Our trip to Western Australia...

Thanks for being so patient waiting for this final instalment of our trip. Work waits for no-one.

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You can go to this link to see a map of the area where we toured.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&q=Esperance+to+Eucla&ie=UTF8&ll=-32.778038,126.463623&spn=4.110171,11.206055&z=7

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Saturday 11th April - Drove to Adelaide then flew to Perth.

4 nights in Perth - We went to Cottesloe Beach, took a ferry to the Fremantle Markets, drove up to Guilderton to see some people we know and shopped in Perth.

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Wednesday 15th April - drove to Busselton (population 24,000 in the Shire). We loved this place and could have stayed a week but only had 2 nights here. We did the Margaret River area over and went to some nice wineries, Chocolate Factory and Cheese Factory - so yummy! Had lunch at Cullen Winery and caught up with an ex Millicent girl at Sandalford winery. Thanks for the tips, Miffy.

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Saturday 18th April - Off to Albany. Our 2 nights accomodation here wasn't so good and I think this made us not too fond of Albany. We drove back 100kms to the Valley of the Giants trees at Denmark.

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Monday 20th April - To Esperance. We had 3 nights here and once again could have stayed much longer, had time permitted. Cape Le Grande was lovely and I am sure there was much more too see but we took it fairly easy.

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Wednesday 22nd April - to Eucla via Norseman, Balledonia, Caiguna, Cocklebiddy, Madura & Mundrabilla.

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Thursday 23rd April - to Ceduna via Border Village, Nullabour Roadhouse, Yalata (Aboriginal outpost now closed and boarded up), Nundroo & Penong. These places are all basically just fuel stations with food available.

2 nights in Ceduna resting up before our final drive home. The Foreshore Hotel/Motel is a nice place to stay and meals are very good. Try the King George Whiting.

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Saturday 25th April (Anzac Day) - Ceduna to Adelaide via Kimba, Pt Augusta, Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Snowtown, Port Wakefield, Dublin, Two Wells & Virginia.

Phew! Overnight in Adelaide and one last dinner out with both of our girls - Chinese cuisine at Concubine. Delicious!

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Sunday 26th April - Home Sweet Home!

We travelled 4,912 ms visiting all these destinations. Wow!

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This is the Giant Treetop Walk at Pemberton. Don't do this walk if you don't like heights!

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Another picture of the Gloucester Tree which you can climb via large steel spikes driven into the trunk.
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Two lovelys that I found on the walk....
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Cape Le Grande beach. Someone said the skies are big in WA, this is what they meant I think.
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Norfolk pines along the shore at Esperance.

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This was heading out of Norseman towards Ballendonia. Balledonia is where part of SkyLab fell to earth in 1979.
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I took a photo out of the car window every hour or so. Not much to see.
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Cocklebiddy consists of a Petrol service station and not much else. The big road trains refuel here and the truckies can get good hot food.
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These are Australian Dingo's. They were roaming around the car park so I think they were tame pets.

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Click to enlarge this sign. We didn't see any camels but did see some emus off in the distance. Plenty of kangaroos later in the evening too.
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More salt bush and not a tree for miles.
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When we got to Eucla, after Angus drove 900kms, we had a hearty dinner - chicken schnitzel parmie and 'roast of the day'. Eucla has a population of about 50 people and is the largest stopping station between Norseman and Ceduna. It was pouring heavy rain when we pulled into the motel. I think they were booked out that night and they hadn't had any rain for over 6 months.
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This is Angus standing on the cliffs of the Great Australia Bight.
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The Great Australia Bight

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Another one of those big skies and 'Nullarbour' - no trees.
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We finally got to Ceduna after another 780km drive. To relax and rejuvenate a bit, the girls thought a face mask might do the trick. Angus would not participate!
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Sunset off the Ceduna jetty
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Our last day of driving took us through Port Augusta to Adelaide. Once again, the rain had set in so we didn't see much of this city. I think once you are headed for home, you can't wait to get there.
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After an overnight stay in Adelaide, we farewelled Kirby once again and made our way home. I stopped about 40 kms from home to take this shot.

We had a busy two weeks and it was great to see a part of our great land that we hadn't seen before. We will definitely return to Esperance as we thought the beaches and area were really pretty. Hope i haven't bored you to death...

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Cheers - Joolz