The Nullar(bloody)bor(ing)!

For the final time we waved goodbye to our Aussie hosts and hit the road, this time driving a lot further than I think we have probably ever driven before.

Our hosts...and Gus

Our first stop was Kalgoorlie, a gold mining town about a day's drive away from Perth, where the price of gold is neoned arcross the front of the town's main hotel. The town itself was quiet on the streets, who would be surprised when at 4:40pm the temperature was still a staggering 35 degrees. We soon found life within a western style pub, miners surrounded the bar and a quick glance around confirmed by suspicions, I was the only woman in there. As soon as we were served our drinks it became clear why, the bar tenders or 'skimpies' were all dressed in bikinis. A welcome sight I'm sure after working the mines all day! The following morning we had a look around the Golden Mile, a square mile that was one of the richest gold mining areas, for its size, in the world. The 'Super Pit' was incredible, with normal town cars resembling toys at the bottom.

'Super Pit'

After a quick trip down an old mine we drove to Norseman and began the big drive across The Eyre Highway (the Nullarbor), a road stretching about 1,667km, with little to see but stretches and stretches of completely empty bush land.

The Nullarbor

After another afternoon in the car we reached a roadhouse and settled down for the night. This involved parting with $11, parking in a glorified car park and watching Home and Away in the restaurant...amazing how much of nothing there was.

A regular enough sight, to want to photograph it!

Singing along to 80's classics, we ploughed on...the songs ran out, we carried on, the road kept on going, we carried on, the car started shaking, we carried on...Rella hit a Gallah (Oh my god, the guilt!) we carried on, the road continued straight and long, we carried on...AHHHH!

80's classics

A Gallaaaahhhhh

Inventive names...enough said!

Long way from anywhere

Finally a resting spot by the WA/SA border, Ceduna. The car was still shaking, Australia Day was nearly upon us, therefore no garages to fix it. A well deserved eight hours sleep and a bottle of wine later we decided to drive another day to try and find a garage that was open, bypassing the festivities on the coast we headed for Port Augusta, 'The transport hub', Uggh.

Photos from the internet can make anywhere look good!

A weekend later and we were lighter in the pockets, up to date with the latest movies and at last back on the road (should I worry you by saying the garage were surprised we made it? All four tyres should have popped, out there in the open I'm not sure what we would have done!) and heading for civilisation!

Passing through Port Pirie we managed to see the largest White Pointer shark/Great White ever caught. Fondly known as 'Shakka' this 5.5m Great White was accidentally pulled in on a snapper line off of the SA coast. Our informative guide let us know that these sorts of sharks are currently being spotted regualrly around the coast of Adelaide...and Ed STILL wants to go surfing!!

Kevin and Jan

Dropped in on Ed's Gran's friends, Kevin and Jan and then headed for Adelaide. 3000km + with a quick drive through Dublin, Cheltenham and SEATON, we had finally arrived!

Just take a look at how far we've come!

Adelaide

We have made it as far as Adelaide now - had a few problems with the Bongo and got stuck in a hell hole for the weekend. All is well though, the Bongo has four new tyres and we are back on the road. We are in Adelaide for the next couple of days, then off into the hills and after to Kangaroo Island.

Please don't worry about the White Pointer/Great Whites, we hear they are frequently spotted from the beach near where we are staying...Ed says he can't wait for a surf.

We will update our photos and travel stories very soon, just need to find somewhere that we can be on a good enough computer to do it!

Love to you all x

Just to let you know that we made it across the Nullabor without a hitch...will report more later. It is Australia day today, so we're gonna go out and get drunk! Will fill in details about the trip when we get to Adelaide. x

P.S. Don't know what's going on with all of the photos...we'll add those at the same time.

Hello all,

Just another quick message...today we start the long drive to Adelaide and then Melbourne. We will try and keep you updated but may struggle. Please keep on emailing though, as if we do get to use the internet, it is always wonderful to see your names in our inbox.

Lots of love Rella and Ed xxx

Coral Coast Road Trip

Our General Daytime Viewing

After a brief trip down South we embarked on a much larger road trip going North to Exmouth and the Ningaloo Marine Park. This would be a much sterner test of endurance for both Rella and I and of course, the mighty Mazda Bongo. The round trip is about 3000 kms, or a bit like driving from Bristol to Croatia.

"Home"

We'd be again sleeping in the Bongo, but this time, after the trip down south we made sure that we had an inflatable mattress. We now had all the gear, and no idea!

Couldn't resist visiting this Twin Town

We planned our route and stop overs at various tourist spots along the west coast, and at our first stop, Dongara, we made our first changes. Dongara is a sleepy town, with not a lot to do, but made an ideal first stop about 350 kms from Perth.

Dongara

Our next stop was Kalbarri. This was a really good tourist spot, good surf, gorgeous gorges, and great grub (Half a lobster, massive prawns and a fillet steak - surf and turf for 15 quid). We stayed here a couple of nights whilst I digested the meal, plus there was a game in the pub on Thursdays where we could win $5,700, we didn't.

The Salt Lakes at Port Gregory

Gorgeous Gorges of Kalbarri

From Kalbarri we took a monster drive of 800 kms to Exmouth. It seemed like there were more Emus than people. From here we had a couple of dives on the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park, no real big stuff despite our dive master scrunching a plastic bottle under water to attract the local grey nurse sharks!!! I did make friends with a massive potato cod who took a shining to me whilst I was giving the dive master one of my weights. I think he fancied me, or maybe just a bit peckish.

