{"id":3177,"date":"2020-02-27T19:45:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T09:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/?p=3177"},"modified":"2020-02-27T19:45:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T09:45:52","slug":"trying-to-catch-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/?p=3177","title":{"rendered":"Trying to catch up"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re in Broome, WA now, way ahead of where we are on the blog. It’s my turn to try to catch us up.<\/p>\n

The last post left us in Ceduna, South Australia, about to cross the Nullabor Plain<\/a> and make our way into Western Australia.\u00a0 We decided to spend two nights while crossing to allow us to stop whenever and still not drive in the dark.\u00a0 You don’t want to drive in the dark in rural Australia because sooner or later you will hit a kangaroo (or a camel, emu, cow, wombat, etc.) and have a bad time.<\/p>\n

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Watch out for wildlife<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We set our first stop to be in Eucla, WA, which is 492km from Ceduna.\u00a0 We stopped at a few view points along the way to take in the Bunda Cliffs<\/a> and to break up the drive. There were a handful of flies at each stop that incited a bit of fly rage. Little did we know we had no idea what fly rage was just yet.<\/p>\n

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The Bunda Cliffs along the Nullabor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More cliffs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the SA\/WA border we got a picture of the “Big Roo” and one of the holes of the “Nullabor Links<\/a>” – a golf course that spans 1,365km.\u00a0 I thought about playing, but decided against it since the last three holes were north of the route we were planning on taking and you know, snakes.<\/p>\n

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Big Roo, with Sara as a joey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tee box of a hole on the rugged Nullabor Links course or at least that’s what the snakes want you to think.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We made it to Eucla fairly early, but a bit later than we estimated since we learned it was in a weird timezone (UTC +8:45) and not Perth\/Western Australia time (UTC +8).\u00a0 We had planned to use the pool only to find out it was closed. So after setting up camp in the most wind protected place we could find, we made dinner and turned in fairly early.<\/p>\n

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Camp in Eucla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next morning we skipped the pay showers ($3 for 5 minutes!), fueled up by the “big whale”\u00a0 and got on the road with a plan to make it to Balladonia (another 492km day).\u00a0 The stretch of highway from Caiguna to Balladonia is the “Longest Straight Road” in Australia which seemed hilarious after a whole lot of long straight roads.<\/p>\n

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Big whale!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Woo, no turning for over an hour!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We got to Balladonia quite early (~1pm) and it was really hot, and the only thing in there is the roadhouse \/ caravan park.\u00a0 We couldn’t think of what we’d do with all that free time, so we decided to keep going.\u00a0 I had read about a small community run caravan park in Salmon Gums, WA so we decided that would be our target – a further 316km.\u00a0 We stopped at an underwhelming viewpoint in Norseman, WA (which is considered the end of the “Nullabor” drive). An hour more found us at the caravan park (only $10 for an unpowered\u00a0 tent site!) in Salmon Gums.\u00a0 We set up camp, had dinner and then set out to the local hotel to have a beer.<\/p>\n

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Camp in Salmon Gums<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given the extra ground we covered, we only had an hour of driving left to get to our next stop, which was Esperance.\u00a0 We planned to stay two nights there and given our string of tent sleeping and the forecast rain, we opted for two nights in a hotel.\u00a0 We got there before noon, and did a quick loop of a tourist drive to kill time before check-in.\u00a0 We were not disappointed – except for “Pink Lake<\/a>” which hasn’t been pink for over 10 years but they haven’t bothered to rename it.<\/p>\n

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Esperance views<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More Esperance views<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next day we went for a run and then I played golf while Sara walked around town.\u00a0 After that we didn’t do much as it was raining most of the day, so we just enjoyed our time in a non-tent structure.<\/p>\n

Our next stop was Albany – about 5 hours away, but first we traveled the opposite direction to check out a nearby national park, Cape Le Grande, where roos sometimes lounge on the beach. The weather was pretty iffy, but we went for it anyway.\u00a0 Sadly no roos, but the beach (Lucky Bay) was beautiful even in the misty rain.<\/p>\n

