Hi everyone!
We are currently in Geraldton, about 400km north of Perth. Next we are going up to North Western Australia, probably the part of the trip we have been most looking forward to.
The weather has turned ugly and we are holed up in a cabin in a caravan park.
No matter though, because the car is having an intermittent loss of power problem that we want to sort out before we go into remote Australia for the next two months. Our mechanical knowledge has exploded exponentially but no mechanic can work out the problem yet... next stop the Toyota dealer.
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| Off we go! Graceland by Paul Simon... amazing driving album |
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| The Nullarbor |
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| Head of Bight. In winter here, up to 70-80 whales can be seen nursing their young. We didn't see any though. |
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| The Nullarbor, home to the longest golf course in the world, The Nullarbor Links. 18 holes over 1365km. This hole was named after the world famous hoax in 1971. A PR bloke and the town of Eucla decided to get some tourist interest, so made up that there was a nude, blonde, caucasian woman who had been spotted living with Kangaroos somewhere along the Nullarbor. The world press descended to Eucla, population 8. |
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| This photo of Min, inspired by the above story. |
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| Thistle cove, Cape Le Grand NP, east of Esperance. |
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| At the top of Frenchman peak, Cape Le Grand NP. Min says she gets nervous of heights but refusing to open her eyes at the top seems ridiculous. It made getting up and down the peak very difficult. |
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| James thinks Min misheard "Give me blue steel" for "Give me a look like there is something is up your bottom". |
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| James 'schooling' Min at Elephant rocks, William Bay NP. |
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| With practice, you will go far grasshopper. |
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| Climbing down the Glouchester tree, Pemberton. Min didn't come up... see previous photo referring to heights. |
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| With our friends Sarah and Muz at Cottesloe beach. We stayed with them over Anzac day and had a ball! Thanks for having us. |
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| The Pinnacles, just south of Cervantes. Odd limestone rock formations with no definite geological explanation. If Min and I were in a band together (trumpet + double bass), this would be our album cover. |
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| Sunset at Sandy Cape Reserve |
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| Min 'made' me a cooked breakfast for my Birthday. Dehydrated beef bacon, yum. |
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| As part of his yearly ritual, James insists on a Birthday bald spot progress photo. Concerning... |
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| The stone welcome arch (meant for Batavia, now current day Jakarta) carried by the Batavia (ship) in 1629. The Batavia sank near the Albrohlos islands on the way from Holland to the East Indies. 322 survivors from the shipwreck on the islands and then mutiny and murder followed. Excellent story and we were enthralled (by we, James means himself). |
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| Personal safety is somewhat important when camping when there are severe storm warnings. However, preventing hail damage to the car is the number one priority. |
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| 8.30pm and sitting in the tent with howling winds and torrential rain outside, we decided to make the sensible decision and retreat to a cabin (by we I mean Min). |
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| We thought changing our spark plugs might fix our car troubles... it didn't. |
