Hey everyone, I hope you are all well.

I think when I left you last I was in Dartmoor for the rodeo weekend, ooh and what a fab weekend that was. We thought it started on the Friday, but it was actually on the Saturday, so on the Friday night we headed to the local motel for a couple of sociable tipples. When we walked in we did feel slightly self conscious, you could have heard a pin drop, it was like the freak show had arrived, we ordered our drinks then found a seat and could hear ‘poms’ being passed around the room in the form of Chinese whispers. We minded our own business, but could see the locals straining to have a look at the 2 outsiders. It really was so bizarre, full of cowboys wearing their trademark hats, with wrangler jeans, big belt buckles and chewing tooth picks. There was some live music playing but I didn’t recognise any of the songs, which I think Lisa was relieved about, otherwise I’d have been up there showing them my chicken dance. They began bidding on something, but I couldn’t see what so I asked Pud (yes we had actually made friends at this stage) what it was all about. It seems that they were bidding on the cowboys for the rodeo the following day, if their cowboy wins they get a share of the winnings. Unfortunately my budget didn’t stretch to buying a cowboy, would have been interesting though, I’ve never owned one of those before. At the rodeo we paid our $20 admission fee, before finding some good seats with a great view of what was hopefully going to be a great show. They first of all introduced all of the bull riders, and we all stood for the Australian national anthem. Then the bull riding began, first off were the younger bulls, but they didn’t look that young to me, and those cowboys really must have nerves of steel, some stayed on longer than others as the bulls bucked ferociously beneath them. I was a jumping wreck, my arms flying everywhere, mainly hitting poor Lisa who was trying to stay still whilst taking photos, I think she may have a few blurred ones come out of that batch, it really was so exciting to watch. There were 2 judges (current champions by all account), the commentator and 3 others whose job it was to protect the cowboys from being hurt when they fell, by distracting the bull away from the fallen man. Well, 2 of the men were doing this, the third was a bit of a clown and there for entertainment value I feel, I did think he was a slight nutter when he crawled into a red barrel, and kept moving around the ring to see if the bull would go for him. After the bull riding they did some barrel racing, there are 3 barrels in the ring that the competitors have to ride their horses round, and the one that does it in the quickest time wins. The corners around these barrels were particularly tight and the ground easy to skid on, there were a number of casualties, 2 ladies had to go to hospital, one with a broken arm and another with a broken ankle, and one of the horses limped out of the ring. By the end the atmosphere was electric, the crowd were singing and clapping to ‘we will rock you’, and then the champion came out, he stayed on for a remarkably long time, then that was the end of the show, and what a show it was.

After a thoroughly enjoyable weekend we left Dartmoor and went to St Margaret’s Caves, the story behind them was very interesting and they were quite beautiful. At one point the guide turned the light off and told us where to point our cameras, when we looked at the photo we had taken, the image of a face could be seen. That afternoon, we went on one of the bush walks and for a refreshing swim in the river. We decided to stay there that evening as it was so nice. Lisa made a rather impressive campfire, we drank vino and beer and when I went to the bathroom I saw 2 kangaroos eating a spot of dinner and a wombat.

We then spent a couple of days at Mount Gambier, where we enjoyed a couple of cracking nights out (we were back in civilisation after all). There is the ‘blue lake’ here and it really does live up to its name. Luckily it was a sunny day when I walked up to see it, and it certainly had the wow factor, you can see from the photos that it was the most amazing shade of blue.

