Hopetoun to The Knob

HOPETOUN TO THE KNOB

21 November to 23 November                  Esperance

We packed up the trailer with all our stuff and after some farewells headed out of Hopetoun for Esperance along the South Coast hway. Really a wide bitumen road more than a highway. We arrived at Esperance and after a short visit to the visitor centre and a quick sidetrip to Woolies for another hot chicken we made our way to the van park in the north of town near the beach. We got our allocated site from the office and went to our site to set up but unfortunately there was someone already ensconced on our bit of turf. The rude pricks. We went back to the office and were assured that the sight given to us should be empty as the passkey was for that site no. so someone was on the wrong one . The office advised us to take one of the vacant ones nearby which we did. The lady later came and gave the offending campers a strong talking too when they got back from their day of highjinks. Esperance was full of beautiful blue water and white beaches which many people on our trip had told us that it would be. We still had a bit of Liams schoolwork to complete so we took a trip to the peir where we saw a seal swimming just under it where the fish cleaning area was. Obviously this guy was a bit of a freeloader as he was not scared off by any of the people who were snapping pictures of him as he swam around the pylons waiting for someone to throw something down to him. We completed Liam’s work by taking a few photos of him attired as an ‘eco warrior’ cleaning up the beach and advising some hapless litterer ,me, of the wrongness of littering. Photos done we had officially completed both of the boys schoolwork and it was all holiday from now on  YEE HAA. It truly was a happy moment. We continued our first day by taking a drive along Beach Road to the surf club and taking a swim at the beach there. Meant to have been voted the best beach in Australia  and although the water was crystal clear and the sand extremely white I personally wouldn’t have given it this claim to fame.  We paid a visit out along Merivale road to the Cape Le Grand national park and started our day by taking the climb to the top of Frenchman’s peak. We had been told by a couple of blokes at the van park that this was a walk to the top of the mount and there you could find a huge cave which overlooked the surrounding area. I found it a rather challenging walk with my fear of heights as there was a fairly brisk breeze blowing and the climb was fairly steep over the granite surface of the rock. I kept my hat in my bag and my centre of gravity as low as I could get it but made it to the top without incident several minutes ahead of Tracy and the boys mainly because I wanted to get to the top as quickly as possible. At the summit there indeed was a large cavern that could be accessed from the back area and walked right through to the front giving excellent views of the Cape Le Grand beaches. I waited in the solemnity of the cave for the trio to arrive and a few photos were taken and then I made the tortuos downhill traverse which I wasn’t looking forward to at all. To my surprise going down was much easier than up and made it safely and unscathed back to Hervey and terra firma. After the others got back we drove to Cape Le Grand beach and had lunch at a small creek about a k south of the beach access road. The boys had fun here swimming with the multitude of tadpoles that inhabited this water the number and size of which I hadn’t seen for many a year. Im not sure if they swallowed any or not but they didn’t eat a lot. We drove back to Esperance along the beach and as soon as we got past the sign at the start of the national park there was an abundance of tracks leading off the beach into the dunes where there was heaps of camping areas which would have been free to stay at. We arrived back at camp and the boys headed off for the playground and we did a bit of washing and then at down for a few beers with some of the campers nearby.

24 November    Nullabor ½ way along 140k straight          We decamped and headed north out of Esperance after stopping and exchanging my out of date gas bottle. We had intended to go to the Nullabor through the Cape Le Grand park via Palmango and Balledonia rds after camping a few days at Cape Arid but we had been advised by many people that these roads were fairly bad and weren’t really suitable for campers. We were later to find that this was bad info and these roads were quite good and would have cut about 100k or so off our trip.   Tracy had spoken to someone at the van park about a mice plague that was on the Nullabor and into South Australia so we intended to mouse proof Bay again before we got to the trouble zone something we hadn’t done since leaving Alice Springs. We arrived at the metropolis of Norseman where we had lunch in the visitor center carpark and then took a sharp right and headed east along the Eyre hway. We hit the start of the infamous ‘longest straight stretch of road in Australia’ and took some obligatory photos. Some not suitable for the blog unfortunately. I pity the poor  bloke that drove by – hes probably still trying to get the memory out of his mind. The straight is 144k long by the sign and as they say its pretty straight. We made camp that night at a reststop on the south side of the road at the 70k marker and although we mouseproofed we had a peaceful night. Wed done about 5000k since Goomalling , hard to believe, so took the opportunity to do a oil change on Hervey. I had installed a pvc pipe behind the solar panels for the fishing rods while we were in Esperance – something that I had been trying to do for mths now – so didn’t have the worry of where to store them without breaking them.

