The Best Of

As we get closer to home it has been a great time to reflect on what an amazing adventure we have had and how much we have crammed in to the last six months, and all the people we have met. You often get asked what has been your highlight or favourite place when you have done a trip such as this so as I am so bored (driving home) I have decided to compile a list. It is too difficult to compare places because everywhere is so different but these places rate in our top 10 in Australia in no particular order;
Best beaches:
Turquoise Bay (Cape Range NP, WA)
Hellfire Bay (Cape le Grand NP, WA)
Whitehaven Beach (Whitsunday Islands, Qld)
Cable Beach (Broome, WA)
Clarkes Beach (Byron Bay, NSW)

Best Gorges:
El Questro
Karijini NP
Kings Canyon
Orminston Gorge

Best commercial Caravan Park:
Cairns Coconut Resort
1770 Camping Ground
Whitsundays Holiday Resort
Cooinda (Kakadu NP)
Adels Grove, Lawn Hill

Best camping spot:
Shannon NP (Karri forests, WA)
Cape Range NP
Finke River NP

Best Walks:
Handrail pool, Karijini NP
Kings Canyon rim walk

Best Ice-cream:
Elephant Cider, Denmark
Noosa

Best Bakery:
Jabiru (Kakadu NP) a unanimous vote

Best Boat Tour:
Coral Bay snorkelling trip
Karumba fishing charter (only Rick)
Yellow Water, Kakadu NP

Best Lookout:
Ubirr - East Alligator region, Kakadu NP
Pigeon Hole lookout, El Questro Station
Kings Park at night overlooking Perth
Kings Canyon

Best Wildlife Experience:
Rick; swimming with turtle at Cape Range NP
Sharon and Caitlin; Coral Bay snorkelling with manta ray and turtles on beach at Cape Range
Cooper & Caitlin; dolphins at Sea World and green tree frog called Lucky at Kalbarri

Best Swimming Pool / Water Park:
Cairns Coconut Resort
Cooinda (Kakadu NP)

Nearly Home

We had approximately 5 hours of driving to get back home - except we weren't able to get into our house till Thursday so we were going to mum & dads' for a few nights. The kids were desperate to get there - Cooper asked every few minutes ' how long to go?' After a record number of toilets stops and a traffic jam on the Western Ringroad we completed our circuit of Australia around 2.00pm and were greeted with lots of hugs. We had a welcome home BBQ with our families which was a lovely welcome back.

Little Desert National Park

We crossed the boarder into Victoria in the late afternoon. Our last camp site was just out of Dimboola at Little Desert NP. It was a lovely spot near the river amongst the trees - not really like a desert! We had a campfire and cooked some sausages. Caitlin made some damper (which is another thing we we kept saying we were going to do the whole trip) and we cooked it over the coals. The kids were very excited about going home tomorrow and had trouble going off to sleep.

Mt Remarkable National Park

We searched our road maps to find somewhere roughly 500 km away and decided Mount Remarkable sounded like a good stop over. We were still adjusting to the time difference and everyone slept to 8am meaning we didn't get away till 10.30am. It was a cruisey drive passing through a number of small towns and wheat fields. We arrived at Mt Remarkable NP and found a campsite which is set amongst the very majestic river red gums. Rick was adamant he was going to cook scones before getting home so thats what we had for dinner much to Coopers liking!

Streaky Bay

Murphy's Haystacks

After lunch we went for a drive out to Point Labett Conservation Park. On the road in Rick had to give way to quite a few stumpy tail lizards. We stopped to get a closer look at a couple and the kids were very confident holding them. At Point Labett a viewing platform over the cliff allows you to observe the only permanent colony on Australian mainland of Australian sea lions. Although they were a good 50m below us you could watch them lazing about on the rocky shoreline. We continued on via Baird Bay to Murphy's Haystack, wind-worn granite pillars and boulders - a little over rated or maybe we have seen such amazing things we aren't easily impressed anymore! The kids were keen to get back to play.

Streaky Bay

It rained consistently for most of the day which was perfect because we didn't feel guilty about doing absolutely nothing. The kids were kept entertained playing with the other kids in the park - there seemed to be quite a few Victorians on their way home. We couldn't even be bothered cooking so we went to the pub for dinner.

Streaky Bay

Having not adjusted to SA time we didn't get away till 10.30am (8.00am WA time).  At Nullabor Roadhouse fuel was 209.5 - thankfully we didn't need to fill up. We stopped at the Head of Australian Bight where you pay to walk down a viewing platform to lookout over the limestone cliffs and the Great Australian Bight Marine Park which protects a major breeding ground for the southern right whale. The whales migrate here from Antartica in June and can be seen from July to September. The southern right whale was hunted relentlessly in the early 1800s and the population was reduced to only a few hundred. Protected internationally since 1935, the species has only recently shown real signs of recovery. We continued on and had a bit of scare with the car - Rick thought it was something to do with the turbo when we lost power driving up a hill. We couldn't blame the chip because Rick had already disabled that the day before. We had some lunch while we let the car cool down. Thankfully, it seemed fine when we got going again. With the Nullabor behind us we started seeing more signs of civilization. At Ceduna we handed over the last of our fresh fruit and veg to Quarantine and continued on to Streaky Bay arriving at the caravan park after 7pm.

