Denmark to Margaret River: And in between.

Denmark would have to be the Stepford town of WA,It is really beautiful and looks like its been purpose built as it all looks new and very neat.
I found a caravan park right on the river and took the budget site option which meant i was on the grass near the road just as you drive into the park and it backed on to the playground,Oh well i was still comfortable.
The park was just across the road from a river so went for a walk along the river bank and had a walk through town.
The town and the surrounds are similar to the Dandenongs or like being in the snow fields without the snow with lots of windy mountain roads to get there.
My next destination was Manjimup which is a cute little town but not much there but has a fab caravan park.
I checked out the next morning as i didn't want to stay another night but the Oscars were on Win tv at 9.30 in the morning so i checked out and and went and parked in a car park and sat there and watched the whole show.What was Angelina thinking! That leg! That pose!
On the way i stopped off at a place called Green Pools which i was told about by a couple i met in Tasmania and it certainly lives up to its name, as the water is really green and the rocks form pools,It would be fabulous to swim there but the weather wasn't that nice and it was in a national park which means no Dogs so i thought i had better get out of there.
Next destination Augusta and its beautiful also but more be achy and is where i imagine the rich from Perth spend their holidays and weekends.Meg and i went for a walk down the beach which was right near the caravan park but the tide was in so we couldn't walk too far.
I just stayed the one night as there wasn't a lot for me to do there so then headed for Margaret River.

                                                                   Budget camp spot Denmark

                                                                      Green Pools

                                                 Roads were like this nearly the whole way.

Albany: To Denmark

Started the day with a drive along the beach road at Emu Point and found a dog beach so Meg could have a bit of time off the lead,Then headed into town and a wander around the shops and the waterfront area.
Albany is a wonderful mix of old world heritage buildings, beautiful coastline and mountain ranges,It reminds me a little it of Hobart.

                                                                Middleton Beach

                                                            Albany near waterfront

I didn't know but Albany was the first town in WA to be settled and it was the port where the ships set sail for the war in 1914.Above is a photo of Anzac Peace Park which is to commemorate where the ships left from.

After my walk and drive around Albany i headed for my next destination which is Denmark and thought I would take the scenic route.Below is a photo of what the drive was like for the most part.I hate to think what the non scenic route looked like.
As you can also tell from the photo it has started to rain which I'm hoping will wash the squished locusts off the bus.

ALBANY

Hit the road as the bus repairs were all finished by 10am so headed for Ravensthorpe with the intention of spending the night there but once i arrived decided to keep going to Albany.
It wasn't an easy drive as it was very windy and in a long high vehicle it can be a challenge keeping it on the road,add that to narrow roads with no shoulder and locus plagues and you get the idea.
The locusts were so heavy at one stage that it sounded like hail as they were hitting the bus and not a pretty sight from where i sit as they all get caught in the stone guard.Check out the photo below.There were heaps more but a lot had dropped off by the time i took the photo.

                                                                        Road Kill

I actually saw a fox run across the road in front of me today (So much for the 1080 baits) which brings my tally of live wildlife spotted on the road since my journey began to Two Emu's,Two Eagles,One Sheep,One Aboriginal (Yes, really, he just walked out from the bush and crossed the road in front of me) and One Fox.None were in danger of me hitting them as they were all in the distance.

Once again i had trouble finding a caravan park as the first i went to didn't take dogs and the second one was booked out so i got on google and found one that would take dogs and gave them a call and they said they were about to close so i had to beg them to stay open until i could get there which was some 20 mins later.By that time and about 500km's later Meg and i were worn out.

As a matter of interest the Odometer when i first left home was 259607 km and its now 263778 km and counting..................

Esperance: Waiting Waiting Waiting.......

Still waiting for the part for the water heater which I'm told will arrive on Friday,Yay! Not that Esperence isn't a nice place to spend some time but I'm itching to continue on my journey.
Ive been spending my time looking around the place, checking out all the beaches,checking out the shops washing the bus,sitting by the pool, reading and doing some yoga so i don't become a blimp.It really is a hard life.....Oh and my new sunglasses finally arrived,Nice.

The weather has been great since i arrived as its been mid to high 20's and its a beautiful balmy 30 Degrees here today so i guess there will be more swimming, reading , swimming..................