The following day we drove the 350km to a small town called Wellington. It was quite a deserted road, with only a few small towns along the way. When we arrived we had to get a ferry over to the town, which consisted of a metal sheet being pullied across the river and was quite fun. We camped up for the night and looked forward to an easy day the following day. We were only 100kms from Adelaide, that should have taken approx 1.5hrs, then we would find somewhere to stay and have an explore around the city. Oh how I had not envisaged the stressful day that lay ahead. We got about 30km up the road, and just when we got to the top of a not particularly steep hill, but long hill, Arthur began to splutter quite alarmingly. I pulled over and couldn’t really see anything, except the look of fear on Lisa’s face, as once again she is sat on the engine, so we carried on another couple of kms before the noise began again, this time I pulled over and turned him off, then this green liquid began pouring out of him, not being a mechanic I dealt with it extremely calmly. I frantically searched for my NRMA details, which I really should know by heart at this stage, got as far away from Arthur as possible and made the call, someone would be with us in the hour. It was quite unfortunate that we had broken down on the side of the freeway as there were hundreds of ants which were obviously hungry, for they headed for my flip flopped feet and bit my ankles to death, I am now the proud owner of a mighty fine looking pair of kankles! I started losing my faith in the human race as cars and lorries sped past us, tooting their horns and laughing at us, when 3 cars did stop to check that we were ok, a couple of men checking that we had phones and enough liquids. Then our knight in a shining NRMA van turned up. He confirmed that Arthur had probably overheated, and it was coolant that had spurted out. He took a look at the engine and asked if I’d started him since the incident, he must be barmy, I wasn’t going anywhere near Arthur, I was petrified he was going to explode! He told me to start him and he started first time, then we followed the man to the nearby garage in Murray Bridge where someone took a proper look at him, once again no emergencies to report and we were on our way, not before the mechanics wished us good luck which was a little worrying. Now I realise why, I really should have taken some indication of what lay ahead in the name ’Adelaide Hills’, it was one of the most painful drives to date. The hills weren’t particularly steep, just never ending which is hard for Arthur, he did conk out one more time, but after letting him cool down before continuing, I am proud to say he made it, but it was the longest 100kms of my life, 4.5 hrs to be precise. We even saw some men we had met in Mount Gambier from Adelaide on the way and we had set off 2 days before them.

Adelaide was my least favourite city to date, It was once again very clean and well kept, but as we walked around (and it was a Saturday so expected to be busy), there appeared to be an eerie silence to it. It was almost as if someone had decided that they needed a city in the area and built one. It was lovely however in Glenelg, which was by the beach, the equivalent of St Kilda in Melbourne I think. We spent approximately a week in Adelaide, staying a couple of nights in a campsite in the hills and by a national park called Belair, and a couple of days by the sea in Glenelg. Mia from Sydney came out to stay with us whilst we were here, our first visitor. We had a lovely couple of days relaxing by the beach, and we had a mini birthday party for her as we missed her birthday. If you see a small boy in the background of some of the photos with Mia, that would be our neighbour. There were 2 lovely boys on the next site to us aged 2 and 4 who came over for a little chat on a daily basis. The older boy educated Lisa and myself all about Thunderbirds, and we did have to laugh one day when he replied to his fathers question of what he was doing by saying ’I’m just talking to the girls’.

After Adelaide we headed to a town called Port Augusta, where we stayed for the night before travelling to Port Lincoln. We ended up staying in a small town called Tumby Bay. Here we had a cracking night. We got chatting to some of the locals, they were once again ever so friendly, another offer of a shower received. There was a man called Juice there, he was absolutely plastered and so funny, he was the local sheep shearer. He explained that he had a 4 bed roomed house if we wanted to stay there, and that we needn’t worry about him as he had a padlock on his bedroom door, but when he began to brag about his large double bed we declined his very kind offer of accommodation. Kris (the barman) was very kind, he brought us out some free chips, and then let us have a shower in one of the hotel rooms, I’m not quite sure whether this was due to the fact that he knew there was no shower in the car park we were sleeping in, or because there was a not so nice aroma about us, I am hoping that it is not the latter, either way it was greatly appreciated, although it’s a first that I’ve had a shower in the middle of a night out.

