More about Mum & Dads Trip

Hi All,

The run from Esperance to Albany was uneventful, the scenery was a little better. Albany is a large town / small city, built on the beautiful Princess Royal Harbour and King George Sound.
The place is full with holiday makers and tourists, we had some trouble finding a caravan park with vacancies. We finished up backtracking 10 km to a c/pk we passed on the way in, not
much of a park, bit of a dump I thought.

We left the park about 0800 and travelled to town and had breakfast at McDonalds.Then did some touring around the place. One of the places we visited was Mt Clarence, overlooking the town, a good view.

The other place was The ANZAC Memorial and Princess Royal Fortress, mum and I had been there before and wanted to see it again.This is on top of a mountain and here are spectacular views overlooking King George Sound. I personally think this is one of the best views I have seen. The ANZAC Memorial is also worth seeing.When Australia sent troops to fight in WW1, a lot of them sailed from King George Sound. In 1914 there was 36 troop ships and some escort vessels, that sailed from there on one day. They left in a line one after the other, it was recorded as a very spectacular sight. Many of the men never returned.

It was well after lunch before we hit the road again.The next stop was Walpole, this is were The Valley of The Giant Trees are. There is a walkway that rises above the Giant Trees. I took the walk, but mum could not make it, as it was too steep and long for her. They offered her a wheel chair, but I would have to push, but she declined, I am glad to say. The giant Red Tingle trees are spectacular, the strange thing about them is that the base of a lot of them are hollow. Some of the have a cavity in the base that would hold about 6 people.

After we left Wapole, we started to look for a free camp site for the night. Well what a disappointment that turned out to be, after travelling a couple of hundred km. we found nothing worth stopping at. Most were too small or very dirty, mum deserves better than that. So we came to a little town about 300 km from Albany, called Manjimup, we booked into the caravan park here for the night, nothing fancy, but clean, quite and cheap.

Dad / Den

Trip Day 5

Hi All,

Tues 4.1.08

Well what a difference a day makes, hot yesterday, Monday, 47 & 48 deg C. Today it was overcast, windy & would you believe, it was cold most of the day.

We left Nullarbor Roadhouse at 0900, stopped for a couple of photo shots and scenery, really not much to look at until WA border. At Border Village we were going to fuel up, but diesel was $1.89.9 so we decided to go to the next stop, Eucla 12 km away. It was cheaper there at $1.68.4.

At Border Village you have to go through a quarantine check station, no fruit, vegies, plants or honey aloud in WA. After fuelling up at Eucla, which is on top of a hill, you come to the start
of the Eucla Pass. The view from the top is spectacular, looking down into the pass you can see the flat landscape for as far the eye can see, ahead to the west, and south on your left. To the north, on the right, there is a mountain range about a kilometre away. This range runs parallel to the Hgy for about 170 km, for 43 km it looks the same height and one mountain, no brakes, peaks or gulley's, I found it unusual, but after a couple of minute it all become dreary and boring for the next couple of hours.

At Cocklebiddy there is a turn off that goes to the coast, 36 km. of dirt road. Out there is the Eyes Bird Observatory in the old Telegraph Station. I was going to go out there, but decided I did not want to travel on another dirt road. Besides, I have seen old telegraph stations before, there all the same, just another old house.As far as birds go, I can sit in my kitchen and watch Maggie and the Asian fighting. That's NOT Mrs Kelly, its Magpie and Asian Miner birds.

Time to refuel again, stopped at Caiguna, the diesel here was $1.90.9, it hurt, but I had to get it. Thieving mongrels. Caiguna is to start of the longest straight road in Australia at 146.6 km.
but it is not level,ups and downs all the way We travelled 43 km along it and found a good large free camp spot for the night. You would not believe it but I started the genny and the air-conditioner started running, as mum forgot to turn it off when I disconnected the power at Nullarbor Roadhouse Cv/pk. The genny is now running the A/C good now.
We think the hot weather must have been the problem, the A/C techo who repaired it at Nyngan told me that most A/C were not designed to operate in the kind of temperatures we have been experiencing.

Wed 2.1.08

We left the free camp site at 0745, nothing of interest for the next couple hours.Stopped at Balladonia Roadhouse for a brake. It was in this area on 12 Jul 1979 when the American unmanned Skylab Space Craft crashed, a part of it is on display at the roadhouse. Also this is the area of The Nullarbor Nymph. In 1971 a couple of roo shooters, night spotting, reported seeing a beautiful young blond woman, naked, frolicking with the roos. A number of overnight tour coach drivers reported seeing the same. Reports have been received up to 2007, last year. Tall story??

I told mum, that on the way back we might travel a night through this area. After some further thought, if in 1971 she was say 18, then in 2008 she would be 55 now. So I don't think I will bother. Anyhow with my luck she wound be an old drag queen.

