The end is near

We’re both starting to feel a bit melancholy about the end of our adventure.  We only have a few days left before the loooong trip home.  The weather up til now has been wonderful but boy are we paying for it.  We’re being battered by a storm that’s come from the west and who knows when it’ll let up.  The news that we did catch showed roofs being torn off houses in Perth and we’re still 600 km east of there. Gail swears she saw white caps on the puddles along the road today. 

There's gold in there

We’ve spent the last 3 nights in Kalgoorlie in hopes of seeing the worlds largest “Open Pit Gold Mine”.  Due to the storms and rain the viewing platform into the pit has been closed.  We finally got to see it today on our way out of town and it is even more impressive than the big Iron Ore pit up in Newman!  The information says that they extract 800,000 oz of gold per year.  (We calculated it out to 25 Tons)  At the price of gold I guess they’re making enough money to keep drilling, blasting and moving rock with the Mega Machines they use.  

Kalgoorlie is quite an interesting place.  It is just what I would expect a turn of the century (20th century that is) boom town to look like.  Hollywood has the look down pat!  There are ornate hotels and buildings in the main downtown area and they have been kept up or refurbished to the original look.  We mostly just had an easy few days there except when we were being buffeted around by the winds.  Oh, well I shouldn’t complain cuz it’s all been good til now.

It’s Thursday and we’ve given ourselves 2 nights and 2 full days of driving to get back to Perth.  (We still have 3 bottles of wine to finish)  Once in Perth on Saturday we’ll spend the weekend with Bob and Heather, who we met and became friends with on the cruise.    They are a wonderful couple, our trivia partners, and have been MORE than good to us.  We’ll get the little motorhome cleaned up and ready to turn in on Monday.  As an aside, I would NOT recommend “Around Australia Motorhomes” to anyone.   More on that in a later blog.

This will stop wabbits!

The great eastern highway, the road to Perth, had all sort of interesting tidbits. We followed the great water pipeline. Back when gold was discovered, someone thought up building a pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie, 634 km, to supply water. They built it and it pretty much follows the highway, Pump stations are signposted, history plaques along the away and in Kalgoorlie. I think it still supplies water today. Then there is the rabbit proof fence, (on one map it’s called the vermin fence).  At the turn of the 20th century, this fence was built from the south coast of WA, to 1139 kilometers to the northwest of WA  at Port Hedland, to keep the rabbits from destroying the farmland. Some guy in Victoria brought 24 wabbits over for his own yard and so he and friends could hunt them, and guess what???   They acted like rabbits and also escaped, eating themselves westward. (Can’t ya just see Elmer Fudd with an Australian accent?)  The fence was completed in 1907 and there are actually 3 sections. Just when they thought the rabbits were under control, droughts forced the emus to seek nice agricultural areas. At one point there were more than 100,000 lined up along the fence. The grass is always greener on the other side. With the exception of the wheat belt, there really isn’t much for anything to eat out there!

We’re spending a couple of nights ins the town of Merridan which bills itself as the Central Wheatbelt.  It’s actually the boundary between the wheatbelt and the goldfields.  We’ll have a look around town today and maybe take a little hike through the bush.  Hopefully we’ll find wifi in town so we can publish this, which will probably be our final blog from Australia.  Our 2 1/2 months here have been a lot of fun and a great adventure!  We’ve been fortunate to meet many interesting and friendly people, and it’s always the people who make a trip truly memorable.  So at this point we wish you all a g’day and thanks for following our ramblings here about.

Well, Here we are just moving right along the south coast of WA.  We’re in the town of Hopetoun between Albany and Esperance.  This is a little tourist/vacation spot with nice beaches and a nearby National Park.  

Prior to this we were in Albany on the coast for a few days in Denmark.  We really liked it there.  We were in a campground that was right on the beach and we were luck enough to be able to back into a space and have a little view of the water.  Previously we spoke of the wineries and breweries but we finished up the Denmark area with a stop at a “Meadery.”  There were 4 different types of Mead to taste and quite frankly all were pretty nasty.  Mediciney and sweet.  yuck...  We won’t do that again!  On the bright side though we got that taste out of our mouth with a stop at a little Toffee Factory.  SWEET!!  There were lots of samples to try, and we did.  Actually ended up buying several flavors and even some “chili peanut brittle.”  We were expecting maybe some cayenne or chili powder but oh no, there were actual bits of chili peppers in the candy.  You couldn’t really taste it but the heat lingered in your throat after you swallowed.  

