Road trip'n update

 

Been on the road since 8 Feb.

8-11 Feb, caught up with Janice, stayed Wagga then Jingellic on the banks of the Murray, free camped out the back of the Bridge Hotel, awesome spot, cool blues band on Sunday arvo' in the beer garden.

NSW 8 Feb there are RV's of all kinds on the road!

NSW 9 Feb 'Wagga Beach'

NSW 9-11 Feb Janice & Jeanette @ Jingellic

NSW 9-11 Feb the Bridge Hotel Jingellic, we free camped out the back of the pub

NSW 9-11 Feb Tom & Jeanette @ Jingellic, sorry I don't look very happy in this photo but luvn the moon chairs, thanks Sam & Sam!

NSW 9-11 Feb looking down to camp from the Bridge Hotel beer garden Jingellic

NSW 9-11 Feb Dream Boogie Blues Band, in the Bridge Hotel beer garden, Jingellic, learning to keep my finger out of the way when taking photos!

NSW 9-11 Feb Dream Boogie Blues Band, they were so good!

NSW 9-11 Feb the Murray River Jingellic

NSW 11-12 Feb camped again on a sandy bank of the Murray just outside Yarrawonga, then onto Victoria at Echuca 12-14 Feb for 2 nights.

NSW 11-12 Feb the Murray River, Yarrawonga

NSW 11-12 Feb the Murray River, Yarrawonga

NSW 11-12 Feb the Murray River, Yarrawonga

VIC 12-16 Feb spent 2 nights at Echuca then moved on to Daylesford for a night, awesome meal at the Farmer's Arms Hotel, great tip thanks Bron! Publican let us stay in the pub car park, overlooking paddocks, cows etc, free! Spent an afternoon at Hepburn Baths, spent 2 nights free camping at Mt Franklin in the Hepburn Regional Park.

VIC 15-16 Feb view from Mt Franklin, Hepburn Regional Park

 VIC 15-16 Feb Tom managed to light an awesome fire in the wet after a huge storm! Mt Franklin, Hepburn Regional Park

Feb 18 travelled to Peterborough (Great Ocean Road) free camped at the boat ramp.

VIC 17 Feb Salt Lake Corangormite on way to Peterborough between Cressy & Camperdown

VIC Salt Lake Corangormite

VIC 17 Feb The Arch, Great Ocean Road

18 Feb arrived South Australia! Free camped the night at the beach, Port MacDonnell, so windy!!! Got the hell out of there and travelled to Mt Gambier, extinct volcano country, checked out the famous Blue Lake, it is a stunning sight, my photography does not do it justice. It is a luminous 75m-deep lake, which turns an amazing hue of blue in the summer months, between April & November looks like any other lake, a steely grey. Google it, very interesting!

SA 19 Feb Blue Lake Mt Gambier

SA 19 Feb Blue Lake Mt Gambier

SA 19 Feb Blue Lake Mt Gambier

SA 19 Feb Blue Lake Mt Gambier

SA 19 Feb Blue Lake Mt Gambier

SA 19 Feb travelled to Beachport and stayed at a sheltered caravan park, pretty place but also windy!!!

SA 18 Feb windy Port MacDonnell

SA 19 Feb pretty Southend on way to Beachport

SA 19 Feb Southend

SA 21 Feb the jetty @ Beachport, Tom walked it, I couldn't, too windy, got ear ache!

SA 21-22 Feb stayed overnight at the park on the beach at Cape Jaffa, tiny town, population 30! Cray fishing big here, as per photos. Met a guy called Daniel who was care taking the cray catch for a Chinese company he works for at Cape Jaffa, 90% of the catch goes to China, the crays are worth about $60 per kg wholesale in Australia. They are exported live and sell for $350 per kg in China!

SA 21 Feb Daniel & a 6kg cray!

SA 21 Feb Daniel & a 6kg cray!

SA 22 Feb Cape Jaffa

SA 22 Feb Cape Jaffa Lighthouse Keeper cottage ruins

SA 22 Feb Jeanette on a whale bone on the beach Cape Jaffa

SA 22 Feb Cape Jaffa

SA 22 Feb Cape Jaffa

SA 23 Feb travelled to Lake Albert at Meningie, feral camped in a paddock, free camping can be hit & miss! Found a lovely spot for breakfast on the lake the next morning.

