A slow sojourn south

CMCA is the Campervan and Motorhome Camping Association, it is one of the largest clubs in Australia and it holds 2 national Australian rallies each year. This year, its' October National Rally is being held here in WA, in Albany, on the south coast.

We have been to every WA state wide rally since buying our motorhome in 2007 so we were ready to go down to Albany. As we live 100kms north of Perth city and Albany is kms south of Perth we were not going to be travelling to the rally in our day. We decided to take a leisurely drive down, staying at picturesque places along the way. We invited friends Ralph and Hanny and Chris and Anne to join us, they happily agreed.

We met Chris and Anne on Tuesday afternoon in WA's first inland town – York. Ralph and Hanny would be joining us on Wednesday as they had commitments Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

The 24 hour RV rest area in York, is alongside the park by the river. 

A short stroll from the main street, there are even 4 power points available free of charge. York is to be commended on this as it really brings people into the town. There were travellers from Queensland, NSW and some European holiday makers in a rental camper, all enjoying a short stay in town.

The ranger came by and stressed that it was 24 hours only, and no one was unhappy about that. 

A quick rest and recharge of human and vehicle batteries was all we needed.

The next morning we had our usual laid back start and then walked to the end of the park and crossed the river on the suspension bridge – we all made the bridge rock and bounce – just big kids really.

Then we drove around to the other side of the river and viewed the magnificent old pioneer barn. It's in private hands and does seem to be slowly being restored, we are looking forward to seeing it fully restored.

We drove out of town and stopped about 10kms out of town at Gwambygine, Avon Ascent Park. In April we had stayed here with a group of motorhomers and it was really quite crowded with very little room for larger vehicles. Today is was deserted, we had the park to ourselves. The heat and fact that it was a week day probably accounted for the quiet. We found a shady spot and after a walk out to the lookout tower, retreated inside our van for morning tea – the heat and the flies were getting unpleasant.

Morning tea eked out until 12 noon and we then headed on south, through the town of Beverley, to Brookton.

We arrived in Brookton at 1.00pm, found a great shady spot, had lunch and settled down in the shade to await Ralph and Hanny. They arrived around 2pm and around 2.45pm we all set off south to our overnight stop – Yornaning Dam. 

The sun was still a little fierce but we found some shade, had afternoon tea and then broke out the 'clog golf' clubs. An amusing game with plenty of laughs, especially when the clog head kept flying off Ralph's club, travelling almost as far as the ball!

Then it was 'Happy Hour' which settled into evening. After dinner it was warm enough to sit out under the stars. It wasn't a full moon but it was bright enough to see without lamps or torches. The leaves on the gum tree above us where so shiny, they reflected the moonlight, making it look as it there were fairy lights in the tree. A magical evening.

The next morning we met a fellow camper, Mike from NZ, who was also meandering around the south before heading into Albany at the weekend. He joined us for morning tea and then we roped him in to a game of boule – on uneven ground it probably should be called 'Bush Boules'.

He headed off and we resumed our southward trek. We stopped at Cuballing and had lunch before carrying on to Wagin. Here we filled up on diesel in the motorhomes and icecream in the humans, before heading out to one of our favourite spots – a little old community hall in the middle of farming land. It's quiet and peaceful, there's the added bonus of working toilets.

We had a couple of games of bush boules, with lots of oohs and aahs and other exclamations as the camber of the road produced some hilarious shots. Once again the boys had a resounding victory over the girls.
The flies were very welcoming but as the sun went down they went to bed.

The wind didn't abate in the evening and we all adjourned to our van to sit and chat until bed time.

The next morning we had a lazy start but around 11am headed back into Wagin and did a couple of 'housekeeping' chores – some using the dump point, some filling up with water. We made this a quick morning tea stop before travelling the next 53 kms down to Katanning.

Here we stopped for lunch, where Ralph and Hanny joined us at the Co op cafe for lunch.

This cafe is at the back of the old Co-op store and we were all very happy with our meal – we can recommend it to you. Ralph's bacon and vegetable soup looked great and was good value at just $6.

