Home Sweet Home!

Our final leg of the journey consisted of the worst head winds we've had, along Geelong road! Following that was a wild few kms from Emerald with huge winds and branches flying everywhere! But we made it!

Our journey has taken us just over 18,000kms halfway around this awesome country and we are so grateful that we were able to do it.

Our heartfelt thanks to our wonderful families, friends, neighbours, and everyone else that helped make our trip possible.

Torquay and the Birthday Boy

We got to Torquay for Father's Day and Mark's birthday, and since we had been on the road 8 days in a row, declared a few days "off" to rest up and catch some sun/waves. A lovely surprise was a visit from the Alabaster family as our advance welcoming party!

Back To Vic!

We headed down to Robe for the night after lunch at Tailem Bend. Full of historical buildings and great beach scenery, but soo cold! Woodfired pizza delivered to us for dinner was a real treat! Our caravan park had a heated swimming pool which we got there too late for, but the thought of a warm swim got us up and in the pool first thing before we checked out again in the morn!

We crossed the border into Victoria, yay! feels great to be so close to home. Another overnight stay, this time in Port Fairy. A few southern right whales and their calves were frolicking in pretty close to the shore. The kids are so blase now, they were more interested in doing flips over the handrail than observing whales! Next stop Warnambool for more potential whale watching (well Mark & I were keen..) took a bit of a detour before we made it to Logans beach and when we finally got there, not a whale was to be found... but we can't complain.

Beyond the Nullabor

Did a big drive today, about 620km. Lunch at Ceduna, walk along the jetty, then got into Kimba Roadhouse past a sea of canola crops, windmills, emus and kangaroos just on a beautiful sunset. Off again in the morning after a quick stop at a big galah! Kimba's claim to fame is to be the town halfway across Australia. Port Augusta saw a change of caravan tyres after Mark noted one was down to metal in one spot (oops!). We pull up at Port Wakefield for the night. It's a lovely little historical fishing town with some buildings dating back to the 1840s. 

STILL crossing the Nullabor...

Heading on, we make it by late arvo to the Nullabor Roadhouse and set up camp. Planned to drive to the Head of the Bight from there. That is where the Southern Right Whales come in calving season and stay until the calves are old enough to head back out to sea. In keeping with the pace of this trip we find out we have just under an hour to drive there and check out the whales before the gates shut! (who knew there'd be gates!)

We are literally running down the path to the viewing platform and are stopped in our tracks by the amazing sight of 6 whales and their calves (50m or so offshore). Not really a sight you can rush, just awesome.

Crossing the Nullabor

We get to the Balladonia Roadhouse and somehow we've chosen a roadhouse with a big screen TV (all the better to watch Pies v Eagles on...)

Next day's drive is about 6hrs to Eucla, the roadkill is just awful, one long stretch has a dead kangaroo at least every 100m. Interesting to note about 3 RFDS emergency airstrips within the Eyre Highway we are on. We stop at the Caiguna blowhole....inland? it is a hole in the rocks leading to a cave system which has cold air blowing out of it. We amuse ourselves for awhile throwing leaves down it and watching them float up again...

Leaving Eucla we check out the ruins of the old telegraph station (1877) and the huge sand hills. Samuel's boogie board is our toboggan and we have great fun racing down them. They are a sight to behold.

Leaving Esperance

Mark FINALLY finds his ideal wave (with time on his hands and a surfing buddy in tow). He gets out for an early morning paddle, duck dives under his first wave and snap! there goes his leg rope..He finds himself 100m offshore, alongside a rip, with his board 50m away about to smash onto some rocks, luckily his new BFF retrieves his board. Mark dejectedly makes his way back to the car to find...a near flat tyre! It is a slow trip back to Beaurepairs and his time is up.....I, on the otherhand, enjoyed a lovely walk along the esplanade. We pack up and check out the beautiful beaches one last time, then it's off along the Nullabor!