25 November    133k marker east of Bordertown              We yet again did the necessary pack up and commenced our days travel eastward along the Eyre hway towards Eucla and Bordertown. As we were driving along we came across lots of squished things covering the road and while we were discussing these and thinking that they were mice that had been resting on the road at the wrong time we hit a flock of green budgies. These small pretty little birds that many people have in cages were in there thousands and sitting on the road until as we got closer they would take to the wing and fly off as one – very coordinated they were. The unfortunate thing for them was that they would fly off the road into the paddocks but then immediately back towards the road and straight infront of Hervey. This happened not once but several times with us coming across many flocks of them hanging out on the bitumen for whatever reason that they did. They would all fly off and then back to be nailed by the behemoth of Hervey and Bay. We squished many budgies that day and by the end of it I was giggling madly with the absurdity of these kamakazi budgies hitting Hervey as we travelled along the hway. We were later to find out that there was a budgie plague in the area and thousands were being creamed to a pulp by vehicles on the road. Two vehicles we heard of had to be tilttrayed out as there radiators had been blocked off and engines had overheated. An expensive day for those travellers.We stopped for fuel at Eucla on top of the cliffs and took some photos of the beaches below them. Eucla is by no means a huge place but has its own copper and several fishing shacks in the nearby area. While at Eucla we were again advised that there was a mouse plague over the border into South Australia so we again pledged to stay vigilant against the vermin. We passed through Bordertown without needing to stop and rid ourselves of all the fruit we had as they only seemed interested if you were coming from east to west.

It was a sad moment when we left Western Australia as we had spent about 6 mths there and had found the whole place amazing. We had been enthralled by the beauty of the Kimberlies and the long days of travel with nothing much to see. The money being spent by the mining companies had given us ideas on how to get some of it and the magnificent area in the south west corner will have us going back just to spend some more time there. We had made  friends and stayed at some wonderful places and it will be hard to get the Western Australia out of us. We will be back.

We had a few stops at some lookouts from the cliffs where I managed to keep my fear of heights under control despite the huge drop to the rocks below. We made camp that night on the north side of the road in a rest stop at the 133 k marker. The ground was extremely hard so had to have a couple of attepts at finding a suitable site for the night.

26 November – 27  November   Perlubie Beach                  We packed up yet again and were encouraged by the thought that although we had heard a few scurrying sounds after we had gone to bed we had not been tormented to the extremes of the mice at Lake Eyre. It was going to be a good day.We headed back on the tar but took a northerly track to the Old Eyre hway and travelled this track for about 40k to try and imagine what it must have been like crossing the Nullabor not that many years ago.It was a fairly good track and would be easily used instead of the Eyre Hway on our next adventure this way. We got back to the tar at the Nullabor Roadhouse which we found to be quite a popular stop with several trucks in the lot compared to other roadhouses we had passed on our west east trip. We took a short drive to the Head of the Bight where Tracy and Liam walked to the lookout while Matty and I prepared lunch. After this short break we headed south east down the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. We made a quick visit to Haslem Beach but made camp that night at Perlubie Beach right beside the ocean with a few other campers.  The following day we took a drive to Streaky Bay which we had been told by many people was a must see and were delighted by its beautiful beaches and caravan park right on the water. We continued through Streaky and out to Cape Bauer for a look and this turned out to be a place of more high cliffs and crashing waves. We took a walk down to some of the blowholes and tried to record the whistling holes with not a lot of success. We returned to Streaky Bay where we had lunch at the playground but were a bit dubious about entering the waters as at 1:00pm there was none else in the water despite it being a hot day and right beside the van park. We braved the odds and let the boys go in first. Tracy followed as did several other people when they turned up about 10 mins later. We seemed to have opened the floodgates  by going in .  We left Streaky after lunch and the dip and went back to Perlubie Beach via Eba and a short drive along the beach. The boys and I went back for a beach drive later and climbed one of the huge sand dunes that surround the place.