I had a very tasty fish burger and a delicious vanilla milkshake – yum! It did take almost 45 minutes for us all to be served though, we'd allowed an hour for lunch and were 5 munutes late getting back to meet up with Chris and Anne. (that would not have done on our European coach trip – the driver would have been very annoyed). So, yes we recommend the cafe, but do allow plenty of time.

We left Katanning and continued south, turning east just after Broomehill. We drove through Gnowangerup and immediately before the junction with the Albany to Jerramungup road we turned off the road up to the picnic area – Louis' Lookout. (named after Louis Joubert, a local rotarian). 

 I used the self timer option on the camera for a group photo here,  but 10 seconds was not quite long enough for me to get  back and pose - hence my side-on pose.

There are some lovely views over the Stirling Range from here even though they were a little hazy today, but the wind drove us all into our vans for the whole afternoon. The were a few black clouds hovering but they blew over, taking the rain into the fields of ripening barley and corn.

The next morning we didn't have our usual lazy, slow start to the day. The whole town of Gnowangerup was participating in the nation wide 'garage sale' day. We drove into town and were surprised to find no indication of various sales, no signs or notices on the main road. We stopped at the newsagent to get the weekend papers. (In this case, just the one paper as the national newspaper – The Australian, would not be arriving until the next day. This is not unusual in rural areas but is thankfully less common than it used to be.).

I enquired after the garage sales and was told to continue down the street and I'd find them, “You'll run into them all”. So we drove on, we could have left the vehicles were they were, because on the next street corner we found all of the stalls. The town had decided against the 'garage sale' concept and had combined to hold a street market. The children of Gnowangerup obviously never missed out on toys, the majority of the stalls were selling toys but there was a good cake stall and some very cheap books. Michael and I controlled ourselves but the others spent a few cents, then we headed out of town, bearing south wards towards the little town on Tambellup.

As the morning was drawing on, when we spotted a roadside 'P' we pulled over for morning.

What a delightful spot, with some lovely wildflowers still in bloom (they would have been at their peak a week or two earlier). 

We pressed on through Tambellup, down to Cranbrook and the caravan park.

The town of Cranbrook was rally supportive of the CMCA rally in Albany, opening up the oval for camping. There were quite a few vehicles there but we had decided before leaving home that we would have a night in the caravan park before the rally. The park caretaker seemed a little taken aback that we wanted to stay, not go on to the oval but the lure of long hot showers and the washing machine was too strong. We would soon be parked on an oval with a couple of hundred other motohomes so enjoyed one more night in own our little group.

The weather was turning now, and we kept an eye out for showers as we hung the washing out to dry. The temperature was dropping too, time for jumpers and wet weather gear. Only 3 days ago we were desperately seeking shade and trying to cool off, now we're trying to get warm and hoping it doesn't rain too hard.

That night we walked (in a light shower) down to the hotel for dinner. We arrived around 6 pm, just as the kitchen was opening and ordered before 10 campers from the oval arrived. It was a surprisingly good meal – country pub meals can be a bit hit and miss, but this was definitely a hit.

The next morning we completed our 'housework' in our vans, emptied grey and black tanks and filled fresh water tanks. We had a leisurely game of 'bush' boule before a late morn tea / early lunch and an easy drive into Albany.

The CMCA organisers had installed electronic direction signs and we were soon through the gates, checked in and waiting to be sited.

We had been lucky in the 'draw' for powered sites but as a result would not be camped near Ralph, Hanny, Chris and Anne.

We followed the buggy around to our site – he got us positioned and drove off, we then got our power cable to connect to the power – no plugs left. I ran after the guy and he then remembered that that particular site had been made into a non powered site. He would get back to us, and move us.

Shame really, as that site number was 482 – our van's registration is **** 482.

Michael waited with the van whilst I walked across the oval to find the others. They were parked back to back alongside other friends of ours. Then I wandered back to 482 – no van. We had been moved, but I didn't know where to. I found another volunteer parking body and found out where we were now. Still had a problem though, - our 25 metre extension cable was not quite long enough. It would have just made it had our plug into the van been on the other side, as it was, it was too short.

There wasn't a vehicle alongside, on the side closer to the power supply – 'we can just move over'.

Not as easy as it sounds, the 2 volunteers had to have a discussion and then agreed that yes we could move over. Finally, after about half an hour, we had a site and could start to settle in.