SA 23 Feb Lake Albert, Meningie

SA 23-25 Feb travelled down the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula, through lovely historic port towns, Strathalbyn, Goolwa, Port Elliot,Victor Harbor (not a typo that's how you spell it), Cape Jervis. Free camped at Waitpinga Beach, more like boot camp! Was a grueling 1.5 k trek to the bloody beach in the heat!

SA 23 Feb Cape Jervis, Fleurieu Peninsula, looking out to Kangaroo Island, the ferry to the island leaves from here

SA 23 Feb Victor Harbor, Fleurieu Peninsula

SA 23 Feb Victor Harbor, Fleurieu Peninsula

SA 24 Feb Waitpinga Beach, Fleurieu Peninsula

SA 25 Feb got the hell out of 'boot camp' and stayed at Rapid Bay as recommended by the National Parks Ranger, beautiful and tranquil and meters from the beach, awesome swimming, would have stayed 2 nights but it started to rain, left and travelled to Hahndorf.

SA 25 Feb the hills into Rapid Bay

SA 25 Feb Rapid Bay

SA 25 Feb Rapid Bay

SA 25 Feb Rapid Bay

SA 25-26 Feb stayed a night at Hahndorf, a lovely & very interesting colonial town that trades on its history. Australia's oldest surviving German settlement founded 1839 by 50 Lutheran families fleeing religious persecution in Prussia. The pioneering women used to walk 35 kms to Adelaide to sell their produce, they travelled at night carrying their goods in baskets or yokes across their shoulders and would return with other supplies! The local produce is delicious and of course it's all things beer, sausage, schnitzel & cheeses!

SA 25-26 Feb Hahndorf

SA 25-26 Feb Hahndorf, about the pioneering women

SA 25-26 Feb Hahndorf

SA 25-26 Feb Hahndorf

SA 25-26 Feb Hahndorf

SA 27-28 Feb spent 2 nights in Adelaide, didn't do much as it rained, a bit of shopping & a tram ride to Glenelg which would have been lovely on a sunny day. Very busy as the set up for the Clipsal race (V8 super cars) was happening.

SA 28 Feb Tom with the Clipsal girls doing promo in the shopping mall Adelaide, he says doesn't like shopping!

SA 27 Feb Clipsal drivers, race promo shopping mall Adelaide

SA 28 Feb-1 Mar left Adelaide and drove to Wollaroo and caught the car ferry to Lucky Bay across the Spencer Gulf so we could skip Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla. Stayed the night at Yeldulknie Wier at Cleve in a camp spot at a park built by the Lions Club which had an honesty box for donations for the stay and a visitors book to sign, very sweet! We were the only ones there, it has great facilities, very clean and well maintained, flushing loos with hand soap and paper towel, in the middle of nowhere!

SA 28 Feb car ferry from Wollaroo to Lucky Bay, Spencer Gulf

SA 28 Feb car ferry from Wollaroo to Lucky Bay, Spencer Gulf

SA 28-29 Feb Yeldulknie Wier camp spot, Cleve

Moved on in the morning and stopped at Elliston for lunch, very pretty spot.

SA 1 Mar lunch at Elliston

SA 1 Mar lunch at Elliston, the 'Big Girl' on the hill

SA 1-2 Mar moved on to find somewhere to spend the night, spent 2 hours looking for a camp spot that doesn't exist! Ended up in a bush camp spot at Sceale Bay, sounds exotic, NOT! Nowhere near the water. Drove to Streaky Bay for breakfast.

SA 2 Mar Streaky Bay

SA 2-5 Mar having a 'luxury' stay at a caravan park in Smoky Bay. Tiny park chockers full of grey nomads, vans, 4B's and boats everywhere! It is a great fishing spot, whiting, crabs and squid. The weather and the bay is beautiful, great swimming, we were only going to stay 1-2 nights, ended up spending 3.

