Our first step in leaving Perth was to call into New Age
Caravans to have our replacement microwave installed. We haven’t been able to
use it at all since it blew up at Bendigo. Once we had paid for it we were off,
our first stop then being at a parking bay once we had hit the Brookton Highway so
we could have a cuppa. Not long after that stop we began to enter cropping
land, but I can’t remember seeing any sheep or cattle at all during the day.
Beside the road there were splashes of colour—the bright red of bottlebrush;
the vivid blue of Leschenaultia; and various reds, blues, yellows, whites and
pinks. So there are still plenty of wildflowers abounding. One unusual feature
of the Brookton Highway was the plastic chairs that had been placed beside the
road, all of which had men’s names painted onto them. In one area there were
masses of Xanthorrhoea in flower. We pulled into Brookton Lions Park Picnic
Area, which could be used for an overnight stay, for a salad lunch, following
which I went for a walk to stretch my legs. It’s certainly a sleepy little
place with quite a number of shops closed though some of them have been turned
into craft-type places. Then it was onwards to Corrigin Roadhouse to refuel, including
one of our jerry cans, and a coffee before travelling the last distance to
Gorge Rock where we set up for the night. After a cuppa I walked up Gorge Rock
by myself as Val is still not up to doing these things yet due to her accident
in the caravan park when she fell out of the van. At the base of the Rock I saw
a pair of Red-capped Robins, though the female was less flighty than the male.
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| Red-capped Robin (male) |
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| Red-capped Robin (female) |
I don’t think that the Rock would be suitable for walking over, at least the
parts I did this evening, when it is wet as there was so much moss and lichen
on it. There were still the structural remains of the flying fox and diving
board used by the locals before Corrigin had its own swimming pool. Those days children
were allowed to do so much more than they can today in case there is an
accident and someone has to be held responsible for it.
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| Flying Fox remains, Gorge Rock |
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| Diving Board remains, Gorge Rock |
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| View of Farmlands from Gorge Rock |
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| View of Farmlands from Gorge Rock |
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| Camping Area at Gorge Rock |
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| Gorge Rock |
After dinner we lit the
fire pit that was near the van using the wood that had been left behind and
shared it with Lucas and Sve, a young German couple who had pulled up in a
campervan while I was out walking, whom Val had invited to join us around the
fire. They came down with their chairs and we had a great night as Val taught
them her terrible habit of ruining marshmallows over a fire. Yuck!
The following day, being a Saturday, I got ready for my “parkrun”
but, before I headed off, a family of Yellow-rumped Thornbills were feeding on
the ground near the van so I was able to get some photos of them.
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| Yellow-rumped Thornbill |
I had planned
a warm up, a 5k run and then a cool down but I changed that and just ran an
almost progressive 6k from the campsite out to the road and back six times.
Then it was time for breakfast, followed by a short walk to the Rock and back
with Val, before heading off, which we did at 10:45 am.
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| Butterfly on our walk from Gorge Rock |
Apart from a brief
pause at a roadside stop where Val made us each a cuppa from our thermos so we
could have it while we drove, our first stop was 10k before Kondinin as our
attention was caught by a green lake surrounded by white beaches and a
sculpture rising out of the water. We stopped at the end of the parking area
and noticed a blue tree as well as four other sculptures that were together,
each of which had its own title: Is it Raining?, Crop Inspection, Clearing Land
and Shearing. The first sculpture we had seen had no inscription but was of a
head above water with one hand out of the water. Did this signify a cry for
help, drowning under immense pressures or just managing to keep afloat?
Whatever it was, all the sculptures combined were a powerful statement of the
desperate plight of so many of our farmers and the mental illness that so many
of them face as pressures build up and they can’t see their way clear.
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| Sculptures |
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| RUOK? |
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| Is it Raining? |
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| Crop Inspection |
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| Land Clearing |
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| Sheraing |
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| Sculptures |
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| Drowning in a Sea of Salinity? |
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| Very Thought Provoking Sculpture |
We drove
through Kondinin, having passed through much cropping land in various states of
ripening for the harvest and areas of some flowers, though not as much as
yesterday. We pulled into the little township of Karlgarin where we had our
salad in the local rest area. It was such a quiet town that had very little in
it. We used their facilities and drove on through Hyden as we made our way to
Holt Rock 24 hr rest area. Along this last section there was a lot of orange
grevilleas, with some red and white flowers as well. There were no other
vehicles here when we arrived so we picked our spot and set up for the night.
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| Holt Rock 24hr rest area |
We have been intrigued by Amy Lamprecht’s running of the Tasmanian Trail and
thrilled to read that she had completed it in a record time. What an
inspiration for me to set goals to work towards. While finishing off our cuppas
a stumpy-tailed lizard wandered over towards the van. I then walked around and
over Holt Rock, marvelling at the ingenuity of the engineers who built the
stone wall to channel water into storage tanks and at the beauty of the bushes
growing out of a tiny fissure in the granite rock. I could trace the fault line
by where the bushes were growing in what seems like such an inhospitable
environment.
