Saturday, 8 January 2011
Christmas
Pemberton, Walpole, Peaceful Bay, Hush Hush beach, Conspicuous cliffs, Green's pools, Elephant rocks, that looked like elephants, Denmark's alternative lifestyle feel, (read rich hippies), Albany's normal people feel and nice normal people at that, who helped me replace our two batteries and re-wire our dual battery system and recommend a welder (he was called Gary after all!) Then two nights at the lovely Cosy corner beach where who should we bump into but the Germans.
Jurgen and Helga, could you get two more German sounding names. They're both near as damn it the same age as us and decided on a whim that they would like to drive to Oz. They don't have residency here and unfortunately their time is running out and they're organising shipping back to Germany but it was fantastic to spend a bit of time with them and swap stories of border crossings and shippings etc. It was also interesting to note that they too were a bit flat on the excitement scale. Not due to it being the end of their trip either. After all the freedom of driving and camping in Asia (they drove through Laos into Thailand and Malaysia and shipped from Singapore) thay were finding Australia expensive and rigid. In the eight years since we were last here in a camper van, we too have noticed there has been a proliferation of no camping signs and don't do this and don't do that signs, which seems to be totally against the notion of Australia's identity as sticking one up to convention? And it's not like they haven't got the space is it! Having said all that there are still free camping spots they're just not signposted and most of them you learn about through word of mouth at other free sites which led us on to.
Yet another beautiful little beach called Betty's where salmon fishermen have built tin shacks to stay in during the season from Feb-April. The beach looked straight out of a brochure for the Seychelles or Mauritius. Granted the air and water temperature weren't quite Indian ocean but if you forgot about the jeans and fleece I swear you coulda been there! From here it was only a short hop to Esperance another quaint little port town where we stocked up on food, booze and laundered our wardrobes before heading out to the beach with officially the whitest sand in the whole of Australia (as voted for!). Tough to argue with I have to say. When the sun shone on Lucky bay if you weren't wearing sunglasses you were in danger of being blinded. The water was aquamarine (well it would be be wouldn't it?!) and the bay was perfectly bay shaped with the perfect knobbly bits of pinkish granite as headlands. And as if it couldn't get any better there were kangaroos on the beach seals in the water and a cute little camp site with solar showers tucked away amongst the bush in the lee of the bay. Christmas!!!!
More presents arrived in the form of new friends, our neighbours Al and Karyn (Kiwi and Aussie from Melbourne), nearby, Marielle, Jeff and their two great kids Cam and Mayanna (Bolivian and American living in Perth), across the track, Jun and Kate (Japanese and Aussie also living in Perth) and to top it off Jurgen and Helga arrived on Christmas eve! All great fun. It really was a brilliant way to spend Christmas, we all cooked and brought all the food together at Marielle and Jeff's van and had a really nice evening.
Jurgen and Helga, could you get two more German sounding names. They're both near as damn it the same age as us and decided on a whim that they would like to drive to Oz. They don't have residency here and unfortunately their time is running out and they're organising shipping back to Germany but it was fantastic to spend a bit of time with them and swap stories of border crossings and shippings etc. It was also interesting to note that they too were a bit flat on the excitement scale. Not due to it being the end of their trip either. After all the freedom of driving and camping in Asia (they drove through Laos into Thailand and Malaysia and shipped from Singapore) thay were finding Australia expensive and rigid. In the eight years since we were last here in a camper van, we too have noticed there has been a proliferation of no camping signs and don't do this and don't do that signs, which seems to be totally against the notion of Australia's identity as sticking one up to convention? And it's not like they haven't got the space is it! Having said all that there are still free camping spots they're just not signposted and most of them you learn about through word of mouth at other free sites which led us on to.
Yet another beautiful little beach called Betty's where salmon fishermen have built tin shacks to stay in during the season from Feb-April. The beach looked straight out of a brochure for the Seychelles or Mauritius. Granted the air and water temperature weren't quite Indian ocean but if you forgot about the jeans and fleece I swear you coulda been there! From here it was only a short hop to Esperance another quaint little port town where we stocked up on food, booze and laundered our wardrobes before heading out to the beach with officially the whitest sand in the whole of Australia (as voted for!). Tough to argue with I have to say. When the sun shone on Lucky bay if you weren't wearing sunglasses you were in danger of being blinded. The water was aquamarine (well it would be be wouldn't it?!) and the bay was perfectly bay shaped with the perfect knobbly bits of pinkish granite as headlands. And as if it couldn't get any better there were kangaroos on the beach seals in the water and a cute little camp site with solar showers tucked away amongst the bush in the lee of the bay. Christmas!!!!
