Margaret River

We spent a couple of days exploring the Margaret River area. Lots of opportunities for wine tasting and beer tasting and many lovely beaches to explore.

Indian Ocean

So, we reach our third ocean on which to ride my surf board. At Cape Leeuwin, the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. We stopped for lunch at Hamelin Bay and were surprised to find rays coming right up to the beach and swimming past our legs. Near our camp site down a long dusty road we found yet another beautiful deserted beach – yes, the Indian Ocean has them too.

Tall Timber Country

The south-western corner of Western Australia has a unique forest of tall trees, mainly tingle trees and karris. Their think trunks soar upwards completely straight and without any branches until they reach the canopy. We were overawed by them driving through the forest and walking through sections containing the tallest trees.

These trees have evolved to withstand bush fires. Many of the tingle trees have their core burnt out, but by growing buttresses, they continue to thrive. The karris actually need fire for new shoots to grow and for the dormant seeds to germinate. Indeed we drove through an area that had only just been opened after the recent bush fires and everything looked completely burnt out and some trees were still smouldering.

The forests come down close to the ocean, so our trip included yet more spectacular beaches and cliffs.

Green’s Pool and Elephant Rocks

We spent a relaxing day exploring the coast, visiting Green’s Pool, a sheltered swimming and snorkelling beach. We then scrambled over the rocks to find the boulders that do indeed look like elephants.

Stirling Ranges

The Stirling Ranges rise dramatically in jagged peaks above the Western Australian wheat plains. Bluff Knoll is the highest peak, so we climbed that one. It’s a very rewarding climb as you are quickly gain outstanding views of the plains and the surrounding peaks. Furthermore, there are many beautiful wild flowers even this late on in the summer.

Once you round the corner onto the southern side of the mountain there is a very welcome cool breeze from the Southern Ocean. This can often cause the peak to be shrouded in mist, but we were lucky today.

Esperance

Down to the south coast of Western Australia now. We spend the day exploring the impossibly beautiful, pristine beaches around Esperance.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Kalgoorlie is the largest gold mining town, with gold extraction still very active. In the 1980s, the numerous mining leases were bought up in order to blow the whole lot up and create a huge crater, making it much easier to extract the gold using explosives and enormous digger trucks.

Again, many fine buildings in town and an excellent museum, including exhibits of real gold nuggets.

Coolgardie

The first gold mining town we reached was Coolgardie, which looks much as it musts have done at the beginning of the last century. There was an old railway and many fine buildings in the town. There is still a lot of mining activity in the area, evidenced by the numerous road trains passing through the town.

Temperate Woodlands

We’ve arrived in Norseman at the end of the of the Nullarbor Plain and are now travelling north to the gold fields, passing through the largest remaining temperate woodlands in the world, which are beautiful.

Nullarbor Plain

We set off across the Nullarbor Plain, having stocked up with supplies in Ceduna. The trip turned out to be much more interesting than a 3-day drive across a treeless plain. The changes in vegetation are interesting as you go across. The trees gradually become shorter and shrubbier until it’s mostly just salt bush. However, there are still areas with short trees.

The change in the weather was curious. We weren’t sure if it was because of our changing location or the weather just changed. The second day was extremely hot, windy and dusty, but by the evening, the temperature and the wind suddenly dropped, thankfully. The van behaved impeccably in the extreme conditions with the temperature gauge remaining resolutely in the middle, but the driver had a tendency to overheat, requiring the wet towel treatment….

There were may interesting features to look at, including the sheer cliffs along the Great Australian Bight, changing to sand dunes at the western end. One of our camp stops was at a blow hole, which is an entrance to the extensive cave system that runs under the limestone plain.

Eyre Peninsula – West Coast

We travelled up the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula, with many stops to view the rugged coastal scenery and, for a change, some inselbergs (named Murphy's Haystacks).

Eyre Peninsula – Coffin Bay

We’re now on the south-western part of the peninsula where the scenery has changed to numerous inlet, sand dunes and sweeping beaches of white sand.

Eyre Peninsula – Whaler’s Way

Today we explored the southern tip of the peninsula, which has the most rugged coastal scenery. Our stop for the night was at another lovely beach with some fine swell from the Southern Ocean for a spot of surfing before dinner.