We had a leisurely get away on Sunday morning as we
continued to make our way eastwards. We decided to refuel at Lake King but
aborted that due to driver error and a few extra kilometres that saw us drive
around the back of the cemetery. Thus we kept on to Ravensthorpe where we
stopped for the silo art, which differed from other silos we have seen in that
it was around the whole of the three silos and not just on one face.
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
Then it
was to the dump point and Shell for fuel and a coffee. On the way south we
passed three police cars heading north while a fourth had pulled a driver over.
They were certainly busy on that short stretch of road. Some of the crops had
already been harvested while others were waiting for the right time. The bush
and the farms made for a picturesque landscape, but we did pass many clay pans,
some of which had water in them while others were just a layer of salt. We
pulled into Stokes Inlet in Stokes NP and were immediately met by our camp
host, Des and his wife Tanya, who took our money and with whom we had a good
chat, specially about people we knew in common from the Tasmanian apple industry.
Even though we were pulling into a tight spot I found that I could get in quite
easily with a bit of help from my faithful friend to guide me. After a cuppa we
went for a walk but came back for our cameras for it is such a beautiful spot
here.
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| Stokes Inlet |
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| Stokes Inlet |
It wasn’t a long walk as the storm clouds rolled in, accompanied by peals
of thunder. However, while it didn’t last long or deliver much the temperature,
which had been 37
o in the van when we pulled up, dropped and I found
myself getting cold. That night we saw two beautiful frogs at the toilet block.
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| Frog at Stokes Inlet |
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| Frog at Stokes Inlet |
There were plenty of Welcome Swallows and New Holland
Honeyeaters around our site as well as some Little Wattlebirds and a Robin of
some sort.
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| Stokes Inlet NP camping area |
After packing everything away we set off towards Esperance, passing
through crop and beef cattle farming with lots of red flowering gums. After the
fuel economy had improved so much since our drive from Holt Rock to Stokes
Inlet I was surprised to see it climb again, and could only put that down to
both the headwind and the more hilly nature of the terrain we were driving
over. At 10k out of Esperance Val was able to make an appointment with one of
the medical clinics to see their nurse. Arriving half an hour early we went to
the dump point to empty the toilet cassette and then drove back to the clinic.
While Val was there I drove to the local Coles Express to top up the tank and
swap over a gas bottle. That purchase gave me an extra 10¢ per litre off the
price of the fuel. I drove back to the RV parking area over the road from
Woolworths and then walked to the clinic to wait for Val, who had a good
appointment with the nurse who also gave her extra supplies to change her
dressing again in a few days. We did our grocery shopping, including getting a
coffee, and then drove out to Lucky Bay camping area, part of the Le Grand
National Park, where the last part of our journey was through lots of low
bottle brush bushes. This campsite is one of those place where you have to
pre-book online to get a site—which is so unlike the old days when you could
just turn up—but it is so popular even at this time of the year. It was almost
full by the time we had arrived in mid-afternoon.
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| View out of caravan window, Lucky Bay Camping Area |
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| Lucky Bay Camping Area |
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| The other view out of caravan window, Lucky Bay Camping Area |
I discovered that the two
pieces of metal I had used on the tow hitch had fallen out while we were
driving, so now I have to think of some other way of keeping it from wobbling
around. After lunch we went for a short walk on the beach, which wasn’t as
squeaky as it was from memory—but maybe that was because it was damp and
compacted. It was a short walk because the nurse had told Val that her 6k the
previous day had been far too far
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| Lucky Bay Beach |
I then had a warm shower in the wonderful
amenities block—the showers are heated by solar so at this time of year there
is no problem in getting a good shower, though you do have to repress the
button every minute of so. We so liked the spot that we wanted to stay another
two nights and we were able to book with the camp hosts who had internet
connection through Optus. That means we won’t go to Cape Arid for two nights
after all. We have been there before so will return to Esperance on Saturday to
wash and get ready for the Nullarbor trip. The kangaroos were quite used to
humans and would wander freely around the campsites, nibbling on grasses and
other local vegetation that they could find. There were also plenty of New
Holland Honeyeaters flitting around the campsite. As the evening drew near the
temperature dropped quite remarkably and a jumper was needed to keep warm.
Following a game of Scrabble and a mug of hot chocolate it was time for bed.
We decided to use the camp kitchen to do our washing up as
it had plenty of hot water, far hotter than our water heater heats it, so we
could conserve our water to get us back to Esperance. It was late before I
managed my run of two laps of Lucky Bay Beach. I had a tailwind as I set out,
meaning there was a headwind on the way back up the beach to the campsite.
About halfway along the beach the sand became a lot softer and more cut up from
the vehicles that were using it. At times I thought someone was running beside
me, but it turned out to be my shadow. At other times the glare was such that I
couldn’t clearly see the ridges and gullies in the sand and so they caught me
by surprise, though I didn’t stumble and fall. At the far end there were some
rocks at the base of the steps over which I clambered and up which I ran on
both laps. Val had come down to get some photos of me in my RDU shirt but we
missed each other. Back at the van I saw that she had gone so I went for a cool
down jog and we found each other, so it was back to the beach so she could get
some photos in this iconic spot. We drove out to Rossiter Beach so we could go
for a walk. The beach here is mostly covered in thick seaweed but we walked
along it following some 4WD tracks till we reached the day use area and from
there we returned via the road. There was a bit of mobile coverage, but only
basically enough to get message through. Later in the day we walked through the
campsite up to the Flinders Monument, where we saw two snakes. The smallest of
the two was a young Dugite while the other might have been one also, but we
could only see its tail as it slithered off the track. Alas, for I had neither
my phone nor my camera with me.
