From Esperance we did a short trip to Salmon Gums to stay in the caravan park there for two nights.  This is a great little park and for only $15 a night you get power and water.  Worth a stop over if you feel you need a break at Salmon Gums.  Not far from Salmon Gums is the Peak Charles National Park where there is a walk to the summit of Peak Charles.  This walk has sections that exceed Class 5 to get to the top so we were keen to see if we could get to the summit.  The walk itself is only 3.4km return but the climb requires frequent rock scrambling and was quite steep in parts and you had to find your own foot and hand placements and be able to pull yourself up.  What a challenge.

We were lucky the day we climbed Peak Charles, the weather was sunny and not very windy so all was set.  Originally we were thinking of camping at Peak Charles but were told the road in was very rough and not really suitable for caravans.  We drove in on a really good road and could have quite easily taken the van in.  Not to worry though, Salmon Gums was still OK.  The walk up to the summit starts off fairly easy and does get rockier and steeper the higher you get.  The only section that was really steep was about a 40mtr section near the top that you did have to scramble up and find your own footholds.  Coming down was a lot easier in this section as you just crab crawled on your hands and feet with your back to the rock.  The view at the top was pretty spectacular and you felt you could see the curvature of the horizon over the salt lakes.  A great climb and a good feeling to have done it.

Feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves for climbing Peak Charles our next part of the trip was the start of the Nullarbor Plain crossing.  We have had  great time in the south of WA and now it was time to really start our trip east.  Not that we were looking forward to the Nullarbor, but you have to drive it to cross it so it was SA here we come.

We fuelled up at Norseman and started our trip east wards.  Our first nights stop was at a small off road camping area called Jillbunya Rock Hole.  We drove in off the road about 700 metres and had a very quiet nights stay.  We didn’t hear any traffic noise and only had one other lot of campers not to far away.  Didn’t see any rock hole though, so not to sure where it was from our camp spot.

Next day it was further east and keen to get over the border and into South Australia.  Some travellers take a few days to cross the Nullarbor but we were both keen to get across as quick as we could.  Kaye had a drive today and got to do the nice 90 mile straight, no bends for 90 miles.  Great time for me to have some shut eye and leave Kaye in her own thoughts.  Our camp for this night was the Bunda Cliffs Campground.  These were about 120km over the border and you can park your van pretty close to the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight with great views to match.  It was a bit windy though so we parked the van so we would be protected from the winds and still had a great view of the cliffs and sunset.

Our next destination was Fowlers Bay.  We have driven past this turn off a few times so decided this time we would turn in and have a look.  When you look at the map Fowlers Bay also seems to be the start of the Eyre Peninsular, so this also made it a place we thought we should visit.   We also had some fruit and vegies that we wanted to use up before going through the check point at Ceduna.  We stayed at the Fowlers Bay Eco Caravan Park.  Its right across the road from the beach and you can hear the waves at night .  They generate their power from solar and water mainly comes from a sand dune aquifer, so you are asked to limit your usage of both, which was easy for us to do anyway.  They have a great jetty at Fowlers Bay which was used quite extensively up until the late 1960’s.  Hopefully they can keep this maintained as it is a great asset for the tiny town.  There isn’t really a lot in Fowlers Bay, its a pity they haven’t got a small tavern or something similar, we felt it needed a little something to give it a bit more vibe.   Nice spot though and was good for a two night stay.

Ceduna was our next stop, we had used up most of our food and there was a pile of washing to be done as well.  The caravan park we tried to get into at Ceduna couldn’t fit our size van in for about four days so we picked a park called A1 Caravan Park.  It was only $22 a night for power and water so the price was right but the park itself was very rundown.  They seem to be trying to make an effort to improve it but are doing it very slowly.  It was going to be good enough for us for two nights so we took the plunge.

As we were only in Ceduna for two days we didn’t do too much.  We went for a couple of walks along the foreshore and drove out to the port of Thevenard for a look.  Ceduna and Thevenard reminded us a bit of Karratha and Dampier in the way they were situated to each other.  The main exports from Thevenard were gypsum, salt and wheat.

From Ceduna we start our trip around the Eyre Peninsular and are hoping to spend around six weeks having a look at all the points of interest, hopefully it will be as good as what everyone tells us it is. 

Well this a big occasion.  This is the 100th blog update since we started back in 2015.  After doing the first couple of blogs I never thought we would get to five, let alone 100.  I still remember all the hassles doing the first couple and cursing myself for ever starting.  But like everything we do it does get easier and after a while its just motivating yourself to do an update.  Anyway we have done it so will be popping the champagne corks tonight.

From Hopetoun we headed a bit further around the coast to Munglinup Beach for a few nights.  What a beautiful spot this is.  You are only about 40 metres from the beach and protected behind sand dunes from the wind.  The weather was perfect while we were there and we also managed to get some fishing done.  Didn’t catch much though.  Munglinup is a lagoon that is protected by a reef and even if the sea is rough you can swim and snorkel in nice calm waters.  At only $15 a night we thought it was pretty good.  It was also very popular and was full every night, there are only 15 sites so it didn’t take long to fill up each day.  Definitely putting this on the “must visit again list”.

