Tuesday 13 December 2011
Nullarbor /Streaky bay , SA
After deciding to leave Esperance early due to the weather we knew we had to cover over 1,500kms to get to Streaky Bay in South Australia and thought 3 to 4 days would be reasonable as there is not much to see but we did not want to flog ourselves.
The first night we stopped at a station called Fraser range which was fine , not great scenery but a nice bush walk with emus and Roos watching us.
The second night was at Mandura roadhouse campground , very interesting as it basically a stony bit of cleared bush but at $15.00 what do you expect.
Next day we traveled to Nullarbor road house to stay the night. The camp site was a field out the back over looking the 5th hole on the worlds longest golf course .http://www.nullarborlinks.com/
While we sitting there a couple came out to be greenskeepers as the green is astro turf it was vacuumed and swept before a couple of golfers came through in their beach gear . They were playing all the holes over a week and dressed in a different theme for each hole !
The road house is a bit iconic so we splashed out and had a beer in the bar and dinner in the cafe before watching a great sunset .
The fourth day we cleared the plains , glad we had driven it, saw the weird road signs including where the road is a designated landing strip for the flying doctor serice in case of emergency and massive roadtrains but certainly not a scenic drive . Nullarbor being bad Latin for null - no and arbor - trees . Pretty fitting.
Got to streaky bay and found a good site over looking the beach .The town is supported by a lot of grain farming and fishing .
Spent the days fishing , reading and fishing . Found a nice beach called Halleys about 12kms down a dirt track and managed to catch one or two .spent 4 days there recovering from the Nularbor before planning on getting to Broken hill in NSW.
The first night we stopped at a station called Fraser range which was fine , not great scenery but a nice bush walk with emus and Roos watching us.
The second night was at Mandura roadhouse campground , very interesting as it basically a stony bit of cleared bush but at $15.00 what do you expect.
Next day we traveled to Nullarbor road house to stay the night. The camp site was a field out the back over looking the 5th hole on the worlds longest golf course .http://www.nullarborlinks.com/
While we sitting there a couple came out to be greenskeepers as the green is astro turf it was vacuumed and swept before a couple of golfers came through in their beach gear . They were playing all the holes over a week and dressed in a different theme for each hole !
The road house is a bit iconic so we splashed out and had a beer in the bar and dinner in the cafe before watching a great sunset .
The fourth day we cleared the plains , glad we had driven it, saw the weird road signs including where the road is a designated landing strip for the flying doctor serice in case of emergency and massive roadtrains but certainly not a scenic drive . Nullarbor being bad Latin for null - no and arbor - trees . Pretty fitting.
Got to streaky bay and found a good site over looking the beach .The town is supported by a lot of grain farming and fishing .
Spent the days fishing , reading and fishing . Found a nice beach called Halleys about 12kms down a dirt track and managed to catch one or two .spent 4 days there recovering from the Nularbor before planning on getting to Broken hill in NSW.
Thursday 8 December 2011
Hopetoun and Esperance
Hopetoun is about 3 hours drive from Denmark and is on a bay that was mentioned as good fishing. We found the camping ground which is right on the bay with great access to the beach ,unfortunately that was the best thing about it. Overgrown sites, terrible toilets/shower block and a general feel of being let go .
The town it self did not have a lot to keep us there and glad we only used it as a stop over.
Weather was wet and windy which did not help .stayed two nights should of been 30 minutes .lol .
Travelled to Esperance through a lot of farming land with most of the crops already harvested.
Esperance is also on the bay and is well known for it's beaches for surfing and fishing .
We thought 7 nights would be enough to see the area while having a break before the drive over the Nullarbor .
The town itself has a good selection of shops and with the campground right on the waterfront we managed to get the bikes off the trailer and have a cycle .
Drove around the bays one day and the beaches and colour of the water was beautiful the only niggle was the wind was howling making it hard to spend time fishing .
We took one day to drive to Cape Le Grand national park which is about 50 kms away .
The park is a series's of bays with massive rock outcrops that reminded us of Girraween NP in QLD. Once again the bays were very scenic to look at with crystal blue water , white beaches unfortunately the wind had got up even more which made it bloody cold to do much there but have a quick look at each bay before moving on .
We had the car serviced while at Esperance but once this was done we decided to leave two days early as the weather was not going to change . Might as well move on over the Nullarbor and get to Streaky bay in South Australia and see how the weather is there.
Esperance to Streaky bay is 1,500kms so we might take about 4 days to drive it .looking forward to crossing the Nullarbor and buying a car sticker !
The town it self did not have a lot to keep us there and glad we only used it as a stop over.
Weather was wet and windy which did not help .stayed two nights should of been 30 minutes .lol .