                    (Our motorhome is 4th from left)

The  weather was as we had expected, cool and wet. It stayed that way for the next 5 days, luckily the rally site was only a short walk to the shopping centre and the main street. There were plenty of seminars available at the rally but the usual cameraderie was missing due to the weather, people were not sitting outside, wandering around or generally socialising.
We only managed a couple of games of clog golf or boules but each game was great fun. I scored the clog club with the loose clog and narrowly missed hitting Michael below the  belt when the clog came flying off again. The boules match between Hanny and myself and Ralph and Michael was exciting with Hanny and myself winning one game 13 -0, the boys didn't score any points at all but they still won the best of 3 series!

On Friday afternoon the sky darkened and we expected the rain to return, and it did. Around 8.15pm it was as if someone was firing a fire hose onto the roof of the motorhome. Then the water started dripping down from the a/c unit.
We scurried around for a bucket, put towels on the bed and spent an anxious few minutes. Luckily the storm passed and the rain had stopped by 10.00pm and we were able to have an uninterrupted night's sleep. 
The next day, Saturday, was a busy day at the rally with a market day on site and the grand ball that evening but we thought it over and decided to de-camp and head back home.  We packed up, made our farewells and headed north. Once we left the Albany city limits the sun came out and stayed with us all the way home.

We were sorry to leave the rally but didn't want to risk water getting into the body work of the motorhome, things like that can be very expensive. 
We were home before dark and soon had the essentials unloaded and were settled down. Work on the roof is obviously needed but we are heading into summer so will have plenty of rain free days to tackle the problem.
As long as it's not raining we can still head out in the motorhome for a few days if the mood takes us. 
But that will be in the New Year I imagine - so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.   

A short wildflower trip

It seems that every year the wildflower season is called either 'the best for many years' or 'not as good as previous years', but as the flowers in our garden were starting to appear we headed out northwards to explore known wildflower 'hot spots'. (We would head south next month, down to Albany, and see more flowers - different flowers, blooming later in the cooler climate).

We drove up the wonderful Indian Ocean Drive, stopping for a small serve of hot chips in Jurien Bay. At Green Head we turned Eastwards, driving through some lovely countryside, crossed the Brand Highway and continued on to Coorow.

Vast areas along the road side were National Parks land and the wildflowers were in full bloom. After Coorow we continued East to our night time rest area, at Latham.

We had checked up online before leaving and knew that there were good examples of 'wreath flowers' blooming in the area. We were helped by the fact that some helpful local had put markers on the road, next to the turn off for the flowers' location.

There were plenty of wreath flowers in the old quarry, they weren't the largest but they were in full bloom and looked beautiful.
In Latham we met a couple from NSW, Blue Mountains who were spending time touring around WA. They were loving our state, particularly the great rest stops along the way.
Latham is a wonderful spot, the local community looks after the facilities. On our previous stays we had no means of leaving a contribution but now, we were pleased to see, there is a visitors book to sign and envelops in which to leave a donation and post in the local post box. As the facilities are always spot less and the water hot, who wouldn't make a donation?

The next morning we carried on northwards, through Perenjori and Mullewa.
After lunch we drove on into Geraldton and out to stay with our friends, Mike and Judy, for a couple of nights.

Having spent quite a bit of time in Geraldton over the last year, we are very familiar with the town.
On this visit we were going to meet up with a contact and start planning a 'pre-rally, tagalong' trip before the 2016 WA Combined Chapters Rally, being held in Geraldton.
We have the itinerary already planned but obviously will need to establish overnight stays and tours closer to the dates.

After a few days it was time to head back south, we took the long route, heading out through Chapman Valley and down to the little town of Mingenew, where we stopped for lunch. We decided to press on directly home rather than spend a night out.

I reckon that if you look around any town in Australia you will find something interesting and quirky to photograph - this is in Mingenew. An old water tank in the old stock yards, decorated, for some reason with old footwear.

We decided to press on, heading straight home rather than spend a night out.

We made a little detour in the town of Three Springs to check out the new short stay caravan parking area. It was quite busy and the people that Michael chatted to were very happy with their stay. Slightly later than we'd thought we pressed on.

