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.
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.
