Beautiful Esperance to Perth, WA

Hi All

Hope you are all keeping well and have had a lovely long Anzac weekend!

We are now in York, WA and we’ve had a really lovely month with Nanny Ann.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed their Nanny time and we’re very sorry to see her leave today.

For the first time on our trip, we’ve been in quite a few places that we ALL thought….”we really COULDN’T live here!”…more of that later!

Our journey from Esperance took us to a magical spot on the WA coast….one of those “best kept secret”  type places, called Cape Ritchie.  It was a peaceful part of the coast, with crystal clear waters and wildlife everywhere….sometimes a bit too much wildlife as we saw our first tiger snake slither across the beach.  After that we were all sure to wear our boots!  Megan and Rosie learnt to snorkel here and as well as fish and coral, they found a whale rib which was beyond excitement!

We then continued West and picked up Nanny Ann from Albany airport and stayed at a farm near  Denmark,  which was just lovely.  We had some great days out, in particular a trip to the huge  trees at Valley of the Giants and a day swimming at Green Pool Bay where the girls got a bit of a shock snorkeling over sting rays!  They were out of the water super quick!

Learning to snorkel !

Cape Ritchie

A dip at dusk at Cape Ritchie

Valley of the Giants

Nanny, Rosie and Megs

Hippo Rock, WA

Valley of the Giants, WA

Spot of
Alpaca feeding!

Wave Rock !

                                                                                                                            From there, we headed inland through the wheatbelt and that’s when we first experienced our “we really couldn’t live here”  towns!  It was an eye opener to see how many places, which were once thriving communities, have just become shells of their former selves.  We stayed at a place called Wickipen which, whilst a pretty town, showed few signs of life.   I’m sure there is a community spirit…we just didn’t see it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                  













Anyway, we enjoyed taking the opportunity to visit Wave Rock at Hyden, which….you guessed it…..its a huge rock that looks like a wave!!  very impressive….! as is Hippo’s Yawn…..yep, big rock that looks like a Hippo’s yawn!!!

The big excitement of wheatbelt country was Steve’s 50^th!  We’ve been thinking of all the positives of being 50 and so far have…..he can join SAGA and get cheaper insurance!  he’s not 60 yet and in Wickepin, when you turn 50 you get a free coffee (suspect that’s the Rest, Revive, Survive stops!!)….any other positives gratefully received!!

Anyway, Nanny Ann has now flown onto Brisbane to see Steve’s sister and in a few days we are heading to a farm in Keysbrook, WA where we are doing a 3 week housesit.  Steve in particular is looking forward to some “tinker time” on the truck!  

Well, hope you are all enjoying restful weekends and will be in touch again after Keysbrook!

Take care

xxx

Great Ocean Road to Esperance

Hi All

Hope you’ve had a good few weeks and for those with kids at school, I’m sure, like me, you are looking forward to the end of term!!

Travelling through Victoria, South Australia and across the border to WA, we’ve had huge diversity over the past couple of months, all with its own beauty in different ways.   In keeping with tradition, at the start of the Great Ocean Road, the girls enjoyed a dip in chilly waters (just as well we have their wetsuits), before seeing the 12 Apostles and of course London Bridge!   ‘

From there we cut up to the Grampians National Park, and enjoyed some really picturesque walks, firstly to Mount Piccaniny and then to the Balconies Lookout which was just amazing.  We found a great little camping spot, in Penshurst Botanical Gardens and were surrounded by English trees – it felt a real home from home!

We tend to gravitate to the National Parks and so after a few days there, we moved onto Flinders Ranges National Park.  It was a great time to be there because although there were zillions of flies, there weren’t many people, so we camped in the middle of the National Park, Wilpena Pound and had the place to ourselves…and the flies!!!   The walks there were spectacular and the kids loved scrambling over rocks and a dried up riverbed to find Aboriginal paintings.

From Flinders, we drove onto Venus Bay for a last stay on the coast before starting the jaunt across the Nullabor!  The girls enjoyed a bit of fishing (as usual not catching anything but they enjoy trying!!), a day spent at Murphy’s Haystacks (for those with the book “Are We There Yet”, its just like that!!)  The boulders were huge and literally in the middle of a very flat farm!

From there, we started the long journey across the Nullarbor.  There are some stunning lookouts along the way, and it was much greener than we expected.  By chance we seemed to camp in spots with the same group of people and have met some really lovely people along the way.  We’ve just left Esperance (which again Steve says….”oooh, I could live here”!), and enjoyed a lovely week there.  We spent a day at Cape Le Grand National Park which has stunning beaches and have just enjoyed being in one place for a while.  We stayed on a Yabby Farm which had a billy cart for the little kids and man cave for the bigger kid, so everyone in the family was happy!! 

We are now on our way to Albany WA, where we’ll meet Steve’s mum in a couple of days and we’ll stay there for a week or so, before slowly making our way closer to Perth.

I’ll keep you posted on our adventures in WA!   

Take care

xxx