We went onto a town called Port Lincoln the following day, we stayed there for a couple of hours before driving on and camping at a very secluded place called Sheringa. As we drove in the sand dunes were magnificent, they looked so white and surreal that I wasn’t initially sure if they were sand dunes, we went for a walk along the coast, the waves were absolutely enormous. After a rather windy night there we were on our way again, stopping at a small place called Streaky Bay. As we were walking around the town we heard a siren going off, similar to those that were used as bomb sirens in the war, we didn’t really think much of it as there appeared to be no emergency or people running for cover. We took a walk up the jetty, it was a really hot day, and the sea was so clear and blue, it was picture postcard. When we got to the end of the jetty, we saw some smoke on the horizon, a man explained that it was a bush fire and the sirens indicated the vans filling with water and heading out to it, it was approx 10km away, and thankfully they managed to put it out. On the way back down the jetty, a man showed us some bright blue crabs that he had caught, funnily enough they were called ’blue crabs’. He had used a massive snapper fish head as bait and caught them in a round basket net, apparently that’s what people do here in their lunch break. We decided to get a full service on Arthur here as we were due to undertake a very desolate drive, and were keen for him to get the ok. When we went to pick him up, and in the words of the professionals we were informed that ’the van was running perfectly, and in excellent condition’, however I will refer later to exactly how professional that opinion was. We then made our way to Ceduna. We had applied for jobs in this town, Lisa as a chef in a roadhouse, and myself as a console operator in a petrol station, how we were both relieved not to have gotton those jobs, we both felt uncomfortable in that town and couldn’t wait to leave, not before stocking up on rations. Off to the nullarbor we headed. This was to be our most remote drive so far, 1194km of absolutely nothing. Every 200km there was a town, well when I say town it consisted of a roadhouse and a petrol station. It was also on this stretch of road that we got our introduction to road trains, I had heard about them and been advised to get out of their way and let them pass, it really was a case of David and Goliath with Arthur. They were mechanical monsters, massive trucks pulling 2 or 3 trailers. Initially I didn’t think that they were driven by real people, but I soon learnt that they were. We saw a car overtake one of these road trains, it didn’t appear to go down too well, as the road train sped up and followed the car at a dangerously close distance, note to self, must not overtake monsters, I really didn’t want one of these attached to my derriere. What am I talking about, as if Arthur bless him would have the oomph to get past one, mind you saying that we have begun overtaking, we passed a caravan and a fellow campervan, it is official, we are not the slowest motorised vehicle on the road. On this stretch of road, due to not seeing many vehicles in a day, when we did pass someone, a hand gesture was given in recognition of other life being present, and the drivers of these road trains waved back which made me happy. At one point Lisa asked me if I was smiling as I was waving, a bit confused I confirmed that I was, and she pointed out that that was good as everybody else just raises their hand, whilst I frantically wave away like a mad woman, and had I not been smiling, my enthusiasm at seeing other people could have been mistaken for some form of warning alert, so as not wanting to be a nuisance I calmed it down slightly. A stretch of the nullarbor is signed informing travellers that for 146km of the road there is not a single bend at all. It was quite a boring drive once the novelty wore off, but Lisa kept us entertained by playing cards, reading me stories from magazines, making video clips and doing magic card tricks, although I don’t personally think that throwing a deck of cards on the floor constitutes any form of magic as they didn’t technically disappear. It was also a bit depressing as we drove past numerous dead kangaroos on the side of the road. Luckily none ran out in front of me because I didn’t want the death of a kangaroo on my conscience and I wasn’t sure how well myself, Lisa and Arthur would fair in the collision.

We stayed the first night on this road at the nullarbor roadhouse, they certainly knew they had the monopoly and were taking full advantage of this. The price of gas went from approx $0.65 per litre to $1.22 per litre, scandalous, and after paying the moderate camping fee we discovered it was only $1 for 5mins to use the shower, bargain I think not. It wasn’t really a campsite, more of a car park for the roadhouse, there were a number of bikers here and they informed us that they were all headed to Albany for their AGM which lasts a week. Wanting to get in on the action, and heading that way ourselves, I asked if we’d be able to pop along, but apparently it is a do for the over 50s, and when I asked if maybe Lisa and I could combine our ages it was still a no go. As we sat in the camping area that evening, doing as we do on the majority of evenings, which is drinking wine and beer and talking insignificant nonsense, two dingo’s walked past. Initially I thought someone had lost their dogs, but a lady came over and informed us that they were dingo’s and that if we left them alone, they would leave us be, I told her that I was nervous around dogs so I would have no problem co operating with her advice. There was a golf course by this campsite, well when I say golf course, there was one hole, we were camping beside the worlds longest golf course, in fact it spans 1365km and has one hole at each town along the Eyre highway, we were at the 5th hole. Don’t worry Alan, I have kept all the details for you and the boys, but I really would recommend you hire a golf buggy. After a remarkably good nights sleep, there seemed to be a lot of noise considering there was nothing around for miles some form of generator was going all night, we awoke and went on our way, not before giving Lisa her first driving lesson, the car park was empty so we took advantage of this and she had a quick spin, luckily all three of us survived and I think we’ll make a driver of her yet.

Another day and we found ourselves crossing another border into our 4th state so far, Western Australia, the largest of them all. We once again took the compulsory photo of us by the border sign, but unlike entering previous states there was a check point at this one. As we pulled up the man asked if we had any fresh fruit or vegetables on board, I looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language, I thought it only came in cans nowadays. He also asked if we had various other food items in the van, I confirmed that we didn’t, but told him that he was making me very hungry, then he did a quick search of the van before sending us on our way. The whole point of this was so that we wouldn’t be carrying any fruit fly into the new state. Before leaving I checked the time with him as I knew there was a difference in this state, our clocks had to go back approx 2 hours and the 200km down the road they had to go back a further 45mins, oh how the jetlag would be severe on this occasion, or is it technically called Arthur lag?