Crossing the Nullabor

We were woken early with vehicles coming and going and road trains thundering past. We had fruit for breakfast in a bid to use up what we could before quarantine at the boarder. The scenery became more desert like with less trees and very little else except lots of dead roos on the road. In between DVDs the kids managed to do some schoolwork. We fueled up at Mundrabilla which was the most expensive fuel we have seen at 199.5. We had a little bit of phone reception so managed to ring Rick's mum for her birthday - Happy Birthday Wendy! Another milestone - the GPS showed 2000 kilometers to go! We crossed the boarder into South Austrlia and lost 1 1/2 hours. We stopped at the first lookout for views over the Great Australian Bight - it was quite misty and overcast. We decided to camp at 'Koonalda' which was 14km inland on a bumpy, well worn track. We weren't sure what to expect and arrived to find lots of rusting, old car bodies and the homestead which was built in 1938 from old railway sleepers. Koonalda Homestead was a service point for travellers along the Old Eyre Highway. Over the years, it became a graveyard for vehicles that broke down in the harsh landscape. It was really interesting and quite eerie walking around all the old car bodies - hard to believe people at the time attempted crossing the Nullabor in some of these cars on what would have been a dirt track at the time.

Heading Home

'Sammy'

We are officially heading home today which is still over 3000 kilometers away. We decided to break it up into two lots of 1500 which makes Streaky Bay a good half way point to break up the trip and stop for a couple of days. Before packing up we headed down to tanker jetty to see if we could find Sammy the resident sea lion. We didn't have to look too hard because he was having a snooze on the beach just near the jetty. After a quick grocery shop we headed back and packed the van. Beore leaving Esperance and heading across the Nullabor Rick decided we needed to replace one of the tyres on the van - fortunately the third place he phoned had the correct size. It was after 11 when we were finally on our way and we had to head North to Norseman before making any ground in an easterly direction. Just before Norseman I plugged in our home address into the GPS - 2956km to go! Around 4.30pm we set up camp at a roadside stop which was about halfway along the 'longest stretch of straight road in Australia' which by the way is 146km.

Cape le Grand National Park

The plan was to spend a couple of days here taking it easy before embarking on the journey home. Rick spent some time helping a German couple having some car troubles. We decided to head across to Le Grand beach to try escape the wind. We went for a drive along the beach and then did some rock scrambling where we meet another family from Perth. We found an octopus hanging out in the rock pools. We enjoyed a drink with them at their caravan and then headed back for dinner.

Esperance

Lucky Bay

Over 500km today to get to our next destination which is Cape le Grand National Park. It has been consistently windy traveling all down the west coast but today we copped the worst head wind of the trip - a 30-40 knot easterly pounded us all the way. We stopped and made some lunch at Ravensthorpe and the kids had a run around in the park. We arrived in Esperance just after 4 and called past the visitors centre before heading straight out to Cape le Grand. We went straight to Lucky Bay campground which seemed quite busy so we headed over to Le Grand Beach campground which had a 'Campground Full' sign - back to Lucky Bay. It was quite late by this stage and we weren't keen to drive all the way back into town so we thankfully the other campers were happy for us to squeeze in. I forgot to mention what a beautiful location this is - it reminds me a little of Wilsons Promontory with it's turquoise water, white powdery sand and granite boulders. It was still blowing a gale but we seemed quite protected in the campground.

Albany

Brig Amity

Whale World

The Gap

Natural Bridge

Albany is quite a large sprawling town. We went for a walk up the main street and came back via the 'Patrick Taylor Cottage' built in 1832 which is the oldest dwelling still intact in WA. On the waterfront was the old gaol which was built in 1852 to cater for convicts arriving and a replica of the 'Brig Amity' which was a NSW supply ship that carried the first soldiers and convicts to Albany to form the first settlement in WA in 1826. We drove out to 'Whale World' located on Frenchman Bay which is on the site of the once operational Cheynes Beach Whaling Company. The company ceased slaughtering in November 1978 which marked the end of whaling in Australia - not that long ago! We had a walk around the Whalechaser boat and then did a guided tour which explained the process of capturing, flensing (stripping the blubber), the cutting up deck, and the processing factory. There was an amazing skeleton exhibit displaying a 22metre Pygmy Blue Whale. The station here mainly hunted sperm whales and thankfully even back then had the foresight to protect the humpbacks after they were nearly hunted to extinction. Driving back towards town we stopped at Torndirrup National Park for a look at the very windswept blow Holes, The Gap and Natural Bridge. It was very scenic coastline but I think we are all getting a little blase' towards sightseeing with our minds set on going home. We had fish and chips at the jetty for dinner.