Came to the end of the Eyre Hgy at Norsman at 1200. Fuelled up at $1.59.9 p/l, back to a reasonable price. Also topped up our water tanks.

Arrived at Esperance at 1500, The place is packed. Not only with holiday makers, but due to the bush fires in the Kalgoorlie area, all roads to there are closed. Travellers to and from Perth would normally go that way. So now they have to travel via Esperance. All the caravan parks are full, so we were directed to an overflow area, which is the show ground. It's OK here,
we have power, water and toilets. There is about 18 other MHs and vans here.

We thought it was free, but the council ranger came and collected $22.00 off us all.

Dad / Den

Trip day 4

Hi all,

Well we left our free camp spot at Ayre's Water Hole at about 0845. The run to Ceduna was OK, the scenery was a little better, as we travelled through some pastoral areas.

Arrived at Ceduna about 1030 and it was already HOT. We needed some
supplies, so found the local IGA store, I was surprised at the amount of people in the store and came to the conclusion that most of them were only there to take advantage of the air-condition.

We walked outside and almost fainted from the heat, funny thing though, there were local aboriginals out side dressed in long pants, long sleeve shirt, woollen beanie, woollen footy socks and sneakers, scary.

We fuelled up and topped up our water tanks at the servo. I was talking to a
man there who was complaining his car was running on LPG, he had an 80 litre gas tank and because of the heat, it would not take much more then 30 litre. We could not get going fast enough so we could enjoy the A/C in the cab.

We travel the Ayre Hgy across the Nullarbor for the next 1200 kms.to Norsman. I was talking to a couple of ladies travelling in a motorhome at Ceduna who were also travelling our way and
they mentioned staying at Fowler Bay overnight, I had also thought of this so we decided to check it out.

Fowler Bay is 20 kls off the Ayre Hgy and 16 kls of this was dirt road.We arrived there at 1230, checked out the caravan park and was told $25.00 per night with power but not allowed to use our air-condition.

Told him to stick it, we only came so we could use our air-condition. We parked next to the bay and had lunch. While there the 2 ladies I was talking to at Ceduna arrived and I informed the about the caravan park. We back tracked 20 klm back to the Ayre Hgy and continued west.

Stopped at Nundroo Roadhouse for a brake and checked the fuel price it was $1.48.9 litre, not bad, cheaper then Ceduna but I did not get any as I had 3/4 of a tank. I had intended to fuel up at Yalata as I knew the fuel at Nullarbor was expensive. You would not believe it but Yalata is now closed.

Before Nullarbor Roadhouse we turned off and travelled 12 kls to Head Of Bight. During the whales watching season, June to October, it is said to be the best place to view them, as you are
high above a sheer cliff drop, and the water below is very deep, the whaled are close to the viewing area. Although there were no whales to see, it was a very enjoyable place to visit and view the ruggered coast line. However the flies were something else, we stepped out of
the MH and were attacked by thousands of flies, jumped straight back in the MH to get the fly mesh that covers your face, I bought 2 a few weeks ago just for this purpose, but I can't find
were I put them so we covered ourselves with fly spray and away we went. That was a wast of time, as I think they ad a feast on the stuff.

Back to the Ayre Hgy and on to Nullarbor Roadhouse, need some fuel. You would not believe it, but the fuel here is $1.88.9 cpl for diesel, 40c a litre more then the one I did not top up at before.

The heat here is unbelievable, HOT. We decided we could not free camp in this heat, so we booked in to the caravan park here at Nullarbor Roadhouse. It seems a lot of travellers had the same idea, as the place is almost full. I found out from the attendant here that the temperature here was recorded today as 47 deg C. It was that hot, the water in our MH tanks was almost too hot to shower in. The DVD player would not work until I cooled it down by holding it in front of the airconditioner for 5 min. It has cooled down a lot as I write this.

The 2 ladies in the motorhome that went to Fowler Bay also arrived here and are staying at this caravan park, I would say they were not impressed with no aircondition at Fowler Bay also.

Dad / Denis

Trip Day 3

Hi All,

We left beautiful Tumby Bay this morning after some more sight seeing at about 0930.We had a good night, as the weather had cooled down a lot.

The weather today started off mild but as the day grew it rose to about 40+ deg, bloody HOT.

We came to a town named Orroroo and they boasted having the largest gum tree.So we made a detour along a dirt track and found it. It was big alright, a Giant Red Gum, with a circumference of 10.89 metres, 500 + years old.

We arrived at Port Lincoln at lunch time. Port Lincoln is on a very large bay and is a big town, with a lot of holiday makers. The attraction is the foreshore, very well laid out and maintained. We did the sight seeing bit before heading off again.

We Stopped at Elliston and explored the rugged coast line around the town, very high cliffs with a sheer drop to the ocean, that was the only attraction there, but worth the time to see.

