Well as the heading says, for the first time in a long time we are facing east….

Not much to report from yesterday, we left Geraldton and headed towards Perth with no real destination in mind. Was about 20kms out of Gingin that I pulled up and said we need to know where we are going, and after a quick check on the map and google (love the iPad), we took a left at Gingin and headed East through some good old country back roads to Northam.

Now once the kids were in bed last night and we could finally have a chat in peace, we sat down and looked at the maps and decided our plan for heading home.

We considered going south of Perth, but with only 2 weeks before we are due home, there isn’t enough time, so we thought we might scoot back across the Nullabour and spend a few days closer to home. We also considered a quick trip up to see Coober Pedy as it is somewhere we would be keen to see, but it would meen a full days travel from Port Augusta there and back, so that might have to wait for the next trip.

In the end we have decided to head to Port Augusta, then come across into the top of Victoria through Mildura and maybe Swan Hill as we slowly head on home. Still not sure when we will get home, but it will be on or before the 26th of November.

So the plan today if I can get these sleepy heads out of bed will be to head for Norseman and prepare for the long straight crossing of the Nullabour once more.

Have had a great time here in WA, but as we headed south, I think it is the warm weather that I am going to miss the most…. for the first time in weeks, I actually had to go hunting for my Jumper last night!!! Brr… who every thought that mid 20’s would feel cold!!!!

I thought I would take a different approach today to the blog. Instead of talking about the last 24 hrs (which i am sure craig will do in the morning – his day would not have the same feel if he couldnt start with a good blog) I would reflect over the whole holiday and share what I have learnt.

Once I would have stressed about traveling long distances making sure I had lots of distractions, food, a plan of attack – anything to make travalling with kids easier because i was sure they would not cope. But I soon realized they make do with the situation and are more adaptable than I give them credit for. I also realize now that a few hundred kms is nothing.
We have met lots of families with kids who are doing the trek around australia and lots have been on the road for months. It’s the norm it seems.

I have also learnt that 5 people in a car can produce some wicked smells. It’s not uncommon for everyone to strenuiosly deny being the source to find a few minutes later someone laughing loud declaring “it was me”. What’s a road trip without some toilet humor.

I now also know the best retort to something you don’t agree with is “nar arrhh” which is followed by “yeaa eerrh” by you oponant. This can go back and forwards until someones head explodes.

I know that Tara and Jess cannot share a bed because they would never get any sleep. Every night we sleep one on our bed and the other on theirs, to then transfer them when we go to bed. They take it in turns each night as to who sleeps on our bed.

There is so much to see in Australia. I knew we would see lots of good things but I was surprised at how much there is to see.

I figure if we can all live out of a small tub each (for clothes and special items) for 6 weeks we don’t need half the crap that we have at home. I have also loved the housecleaning aspect of the van. A sweep and the occasional mop and voilà we are good to go.

I know that you should never go shopping on an empty stomach or with a family who has been surviving out of 1 shop for all groceries for a prolonged period of time because when you do get to civilization (a Safeway as there was no Coles) the family go mad for food that hasn’t been available for the past few weeks. Chances are you will walk out of there a few hundred dollars lighter and with loads of junk food and few meals. The worst culprit was the biggest kid- we all know how poor his impulse control is at the best of times, haha.

I know the dirt that gets caught under toenails and fingernails from exploring never really seems to come out no matter how much you scrub, especially if you are a no shoe kinda gal like Jess.

I have learnt to read in the car which I love! I used to be able to do it as a kid but as an adult I always felt sick or got headaches. This trip though with big straight, flat stretches of road I have been able to again and it’s ace.

Optus phone coverage is rubbish. I only have coverage if we are at major towns. Thank goodness our Internet has been with telstra.

Melbourne has the best tasting water by far!!!

It’s polite and now a habit to wave (either open hand or a few finger wave from the steering wheel) at all caravan owners on the road. It can be extended to trucks and even sometimes to other motorists if you are feeling exceptionally friendly. My driver says that males are more friendly than female drivers when it comes to the wave/ nod.

Anyway, here are a few random photos to match this random post.
By the way, we threw our plan out the window today and have made it to northam. I will let Craig disclose the next leg of the trip in his blog. Till next time……..

We made it back to windy Geradlton last night and are now faced with a decision… do we head south back to Perth or head inland and cut across country??

