10th October - Home

Home Sweet Home

Enjoying the last campsite

We made it!

Mandy and Caroline Adelaide

Luke, Christopher, Hamish, Sam BMX Track Adelaide

Cliffs of the Nullabor Plain

Yeah, we're home... after alot of driving and 18,354kms we have made it back to Main Ridge. and yes, although its been a fabulous trip its nice to be home... we live in a great part of the world.

We made it across the Nullabor and to Adelaide in 2 days which was a great effort by all. We called in at the Nullabor cliffs and caves which the boys really enjoyed exploring but apart from that, it was pretty much hitting the highway.. the hobbit, surprisingly kept the boys interested. We arrived late in Ceduna, as we had lost 2 1/2 hours due to daylight savings, so we stayed in a cabin. You have never seen 2 more excited kids at the prospect of a bed and TV. They didn't even mind watching the Commonwealth Games. We left early in the morning and did 760 kms during the day to arrive in Adelaide at 6:30pm where we had dinner and beds waiting thanks to Caroline and Peter.

We had an enjoyable day off the following day in Adelaide, where the kids had a wow of a time on the BMX track, right in the centre of Adelaide, followed by a swim in the pool, playstation and going to the movies. Who couldn't asked for a better day! We enjoyed spending our time with Caroline, Peter, Hamish and Sam but headed off the next morning after a brief play in the park. We made it to Victoria, to great excitement in the afternoon. We were going to bush camp in the Arapiles? State Park, but were shocked to find about 100 other people there. There must have been a climbing convention on or something. So we headed back down the road to a little bush reserve which we had passed which was perfect. No one else was there, we camped by a small lake, had our last campfire and enjoyed the stars talking about the trip. We headed off the next morning and were struck by how green and wet Victoria is. We stopped briefly in Horsham and Ballan for lunch, the boys were very eager to get home and very excited to see the city of Melbourne.

We arrived home at just after 3:30pm. 16 Kangaroos greeted us, more than we had seen on the trip! The place is very green and the dams full. We're all very excited at being home and realise how lucky we are to live where we do. We've had a great trip with so many highlights and its really hard to say what our favorite spot was after visiting so many amazing places.

We hope you've enjoyed following our adventures, not as much as me as we have. Until our next one. Au Revoir.

5th October Nullabor

Sunset on the Nullabor

Wildflowers on the Nullabor

Camels on the Connie Sue

Connie Sue Highway?

