Albany

3rd - 5th Mar, 2010.

We spent a couple of nights at Cosy Corner near Albany. We spent Rod's birthday in Albany, killing time while our car received it's 30,000km service.

The next day we went to Whale World, which previously ran as a whaling station up until 1978. It told the sad story of the killing of around 3000 whales - it was the last whaling station to close in Australia.



For further info google "Whale World Albany".

Munglinup Beach

1st - 3rd Mar, 2010.
As we travelled from Esperance to Albany, we decided to stop midway at a camp on the beach. We travelled on some dusty red roads, feeling like we were in the middle of nowhere.... but we found a gorgeous camp ground at Munglinup Beach.
It had a reef wall just out from the beach which created a lovely calm lagoon for us to swim in. We went snorkelling but there weren't many fish to see.



We spent two nights here. We swam, went for beach walks, ran up the sand dunes and just relaxed on the beach.

Esperance

25th- 28th Feb, 10.
WOW! What magnificent beaches?!?!?!
So many white sandy beaches with aqua water and gentle waves.
Salmon Beach, Twilight Beach and West Beach...



We went for a drive to Cape Le Grand National Park and found more gorgeous beaches.
Our car was christened on the beach for the first time at Lucky Bay (and no it didn't get wet).



We went for an extraordinary hike up Frenchman's Cape, a mountain with an apparent 'gentle slope'????



But we really enjoyed the challenge and the view from the top (but not nessarily the wind!). I just love this photo of Daniel, sitting at the top, deep in thought...



Below the wharf in Esperance lives a resident sea lion named Sammy, who waits around to be fed fish by the fisherman and eagerly poses for photos everyday. Sometimes there are other sea lions also. They were amazing!

The Nullabor

23rd-25th Feb, 10.
We left Adelaide and headed up the coast towards Port Augusta. We stopped in at Port Germein and walked along the longest jetty in South Australia (possibly Australia), over 1.5km long...



Once we hit Port Augusta we travelled west along the Eyre Highway and that night we stopped in near Streaky Bay for a sleep. The next morning the kids sat beside the bay for a couple of hours and completed some school work. Then we hit the road for the rest of the day. We stopped at the 'Head of The Great Australian Bight'...



The water was so blue and the sand dunes were massive and white as snow to the east of the head and then there were cliffs up to 90m high to the west of the head of the bight.




I always thought the Nullabor was further inland, however since planning this trip I discovered that most of the way you are driving parallel to the coast only several km away. At one point the cliffs in S.A., near the W.A. border, are within 100m from the highway.

The kids got out of the car at the Quarantine Inspection Station on the S.A./W.A. border and jumped from S.A. into W.A. and back again over and over...



The landscape was barren and harsh, mostly with small dry shrubs along a flat plain. At times there were a few trees but it went back to the shrub plains, for hours and hours....



Finally on the third day we hit Norseman, the end of the Eyre Highway and we travelled south to Esperance.

Border to Adelaide

20-22 Feb, 2010
We well and truely knew it when we crossed the border... although there was no obvious sign, the landscape changed dramatically. We went from the winding mountainous roads of Victoria's south coast to the flat open plains, where to the left you could see 25km to the sand dunes on the coast and to the right you could see as far as the eyes could see!


We camped overnight at 'The Granites' on the beach near Kingston SE. We had a gorgeous view of the calm beach and made it in time to have a drink and watch the sun go down...


We went for an afternoon drive into the heart of Adelaide and have spent some time completing school work, buying groceries and doing odd jobs - we are now ready for the next part of the adventure... Bring it on!

The Great Ocean Road

18th - 20th Feb, 2010.
Well this is a pic of our rig on the Great Ocean Road...



The drive along this stretch of road was beautiful. We found a lovely free camp spot at Johanna Beach, where we stayed for two nights.
We went to the Otway Fly in the Cape Otway National Park, where you get to walk in the canopy of the rainforest...



We also went for a bush walk to Triplet Falls. We completed some school work and rewarded ourselves with a play on the beach.

When we left our campsite, we completed the rest of the Great Ocean Road, stopping at many famous sites along the way. This is us at 'The 12 Apostles'...



This is 'London Bridge'...



And this is the kids at 'The Grotto'.


We really enjoyed the drive and the sights!

Sorrento to Torquay

15th Feb, 2010.
We caught 'The Spirit of Tasmania' back to the mainland. We did the day trip back and spent a good chunk of the day completing some of the kids school work.

16th and 17th Feb, 2010.
Drove to Sorrento and caught the ferry across to Queesncliff. We drove from there to Torquay Foreshore Caravan Park. The Back Beach at Torquay was beautiful with a red headland. We were laying in the sun while the kids played in the sand.... in the background for the shooting of a scene for Summer Bay Heights????



Then the Bells went to Bells Beach.