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We've had a very busy week and covered much ground. Leaving Carnarvon, we had a long drive to Geraldton, catching up on some school work in the car on the way. In the space of about an hour, the countryside changed from red dirt and salt bush to mallee, then suddenly green farm land. Our roadside camp was a field of dandelions near a creek with actual water in it.
We explored Geraldton beaches and shops and the Sydney memorial. The museum had interesting displays from its maritime past. I drew the kids attention to the display of toys that kids used to make out of old tin cans to amuse themselves. How times have changed. We also got our LPG system checked by a mechanic. However gas is usually more expensive to run on than petrol in remote regions.
After Geraldton, we camped a night at Coolimba beach, and had our last swims before leaving the Indian Ocean. Cutting inland, we explored the Stockyard Valley Caves, an underground creek through a limestone cave, similar to Tunnel Creek in the Kimberleys. We needed torches, but unlike Tunnel Creek, we didn't need bathers, and there weren't any crocs.
More driving through wildflowers. We had a nice pub meal at Moora, then camped at Cunderdin caravan park on the goldfields highway. Travelling through the wheatbelt, we saw the only concrete dome grain silos in the southern hemisphere at Goomalling. The small towns seem to put on something different for the tourists. Corrigin had the record for the largest ute muster. Hyden had spent stimulus money on scrap metal sculptures depicting the history of the town.
Another quiet roadside camp, back in a conservation park mallee scrub, before we reached Esperance. We looked around the town beaches and shops before checking our caravan into the Cape Le Grand national park. Our campsite was close to the beach and had flushing toilets and warmish, solarpowered showers. The beaches looked very inviting, but the wind was too fresh to go swimming. Not that that stoped the kids getting wet playing on the beach. Yesterday we visited Lucky Bay with its milky white sand, then climbed Frenchmans Peak. An amazing granite outcrop with a tunnel-cave going right through the peak. One section was very steep and windy.
We haven't seen any rain since leaving Alice Springs, but the country has obviously had a lot of rain, and lots of water still laying around in the paddocks. Some people we met were snowed on a few days ago in the Stirling Ranges.
Leaving Esperance today for the Nullarbor, and then home.
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