Sturt Peas on the Connie Sue

Sleeping out under the stars

Junction of Anne Beadell and Connie Sue

Travellers on the Connie Sue

Camels on the Anne Beadell

Dingo

Mesa's, Anne Beadell

The Thorny Devil

Having a true bush shower

The Anne Beadell Highway

We made it! Just.... out of the outback, like really outback. We left Laverton on Friday around lunch and headed off on the Anne Beadell with huge expectations of big corrugations, big rocks and a slow bumpy ride. We were wrong again and had a very cruisy trip to Neal Junction where we met the Connie Sue hghway. The scenery was so beautiful, with green spinifex, rock mountains, forests and lots of wildlife including Camels, Roo's, Dingoes, Repitiles including a Thorny Devil. The first night we camped at an old homestead, a very little one, and the boys got to experience a true bush shower. They filled buckets from a nearby well of water, heated it on the fire and then had a shower using another bucket with holes in it, in an old tank. Perfect, they were very impressed. We got to the Connie Sue the next day and headed south. We were lulled into a false sense of security by a wide sandy road with very few corrugations that wove around some old sand dunes. We slept out in the bush in the swags under a huge sky. Sunday we continued on our merry way seeing more wildlife, until we came to a turn off where the Connie Sue disappeared into a single lane rocky track and the other road continued off to the west. Then it was slow, dead slow. We had hit the Nullabor plain. It was rocky, we must have been on private land. Burnt out cars and cattle appeared on the side of the track. Vegetation disappeared. We were very glad we had track notes as tracks came and went all over the place. It took us 3 hours to cover the last 80kms. We met the owner of the cows on the track. Our first sign of humanity since leaving Laverton, the best part of this part of the trip was the complete solitude and real feeling of being nowhere. He asked us where we were going and said did we know the way from Rawlina to Cocklebiddy our destination. No was the answer as the Connie Sue ended at Rawlina. He told us most of the tracks marked on the maps didn't exist anymore and how dangerous the maps were as people could get lost out in the Nullabor on the wrong track. We were down to Jerry Cans of fuel so didn't want to go wrong. His directions were follow the dog fence along the train track until it ran out. Turn right and follow the track from there. Head South East. A junction around 30kms keep left, Head South. Probably about 96 miles and take about 5 or 6 hours and we had the wrong tyres. Goodbye. So we followed the dog fence headed right into some ones property and about 5k down came to a homestead, well better description some metal containers acting as houses. The family there Sally and David were very friendly but not very knowledgeable as they had only been there 3 weeks ago. Yes they believed you could get through to Cocklebiddy but it was very rough, someone had come past 2 weeks ago. Probably about 100km. David took us down to a junction where he was checking the water and we said goodbye. We went left and continued for about 10km before stopping next to a massive field of wildflowers and camped under the biggest sky ever. Its very flat on the Nullabor. The boys had a great time riding their bikes on the plains. The next morning, we headed off again all optimism that we would be in Cocklebiddy in a couple of hours as the road wasn't rough as expected. Wrong, 5 1/2 hours later we turned up after doing 100kms. Well there wasn't one junction, there was several, going South and East. Lucky we were guides and scouts. The compass and GPS came out (it couldn't get a position), but could tell us the direction. We slowly continued South as much as possible. Saw hundreds of Kangaroos but nothing else. No trees. Yeah, it was a bit stressful, The road, correction, track(s) were terrible. Rocks all over the place and we were continually expecting a puncture. Nobody around for literally miles. But, we made it. We eventually arrived on a bigger track that looked more promising and turned out to be the Cocklebiddy / Rawlina road. Why the farmer bloke sent us out into the middle of nowhere after telling us it was dangerous how people could get lost with misinforming maps we don't know. Apparantely the road/ track had been bad the week previous with the rain and someone had got bogged for a couple of hours. Anyway, we made it. Had lunch and are now on good ole tarmac for the rest of the trip. Well, maybe. We bushcamped by the Eyre Highway last night just west of the border in the swags, listening to the road trips whistling past. We're now heading to Ceduna, caravan park and showers. HAave just visited the Nullabor caves which the boys really enjoyed. We are definitely homeward bound, just the state next door!

1st October Laverton

New sleeping attire

Back to campfires and sunsets Yeah!

Setting up the swags

Successful fishing

Cute Pelican :) Kalbarri

Our 2 nights in Kalbarri was very enjoyable, a lovely seaside town with the Murchison River coming into it. The boys enjoyed fishing and actually caught a few, although very small, so they went back home. We snorkelled in some local rockpools and enjoyed our last day by the sea. We have now headed 900km East and are back in the Outback, passing through very few towns. Its mining area again, although not as obvious as the Pilbara. The wildflowers are out in beautiful varieties of colors, cheering up the landscape. In Geraldton we decided to have a change in scene in our camping and bought 3 swags. The boys are really excited about them and we've enjoyed sleeping out in them for the last couple of nights. We are back to bushcamping with no one around and very little traffic. Just the way we like it. Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been keeping us entertained in the car as we put the k's behind us. Today we start on a new adventure on the Anne Beadell track, to meet the Connie Sue which will then bring us back down on the Nullabor. This is likely to be the most challenging of the roads we have done but we're looking forward to it. We're now in Laverton our last town for a while checking out the road conditions. Wish us luck!

27 September Kalbarri

Cheeky as ever!

Hamelin Pool (looking more and more ferral)

Lukes dead fish pose:)