More presents arrived in the form of new friends, our neighbours Al and Karyn (Kiwi and Aussie from Melbourne), nearby, Marielle, Jeff and their two great kids Cam and Mayanna (Bolivian and American living in Perth), across the track, Jun and Kate (Japanese and Aussie also living in Perth) and to top it off Jurgen and Helga arrived on Christmas eve! All great fun. It really was a brilliant way to spend Christmas, we all cooked and brought all the food together at Marielle and Jeff's van and had a really nice evening.
Moving on..
South west Australia, just like South West England!, well there was a Taunton farm caravan site anyway! Obligatory photo in front of the sign and a stay overnight revealed the original owners of the farm were the Pearsons from... you guessed it, Taunton. Surfed Margaret River mosied around a bit and got the feeling we needed to do some miles. We also bumped into a German couple in a bright orange Kombi (transporter) who had over landed via China, they had company at the time so we only had a quick chat with them but as they were heading East we felt sure we'd see them again.
Strange but there has definitely been a shift in our enjoyment of hobo-ing. It might be that it's certainly less challenging in Australia. All the road signs are in English everyone speaks English (sometimes debatable) and we know what all the food is. It's easy. We're struggling a bit to get enthusiastic about it. Amazing beaches and beautiful woodlands aside we just can't seem to get that spark back. It threatens every now and then, like when we drove over a sand dune hundreds of miles from anywhere onto a completely deserted beach and ran naked into the Southern Ocean, or did a tree top walk 60m up in the canopy of a Karri tree forest, but then we have a day of cold weather or a bit of rain and we're over it immediately. Giving it more thought, I really think we're soft and just can't cope with temperatures below 25c!!! I'm sat outside the truck typing this at eight thirty in the evening wearing a t shirt, two fleeces my ski jacket, gloves and woolly hat and it's 16c. What do you reckon?
From Augusta, the most South Westerly town in Australia the journey to Esperance was awesome. Massive Karri and Tingle trees towered above us and the scent of cat's piss permeated the air (it's a native shrub that lives under the Karri trees, but it really does stink of cat's piss). The tracks down to the beaches were almost all accessable only by 4x4 and as a consequence were very quiet. On the way to Jaspers beach we developed a clonking from underneath and on inspection found that a bracket welded to the chassis that the stabiliser bar sits in, had snapped off. No signal let alone any chance of anyone coming to help us meant bush mechanic time. In true A Team style we wired it back to the chassis and used a spare bolt and a bit of rubber to fashion a new bush. Job done. The next test was soon upon us when we got stuck trying to climb a sand dune. With the sand over the top of the axles and the tyres all ready deflated to 15psi digging just wasn't gonna help.. winch time! First time on the whole trip we have had to use the winch in anger. Thank goodness for hardy shrubs with deep roots to anchor to. Much groaning and creaking but we dragged ourselves up and over, yeehaa. It's times like this when you're miles from anywhere and anybody and no one really knows where you are, that all the preparation and routine maintenance really pay off, not to mention having the right equipment to start with. It feels good to have the confidence to take stuff on knowing you're ready to get yourself out of trouble if needs be.
Strange but there has definitely been a shift in our enjoyment of hobo-ing. It might be that it's certainly less challenging in Australia. All the road signs are in English everyone speaks English (sometimes debatable) and we know what all the food is. It's easy. We're struggling a bit to get enthusiastic about it. Amazing beaches and beautiful woodlands aside we just can't seem to get that spark back. It threatens every now and then, like when we drove over a sand dune hundreds of miles from anywhere onto a completely deserted beach and ran naked into the Southern Ocean, or did a tree top walk 60m up in the canopy of a Karri tree forest, but then we have a day of cold weather or a bit of rain and we're over it immediately. Giving it more thought, I really think we're soft and just can't cope with temperatures below 25c!!! I'm sat outside the truck typing this at eight thirty in the evening wearing a t shirt, two fleeces my ski jacket, gloves and woolly hat and it's 16c. What do you reckon?
From Augusta, the most South Westerly town in Australia the journey to Esperance was awesome. Massive Karri and Tingle trees towered above us and the scent of cat's piss permeated the air (it's a native shrub that lives under the Karri trees, but it really does stink of cat's piss). The tracks down to the beaches were almost all accessable only by 4x4 and as a consequence were very quiet. On the way to Jaspers beach we developed a clonking from underneath and on inspection found that a bracket welded to the chassis that the stabiliser bar sits in, had snapped off. No signal let alone any chance of anyone coming to help us meant bush mechanic time. In true A Team style we wired it back to the chassis and used a spare bolt and a bit of rubber to fashion a new bush. Job done. The next test was soon upon us when we got stuck trying to climb a sand dune. With the sand over the top of the axles and the tyres all ready deflated to 15psi digging just wasn't gonna help.. winch time! First time on the whole trip we have had to use the winch in anger. Thank goodness for hardy shrubs with deep roots to anchor to. Much groaning and creaking but we dragged ourselves up and over, yeehaa. It's times like this when you're miles from anywhere and anybody and no one really knows where you are, that all the preparation and routine maintenance really pay off, not to mention having the right equipment to start with. It feels good to have the confidence to take stuff on knowing you're ready to get yourself out of trouble if needs be.