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No roos, no sun, but still pretty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had to drive the whole day because something was wrong with our seat and it would not go far enough forward for Sara.<\/p>\n

In Albany we stayed at a caravan park that was right on the water.<\/p>\n

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View from the tent in Albany<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was a thunderstorm the first night followed by some ridiculous winds that made sleeping in a tent quite challenging. After having our coffee and breakfast, we visited a local Suzuki dealer and they fixed the seat issue quickly and free of charge!\u00a0 We went and visited a few spots in the local national park, then explored the cute downtown area.\u00a0 Next we stopped and had a beer at a local craft brewery, Wilson Brewing Company<\/a>,\u00a0 before heading back to camp to make dinner.<\/p>\n

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Natural Bridge in Albany.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sara on the rocky shoreline.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Albany it was another 5 hour drive to Perth (the capital of Western Australia), with a stop at another national park, Porongurup National Park, along the way for nice long hike to a neat viewpoint on top of some rocks.<\/p>\n

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“Granite Skywalk” to the viewpoint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sara and a big rock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent 3 nights in Perth where we explored the town a bit, took in a Women’s Australian Rules Football match at the fancy new stadium, and checked out a few craft breweries, Bright Tank Brewing Co<\/a> and Blasta Brewing Company<\/a>, both highly recommended if you find yourself in Perth.<\/p>\n

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Selfie at the footy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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On the river in Perth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Perth we were off to Jurien Bay – only about 3 hours away.\u00a0 On there way there we stopped at a few national parks.\u00a0 First, one that had koalas.<\/p>\n

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Koala doing its thing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next, one that had the pinnacles<\/a> – they were quite amazing.<\/p>\n

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Yes, it was that yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, this is where the flies really begin for us.\u00a0 We thought they were annoying along the Nullabor, but we had no idea. When I say flies, there are a lot of them and they buzz your ears and nose and are really annoying. More on that later.<\/p>\n

In Jurien Bay we camped at a caravan park near the beach.\u00a0 We got set up quickly as we have gotten quite good by now at setting up camp. That night the winds came and made sleeping nearly impossible.\u00a0 The wind was gusting up to 65kph (40mph) at times shaking the tent and just generally making a lot of noise.\u00a0 Quite annoying.<\/p>\n

We were staying two nights in Jurien bay, so the next day we explored a nearby town, then spend some much needed time on the beach relaxing and swimming in the ocean. It was very hot that day and didn’t cool down that much, which made sleeping a challenge again.<\/p>\n

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Beach time! (Luckily minimal flies on the beach, go figure)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next stop, Kalbarri, about 4 hours away.\u00a0 On the way, we stopped at a pink lake that was actually pink.<\/p>\n

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Pink lake!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We hooked up the chromecast and caught up on some new Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes and got some much needed sleep in a hotel after two nights very poor sleep in Jurien Bay.<\/p>\n

After a robust sleep, we were off to Carnarvon, 4 and a half hours up the coast. On the way out of town, we stopped at a few coastal spots of the local national park.<\/p>\n

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Red Bluff near Kalbarri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We planned to stop at some of the cool-sounding inland gorges of this park, only to find out it was closed for the week for feral goat eradication – I did not anticipate that as a reason for a park closure.\u00a0 It was a bit rainy, and this seemed to bring all the roos out of the bush and into the road.\u00a0 I had to stop and honk at a lot of roos as they didn’t bound off when the heard me coming.<\/p>\n

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Stupid roo, get out of the way!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I now understand why there are so many dead kangaroos on the side of the road, as the big trucks don’t stop, they just mow them down.<\/p>\n

Back to the flies, for anyone doubting how bad they are, here’s a taste:<\/p>\n

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Flies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, now we are only two stops away from being caught up – that’ll have to be in the next installment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re in Broome, WA now, way ahead of where we are on the blog. It’s my turn to try to catch us up. The last post left us in Ceduna, South Australia, about to cross the Nullabor Plain and make our way into Western Australia.\u00a0 We decided to spend two nights while crossing to allow … Continue reading Trying to catch up<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3215,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions\/3215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}