Kalbarri

Dongara is a nice little spot although it rained over night. Spent the day in Geraldton, quite a busy place with big cray fishing port and big grain silos, and HMAS Sydney memorial at the lookout. Onto Kalbarri via Northhampton and Port Gregory with it's pink lake, lots of spectacular lookouts on the way.

Visited parrot breeding centre and dined out with caravan park friends at Finlays shed bbq.(rough but good) Done the Kalbarri NP gorge walks, which was fantastic. Phil visited the doc to have his ears syringed,now Di doesn't have to repeat herself. Onto Hamelin Station Stay for the night, perfect, all brand new. Weather warming up all the time.

Denham next, wow,what a beautiful spot with crystal clear calm water, great foreshore and boat ramp full of trailers.

Explored Peron national park, 120 klms of four wheel driving and camped the night at Cape Peron and got eaten by midges, but managed to catch a whiting for tea. Next day booked into Monkey Mia which was equally as impressive except for the back packers. Didn't get to feed a dolphin but it was still quite an experience. Back to Denham in time to watch bins of fresh giant snapper being unloaded at the wharf.

Decided to go to Steep Point, more four wheel driving, to camp on the beach. Took our photo at the most western point of Aussie and admired the crashing waves up against sheer cliffs. Travelled onto Canarvan dodging the goats, sheep and cattle feeding on the green grass on the way.

Pulp Reunion

More shopping at the Fremantle Dock Markets and shook hands with a bronze Bon Scott at the wharf restaurants. We went back to Kings park so we could drive around its 1,ooo acres to check it all out properly. We found an excellent huge children's park and some not so good Wollomi Pines.

We then drove to a caravan park in Caversham to find Brett Wicks,(ex pulp fitter) and his family who has secured a good job with Apache Gas. That night we rounded up some more expulpers for a reunion. Wayne Stott,Kendal Bonney and Richard Stevenson all turned up for a barby in the camp kitchen. It was all too much for Brett, and was found in the shower ,asleep at midnight by his concerned wife.

Said goodbye sunday morning and drove north to find Diane's nephew Todd Brooks and his family in Butler. We had a good catchup with them over a meal at the local pub. Perth is growing north as fast as it is growing south, suburb after suburb after shopping centre. We kept going north through some good cropping country, large paddocks of carrots,and found a lovely spot at Guilderton to camp the night. We awoke at daylight to a shower of rain and a quick packup.

We drove through more beautiful countryside to the Gingin observatory and gravity centre(different), then onto meet the catholic monks at New Norcia. Done a two hour tour of the monastery and its five out of eight chapels, we thought we was in Italy. It was started in 1847 as an aboriginal mission. There are five monks still trying to manage the property but are struggling to keep up with the maintenance of these old buildings.

We got wet again that night in a bush camp but pushed on to check out the Pinnacle's near Cervanties. It was like a sand dune full of stone henge's and headstones. Still wet so we got a cabin in Dongara for the night.

Mandurah

We have spent the last sunny week being thoroughly spoilt by Philip's cousin, Julie and Neil Lawson , in Mandurah. We had a good look around the area, checking out the all the marina's, mansions (beach houses) and beautiful beaches and huge inlet.

Caught the fast train into Perth for a couple of days to see the city sights , shops (Ikea), done the river cruise to Fremantle, (beautiful) Kings Park (very good) and the museum ( A day in Pompei). The view from the train was just a sea of new houses.

We noticed Perth is very prosperous and going ahead in leaps and bounds. No wonder Mr Rudd wants a divy.

We caught up on vehicle maintenance with a well deserved service and new tyres.

Moved on to Fremantle today (friday),to see more marina's and history.The town looks to be the older part of Perth.

Margaret River

Collie is where the coal and gas fired power stations supply WA power.

We travelled through olive plantations on the way to Bridgetown where we called into the Sunday Market to stock up on fresh vegetables and prawns. Onto Manjimup and called into the timber and heritage museum. Very good. At Pemberton we had 10mm of rain on the tent overnight (cosy). Philip climbed the Glouster Tree (60ft high Karri) which was once a fire lookout. We then drove onto Augusta through beautiful Karri, Jarrah and Maurri forests via Nannup.

Augusta is a nice spot, similar to St Helens. We then drove out to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse the most south western point of Australia. We headed north through the land of a 1000 vineyards and the opulent wineries at Margaret River. Travelling along the limestone coast through Gracetown and Yallingup to view some of the better known surfing spots in the world.

Arrived at Busselton and stopped in the best caravan park to date. Due to $24 million upgrade of the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere we were unable to walk and view the underwater observatory.

On 2nd of June we travelled to Bunbury and spent a great day and night with Barry and Kim Dick and reminisced about old times and our youth in Wesley Vale. The following day we travelled through the best farmland since leaving Tassie (good old dairy country) Harvey which is reknown for meat, dairy produce and orange juice. We ate lunch at May Gibb's cottage. Snuggle Pot and Cuddles Pie author. We went to the railway museum in Yarloop. Workshops in original condition as were left in days goneby.

Travelled onto Pinjarra and then onto Mandurah to catch up with Julie and Neil Lawson, Phil's ex neighbours and cousin from Wesley Vale.

margaret River

Margarat