We then left Denmark and headed north to Hyden and the home of the Wave Rock.  Yup, It’s a huge rock that has been eroded on the side into the shape of a wave, kind of like this (.   It’s 45’ high and over 300’ long.  It was quite cool and well worth the drive up to it.  We also toured a cave with old Aboriginal art on the walls.  Very cool too.  The only campground for the area was quite a surprise as it was well kept and very well appointed.  A little place in the middle of nowhere and it had free wifi.  I know that we take wifi for granted in most of our campgrounds back home but over here they are still few and far between. So, It was a nice surprise.  

Latest in fly wear

One thing we really hadn’t expected is the fly problem they have here.  We even broke down and bought a couple of nets to go over our heads to keep the little pests off our faces and out of our ears.  They have some bigger ones that are similar to our horse flies or deer flies that bite but mostly it’s just the little house flies that are just thick and annoying. It doesn’t matter if it;s warm or cool, if you’re outside, the flies are with you. Makes enjoying a walk or hike a little difficult.

Moving east along the coast, we stopped in Esperance. This small town, aren’t they all, is a holiday mecca during the summer. It’s also the gateway to one of the more popular national parks. All along the coast, it’s dotted with national parks. Quite a few of them only have dirt roads, or unsealed, and are for 4wd, some 2wd cars. The coastline in Esperance is quite stunning. We have had 2 days of stormy weather but took a drive along the coast and if the weather clears up, there are some nice beaches to walk to and tide pools to explore. Besides walking the piers and ports areas, we went to a fish leather factory. Pretty fascinating, making leather out of fish skin. It starts out as fish skin and through the process of tanning comes out just like leather. Then they make belts and wallets and some unusual stuff.

Soon, we start heading north up to the gold country, Kalgoorlie open pit gold mine, then turn towards Perth. Our time is almost over here and in a week or so we head back home.

Wineries and breweries

Margaret River

Our long days of driving are now over and we’re really starting to enjoy Western Australia.  We’re South of Perth in the Margaret River Wine Region.  We gave ourselves a treat yesterday and took a guided tour through the area, to wineries and tasting, cheese, chocolate, venison, a distillery, and topped off with a brewery. Plus a very nice lunch included at one of the wineries. And we didn’t have to drive, at all. It was a great time. Of course we made a few purchases, for down the road, to sit and enjoy when the day is done.  We’ve also discovered that we both like a little liqueur after dinner (strictly to aid in the digestive process).  I wish we could bring some home but they don’t sell anything in 4oz containers. The distillery we visited, The Grove, served us varying kinds of port with spirits and liqueurs. They make a macadamia nut, turkish delight which is milk chocolate and rose water, fruit flavored ones and they blend them too. For some reason, they can’t serve shooters so they make up their own. We were served, in one glass, a little macadamia nut, white chocolate and coconut liqueurs, topped with a splash of half and half. No sipping, down all at once. Umm, umm good

Next day, we did our own touring. We checked out the rocks at Yallingup (yes, it’s the town name), very impressive waves crashing on the rocks, toured some galleries, pottery, silver, saw lots of rolling hills with farm land and of course grapes. Tried to do a little shopping in some of the towns, but Yallingup only had a general store and Cowaramup had about 5 stores, but not stuff we wanted. We found an ice creamery, yum, and did a little shopping in Margaret River. Got some souvenirs. Did find a brewery and had a bite. We had planned dinner, pizza, at another brewery but it appears most wineries and breweries here really only do lunch and are closed at 5 or 6 pm.

 This is how a holiday is supposed to be!! Relaxing and laid back. There are a couple of beaches to check out with sea life and good surfing. We’ll take some of our wine, fresh venison salami, cheese and a baguette and sit on the beach for awhile. The weather has been beautiful.

In the campground

 Next stop  Denmark, WA.  We finished our tour of the Margaret River area and western coastline and moved here on the southern coast.   We’re in another wine region but not nearly as many wineries as Margaret River.  We toured, tasted and bought today.  We probably won’t have to buy any more beer while we’re here as we probably can now switch to wine and make it through the rest of the trip.  Too bad we can’t bring any home with us.  :(    The countryside is quite a bit like other parts of the USA.  Lots of rolling hills, pastures and trees. Some wineries had great cheeses to buy, yes we did, and chocolates to go well with wine too as a few had their own made ones.

We can tell we’re getting farther away from the equator as the temps are becoming quite cool and comfortable.  There does seem to be more humidity though.  In our park we have a space that backs right up to the Southern Ocean and there’s a flock of seagulls that are being totally obnoxious.  Now they’ve even gotten the magpies and gullahs involved.  Like a bunch of kids fighting and squawking.