Tuedsday, 19 Mar 2024
Before leaving Bromus Dam, Darren changed one of the wheels on the caravan with the kids. The tyre seemed to have a leak of some sort. We had a quick look at the dam and then packed up and headed to Esperance on the coast. We paid for some hot showers, did some laundry, topped up on water and groceries. While we waited for laundry, we met a man that had a pet ferret with him. We chatted to him for a while and got to hold his pet. It was quite cool. The kids enjoyed it too. The town of Esperance was not very helpful for people with caravans, as all the places to go and see said no overnight camping. So, we carried on after our errands were done and stopped at Munglinup Roadhouse for the evening. They had a playground which was really nice. The kids played there before it got dark.
Wednesday, 20 Mar 2024
In the morning, we took it slow getting ready for the day. Then, we left the caravan behind, and drove to Quagi Beach. Darren did some fishing for a while in the surf. The man we met with the ferret said that a certain type of fish was starting to run through the area so Darren bought a clearance fishing rod to see if he could catch anything. The wind and the tides weren’t quite right though as he didn’t get any bites. The kids and I explored the rockpools around the beach and found a few neat shells and lots of water snails. Then we went back to the vehicle to have our lunch nearby at a picnic table.
After lunch we drove farther along the coast on a little goat track through the sand and rocks to a place called Infinity Rock Pool. It really was like an Infinity Pool, right on the edge of the sea! It was beautiful and shallow and calm. And the sea beyond the pool was deep and rugged and would splash the waves so that the mist of the splash could be seen while in the pool. Despite the cold wind, we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity, so we got in and had a swim. Sometimes the drops came in and one time quite a good stream of water came into the pool, filling it with little air bubbles which tingled on your skin. The kids played a little at the edge and Boy did decide to come in and have a little bit of a snorkel. He said he spotted a few little fish. We got cold after about 20 minutes, so got out and warmed up and then headed back to the caravan. The rest of the afternoon, the kids played at the park, and we relaxed. It was a really lovely day after that last week of quite a lot of driving.
Thursday, 21 Mar 2024
In the morning we packed up and moved on quite early so we could get a good spot at the next camp site. We pulled in to the Norman’s beach site around 2pm and it was full. so we tried a few more in that area and they were all either full or closed to fishing. Darren was hoping to spend this day and the next day fishing. We were hoping to find somewhere on the beach on a river estuary but realised that this was not going to work out. So, we kept moving west. We passed through Albany and found a spot along a river but farther away from the beach. It was called Hay River. It was very peaceful, but it filled up quite soon after we got there as well. Darren tried some fishing but didn’t catch anything here either. We did however spot a small black animal that was crashing through the underbrush near our caravan. We didn’t make out was it was, but after dusk it came back and Darren got some photos of it. It is called a bandicoot. It is a very small marsupial and it eats bugs and worms it finds in the soil. It hops like a kangaroo and scurries very fast!
Friday, 22 Mar 2024
We had a been talking it over the last day or so, about how there were quite a few things that needed some TLC on the vehicle. We could tell that those things were getting worse quite noticeably. So, we decided to do one last thing and then head home, which was only about 2.5 hours away. That last thing was a treetop walk through the Valley of the Giants. It was really cool! We walked up a platform into the trees and walked around through the treetops. The walk was 40 meters above the ground. The walkway swayed to and from and we walked just like the trees blowing in the breeze. After the treetop walk, we did the understory walk which took us through the tree trunks of the tingle tree. It is a type of eucalyptus tree only found in this region. We hoped to see some Quokka, which are really cute tiny kangaroo type animals, but we didn’t as they come out at dusk. We bought some souvenirs t-shirts in the gift shop and then drove to our final destination near Bridgetown. We surprised everyone there as they were expecting us a week later. It was a pretty neat end to our trip.
We have more travels planned for the future. We would like to make it all the way around Australia at some point. We have already travelled the whole east coast, so we just need to the west coast and the northern coast now. We’d also like to visit the very middle at some point. But that will have to happen at a later time. I hope to keep posting about how we are getting along here as we settle in and find our new normal here. New adventures are awaiting.
Inquisitive Bird 