We left Stansbury about 8.45 am on our final leg. Weather was still lovely. Went thru Adelaide, I knew Lilian was in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, so we rang her from the bottom of the hill where you go thru the Adelaide Hills. I told her we will wave as we were going past.......
We got as far as Nhill and stayed the nightLeft Nhill at about 9 there in a caravan park. The cockies were so noisy, couldn't even hear the TV, but when it got dark, they went quite, until the next morning about 5.30.
We left Nhill at about 9 am on our way home. We had a good run until we just got to the Westgate bridge, there was a traffic jam for a few miles, 2 trucks had collided, can you believe it, on a straight stretch of road.....

Anyway we got out of that and got home at about 3 pm. Got the van behind the fence and started to unpack straight away. It is nice to get home but then the work started. We emptied as much as we could before dark.
This morning it came down in buckets and thunder, so we couldn't do much, allthough John cleaned out the ute and I started washing and drying, but this afternoon it cleared up, so I finished to get all the stuff out of the van.

I can also let you know that John played the longest golf course in the world, ie The Nullarbor Links. He is no golfer, but had bought 4 clubs at the Mornington Recycle Centre for
$ 7.00, was given a bag of balls and some tees, so off he went, started in Ceduna and ended in Kalgoorlie and got a certificate as well. He did not too bad after all, 143 hits over 18 holes in some really rugged country side. He really enjoyed it, but he said he won't take up golf.......


Well all good things come to an end and so does our holiday, we had a fantastic time and it is a pretty good lifestyle.

Till next time hopefully.

This is our pet seagull, he came around every time we were eating something and John would feed him, ate out of Johns hand twice. And if other seagulls came near he would swoop at them and make sure they didn't come into his territory, it was quite funny.

Well we packed up the awning and all the rest that had to be done, so we can be on our way early, to go home.....after a fabulous 2 months holiday.
We have seen, done and learnt a lot on our trip. Met some great people and stayed at some beautiful places.
I must admit this a great and beautiful country.
We have had some great weather here in Stansbury, all though it can get very windy here.

It is a lovely place, the caravan park is great, there are about 23 spots right on the water.

Went for a ride in a header yesterday afternoon. That was quite an experience and very interesting. It is amazing that only the heads of the grain gets pulled out or of and thrown into the grainhopper. Went around the paddock a few times, while John and Cheryl went and got a couple of utes for the men to go home in after they finished. After every round the hopper was full and was blown into a field bin, they hold approx 24 tonne. When that is full it gets loaded into a truck and then taken to the silo and then into a ship to go overseas. The grain we were cutting yesterday was barley. Ian sometimes works thru till late at night, depending on the weather. But last night it became too cold and he could not strip anymore. It was very interesting.
Today we went for a drive to Yorktown and Edithburg, nice little towns, but not much there, so we came home and John went crabbing, caught one..... a blue swimmer, so he will cook that one after. But he will go out later and hopefully catch some more.

Still in Stansbury, we had one stormy day, but yesterday was beautiful, didn't go anywhere, just sat outside and read. John tried to go crabbing,, but it was too windy, so will have another go today at about lunchtime, so hopefully, keep fingers crossed.
Johns cousin, Cheryl, came by yesterday afternoon, she is very interesting. They used to have oyster beds here and knows a lot about them, we learned a lot.
Today she will come and pick us up for afternoon tea with her mum, which will be nice. She was married to Johns first cousin.
I might go for a ride in a header with Ian, Cheryls husband. That would be very interesting for me of course, haven't done anything like that before.
Staying out of the sun today, got a bit too much sun yesterday........never learn.......
John is cleaning out the ute, it was a bit messy in the back after nearly 2 months of travelling.
It will be strange getting home, but also nice of course, then getting back in the old routine.....bet that won't take long.
Christmas will be upon us in no time, haven't even thought about it, so it will be hectic getting everything organised.