During Wednesday night/Thursday morning the wind came up and
it rained on and off, quite heavily at times. While Val continued her
recuperative rest I went for a walk to try and find the little birds and snakes
we saw last night—but it was all in vain as they were nowhere in sight. I tried
climbing the hill from the Matthew Flinders Monument but gave up because, with
my long lens, it was proving a bit too much for what I wanted to do. However, I
did get some photos of a wind surfer skimming across the water at high speed.
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| Wind Surfer, Lucky Bay Beach |
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| Coffee Van, Lucky Bay Beach |
I
decided, instead, to walk the Heritage Trail to Thistle Cove but it started to
rain quite heavily so I returned and stood under a tree near the picnic shelter
till it passed. Then I set off along a very good track which, after a while,
became more like the bush tracks I would expect. At times I was walking through
sand; at times I was clambering over rocks; at times I was climbing steps; at
times the track was deeply rutted and I recalled my fall in the Gone Nuts run
earlier this year. But I had wonderful views of majestic coastline; of caves;
and of beautiful sea. There continued to be lots of wildflowers and, in one
spot, there were masses of Trigger Plants like a carpet over the ground. On the
highest point, just after I had passed the marker telling me it was 70 metres
above sea level, my phone had coverage so I was able to upload all my runs from
the last few days and name them. I even discovered that I had run a couple of
segments in yesterday’s run along the beach.
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| Kangaroo along Heritage Trail |
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| Chittick (or Native Honeysuckle) along Heritage Trail |
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| Along Heritage Trail |
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| Banksia growing out of the ground along Heritage Trail |
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| Cave along Heritage Trail |
Back at the van we had lunch
before going for a walk along the beach, but only after we had first bought
ourselves a coffee from the van that was there. Yes, it was expensive at $6 for
a small cup but then he does have to travel quite a way to get here. He even
had gluten free muffins, though we didn’t get any of those. Maybe tomorrow if
he has them. I was able to reinsert the extra strips of metal that we had been
given to try and tighten up the towing hitch. Hopefully I have done a better job
this time and it will hold until something more permanent can be found. Before
dinner I went for a run, this time doing just one lap of the beach at a much
faster pace. We had a lovely dinner and then, after I had gone down to the camp
kitchen to wash up, we went for a walk along tracks to the beginning of the
trail to Thistle Cove. I would love to run that, but I don’t think that there
will be an opportunity to do so. All day it has been blowing a gale though it
hasn’t rained since when I was just starting out on the Thistle Cove Track.
We had a lovely walk to Thistle Cove on Friday morning, which Val’s leg
handled quite well. At the start of our walk I went back to the van to check
that I had locked everything and Val saw a snake on the track. Just my luck to
miss yet another one! A couple returning to Lucky Bay told us of a large one
that they had seen on the track and that they had had to wait for it to move
off so they could continue their walk. The colours of the sea were again magnificent;
as was the pounding of the waves onto the rocks. Just before arriving at
Thistle Cove we stopped at Whistling Rock and there was a definite whistling
sound as the wind blew through it.
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| Heritage Trail to Thistle Cove |
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| Heritage Trail to Thistle Cove |
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| Lucky Bay from Heritage Trail to Thistle Cove |
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| Heritage Trail |
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| Heritage Trail |
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| Thistle Cove from Heritage Trail |
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| Dragon along Heritage Trail |
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| Checking coverage along Heritage Trail |
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| "I can't get lost in these colours". |
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| Whistling Rock at Thistle Cove |
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| Thistle Cove |
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| Thistle Cove |
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| Thistle Cove |
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| Trigger Plant along Heritage Trail |
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| Trigger Plant Carpet along Heritage Trail |
At the end of our walk I went to the van to
get my wallet so we could get ourselves a coffee and a muffin. What a great
service this is. That afternoon we headed off to Hellfire Bay for a walk along
the beach there. Again the blues and greens of the ocean were just so great. I
ended up with a pocketful of plastic and we even saw an abandoned AGM battery
that someone had dumped a fair way along the beach.
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| Hellfire Bay |
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| Sea Anemone, Hellfire Bay |
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| Creek running into Hellfire Bay |
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| Abandoned Battery, Hellfire Bay |
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| Hellfire Bay's own Beach Babe |
What a lovely restful day
we have had as we prepare to leave tomorrow morning for a caravan park to wash,
refill the water tanks, attend a church service and then head off eastward for
the next part of our trip. In the late afternoon I had another run along Lucky
Bay Beach, having decided not to run to Thistle Cove just in case there is a
snake on the track and I can’t call for help.