Moon Set at dawn, Francois Peron

Moon Rise at Francois Peron

Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Toilet at Gladstone

Wel here we are in sunny Kilbarri after another week of sunshine on the West Australian coast. Our last stop at the beach before heading inland for the trek home. Since leaving Coral Bay we headed further south to Shark Bay, named for that reason except we didnt' see any (well maybe I saw one little wobbeygon?). We stopped on the coast for one night at the former port of Gladstone, where now there is only a jetty and a wooden toilet, but we were able to have a campfire and be on the beach. Next day we headed to Monkey Mia where yes, we saw the dolphins (well one dolphin) being fed and watched some other dolphins playing around in the afternoon. It is a beautiful beach and they are very enthusiastic in their treatment and approach to looking after the dolphins. Rather than staying there we headed into Francois Peron National Park, and had a beautiful but very sandy drive to the northern part where we stayed for 3 nights. The boat got another work out, as did the fishing lines, but fishing is definetely not in the Kelly blood. It hasn't dampened the boys enthusiasm however. We saw wild dolphins out in the boat and Mandy saw hundreds of fish out snorkelling. Most of the time we had only some WA farmers for company, who weren't there during the day so had the beach to ourselves. Now they were really good fisher people and generously gave us some beautiful taylor to eat one night (the remainder is currently being used for bait on the Kalbarri pier). We were there for the full moon and had beautiful rises and sets of the moon in the morning as well as sensational sunsets. We went twice up to the far point where we saw more dolphins, lots of dugons, rays and manta rays. From there we headed back down to Denham visiting the local aquarium, where we did see sharks, and had a very interesting tour of the local fish by very enthusiastic guys there. After realising we were supposed to book to bush camp on the coast we headed down to Hamelins Pool, where there is a campsite at the old telegraph station and post office. A really pleasant campsite and also famous for its Stalactites which are very very important and have existed longer than anything else and are our reason for existing. They look like red rocks. Today we have arrived at Kalbarri, stopping at the Murchinson River for a picnic and swim. Boys went on strike so we did not visit the gorge. They are now fishing, whilst I update. Tomorrow, last swims, snorkels, fishing, toy story 3 and pizza by the stars and then the big trek home. We have decided to be semi adventurous and will go inland from Geraldton and do the Anne Beadell and Connie Sue tracks, bringing us on the Eyre Highway at Cocklebeedie or something. Everyone is very well, but maybe starting to get a bit tired and home is looking good. See you all very soon.

21st September Coral Bay

Sand Dune Driving, lots of fun

Snorkelling at Oyster Bridge a personal aquarium

Oyster Bridge

Coral Bay

Beach Driving

The Coastal Road

Grade 1 Boys Red Hill Primary

Boat Harbor

After one more night in Exmouth where the boys got to watch G Force on the big screen we headed out to the National Park, where we had lunch with the Red Hill family's (it was Nash's birthday) and another family we had met a couple of times enroute. They all lined up to watch us cross Yardie Creek an infamous creek crossing which didn't prove to be very much after all. 10km on we bushcamped at Boat Harbor on the recommendation of the Stuarts. The wind has come up quite a lot so it was not as pleasant but there was a small sheltered bay where we could still enjoy swimming and saw some beautiful soft corals and large fish. We found some amazing caories there and the boys tried their hands at fishing again but unfortunately there was no fish for dinner that night. Some locals found 2 huge crayfish, and tried to swap us a massive fish for firewood, but given fires were banned we couldn't exactly help.
Monday we headed down the coastal route, a sandy track that passes through government property and then 2 massive stations to Coral Bay. It was really beautiful with mountain range on one side and massive sand dunes and crystal clear waters on the other. Stopped for a swim, but unfortunately not good snorkelling but still crystal clear waters. We are back in caravan park madness at Coral Bay where we are back with the masses. Today was one of the trip highlights. We snorkelled this morning at the local beach of Coral Bay, where the Coral is truly amazing and so easily accessible. The boys went out in a glass bottom canoe where they could also see the fabulous coral. This afternoon we went by beach (very full on driving) to Oyster Bridge where it was like snorkelling in your own aquarium, in two huge pools created by the low tide. The boys really enjoyed it and the amount of different fish was amazing. We came home via the sanddunes which was lots of fun, described as like being on a rollercoaster. Tomorrow we head down south for Monkey Mia and Francis Peron national park after another snorkel in the morning. Forecast is for sunny and 29 degrees getting up to 31 degrees on the weekend. Its a hard life!

18th September Ningaloo

Turquoise Bay, Ningaloo

Swimming at Ningaloo

Turquoise Bay

Enjoying the glass bottom boat Ningaloo

Big Machines!

Boys enjoying Big Machines!

Camping Dinner at Karijini

Yeah, we are back in Sunshine and warm days near the beach. After our wet day in Tom Price and the boys enjoying the luxury of a cabin, we said goodbye to Dad and spent the day driving to Exmouth. The day went very quickly despite being 550 odd kms as we have embarked on a new series of talking books which called Percy Jackson and the Olympians which has us all hooked. We have now been in Exmouth for 3 nights, getting the car serviced and yes finding more of Luke's friends from Red Hill. Now we have also met up with the Jacobs, Nash being in Lukes class. We went out drifting down the reef at Turquoise Bay on Thursday which the boys seemed to really enjoy as it was easy off the beach. Crystal clear waters, lots of fish and coral. It really does rival the Barrier Reef and for accessibility its fantastic. Yesterday we went out on a glass bottom boat and snorkelling with the 2 family's from Red Hill and another family who also have boys that the kids had Point Sampson and had recognised Luke. Surprise, surprise. There were lots of oohs and aahs from the kids as we went out over the reef and our 2 boys did a great job snorkelling off the boat. Again the snorkelling was fantastic with some brilliant fish and some bombies that were up to 1000 years old.