Sidney,the electrician, has also slipped from my good guy list as i received his bill. Ouch!

                                                         Beautiful Beach at Esperance

                                                               Campsite at Esperance

Esperence: Enjoying the views...

Still in Esperance having a break from driving and waiting for my Glasses to arrive(Will be Monday now)  ,I also had to wait until this afternoon to get the water heater looked at and for another Electrician to have a look at the bus electrics as the first one couldn't find the problem.Sidney the electrician from South Africa came to the rescue,He was fantastic not only did he find the problem he was also very easy on the eye and an all round nice guy.Sigh!
Anyway i now have to stay here for another week as the water heater needs a part and it will take about a week to arrive so quite happy to hang here for a while.
Just as i was about to leave, Troy the guy checking out the water heater, suggested i should get a reverse camera and i proudly declared "I already have one" and he said "Then how come your bike rack is all twisted?" "WHAT". I went and had a look and sure enough my bike rack was askew and the front wheel of my bike was bent out of shape,I couldn't help but laugh as it looked absurd.
I remembered when i parked last I reversed back and i was looking at the tree behind but hit the gutter so assume this may have been when it happened so i think i need a bit more reversing practice as it could get costly in repairs.
The beaches here are some of the best I've seen and the views amazing and the colour of the water is that blue it doesn't look real.

                                             Meg looking for lunch

                                                                     Twilight Beach

                                                     View from "The Great Ocean" drive

I have also found another caravan park which is much nicer and Rowan the park manager was happy to negotiate and has given me a great deal.He is only charging me for every second night which has made the accommodation quite reasonable.
Rowan is also from Melbourne and just moved here himself a few weeks ago and would you believe he also has a Jack Russell who is not only the same same age as Meg, he is also an epileptic.

                                                     View from rear window in caravan Park

Day 7. Esperance

Had an easy drive to Esperance and spent half the day driving around trying to find someone to check out the electrics in the bus as a couple of nights ago i touch some metal screws with the metal on my keys and i think it has blown a fuse as i have no mains power to the bus which is very boring as the bus itself has had no problems at all......Touch wood!
I couldn't find anyone available until 9am in the morning so there goes my sleep in.
I booked into a caravan park as there are no free camps nearby and was surprised when i had to pay $28 for a non powered site. So much for living cheap.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing washing and catching up on chores and some rest.
I didn't realise how tired Meg was from all the driving but she has been asleep ever since we arrived.
Tomorrow after the electrician let the sightseeing begin.

                                    Taken out the back window of the bus in camp at Balladonia

                                                                       Nullarbor

                                     Cliffs of the Great Southern Ocean near camp near Bordertown

                                                             Bus in camp at Ceduna

Day 5. Kalgoorlie "Good idea turned bad"

After arriving in Norseman at about 10.30 am in the morning my plan was to go to Esperance where i would rest for a few days and then i had a bright idea that i would go to Kalgoorlie instead as i probably wouldn't get another chance because after Esperance i will be heading West around the coast so after some grocery shopping i set off for Coolgardie where i would stay the night and have a rest then drive the 50km to Kalgoorlie the next day but then i had another idea and googled caravan parks in Kalgoorlie and thought i may as well go there and stay the night.This is where it all went wrong because when i got there i couldn't find anywhere to stay as they were either full,would only take permanents or wouldn't accept dogs so that plan went out the window so i drove another 50 odd km's to another caravan park at Kambalda that was in my camp book but when i got there it was a permanent park also so i had no choice but to drive all the way back to Norseman but by this time it was late in the day,I was tired ,Meg was tired and i struck all the miners traffic as they were knocking off for the day.
Finally arrived back in Norseman at 7.45 pm after doing between 600 or 700km's for the day.
Kalgoorlie will have to wait.......

