatta Track, SA
22. Worst bush toilet facility was Litchfield National Park, NT
23. Best Campsite was Dongara, WA (own ensuite site)
24. Worst Campsite was a free camp on the Nullarbor, swarms of March Flies and Pardoo Station WA.
25. Memorable moments – Sunday Night Roast dinner at Barn Hill Station, WA and karaoke night at the Bamboo Hut, Outback Oasis Caravan Park, Carnarvon.
In closing off our travel blog of our trip Half Way Round the Big Island I would like to Thank You all for taking the time to read the blog and following us on our journey.
Also a very BIG Thank You to our travel companions and good friends Ann and Denise. We travelled many kilometres together, shared many meals together, much laughter and many tears. Thanks again for the treasured memories and safe travels in the great outdoors.

Moving on from Whyalla we bypassed Adelaide and travelled on to a little sleepy town called Burra, near the Clare Valley in South Australia. We spent two nights in Burra. We were advised to go to the information centre in Burra and get a special key and map and do the historic trail around Burra. We visited the old Goal the miners dug outs, old cottages and a microbrewery. It was very interesting and steeped in history. On advise we also tried Burra’s famous “Pasties” which certainly did live up to their reputation.
We left Burra on the Monday morning heading across toward Mildura. We crossed the border into Victoria, yes our home state and found a lovely camp area on the banks of the mighty Murray River at lock 9 about 60kms west of Mildura. It was very windy and the rain started and was steady for most of the night. Packing up the next morning I felt I had grown somewhat, yes in height!!!!!! The sticky Murray Mud on my thongs added about 4cms to my height. I was a bit nervous thinking about our trip out to the main road as the river track was rather slippery. NO I did not drive left that to Alastair, and with a bit of sideways moving he safely got us back to the main road, the car and caravan once again thinking “Is this all you want me to do”.

Heading further down the Eyre Peninsular we came to a place called Elliston. In the information book of the Eyre Peninsular they recommended a drive on the coastal loop to view some of the cliff top sculptures. It was well worth the short detour to view these sculptures. On to our next destination, Coffin Bay. We intended to stay in Coffin Bay National Park, but on driving through we were not impressed with the camping area. The national park drive was quite impressive, and in the few short days that we have been in South Australia and done the coastal drives and National drives we have never seen so many stumpy tail lizards – numerous colours and sizes.
We spent the night at Coffin Bay caravan park and continued on our way through Port Lincoln to another little sleepy village called Tumby Bay. We stayed three nights at Tumby Bay to do the usual household chores and relax.
We had planned to stop only 110kms up the road at Arno Bay, but because it was quite early decided to drive on to Whyalla. We are here for four nights. Yesterday 19th October was the hottest day so far on our holiday, 35deg. Today we sit here in the caravan just relaxing as it has cooled down and the windy is blowing a gale, batten down the hatches. We spent an hour and a half taking down our awning, and then going along the foreshore road of the park fixing and taking down others peoples awning as they had gone out. Some damage has been done, just hope the wind drops off and we can get some sleep tonight.

THE MIGHTY NULLARBOR – Australia’s longest straight stretch of road. The journey was long and not very interesting. Our first night stop was at a free roadside camp. We were one of 14 caravans and the most annoying thing were the masses of March Flies. People were sitting with long pants, long sleeved tops, fly nets over their face and just swatting them. Thousands down, and many more thousands to go!!!!!!!!!!

The next night was Eucla, 12kms from the WA/SA border. From there we continued on our way to Head of Bight where we stopped in at the Visitors Centre and made our way to the boardwalk to watch the amazing Southern Right Whales swimming and playing in the bay. It was quite spectacular to see these large whales so close.



Our planned nights stop was Fowlers Bay, and then on to Ceduna where the check point was for Quarantine. All good and on to Streaky Bay on the beautiful Eyre Peninsular.
Well, Streaky Bay a lovely little fishing village. The caravan park was on the foreshore. We did a couple of scenic drives viewing some spectacular coastline.

One of the highlights of this area is the Oyster sheds. We went into one shed and the oyster had just arrived off the boat, how much fresher can you get. With 2 dozen oyster in hand we headed back to the caravan park. Alastair had a little trouble shucking the oysters but the end result was well worth it. Before leaving Streaky Bay we decided more oysters should be on the menu, another 3 dozen didn’t go astray.

Our next destination was Albany – the weather like Melbourne, very changeable. On our travels so far we had the coldest day in Albany at just 12deg with showers and hail.
On the Sunday we went to the markets, and a rear scene in Albany, the shops were open for Sunday trading – “why”, the arrival for the day of the impressive and huge “Dawn Princess” cruise ship.
While in Albany and the surrounding area, we visited the now nonoperational Whale Station, which was very interesting. A visit to the nearby wind farm was not to be missed.
After leaving Albany our next destination was Esperance. This is one place we have been looking forward to seeing and have heard so much about. We were a little disappointed with Esperance itself and wish we had stayed at Le Grand National Park. Now this was a place to behold, pristine white sandy beaches and the bluest of blue water, secluded bays for swimming (although the water was now too cold to swim) a beautiful unspoilt National Park.



On the way to Le Grand National Park we stopped in at “Stonehenge”, a replica of the one in the UK. It was fascinating and quite a sight. The builders and owners gave us a run down on how this replica was built and why.



The last few days in Esperance were relaxing and we had our last dinner with Ann and Denise at the local hotel as sadly we had to bid them farewell as they were headed up to Kalgoorlie and we had to head across the Nullarbor. We have had the most wonderful time with these two ladies, shared many dinners together, laughter, tears and good times. We hope they will come any visit us when they pass through Melbourne on their way home to Brisbane.