Hi all

Don’t know why we ever plan things. Left Gingin last Thursday for a pleasant little 250km ‘walk in the park’ through some of the old towns and National Parks of the Avon Valley and then back to Gingin by lunchtime Tuesday; ended up on a monolithic 800+km sprint to Wave Rock and back.

Why? Well it all went well for the first 26 km; at which point we arrived at Bindoon and stopped. Geoff went to lock the sliding door and the lock, which has been playing up since somewhere north of Alice Springs, finally failed completely.

We contacted a Mercedes dealer some 90km away in suburban Perth. Bring it in, and we will see what we can do they said; so we did. Fortunately they had an extensive range of spares and  in about an hour we were off again; fantastic effort.

We were now well south of our intended line of travel, so we decided to do the trip in reverse and headed out to the historic town of York (first inland town in WA). We free camped on the river bank after arriving late in the afternoon and ‘doing’ the main street area. Next morning, as well as more sightseeing, we visited the Tourist Information Centre. Here Geoff noticed some information on Wave Rock. This was one destination on our ‘to do’ list. So not long thereafter we were headed East through the wheat belt on one of the Pathways to Wave Rock. This far from direct route took us to Kokerbin Rock (3rd largest freestanding monolith in Australia) Bruce Rock and a few lesser monoliths to Hyden Rock, which incorporates the Wave Rock formation.  These things were formed around 2500 million years ago! A very nice little park with an excellent camp kitchen with a large tv. Geoff watched the Eagles beat the Blues, sad!

It rained and blew most of today, Sunday. We had hoped this more easterly location would avoid the cold wet front forecast for Perth – not so.

Fortunately we had completed the Hayden Rock walk and visit to the wave rock area late yesterday afternoon. We therefore started today with the Toy Soldier Museum, followed, for Sue, by the Lace Museum. The rest of the day was spent traveling with some less than pleasant stops at a few of several possible attractions. The Tin Horse Highway leading in to Kulin  was another tribute to outback humor and ingenuity. This evening finds us free camping at Quairading; takeaway fish and chips for tea as it is too cold and windy to prepare a meal outside – bit worried about our new definition of cold!

It was good to catch up with the family whilst at Gingin, but we did not see much of David & Mel. Perhaps more time on our next round at Gingin. Chloe’s 7th birthday last Sunday. Ethan is two and has an extremely stubborn streak which, fortunately, rarely develops in to tantrums – but he certainly keeps people on their toes. Reminds Sue of Nathan and Geoff of Alison!

We have a definite plan for the coming weeks; one which does not allow for wild variances. We will leave Gingin on Thursday  29 September;  arrive Denmark 30 September; arrive Kalgoorlie 10 October for part only of the CMCA rally; depart Kalgoorlie 15th and arrive Melbourne 22 October. If we fall behind on this schedule there will be some big distances to cover on some days as 22nd October is not negotiable!

During the week we purchased a computer for Sue. This will allow her to process her photos as we go along, and obviously provide further benefits as we get more software loaded on board later.

Sad story on the wildflower photos. Sue was not quite on top of adjusting the focus for close up shots. As a consequence many of the photos of smaller flowers, particularly the orchids unfortunately, were out of focus. The little snail orchid is a particular loss; we are unlikely to see one again!

More screen reading and re-reading of the less than simple camera owners’ manual is addressing this issue. Fortunately  there is still more wildflower country to come as we move further south over the coming weeks. Hopefully a bit of sunshine and warmth will see them out before we leave.

Cheers

The ‘ghans’