Left Port Augusta Monday on our way to Stansbury on the York Peninsula.
We decided to stay there for a few days. Johns dad came from there, we stayed there 3 years ago, which was very nice.
On our way down we stopped at Port Pirie and had a look around, nice little town.
We took the country road down, which took us through Kadina and Moonta, where we stayed a few nights about 3 years ago. Stopped there and had a look around.
On our way down we came across a lot of trucks, all carting grain, it is harvest time.
We arrived at the caravan park late afternoon, weather still beautiful, but that was about to change for the worst. We set up camp and got organised, put the shades up, thank goodness for that. It started to blow a gail, and we are right on the water.......
It has been blowing all day and it has been very hot. We caught up with Johns cousin, which was very nice. Will meet them again tonight for dinner at the local pub.
The beach here is not as nice as the ones in WA, but it is still nice to be here.
Pelicans are coming out in the afternoon to be fed.
Hopefully the weather will be nice to us for the rest of the week.
This is right at the beach where we are staying, only have to walk down a little hill, how good is that.

This is somewhere along the Nullarbor, nothing but nothing interesting, just saltbushes.

Photo below is the limestone coastline, very high and in some places very dangerous, with the wall braking away, quite spectacular.

Well back in the land of sevices..... We left Kalgoorlie last Friday at about 7.15 am on our way to cross the Nullarbor again. It was quite hot, so we were happy to leave that early.

Because we left from Kalgoorlie it took a bit longer to cross. We had to top up in Norseman with diesel, we had filled our jerry cans in Kalgoorlie, was a bit cheaper....

We also had to stock up a bit with food, which we did also in Norseman.

Drove till Caiguna and decided to stay in the caravanpark there, had to top up with diesel as well. We had had a very strong headwind, we can't win, headwinds on the way over and on the way back, sometimes couldn't do more than 80 kms/hr.......frustrating to say the least....

Left early again the next morning, same headwinds again, can you hear John winching?.....

Drove till about 7.30ish, because we lost 2.5 hours of course, found a freecamp and stayed there for the night. Left there about 9.45am on our way to Ceduna, luckily we ate all our fruit and veg, just boiled the potatoes and put them in the fridge. We wanted to go as far as Port Augusta, we arrived here at 6.30pm and set up camp at the Shoreliner Caravanpark. Booked for 1 night. Leave here tomorrow morning to go to Stansbury, York Peninsula, where we will be staying till Friday or Saturday, so John can hopefully do some crabbing and fishing and catch up with his cousin........

Well another beautiful day here in Kalgoorlie. John's cousin had suggested to take a drive to a historical Inn, called Ora Banda about 65 kms north of Kalgoorlie, passing a lot of gold and nickel mines. Well this is really outback, red dirt  and gravel roads. As I said before, cars, bushes, streets, buildings, they all have a layer of red dust, our car included of course.
We had lunch there, which was nice. There was a German girl on a working holiday there, serving behind the bar. That must have been really something for her, she only has been there for 3 days, in the outback and very hot.
After we came back we had to stock up for our trip back across the Nullarbor. We are full with water and the car is full with diesel and 2 jerry cans on the back of the van.
It will probably take us a good 2 days to cross and we will be having no service at all untill we reach Ceduna.
We are all packed up and ready to go early in the morning.

Went for a drive into town and this is one of the many hotels here, beautiful old buildings from the gold rush that was here in the early 1900's.

This is a really old town, houses are all red from the wind and dust, all cars are covered in red dust as well, because there are lot of people here working in the mines.

Also went and had a look at the super pit, and it is a super pit, it is huge. It was blowing a gail. It has been very hot here today, about 40 degrees,but a slight cool change dropped the temperature a bit, so it is much nicer now. Sitting outside with a drink and some nibbles.... Tomorrow we will venture out a bit into the country side.

This is the leaning tree, just outside Geraldton.