We trundled happily along our way before we got stopped by the police, checking I wasn’t speeding (as if) I pulled over when they sounded their sirens. They asked where we were headed and where we’d stayed the previous night and I got myself into a bit of a two and eight, completely forgetting the names of everywhere, that’s when they breathalysed me, but luckily the wine from the previous night had left my system and I was all good. They asked where I bought the van and for how much, commenting on what a good deal it was, little did they know that Arthur was actually illegal, but more about that later. We carried on to a place called Caiguna, where we once again camped at the back of the town which consisted of a roadhouse and a petrol station, and our biker friends were there too. There was also another couple staying there who we’d met camping at sheringa, it was nice to see familiar faces on our travels. The trip had a different feel to it now, we rarely saw fellow backpackers (although I am unsure if I fall into that category as I have only had my pack on my back once, and it was now lying empty on the floor of Arthur), we were travelling alongside retired Australians who were taking a couple of years to tour Australia. I exclaimed to Lisa that I was unsure if I could do this for a couple of years as deep down I am a hotel and silk sheets kind of girl, but she quite rightly pointed out to me that they are basically dragging their homes around with them, with their fitted kitchens and sofas, some of these contraptions are amazing and I really do envy them being able to stand up in them. Manoeuvring in Arthur requires a supple body and some carefully practised yoga movements. Another difference to our trip is whereas before we would only drive a short distance each day before stopping at a place of interest, we find ourselves travelling much further due to it being so remote and there being nothing to stop for, looking at the map, this is going to be the case for a lot more of the journey now.

The following day we completed the nullarbor, we had given ourselves 5 days to do it in, but Arthur proved himself to be a complete legend, not letting us down once and we did it in 2.5 days - well done Arthur!

We stopped off at a town called Norseman, this was where the nullarbor ended, and it was here we had a decision to make, there was actually a junction, should we go left or right? This we would discuss over a nice cup of tea. We went into the town, and yes it was actually a town, with shops and a high street, however everything appeared to be closed. As it was lunchtime I didn’t think much of it, and presumed they would re open after their lunch break. We also thought it a little strange that a large number of children appeared to have bunked off school that day and were sitting in the park. We headed to our faithful tourist information office, and I enquired with the lady as to what time the shops open after lunch, where she was quick to report that the shops would not be opening at all that day, due to it being Sunday - oh, of course it was. You see Lisa and I don’t have that many important appointments nowadays whereby we need to keep track of the days. Feeling slightly stupid, I rambled to her for a while, asking completely insignificant questions, before thanking her for her help and ushering Lisa out of the building. So we found ourselves at the other open establishment in town which was the roadhouse, and had our tea break there. Feeling fully refreshed we walked around the corner back to Arthur, and saw that he had made a new friend, for parked behind him was another blue Toyota tarago, it really was nice to see him mingling. I did have to laugh, I do believe that in Arthur I may have purchased a bit of a show off, and the male pride could not have been more obvious.. Normally when I start Arthur, there’s a lot of chuffing and acceleration pedal pushing and waiting around for him to warm up (a lesson learnt in Sydney if you remember), well, didn’t he just start up first time and sit there purring like a panther, I actually had to check he hadn’t conked out he was running so quietly, he really is an old devil.