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay, caravan park in the background

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay, fishing from the jetty

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay

SA 2-5 Feb Smoky Bay, bullet proof young'ns jumping from the shelter roof at the end of the jetty!

SA 6 Feb, left Smoky Bay got supplies at Ceduna then started the 'diesel & dust' tour of the Nullarbor. It's bloody long! Not much to see, only roadhouse stops, some of them very basic! Just before Eucla on the SA WA border there are some viewing points to stop & look at the Great Australian Bight, it is a stunning sight!

SA 6 Mar Nullarbor Roadhouse

SA 6 Mar the price of diesel Nullarbor Roadhouse!

SA 6 Mar sunset at Nundroo Roadhouse Nullarbor, not much else there!

SA 6 Feb Cocklebiddy Roadhouse Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar the Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar the Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar Caiguna Blowhole Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar Caiguna Blowhole Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar Caiguna Blowhole Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar Caiguna Blowhole Nullarbor

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar the lookouts on the Nullarbor of the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 Mar a lookout parking area on the Nullarbor, the Great Australian Bight

SA 6 March arrived Western Australia, very hot!

WA 6 Mar the border, cheesy tourist!

WA 6 Mar the border, another cheesy tourist!

WA 6 Mar the border, and another cheesy tourist, quarantine station in the backgound.

WA 6 March, a short drive to Eucla to stay the night, the camping ground had a pool, took in the sights of the old telegraph station, then had a swim, shower, heaven............

WA 6 Mar Eucla Telegrah Station ruins

WA 6 Mar Eucla Telegraph Station ruins

WA 6 Mar Eucla Telegraph Station ruins

WA 6 Mar in the distance the Eyre Hwy out of Eucla, one of very many long stretches of road!

WA 7 March, we have met so many seasoned travellers, who we keep bumping into on our travels, they have given us a lot of sage advice and travelling tips, bless! A camping spot called Fraser Range Station was recommended to us and it didn't disappoint, it literally is an oasis nearing the end of the Nullarbor between Caledonia Roadhouse and a town called Norseman, haven't seen a town for about 1100ks! It was a working sheep station but is now a camping area, it is beautiful, peaceful & quiet with gardens, an awesome fireplace & emus at dusk! 

WA 7-9 Mar the road into Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar emus at dusk, Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar emus at dusk, Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar the fireplace, Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar other accommodation, Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar Fraser Range Station

WA 7-9 Mar the 'Big Girl' tucked in, Fraser Range Station

WA 9-11 March left Fraser Range Station got fuel at Norseman the first town after the Nullarbor. The locals were very excited as the Norseman Cup was on that day, a big event in this little town, everyone shuts shop and heads for the race track!

WA 9 Mar fuel for the 'Big Girl' with the big boys, Norseman

WA 9 Mar about the camels, Norseman

WA 9 Mar the tin camels Norseman town centre, not much else there!

WA 9 Mar the tin camels Norseman town centre

WA 9-11 March travelled to Esperance and the Cape Le Grand National Park, spent 2 nights at beautiful Lucky Bay, really nice camp ground at the beach, the water is turquoise and the sand is so white and smooth as talcum powder. Lots of little kangaroos wander round the camp and hang out at the beach!

WA 9-11 Mar Lucky Bay

WA 9-11 Mar Lucky Bay

WA 9-11 Mar Lucky Bay

WA 9-11 Mar Lucky Bay

WA 9-11 Mar Lucky Bay

WA 12-16 March travelled on to Albany for a day trip, before a bit of sight seeing we bumped into the three Italian boys, we had stopped to help them on the Nullarbor, they had a flat tyre & were quite clueless so Tom put his mechanic hat on & got them going, they are travelling in a rather prominent van, they were very happy to see us again, we had a lovely chat.

 

WA 12 March Albany the Italian boys

WA 12 March Albany the Italian boys

 

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

WA 12 March Albany

 
WA 13 March, Tom' birthday. We stopped at a lovely town called Denmark for breakfast with some ducks! Then drove to William Bay National Park to see Greens Pool & Elephant Rocks, beautiful spot!