Travelled to Esperance through a lot of farming land with most of the crops already harvested.
Esperance is also on the bay and is well known for it's beaches for surfing and fishing .
We thought 7 nights would be enough to see the area while having a break before the drive over the Nullarbor .
The town itself has a good selection of shops and with the campground right on the waterfront we managed to get the bikes off the trailer and have a cycle .
Drove around the bays one day and the beaches and colour of the water was beautiful the only niggle was the wind was howling making it hard to spend time fishing .
We took one day to drive to Cape Le Grand national park which is about 50 kms away .
The park is a series's of bays with massive rock outcrops that reminded us of Girraween NP in QLD. Once again the bays were very scenic to look at with crystal blue water , white beaches unfortunately the wind had got up even more which made it bloody cold to do much there but have a quick look at each bay before moving on .
We had the car serviced while at Esperance but once this was done we decided to leave two days early as the weather was not going to change . Might as well move on over the Nullarbor and get to Streaky bay in South Australia and see how the weather is there.
Esperance to Streaky bay is 1,500kms so we might take about 4 days to drive it .looking forward to crossing the Nullarbor and buying a car sticker !
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Denmark ,Wa
Left Pemberton to travel to Denmark and as not sure Walpole had enough to see to warrant an overnight decided to stay at Denmark so we could cover Walpole as well as Albany .
Denmark is a small town with farming , tourism and a cooler climate to make the vineyards focus on different wines including pinot noir .
Lovely feel to the place with a nice central township , the camping ground was about 10kms from town on the beach and what a place !
Got a massive site on grass with about another 20 campers in the 10 odd acres , the place was full of wildlife and once it was dusk the grass areas were covered with kangaroos . Fun going to the loo at night walking through the throng. Some of the big enough to look you in the eye!
On the Sunday we drove to Albany about 70kms away to see the farmers market and explore the coast . Must admit the market was not upto what we imagined so decided to check out the coast and whale world . Albany was one of the last whaling stations to close in Australia .
Whale world was worth a visit and we spent about 3 hours looking around before driving back to Denmark.
On the other days we went to a place called green pools about 20kms from the town which was a beautiful beach with massive rocks in it and crystal blue waters.
The middle of the week we drove to Walpole as it is known for it's 'old' tree forests called tingle trees and a canopy walk you can do that is a wire walk . Plenty of alternative/arty types down here. Dropped into a potters gallery but decided that $3000.00 for the piece we liked was a bit steep!
On the last day by accident we found a beach called lights beach which was down an unsealed road and when we got there the carpark had about 3 cars in it .
The beach was sheltered so we had a fish and did really well with both of us catching a few . Once the sun started dropping we walked back to find the car park full of about 50 cars of locals with their surf boards , obviously a local surf beach for the townies .
Took a photo as the sun was going down as there was a bush fire in the park and it seemed to go right over the beach .
We did think about staying an extra day and spend that at lights beach fishing, but the weather was coming in and the bush fire was getting attention on the national news , time to make tracks but another litle gem worth a second visit .
Denmark is a small town with farming , tourism and a cooler climate to make the vineyards focus on different wines including pinot noir .
Lovely feel to the place with a nice central township , the camping ground was about 10kms from town on the beach and what a place !
Got a massive site on grass with about another 20 campers in the 10 odd acres , the place was full of wildlife and once it was dusk the grass areas were covered with kangaroos . Fun going to the loo at night walking through the throng. Some of the big enough to look you in the eye!
On the Sunday we drove to Albany about 70kms away to see the farmers market and explore the coast . Must admit the market was not upto what we imagined so decided to check out the coast and whale world . Albany was one of the last whaling stations to close in Australia .
Whale world was worth a visit and we spent about 3 hours looking around before driving back to Denmark.
On the other days we went to a place called green pools about 20kms from the town which was a beautiful beach with massive rocks in it and crystal blue waters.
The middle of the week we drove to Walpole as it is known for it's 'old' tree forests called tingle trees and a canopy walk you can do that is a wire walk . Plenty of alternative/arty types down here. Dropped into a potters gallery but decided that $3000.00 for the piece we liked was a bit steep!
On the last day by accident we found a beach called lights beach which was down an unsealed road and when we got there the carpark had about 3 cars in it .
The beach was sheltered so we had a fish and did really well with both of us catching a few . Once the sun started dropping we walked back to find the car park full of about 50 cars of locals with their surf boards , obviously a local surf beach for the townies .
Took a photo as the sun was going down as there was a bush fire in the park and it seemed to go right over the beach .
We did think about staying an extra day and spend that at lights beach fishing, but the weather was coming in and the bush fire was getting attention on the national news , time to make tracks but another litle gem worth a second visit .
Saturday 26 November 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)