Next stop was at Streaky Bay, nice little town with a lot of holidayers. Mum and I have been here before so we did not bother doing any sight seeing. We just bought some fish and chips for tea and backtracked 5 ks to a free camp site we passed on the way in. It's called Ayre's Water Hole, named after the explorer Edward John Ayre who found it in 1840.

The highway we have bean travelling the last couple of days is the Flinders Hgy, not much to see when driving, just unattractive landscape.It follows the coast but separated by large sand hills. Not until you get to a town do you see the sea, and then often you have to detour off the highway a couple of ks.

The heat is terrible, we will be in Ceduna tomorrow, Monday, and they forecast the temp. there as 43dg. It is said to be the hottest December for a number of years.I think we picked the wrong time to travel this area. I think the heat is getting to Mum, she is always tired when we stop of an afternoon, she has been asleep since we had tea.

Dad / Den

My Parents Trip day 2

Hi All,

After Nyngan, we were going to fill up with fuel at Wilcannia but we did not like the

look of the locals hanging around the place.So we worked it out that we could get to

Cobar instead. Got to Cobar on lunch time, had a look around the place, bought

lunch, fuelled up. The servo attendant said to watch out for the goats on the road.

We thought there must have been a lot of dangerous drivers out on holidays.

Soon discovered he meant the 4 legged ones, between Cobar and Broken Hill

there were thousands and thousands of wild goats on and around the road.

We free camped about 170ks before Broken Hill, very hot day but cooled down

in the evening, Ok with the fans running off the geny.

Got to Broken Hill before lunch, done some sight seeing, although we have been

there 4 times before. We like Broken Hill, the people there all seem very friendly

and it is not as hot as you might expect but it was that day.

Also as the A/C techo who repaired the A/C put in a larger condenser then the

original one, I was informed this may be why the genny will not run the A/C now.

So I purchased the correct one while at Broken Hill and intended to replace it myself.

The run from Broken Hill to Peterborough is through some dull country, flat and Desert

not much to look at.

Our next stop was at Peterborough where we free camped, it was a good spot off the

road and amongst shady trees. This is were I changed the condenser but it made no

difference, still will not work off the genny. We had no TV reception, so watched a DVD.

We left the light in the toilet on and when it was time for bed mum opened the toilet door

and let out a scream, I raced in from outside and found mum sitting on the bed in a state.

The toilet was covered in billions of tiny insects. After spraying them, she had to clean them

up before we could use it. We were not the only ones caught as the man in the MH next

to us came over and borrowed out insect spray.

Arrived at Port Augusta before lunch, did some sight seeing, fuelled up and had lunch,

very hot around 39deg. As we have been here about 4 times before, we did not stay long.

Did a bit of souvenir shopping at Whyalla before continuing via the coast.

Arrived at Tumby Bay, about 200ks from Whyalla and 5ks off the main hgy.

What a beautiful little town this is.Mum wanted to spend the night in a caravan park so

we booked into a caravan park right on the waters edge. A very nice spot and after driving

all day in 40deg heat it is nice and cool here as the A/C is running off the town power.

All for now,

Dad / Den

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My Parents Trip by my dad

Hi all,

We left home about 0900 on Wed 26 Dec. and got to Nyngan at 1700 (5pm) about 500 odd ks.

A good run, no problems, until we settled in at the caravan park and turned on the air condition.

It was running at first but not getting cold.The vent on the outside of the MH, that houses the

A/C compressor was that hot I could not touch it. After a while the compressor stopped working.

The next morning I contacted an A/C tech.who replaced a burnt-out condenser.Cost $100.00,

reasonable I thought.

We continued our trip at 0845, Stopping at Cobar to look around and have lunch. We also purchased

a 10 lt fuel container to supply fuel to run my new generator when we free camp this afternoon.

We had a good run to Wilcannia and found a good free camp spot 26 ks north of there.

Settled in, fuelled up the new generator, turned on the A/C, tripped the overload on the genny.

The generator ran the A/C, the fridge and the microwave when I tested it before we left home.

The tech who repaired the A/C this morning said he replaced the condenser with a larger one

then the original one, because he did not have the same size that came out of it.

We think this may be the reason why the A/C will not run off the genny now.

We can still run the fan only on the A/C, plus we have another fan. We now have the 2 fans running.

Tomorrow we will be in Broken Hill before lunch, After some sightseeing I might try and find another

A/C techo and see what he has to say about it.

All up things are good.

Dad, Denis.

More to come tomorrow......

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New Years Eve

Well the New Year is here and I didn’t really get to see it in as I was busy throwing up at the time. I have never drunk so much before in my life and I don’t plan to do so again ever.

Apart from that I had a great night out Tim and I went over to my brother’s place for a BBQ and a few drinks, however, I had many more then a few…

It was both the best and worst night I have had in a long time I have never before had a hang over and I hope I never again have another one. It took me all day yesterday to recover from it.

I hope everyone has a great 2008 as I am hoping to myself.