Exmouth turned out to be the start of a wildlife adventure that Bill Odie would have been proud of, as the next day we went snorkelling on the reef at a place called turquoise bay. It has a strong current that takes you along the beach so you don't need to kick or swim, just float. Here we did see a big reef shark, but Rella swam the other way - wimp! In the evening we took an eco tour to see the nesting turtles on the beach. Within a group of ten we headed for the beach on our hands and knees, in the pitch black ready to spot turtles (bearing in mind our tiger trip in India we didn't have much hope) within seconds we had already seen two turtles emerging from the water, within an hour we were in a crowded heap one on top of the other (no better way to mingle with the rest of your tour group!) watching a mega green turtle lay over 100 eggs. WOW!

Next stop was on our journey South and Coral Bay. Here there were schools of sharks, young reef sharks about 1.5m long, and loads of rays, so I went swimming with them!!

The Sharks!

Monkey Mia was next - a world famous resort where wild dolphins come in every day to play and get a fish or two from the tourists. Only two showed up in the morning, but it was a Mum and her 2 day old calf with wrinkly skin and having to breath through its mouth not blow hole! There was also a logger head turtle who played by the jetty. But that wasn't all, oh no. On the second day we went on a cruise on the fastest ocean cruiser in the world (or it was before Monkey Mia got it and loaded it with a bog and a fridge). It's a 45ft catermaran and it shifts. But even that wasn't all, oh no. We were on the boat in search of Dugongs, of which we saw many, and a couple of deadly sea snakes for good measure. That evening I tried to catch a shovel nosed shark, which apparrently are beeuuttiful eating, with my hands. fear not they're armless!!

The Dugong

Final port of call was Jurien Bay, and the pinnacles. These are pointy rocks in the sand, nuff said.

As it was our last night before heading back to civilisation, we got pissed in the only pub in the bay and met Cookie, Dave and Chris. Cookie looked like a monster, and ironically lived in a cave (well when he'd had an arguement with his wife). Dave, Cookie's mate, looked even more like a monster - you thought my beard was bad, oh boy. Then there was Chris, mate of Cookie and Dave, he appeared quite normal, apart from his smell. In Aus they have this natural poison that kills ferel beasts but not native animals as they have built up a tolerance over hundreds of years. Well Chris' aftershave certainly put off this couple of ferel tourists!

Hello to you all

We are still alive and well just away from internet and mobile phone connections - notice that mum's messages have been getting more and more impatient!!

We have been having a fabulous time and will tell you all about it when we get back to Perth tomorrow...so you'll have to wait until then!

Love you all lots

Leaving Perth

Well the time has come to say goodbye to our hosts. They have been exceptional - a massive thank you to David, Christine, Luke and Nathan for making our stay such an enjoyable one.

Tomorrow we head off in the Bongo on a road trip, working our way north, along the coast to Exmouth - it's a bloody long way! We will probably spend about 2 weeks doing the round trip back to Perth, before heading south once again and then on to Melbourne.

We have heard from Mark that we can't rely on a huge amount of internet places along the way...we will check in when we can but just to let you know that our contact will be a little iffy over the next couple of weeks. We will have our new phone with us - reception allowing so drop us a text if you fancy it!

0061432898940

Lots of love xxx

Margaret River

Reading back through the previous blogs you may be fogiven for thinking that drinking has been the major focus for our time in Australia so far...thought I should show you these...we have done other stuff...honest!

Views of the Margaret River Region

Give me more wine!

Our new year began in style as we took the Bongo on its first proper road trip - nothing like a good test before driving off into the middle of nowhere! With him all packed up we made the three hour drive south to the wine region of WA, Margaret River. On our first day we signed up for a driver led wine tour, where we tried approximately 40 different wines...ahhh to forever be on holiday.

Meet Broc, our sober driver for the day

Luke detecting the toasted biscuit mid palate and floral undertones (who makes this stuff up?!)
Our day ended in the way one might expect...drunker, poorer and carrying many more bottles than should be allowed at the start of the New Year. I am not sure that I could tell you whether or not a wine had a 'blanced tannin structure with a slightly dusty, spicy and toffee finish', in fact I'm not even sure that I could tell you what a tannin is. Still, I know a little more than I did before and the wine was fantastic!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New year's eve began strangely...with a surf in the summer sun. Mark and Ed managed to do quite well, I however, on entering the water was completely stripped of my bikini and was plunged under wave after wave. After swallowing most of one I decided to retreat to the beach and stick at what I am good at...getting a tan.

After a quick lunch barbie we headed to the pad of one of Luke's friends where we preceeded to get completely smashed. I did not see a bed until the following lunchtime and Ed decided whilst soaking wet that the pool lounger would be his resting spot of choice. Oh how grown up we both are! Good fun was had by all...but I will let the photos speak for themselves.

4:30...the drinking begins

Ed finds another use for the 'goon' bag - the full middle of a box of wine

Mark embarks on another slab of Australia's finest

Ed creates bubbles before pass out

Rella decides that a 5am "to see the Australian New Year in" is a good idea - can you see anyone else in there???

6am - Another good decision, Rose for breakfast...oh dear!

As you can see from the few photos that I remembered to take, we had a great time seeing the New Year in before you reached midnight. Here's hoping that you had a good one too!

On a more serious note, we both wish you great happiness for 2007 - follow Mark's lead, make your resolution; "to have more fun than last year".

Take care of yourselves xxxx