We have debated lining up at 7am in the morning to get a campsite in the National Park as its a 50km drive away but have decided to drive through, do the infamous Yardie Creek crossing and camp on the other side (wind permitting). We'll see how we go for a couple of nights and then drive down behind the sand dunes to Coral Bay. We're very much aware now that we are on the homeward track now which is both exciting but a bit sad.

14th September Tom Price

Spider Walk at Hancock gorge, Karijini

Traversing the gorge walls

Clearwater Pool Karijini

Fern Pool, Dales Gorge

Ha
nd Rail Pool, Karijini
Mandy and Dad at Gorge lookout

Climbing out of Jeffre Falls

Jeffre Falls with water

For the Grade 2's a traditional aboriginal house

Cool dudes in their safety glasses

Climbing on Rock Art ???

Boys and their toys

We have arrived a day early in Tom Price after a very diverse week since leaving Port Hedland. Dad arrived last Wednesday morning and we headed straight off towards Port Sampson. We stopped briefly at the information centre at Roeborne which is located in an old jail with very good records of the history of the area. The jail was pretty much set up to house Aboriginals and the history of how they treated them is pretty shocking. From there we visited the historic pearling town of Cossack where dad ended up staying the night in the converted police station. Another very interesting place that has been immaculately restored, it tells of the history of the pearlers including the Japanese that came out, how the aboriginals were forced to dive, the leper colonies and the history of the town and its people. We stayed the night at Port Sampson which wasn't overly exciting except for it's exceptional fish and chips. The next day we moved onto Karratha and Dampier right into the heart of the mining towns. We did a resource tour of the Salt Mines, the port loading bays for Iron Ore and the NW Shelf Gas plant which was also very interesting and gave us a good appreciation of the mining industry and how it works. Unbelievably nearby there is open air rock art, said to be the first Art in the world just sitting there. World Heritage listed but with no signs or protection but open to anyone to walk around, over and in and definitely the best rock art we have seen.
We camped the night at the Dampier Transient Camping Ground, overlooking the loading bays for Rio's Iron Ore and home of the Red Dog of which the film premiere is scheduled to take place next May in Dampier!
From Dampier we headed inland on the private Rio Tinto corrugated road and overnighted at Millstream park next to a lovely billabong where we had a cool swim in the morning. Dad joined us there and the rain set in. We spent the day driving on dirt roads, quickly turning to mud roads to Karijini. Dropped in at Hamersley Gorge spectacular even in the rain but too wet to walk down to. On the way out we met an overturned 4wd who had misjudged the slipperiness of the roads (we were off road all this time). Arrived late afternoon in the continuing rain to set up camp. Dad stayed in an Eco Tent, which really are too pricey for what they are. We all managed a bbq under our awning and woke up the next morning to sunshine and had a great 2 sunny days of exploring the gorges of Karijini which really is a big adventure playground. The previous days rain was actually fortunate as some of the waterfalls not usually filled at this time of year had water flowing. The highlights were the Jeffre Falls, (which Dad very impressively climbed to), Dales Gorge with the Fern pool and Clearwater pool, which was lovely to swim in and Hancock Gorge. The boys did an amazing job doing the spiderwalk down Hancock Gorge, legs and hands on opposite sides of the gorge, traversing the rock sides of the gorge and wading through the rivers. It was one of the highlights for them.
We were due to stay another day but as the forecast was rain we decided to move on to Tom Price where today we did a mine tour, a boys delight. Huge machinery everywhere, big piles of dirt and lots of steel. Would you believe we did it with another family from Red Hill.... Robin, Matt, Lucas (yes in Grade 1 with Luke) and Clare. The rain has set in for the day and we are in a Chalet ? in Tom Price which the boys are hugely excited about. Dad's just beaten Luke in chess 3 times in a row!

4 weeks until we are home. Time is going quickly but as Christopher says it feels like we have been away for 3 years. We say goodbye to dad tomorrow and head off to Exmouth , where apparantely another Grade 1 family the Jacobs are also due to be located.....