Day 16 - Geraldton

• Geraldton
• 22°c
• Rain

Fell asleep last night to the sound of the waves crashing and strong winds & rain.  Still raining this morning so we weren't in any rush to get moving.  Ella who had been looking forward to a sleep in for the last week or so was the first awake at 7.30?! That doesn't happen Ever!

The rain stopped sometime after lunch so we headed into town for a look around.  Daddy found a lovely park for Ella & Oscar to burn off some energy.

Kinda wish we'd brought a picnic?

Back home and time for some learning.  The workbook scenario really wasn't grabbing them and so  have decided to shelve the workbooks for a bit. Unless they ask for them!

I'm delighted to say that this new approach worked, they were much more interested in learning and doing! Oscar was happy to finish his work and call it a day, but Ella decided she wanted to keep going. It seems it's going to take longer than first thought to "de-school" them from the "spoon-fed" education system.

Day 15 - Road to the Coast

• Mt Magnet - Geraldton
• 344kms
• 26°c

Pretty quiet on the road today, not a lot of passing traffic, mostly road trains and a few caravans, all poppers, no big rigs like us!

These termite mounds were dotted along most of the highway so we decided to stop off for a closer look.  Well that didn't quite go to plan but rather ended in tears & tantrums!  For some reason rather than being amazed at this wonder of nature, they were both terrified! We didn't see a single termite or any other bug but Oscar was screaming about Bullyants & Ella about Red Ants.  That exciting educational lesson i had envisaged in my head sooo did not happen. We stopped again for a cuppa further on and whilst i was taking photos, Ella got adventurous and came for a look, not too close but what a huge breakthrough!

Yay, we saw a herd? group? gang? of emus on the side of the road just doing their thing, not at all bothered by the passing traffic.

I think we were all pretty happy to get out of the car today! A little bit of car crabbiness after travelling over 500kms a day for the past 4 days.  Will be nice to have a sleep in tomorrow!

Big4 Geraldton, $31.50 a night, power, water, showers, beachfront

Day 14 - Eagles

• Menzies - Mt Magnet
• 529kms
• 24°c

Look out, i'm driving!!

Steve decided I was ready for my lesson in Caravan Towing.  I was super impressed with how well the Jeep towed it, although i must admit I did not like the Wind Wobblies at all, it just comes outta nowhere and you have to fight it to keep her on the straight and narrow! 

I was getting the "Flying Vibe" from Steve and could tell he wasn't enjoying being a passenger so after my 5kms of being Caravan Captain I pulled over and let Ketut take command again!!

He assured me I was a "Wonderful Driver" but was just more comfortable being the driver.

That's fine with me, cause to be honest i'm more comfortable with Steve behind the wheel too!

Really glad we'd done the "ring around the Caravan" when this roadtrain went hooning past us!

Colours in the desert are a nice break from Red, Red, Red!

Finally we managed to get some photos of the Wedge Tailed Eagles that have been flying overhead!

They are larger than I ever imagined, the photos really don't do them justice. We were unable to get photos of the two largest ones we saw. The wingspan on one of them was as wide as the bonnet of the car & another one perched on the side of the road was about two feet tall.

Mt Magnet Caravan Park, $35 a night, power, water, hot, hot showers, dump point,  and a really cute dog "Bam Bam" who's hobbies include wearing sunglasses and riding motorbikes!

Day 13 - Drive Faster, I Hear Banjos!

• Balladonia - Kalgoorlie - 380kms
• Kalgoorlie - Menzies - 133kms
• 20°c

Overnight was super windy, maybe that herd of wild camels went rushing past our camp? 

seriously thought the van may tip over during the night!

So we started the day with no phone  reception again, until we were about 25kms South of Norseman.  That was 599kms no phone reception across the Nullarbor, we didn't need it but were thankful we had the Satellite Phone.

Also no radio reception so were on ipod shuffle for most of todays drive and we couldn't help but giggle as Duelling Banjos aka Deliverance blasted onto the stereo, yet i did stop laughing when Steve wouldn't let me use my veto to skip it.

Thought we'd stop over at Kalgoorlie for a night or two, but that wasn't to be.  All the caravan parks were booked out, The Goldminer caravan park doesn't open it's office on Weekends? Strange.

We found a free camp spot and discovered the reason all the parks are booked out is that The Kalgoorlie Cup is on!  Apparently it's a huge deal in town, we thought the dressed to the nines locals were just a little odd? Really would've liked to see the Super Pit but it wasn't to be, we decided to keep driving and stop a little further on.

 We stopped for the night in Menzies, which is almost a ghost town yet has a really good vibe to it

Menzies Caravan Park, $29 a night, only charged $1.50 each child!, power, water, shower, great place to stop, super helpful & friendly caretaker

Day 12 - The Wild West

• Border Village - Balladonia
• 525kms
• 30°c

We did the hop,.. we did the Border Hop,.. the Border Hop,.. it was kind of a flop! Well according to Oscar anyway, but i'm sure deep down he really thought it was cool?!

Quarantine was a serious affair, the lady checked over the car, under the blankets, in the boot, she looked in everything that opened and closed in the van, including the freezer! I think we were lucky she didn't pull on a pair of gloves!  All good and we were waved on into the West.

The second we crossed over into Western Australia we lost phone reception, we are now in radio silence, see you on the flip side.

They aren't lying when they say 90 mile straight road! It is the longest straight road in Australia.

Not a curve at all, lots of ups & downs but not even a bend!

Caiguna Blowhole breathes in and out! Was awesome to feel the cold air coming from the blowhole, however Ella & Oscar weren't keen to get too close to it.

 We did see lizards, 2 eagles, 1 snake, an emu and a camel, unfortunately the emu and camel were on the side of the road and they weren't resting. oh and we did see more crazy cyclists.

We stopped for the night at the Balladonia Roadhouse which also happens to be home to....

SKYLAB!

How very cool, a real piece of space junk in our own backyard!

Pretty cool to touch something that has been into outer space

Balladonia Roadhouse, $32 a night, powered site, no water, shower - just enough to get wet, nice spot to stop off for a night

Day 11 - Whales!

• Ceduna - Border Village
• 500kms
• 22°c

Bookwork is best done in the morning

Head out on the highway, looking for adventure....

A lady travelling in the opposite direction said we should stop off for a look? Boy are we glad we took her advice and detoured off the main highway to the Head of The Bight.  Not only for the amazingly, breathtaking views but for the whales!

Lost for words as to how amazing it was to see whales in the wild, in their natural habitat and with babies! We counted 10 adults and 2 babies, one of the babies was quite playful whilst the other stuck very close to Mum.  Truly wonderful experience and quite moving for us all.  We even got to hear a whale song! Something we won't ever forget.

What a beautiful country we live in!

Views from the "Head of the Bight"

Ella just couldn't walk anymore, sore toe! and of course Occy didn't want to miss out

Wild camels? really?  I so want to see wild camels roaming the outback!
One thing we didn't expect to see were cyclists riding along on The Nullarbor

We decided to stop for the night at Border Village on the S.A side and were greeted by The Big Roo!
Research is yet to determine if we can class "Rooey" as one of "The Bigs"? Feel free to advise

Wasn't sure how serious the quarantine border situation is crossing over into W.A but cooked up all the vegies and made some stewed apple.  Fell asleep to the humming of the Roadhouse generator!

Border Village Roadhouse, $41 a night, powered site, no water, extra charge for shower, $6.50 for a loaf of bread, only stop if you have to