Day 5-7

Streaky Bay is a great and relaxing little seaside town. We stayed at the Foreshore Caravan Park, which has a good playground and was right on the bay.

The girls made friends very quickly and spent all their free time playing with them.

On the first day when the tide went out you could walk out a long way as the bay is very shallow. Emma found a starfish left behind.

We took the tourist loop which took us to the blowholes that didn't blow even though it was wild and woolly weather. A short walk from the blowholes took you to the whistles which were whistling loudly. Also on the drive we stopped at a rocky and steep look out where we saw a large group of sea lions that inhabit the rocks. There were 30 or more sea lions swimming and enjoying the sun. We also visited the haystacks which are rock formations formed by more than 30,000 years of erosion. The land used to be level at the top of the rocks!

On the last day we visited the shark display. In 1990 a man caught a 5 ½ metre shark. At the time it was the largest shark caught on a rod and reel in the world. The display is a replica of the actual shark.

Day 7 we hopped in the car and spent the day driving to Port Pirie.

Chloe enjoying peace and quiet

Day 3-5 (26th-28th August)

The NULLABOR

NULL and A BOR(E), are an accurate description of the Nullabor. I seriously believe it starts at Norseman and ends in Ceduna because there is nothing but bush or grass. We lost all communication at Norseman and didn’t regain it until Ceduna. Phew! It took three days and two nights to get across, including a blown tyre shortly after leaving Norseman and the pump went on the drinking water. One night stay at a simple caravan park and the next at a rest stop, where we had no power so we lit a fire and stargazed, the girls loved it. It was very quiet

Lily lighting our camp fire

Although all the signs warned there were camels, wombats and kangaroos, we didn’t end up seeing any camels or wombats. Kangaroos were in abundance, all over the sides of the road, at sunset. We did see a dingo and 8 eagles all enjoying kangaroo meat on the side of the road!

The girls are a bit car crazy now and we will be stopping at Streaky Bay for a couple of nights before moving on.

The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. Today we got off the Nullabor and headed to lovely idyllic Streaky Bay. No sooner had we unhitched the caravan, Jade's back spasmed and had us (me) trying to put everything right because we didn't get the caravan set up yet and ring around trying to find a local clinic, who laughed when I asked what the local time was (i'd forgotten to keep my phone updated with the time jumps!). Thank goodness it was early afternoon and they squeezed us in and were very sympathetic as the beginning of our 'holiday' had started this way. So now his 'highness' is pain free and in la la land! So that should be the 3 from 'bad things happen in 3's' and now we can actually enjoy the rest of our holiday.

 

Tomorrow we will be seeing the sights and attempting fishing.

Day 1 – Day 3

Well we are off and running, McDonalds for breakfast and everybody is excited. However 2 and a half hours into the trip we found a car had rolled and people were standing around. Jade got out and helped. A bystander offered to take the injured and concussed driver to hospital and the others who witnessed it to stay and give statements to the police from Kellerberrin who arrived a few minutes later. The young driver told Jade that he was really tired and fell asleep at the wheel at 10am in the morning!

Back on the road, we stopped in Merredin for a stretch and play in the playground and then back in the car to Kalgoorlie, our first night stop over.

We stayed two nights in Kalgoorlie and saw a planned explosion at the bottom of the Super Pit. The Pit is 320m deep, 3.2km long and 1.4km wide and makes the trucks that are as big as houses look like little toy trucks in a sandpit. The blast was quick and sand and rock flew up in the air in big dust clouds then a second later the sound from the blast hit us. It’s impressive to watch and hear. There is a constant sound coming from the pit an orchestra of trucks, heavy machinery and the moaning wind.

 Later we checked out the Kalgoorlie Museum full of artefacts from gold mining, including rescue boards, gas masks and gold nuggets found and Aboriginal tools, including boomerangs and spear throwers, from tribes in the area when Kalgoorlie was discovered by pioneers. There was a miners cottage set up just how it used to be in the 1900’s and also a dentist room.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Nullabor!

 

So the trip....

So the trip will start on the 25th August and we will return around 2 November. First stop Kalgoorlie. We hope to be in Melbourne some time in September. The last stop before turning around will be the Gold Coast. Can't wait to catch up with family and friends.  The girls are hoping to see and play is snow...so am I!

I think we have everything we need and now we just have to pack the caravan. I've made a decision to not sweat the small stuff, if we forget something there are plenty of shops!

Well, stay tuned for the next instalment.

Christen x