It was a lovely quiet, picturesque drive but tiring for one person so we swapped drivers. Michael said that he just needed a short respite but as he fell asleep I didn't have the heart to wake him. Almost 2 hours later he came around and we swapped drivers again.   Arriving home just as it got dark, this unfortunately meant that we'd been driving at dusk and the front of the vehicle was covered with splattered insects.

That will be the first job tomorrow.

It was a short break but very relaxing  and we did see lots of beautiful flowers, and we spent time with friends.

Trains and boats and a plane - pt 4

So we were in Darwin...

   There were a lot of people on the coach who were staying at the Central. On the way into town Michael and I planned our strategy. As we were sitting in the front seats, as soon as we arrived at the hotel I would jump out and go and register, he could then wait and collect our bags off the coach. It worked perfectly - by the time I'd registered he was waiting by the lifts with the bags, and there was a long queue of people waiting to register.

The Central Hotel also charges for wifi (do all Aussie hotels?) They charge $2 for 24 hours, $2 is hardly worth arguing about, but then again it's so little it's not worth charging. Right next door to the hotel is McDonalds, so there's our wifi connection.

We familiarised ourselves with the room and then around 7.30 walked around the corner and walked along the main street, Mitchell Street. There were lots of places to eat and drink but we opted for Indian. At the Darwin Tandoor. It was only a tiny take away place run by a young couple, assisted by their young toddler, son. We sat on some outdoor tables nearby and really enjoyed our meal. Very, very good. Then we walked around the block before heading back to relax in front of the telly.

The next morning, after breakfast we confirmed that we had a pick up arranged for the afternoon city highlights tour and then walked down passed the Parliament House to the Esplanade and Bicentennial Park, overlooking the Harbour. 

The Cenotaph is in Bicentennial Park and flanked by memorial plaques dedicated to those who were killed in raids on Darwin in WWII.
It was a very pleasant park but unless in the shade was very hot.

The humidity was increasing too so we walked up through the Mall, bought some sandwiches for lunch and went back to the hotel.

I had the clothing all planned for the next few days, but with the humidity it was nice to change clothes a couple of times a day. Maybe this is why the hotel has a mini laundrette for guests. I did a load of washing whilst waiting for our tour pick up. Much nicer to feel fresh during the day.

We were waiting in the lobby, in the a/c when our mini bus arrived. It was going to be a full bus, so Michael jumped into the seat up front next to the driver. I sat in a single seat a little further back, much better to be comfortable rather than cramped together.
 We stopped at a few other hotels, and crammed in the other passengers. It was a tight fit. Then we were off around the city. We drove down to the Harbour, passed the WWII Oil Tunnels, that we had thought of visiting but were happy to have this 'drive by'. Then we drove out of town to Charles Darwin National Park, to the South East of the city and had a great view of the city of Darwin. It's really busy, with lots of building happening, mainly high rise apartments. Don't know where all the people are going to come from to buy these apartments, some priced around $800,000.
Also in the Park were some WWII munitions storage bunkers.

We drove up the Museum and Art Gallery, and had an hour to explore.
The most famous exhibit is 'Sweatheart' - oops, sorry about that should be 'Sweetheart', (it was very hot and sticky.)

Sweetheart is the Northern Territory's famous icon. In the 1970s he gained notoriety for attacking dinghies at a popular Darwin fishing spot. On 19 July 1979 he was trapped, but unfortunately drowned in the attempt to move his bulk ashore. 
He weighed - 780 kg
Total length - 5.1 m
Length from snout to vent 2.4 m
Maximum girth - 2.3 m

After staring at Sweetheart for a while we explored the rest of the exhibits, there was a very interesting area showing the devastation caused by Cyclone Tracy, on Christmas Eve 1974. There was a totally dark room where they played a tape of the sound of the cyclone raging outside. Outside the room there was a sign advising that it may cause distress to anyone who actually experienced the cyclone.

Then we looked around the Art Gallery. Michael missed one exhibit but it was so good that I went and fetched him back to see it - these wonderful pots.

Then it was time to continue the tour - we drove out to Fannie Bay (passed the gaol) and from the East point reserve looked back at the city.

Then we drove back towards the city centre and went into the George Brown Botanic Gardens. We had about 20 minutes to wander, but the gardens are quite vast and so interesting, it was only a taste of the wonderful garden. Which had to be replanted after Cyclone Tracy, the head gardener responsible for the replanting and the care of the garden was - George Brown.

