We are on the way home.

"Where are you now?" you ask.  Well, we are well on the homeward journey as we are now in SA, at Port Lincoln.  It's wet and very windy here so we know it's not far now. Ben, if you are reading, you Driza-Bone from Chalice is getting a good outing! Millie will be happy to be liberated from the detention centre soon.

As I said in the last post, there won't be anything too exciting from now on. After we left Exmouth and headed south along the coast, we called in to Coral Bay to have a look as we had heard it was a nice place to spend a few days.  It certainly is!

We'll definitely be back there sometime.  That night it was just an overnight roadside stop, but this one was a bit different.  It was on top of a hill overlooking the ocean (quite a bit distant).

There was an area here with a lots of stones with memory messages placed in piles.  There was also another pile of rocks with lots of garden gnomes.

More sunset shots, I'm sorry!  But you have to admit the sunsets in the west are spectacular.

After a little bit further south down the coast, we headed east through Mt Magnet and had an overnight stop in a very small town called Sandstone. Lots more long straight roads along the way.  

Most of the people staying in the caravan park at Sandstone were gold prospectors.  Not the sort you might picture, but grey nomads just like us!

As we headed to Kalgoorlie from Sandstone, it was a succession of mining areas.We then had a couple of days in Kalgoorlie.  Ben had spent a few years here some time ago so we were interested to see some of the things he had talked about.  The super pit was just amazing. 

This has been dug on what was the original Golden Mile, and is several of the older mines joined together in one pit to make recovery of the gold easier.  Alan Bond started the idea in 1985 and it is now HUGE.  The photos don't really show how big it is, but if you can make out any ants crawling along the paths, they are those huge trucks used in the mines.  Their tyres are taller than a person, and they really did look like ants.  They have 31 of those trucks, costing $4 million dollars each, and they are just going up and down the tracks constantly.  It certainly is impressive.  This is how big the bucket on one of the diggers is.

We also visited the Museum there which naturally is centred around the mining in the area.  Outside the museum is some sort of large tower that is used in mining.  (Sorry I should have paid more attention to the signs!)

You can go to the top of this structure, and see a different view of Kalgoorlie from there.

Kalgoorlie was much bigger than I had expected, with a population of about 32,000.  We stayed in the caravan park at Boulder.  Several local people told us that the area is not as busy as it used to be and it was very quiet in the centre of Kalgoorlie.  In Boulder, there were a lot of empty shops and the shopping area looked very run down.
Some of the architecture in Kalgoorlie is beautiful, particularly the hotels.  They were all built around 1900.  We had dinner in the York Hotel one night and it was lovely inside.  The staircase is particularly impressive.

When you stand and look at some of the buildings, you can just imagine some of the stories and memories that they hold.

Then it was south to Norseman, and we passed Chalice Mine, where Ben used to work, on the way.  More long straight roads.

I know these photos of the roads all look the same, but I'm just trying to show those of you who might not have been in WA (as we hadn't until now) what it is like.  It's hard to imagine how much driving is done without seeing much of anything!

After Norseman it was abit further south and then turning eastward towards the Nullabor.  Another overnight roadside stop (no sunset photo this time) somewhere, can't really remember where.

Then lots more long straight road - over 140 kms along the Nullabor without even a bend in the road.  

We stopped at the Head of the Bight for a photo opportunity.  Wouldn't be a good place to be shipwrecked!

We were soon into SA and heading for some familiar weather, wet and windy! Overnight stop next was at another very small town, Penong.  This seems to be a wheat growing area.  The caravan park was quite small, but was one of the neatest we have ever seen.  Even the gravel was raked!
Next morning we passed through Ceduna, and handed over all our fruit and vegetables at the quarantine stop.  We had decided that we would take a bit of extra time and make our way down the Eyre Peninsula to Port Lincoln.  We had a look at Streaky Bay, which we had also heard was an interesting destination, and decided it was certainly worth another visit some time.  Elliston was another place which I wanted to see.  Deb, if you are reading, it was lovely.  I can see why it is so special for you.
We are now spending a couple of very wet windy nights at Port Lincoln.  No photos, it's too wet and grey outside.  We did venture out today for a brisk walk to the marina area.  This ended up being a 12 km hike up and down hills.     Fortunately it was punctuated half way with a lovely lunch and a couple of glasses of local wine.  Unfortunately we didn't take a map with us, got a little confused about the way back and it was uphill most of the way!  Currently sitting on the couch with the heater on, watching the football and nursing all the sore spots.
Tomorrow we will head off up the eastern side of the Peninsula, through Tumby Bay.  I want to see this place, the name just sounds so interesting.  There might be a couple more stops before we get home, so stay tuned.  See you all soon. xxx

Exmouth

At last we get to the blog about Exmouth (or more correctly Yardie Creek), even though we are now at Kalgoorlie.
We spent two weeks at Yardie Creek Caravan Park.  This is on Yardie Station, about 38 kms from Exmouth. Exmouth is on a peninsula, with Exmouth Gulf on the eastern side and the Indian Ocean stretching as far as you can see on the western side.  This is Exmouth Gulf.

