bushfire.io

An excellent app to read the bushfire situation. 

Today a large bushfire east of Perth dimmed the sun. Looking at bushfire.io it seems that highway 40 might be closed.

Sunny at last

After weeks and weeks of clouds and rain- a bright sunny day at the Busselton beach.

Kite repair

At Busselton beach. The kite was missing a spar and the central joint was broken. From my caravan repair kit I took bamboo skewers, glue and zip ties to make repairs.

It worked and the kite fly over the Indian Ocean but it suffered a crash and the substitute central joint broke again.

Time for a new kite.

It was a dark and stormy night....

One of the most famous sentences in English and not originally by Snoopy.

We have reached Albany and I am mixing a Dark and Stormy.

Blue tongue

Blue tongue lizards like to the cross road just like shinglebacks.

We saw quite a few today.

Fifty Thousand

Driving back to camp the Mazda CX-5 passed 50 thousand kilometres. 

It has been a reliable vehicle. 

Point Ann

We drove to Fitzgerald River National Park today.

We saw many wildflowers in the wild, a few lizards and a few birds. 

At Point Ann there is a beautiful beach  with whale watching platforms. We saw some Southern Right Whales in the distance - too far away for a photo.

The adjacent camping area looked good for a camp but there are no toilet facilities in the camp area.

Saturday Night .... du du du dooo

Early Saturday night at Bremer Bay Brewing.

I ordered a Sneaky Seagull - golden ale and a pepperoni pizza.

Mondriaan

New plasticism on Ravensthorpe? 

I did not investigate - next time!

Ravensthorpe Wildflowers

Driving through Ravensthorpe we found that there was a community display of wildflowers. They were arranged by their families with the botanical names on cards. 

Nearby tea and scones were available in an old pub.

Australian Raven

 This raven just wanted to be seen.

Watching the cows

Southern Right Whale - cow and calf

Back on 10 September when we visited the Head of the Bight we saw a cow and calf pass close to the lookout.

Visiting the Head of the bight costs as shown-

 

Loose threads

Before driving off in the caravan I check the tire pressure of the van and the car.

I have a recently acquired analogue pressure gauge.  The nozzle components have unscrewed themselves several times. Spitting tiny components onto the ground. So today I disassembled, applied Loctite and re assembled.

Ban Mountain Bikes

At Dempster Head mountain bikes are banned because of their environmental damage. Meanwhile in Brisbane the local government is encouraging mountain biking in environmental reserves. 

Twilight Beach

The rain and strong wind mean that no one is swimming at Twilight Beach.

Sharks are no problem - there is a warning system. 

Skylab Graveyard

Esperance celebrates that on 12 July 1979 parts of Skylab crashed scattering pieces between Esperance and Balladonia. 

Telecom Cable Markers

As we cross the Nullarbor, the Telecom Australia Optical fibre posts kept pace sometimes North of the highway and sometimes South.

Notoriously in Western Australia, the local Xmas tree would cut the cable.

The tree is parasitic and is roots grow nodules to cut into roots of other trees to tap nutrients.

Weird Legend

At the Mundrabilla Roadhouse is a strange story on a brass plaque.

I do not understand what it is about.

Was a novelist forced to work for a road building contractor?

Cocklebiddy Picnic

The weathered picnic table at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse. 

Ecula

Parts of the Ecula caravan park are shady and have ocean views. 

This is another caravan park without water.

Edge of the Nullarbor

We had an easy drive from the Nullarbor Roadhouse to Ecula.

Along the way are three well signposted lookouts.

At the lookouts the undermining of the cliffs was obvious. 

Banana Custard

Western Australia stops fruit crossing the border so tonight I am eating bananas.

Nullarbor Roadhouse

Nullarbor Roadhouse  packs in the caravans. Each Site has power but not water.

In the showers you pay for hot water.

The Right Whale

At the Head of the Great Australian Bight.

We watched a mother and calf cruise past immediately below the lookouts and very active whale vigorously slapping its tail under the cliffs.

Recycled Telescope

Once an earth station run by OTC. Now it is a radio astronomy telescope operated by University of Tasmania. 

About 70km North of Ceduna at the end of OTC Road - a wide unsealed road with some slippery patches.

You cannot do anything except look at it and take a photo.

Shelly Beach

We have reached the Southern Ocean. 

Shelly Beach near Ceduna lives up to its name.

The overcast skies and rain continue  as they have since Moree - a week ago.

Silo Art

My first Silo Art at Kimba.

Arid Garden

Australian Arid Lands Botanical Garden.

Just outside Port Augusta and beside the Spencer Gulf - It is a great display of the plants of arid Australia. There are many birds, some Singlebacks and a great cafe.

Hail storm

Our car is copping it in a hail storm at Port Augusta. 

Inside the caravan we cannot hear each other speak.

Spencer Gulf

View of the tip of Spencer Gulf.

Another rest day this time in Port Augusta. 

Road Skink

Singleback Lizard

As I drove from Peterborough to Port Augusta I noticed what appeared to be sticks crawing across the road. 

They were Singlebacks.

Alas we have no bananas

Today we drove from Broken Hill to Peterborough crossing the NSW-SA border. There was a sign adjacent to a ditch- not much to show.

There were long patches of reduced speed for road works but not much actual work.

There rest stops in SA so far have been very primative - a place to pull over with shaded picnic table, and that's all.

About 18km before Peterborough we were stopped and handed over all our fruit - tomatoes, pumpkin, avocados, strawberries and papaya. I was really looking forward to eating that papaya.

Rest Day

Marking up the map on the side of the A'van - something to do on a rest day.

Very pleasant weather today in Broken Hill.

Emu Parade

These Emus were in parade formation until a photographer (not me) approached the fence. Then they all wanted to be in the photo.

We took the Kidman Way from Bourke to Cobar. A great road with little traffic. But there were lots of goats (feral?) grazing  at the roadside.

Cobar was a decent town and worth a longer stay but we just stayed for lunch. There was a pair of Mulga Parrots guarding a nest box near the information centre. Very pretty -red, green, yellow and blue.

Cobar to Broken Hill was much busier and the waterways became sandy rather than watery.

We saw emus.

This was a long drive in one day; we will try to make our future drives shorter.

Green & Wet

Driving from Moree to Bourke, the Gwydir Highway then Kamilaroi Highway, there was much less traffic than Toowoomba to Moree. Only passed three times doing 90 kph on 110 kph roads. It felt much more relaxing.

The country is green and lots of yellow flowers.

Light rain all the way with water laying on the road. All the billabongs and "watercourses" are full and overfull.

Collarenebri was sad place with most business closed. Only a food van and a public toilet.

Walgett was lively with a good IGA supermarket. 

Brewarrina has lots of public art -

Breakfast in Moree

Avocado on toast and a cup of tea.

It has rained overnight and is cool.

But the water out of the tap is 34 deg. -very nice on a cold morning. 

Weigh In

First stop on the trip is the weighbridge to check that the set up is within the design limits.

1) Gross Vehicle Mass for the car (including tow ball weight & passengers) from car specification.

2) Aggregate Trailer Mass for the caravan including water, food and clothes from caravan compliance plate.

3) Tow ball weight, ideally 10% of ATM and less than maximum from car specification.

4) Gross Combined Mass ( car and caravan) from car specification.

The Rig

A Mazda CX-5 towing an A'van Cruiser.

On the Gore Highway.