28 November – 29 November    Coffin Bay van park                         We packed up camp and headed east into the Gawler Ranges. We finally got to see the Pindappa Rock that we were told about way back when we were camped at Fitzgerald Bay in South Australia. Seems like a life time ago. It was a fairly impressive granite rock not on the same scale as Kokerbin rock but pretty big anyway. We had a walk over it and then continued onto the Organ Pipes in the Gawler ranges. Had a short walk to get to a section where there were large hexagonal rocks lining a waterfall which wasn’t running but a nice spot anyway. After a quick lunch we headed down the centre of the Eyre Peninsula through the wheat farming area. Bloody hot in this section. Came across a semi dog trailer that had come off and was lying about twenty yards into the bush on its side. Turned around and had alook and the boys had a bit of fun playing in the wheat that covered the area from the overturned trailer.  We continued south after a few photos and came across another trailer just south of Cummins. This one was a semi bin and looks like the driver had taken the corner too quickly and the bin had rolled off the chassis as the bin was on the right side of the road and the truck and trailer chassis was on the left with the hydraulic ram pointing skywards. I don’t think I would have liked being anywhere near it when it had let go.  Continued southwards and got to Coffin Bay and headed for the Coffin Bay caravan park and checked in there for a couple of nights. We had to move a few resident kangaroos around but the place was pretty good. Had new toilets and camp kitchen that had recently been built. Didn’t like the idea of someone watching me eat my dinner from the cctv in the corner of the room. Took a drive out to Coffin Bay NP but was a fairly miserable overcast day so not nearly appealing as I thought it would be. We headed up past Yardie beach and got to the start of seven mile beach where we had a bit of lunch and a play on the sand dunes there before heading back into Coffin Bay.

30 November – 1 December                       Lincoln NP - Spalding Cove                           Left Coffin Bay and drove the short distance to Port Lincoln which I had been told by the park manager at CB had the highest per capita ratio of millionaires in Australia. Thanks to the big tuna industry down in that region. We went past the huge silos near the wharf which were probably the biggest we’d  seen so far before heading into the shops to restock a bit. We made our way out to  Lincoln NP and started to look for a camp for a few days. We finally found Spalding cove empty after driving down a few dirt roads. It was a sheltered little bay with heaps of black swans in the water and heaps of dead puffer fish on the high water mark. Although we tried we didn’t catch a fish here. The water went out a fair way leaving behind banks of seaweed and seagrass. We had a couple of days here just relaxing and playing on the beach.

2 December – 3 December          The Knob – North of Port Gibbon             We left Spalding cove behind and after stopping at Port Lincoln to resupply we headed north up the Lincoln Hway and had lunch at Arno Bay.  We continued on but had to pull over to help a couple of women that had a flat travelling south. They were having trouble undoing the last wheel nut , not a bad excuse , so I felt that I needed to render some assistance and they were very grateful for the help. After playing the good Samaritan we hit the road again and veered off towards Port Gibbon and got to The Knob just north of the village. Bloody windy spot right on the beach and ground was rock so took a few goes to get the pegs in a few inches but we finally got Bay up and got out of the wind for a bit. We again attempted to try our luck at fishing but the fish god must have something against because we again came away empty hooked. We had a couple of days at the windy Knob and contemplated life and the head for home that we were undertaking.

Thanks for reading this episode and hope you are looking forward to the next ( and possibly the final) one.

Read ya then.