Just the World as We See It
We did another supermarket shop to stock up on our fresh salad supplies before heading out through the edge of the Tarkine Forest down to Marrawah for morning tea and a stretch of the legs along the beach. Bit of a chilly wind today but a beautiful spot.
From there onto Arthurs River ready for our Red Boat cruise up the Arthur River tomorrow. We in the Caravan Park to take advantage of the 240 v power and the hot showers
No doubt about us, we had an enjoyable day wandering around Stanley taking in the sights and sounds, stopping for lunch at Godfreys Beach before heading down the road to Smithton. Another free camp where it seems the main topic of conversation was the automatic toilet (I think I may be travelling with some Luddites – they were scared to enter the toilet of doom lest the door didn’t unlock!
Bob and Jenny tried their hand at fishing in the boat channel with no success as the tide was fair ripping out. High tide wasn’t until 2 am so we decided that fishing was off the night’s entertainment list.
It just must be us! Woken early by a grumpy Little Athletics “lady” telling us that she didn’t want motorhome and caravans hanging around when the kids arrived so we had to be out within the hour. So it was a quick breakfast then into Devonport for a supermarket shop (quarantine restrictions meant no fresh fruit and veg or firewood!!) before heading down the North West Coast to Stanley for another cheap camp. On the way we stopped into several lovely beach communities at Sisters Beach and Boat Harbour. Beautiful spots with very few people around considering it was fine and sunny and Saturday.
The short distances that we are travelling are coming as a bit of a surprise so its hard to get our heads around. It is relaxing getting into camp early. Tragedy of tragedies, Jenny’s phone has carked it (the battery didn’t like being flattened to the point of no return) so I have had to forego my phone to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Looks like a trip back to Devonport to get it fixed.
We were awoken at 5.00 am by a Security Guard knocking on our door telling us to move from the car park and to get in line for boarding the Spirit of Tasmania. After getting over the initial surprise we joined the queue to wait for boarding. We didn’t get to board the ship till 7.30 so we were running behind from the start. They sent us down to Deck 2 where we forced to drive nose first into the bow of the ship – pretty tight squeeze!
We had reserved our recliners so we had great seats right at the windows looking astern so had a great view as we travelled along. It was misty rain in Melbourne so we didn’t have the best view of the city as we headed out to sea but it was entertaining in any case. The facilities on board were excellent so we dined in the “Tasmanian Market Kitchen” where we were able to have good quality tucker at reasonable rates.
We disembarked in Devonport at around 7.30 pm and made our way to Girdlestone Park Free(ish) Camp. Dinner at eight with the obligatory Port nightcap.
Here we go again! This time we are off to Tasmania, departing on the Spirit of Tasmania 8.30 am tomorrow. We’re taking the motorhome over and will be travelling around the Apple Isle for four weeks.
Once again the Willies will be travelling with us (the new improved versions ). Check in for new photos and news. At least in Tassie we should have mobile reception most days!
Well that’s the 2019 Roadtrip done and dusted. We travelled 14526 kilometres and paid out $3281 for fuel. The most expensive fuel was at the Nullarbor Roadhouse at $2.09 per litre – I must remember that next time. We were able to visit some beautiful places in the west – Broome, the Pilbara, the Pinnacles and much more. We missed out on getting to see the old historic ghost towns and gold mines around Cue and Meekatharra but we intend to catch up on them next year. A big thanks to Bob and Deb Williams for their company and good humour, makes a world of difference having great travelling companions. So until next year, happy travels
We treated ourselves to breakfast at a cafe in Swan Hill before heading down to Echuca. Only a short drive under sunny skies to reach Sharon and Paul’s around ten-thirty just in time for a cuppa. We’ll stay here for a couple of nights enjoying their hospitality before heading home on Thursday. So far we’ve clocked up just over fourteen thousand one hundred kilometres and made heaps of new memories.
Finally back in Victoria after travelling from Morgan today. Weather sunny and cool with a frost forecast for tonight. We called into the Renmark Patisserie to have a vanilla slice in honour of our old mate Bob Bentley- it bought back memories of the “finger dance” as Bob consumed his vanilla slice without getting sticky fingers. On to Swan Hill Riverside Caravan Park for a long hot shower and change into clean clothes, the pub beckons for dinner tonight. We’ve travelled just over fourteen thousand kilometres in our travels to date with Echuca our next stop tomorrow night before heading home Wednesday or Thursday.
We put in some big days crossing the Nullarbor – 2100 kilometres in 3days. We have now reached Morgan, South Australia. It’s the first day that we haven’t had any wind, it was really quite bad crossing the Nullarbor. It was especially dangerous when confronted with Road Trains travelling the other way as they would suck you towards them and then spit you out the other side. Needless to say we are pleased to be rid of both the road trains and the wind. We decided to stop at a Caravan Park tonight as we have been free camping for a few nights now and are starting to miss the home comforts of an undercover toilet and showers 😃. We are transporting Bob’s precious fish (and his Kranski Sausage) home in our freezer so luckily we can report that we have had no freezer issues (but the fish has been tempting). Now we can sit back and listen to our music through our recently acquired JBL Bluetooth Speaker. Swan Hill tomorrow then Echuca on Tuesday
After spending three nights in Mount Magnet, we decided it was time to leave Bob and Deb and start heading back across the Nullarbor. Turtle is being shipped back to Mirboo North and the Williams will fly out of Mount Magnet to Perth and then to Melbourne tomorrow. We had the”Big Breakfast” at Molly’s Cafe as our last supper, then we headed down the highway to Kambalda West some 725 kms away. A solid days driving but we set up camp around quarter past four so we were happy with our effort.