I am not against cutting across country, but it will mean fewer places to fill up using fleet card, and most likely hotter weather once we leave the coast.

I think it is more likely we will just head south towards Perth, then start heading across to Norseman. We are not really in a rush to get home, but there is that feeling that the Holiday is over and we are heading home again… I think the kids are missing their friends and home comforts.

We took a detour off the main road yesterday and came through Kalbarri once more before following the coast road down towards Horrocks. I am glad we did, as we got a chance to the see the Pink Lake up close. The kids were stunned and thought it was magnificent.

I managed to find a little dirt road off the highway that got us closer, and was a little worried I would have to back the van out again, but luckily there was a bit of a clearing and I was able to reverse it in and spin it around. I’m almost getting used to driving with this lump behind me now!!

We went for a walk and managed to get right to the waters edge. The water really is a bright Pink colour!! Something to do with the algea in the water???

We drove into Horrocks and considered stopping there for the night, but we were not sure if they were on bore water or not, and we really wanted a place with some fresh water!! Horrocks was also way too windy, so we kept going onto Geraldton.

The CB Radio came in handy again yesterday as we got stuck behind a convoy carrying two massive mining trucks that were 5.5m wide and taking up 3/4 of the road!! There was already a caravan and two cars stuck behind them by the time we caught them, but I called the pilots (the two 4×4’s accompanying them) and asked if we could pass. They checked the conditions ahead and called us through… bad luck to the other cars I say if they didn’t have a CB radio!!

Ok, I promised some photos and here they are… some of the many photos from our great time in Coral Bay…

The snorkelers….

The Glass bottom boat…

Click link for movie… (needs Quicktime)
20101111-061830.mov

Quad Bikes

The Ant Nests on the way out of Coral Bay

Well I know I promised some photos yesterday, and I know this blog is a little late today, but for the first time this trip…. we had NO INTERNET!!!!

We made it to Carnarvon by 1 pm yesterday, and headed straight to the shop where we spent hundreds on restocking the booze… oh and I think Fi bought some groceries as well 😉

After the shopping, we started to think about where we would stay for the night, and get this…. the Kids wanted to keep driving!!!!

We have stumbled on the secret of Kids who like to travel in the car…. It was very simple really…. We instituted a rule where they can only play their DS on days when we are traveling. That means for the last week in Coral Bay there has been no DS playing, so they were quite happy for us to keep driving.

Even though we knew we wouldn’t make it to Geraldton in time, we thought we may as well make use of the good travel day and the kids being happy we hit the road again.

Looking at the map, we knew we could make it back to Denham, although that was  130kms off the road that we would have to travel again the next day, and no fleet card in Denham. The other option was to try to make it back to Kalbarri, although that would mean we would have been on the road until close to 8pm, so instead we chose a place called Nanga on the way to Denham and Monkey Mia. It was still 80kms out of the way, but if I put the Gerry can in we should make it back to Overlander where I know they take fleet!

Now there is not a lot here in Nanga, in fact there is nothing but this run down caravan park and motel, but it is cheap and we are only staying a night. We had been on bore water for the last week in Coral Bay and were looking forward to getting some fresh water again, but of course there is nothing but bore water here, so we just have to wait until we get to Geraldton.

Anyway, I promise I will get some photos up tonight when we stop. We were lucky enough as we were leaving, Fi was chatting to the tour operators and saying what a shame it is we don’t have a DVD player on the Netbook to see the photos from our tour. As we had been such great customers, the girl offered to copy them onto her USB stick and use that to copy them onto the Netbook for us. I didnt mention that there was just as big a risk of virus infection if she stuck her USB in my Netbook… hehe… She even included the photos from our Sunset Quad Bike tour the night before at no extra cost which was very nice of her.

I had a look through them last night and there is just too much to choose from, but I think we should be able to upload a few of the best.

Well today we must say farewell to Coral Bay. We have had such a good time here the last week, snorkeling, spending time on the beach and seeing a lot of wild life. But as they say, All good things must come to an end, and the fact is we are out of Booze… oh yea… and there is little food left!!

