Progressively working on the long process of documenting our 6 month trip through SA, WA, NT and outback Qld during 2021. This is the second part with the first six weeks covered on this page.
The overall route is shown on the map below. The trip lasted from March through to September 2021.
Please excuse poor writing and odd changes in grammar, this has been adapted from the original Facebook posts which were published from the road without much attention to the words.
Weeks Seven to Nine
Finally left Albany after changing the other front wheel bearing on the D4. Took exactly a week to arrive from the UK. So grateful to have had a local mechanic reach out via the owners forum. Would have been almost impossible to have done the job entirely alone for Scott.
Spent our time just locally, even played a round of golf at the caravan park course, trying not to hit any of the roos all over the fairways. I say “course” but the difference between green, fairway & rough was very slim at best.
Moved on to a small place set up in someone’s yard just back from the coast at William Bay. Felt more like proper camping again, although it still had power, water and a shower. Lucky because it rained heavily. But not before we were able to see Mutton Bird Island and then the beautiful inlet Elephant Rocks. Would have been great to return there early to avoid the crowds but it rained all the next day. We still had a good day doing a few of the local touristy things, including the Valley of the Giants tree top walk.
Week 8
Continued moving west and based ourselves in arguably the heart of the south west, Nannup. This town was picked mainly on location, being handy to lots of places, however turned out to be a great little place in its own right. Small but with enough of what you need, bakery, butcher, small IGA, hardware store, etc.
But most importantly two cafes one of which in particular, Melo Velo served excellent coffee and breakfast. We didn’t break out the Bellman for diy coffee the whole stay! Preferring to frequent Melo Velo, which is housed in a heritage building with an excellent rear garden/courtyard.
From Nannup we did a couple of day trip loops and also a rainy day of forward planning for the trip. It appears that we are not going to be doing a free-wheeling type “stay wherever you want for as long as you want” type of trip this year, especially not to anywhere remotely popular. We have basically booked in the whole next month of travel down to the day, otherwise we’re just not going to get into places like Dirk Harthog Island or Karijini or Cape Range National Parks. This is a shame because you then lack flexibility to stay longer in great places or newly recommended spots or even move on faster if a place is average. But on the other hand it is exciting to have these major locations organised and locked in, not-to-be-missed places that we have dreamed about for a long time and to some extent didn’t exactly know where they were until recently.
The day trips from Nannup included plenty of time in the forests which cover much of the south west. And if it’s not forest it’s incredibly lush farming country populated with what must be very contented sheep and cattle, judging by the look of the paddocks and how many seem to be lounging on the ground rather than grazing. We visited Beedulup Falls and the Bicentennial Tree, which is one of the fire lookout trees that can be climbed via large steel pegs driven in to the tree like a cork screw. It was a very scary proposition, only Scott climbed at all and even that wasn’t very far up. Lunch in the little town of Pemberton hit the spot.
The other day trip headed to Balingup via the Blackwood River and then around to Greenbushes & Bridgetown. More very scenic and lush countryside was viewed and some nice gin purchased in Bridgetown from the Blackwood Valley Brewing Company who also now do cider and most recently diversified into gin.
Slightly sad to be moving on from Nannup, we headed closer to Margaret River to have a look through that somewhat overhyped region. Highlights included visiting both capes; Leeuwin and Naturliste that bookend the south west corner. Also called in to one of the many caves that dot the region (Mammoth Cave) and toured the scenic coastline from Bunkers Beach to Eagle Bay and Meelup Beach. This whole area looks perfect for the quiet seaside holiday or long distance walking tour.
We also called in to Wise Winery on a tip from locals that they had not only excellent wine but also a gin distillery. Well, we walked out with over $400 of product, most of which was gin. They triple distill their own wine rather than use grain-based spirit and the results are fantastic. Also called in to Black Brewing Co. but it was absolutely packed with what appeared to be everybody from Perth who wasn’t able to go to Bali this year.
Rounded out the week by moving on to Bunbury, mainly to get the caravan wheel alignment fixed up. Special mention to breakfast at Yardbyrd in the little village of Witchcliffe a few k’s south of Margaret River. Very popular for mothers day morning but still turned out great coffee and food. Very much looking forward to heading north to warmer and more remote places. Kind of had our fill of the south now.
Week 9
Finally on our way north after a successful time in Bunbury getting new tyres and a wheel alignment for the van. Stayed in a nice small caravan park that made it easy to get around, get washing done, etc.
Started out with an eastern detour out to Hyden with the main goal of Wave Rock, one of those iconic sights you always wonder what it's like in real life. On the way we stopped in at probably the largest public mural in Australia at the Wellington Dam near Collie. The artist got a few photos of locals, aged them and then scary painted them up on to the dam wall. It's really an impressive site. The rock itself is interesting and really does curve over more than is obvious in photos.
We stayed at Tressies which is 20km back west from the rock and watched a beautiful outback sunset. The lady who owns the place told us all about the tin horse highway around the town of Kulin to promote their bush races so we spent an enjoyable couple of hours checking out many of the creative and funny tin drum sculptures all with a horse theme. Also found a couple of cool little cafes along the way, one in Kulin and one in Williams called Chatterbox where the owner even roasts his own beans. Our overnight stop was in Toodyay Holiday Park, which had a nice leafy outlook and peaceful vibe. Also a great bakery in town for coffee and breakfast the next morning.
Now properly heading north up the coast we overnighted at Sandy Cape, which was pretty good but somewhat spoiled by the neighbours super noisy generator and kids playing footy. Too bad about anyone else trying to enjoy camping in the dunes, the side of travel you don't see on Insta. The best thing about Sandy Cape was its proximity to the Pinnacles and Jurien Bay. The Pinnacles being another of those iconic sites that seep into your consciousness over time and need to be seen to appreciate. More like a sculpture park than a natural environment, it's really worth a look.
Rounded out the week at Hamelin Station Stay getting prepared for our Dirk Hartog Island expedition. It's owned by Bush Heritage Australia now and has a great peaceful vibe. The shearing shed almost looks like the crew have just walked out, the amenities are great and the camp sites are well set out with a base of little white shells. We also got a lot more bookings and planning completed for the next 4 weeks of the trip, with many exciting things lined up that we are really excited about.
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Week 5