Hello again! We're on the road!
Can't even remember where I was!!! Think we had just arrived in Perth and moved in to Ed's house? Any way 6 Months later and a whole brand new year and We're in a posh campsite in a less than posh town called Port Augusta.
I'll skim Perth 'cos no one wants to hear about the same stuff every one else does ie work, though of course I have to say massive thanks to Paul for the job (which I actually really enjoyed and learnt new stuff) and to Ed for putting up with us much longer than I'm sure he and we intended and of course the WAG's for making us feel welcome. The guy's at work need some praise for trying to teach me form work especially grumpy Bob the boss who always took time to show me how to and wasn't always grumpy.
Kym was a supermarket demonstrator.. "try some of this new product...". Hairdressing was out of the question with the West Australian government requiring a permit to cut hair in WA which costs around £300 and involves a test. (the fact that the Federal government deemed Kym's skills good enough to grant us permanent residency obviously doesn't cut it in WA (sorry about the pun)). So at Ed's place we were never short of sunscreen, chicken in sauces, ice cream, chocolate, muffins, cereals, face wash, cheese and hilarity at some of the outfits Kym was expected to wear. The Swedish Hiker was a highlight, khaki shorts, shirt, hat, boots and pigtails oh and back pack massively boosted the sales of muesli bars. In actual fact Kym turned out to be so good at the job and so respected by the company she worked for, that she ended up choosing when and where she wanted to work and what she would wear! They even gave her a farewell lunch at head office and promised her that if she wanted to do the same when we got to Queensland there would be a job waiting in Brisbane. Gold star.
Perth was definitely up and down for us, seeing old friends, putting Australian money in our Australian account and behaving relatively normally were pluss's, Kym having a miscarriage goes in the minuses. Those who know us know this was a toughie and undoubtedly without Kym's friend Kat (used to do her hair in Taunton now lives in Perth) it would have been a whole lot tougher and staying at Kat and Mikes country retreat in the hills for the last two weeks we were in Perth, was a joy. On the bright side we got pregnant and with that came a sense of wanting to stop and make a home for a while. But we're a long way from where we want to lay our hat which is why, after a fantastic send off in the form of drinks at Claire and Paul's and the added bonus of Garth and Sheila our friends from Singapore visiting followed by a Sunday session at a beautiful pub in the hills, we left on the 8th Dec and hit the road again!
I'll skim Perth 'cos no one wants to hear about the same stuff every one else does ie work, though of course I have to say massive thanks to Paul for the job (which I actually really enjoyed and learnt new stuff) and to Ed for putting up with us much longer than I'm sure he and we intended and of course the WAG's for making us feel welcome. The guy's at work need some praise for trying to teach me form work especially grumpy Bob the boss who always took time to show me how to and wasn't always grumpy.
Kym was a supermarket demonstrator.. "try some of this new product...". Hairdressing was out of the question with the West Australian government requiring a permit to cut hair in WA which costs around £300 and involves a test. (the fact that the Federal government deemed Kym's skills good enough to grant us permanent residency obviously doesn't cut it in WA (sorry about the pun)). So at Ed's place we were never short of sunscreen, chicken in sauces, ice cream, chocolate, muffins, cereals, face wash, cheese and hilarity at some of the outfits Kym was expected to wear. The Swedish Hiker was a highlight, khaki shorts, shirt, hat, boots and pigtails oh and back pack massively boosted the sales of muesli bars. In actual fact Kym turned out to be so good at the job and so respected by the company she worked for, that she ended up choosing when and where she wanted to work and what she would wear! They even gave her a farewell lunch at head office and promised her that if she wanted to do the same when we got to Queensland there would be a job waiting in Brisbane. Gold star.
Perth was definitely up and down for us, seeing old friends, putting Australian money in our Australian account and behaving relatively normally were pluss's, Kym having a miscarriage goes in the minuses. Those who know us know this was a toughie and undoubtedly without Kym's friend Kat (used to do her hair in Taunton now lives in Perth) it would have been a whole lot tougher and staying at Kat and Mikes country retreat in the hills for the last two weeks we were in Perth, was a joy. On the bright side we got pregnant and with that came a sense of wanting to stop and make a home for a while. But we're a long way from where we want to lay our hat which is why, after a fantastic send off in the form of drinks at Claire and Paul's and the added bonus of Garth and Sheila our friends from Singapore visiting followed by a Sunday session at a beautiful pub in the hills, we left on the 8th Dec and hit the road again!
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