Had a great last day. We went to the beach for a last snorkel on the reef. Jess finally did really well with her snorkel and I was able to take the girls out one at a time pretty far onto the reef for a look. Fi realized that she can squeeze into Zac’s Fins, and so also spent some time further out on the reef. I may make a diver of her yet!! I am so proud of how all the kids have done this last week, although will need to watch Tara now as she started to swim out into the deeper water by herself before bolting back to shore.

In the afternoon on our final trip to the beach, I saw a huge eel right on the edge of the reef. Looked awesome with a bright yellow head and big teeth!!

In the late afternoon, Zac and I decided that we needed one more adventure and booked ourselves onto the Sunset Quad Bike tour… I know… I know… I am a great Dad, but the truth was… I liked the quad bikes too!!

We had a slightly larger group this time with 7 bikes in total heading out, and everyone was a lot more confident so we were able to speed along the tracks. Covered a lot of the same ground as last time, but also got to see a lot that was missed last time because we had to go slow. Zac and I had a ball, and even managed to get up to 70kms along the beach before watching the sun slip below the horizon into the sea.

I was pointing out to Zac that you could see the steam coming off the sun as it slipped into the ocean when our English tour guide asked him where the sun is going next. Zac shrugged and said “I dunno… the next place?” The tour guide responded “good answer… but where is that?” Zac said “Where Uncle Shaun is…”

The tour guide looked at me and I told him Uncle Shaun was in England… “Oh no…” he said “the sun doesn’t ever go there, it is just cold and wet and miserable!!!”

Zac is still trying to figure out why Uncle Shaun wants to live in a place with no sun!!! He is not alone in that either…

Any was great fun again and we rode back into town with our lights on just as it was getting dark.

As we got back to the caravan, we could hear all this music in the distance, so I went to investigate. The Resort next to the caravan park had a movie on the lawn on a huge inflatable screen. I raced back to the caravan and asked them if they wanted to see the movie UP? We all wandered down and as soon as the girls saw the screen they were very excited. Tara was funny, she marched on in and plonked herself on the grass, and just lay there watching. We sat out there and watched the movie on the lawn in front of the pub, which was very handy as we are out of booze (have I mentioned that?), so Fi had a glass of wine and I had a couple of beers while we watched.

A great way to end our final day here 🙂

Not sure where we will get to today, will depend on how quickly we get on the road. We seem to have spread ourselves around everywhere, so pack up might take awhile!!!

PS – I’ll add some photos to this post later tonight as we really must get packing!!!

Another great day yesterday as the whole family headed out on a glass bottom boat for a 3 hour cruise… the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless, crew the minnow would be lost… the minnow would be lost…err…umm… sorry, I mean a 3 hour cruise to see the coral and turtles and have a snorkel.

The day didn’t start so well as we were booked on the 2 hour cruise at 10am, but when we got there in the morning, they informed us we were the only booking and they needed at least 4 paying adults to run it 🙁

Instead they transferred us to the 12:30pm cruise at no extra cost (whoo… finally a $75 saving in this expensive place!!!). Problem is we were all screened up with nowhere to go, so there was no choice and we headed ot the beach for a swim.

Now Zac is almost an expert snorkeler now, so I didn’t even have to worry about him. Tara is also coming along quite good, but was kicking her legs so much that her snorkel was filling up with water all the time. We finally convinced her that if she did a star fish pose and just floated, she could look under the water longer. Once she calmed down, I dragged her out onto the reef in about 3m of water and…. let go!!! It probably took her 3 or 4 minutes before she realized that she was free floating in deep water!! I was never that far away and had my eye on her the whole time, but she did really well.

I even convinced Jess to give it another go, but without her snorkel. She begrudgingly agreed and once she saw the big fish just off the reef she loved it again. Problem is she kept jumping up and ripping off her mask so she could tell us what she saw, and then could never get it back on properly, so it wasn’t too long before she lost interest again.

We only stayed at the beach for an hour before heading back up and getting lunch from the cafe. Then it was time to rescreen and head to the water. While screening, we were entertained by a small lizard that was running around the caravan and under our feet.

We boarded the boat which was a little crowded with 21 people on board, but once we got going it wasn’t too bad. The glass bottom was great. The boat had been custom built for Ningaloo and was easily able to go over any of the coral reefs in the bay without damaging them. The whole bay is very shallow, mostly about 3 to 4m with the outer reef about 6 or 7m in spots.