Then as the sun set and the bats started flying overhead we got back on the coach and headed back into the city centre, and our hotel drop off. We headed straight out to Mitchell Street and decided on pizza for dinner. Then we could completely relax all evening, in front of the telly.
 The next day we were feeling quite jaded, and decided to cancel our trip to Lichfield park due the following day. The thought of sitting a whole day in another coach and just a few minutes at each Park stop had lost its' appeal. We wanted to relax, try and clear our sinuses, get rid of our coughs before getting on the plane in a couple of days time. Lichfield Park and Kakadu are on our list of places to visit in the motor home, and have plenty of camp spots so we can visit them at our leisure. I contacted the tour company and cancelled so that they wouldn't be looking for us tomorrow morning.

We had a very lazy day, just a short walk through the Mall stopping for lunch at for Chinese in the food court.  It was very, very hot, even some locals were complaining about the heat. There are 2 cyclones to blame, Nathan is over northern Queensland and Olwyn is over the coast in northern Western Australia, between them they are apparently sucking the air out of the Northern Territory.
Our day of rest seemed to have worked and we were both feeling a lot better.
We were up in our room reading and noticed big black clouds over the harbour.

 
We sat and watched the cloud move over the city, the little rain that fell, fell heavily but only for a short time. It started to rain outside our hotel at 5.58pm and was over by 6.04pm.  So, we had experienced 'The Wet'!
We knew when we booked the trip that it was still 'The Wet' in Darwin and would be quite sticky and humid, but the timing of the trip on the train was right and we do have only a few days in Darwin.. If we'd been in the motor home, spending weeks in the area we'd be limp, sodden wrecks by now. We are definitely coming in 'The Dry' next time.

The next day we were able to have a late breakfast because we'd cancelled our day trip. We had a long breakfast, chatting to a lovely couple from Canberra who we'd met on the Ghan. Then we ventured out into the heat and walked a couple of blocks to the Chinese Temple and Museum. There was a lovely little temple, which was a cool, peaceful oasis in the high rise concrete jungle and humidity.

 Then we went to the museum, next door. The gentlemen at the museum were very nice and friendly and very interesting to talk to. One of them had been evacuated to Claremont in WA during the war. When the Chinese returned to Darwin, they found that the old China town area was no more - it has been levelled. The houses and shops may be gone but the community spirit is as strong as ever.

We had a snack lunch at a shopping centre and then sat in a cafe on Mitchell street watching the world go by until returning to the hotel in the late afternoon.

Another shower came over the city that evening but was just gentle rain, not the heavy (but short) downpour of last night. On our last night in Darwin we opted to return to the Indian place, we were not disappointed, another brilliant meal.

The next morning after breakfast, it was time to check out. Check out time was 10.30 so we had time to kill before heading out to the airport. We sat in the air conditioned lobby reading the paper before calling for a taxi.
Our drive out to the airport was uneventful, and interesting to note that like nearly ALL drivers in Darwin, our driver didn't stop at STOP signs either.

We were early so went and had a cup of coffee whilst we waited for those on earlier flights to complete their check in. When things quietened down, we checked in. The flight was not full so we were given 2 seats in a row of 3, with the seat between vacant so we could spread out. Then we found some comfortable seats and relaxed with the rest of the paper.
It was a smooth flight back to WA, out of the window we saw that lovely red dirt under us.
We actually arrived back in Perth early. We collected our bags, had a coffee and people watched until our due collection time. As Julia was driving down from home there was no point in phoning her, she was on her way and would be on time. It was actually raining again.
It was raining when we left, has it rained in Perth all the time? (The answer is - no).

Julia arrived right on time and by early evening we were back home, relaxing in our favourite chairs in front of the telly.

A fabulous holiday. We both really enjoyed the trains, the service, the staff, the food, everything was excellent. The hotels were 4 star, pity about the wifi. It gave us a taste of coach touring, and we found it quite tiring, but not onerous.
Now it's only about 8 weeks before the next adventure - a coach tour and river cruise in Europe. How tiring are we going to find that?
Not at all - it's all too exciting!