Greetings From Western Australia

Great Australian Bight


Nullarbor Skies


Esperance Pier


Lucky Bay Sunset


Frenchmans Peak Sunset

 
As we last left you, we were riding on the ferry from Devonport, Tasmania back to Melbourne, Victoria.  We had thought we would take the night ferry, but it was booked out the day we wanted to leave, but there were two berths left on the day ferry, so that is what we were on.  It was a calm journey and that was good.  The ferry docked at 6:30 pm, and by 7:00 we were out of the city and on the road to Ballarat, a lovely old goldfields town that we had visited earlier in our travels.
 
After a good night's sleep, we got back into the car and pointed ourselves to the Barossa Valley in South Australia.  When we were in SA earlier we had missed the Barossa Valley, and because it is one of the premier wine regions of Australia, we figured we needed to see it.  Well, it is the home to many of the wine labels that we are all familiar with, Jacobs Creek, Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Yalumba make up the big vintners, with a handful of boutique vineyards tossed in.  We missed the intimacy that the Clare and McLaren Vale wineries had.  The Barossa is truly wine manufacturing with acres and acres of vine.
 
After two days in the Barossa, we truly hit the road.  We headed north through Port Augusta, then west across the Eyre Peninsula to Ceduna, the last town in SA where we camped for the night.  Next day we started the long drive across the Nullarbor Plain and in ten hours reached the WA border at Ecula.  Along the long Nullarbor drive, there were pull offs where you could get out and view the ocean.  The sands and water and cliffs were amazing and it was nice to get out and stretch every so often.
 
 Each Australian state has quarantine stops where you are pulled over and must relinquish all seeds, fruit, vegetables, plants and everything else that is an agricultural product.  Now we did this entering SA, and Tasmania, without any problems, but at the border in WA, they stopped us, and searched.  There were dead leaves on the floor mat, and those were taken, even Steve's carrots were taken! I explained they were necessary for his sugar levels, and she said we could get more down the road.  Yes we could, 7 hours of driving later!  So, we had no fresh anything until they next day when we entered Norseman, bummer.
 
We camped in Ecula, at the edge of the Great Australian Bight, we had a beautiful sunset that night, and the sun rose at 4:30 the next morning.  Since there was nothing there but a roadhouse, we packed up again and hit the road, driving west to Norseman (which is named after a horse!) where we were finally able to buy carrots and some grapes.  From there we turned south and drove for another two hours to Esperance, where we hit the wall.
 
Esperance is a charming seaside town with the most amazingly colored water, a real  aqua with the whitest beaches!  After spending the night in town, the next morning we walked along the esplanade to the jetty, looking at the porpoise and Sammy the local Sea Lion.  After the all important coffee, we drive out to Cape Le Grand, about 60K east of Esperance to camp for the night.
 
When you see Steve’s photos, you will think that they have been enhanced, but no, this is what we were looking at, you can see just how amazing it is.  And the beach was like walking on cornstarch or talcum powder the sand was so fine.  We drove around the park seeing the sights, feeling that we were very lucky to find a campsite at Lucky Bay.  We think that we were at the best place ever.  The next day we packed up to leave but before that, we wanted to climb Frenchmans Peak for a view of the coast and all of its coves and bays.  Steve made it to the top and I waited halfway, yes, you can call me chicken.  After that, we drove back into Esperance to stock up on essentials, then drove west yet again towards Albany. 
 
I think this stretch of the road was the worst yet as far as length and sheer boredom.  Thank goodness for audiobooks.  We have worked our way through Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand, and are now on The Count of Monte Cristo.  That book alone should see us back to the east coast.
 
So here we are in Albany, WA, in the southwest corner (sort of) of WA.  Right now it is a good sized town, but there are big plans to make it bigger and trendier.  The town is famous for its beaches, surfing, history and whales.  We are just happy to be in civilization again! 
 
PS:  We want to thank everyone for their e-mails of concern for our safety upon hearing about the devastating floods in Queensland and now Victoria.  We are safe, as are all of our friends.  The floods are absolutely devastating, not just in property loss, but loss of tourism, the loss of major agricultural areas.  The Lockyer Valley is a huge salad bowl of growing and all the crops have been lost, so buying local, if you can find it, is the only option.  Many of the store shelves, even in urban areas are empty, not just because of the loss of farmland, but the road and rail infrastructure has also been destroyed.  After suffering 10 years from the worst drought ever, now their farms have been destroyed by the locust plague and flooding.  BUT!  The Australians have the will power and strength to get through this, they help each other and rely on each other in the Australian “spirit” they will get through this, and not expect the government to pull them out.  They are the most amazing people.