We headed out to the point and saw a couple of reef sharks, then headed to the outer reef where we were surrounded by turtles. The whole boat was entertained by the kids yelling “Turtle” every time we went over one of them.

After that we headed to our first snorkel spot. Now Fi was a little apprehensive at first, as this was a deep water snorkel in about 5 or 6m, but she was given a pair of fins on the boat and found it a lot easier. I sent her off with Zac… who abandoned her and stay with me and she had a great snorkel before heading back to the boat.

Meanwhile, I took Tara and Jess out with a noodle each under their arms. Jess had to argue with the skipper for the purple one as there was only one purple noodle and he wanted it!!! Jess used her exceptional negotiating skills (and puppy dog eyes) to melt the resolve of the skipper and in the end he let her take it. Tara took the yellow one, and after a tough battle with Jess, the skipper gave in easily.

We geared up and jumped into the water. Wasn’t easy taking the girls out, but they were very brave given how deep the water was. We stayed close to the boat for about 10 minutes before I put them back on the boat so I could have a look around and duck dive without them.

I didn’t go too far though, as the girls loved waving at Zac and I through the glass as we swam under the boat. I was most impressed with how Zac was able to duck dive under the boat, wave at the girls and make it back up. It really is amazing how well he has done in the last week. Hopefully he still loves it when we get back to the cold waters of Melbourne!!

We spent about 30 minutes in the water before climbing back aboard and heading to our next snorkel location call the aquarium. A shallow snorkel of only 2 to 3m that was filled with fish. The skipper fed the fish off the back of the boat and that only ensured that they swarmed around the back.

The girls stayed on the boat which meant that Fi, Zac and I had the freedom to explore the reef. Was great and I think I was the last out of the water. The girls entertained the skipper (who had as much fun with them as we did in the water), and again, Zac and I spent a lot of time swimming under the glass bottom.

After that it was back on the boat and a slow cruise across the coral back to shore. Everyone on board had a great time which you could clearly see in the grins everyone held as they exited.

The crew took a lot of photos on the cruise (121 photos) and the staff back on shore were amazed they had taken so many. There is a good number of us, and so we had to buy the DVD. They even had a the couple of photos from the quad bike tour, and so included them as well. Unfortunatley, with only our iPads and my Netbook, we don’t have anything here that can read a DVD, so you will have to wait until we get home to see those photos.

Well today we have come across the biggest disaster of our trip so far…. it pains me so much I needed a special blog tonight just to let you all know.

I am really shaken up by this, and I am struggling to type, but I think posting will help me to come to grip with it…..

We are out of Booze!

That’s right, no beer and no bourbon… what am I to do?

Especially when the prices of things here in coral bay are so criminally high. I bought a 4 pack of Jack and Coke from the pub the other day and had to pay $30!!!!!! That is a 100% markup!!

Now I wanted to pack the van and start heading home tonight, but Fi has convinced me that we can at least stay one more day… I’m not sure how, but we will have to work through this problem. I suppose there is always that bottle of white that Fi keeps for cooking……..

Actually, just for Mum’s benefit, this post is a joke!!! That’s right, Im not an alcoholic (although I could be a dedicated binge drinker) but we are really getting low on supplies. We have slowly made our way through almost everything in the cupboard and the fridge. There is almost no cereal left and even the dishwashing liquid is getting low!!

Sure there are two little IGA’s in town, but if you think you pay a lot for groceries, try the prices here!!! I bought a block of cheese the other day for $10. A couple of measly pieces of ham for sandwiches were $8, Four chops and six sausages (all frozen of course) for the BBQ, kiss goodbye to $20. Even a pack of 3 sponges that I used to clean the van cost $4!!!

At least Bread and Milk aren’t too bad at about $3 each, but with all the money spent on food, accommodation and tours, we have certainly done our bit to keeping the Coral Bay Economy afloat! Read more »

Well not much to report from yesterday, we got up, went to the beach, then spent the rest of the day sitting around the van doing as little as possible.

As we went to the beach yesterday, I said Zac that we should snorkel the reef outside the bay for something different, and Im glad we did, as there were a lot more fish and Tara, Zac and I got to see a sea snake. Was pretty cool, right on the edge of the reef. The kids all bolted back to safer waters, but I stayed and watched as it found something of interest and dug itself into the sand head first, leaving less than a quarter of it’s body sticking out. Was white and black, and just under 1m long.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…. I wish I had my underwater camera!!!