Sadly we left Kalbarri yesterday after a great time there. But all good things come to an end....
We said goodbye to our new found friends and promised to stay in touch.
We decided to take some country roads instead of the normal highway, which we travelled on the way up. We took the turn off at Dongara in land via Mingenew and Morowa and then down from there, all the way down to Kalannie, found a park there, we were the only ones.
Left early this morning and we arrived in Kalgoorlie at about 2.30pm, set up camp and getting ready for dinner.
Tomorrow we will be exploring Kalgoorlie and surroundings, so that will be interesting.
We have booked for 3 nights and after that back on to the Nullarbor to the York Peninsula.

The Murchinson river going through the gorge.

We had another 2 beautiful days here in Kalbarri, what a gorgeous place this is.
We didn't hire a boat after all, it was very windy and the water had white tips, so we decided not to go.
Went for a little bit of bush bashing in the ute, John was in his element, because it was all sandy, so he had to put the ute in 4wheel drive.......boys and their toys.....
Today we stayed in the park and the people next door had some trouble with their car. I said to John don't get involved,because they had friends there as well. But John couldn't help himself so he ended up fixing the problem. Anyway I got talking to his wife and she asked me where we lived, Frankston I said. Oh she said,my brother lives there. I asked where and she mentioned a court, and it is just around the corner from us. We know her brother, he walked past our house when John was working on the van before we left, started to chat, has got a van as well and gave John some tips where to get fuel on the Nullarbor and so on. How about this for a small world.......
We had a BBQ with some other people we met,because we are leaving here
tomorrow :(
We have had a great time here, it is a lovely place, but this will soon be over and back into the normal routine.
We will be leaving here early in the morning, have packed up most things. We will be doing about 500 kms tomorrow, big day.
Will be travelling in land and not the coast road to Perth, will be seeing different things, so that will be nice.

This is called Nature's Window, abosolutely beautiful, but a fair walk, 500 mtrs down and back, we were absolutely stuffed....because it was so hot as well, but the view was spectacular.

(photos are not in order, still have trouble...) We decided to stay another day here, will hire a boat tomorrow and will be going up the river so John can do some fishing. Weather still hot and lovely.We met some nice people here, John fixed the hot water system in one of their vans, had sprung a leak and John being John, the rest is history. The lady is a hairdresser and she cut my hair, as you do. Then later they came over for a chat and drinks. They were very grateful for what John had done for them.

Went into Kalbarri National Park today, left midmorning, a little bit late, because it was getting really hot. It is about 30 kms from here. Saw lots of nice bushes and flowers.

On our first lookout we walked about 300 mtrs and saw way down the river going.

When we left Geraldton, we took the coast road to Kalbarri, which is also a scenic route. It was quite beautiful, with the vegetation changing all the time. There were some farming areas, wheat and some stock as well.
We went into the road to Port Gregory and came upon a pink lake. Well it is really pink.
We had a look around, it is a very small holiday/fishing village.
After that we went back on the road to Kalbarri. It didnt take long, a couple of hours and when we came around the bend, well wow wow wow, what a beautiful sight that was, really pretty. The Murchison river comes out of the national park into the sea, white sand beaches, just lovely.
So instead of booking 2 nights we booked 3. Weather just glorious, nice caravan park and we are in a beaut spot.
So today we thought we will do some exploring, but John went fishing with a neighbour and I walked to the shops to sus them out. There are not many shops here, so I was quickly shopped out, decided to walk to where John was fishing, walked over the beach and found him. Sat there for a bit, he didn't catch dinner, bummer, and then went back to the van for some lunch. After that we went on our exploring trip along the coast. There are plenty of side roads with sights to be seen. The coastline is quite amazing.

Back again. I still have trouble with the text and trying to put photos on as well, so sorry for that. And when I make a spelling mistake, which I hate to do and like to correct it, I sometimes cant do it.

Today we also went to the Maritime museum. I didnt know, but 4 Dutch ships sunk around here in the 1600's.
That was when they were sailing from Holland to Indonesia.
It was very interesting, saw some old dutch coins, called Rijksdaalder, which was 2 guilders and 50 cents, which I used when I was a child.