It was very hard to leave Munglinup.  With perfect weather and such a pretty spot you could stay here for a lot longer and watch the days slip by.  But leave we did and our next stop was at Stokes National Park for a couple of days.  This was a well set up camp area alongside the inlet.  This area was settled many years ago by the Moir family but now is mostly National Park.  The drive and visit to the old Moir Homestead was well worth a visit though the signage to get there was virtually non existent.  We did wonder if they were trying to discourage visitors to the area as the road in was also very rough and quite narrow.  The homestead still has some buildings standing, though only just and there is a magnificent Moreton Bay Fig near the house that was worth seeing on its own.

Esperance was our next destination.  Our plan was to go to Cape Le Grand National Park from Esperance.  There were fires in the park when we arrived so we booked into the caravan park for a week and hoped that the fires would be under control.  We had our booking arranged for Lucky Bay at Cape Le Grand so had our fingers crossed.  Esperance has some lovely coastline and the drive along it takes in some great scenery.  We even had a couple of days warm enough to go for a swim at Twilight Beach.  Just out of town is a full size replica of Stonehenge as it would have looked when it was first built.  This was originally planned to be erected in Margaret River but the project went broke so a couple from Esperance purchased it and put it up on their property.  Its well worth a visit and very impressive to see.

As luck would have it the fires at Cape Le Grand didn’t affect the Lucky Bay camp area, must be in the name.  So after a pleasant week in Esperance we headed off to Lucky Bay.  We hadn’t been out this way for many years and the change to the camping areas was very impressive.  The Lucky Bay camp has around 60 sites and it was full every day.  Lots of us grey nomads as well as families travelling around.  Very common now to see young families on the road all the time.   We were lucky to get a camp site close to the water but also protected by trees from the wind.  The facilities at Lucky Bay are excellent with flushing toilets and hot showers if you need them.  At Cape Le Grand we did a few coastal walks in different areas to some bays and also climbed Frenchman Peak, quite steep in some sections but not to bad a climb.  Also looked at Thistle Cove, Hellfire Bay and Rossiter Bay.  Of course Lucky Bay is also well known for kangaroos on the beach and we weren’t disappointed, they were there.  We only had one little bit of rain and this was at night so didn’t stop us from getting out and about.  Lucky Bay is definitely more popular than Cape Le Grand itself.  When we visited Cape Le Grand beach there was virtually no-one there compared to Lucky Bay.

Five days was a good length of time to stay at Lucky Bay.  From here it was back to Esperance for a couple of days.  Time was up to update the blog and also get a few groceries and then head off towards Norseman and then across the Nullarbor.  Our trip to get this far has been great and we have certainly seen some very impressive WA highlights.  Hopefully the rest of our trip will keep being just as good.

After our goodbyes to all in Bremer Bay our next stop was not that far away to the Quaalup Wilderness Retreat.  This was a massive 46km trip for us, though a very dusty gravel road into it.  This is just an open campground with no power or water but they do have flushing toilets and hot showers if you need them.  The retreat has an old historic homestead on it that was originally built by the Wellstead family and is now owned by a young German couple who have created a wilderness retreat.  Its pretty basic but at the same time quite unique.  I just hope they can continue to build it up as it does need some work done to it, especially the facilities as they are starting to look a bit run down.

There was quite a bit to see and do around Quaalup as it is on the edge of the western side of the Fitzgerald River National Park and Quaalup is quite a good base from which to see this side as well as some of the coastline in the area.  Our biggest walk we did in this area was climbing West Mount Barren.  This wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  The National Park is also home to a plant called the Royal Hakea that was quite stunning in its appearance and had a very stiff hard leaf structure.  Also the difference between this plant from the west side of the park to the east was very noticeable.  We also managed to get the car stuck in sand again but now that we know about Toyota’s function to get out of these situations it wasn’t a problem.  Another great thing was that on most of the beaches we visited we were the only ones there.  A great feeling.  Also in the National Park at Point Ann was the start of the No2 Rabbit Proof Fence that still has a small part that you can still see.

After a nice stay at Quaalup for three days we travelled off to Hopetoun for a few nights.  This also gave us a chance to have a look at the eastern side of the Fitzgerald River National Park and also climb East Mount Barren.  We booked into the Wavecrest Village which was very good. They also have a tavern at the village which was a good excuse for another pub meal.   We had been in Hopetoun previously in May a couple of years ago and it was interesting to see the contrast in the flora and the amount of flowers around in the bush.  There were some nice ocean drives around Hopetoun that gave you nice panoramic views.  This was also where we saw the big difference between the Royal Hakea to that on the western side of this park.

Hopetoun was a great little stopover and next it was off towards Esperance but with a couple of short stays on the way there.  We were looking forward to this part of the trip as we had heard that some of the areas to stay at were very stunning.  Its a pity we don’t have a coastal road down this part of the state as some of the beaches and bays are truly stunning and an ocean drive would rival anywhere in the world.  Maybe one day this might be a reality.