I should hopefully have a little more to report on tomorrow as we are heading out on a glass bottom boat this morning, and will get to snorkel the outer reef, about 2kms off shore. Everyone is looking forward to it.

Yesterday, Zac and I had a totally awesome adventure… Riding a quad bike on sandy 4WD track.

We met our guide Nick at the caravan park at 8:45 with our snorkeling gear under our arms, and the indemnity papers which Zac thought was great, as he had to sign it as the Pillion Passenger. We were both fitted with helmets and headed over to learn how to ride a Quad. Pretty simple really, turn the key, push the button, put it in gear and push the lever to go.

I was a little jerky at first, but quickly got the hang of the accelerator and we headed off to the beach. There were three bikes in total, Nick the guide, an English Girl who also had never ridden before, and Zac and I bringing up the rear. Lucky I did, as the English girl got stuck twice, and I had to jump off my bike to get her back on track. She went so slowly over a lot of the track, that at the first stop, the guide told her she had to pick up the pace or we wouldn’t make it through the tour!! Luckily she did get a little more confident and managed to do a lot of the track at 25km per hour.

No so for this speed daemon… Zac and I would hang back until we could just see them disappearing over the sand dunes, then…. Vvvvroooooommmmm!!! We would race along and catch up to them at 60km per hour, bouncing along the track and sliding in the sand, with Zac on the back squealing with delight 🙂 Was awesome fun and as I pulled up next to the guide at the first stop I said “Man I gotta get me one of these…”!!

We continued in and around the sand dune tracks until the guide pulled up and asked if we wanted to try something a little more challenging…. up a big steep sand dune. I didn’t even get to answer as Zac on the back answered for me…. “Oh yea…”, Not that my response would have been much different. The English girl gave it a miss, following the track up and around the side.

Now anyone that has done any 4WD’ing knows that to get up a Sand dune, you have to hit it at full speed and keep the speed on until just before you break through the top, and that is exactly what we did… We hit it at full speed and raced to the top… Zac was over the moon.

After that bit of fun, we cruised along the beach and back up into the dunes where we stopped at a cliff over looking the reef and spotted several massive turtles just off shore. Again we hit the beach and pulled up at a spot where we could go for a snorkel on the reef.

The English girl once again wasn’t so sure of snorkeling, so Nick the guide stayed with her while Zac and I headed out. Zac was a little apprehensive at first, as it was very windy and no calm water like in the bay, but I was very proud as he donned his gear and headed out with me.

Was a nice little reef with a lots of different coloured corals, heaps of fish, and I even spotted a large stingray, but it was under a ledge in about 3m of water, and good as he is getting, Zac couldn’t quite duck dive down that far yet.

After our fun snorkel, it was back on the bikes, and this time we went to the top of the huge sand dune. Going down was just as much fun as heading up. On the way back to town, we saw several Kangaroos on the side of the track in the shade of the trees. Most jumped away at the sound of the bikes. As we arrived back at the caravan park, all I could hear was “Awwwe…. is that it, I don’t want to stop, can’t we keep going? Can we go again Dad???” I think someone had as much fun as I did. Was great fun.

The rest of the day was spent like most others around here, we went for a snorkel in the afternoon, and then just hung around the caravan for the rest of the day. During our afternoon snorkel, I found a giant clam just of the shore, and Fi came out for a look while Big Brother looked after the little ones in the shallows. Fi loved it so I quickly dragged her around and showed her a few more things. Would have loved to have taken her out a bit further to the better parts of the reef, but we can’t leave the little ones alone for too long 🙁

While back at the van we had a couple of encounters with the local wildlife. First off as a goanna that was just wandering through the caravan park.



Second was late in the day when an entire family of small birds came up to the van for a feed. Appeared to be a Mum with her chicks, and they were very friendly. Tara, Jess and I lay on the ground and hand fed them bits of bread.


Again, I just have to say that we have had an awesome time here in Coral Bay. We are supposed to leave Monday, but I think we can afford to extend until Wednesday before heading off. That being the case we might wait until Monday to do the Glass Bottom boat as the wind is supposed to drop off then.

Anyway, had better sign off as I have my own little hungry chicks to feed 😉