Thursday 21st July 2011 New Norcia to Geraldton
via the Pinnacles 397km
We were woken around 2am last night by two delivery trucks dropping provisions off to the roadhouse, they were parked right next to our van, would have been nice if we were given warning. We were told not to park the car next to the vanbecause there would be deliveries, but we were not told they would be at 2am!! I was grateful that we managed to go back off to sleep after half an hour or so of them banging about!
We were up next at 6.30am and on the road by 7.15am, it was rather foggy and we hadn’t been going for long when a large truck knocked one our towing mirror off the drivers side of the car! We were surprised that it hadn’t happened before now, some of the trucks are enormous.
We continued on to the Pinnacles (thousands of limestone pillars rising from the dune sands) in the Namburg National Park 250km north of Perth. We spent about an hour doing the 1.4km walk around the Pinnacles – so glad we came, we have never seen anything like them – check out the photos (when we put them up!!)
We pulled into Dongara a lobster fishing village for lunch. It has taken 2 weeks but we made it to the west coast of Australia, we found a nice little cafe on the ocean front and we shared a fisherman’s basket overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Greg noticed a while after we left Dongara that we had 42km to go until we got to Geraldton and only 42km of fuel left!! So we turned the A/C heater off, Greg reduced his speed a little and we gained a few more km until we would run out of fuel, then we found a servo just off the highway and we didn’t have to find out if we would have made it anyway!! Greg wasn’t into living on the edge!! :p
When we got into Geraldton we took the van into Country Times Caravans to have the TV mounting swing arm fixed back onto the wall of the van. We were told it would take a few hours so we went into town to the visitors centre and found some things to do tomorrow, then went to a car wash to wash the car. I was the one who had the hard job of putting the money into the machine and pressing the buttons for what wash we wanted. Trouble was you didn’t press buttons, there was a dial that had to be turned. So the car did not get the pre soak or the wheel clean that it badly needed, it got the spot dry instead – fortunately Greg noticed before we got any further and I stopped pressing buttons!!!
We had a bit of a walk around town before heading back to the Caravan place. We could not believe the great job they had done mounting the bracket, the guy had stained and block mounted a nice piece of wood to the wall and affixed the arm to it – it looked like a piece of art! Hopefully it will do the job – It has been a long time since someone has so simply and efficiently fixed a problem we have given them – everything seems to be too difficult these days and take too long. It was refreshing – maybe we just need to come and live in the country.
Oh yes we also picked up another mirror for the car and got a spare!
Then we headed to the Caravan park, set up the van and a lady came and told us we were welcome to come and join them for a sausage sizzle and some free entertainment – a couple of blokes playing guitar and singing. We weren’t sure what we were having for tea, so that solved that! We took our chairs down and enjoyed the music and a bite to eat. Then it was down to the seafront to watch a beautiful sunset – photos to follow! Well
eventually!! 🙂
Tonight we have worked out where we would like to stay for the next week and sent emails off, so hopefully by morning that will be sorted.
Today we reached the West coast of Australia and the Indian Ocean and notched over 5,000km for the trip which we expect to be around 12,000km. We are now 2 weeks into our holiday – we are hopeful of having more time to spend, in the places we visit, over the next 6 weeks where it will be warmer.
In case you were wondering, we are not visiting Perth or Margaret River or Broome on this holiday. We have been to these places before, and prefer to use our time at our other destinations.
Some people have been asking about our cracked windscreen, since Ceduna when it was about 18 inches long it has grown another couple of inches. It started in the bottom right hand corner of the driver’s side and is running along the bottom third of the screen. About 4 days ago it took a slight turn upwards but a few days ago it headed downwards! It has a life of its own! I am hopeful it will not grow anymore!
Another thing, our car did not come with mud flaps – seems a bit silly to me, seems we should have asked for them to be added. Anyway we have on occasion gone on very wet red dirt roads and the caravan gets totally covered in red dirt 🙁 Another thing we will get fixed when we get home.
I am sure there would be money to be made in putting a caravan check list and handy tips on the net – would be so much easier than rediscovering the wheel.
Thanks so much for all of your messages on our blog, your emails, skype/phone calls, we love keeping in touch with you all. 🙂
I am seriously tired, and rambling, so it is good night from me.
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