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Hi all Well it's been a busy time since our last blog so I will try and remember all that we have done. Geraldton was great and we especially loved the museum tour with the history of the first explorers from overseas and their shipwreck disasters in the 1700's. They also have an amazing memorial in memory of the people who lost their lives when the HMAS Sydney was sunk in World War 2. This wreck was actually not found until 2008. The memorial is a dome made up of 645 seagulls one for each life lost. Next stop was a free camp beside the sea 10kms north of Dongara at Seven Mile Beach. It's self contained vans only and a ranger appeared at 7am and moved on the other campers who were sleeping in their station wagon a no no!! Dongara is a nice small quiet RV friendly town that had a free camp area where we spent one night before heading south again. After visiting the Pinnacles it was on to Ledge Point which is a small seaside town with a lovely motor camp and dinner at the club along the road was a nice treat.
Next day Saturday it was off to Perth. On the way there was a place called the Gravity Centre which is full of amazing tricks of science that really challenge your brain to understand how they work. It's a huge place and very popular with school tours but we left with our heads spinning as it was all too much for our old brains.
After booking into our motor camp in Perth it was nice to just sit back and relax for the rest of the day.
Sunday morning saw us walking around Perth's fantastic water front that is just so spacious and modern and then up to the town area with a couple of streets partially closed off and made into big malls, that would be great for Dunedin we reckon. We spent the afternoon on a open top double deck bus tour that toured around all the highlights of this big exciting city for two hours.
I found it a bit tricky getting back into driving in heavy traffic again on big motorways and with lots of traffic lights which I have not seen for months. Monday was soaked up driving around and re stocking the van before going to have dinner with some lovely people that we meet through other friends in NZ and have moved here to live. We had a lovely bbq after a few drinkies at their beautiful home and we then camped in their driveway. It was up early and on the motorway at 6.45 for the 30km trip into town to get a park close to the ferry terminal. With the van parked up on the only park big enough for the camper which was $38 for 8 hours, we both had showers and ate breakfast on the street while watching lots of people walking quickly past to get to work on time. The 1 1/4 hour ferry trip to Fremantle really showed off the amazing harbour on the Swan river that flows out to sea through Fremantle. From the wharf a very cheeky tram driver took us on a Fremantle town tour that was hop off hop on so we also had time for a prison tour which really shocked everyone. The prison only closed in 1991 and has been kept exactly as it was then. It is a World Heritage listed sight. It had gallows where 42 people were hung and even up to the time it closed there was just a bucket in each cell for a toilet and the condition of the very old building made you think of the horrible lives of the prisoners in those terrible conditions. It should have been enough to put people off offending but obviously didn't. The summer temp could get up to 50 deg inside !
The traffic at 5.30pm was just as bad when we drove the van from the wharf to Tracy our cousins place 70kms south at Mandurah and with our Navman playing up and it being dark the one hour trip turned into nearly two but it was great to catch up with her over a meal and we again camped in a driveway. Today we managed to arrange undercover storage for the campervan for when we come back so it was a relief to get that done. So now it's off down to look at the south west corner of Australia which appears to have a lot of good things to see and do. The temperature today was 32deg which they said was a record for this time of the year but a cold wet front is expected to hit tomorrow so that will be a shock. Bye for now
Xxx
- comments
Marj Blair Man you guys have just been busy enough. I hope you had a drink for us with Marlene and Geoff!!! I have a friend in Busselton if you need another driveway. The southwest of Oz is lovely. Enjoy :-)
Stephanie Hi Marj. It was great to catch up with Marlene and family I'm sure we did have a drink for you although I'm not sure which one!!! It seems very nice down in this south west corner although nan did it blow and rain yesterday. They are predicting another front to come through today and they seem pretty accurate with the weather here. Have a nice weekend. Xxx
Alina Hi Mum, yay you made it to Perth. Glad all is going well. Keep having fun. Speak soon. From a fellow traveller
Marj Blair Hi Stephanie, glad you had a drink for us anyway. It will be good for you to have a bit of rain as it will break you in gently for our good old Dunedin weather! Beautiful in Mosgiel today though I've got to say. xxxx
Ross Hi guys. sounds like an interesting few days. Im sure Sth Australia will be really nice. Its well into Spring here and my tulips are just out now. Well into my training program with squad runs and bike rides weekly and distances slowly increasing. Starting to get light quite early now and daylight saving in a couple of weeks so looking forward to that. All good with us. Had a nice visit to Dunedin for friends 50th and a nice catch up with everyone incl Addy. When will you be back in NZ? cheers Ross and Megan
Chris Hi Rossco and Megan , good to hear you are enjoying your training. We are also in training but I guess a wine tour is slightly a bit different . Yes daylight saving will be good for us too when we get back on about the 20th of Oct.. It would have been good to catch you up in Dn. as we both miss our family and friends but not too long to go now. Keep up the training and good luck.xxx Chris & Steph