Walpole - Albany

We left the van at the caravan park and did Hilltop Road scenic loop which leads to the giant 400 year old tingle trees. Unlike other eucalyptus, tingles do not have a taproot. They have a shallow root system that spreads as they grow older, causing the trees to buttress. Not so long ago one huge tree was the main attraction because visitors could take a photograph of their car in the hollowed out base. However, years of people and vehicles trampling around it's base had compacted it's nutrient supply and in 1990, the giant collapsed. To minimize the impact of humans on the tingle trees and to allow for an ever increasing number of visitors a tree top walk was proposed and a competition was held to find the perfect design. We picked up the van and continued to the Valley of the Giants Tree-Top walk. We had a look through the discovery centre and did a guided walk through the ground level Ancient Empire walk. The tingle trees are very different looking with lots of burls and tangled branches. They can have a base circumference of 20m. The 600m tree top walk which was opened in 1996 takes you high into the canopy - 40m at it's highest point. It is designed to sway in the breeze, mimicking life in the tree tops. The view of the trees are amazing. The next stop was the 'Elephant Rock Cider' company where they make a variety of ciders, toffees and sauces but the best thing was the delicious ice creams. We drove through Denmark and decided to continue on to Albany - another 54km.

Walpole

Happy Birthday to Rick! We enjoyed pancakes for breakfast - even though I cooked them. It was quite cool and we had to pull all our jumpers out from the back of the cupboard. Until 1968 this campground was the site of WA's biggest timber mill - a couple of buildings and pine trees are a few reminders of the old settlement. After packing up we did the Great Forest Trees Drive through Shannon N.P. which was mainly karri but also jarrah and marri. We continued on to Walpole and took the scenic drive along Beardmore Rd stopping to do the walk at Fernhook Falls. At Swarbrick we stopped to have a look at the Forest Artwork and 39 metre long 'Wilderness Wall of Perceptions'. Swarbrick forest was a focal point for people who campaigned to preserve these forests for future generations. We drove into Walpole and dropped in at the visitors centre. We decided to stay in Walpole and went to the caravan park at Coalmine Beach. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and went to the pub for dinner to celebrate Rick's birthday.

Shannon National Park

Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree

Gloucester Tree

We were planning to head towards Pemberton which is surrounded by the karri forests. Stewart Road was still closed due to fires so we were diverted to Nannup. Just before Pemberton we drove part of the Karri Forest Explorer Drive along the Old Vasse Road. The majestic karri trees grow straight up and are the third tallest trees in the world (after the sequoias and Victorian mountain ash). They can reach heights of 90 metres and can live to an average of 300 years. Thankfully, in February 2001 after many years of campaigning the WA government ended logging in all old-growth forests. We stopped at the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree which is one of three fire tower lookouts and the tallest at 68m. When fire spotter planes were introduced in the early 1970s the lookout trees were opened to the public. I was quite amazed at this as it is only laddered with a daunting metal spiral stairway that winds it's way all the way up to the top. Rick was keen to climb as was I but chickened out as I didn't like the thought of coming down. Rick completed it and said he didn't particularly like the feeling and felt like he was suffering a little vertigo. We drove into Pemberton and stopped at the visitors centre before heading to Gloucester National Park and another lookout - the Gloucester Tree. We did a couple of short walks and continued onto Shannon National Park where we decided to camp for the night.

Margaret River

The Berry Farm

Colonial Brewary

Voyager Estate

Our gourmet food and wine tasting tour of the region began at the Berry Farm where you can taste and buy a delicious range of mustards, preserves, vinegars and dressings. We had morning tea at the cafe - berry smoothies and scones with jam! The kids loved feeding the birds. The next stop was the shell museum which was quite bizarre - this man had collected shells from all over the world spanning the last 65 years and displayed them in his home and charged people to look at them. Further north we found the Margaret River Chocolate Company - a huge range of products from chocolate lip balm to after dinner mint flavored massage oil. Caitlin and I shared some rocky road and Cooper and Rick sampled some truffles - yum! Then on to the lolly shop at Cowaramup. Next stop was the Colonial Brewing Company which had a fantastic playground for the kids. Rick and I shared a sampling paddle. We were keen to find an olive grove and stumbled across 37 degrees South. We sampled the different oils and had to stop the kids from eating all the olives. We bought a couple of big tubs of olives and continued on to Voyager Estate a large vineyard with beautifully manicured rose gardens. We did a little wine tasting and the kids tried the grape juice in small wine glasses (not sure if that's a good thing or not) - all good fun. We bought a couple of bottles and then drove onto Margaret River Township and went for a walk down the main street. We decided to head back to the campsite for the Sunday spit-roast. Kevin and Shelly had invited all the campers to the spit-roast. It was a great turn out - everyone brought a salad or dessert and placed it in the middle to share.

Augusta - Margaret River

We headed towards the small township of Augusta and drove out to Cape Leeuwin, the most southwesterly point of Australia. We went for a stroll around the lighthouse which opened in 1896 and is the tallest on the mainland. It is at this peninsula that the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. After taking in the views we checked out the historic waterwheel and headed back into town to the bakery for lunch. From the latest reports the fires in the Margaret River area were under control and the cooler weather meant further outbreaks shouldn't be an issue so we decided to double back and spend a couple of nights exploring the region. We found the Big Valley campground which is on a large sheep farm owned by Kevin and Shelley. It was a great spot and the owners were very welcoming. We met another family with four kids so we didn't see Caitlin and Cooper for the rest of the afternoon.