Dec 16 - 18 - (Day 320-322) - Billabong to Perth

538km. 176km (16th), 128km (17th), 234km (18th).
Lines are marked different colours for different days.

Wednesday 16 December

This was the collection of cans the kids came back with last night!

Flat battery - started thanks to solar blankets!

Mim's parents headed off fairly promptly as they needed to get back to Perth before us. After they left we found we'd left the Cel-Fi Go (mobile phone signal booster) in the car turned on overnight and we had a flat battery. Fortunately with both solar blankets out we got enough charge into the battery after about 10 minutes to restart the engine.

 

While I was working that out the kids wandered over to where a Great Dane was tied up near a tree while its owner went into the roadhouse. Pretty enormous dog!

 

We drove on south and stopped at Northampton for lunch again. The kids, again, scattered with their can bags, and came back with more treasures!

Cashing in the cans!

After lunch we drove down to Geraldton and stopped at a recycling depot where the kids dropped off the cans. It's quite a different system over here to SA, and in fact I noticed the same type of thing in Victoria. These other states where can recycling is a new thing have come up with self-serve systems for it, unlike SA where people still count your cans for you. It's a better system here I think.

Anyway the kids ended up getting $37.40 which they were very happy with!

On the way back through Dongara we dropped in to see Kat again as we wanted to get this photo with Jude!

We started turning our mind to where we'd stay for the night. The two free camps we'd used in Dongara last year were both temporarily closed. There were some free camps along the start of Indian Ocean Drive (which follows the coast south of Dongara), however due to a fire this was closed off, so we had to stay on the Brand Highway. Unfortunately this whole section of road is very difficult as were no free camps at all, and the scrub on the side of the road was quite low or fenced in. Really not much at all available. 

 

However we eventually found a side road with some, apparently, disused access tracks running parallel to the main road, similar to what we found near Lancelin, so pulled in there and set up behind about the biggest tree in the area we could find, which was only just taller than the caravan. It wasn't too far off the main road but it was quiet enough.

Thursday 17 December

We stopped briefly at Eneabba Roadhouse for some supplies while the kids had a play on a nearby playground.

 

 

 

Burnt vegetation on Coolimba-Eneabba Road

Not far down the road we were able to take a right turn onto Coolimba-Eneabba Road and drive west back towards the coast and the town of Leeman, which is the general area we'd been wanting to get to last night, where the free camps were. This road was still open so we figured the fire was now out. Indeed it was in the main, although as we drove through it was clear the fire had come right up to the road we were on, and in spots had even jumped the road and started burning the scrub on the south side. In the distance we could still see a few spot fires sending up steady grey clouds of smoke.

It was clearly a pretty big fire!

One of the few places where the fire jumped the road

 

At the end of the road some fire trucks were still in place, and as we drove south we encountered a road block which was opened for us with some evident surprise by the people manning it who obviously weren't expecting to see a car and caravan come sailing down a road they thought was closed! For a moment we felt like royalty as the road block opened, we passed through, and they closed it behind us!

Leeman itself was small, nice but nothing special. We took a quick look at the coast and it was OK but not as nice as Jurien Bay or Cervantes. A little more seaweedy.

 

Leeman

We carried onto Jurien Bay where the kids had a quick swim but it was very windy so it wasn't as good as last time we were here.

Jurien Bay

Further south again, next stop the Lobster Shack at Cervantes!  We'd heard so much about China blocking Australian lobster and the discounted prices you could get lobster for. I can't say we've ever really thought about buying lobster but we figured while they're cheap we may as well give them a try.

They had probably a dozen live lobster in the tank which we enjoyed looking at, but in the end opted for a couple of cooked frozen ones as we really didn't have the space for a couple of these giants! They were still pretty expensive actually - we got a pack of six for $100, so ~$17 each for A size lobsters. And this was with a bit of a discount as one of them was a bit small. We had one and a bit lobsters each with our tea that night, but if you think about it that's still very expensive for just the meat portion of one person's meal! And of course you have to heat them up, then shell them like you do with crabs. These lobsters didn't have nippers. With a lobster the meat is mainly in the tail and there are no bones like you have with fish.

Checking out the fresh lobsters!

Was it worth it? I don't really think so for the price. It's a moderate fishy flavour, a bit chewy, and I guess it would go well in salads. But I wouldn't bother buying it again. For the same money or less I'd rather buy normal fish.

 

 

 

Clear evidence at the Lobster Shack that
Asian tourists are their key market!

Approaching Lancelin, with sand dunes in the distance.

We carried on to Lancelin, and again were impressed by the huge white sand dunes as you approach. The wind blowing off the ocean creates a constant spray / cloud of sand from the top of the dunes, and these dunes are always in motion, slowly shifting around as the wind blows them one way or the other.

We ended up staying the night at the same place we stopped on the way up, just off the side of the road from the turn-off to Lancelin.

Friday 18 December

Over to Mim now!

We left our quiet little spot in Lancelin about 10.30 and made our way down the highway back to Perth where we will stay for a bit.

We did our Job and Haggai readings and then listened to a Hancock's Half Hour.

As we pulled onto the Freeway there was a lot of traffic. As you can imagine after driving in the country for so many months this is quite an unusual sight. It seemed to be worse particularly around the slip lanes that entered the Freeway. Everyone slows down to let others in but then it slows everything down. Never mind it did seem to move smoothly again after a while.

We arrived back at Dad & Mums around lunch time and Johannes my nephew was already there. He was coming for a play with his big cousins and a sleep over so he was quite excited to see the kids again.

Greg & Joahnnes playing Downfall

In the afternoon when it had cooled down all the kids, Greg, Mum and Dad polished Dad & Mum's van as it had quite a few scratches on it from a track we'd been down coming out of Cervantes which we didn't realised was going to lead to quite a skinny track. But once we were going down the track there was no turning back. Anyway with a bit of elbow grease and determination we got it looking all nice and new again.

-- Greg and Mim