Dec 9 (Day 313) - Geraldton to Galena Bridge

 Wednesday 9 December

We were woken quite early this morning by numerous fishing enthusiast coming to the boat ramp to drop off the boat and park at around 4.30am and continued even while we were leaving around 6.30am.  So we decided to pack up and move closer into Geraldton to have breakfast and where we needed to get a few bits and pieces for the van.

Because we had been woken quite early no shops were open so we found a lovely spot on Marine terrace at a park near the beach where we had some bbq's, playground & amenities. Perfect spot for a nice cooked breakfast. Unfortunately none of the bbq's worked so we got out our own equipment and it worked a treat.

Dec 8 (Day 312) - Jurien Bay to Geraldton

We woke to a hot, windy morning with a forecast top of 42 degrees C! The site we were staying in was on the top of a hill so was always going to be a bit windy.

Our campsite near Jurien Bay

Morning tea at Jurien Bay with Mim's parents

After breakfast we did our two morning readings, then discussed our plans. On such a hot day we decided to try to get a good leg of driving done, and to stop and enjoy the surroundings on cooler days. So we packed up and headed down to Jurien Bay to take a quick look at the water. By this time it was about 10:30 at the time which is the traditional hour the stomach yearneth for a bakery! So we pulled into the Bay Bakery in Jurien Bay and enjoyed a delicious morning tea.

 

 

Dec 7 (Day 311) - Cervantes to Jurien Bay

We celebrated our first combined morning on the road with pancakes for breakfast, which Bek cooked for us (thanks Beks!)

 

Breakfast together

We spent a bit of time looking at the manual water pump tap in their caravan which didn't seem to be working, but after disassembling it and finding nothing of concern it turned out the water tank was empty! Apparently it had overflowed when they'd gone to fill it before leaving so they thought it was full but something else must have caused that.

By about 11am we'd finished everything and headed down to Cervantes for a swim.

The ocean at Cervantes was simply gorgeous! Beautiful white sand and clear light green water blending into darker blue further out.

Dec 6 (Day 310) - Lancelin to Cervantes

100km

We had a pretty quiet morning as Mim's parents were intending to head off reasonably early and join us here in Lancelin, so we were just waiting around for them to arrive. We had breakfast, did our two morning readings, then had another cuppa and I did some work on the blog from yesterday and the day before (particularly those videos which always take so much longer to prepare and produce than they do to watch - a bit like preparing meals I guess!) 

About lunch time Mim's parents advised they were waiting in the gravel patch just out by the main road, so we finished packing up the van and headed out to join them. It was lovely to finally both of us be on the road together!

 

Dec 5 (Day 309) - Guilderton to Lancelin

150km today

After carefully heading back to the main road we drove about 6km down to Guilderton. After finding the main carpark was now a paid ticket carpark, we drove up to a public carpark on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and Moore River.

Guilderton / Moore River

The town of Guilderton is about 90km north of Perth, and sits at the mouth of Moore River. Moore River is unusual in that it normally doesn't flow through out to the Indian Ocean! There's a sandbar between the end of the river and the ocean, and over time the river fills up more and more until a combination of its rising level and the ocean crashing over the sand bar causes the river to break through the bar and all flow out to sea. The bar then closes back over and the process starts again.

Looking east from the cliffs to the broad swimming area in Moore River

Looking south to the mouth of Moore River (left) -
nearly joined up with the Indian Ocean (right)

Dec 4 (Day 308) - Perth to Guilderton - back on the road!

170km

Today we're on our way again! Our plan over the next couple of weeks is to head up north and then back to Perth with Mim's Mum and Dad. We're not sure how far we'll get in that two weeks but that's the broad plan. Beyond that we don't know exactly where we'll go. But we do want to go at least as far as Geraldton, because last year Mim and Jude had to fly with the Royal Flying Doctor Service from Geraldton to Perth when Jude broke his leg, so they've not travelled that bit of road before. We expect to get at least as far as Shark Bay, possibly Carnarvon. But we'll see.

The best laid plans of mice and men stated we were going to be heading off together first thing in the morning, after having gotten everything packed the night before. Oh how promising that always sounds. Our intentions to leave Adelaide at the start of our trip in mid-January sounded just as promising (we ended up leaving on 1 Feb!). If you've ever tried to head off at a particular time you'll know there are so many 'last minute' things that the last minute tends to take several hours or more! And so it was this time. Given the pace things were moving, I went back to the doctor for a face-to-face appointment rather than the intended phone appointment given I expected we'd have been on the road by then.

Nov 14 - Dec 3 (Day 288-307) - Border Village to Perth (including quarantine)

Saturday 14 November

What a whirlwind of a first few days! What started off a bit exciting but calm turned into quite an ordeal!

So continuing on from last entry... we were lined up waiting along with another couple who had been waiting a bit before us, and we agreed they'd cross the border first even though that was our hope. No matter. There was quite a line of cars but we were next to the other people at the front. The cars were all sitting there with their engines idling waiting for the signal from the police and not wanting to be the one who moved a second too late and got overtaken!

 

Quarantine check at WA border

At about 11:55pm last night the police waved a light to wave us over, so we let the other guys go first and took our place behind them.

 We'd already spoken to the police and the quarantine officers to work out what they'd need to look at and what they'd care about, in particular a bag of red sand we got from Big Red in Birdsville. Despite being told it would be fine, they decided at the time to take it :(. Not to worry.