We were heading towards a place called Esperance, but suddenly noticed cheap camping signs in a small town called Salmon Gums so decided to stay there for the night, and for $5 why not? It really was quite an amusing place. There was a couple who appeared to live on site, I believe the husband was there purely for entertainment value, he certainly seemed to be holding quite an audience, and they were both already on the jack daniels when we arrived - good work! We were under attack from numerous ants, which I might add latch on and have a nasty bite, but the woman noticed our suffering and took a JD break to come and spray our area which thankfully worked. It really was quite a cowboy operation, with power leads running everywhere for the powered sites. I asked the lady if there would be a mechanic working on the Monday, as it was a bank holiday, and one of Arthur’s wheels was making an unhealthy noise, she kindly offered her husbands services. He took a look and informed us we needed some new break pads and that we could get that done on Tuesday in Esperance, and that it should be relatively inexpensive. So, in ignorant bliss we drove the 80km to Esperance on the Monday and found a campsite. On the Tuesday morning we had a look around the town before heading up the pier to where it would be likely we would get a sighting of Sammy, the local sea lion. Luckily on this occasion we were not disappointed and spotted him swimming around, then, obviously tired from his exertions, he heaved himself out of the sea onto the beach before flopping down on the sand and yawning, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of de ja vu! He really was rather large as can be seen from the photos. Then, still in our happy little world we headed to Darren’s A1 motors to get Arthur’s wheel fixed. Oh how luck was not on our side at that moment. Darren (lovely man by the way), took Arthur for a little spin to have a listen, then put him up on the hoist, he then explained how he’d opened a can of worms, how I dislike that phrase. Apparently Arthur’s brake pads had worn down to literally nothing, and the rotating disk that they are attached to should be at a legal thickness of 19mm, and Arthur’s were at 14mm. In effect, Arthur was actually illegal, and Lisa and I were lucky not to be in A&E as his brakes could have gone at any time. We would have to wait overnight for the parts to arrive from Perth, and were advised to leave him at the garage and not to drive him. That posed further problems, as Arthur is not only our transport but also our home, hence rendering us homeless for the night. Darren very kindly said he’d wheel Arthur out and we could sleep in their car park, the strangest place we’d spent the night so far I think. As all the mechanics left for the day we made ourselves at home. We set an alarm for the morning, the first time in the 2 months we’d been on the road, as neither of us relished the thought of a bunch of mechanics staring at us fast asleep. I do believe Arthur enjoyed his 2 day pampering session at the spa, he basically got 2 new front wheels. What really made me irate (yes, it doesn’t happen very often but I was angry), was the so called professionals at Streaky Bay who had carried out the full service less than a week before had neglected to notice this, should I say neglected or not bothered! Needless to say they haven’t heard the last of this and they will feel the wrath of Lydia, and it will be far more drastic than a can of baked beans through the letter box (because we can’t spare them), fighting talk I know!

With Arthur sorted we headed to Albany. We found some free and legal camping in a place called Cosy Bay, just outside of town, quite a busy place, we got the last spot. Although, obviously we love the free camping places, I do believe they are free for a reason. The toilets really are horrendous in some of these places. There is an actual toilet but no plumbing, beneath is just a large pit where all the waste sits, as you can imagine the smell is rancid. I would even go so far as saying that they are worse than the facilities in Thailand, although there was just a hole in the floor there, and also no plumbing, at least they had pots of water to wash it all away, I was beginning to get that whole Thai thigh hovering feeling back. We had successfully avoided paying for camping for 4 nights, but as with the pleasure pain theory here came the pain, we had also been unable to shower for the past 4 days. And whilst baby wipes and deodorant are effective, they are no miracle workers, and my hair was even beginning to scare me! With that in mind, we treated ourselves to a campsite at Katanga River, just outside Albany. I had been admiring my tan recently, but after a very enjoyable shower it transpired that the majority of it was dirt, and that I am actually fading faster than I realised, note to self, must do Sammy the sea lion impersonation on the beach soon.

We then headed to Margaret River, we knew on the drive that we were in for a treat, as the bland countryside faded away, and beautiful forests and creeks took its place on the drive there. We have had quite a treat here, as we are staying with Linda’s (friend from uni) sister. A bed!!!! A Sofa!!!! A fully functioning bathroom!!!! A TV!!!!! A roof!!!!! What heaven! Debbie has two adorable children, Amber who is 18 months and Tahlia who is 10 weeks old, so I have been getting my baby cuddles in. We have had a lovely time here visiting the local areas, and yesterday Lisa and I went on a bike ride around some of the vineyards as it is a very large wine region. Now I realise why I have not ridden a bike for 10years, I am far too unfit, and what with that combined with the heat, and all of the wine tasting, it proved to be very hard work getting back, although a thoroughly enjoyable day. I must admit I am going to have trouble walking for the next couple of days, they really should make those seats a bit more padded. Debbie’s mother in law has very kindly made us some great curtains for Arthur, no more towels hung over ropes to keep out the peeping toms, and her husband Phil attached the spare tyre to the roof rack to give us more space, and gave it a once over as he used to be a mechanic. We have also got all of our laundry done, and feel much more like normal people now.

We are heading to Perth in the morning, where we will be staying with some family friends of Lisa’s, so a little bit more luxury. I am looking forward to Perth as a number of people have commented on it being a beautiful city.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I have managed to bore myself silly, so I’m sure you must be too.

Lots of love to you all, speak soon.xxxxxxx