The wind still blows

Made it into Geraldton on a very wet and windy day, rained so hard on the way in I had to pull over as I couldn’t see where I was going. Luckily it eased enough that it wasnt too bad setting up the caravan at the park. I was out of the main part of town in an area called West End and very close to the sea. The town centre where I was located was a bit bizarre, a real old High Street with some lovely Mom and Pop shops which would have been lovely to browse, but there was very limited parking, and what there was looked constantly full so it made it very difficult to go out and explore and maybe spend some money to help the local economy. Instead I went to the out of town hubs where parking was plentiful but the shops very much same same in all this large retail outlets. Anyway on one of my exploratory drives down to the sea I did manage to get a couple of very average shots through the drizzle of some young Ospreys in their nest. I decided whilst I was in Geraldton that I would head inland for a while to hopefully escape the wind and to also catch a glimpse of the wild flowers, which this part of Western Australia is famous for in the Spring.

The remainder of my time in Geraldton was trying to dodge the showers, so I headed off inland in search of better weather and to get back to a slower pace of life. I found a nice gravel pit site to free camp in Canna and had a very peaceful 3 nights there before moving on to a town called Perenjori. A very nice small town with a very good local cafe, and it had a few places to go and see the wild flowers, one of which was directly opposite the caravan park. As I said previously the flowers blossom in the spring so normally end of September early October. But due to the wet winter this year the flowers came out early and were in bud mid August. So by the time I arrived in early October I was probably about 2 weeks late to see them at their best, but they were still worth seeing. I found the best displays of them were just on the road side as you were travelling along.

My next stop was Dalwallinu, I was going to free camp here but on seeing the location I wasnt overly keen, it was very close to the road and a very tight area to get the caravan in, probably more suitable to motorhomes, so I bit the bullet and went back into the town to the caravan park, which although they had limited sites (due to work being done in other parts of the park) was a very pleasant stay. The town was a decent size with all the shops you could need and a very friendly pharmacy where I was able to get my prescription filled. I was now entering what is called the Wheatbelt which as the name implies is a vast area of Western Australia is where a good proportion of grain is grown. Fields here are not measured in acreage but in square kilometers. When you get up onto a hill and do a 360 look around all you can see is a golden brown colour, its an impressive sight.

Onwards now to Kilannie not so much a town more of a large grain storage area. Large white building next to railway lines dominate the towns in the Wheatbelt. This is where the grain is stored before onward shipment either across the country or to the coast to Perth and Fremantle for exporting. Most of these building also have a large outdoor area where they put the grain for what I can only assume is for drying. I got to look at one of these at my next town of Cadoux.

Cadoux is a place name not a town in any sense of the word. There is one building which is a Post office/hardware store/cafe/tourist information/and camping reception. I paid $5 a night for power and water and access to the shower and toilets in the Rec Centre, well worth the money. I took Cody to have a look at one of these outdoor grain storage places, firstly the size was impressive, probably 100mtrs by 30mtrs, with a conveyor belt which brought the grain from the indoor area and an arm which moved along the conveyor belt taking the grain off and dumping it into the large outdoor bin. Now this one was empty as harvesting hadn’t started yet, but judging by the number of magpies and crows the birds in these towns didnt lack for a feed. The other thing Cadoux is known for was an earthquake back in 1979 of a 6.0 magnitude which caused over $4 million worth of damage and devastated the area. I think most people must have left the area after this and to be honest there is much there to entice them back, apart from the farmers.

Wongan Hills was the next town on the itinerary, where I had booked in for 3 nights but ended up staying for a week. A very pretty part of the state with some lovely drives and walks. Again it had everything you could need in terms of shopping and facilities. Had a very relaxing time of doing not a great deal.

On leaving Wongan Hills I had a day to kill before arriving in Perth, so I thought I would free camp by Lake Ninan, this is a large lake only about 12kms outside of Wongan Hills and looked very scenic. This lakes claim to fame is its salinity it can be up to 600% saltier than the sea. I was going to stay the night and hopefully grab a few photos but the weather once again wasnt being friendly. It was a dirt road leading into the lake of about 500mtrs or so possibly a bit more and as it started to rain I didnt fancy getting bogged down, so after an hour or so I decided to move on as the weather didnt look like clearing at all. I drove on to the next town of Calingiri and found a nice gravel sport to park up for the rest of the day and night. Although it was windy it was dry so dropped anchor here. The next morning before moving off I let the dogs have a quick run around, mainly because I had heard what I thought was an eagle so went looking for it but that was curtailed when Cody started yelping (its always him). I got to him and noticed he was not putting his back leg down (the same one he had the op on) and I was fearing the worse. on lifting his leg to have a look there was a huge red ant which was clinging onto one of his pads and had obviously gripped him very hard. I managed to flick it off after a few goes with a stick, and Cody favoured it for a while but seems to have had no after effects from it. When I got the dogs into the back of the truck I put some antiseptic on Cody’s paw just in case, but he promptly licked it straight off so that was that.

