Xmas and the New Year

Well we’ve covered a lot of ground in recent weeks, and also got to sit still in Smoky bay for 10 nights – which was complete luxury and very restful. I have been looking through the photos and I think I should be starting my story in Esperance on the WA south coast.

We stayed in the Bush Camp camp ground there, just a short way out of town, and we had a very nice site, not far from the camp kitchen. Beautiful drinking water was available from the rain tank, but the rest of the water supply was bore water (whole town is on bore water) which was more than a little salty. We’ve found in WA that there is a lot of hard water in use around the place, and it is not much good for cleaning things – clothes especially, but also humans.

We were heading from Esperance to Kalgoorlie and then across the Nullarbor, so we found a great water source in town near the information centre and filled everything there before we left to head away from the coast (Sarah also made $10 from the Informatio Centre by taking a survey). These are the kinds of day-to-day matters that fill your mind when you live in a tent. We weren’t sure what the water would be like in Kalgoorlie, and then we had 4 nights planned for our trip across the Nullarbor – so best to plan ahead and keep all the water topped up just in case.

As it turned out, this was pretty good planning. We can carry 160 litres of water plus another 20 if we’re really pushing it. If we’re providing our own shower and toilet then we can use 30 – 40 litres per day, so with four nights planned across the dry southern coast where they are pretty cagey about giving water away, our full load was needed. In most places they charge extra for the shower, which can be a bit disappointing when you pay $1 and get cut off mid-soap.

Esperance was a beautiful part of the world, and the beaches were spectacular. We had to go and see Lucky Bay, and climbed Frenchman’s Peak while we were in the vicinity. Lucky Bay was everything it claims to be, although the water was still too cold for we Queenslanders. The nearby beaches were every bit as good, and it seemed that Mum’s warning that the whole coast is a series of beautiful beaches was spot on. We enjoyed our time there, and fished close-by Esperance, but had our usual return on effort.

Kalgoorlie was interesting, and although I had been there before, I had little memory of it. This time it was hot and blowy and we spent half of one night in the car due to the fear of falling tree, but it was a good place to look around and to do our Xmas food shopping, since there were no decent shops between there and our Xmas destination on the other side of the Nullarbor  – quite a long way between shops.

We also got in the first two holes of the Nullarbor Links, which were by far the best of all the holes. Playing golf across the Nullarbor was really quite fun, although Sarah has been nursing a “bung”shoulder for about 18 months now, and the golfing caused a flare-up again, which of course adversely impacted our team score. I describe her shoulder as “bung” since I don’t really know what is wrong with it, but suspect it needs rebuilding from scratch at some point when the circus gets back to base.

Crossing the Nullarbor was more interesting than I remember it being, but also every bit as boring as I remember it being. We went out to the coast everywhere that we could get there (surprisingly few places) and we had to pay to go out to the head of the bight. They charge less at this time of year since there are no whales there now, but during whale season they hit you up pretty steeply (IMO). Last time I was there I remember seeing the southern right whales frolicking just off the shore (closer than anywhere else I have seen them from the shore) so I suspect that most people see good value in the charges to walk out to the cliff top. Not much to see in the off season (just another beautiful coast line).

We free-camped one night, well off the highway and in a pretty remote place, but as with most things on this trip we still were not far from the nearest revellers (another group who were camping quite loudly about 75m away).

 Eucla provided us with an excuse for a last-night-in-WA dinner at the roadhouse restaurant, and we enjoyed the night there, although the golf hole was a bit of a challenge as I recall.

The next day we were in South Australia and made out last stop at the Nullarbor Road House, where we were able to hide behind a donga to get out of the howling gale – just can’t get away from the wind.

And then on to Smoky Bay for our Xmas holiday. It may sound strange that we need a holiday, since we’re always camping, but it was a much needed and welcome respite from the difficulties of travelling. We had a good camp site, close to the beach and jetty. The kids have reported on the Xmas feasting and some of our activities.

We fished unsuccessfully from the jetty, but towards the end of the year I looked into the razorfish and had a bit of fun harvesting these and eating them (both raw and cooked they were quite delicious – but a fair bit of work for a small meal). I can imagine a very tasty seafood pasta dish of some kind using these to great effect.

We explored the nearby (and more well known) Streaky Bay and went into Ceduna to give back our rental golf clubs. We tried our hand at fishing at some very promising beaches around the whole coastline, and I eventually landed an Australian Salmon (which was delicious, but obviously very lonely, since we didn’t see any of his mates). Our efforts at the fishing were very high, but the results not so good.

When we left Smoky Bay we put the fishing gear away and we’re not expecting to need it until easter.

From Smoky Bay we started seriously heading for home. We wanted to get to Broken Hill for a few days, since it is a long way to get back to it, and as the home of BHP it has a fair bit of Australian History. When we came into the camp, the proprietor asked us if we had brought any rain, to which I replied, “Yes. Yes we have.”. Over confident? I think not. 3 inches of rain later we left Broken Hill to bring the rain with us to Wilcannia (where I sit and write).

Broken Hill provided us with our last big town before Brisbane, and we were pretty impressed with Silverton and the Mundi Mundi Plain. It was really hot and steamy in Broken Hill, and, as usual, very windy. While they are used to the heat, it is normally a dry heat, and the humidity makes it pretty hard to take. The cold showers weren’t really very cold, but thankfully the rain brought some relief from the heat when it actually broke. The electrical storms were also quite spectacular, if a little terrifying.

The proprietors of the caravan park congratulated us on our rainmaking, and we went on our way to Wilcannia.