There is a lighthouse (can't remember the name of it) on the end of the peninsula.

Yardie isn't right on the beach, but it's very close.  The beaches are absolutely breathtaking, long stretches of sand and pristine turquoise water.  

The area is surrounded by National Park (including the water) and there are lots of animals.  We saw kangaroos, emus and an echidna.  There are also lots and lots and lots of birds!

 The caravan park doesn't have all the fancy trimmings (limited power as it runs by generator) but its close to all the action!

The boat ramp is a couple of kms from the park, and it is where all the boats that take people out to the reef for snorkelling and diving leave from.  The big boats go out past the reef and the smaller ones stay inside.  Everyone seems to catch fish no matter where they go. It's also a good place to fish from the beach.

The sand tends to build up around the boat ramp and has to be dug out to let the boats come in.

This is a quite large shark that was swimming around at the end of the boat ramp one day when we were down there.                      

Just a bit further south on the coast, there is a gorgeous beach called Turquoise Bay.  When you see it, it's obvious where the name comes from.  It's a popular place for snorkelling as the reef is quite close to the beach.

The water is so clear that you can see the fish swimming.

As I said, it is a popular place for snorkelling.  This next photo should have been discarded, but I am just showing that I actually did it!  

This is the boat that catches the big fish - John and Rhonda's boat, The Mongrel Cat.

And here is some of what they catch.  These are called Spangled Emperors.

And the red ones are Ruby Snapper.  These are caught in very deep water - about 350 metres.

Arnie caught the biggest one on this outing, it was about 22 kgs.

And Alan's was the second biggest.

Rhonda has a secret bait that gets the big ones!

These are Goldband Snapper.

When the boats come in there is usually quite a gathering at the cleaning table, particularly when word gets around that something large has been brought in.  The fish gets shared around everyone as there are quite a few people in the camp who can't get out fishing.  Some of them are regulars who have been coming to Yardie for years.  The young European travellers who camp there love getting some fresh fish for dinner!

Sorry about all the fish photos for those not interested, but some of our loyal readers enjoy them.  To make up for all the fish photos, here are some lovely shots of the boat ramp in the evening when the boats are coming in and the sun is setting.

No post would be complete without a photo of us eating and drinking.

That's probably about it for the exciting posts.  We are homeward bound and there won't be a lot happening.  But you never know, so you had better keep checking, just in case.  

By the time this gets published, we will have left Exmouth.  There is packing up going on around me at present, in the rain.  From here we will be homeward bound, and from past experience, that means home as quickly as we can!  Thanks to our house/animal sitters, Sandra and Malcolm, and Nat, who has been handling any work related issues, we have been able to enjoy the break without worrying about anything at home.  We are very appreciative of your help.

After we left Broome, our next stop was at 80 Mile Beach.  There had been recommendations for three places south of Broome on the coast.  The other two, Barn Hill and Port Smith, were a bit too close to Broome for a stopover, so 80 Mile Beach it was.  This is just a caravan park, on the beach.  There is no town, or roadhouse, just a dirt road through a station to get to the park.

I’m going to let the photos show you what 80 Mile Beach was like.  I think they speak for themselves.

And if you think that is impressive, have a look at the beach at sunset.

That was a sunset when it was clear, this is what is was like when it was cloudy.

And all that was just a couple of minutes walk over the sand dune from our camper.

There was some fishing done, off the beach, without a lot of success.  When you are standing in a place like that, what you catch is unimportant.

We had 3 days there, in a little piece of paradise. 

When we left 80 Mile Beach, the road south along the coast took us through Port Hedland, Karratha and Dampier (of Red Dog fame – we saw the statue).  These towns were all what we expected, lots of new housing, particularly “villages” for workers, lots of white 4WD twin cab utes, lots of hi-vis vests.  It was too far to get to Exmouth in one day so we had an overnight roadside stop.  This was on the banks of the Robe River, which was very sandy and dry.  Even in a place like this, there was a spectacular sunset.

The roadside stops in WA are very well set up, they are usually in an area with shady trees and have some basic facilities.  They are well signposted and maintained, and seem to be about 250 kms apart.  Free camping is very well supported in this state.

PS I wrote that blog in Exmouth, and haven't been able to post it until now.  We left Exmouth yesterday morning and tonight we are in a very small town called Sandstone, on the goldfields of WA.  Ben, if you are reading this we are in familiar country for you now, we passed through Mount Magnet today, and will probably be in Kalgoorlie tomorrow night.  The next post, hopefully tomorrow night, will tell of our exploits at Yardie Creek on the beautiful Ningaloo coast (and there will be pictures of fish!)

Love you all, thanks for the comments (on FB or by email, doesn't seem to work on here). xxx