Perth, well the suburb of Caversham in the Swan Valley wine area was the next port of call. My main reason for going into Perth was I had to get a fitness to drive medical because of my diabetes, this is an annual thing and not all doctors will do it. I had contacted one which was willing to do the procedure hence my trip in. I noticed on the way in that there was a hell of a lot of roadworks going on and lots of new road being built non of which were on my cars gps system, but were on google maps on my phone. So being a budding detective I assumed that the cars gps was well out of date and could do with an upgrade. After setting up at the caravan park and doing a google search I got myself off to the local Nissan dealer. Very helpful chap there managed to sort me out, got me a new SD card with up to date (ish) maps system on it. Now my Nissan is a 2017 and it had the system number 1 SD card in it from approx 2014/15 now got system 4 in it from Feb 2021 so hopefully things will be better, and for $275 it bloody better be. Got my medical done and all was good so cleared to wander the roads for another 12 months. While I was in Perth I went out to Trigg Beach to go and take a couple of photos for a friend in UK who used to live there back in the mid to late 1990s. Sadly I had to report that the house was no longer there it was just bare earth and judging by the other houses nearby it was being prepared for a McMansion to go up in its place. Very sad to see.

Back inland again to York for an overnight free camp, man it was busy obviously a very popular place to stay, but it was right in the town so very handy and its was quite a good looking little town. From there it was down to Beverley where I stayed for a week for $170 at a lovely little and fairly new caravan park again right in the middle of town, everything was walkable. On looking at my trusty maps I noticed I wasnt far from a town called Kulin (approx 180kms) which had been on my bucket list since I saw it on an ABC TV programmed called Back Roads a couple of years ago.

Now Kulin is known for 3 things, 1 is the bush races in October, 2 is Tin Horse Highway and finally the waterslide at the local pool (182mtrs long and 18mtrs high) the largest in Rural Western Australia. In what appears to be a recurring theme Kulin also had free camping right in the middle of the town, which could probably hold about 12 caravans or so. As for the township there isn’t a great deal there but people come to see the Tin Horse Highway. Now this stretches for about 15kms and is dotted with locally made (mainly by farmers) sculptures made out of old oil barrels and other assorted bits of metal to resemble caricatures of horses in different scenarios. As per usual with this sort of things some are better than others but most are very very clever. I also discovered while I was in Kulin that it was only 80kms to Wave Rock a well known land mark of granite which has been carved in the shape of a wave over time by water. I went out to it fairly early in the morning getting there about 0930 and I was the only person there, so no problem getting photos without loads of tourists in them. All in all a good 3 days in Kulin.

My next place and where I currently am is Bunbury which is about 170kms South of Perth as I had arranged an optician appointment for the 15th (which is also my birthday so all gifts gratefully received). Its been a couple of years and again due to the diabetes I need to get the old peepers checked up, and I’ve definitely noticed my current set of optical enhancement is not quite cutting it. So I arrived in Bunbury yesterday, blew a gale last night (some things dont change) and heading off again on Tuesday. I won’t be going too far though as I will have to come back to pick up my new specs when they are ready. Ive found a couple of free camping places I can go to so should be all good.

Now to end with let me tell you about the day I had on Saturday 13th November, which should be renamed Friday 13th. On my way in to Bunbury I pulled over to let the dogs out for quick run sniff and loo break. As I was at the back of the car I thought to go across to the other side of the towbar before I opened the back of the Ute to let Cody out and to lift down Whisper. I tripped over the tower and started to fall on the way down I banged my head on the rear bumper, as I laid on the ground wondering what the heck had happened I noticed I had skinned my shin and elbow on the towbar and gravel. It took me a little while to get back to my feet as I’m not the nimblest at the best of times. Anyway dogs sorted and back on the road a while later, slight headache starting to appear. When in Bunbury when to the shops to get some supplies and got 10ltrs of water. On getting back to the caravan no water, I had left it in the trolley as the trolley park was next to the car I unloaded the bags and pushed the trolley into the next one leaving the water in it. Then to round out the day I defrosted by tea in the m/wave (shepherds pie homemade) as I took it out and placed it on the board ready to plate up, the board tipped up and put my meal on the floor. So that just about rounded off the perfect day. I made do with a cup of coffee and some ginger nut biscuits..

All up to date now and only 200kms before I pass the 20,000kms mark for this trip.

As usual a couple of pics

All the following are from the Tin Horse Highway