Also went to a scrapbooking shop, as you do, and the girl who ownes it was from dutch parents. So dutchies eveywhere........
Also went for a drive around the area, it is a nice town with a big port, where trains and roadtrains bring their loads of iron ore and wheat and off load into bunkers and then on to the big ships.
So the town is thriving with new houses and buildings go up everywhere.

Leaving here tomorrow to go Kalbarri, where we hope to stay for about 3 nights, then slowly we will be making our way back home.

Went to the war memorial today, about the HMAS SYDNEY II, found of the coast here in Geraldton. The memorial is absolutely beautiful, as you can see. It was quite interesting.

The dome fits in this fountain, the dove in the middle is the 645th life lost and  around the water are all the other doves as well. It is all synced together, if that is what you would like to call it.

This lady is watching over the sea in the direction where the ship sunk.

The next photo is from the dome, with 645 doves, the lives lost on the ship, it is truly beautiful.

Weather turned really nasty yesterday, so we decided to take the awning down, which was a good move. It was dry thank goodness, as it really came down during the night. So this morning we only had to hook up and away we went. Left at 8.30 am, it was overcast and showery and then the sun decided to come out. I punched Geraldton into the Tom Tom, but she took us on a tourist drive route through Perth, didn't really want that, but had to sort of stick with it, but after a while we got on to the right track. We were actually glad to leave the caravan park, we didn't like it. It was very tight to get your van in and out and allthough John is a very good driver and parker, he even had a bit of trouble putting the van in between 2 big trees......
We went on our merry way and the rain pelted down now and again and the wind was unreal.

We decided to go to Jurien Bay, which is roughly half way to Geraldton, and booked in for 1 night. The park is right near the sea, but boy oh boy is the weather rough and not helping at all. We even had hail...... But nevertheless we went to see the Pinnacles, about 35 kms towards Perth. It is amazing, in the middle of nowhere are all these stones, large and small and all shapes and sizes, really something.
Lilian had told me about it, she was told by her good friend Nikki, who just had been here too. It was well and truly worth it.

Overlooking Perth and the Swan River.

Went to the Fremantle markets yesterday, was Ok, nothing special..... Weather was quite warm and sunny. John has a second cousin here, so we thought we look her up. She is the daughter of his cousin in Esperance. She has a shop here in Fremantle, quite quirky as we found out. Her daughter was there and when we asked for Denise, she told us that she had left that morning for Kuala Lumpur to do some buying, so we missed her by a few hours. We had to walk for a fair bit, but it did us good. Then we went to the foreshore, we were thinking of going to Rottnest Island, but decided against it because John gets seasick. Glad we did because today is very rainy and stormy. Not nice at all.
We caught up with Amanda today for lunch, she is the daughter of our neighbours in Frankston, who lives and works here for a radio station. It was good to see her.
Now we are slowly packing up, going on our way tomorrow to Geraldton, which is about a days driving.

We left Eaton on Wednesday morning on our way to Fremantle. We decided to stay just outside Fremantle, a place called Coogee Beach. We got there just on lunchtime, luckily we had booked, because this park is always full. It is near the beach, the area is lovely with a lot of new housing estates going up. Went to do some shopping down the road and had an early night, we were both tired.
Today we went into Perth, I had to pick up some supplies from a wholesaler, as you do......., and then went into Perth city. We intended to have a walk around, couldnt find a carpark and decided to go Kings Park and Botanical Garden instead. Good move, it was lovely and the view was spectacular. Took some photos and there was a guy standing there and he asked me could I take a phot of him. Recognised his accent, he had flown in from Holland yesterday, quite a spunk......I think about mid to late thirties. We had quite a long chat, he wanted to know where he should go and see. He is a fireman in Holland and lives near The Hague, not far from Rotterdam, where I was born. He is flying out of Melbourne on Nov 29 to go to New Zealand. He was quite nice.
Had lunch in the park and then went back to Fremantle and had a look around there. Quite a nice town, going back there tomorrow, the markets are open and like to have a look.