Day 4,5,6. The Nullarbor

Firstly apologies for the last blog as i was really tired when i was writing it and was having trouble getting it right so i thought i would save it and come back and finish when i wasn't so tired but as i am still getting used to how the blog works it actually posted it hence why it was so disjointed so hopefully todays will be better.
Started the day early filling up with fuel and topping up the gas ready to start the "Nullarbor"as i couldn't wait to get going.
 I was so excited to begin that i only managed to get a quick snap of the famous Nullarbor sign out the front window of the bus as i sailed past........but once i got over my initial excitement i settled down and just cruised along taking in everything and was surprised at how green it was as I was just expecting red dust.
The first nights camp was just East of Bordertown right near cliffs overlooking the Great Southern Ocean and the second night i stayed in a caravan park behind the roadhouse in Balladonia where i purchased a $5 ice-cream and a $5 Latte....I enjoyed both so worth it.
Speaking of prices i was paying $1.97 P/L for Diesel in all but the roadhouse in Mundrabilla which was only $1.88 P/L and was glad when i reached Norseman to find it was back to $1.59 a litre and was surprised as it is the only place i have seen it cheaper than Petrol.
At the border crossing there is a quarantine station which is manned 24hrs a day and everyone is inspected so the night before i cut up and froze most of my vegetables so i wouldn't have to throw them out as you can't take across fruit vegetables honey or seeds.
The inspector also warned me about the 1080 baits that the farmers use to kill foxes and said not to let Meg out anywhere along the road or in the free camps and that the only place that was safe was at the Roadhouses which is why i stayed the next night in one.I had heard about them but couldn't find any information on exactly where they were.
I had expected there to be phone service at each of the roadhouses but there is only service as far as Madura so i decided i would fire up my satellite phone and give it a try. WELL do you think i could find a satellite NO! just as well there was no emergency as i could be still waiting.I thought that was the whole point of a satellite phone that they work anywhere and its not as if there were any buildings or huge trees etc to block.
I did try it again the next day and had a satellite so sent a text message which apparently was never received so I'm not too sure that that it was worth the effort to get one.
I also had a bit of a "Wolf Creek" experience as a truck came up behind me and wouldn't pass which is really unusual for a truck so i slowed down and pulled over a bit and he still didn't pass so i just kept getting slower and slower to force him to pass which he finally did but he didn't pull ahead as is normal so I again slowed down and so did he by this point i was getting a little concerned so fired up the non working satellite phone hoping for a miracle when he pulled over to the side which meant he would be behind me again and sure enough he started following me again and just sitting behind me.
I was relieved to see another car with a camper on the back overtake us both so i was pushing the bus to go faster so i didn't lose them and when they pulled in to one of the free camp spots i followed and the truck went on past so i just sat for awhile waiting to see what the other campers were doing and after about 10 minutes they pulled out so i followed them and got to Balladonia where i was relieved not to see the truck.
Im not sure what he was up to whether it was all just a coincidence but that was the only time while i was on the Nullarbor that i was in any way concerned as there is so much traffic going up and down the road and roadhouses dotted along the way so it really wasn't much different to driving on the Hume Hwy but it definitely has an aura about it and "Would i do it again"In a heartbeat as i loved every minute of it.
Oh and did i mention i kicked "Henry" the Polish fisherman out in Ceduna for not paying his way????

Day 3 Ceduna

Headed for "Streaky Bay" today and arrived mid afternoon and went for a wander around town,Had a Latte at a cute seaside cafe come restaurant which was full of Moroccan furniture and Bits and bobs,not exactly what you expect to see out this way.
Decided to keep going to Ceduna as it was still early and
We also finally found a dump point with a tap so were able fill up the water tanks and spare containers in preparation for the Nullabor.
While we were driving today we could see up in the distance two beautiful Emu's running across the road which made for a great sight.
Went for a bike ride around the caravan park to get some exercise after sitting all da

Day 2

Today we made an early start and got to Port Augusta for the night where we stayed in a free camp on the west side of town.
For a moment we thought it was going to be a sleepless night when two car loads of young backpackers pulled up with their music blaring but they soon settled down thank goodness.

Day 1. Wednesday 8th February 2012

Well finally after months of packing planning plotting etc Ma Maison and me are finally on our way.
The first day was fairly uneventful and as it was after lunch before getting away only made it as far as "Keith" but found a great place to hold up for the night at the local petrol station which had showers and even a laundry for travellers to use so made the most of the opportunity to catch up on some washing.(My blog is boring already)..... Hope i improve....Oh and did i mention that i have company for the first part of the journey? His a Polish fisherman named Henry.